Seattle Schools Community Forum

As I had previously posted, there is a Work Session today with the Board.  The topic had been "Alternative Calendar" (along with a closed Executive Session) but the topic is now "Closing Opportunity Gaps."    The topic part of the Work Session is from 4:30-6:00 pm with the Executive Session after that. Looking at the presentation, it has the district-wide SBAC results on page 4. Good news - SPS did better than the state-wide results - across both ELA and Math - in every grade level, many times with a 10-point gap.   For 7th grade math, the gap was 12.4%.  Most of the scores were in the high 50s to low 60s. This is quite a difference with the MTSS scores from previous years.  Staff says it's because of "leadership," "teaming and collaboration," and "data/analytics."  They don't explain if this is at the district level or school level. But to the subgroups, there a slide...but no data.  Then, the presentation goes from a ...

This is an e-mail I sent to the members of the Executive Committee this morning: I note that on your agenda this morning for the Ex Ctm is your Board calendar for next year. I have repeatedly asked about sponsorship of Board retreats since the Alliance was allowed to plan them for this entire school year.  That is NOT part of the Alliance's MOU with the district and appears to look like undue influence from an outside entity.  To avoid that appearance, the Board could do the following: - the Alliance ends its sponsorship of Board retreats - the Alliance can handle logistics but nothing else.  They certainly can weigh in on the agenda for any given retreat as is the right of any other group or individual.  They should NOT be setting the agenda nor directing the facilitator. - the Alliance should NOT have be part of any discussion during the retreats.  No one else is allowed this privilege and it should stop. - if the Board wants sponsorship of the r...

As previously noted, there is an Executive Committee meeting tomorrow morning.  Here is the agenda.    These agenda seem to be quite terse with topics like "government relations", "community engagement" and you have no idea what the specifics of that discussion might be. They are going to be talking about audience participation at Board meetings so if you don't like either the new Board meeting start time and/or 2-minute limit, you might want to let Board members know this. (schoolboard@seattleschools.org) There is to be an Executive Session of the Committee at the end of the meeting on "real estate matters". The Operations Committee also has their agenda available.  Looks like they will be looking at: - some capital issues including Genesee Hill.  - Tracy Libros from Enrollment will be speaking on enrollment, child custody and district attendance area transfers as well as the student assignment plan for 2013-14.  - short-term and intermedia...

The Executive Committee meetings are usually pretty boring and uneventful. They are generally about scheduling and such. The meeting this week, however, has a couple of intriguing items on the agenda . 1. Call to Order 8:00am - Approval of agenda - Approval of August 7, 2012 meeting minutes 2. Review of the September 19 and October 3 legislative session agendas 3. Government Relations 4. Community Engagement 5. Executive Committee Discussion - Conditional Certification Application (R. English) - Creative Approach Schools (R. English) - Review and approval of retreat agenda - Proclamation for Cheryl Chow - Presentations to the Board - Policy Development Process - Board meeting times/Comment timing (Board and Student) - NSBA Membership 4/1/13-3/31/14 - Directors’ 2012-13 Conference Attendance - Superintendent Evaluation - Board Calendar/Work Plan 6. A...

At the August 7, 2012 meeting the Board Executive Committee considered the schedule for the motion to approve the conditional certificates for the Teach for America corps members who were hired for this fall. There are three of them: two hired as elementary teachers at Emerson and one hired as a Special Education teacher at Aki Kurose. The discussion at the Executive Committee meeting was about whether to introduce the motion at the August 15 Board meeting and vote on it at the September 5 meeting, or to introduce and vote on the motion at the August 15 meeting, skipping the traditional two-week period for public input. Without this gap there will be no opportunity for public input.

Keep in mind here, that I came in late and yet I still hit the wall at two hours.  But not to get ahead of myself. I came in as the Executive Committee was discussing the MOU with the Alliance for Education .  You might recall from the last Executive Committee meeting (Charlie and I were both present) that the Alliance wants to raise its fee to oversee school and ed groups finances from 5% to 7.5%.  This comes out of the General Fund.  Charlie had said he would do it for 5%. This really isn't the main focus of work for the Alliance so why is it such a big deal for them to keep on doing it?   Now the Alliance says that the cap at 5% was not enough.  I'll let them explain it:

Tuesday Audit&Finance Committee Mtg. (Audit), 4-6 p.m. Agenda Executive Committee Meeting of the Whole , 6-7 p.m. Discussion of superintendent search. Wednesday Executive Committee Mtg. 8-10 am. Agenda Director McLaren Community Meeting, 11:15 am-1:15 pm Oversight Work Session: Transportation , 4-5:30 pm Work Session:Budget , 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday Audit&Finance Committee Mtg ., 4-6 p.m. Agenda . Friday BEX Oversight Committee Mtg ., 8:30-10:30 am Saturday Director Carr community meeting , 8:30-10 am, Bethany Community Church - CE Brick Room, 8023 Green Lake Dr. Also, from Peonypower, The NW flower and garden show opens this week and Puget sound high schools will be competing in the funky junk competition.Interlake HS, Nathan Hale HS, Tumwater HS, and Ballard High School will all be represented.

The whole Executive Committee meeting today was about the superintendent search and nothing else.

Tuesday, Jan. 10th Audit&Finance Committee Meeting ( Audit ) from 4-6 p.m. Looks like there will be an update on the Cleveland laptop program among other items. Wednesday, Jan. 11th Executive Committee Meeting from 8-10 a.m. Executive Committee of the Whole from 5-7 p.m. to discuss the Superintendent's evaluation (this is preceded by a closed session of the committee on this topic).  Thursday, Jan. 12th Audit&Finance Committee Meeting ( Finance ) from 4-6 p.m.  Topics here include the annual summary of state and federal grans, preliminary enrollment projections by Tracy Libros, student fees summary and " ideas/proposals to close the gap for 2012-13 ."   There was an interesting article in the Times about Pay for Play fees recently.   It generated a lot of comments with about half saying sports are an important part of high school and half saying PE is fine but sports are not as important.  Friday, Jan. 13th BEX Oversight Commit...

Monday, October 10th CPPS' "Parent Friendly" School Board Candidate forum at Washington Middle School, 2101 South Jackson St. from 7-8:30 p.m. The district  is having an Early Enrollment evening with the help of the Asian Counseling /Referral Service from 5:30 pm- 7:00 pm.    Here's a blurb from ACRS's website about them: Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization offering a broad array of human services and behavioral health programs to Asian Pacific Americans in King County. ACRS is the largest multiservice organization serving all the different Asian Pacific American communities - immigrants, refugees and American born - in the Pacific Northwest. Tuesday, October 11th Audit and Finance Committee Meeting (Audit) from 4-6 p.m.  The agenda reflects the following: audit response performance audit (capital) follow-up Special Investigation (Pottergate) 09-10 Audits (I have no idea what this is...

The agenda looks fairly light on Wednesday but with a few notable items.   (I note that today - Saturday the 13th - the agenda is not accessible at the SPS website but I had already downloaded it yesterday.  I'll post it when it comes back up.) Update: here's the link . The agenda was reviewed at the Executive Committee meeting held earlier in the week (which no School Board candidates attended which is unfortunate as it's where you see the real work done).

Wednesday, the 10th  Executive Committee meeting - 8:00-10:00 am No agenda yet available. Thursday the 11th League of Education Voters Charter School On-line Discussion - noon Signup here .    From their website: If you have questions that you'd like us to answer during the chat about public charters, please send them ahead of time to info@educationvoters.org. The chat will last 30 minutes, so you'll have plenty of time for lunch! I'll be writing a thread on charters this week They also have an on-line quiz about charters which isn't entirely right. For example, on principal powers,  " principals in charters can hire anyone and make all salary decisions ."  This is their "correct" answer but then they say " ultimately, how much authority principals are given depends upon how the charter law is written ." Oh.  Most charter laws say you have to hire a certificated teacher.  So that's not "anyone." Another e...

Monday Executive Session with the Superintendent and labor partners.  I suspect this is about the budget and the still-to-be closed $4M shortfall. Tuesday Audit and Finance Committee (Audit) from 4-6 p.m., agenda It looks like continuing audit response follow-ups as well as a VAX update, laptops at Cleveland and Pay for K.  There will also be an update on the search for a director for Internal Audit. Wednesday Executive Committee meeting , 8-10 am, agenda Review of upcoming Board meetings, government relations, capacity management, " planning interim superintendent's feedback next fall ", CFO/COO search updates, etc.   No way they are getting thru this huge agenda in two hours. Executive Session, 10-11 am - Superintendent evaluation Community Meeting with Director Sundquist from 11-12:30 p.m., Delridge Library* Work Session on the Budget - 4-5:30 p.m., no presentation or agenda posted yet. Thursday Audit and Finance Committee (Finance) from 4-6 ...

Tuesday Audit&Finance Committee Meeting (Audit) from 4-6 p.m. in the Board conference room.  Agenda School Family Partnerships Advisory Committee from 6-8 p.m. in the headquarters auditorium. Wednesday Executive Committee meeting from 8-10 a.m. in the Board conference room.   Agenda Steve Sundquist's Community Meeting from 11 am to 12:30 p.m. at Delridge Library. Work Session on Capital Program Review from 4-5:30 p.m. (This would be one I would normally attend but can't so I hope someone else can go. It is likely they might discuss BEX IV.) Thursday Audit& Finance Committee meeting (Finance) from 4-6 p.m. in the Board conference room. There are no agendas yet posted for these meetings but I will try to get them up as soon as they are available.

Onward. On January 12th the Board will have their annual Legislative luncheon. It was interesting because (1) they are all very worried about the state budget and (2) Michael asked about evaluating the district's lobbyist (we have one of those). It was agreed that it was a good idea but I think it surprised some staff. This would be done at a Board Executive Session. Michael said he had met with Rep. Carlyle about curriculum adoptions at the community college level and how it affects SPS. He said there was a group of teachers interested in piloting it and Dr. G-J said the district would have to pay the teachers. Michael countered that they had to do professional development anyway and the other Board members agreed. So on the agenda for this meeting was Community Engagement . The time came for this topic and the Superintendent said there was nothing new and she can't do more. It was somewhat awkward because she seemed defensive but said nothing. I was a little surpr...

Part 1 ( this part is not as fascinating as Part 2 but may have info you might be interested in. I'll bold key words so you can skip to what you care about.) Charlie was right (I lost count how many times I have written that this year but his streak continues). The Executive Committee meeting on Wednesday morning was very, very good. I was the only member of the public there which I think might have somewhat influenced what was said (or how forcefully it was said). I'm not sure it was me personally but that there was a John Q. Public in the room. Michael DeBell is the head of the Committee and Kay Smith-Blum and Steve Sundquist are the other members. The cast of staff coming in and out was quite amazing. Dr. Goodloe-Johnson was there for most of it as was Holly Ferguson, head of policy and government (I always forget her exact title) and Noel Treat, the new head of Legal. The first thing I learned is that this is where you get an advance look at upcoming Board meeting age...