Seattle Schools Community Forum

View Ridge Teacher Takes Plea Deal The Times is reporting the outcome of a case of a View Ridge teacher who sent "sexually-suggestive text messages" to a high school girl who had volunteered in his second-grade class.  The male teacher was sentenced to two months in jail. He also surrendered his teaching certificate as part of his plea deal but will not have to register as a sex offender.  He will also not make an attempt to get his teaching certificate back and cannot have any kind of supervision of children except his own. Lowell Loses Its Principal It was reported to me Thursday night that Lowell's principal, Marion Smith, Jr., quit Wednesday with no little notice to the school community. I have asked the district if they knew sooner than that and, of course, how the principal replacement process will be handled.  Obviously, leaving at the end of the year makes it harder for the district to easily find a replacement.

You'd think that our state legislators would have their hands full trying to figure out how to fully fund education per the McCleary ruling.  Apparently not.  We have the "give every school a letter grade" bill and now we have SB 5242 .  It's short and to the point and I agree with the WEA on this one - it's nothing but a distraction and gives principals too much power.  (It also ties the hands of school boards because they have to follow this directive in all collective bargaining agreements.) From the WEA website: This misguided and punitive legislation allows school districts to fire teachers without any kind of fair or objective process and regardless of their job performance or experience. Administrators and principals would be allowed to transfer a teacher for any reason, and if no other principals wanted that teacher, she would lose her job. Under SB 5242, qualifications, experience and evaluations would no longer matter in staffing decisions....

From one reader about exiting poorly performing teachers: What is "the process" and how can parents provide support and documentation? How does a parent know if the process is underway? What timeframe does it involve? What constitutes a "bad" teacher according to the District?  All good questions.  I don't know the whole process.  It is likely detailed in the teachers' contract.  What I do know is that the first step is to go to the principal and ask.  He or she should be able to tell you what you, as a parent, need to do and what next steps are.  If he or she is unwilling to do so, document your outreach and go to the Executive Director (and, of course, cc the principal).   I believe the timeframe is at least 6 months to a year (unless there is gross negligence or abuse) because if the principal believes the action is warranted (again, is this based on the number of parent complaints?  I'm not sure), he has to sit down with the...

Hard to believe but here it is (from the Providence Journal): The school district plans to send out dismissal notices to every one of its 1,926 teachers, an unprecedented move that has union leaders up in arms. In a letter sent to all teachers Tuesday, Supt. Tom Brady wrote that the Providence School Board on Thursday will vote on a resolution to dismiss every teacher, effective the last day of school. In an e-mail sent to all teachers and School Department staff, Brady said, “We are forced to take this precautionary action by the March 1 deadline given the dire budget outline for the 2011-2012 school year in which we are projecting a near $40 million deficit for the district,” Brady wrote. “Since the full extent of the potential cuts to the school budget have yet to be determined, issuing a dismissal letter to all teachers was necessary to give the mayor, the School Boar...

A little of Michelle Rhee's firebreathing style got quenched yesterday when an arbitrator ruled that the first 75 teachers she fired must be hired back and given about $7.5M in back wages. Here's the story from The Washington Examiner. You'll note some familiar sounding language: "The [termination] process used in this case was so devoid of due process as to be arbitrary and capricious," arbitrator Charles Feigenbaum said in his verdict favoring the Washington Teachers' Union, which has been fighting D.C. Public Schools officials over the July 2008 dismissals for more than two years. Rhee had gotten rid of mostly first and second-year teachers. They had been told they couldn't appeal because they didn't have tenure but were given no reason for their dismissal. The arbitrator, picked jointed by the union and the district, ordered the district to try to find the teachers, offer their jobs back and make up two years of back pay. Mindy Holmes, a la...

(Actually I'm one of those Seattle freaks who doesn't drink coffee. Tea drinkers unite!) It was a little funny. I called Jane Addams at 8 to find out what time the coffee chat truly was. I was told she was running late but on her way. I got there at 8:30 and she still wasn't there. She came in about 5 minutes there. There was her intern, Bernardo Ruiz from Family Engagement and my favorite translator (whose name I always forget but he has a wonderful smile). In the end there were about 25 parents (I think people were confused on the time as people wandered in all during the coffee - we told her intern that this was not good). She said a number of very interesting things and I have to wonder if I heard correctly (so if you attended, help me out). So she started off thanking us for coming and briefly touched upon continuing Strategic Work on curriculum alignment (don't call it standardization!), school reports (which I think confused people, some thought she me...