Seattle Schools Community Forum

I attended the Operations/BTA IV community meeting at Roosevelt this week.  It was disappointing on several fronts. Attending staff included Charles Wright, Flip Herndon, Tom Redman, Joe Wolf, Richard Best, and Carmen Rahm (and a budget staffer whose name I didn't hear and can't find at the district website). There was a dizzying array of handouts.  I don't know if staff has something against trees or cannot devise a couple of handouts to cover the issues but this was overload.

I confess - I haven't been able to keep up on BEX IV as I would have liked.  But I have noticed (and noted) that, true to form, this BEX follows the pattern of previous ones (except on steriods). 1. Changes to the list in the last month before it is approved?  Check. 2. Lack of clarity about changes and no fleshed-out explanations?  Check. 3. A Board in a hurry-up mode "because we have to get this done to get it qualified for the ballot in time?"  Check. Again, it's a list of projects but you are really just voting for a pot of money.  They can change that list but that really isn't my worry. It's that this high-cost, long-term project has not been walked through in a clear and deliberate manner.  What is it that is being accomplished and what does that mean down the road? I note that the West Seattle Blog was at the BEX IV public hearing yesterday and it appears from their reporting, that the speakers list wasn't full.  That's not a surpris...

From Superintendent Banda today: Oct. 9, 2012 Dear Seattle Public Schools families, staff and community: As you all know, Seattle Public Schools is growing. We may have 50,000 students by the end of this school year. Today we are writing to update you on our enrollment growth challenges. We have two levies up for renewal in February 2013 – our Operations Levy and our Building Excellence (BEX IV) IV Capital Levy. Our BEX IV levy will include a list of recommended projects for 2014-2021, which we are presenting to the School Board at a work session 5:45-7:15 p.m., Oct. 10 at the John Stanford Center. A final vote by the Board is expected in November. Below is a summary of currently proposed projects under consideration for BEX IV: ·         Arbor Heights Elementary: Replace existing building with new/expanded facility by 2019. The school will be at an interim site starting in 2017. We understand the building is in need of replacement, but we will not have enoug...

Today in Crosscut we find an article about the Downtown elementary school that actually includes some data  - census numbers - that could be used to make a case for the school. It actually makes a stronger case for a downtown high school than a downtown elementary school, but there's no mention of that. I have a number of questions that I would like to see answered. Where are these kids going to school now? Do we only need an elementary school downtown - not a middle school and a high school? Why don't we need a middle school or a high school? If these kids are in the census data, why didn't they appear in the District's enrollment projections? It's nice to finally see some numbers associated with this school idea, which has seemed like a pet project by downtown elites until this.

The community at Chief Sealth High School is petitioning the superintendent for portables. The overcrowding of the school has put teachers on carts. From the petition: We informed the District as our remodel was being designed that the remodeled Sealth would have less space due to the removal of the portables. Our enrollment has increased by 400 students since that time and now we have even less space. Our capacity has been set at 1,200 students and we are now at 1,246. Our remodel did not include any planned work spaces.  See the petition here . Perhaps this petition should go, instead, to the FACMAC.

I LOVE this name - I picture a capacity management superhero that's basically a piece of mac 'n cheese.  (Fusilli Jerry?) 1) Yes, the meetings are open to the public but obviously no public input at the meeting(there are over 30 members of this community).  But remember, you can write to them at capacity@seattleschools.org 2) The meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, the 25th) is in room 2750 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.  (they are trying to avoid the rush hour traffic around the Viaduct closure).   Check in with the district receptionist and she will give you the code for the elevator/stairs so you can access the room. 3) The Board is asking for input from the Committee on " Planning Philosophies for SPS Capital Planning " and " School Board Policy for Capital Levy Planning ."  Any thoughts you might have, shoot them over to the Board at schoolboard@seattleschools.org.   Right off hand, I think one would be that we don't sell district properties for f...

Franklin High School Kicks Off Centennial Year on Friday, Sept. 30th Franklin High School turns 100 years old in 2012, and one of Seattle’s oldest high schools will kick off a year-long centennial celebration in the gym Friday afternoon. The event will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the school’s newly-renovated gym and a proclamation by King County Councilmember (and Franklin alumnus) Larry Gossett, who has declared Sept. 30 Franklin High Day in King County. The proclamation will also recognize the school’s significant improvements in student test scores and college acceptance rates. Principal Jennifer Wiley predicts that other big-name Franklin athlete alums, along with Seattle School District leaders who are also Franklin graduates, will be in attendance. Officials of the National Achievement Scholarship Corporation named three students from SPS as Semifinalists in the 48th annual National Achievement Scholarship Program. These academically pr...

Part of the last Operations Committee meeting was devoted to Capacity Planning and Management and there were several documents released. They finally made it to the SPS website (thanks to readers who pointed that out - I lost track in all the financial crisis tangle). They are: Enrollment Projections Facilities Planning Annual Report Capacity Planning Management Annual Report Unfortunately, there is one missing document which is the 2010 Enrollment Headcount and Projections by School. It has some data not in the Enrollment Projections document that is interesting. I'll try to get this one as well. The Enrollment Projections is a series of 30 charts (have fun, kids!) projecting enrollment to 2015. The big number here is that they are saying: Based on the adjusted projections, the 2015 moderate projected enrollment is 53,969 students. That is a difference of 9200 students. Let that sink in. Can our district handle 9k plus students? (Of course with the current debacle, t...