Seattle Schools Community Forum

From SPS Communications :

Charlie and I have always enjoyed a good laugh over the district's "Facilities Master Plan" because we both could never understand how a list of buildings with descriptions and policies around them is a "plan."  It will be interesting to see if the newest one is any better. I attended both Work Sessions yesterday on facilities and it pretty much turned out how I thought.  Staff's presentation for the first work session was overly long - a lot of flowery talk about the mission and values of facilities which is fine but you don't need five minutes about it - and sure enough, they had to rush at the end of the first Session.  Directors seemed to have more questions to ask but they had to plow on. I'll have a write-up of my notes soon.  There were several handouts including this one that I thought parents might want to see.  It's the newest Facilities Master Plan Replacement or Major Modernization Priority list.  It has many categories of facil...

A good, brief wrap-up from SCPTSA's Eden Mack: Last night at the Seattle School Board meeting, Senators David Frockt , Jeanne Kohl-Welles , Jamie Pedersen and Representative Gerry Pollet were there to receive recognition for securing $25 million for capital funding.  I was there to ask that SPS make their legislative agenda more clearly state that fully funding per the court's orders was the #1 priority, and that they continue to advocate for funding the school buildings we desperately need.  They all said in their remarks (essentially) that they know that this amount is a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed. 

Let's start with the local which would be the Work Session on Seattle Schools becoming a charter authorizer.  This work session on was April 8th and the staff leads were Ronald Boyd (Legal),  Erin Bennett, Director Policy and Strategy Research, and Clover Codd, Executive Director of Strategic Planning & Partnerships. All the Board members were present as was Superintendent Nyland.  Nyland led with "From some time ago, the Board opposed them (charters) and that was then and this is now."   He said something about SPS being the biggest district.  He said the deadline to apply to to be an authorizer was in June and "we have just enough time to get on-board."   He also said SPS had " no option of not playing" as part of future levies will be going to charters (which is true).  He said SPS would want to know about charters located within district; what their focus is, location, etc.  He failed to mention that that information can be easily...

Tuesday, September 30th Meet Superintendent Nyland from 6 pm - 7:00 pm at New Holly Community Center, 7054 32nd Ave S Wednesday, October 1st Meet Superintendent Nyland from 8:30 am-9:30 am at John Muir Elementary, 3301 S. Horton St. School Board meeting , starting at 4:15 pm (note: there is to be an Executive Session on Potential Litigation from 8-8:30 pm Agenda On the Consent Agenda are various Board policies that have been revised.  Of note is that the Board will not be posting their agenda three "working" days before the meeting but three days.  Under the old policy, you could see the agenda on Friday (with Friday, Monday and Tuesday being the three "working" days) but under this new policy, you may not see the agenda until Sunday.  Action Items (partial) Race to the Top money for Pre-K-3.   Parents, we need to have a very serious talk soon about the district's PreK-3 Action Plan.  I did not know this existed until today (and it's in i...

That was interesting.  I'm going to flesh this out because I think a lot of these questions asked about Eckstein might ring true for your school building. I was a little confused at first as there were very few parents (even at 5:45 pm) and no handout.  It was in the Eckstein auditorium (about 1/3 ish full by the time it started.) The organizers were smart; Eckstein's curriculum night followed at 7 pm.  (although what a parking nightmare). The district was represented by Flip Herndon, Richard Best, Bruce Skowyra.  The meeting was videotaped (by I don't know by whom). Principal Sherry Kokx was there as was Executive Director, Kim Whitworth.  Elected officials included Rep. Gerry Pollet and Rep. David Frockt.  I saw no School Board members. Dr. Herndon said he would answer some questions already submitted and then take questions.   It's pretty easy - as the parents/staff circled back to the same questions - what the issue is. The district has a c...

From Publicola (partial) : Last month, federal agencies rejected an application from a coalition of homeless advocates to convert the old Federal Reserve building at 1015 2nd Ave. in downtown Seattle into a comprehensive homeless services center. But homeless advocates like Tristia Bauman "believe that the application was denied…in contravention of federal law” and are calling on the agencies to reconsider the fast-track rejection.

Earthfix and Investigate West had an excellent series , with data and graphics, on the use of school portables in Oregon and Washington State. InvestigateWest sent a survey to the 20 largest school districts in Oregon and Washington about its portable classroom use, policies and perspective. The survey asked each district how many portable classrooms it has and what percent of its total classrooms are portables. The survey also asked how many portable classrooms were newer than five years, how many were older than 20 years, and how many had been retrofitted with new heating, ventilation and air conditioning units, as well as a full inventory of all portable units. All districts responded but with varying levels of detail. Numbers are estimates in some cases. Part One: The Price of a Quick Fix - environmental and health costs Part Two: The System Part Three: Rethinking Classrooms Graphics Data There's also a link to this report - Washington Sustainable Schoo...

Well, that was interesting.  I'm sorry there were so few people there (but my experience is that many people never go to SCPTSA meetings anyway, choosing to go to their school PTA meeting). As usual, they had food (so no one goes hungry) and welcoming faces.  I note that the Board is a multi-racial one.  (SCPTSA President Katherine Schomer later mentioned that they have been unable to find a rep from either the NW or NE.  So much for that theory that the NE runs SCPTSA.) Much of the entire senior staff was in attendance including Superintendent Banda. President Schomer started the meeting by acknowledging their contact list has problems and they have been struggling with it since fall.  Apparently the state PTA has had issues of sending SCPTSA updated information on what PTAs are members and who their contacts are. As well, the SCPTSA is working on a new website . They did talk about the state PTA convention coming up from April 25-27th over in Belle...

Here's the latest on this story: From My Northwest : So far, the only response from the school district came in an email saying they'll let Northwest Center know the next step after enrollment numbers are in on March 7 . By that time, Northwest Center will have just three months left to figure out a plan.  From The Stranger Slog , now we have a Seattle legislator involved: The Northwest Center understands that they may have to move, but is asking for more time to find a suitable location for their developmentally and physically disabled students, many of whom require a facility that will accommodate their specific needs. SPS spokesperson Teresa Wippel told me that the old Van Asselt school has been offered to the Northwest Center, but Northwest Center President and CEO Tom Everill says, "There is no offer of Van Asselt on the table—no planning or site analysis has been done, and there are no applications for construction permits or licensing."  I...

I attended the Board Work Session yesterday on Capital Programs and Plans.  It was both informative and annoying. Attending were Directors McLaren, Patu, Blanford, Peters, Peaselee and Martin-Morris.  Director Carr, like at last week's Board meeting, was not in attendance.  Staff included Superintendent Banda and the head of Capital/Facilities, Flip Herndon.  Dr. Herndon gave the entire presentation. There was a good laugh before the meeting when Director Blanford said that he had a lot of people asking him if he was Richard Sherman or Marshawn Lynch of the Seahawks (the only similarity is that they are all three black men with long hair - they don't look like each other at all.)  I later asked Director Blanford if anyone asked him if he was Lawrence Fishburne - a joke based on an entertainment reporter who this week was interviewing Samuel L. Jackson and thought he was Lawrence Fishburne.  Jackson's reaction was priceless. Dr. Herndon did two good th...

Looks like most of the operations/technology levies for Puget Sound regional schools are passing - Bellevue, Lake Washington, Issaquah, Northshore, Mercer Island, Shoreline, Federal Way and Kent.  Bond measures for buildings - which have to have 60% to win - are a mixed bag. Bellevue's, at $450M, was passing easily while Lake Washington's is just short at 57% for their $775M measure (larger than SPS' last BEX).  Mercer Island revamped their last capital bond measure that lost in April 2012 at $196M to one at $99M.  It appears to have easily passed.  It is still a shame that our districts have to beg voters for the money needed to run our schools instead of our state legislature fully-funding those costs.  It's interesting that the state wants new initiatives like Common Core but doesn't seem to want to pay into what needs to be done to make sure they roll-out well. Speaking of capital money, Seattle legislators like Gerry Pollet and Reuven Carlyle (among...

Just asking because apparently in NYC, there is a group of charters that is so against one mayoral candidate - Bill de Blasio - that their leader shut down all the schools, and told the parents they needed to come and march. Charter law in NY State requires charters to pay for any city services or facilities at cost.  The Success Academy Charter School group - which has 22 schools in NYC, all co-located with a real public school - is upset that de Blasio and others want that law enforced.  From the NYC Public School Parents blog: Arthur Schwartz, attorney with Advocates for Justice, who first filed a lawsuit on behalf of public school and charter school parents on this issue in 2011, says: “New York State Education Law requires that when a district provides space or services to a charter school it shall do so at cost.  Yet the DOE provides free space and services for more than 100 co-located charter schools.  Using figures from the NYC Independent Budget Office,...

I learned some new things at last night's Board meeting about the growth boundaries and decided to pull them out as a separate thread. 1) There is to be an added Work Session on growth boundaries in the next couple of weeks.  President Smith-Blum stated this but no date was given.  She also stated that a big concern for the Board is that "we don't compromise instructional quality" in these discussion. UPDATE: The Work Session will be AFTER the Intro of the plan to the Board, sometime between Oct 16th and Nov. 20th.  I wish it was before Intro, given we are two weeks out from that.   2) The Superintendent and various Board members specifically said thank you to all who have given comments on the boundaries.  It seems pretty clear that they ARE listening.  And, I believe the Board is listening enough to push back in some areas.  I'm not sure which ones but I believe the plan is definitely fluid. 3) One issue has risen to the top of my radar (t...

I recently wrote to the Board with some of the bigger ideas that I have heard here and percolated up from the Growth Boundary meetings.   Here's what I told them about Wilson-Pacific: What I hear from parents is that they do NOT want to share their valuable neighborhood space with any program if they don't have to.  APP is NOT a beloved program and it will not be welcomed with open arms anywhere in the N/NE.  Why set up a situation like that especially if it may end up that the program might need to be exited? I honestly believe the right course is to leave APP elementary North at Lincoln.  Permanently. (Clearly, not the whole building but it sets up great possibilities.)  You could even have an APP 1-8 there and believe me, it would make many people (pro and con APP) happy.  But what about Lincoln as a high school?  Look, it is really close to Roosevelt already, has virtually no field space and needs massive updates.  So the sol...

A reader with background in planning and with much knowledge/background on the district and facilities offers these thoughts on what may be coming for high schools and growth.   ( Gray areas are my thoughts as we go along and the rest is the reader's.) To understand: coming up fast is the possibility of very overcrowded high schools.  Not 5, 10 years out but probably three years.  But a three-year plan may be all that is possible at this point especially since the needs/growth is very different for each region of the district. And guess what?  Nearly out of inventory.  Where will everyone go?  Will the district go to shifts (and they have done this in the past)?  Portables?  The reader's basic thoughts: get this out to the Seattle legislators.  We need help. get high school on the table now.  High schools are high stakes for students and parents. fix the worst of the BEX mistakes.  There were many but all of the stuf...

Based on statements made by Superintendent Banda and President Smith-Blum, I believe the district is doing its best to be diplomatic and pragmatic with the former tenants in the Horace Mann building. The Superintendent has said he wants to try to find solutions. President Smith-Blum says staff made it clear when leasing the building that it was for a limited time and has a "claw back" clause (as nearly every lease of a school building does because the district needs to have the use of the building in case of need or crisis). What is interesting is that it appears the actual lease holders (those who contracted with the district) HAVE moved out to other locations.  The other groups that remain (with subleases from the original lease holders) are the ones asking to stay. She says: "The Superintendent felt it was important to help the groups still in the building relocate as they are doing some good things with kids at risk. The task force has a fairly succinct chart...

In the "what!?" category, the Times is reporting that the district is "reconsidering" their plans for the Horace Mann building which is to rehouse Nova High School.  There are some pretty unbelievable statements like: - in one place in the article the Times says the district has not been charging rent to any of the groups using the building.  Yet later on, they say that one group was paying $3,300 a month and then sub-leased the building out to another group who then - it seems - sublease to others "paying what they could afford.  (They also paid for heating the building. )  I don't get how paying rent and paying utilities is that unusual for a lease.   -the district is forming ("has formed")  a taskforce (another one?) to study options and see if these programs align with the five-year strategic plan. - the district is "committed" to helping them continue to use Mann or find other space.  Why is this the district's job? The...

And roll. Looks like there is going to be a LOT of activity at the Board meeting on Wednesday.  Apparently we may see: - teachers who are unhappy about the possible class size increase - community organizers unhappy about their exit from the Horace Mann building in order to make way for Nova to come back and now, - the so-called Our Schools group.  Here's their reason to be at the Board meeting: Nearly three years ago, the Seattle School District negotiated a collective bargaining agreement between teachers and the district that outlined strategies for closing Seattle’s opportunity and achievement gaps. Article II Partnership for Closing the Achievement Gap would develop and implement a parent/community engagement process, monitor stability of staff in low-performing schools, monitor data like discipline and attendance records in determining students at-risk for dropping out, and financially support school-level initiatives focused on closing gaps. The Our Schools C...

 (I have very mixed feelings about these appointments.  Both men have good education skills.  Mr. Wright is the more worrisome of the two.  He has close ties with the Gates Foundation. He got onto the board of the Alliance for Education just nine months after he moved to Seattle a couple of years back.  That's something of a record for the Alliance to put him on their Board.  His resume shows that he has been something of a job hopper and frankly, I doubt he'll stick around longer than a year or two.  He looks like a real data guy and, for our concerns about student privacy data, he may be a key player to convince in order to protect those privacy rights. Mr. Herndon, like Superintendent Banda, comes from a small district where, according to the bio, they just passed their first (!) capital levy.  The enormity of the facilities and capital issues in SPS may look like a tidal wave to him.  On the other hand, he seems to support alternative...