Seattle Schools Community Forum

To note; even though SPS is not open tomorrow, Monday the 2nd, you can sign up for the speakers list for public testimony for Wednesday's Board meeting.  Starting at 8 am, either call 252-0040 with your info or send an e-mail to boardagenda@seattleschools.org.

As I previously reported, I attended last week's Growth Boundary meeting at Eckstein.  I estimate that there were about 50 people there, many from Green Lake Elementary and Sacajawea Elementary.  Staff in attendance included Enrollment's Ashley Davies, Facilities' Flip Herndon as well as Board member, Jill Geary.  The next boundary meeting is this Tuesday at Hamilton at 6:30 pm. and on Thursday at Mercer MS at 6:30 pm.

I had an interview with KPLU's Kyle Stokes about the redlined student assignment plan.  He then went to the district who provided him with their accounting of the changes to the  SAP .  Apparently I'm Chicken Little. According to the district (and they put this in their document three times): There are only two proposed policy changes:  Waitlists will now be dissolved on May 31, instead of September 30.  The distance tiebreaker has been removed, in keeping with the Student Assignment Plan that was approved in 2009. This document is not at the district webpage (even as the Board will be voting on it this Wednesday.) Additionally:

Suggested e-mail to the Board on this issue with key points; edit at will. If you want the Board AND senior staff to see your e-mail, write to : schoolboard@seattleschools.org If you want ONLY the Board to see your e-mail, write to: spsdirectors@seattleschools.org If you want to sign up to speak at the Board meeting, call at 8 am Monday morning, 252-0040 and follow the prompts or send your email on or after 8am Monday morning to boardagenda@seattleschools.org E-mail suggestion Dear Directors,

Seattle Schools running 2 hours late (but being parents, you already know that). I have seen no statement from the Seattle Times or OSPI on their student data sharing agreement to share Seattle students' data.  Nothing like a newspaper not reporting the news.   Want to let Randy Dorn at OSPI know? Randy I. Dorn superintendent@k12.wa.us (360) 725-6004  I promise to write a wrap-up of the Operations Committee meeting of yesterday because some fairly major things were announced.  Transportation is desperate to save money and in the name of that effort: 1. bell times could change for about 21 elementaries, 5 regular K-8s, 5 Option K-8s, 1 middle school and 4 high schools.  It's not a significant change for the overwhelming majority. but there will be a change. 2. There could be transportation changes affecting up to 1300 students in the district.  The most basic change would be for Option students who would be told that transportation will no l...

(Note: readers started commenting on this at the Friday Open Thread.  I had thought to try to transfer their comments to this new thread but was unable to do so.  I created a new thread as to make this huge issue, front and center here.) From SPS: The recommendations below go to the Board on November 6 for action on November 20. (The information from previous proposals is now obsolete.) Two Types of Recommendations Long-range boundaries that will be phased in as construction is completed by 2020.  Map showing long-range boundaries to be phased in  through 2020 Recommendations for specific components to implement next year.  Map showing recommedations to implement for the  2014-15 school year Board Materials Board Action Report (BAR) for November 6 Complete maps packet for the Board  (includes more detailed attendance area maps, feeder patterns, and geozone maps) Reference materials for the Board Summaries of public input— ...

I attended Director Martin-Morris' this morning and yes, it was all growth boundaries.  It was an interesting discussion because it was so specific in some cases (and rightly so - you look at the maps and the lines and have to wonder) and broader in others.  I was pleasantly surprised at some of what Director Martin-Morris said (and his tone).  Unfortunately, I can't recap right (no time) but I will try to do so soon. But I put this up as an open thread in case anyone went to Director DeBell's community meeting and would like to report back. Update: Meeting Minutes There were about 15 people there, all impatient to talk with Harium. Issues discussed:

I was quite startled when a reader, TC,  put in this comment taken from the district's Enrollment Planning - Growth Boundaries page : The information from the September 17 draft is now obsolete. Recommendations to the Seattle School Board, dated October 16, will be available after they are posted with the Board agenda at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 11. Many of the recommendations are different from the earlier draft due to community input. Of course, it IS great the district is listening.  However, it makes it quite difficult to know what may be coming, what will be on the survey and when to given NEW input. Needless to say, if you have not already commented on this, by all means, chime in. If you have commented, I would wait until we see the new recommendations tomorrow and/or see what the survey says (which is to be on-line sometime early next week) to give further input to staff/Board. Since the recommendations will not be available until very late Frid...

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...

It was a full house but frankly, not as full as I thought it would be (and certainly not the crowd that Charlie had - Tracy Libros said there were at least 250 people at Monday's event).   There were three legislators there - Rep. Jamie Pedersen, Rep. Gerry Pollet and Senator David Frockt.  I saw just two Board members - Director DeBell and Director Peaslee (odd that Martin-Morris wasn't there - this is his region).  There were also several members of the FACMAC committee. I sat at a table with parents worried about several issues but they seems resigned.  I also sat with two reporters from the Roosevelt News.  They worry over losing diversity at their school and overcrowding.  I set them up to talk with Shauna Heath.  Big Picture A couple of themes I came away with that I hope ALL parents understand. This is a serious situation (and probably more serious than the district is letting on although Flip Herdon did let two things slip that s...

Looking at the School Board agenda for tonight's meeting, there are many changes. (One thing that hasn't changed is that there is no information what the Superintendent's update, CAO update or COO update will be about tonight.) One big change is that Kay Smith-Blum has withdrawn her amendment . Her statement seems to reflect having listened to her constituents and finding their reasoning plausible. First, I have withdrawn my amendment from tonight's agenda. I greatly appreciate your input and sincerely apologize for any anxiety caused. My amendment would NOT have reassigned any student, but I appreciate neighbors who would like to see their children continue to be assigned to the same school and greatly appreciate the upheaval the NSAP/TT Minor closure has had on the neighborhood. The numbers the board received LAST NIGHT from Tracy Libros show that Steven's enrollment will be up from the already 111% capacity, and do not include siblings of current Stev...

Just to be clear about the grandfathering of siblings, here's the official word from the SPS News and Calendar piece on the Transition Plan : In-coming kindergarten siblings: The School Board and staff at Seattle Public Schools have a sincere desire to enable incoming, non-attendance area kindergarten siblings to be assigned to the same school as their older sibling if requested by the family. While we are not able to guarantee sibling grandfathering, we are fully committed to making every reasonable effort to accommodate as many kindergarten siblings as possible in their older sibling's school. The Transition Plan outlines a series of steps to accomplish that goal. For families whose preference for the Kindergarten sibling to attend the older child's school cannot be honored, we are committed to a "safety net" so the students will not have to attend a different school. (bold and italics mine) STEM STEM Open House @ Cleveland Saturday, January 23, 2010 9:30 am –...

To note again here: I was mistaken about next week's P ublic Hearing speaking time. It IS 3 minutes as it is at the Board meetings so they will have room for 40 speakers . Please note: I may go out of order of what was said when to group like items. Dr. Goodloe-Johnson went over a lot of backstory on the SAP but did say a couple of interesting things about "first implementation steps". She said that they need to gather information about incoming kindergarten siblings . I'm guessing that means how many there are for next year and possibly after. They have to "complete transportation eligibility analysis". Again, figuring out who gets transportation where. (Someone asked about an analysis of how we save any money on transportation under the new SAP but it will take several years to realize it. I can't see how they could anytime soon.) Fall 2010 opening Sand Point, McDonald and Old Hay with Rainier View and Viewlands to follow . This is a bit of a ...

There is a group circulating a petition to grandfather incoming sibs to a current sib's school under the new assignment plan. It is called Keep Our Kids Together but I don't know who is organized by; there is no info available. There appears to be over 900 signatures mostly NE from the comments. As we have seen from the racial tiebreaker, you can be grandfathering kids for a very long time and the district's desire is to limit transportation costs so the district may stand firm on this one. World Environment Day June 5, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Myrtle Edwards Park Local themes: Save the Orcas! Save the Sound! and Celebrate Seattle Schools Green Action Heroes! A kids march, picnicking, entertainment, displays and booths. Sponsored by Seattle Schools Green Team Network, People for the Puget Sound, National Wildlife Federation, SAM at the Olympic Sculpture Garden, Island Wood.