Seattle Schools Community Forum

(Yes, I know I'm supposed to be gone but I saw this in my mail and wanted to pass it along to any interested groups.) The W.K. Kellogg Foundation yesterday  announced  a $5 million investment to identify and expand promising family engagement efforts that support early childhood educational success. Given your interest in education and family engagement issues, I thought you might be interested in sharing this news with your networks. I’ve included more information and a sample tweet below. The foundation is seeking initial submissions of intent from organizations and groups striving to build innovative, equitable and effective family-engagement approaches and will invest up to $5 million in 2013-14 with possible funding of up to $500,000 for one to three years. Applications, available on  this website  which includes more information, are due  Sept. 23, 2013 . From First Book Seattle: If you work with children from low income families or i...

Tuesday, June 4th The Board will be evaluating the Superintendent in an Executive Session.  I would think that he would get a pretty favorable evaluation given that he has filled some key posts.  As well, at yesterday's Board retreat, various people were thanking others.  Director Carr said, about Banda's efforts on the Strategic Plan, that she appreciated his collaborative attitude as compared to the previous SP which she labeled "top-down." Wednesday, June 5th Board Meeting , starting at 4:15 pm.   Agenda . I regret to inform you that, once again, the school calendar for next year has been pulled off the agenda by the Superintendent.  I would assume this is about the teachers contract but this is now getting very late for next year's calendar.   Cleveland High School will name its library after a teacher who taught there for 25 years, Edward Landon, and was beloved by students. The district is getting a grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundat...

Seattle Public Schools is joining with six other local school districts in an application for a federal Race To The Top grant. This year, the competition for federal education grants has been expanded from just states to include school districts. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Seattle, has teamed up with the school districts in Auburn, Tukwila, Highline, Renton, Federal Way and Kent, to submit a shared application. Details are available in a press release here .

From Youth Changing the World (via the Mayor's office): Want to make a difference? Take action? Solve a tough community problem? YSA can help! Each year, YSA supports youth-led service with over $1 million in YSA Grants.   Deadlines for many of our programs for the 12-13 school and program year are fast approaching! YSA Grants with application deadlines this month include: YSA Grants & Awards for K-12 Schools State Farm Good Neighbor Student Achievement Grants 75 grants of $1,500 - Deadline: July 31  Sodexo Foundation School Engagement Grants 12 grants of $5,000 - Deadline: July 15  Harris Wofford Award - Young Educator 1 award of $1,000 - Deadline: July 22  YSA Grants for Community Organizations Global Youth Service Day Lead Agency Grants 100 grants of $2,000 - Deadline: July 15  Sodexo Foundation Lead Organizer Grants 12 grants of $2,000 - Deadline: July 15  MLK Day Lead Organizer Grants 16 grants of $4,000 - Deadline: Jul...

I was at the SPS website checking for any new updates and came upon a notice about an event happening tomorrow - the 2011 School Improvement Superstars Summit .   I thought, "Darn, how did I miss putting this on the events page?"  Upon examination there's something very odd about this event. First, it has both a webpage and a blog page which are separate from the SPS website.  I don't know why or if they are privately maintained (the blog page appears to be).  The organizer seems to be the woman who maintains the blog page, Rachel Osborn, billed as "consulting teacher in SPS Grants & Fiscal Compliance."  Second, what is the event for? Title 1 managers and principals from around the state will attend the event to learn together, share ideas and collaborate. The purpose of the summit is to help raise student achievement at the highest need schools and to strengthen the statewide Title 1 network. Okay, fine but why is SPS putting this on? Th...

Meg Diaz wanted to let readers know that she did an analysis of personnel cuts from the last Work Session (2/9/11) on the budget. Her full report is at her blog , Dolce & Nutella . (Did you know that Costco sells Nutella in big jars a lot cheaper than anywhere else? But I digress.) Her basic points are good (I did a bit of cut-and-paste to put point together rather than spread out in her thread): When basic school and student funding is on the chopping block – and it is, since WSS cuts are being considered – then everything else needs to be up there as well. And if it's not, saying "it's grant-funded" isn't enough. There needs to be detailed transparency justifying the protection of that much administrative expense. However . Only 2/3 of Central Administration employees were even listed on the "core FTEs" handout (compared to 100% of Other Support). Central Administration cannot be effectively restructured when over 1/3rd of the organiza...

I did not know this but there is an e-newsletter, Arts eNews (Seattle Public Schools Visual and Performing Arts eNews). In the Dec-Jan issue, there is a survey about arts in SPS. Gotta say, a good newsletter with a LOT of grant funding opportunities for both teachers and students. Here's a link to the e-news page (with a link to subscribe).

From Communications: Seattle Education Foundation officials will present a $20,000 grant check to Dr. Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent, on January 21 at Olympic Hills Elementary School. Funds from the grant – ranging from $134 to $1,000 – will be distributed to 25 Seattle Public Schools teachers and benefit students throughout the District. Click here for list . The presentation will take place in the classroom of one of the grant recipients, Paul Brown, a second-/third-grade teacher at Olympic Hills. Another grant recipient from the school, kindergarten teacher Jennifer Johnson, will be joining Brown for the presentation. The Seattle Education Foundation awards the grants to prekindergarten through Grade 12 teachers for proposals in innovative activities that will improve and enhance the quality of education for Seattle Public Schools students. The foundation has distributed approximately $500,000 to SPS educators over the past 20 years. Thanks to the Se...