Seattle Schools Community Forum

 Updated with Pinehurst news Monday, October 28th Operations Committee meeting from 4-6 p.m.  Agenda .   It includes the policies on weapons prohibition for both students and adults/visitors, data sharing (clarification on opting out procedures) and discussion of the green resolution impact on policies and procedures.  Pegi McEvoy will also report on transportation service standards. SPED PTA meeting at 7pm at JSCEE .  Tracy Libros of Enrollment Planning as well as Sped Director Zakiyyah McWilliams will be there.  Everyone is welcome.   Tuesday, October 29th Performing and Visual Arts College Fair from 7-9 p.m.  List of colleges/programs at this fair.  This is not a district event but sponsored by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Final Hearing for Pinehurst K-8 from 7-8 p.m. at the Pinehurst building.   Apparently, Thornton Creek principal, John Miner, will be there to speak on the feasibility ...

 Executive Committee agenda for Wednesday.  Hey, all of you waiting for next year's school calendar - they will be discussing that.  (I note that other districts have theirs published already.) Audit& Finance agenda for Thursday.  I see there is a "resolution" about moving leases and rental revenue to the General Fund.  Well, okay but ONLY if it goes to building maintenance.  Those are really capital dollars and should go to capital needs.  But I'll bet they won't.  Work Session presentation on Boundaries. 

Early notice to put on your calendar is the Building Bridges for Summer Learning symposium on Saturday, May 18th at Garfield High from 10 am to 2:30 pm.   From SPS: Seattle Public Schools will hold a  Building Bridges for Summer Learning symposium on Saturday, May 18 at Garfield High School. All families are invited to attend this free event which includes workshops and a Summer Learning Community Resource Fair. A light  morning snack and lunch will be served. Children's activities, transportation, and interpreters will be available.  Click here to download program brochure. Wednesday, May 8th Executive Committee Meeting from 10 am-11:30 am.  No agenda yet available. Work Session: Growth Boundaries from 4-4:45 pm.  This is fairly short Work Session so I'm not sure how much of an early warning on new boundaries this might be.  No agenda yet available. Work Session: Green Building Resoluti...

Lots of news: - the Rainier Beach PTSA is being honored with one of twelve Champion of Change awards  next Friday at the White House.  From RBHS PTSA: We will travel to Washington, DC and stand together as we accept one of the most significant public honors for this community in some time.  Recipients of this award will enjoy a guided tour of the East Wing, Policy briefing, lunch, Champion of Change event, photo opportunity and story featured on the White House website. Yes, yes and yes!  Congrats to those wonderful leaders at RBHS, Carline Brown, Rita Green and LaCretiah Claytor.  This is how we get it done.  - it looks like Bryant has posted its teacher list at The Source.  Check it for your teachers as well. - from the Columbia Legal Services , the number of homeless students in Washington State has gone up by 19% in 2010-2011.   All but nine counties have a greater than 2% population.  Almost a third are in rural ar...

The needs for BEX IV are considerable and complex.   But we have to hope that, moving forward, the district does give a thought and an ear to more green building and sustainable buildings.  If we are spending so much on buildings, there should be thought to how to build more cheaply and create buildings that will have lower operating costs. This is going on in districts in our surrounding areas.  One example is in Marysville where after a bond got approved in May 2007, they built their high school bigger (almost 100,000 square feet more) and yet experienced only a slight uptick in energy costs because of their building practices.  They are using a geothermal heating/cooling system that is expected to save almost $60k per year versus the conventional boiler/chiller system.  SPS is also installing some of these geothermal heating/cooling systems. Also, Marysville used stained concrete floors (very much a new and popular idea in home and commercial use)....