Seattle Schools Community Forum

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...

Is it me?  I don't think so.  Lately there have been a swelling of stories that involve misogyny.  First up, is this story from ThinkProgress from West Virginia where a high school brought in a faith-based speaker to talk to the teens about abstinence.  I think all high school should be talking to teens about sex and abstinence can certainly be part of that discussion.  But this discussion was not just saying "wait kids."  In fact, the fliers that advertised it said "God's plan for sexual purity."  Stenzel has a long history of using inflammatory rhetoric to convince young people that they will face dire consequences for becoming sexually active. At GW’s assembly, Stenzel allegedly told students that “if you take birth control, your mother probably hates you” and “I could look at any one of you in the eyes right now and tell if you’re going to be promiscuous.” She also asserted that condoms aren’t safe, and every instance of sexual contact...

Tonight and tomorrow night, PBS is showing 180 Days: A Year Inside an American High School .  It's a two-part 4-hour special about a "failing" high school in Washington, D.c. where only seven percent of students are deemed proficient in math and only 19 percent in reading.  It was produced by the National Black Programming Consortium.  (Locally, KCTS 9 is showing it on both nights, starting at 9 p.m.) From the director, Jacquie Jones', piece at the Huffington Post: After receiving this press release, a veteran African American journalist for whom I have the utmost respect, asked me this question in an email: "I looked at the   site   for this program and I see that the team spent a lot of time in the high school, but what I'm not getting is why this is compelling television. Why should I watch?" That's a good question. And, as I said to him, my honest answer on whether or not you should watch really depends on how interested you are in the to...

From the Washington Post : The percentage of students at public high schools who graduate on time has reached its highest level in nearly 40 years, according to the most recent federal government estimates released Tuesday . Based on data collected from the states for the Class of 2010, the National Center for Education Statistics estimated that 78 percent of students across the country earned a diploma within four years of starting high school. The graduation rate was last at that level in 1974, officials said. Asian students had the highest graduation rate, with 93 percent of students finishing high school on time. White students followed with an 83 percent graduation rate, American Indians and Alaska Natives with 69.1 percent and African Americans with 66.1 percent. Notable in 2010 was the rise in the percentage of Hispanic students who graduate on time, with a 10-point jump over the past five years, to 71.4 percent.  Boys dropped out of school in...

What is the standing of women and girls in the world today?  It's hard to know. On the one hand, we now have more women in Congress than ever before.  There are now 20 women in the Senate (although as The Stranger points out, that's a group that has been around for 200 years and yet it has taken this long).  New Hampshire state government seems to be an all-woman squad at this point.  Many European countries have long had female leaders. Yet, throughout the world, rape is still a harsh and terrible tool used against women and girls.  The young woman in India who died from her injuries (and I had wondered why that was until I read that a metal rod had been used and torn her internal organs apart) has now caused women in India to say enough.   But will it be enough when you still have men who say "don't wear dresses and don't go out after dark?" Now what has been happening in the U.S.  Well, there's this from Congress via The Atlantic: AWA, which...

Interesting (and lengthly) essay from a student teacher that carefully outlines her concerns with TFA .  The ones about the link between TFA and charter schools is especially timely for Washington State.  (Also a good story here on that link from the National Journal.) From Education Week, a very good comparison of what Romney and Obama have in mind for public education. From Education Week, a review of a new book about the most selective public high schools in the country. For each of the 11 schools that Finn or Hockett personally visited, the book describes the climate for learning. Here's how they summed it up: By and large, all the schools we visited were serious, purposeful places: competitive but supportive, energized yet calm. Behavior problems (save for cheating and plagiarism) were minimal, and students attended regularly. The kids wanted to be there, and were motivated to succeed. Most classrooms they observed were "alive, engaged places,...

Start School Later Seattle will meet at the Wayward Coffee House at 5 pm on Wed 5/30.  The coffee house is at 65th and Roosevelt, parking is off the alley just west of Roosevelt Court. 

A request was made for a thread about high schools and parents' experiences with them.  I did a quick check and it appears most high schools are having at least one daytime tour and one evening tour (Roosevelt and Hale seem to be the only ones with a single tour.)  Again, while the tours aren't always the most fun, it is a very good way to get a feel for a building, see what gets emphasized, and, if it is during the day, to see the energy at the school.  My students attended Hale and Roosevelt.  I think they both received a good education and were prepared for college.  Each was a good fit for each son.  (This is one reason I really feel unhappy about the lack of 10% set-aside seats under the NSAP.   High school IS a big deal and you want your student to feel good about the school he/she attends.  They need to feel a part of that tribe.  That said, I know people who easily switched high schools so it can be done.) One observation I h...

From the Occupy Your High School Facebook Group: We are Garfield High School students, speaking on behalf of and with Seattle Public Schools students tired of the constant cuts to our education. We are the people who have been affected most by these cuts, and we are showing that we care. For too long, this state's budget has been balanced on the backs of its students. Apparently, our representatives in Olympia have forgotten that the constitution says that funding education is this state's paramount duty. This is a student voice reminding our legislature of that fact. And also of this one: We are this country's future. We will vote. And we will hold them accountable. We will walk out of Garfield High School on Wednesday the 30th of November at 12:30 PM to march to City Hall and tell the world that we are fed up with the lack of funding for education. We have two primary goals we hope to accomplish: We want to stop the constant cuts to education that have hurt ou...

From the district: The district has agreed to withdraw the proposed policy over the student newspapers and will revisit it in 2012.  The Seattle School District today announced that it will withdraw a policy proposal involving school district-sponsored freedom of expression. Interim Superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield said that school board directors and district administrators jointly agreed to revisit the policy, introduced to the Seattle School Board Nov. 2, to ensure that it better reflects the community’s values. “As we move forward in updating our policies, as chair of the curriculum and instruction policy committee, I will direct staff to ensure that any policy we develop regarding student expression is reflective of the language and values that we share in Seattle,” said School Board Director Harium Martin-Morris. Based on a shared concern between district leadership and the Board, this policy will be pulled from the current list of updates, scheduled for Boar...

From the NY Times, a story about a CDCP  advisory committee recommending vaccinating boys and young men against human papillomavirus ( HPV ). The committee recommended that boys ages 11 and 12 should be vaccinated. It also recommended vaccination of males ages 13 through 21 who had not already had all three shots. Vaccinations may be given to boys as young as 9 and to men between the ages of 22 and 26. HPV infection is the most common sexually transmitted disease — between 75 percent and 80 percent of females and males in the United States will be infected at some point in their lives. Most will overcome the infection with no ill effects. But in some people, infections lead to cellular changes that cause warts or cancer, including cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancers in women and anal cancers in men and women. A growing body of evidence suggests that HPV also causes throat cancers in men and women as a result of oral sex. And not to get too graphic here, folks, but for those...

This Accountability Audit Report by the State Auditor was better than the one in February if you are only looking at money.  But yes, money was once again lost and while the amounts are smaller than in February, it still damning and painful.

Am I media or not?  I wish the district would make - up - their - minds.  Anyway, there was a media briefing this morning with Dr. Enfield.  Here's what the Slog article had to say. "I think there's a big difference between caving and listening," Enfield said. "The decision that I made originally was hard, but I made a commitment to the community to listen and I listened. I felt this was the best way to move forward." But Enfield said that her decision to not renew Floe's contract had come after a year-long review period. "I have to make the best decision with the data I have," she said. "... The challenge was Floe and I were privy to information parents didn't have. So that was frustrating."   She added that part of the problem was that people failed to understand that there was a proper process in place. Enfield hopes to make that more transparent in the future . "When we make hard personnel decisions, we...

Over at the Seattle Weekly, Nina Shapiro took a big picture look at what it all means.  She zeros in on some key points.  It makes good points to ponder and mull over. 

There have been quite a few changes in the agenda for tonight's meeting.  Some are a bit puzzling.  (I also suspect the speaker list - which is full and has 20 on the waitlist) will change now that Ingraham's principal is off the table as an issue.)

The Times' article this morning on the reversal of the Floe firing has some great quotes.  This from Paul Hill of the Center for Reinventing Public Education: "It kind of gives a blueprint for resistance," said Paul Hill, director of the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education. "It invites a political response to every action." He said it also suggests that Enfield didn't realize Floe could mount a strong political response to what she likely viewed as a straightforward personnel decision. Boy, Professor Hill makes a lot of assumptions.   Blueprint for resistance?  You mean like calling your School Board member, creating a Facebook page, going old school with a peition and talking to the Superintendent?  That kind of scary blueprint? Also, people act like somehow parents are now going to get listened to more often by the Superintendent and staff.  One half-way success does not make parents any more powerful than the...

From the Superintendent; May 17, 2011 Dear Ingraham staff, students and families: When I was appointed Interim Superintendent, it was with the clear charge to strengthen opportunities for all students to learn. You asked me to bring high levels of transparency and accountability to this effort. The decision I made last Tuesday about the leadership of Ingraham High School Principal Martin Floe reflects my efforts to realize these commitments. However, I also know that a good leader listens. After extensive conversations with Ingraham High School staff and the community, I have decided to renew Mr. Floe’s contact for the 2011-12 school year, under the condition that he continue on a plan of improvement, which I, along with his Executive Director, will monitor throughout the year. If Seattle Public Schools is truly to make gains for our students, we must hold all of our leaders to a high standard of performance.  The work my team completed over many months leading up t...

Wednesday Work Session on Integrated Capacity Management - 4:00 - 4:45 p.m.  No agenda/presentation available yet. Exit Conference for Financial Statements and Federal Single Audit Report - 4:45 -5:30 p.m. - This would appear to be for the State Auditor's office.  I'll call for more details.  Board Meeting - 6:00 - 9:00 pm.  Agenda Highlights: Science update by Cathy Thompson - ( for fun, look for those grammatical errors).  They feel they need to keep explaining what alignment is and is not but teachers, how are you seeing the alignment as it rolls out?   Page 8 gives the science scores for last year - there is quite a clear divide and I'd be interested to know what factors are in play.  (It can't be facilities; Nova does almost as well as the higher ranked schools like Garfield and Center.)  There is finally a written validation process - again, teachers how likely is it an alternative science course can be validated as this is ...

His take on the Floe firing.

Anyone who has ever read Oprah's O Magazine knows she has a column where she talks about an "ah ha" moment. So I have been pondering the Martin Floe issue and thinking that Ms. Dussault certainly isn't all powerful and Susan Enfield probably thought long and hard about this.  So I went back and looked through some other data (and talked to some trusted sources).  I believe I now understand the reasoning behind this firing but I think the district has a fight on its hands, nonetheless. Simply put, Ingraham is in Level 5 of AYP.