Seattle Schools Community Forum

The deadline for input on the Advanced Learning draft updates has been extended until Wednesday, Oct. 22nd.   The draft policy and procedures are available through the link in the right hand column on www.seattleschools.org/advlearning . The Oct. 22 public comment deadline will provide time for the Advanced Learning Office to edit the documents if necessary before they are introduced to the full school board at the Nov. 5 board meeting. A vote is expected at the December 3 meeting. Community members who would like to submit a comment should email it to advlearn@seattleschools.org and be sure to include POLICY – in all caps – in the subject line. The district is also looking for input on the "revised Special Education policy related to Commencement Exercises and Certificate of Attendance." Deadline for comment is Oct. 31, 2014. The draft policy will introduced to the Seattle School Board at its Nov. 5 meeting. The draft policy is posted on the district’s Speci...

Apparently Whittier Elementary now has a 15-minute lunch and 15-minute recess (it had been a 20-minute lunch and a 20-minute recess last year). Given these narrow windows - and the time it takes kids to work through a line and get served - some of the kids who are eating the hot lunch (and this means the FRL kids) only get about five minutes of seated lunch time before being excused to recess. If this is true, it is out of compliance with District policy and procedure ( H61.01 ). Concerns have fallen on deaf ears at the school. Families are meeting on Thursday evening to determine a plan of escalation and action. Can anyone provide additional detail?

I recently became aware that just like start times, lunchtime varies widely from school to school.  There is a Board procedure - H61.01 that states: "Meal periods shall be long enough for students to eat and socialize – a minimum of 10 minutes are provided to eat breakfast and 20 minutes to eat lunch with additional time as appropriate for standing in line". "It is the policy of the Seattle School District, that each school located in a District building participate in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Providing quality, nutritious meals that appeal to students in a safe, clean, pleasant dining environment shall be a priority." As Charlie likes to point out, a procedure or policy is only as good as those who will enforce it.  In this case, that would be the Superintendent.  What has come to light is that a growing number of elementary schools are having lunch periods of 20 minutes or less.   While some kids eat quickly, others don'...