Seattle Schools Community Forum

I KNEW it. Dora Taylor (who is the main writer/moderator for Seattle Education blog) and I both write public education blogs. We write about different things (and that's a good thing for people in this region/state who care about public education.)  We sometimes disagree. But one thing we have agreed on is that Mayor Murray has plans to get the City a heck of a lot more involved with the direction of public education in this city.  And, he's not going to do so much via official lines of contact but thru many other methods. To wit, Dora's latest thread , Leaked email shows how Seattle Mayor Ed Murray plans to take over the school board In a letter sent to Mayor Murray from Regina Jones , who is now working for the Mayor’s office as an “executive on loan”, spells out how to take over the school board by “cultivating candidates to serve on the board” based on the success of two mayors in San Francisco and with the work of Hydra Mendoza because “As in Seattle, SFU...

The Times had two items of note this weekend; one is an editorial and the other is an article. The article is about field trips and how difficult it is to write a comprehensive policy that everyone can understand and cover.  I feel like this commenter, Teresa A., at the Times: "Without clear guidelines, some teachers and parents say, districts and individual teachers open themselves up to liability." This is all that is really needed.  IF students know what the expectations are AND they know with absolute certainty that the teacher will check on them  and enforce those rules AND they know with absolute certainty that they will immediately be sent home (at their parents expense) if they violate the rules AND they know that no amount of whining will change the teachers mind, then 99% of the students will follow the rules with no problems.  That is all that any reasonable person can expect. Students are going to try and break the rules, t...

Just an FYI, courtesy of the Stranger Slog. Next year, along with becoming council president, Harrell will chair the Education, Equity, and Governance Committee, a new spin on what's now called the Education and Governance Committee.  Bruce Harrell is the new president of the City Council AND will head the committee overseeing education.  The Vice-Chair is Lorena Gonzalez, Debora Juarez, Member and Tim Burgess, Alternate. That is not the line-up I would want to see if public education in Seattle is to continue operating independently, but in partnership with, the City. Harrell cares about public ed but between his new presidency and the fact he's not the most active City Councilman, I worry about who will really be directing that committee.  Given that the Vice-Chair is closely connected to the Mayor, I have to wonder. I also wanted to mention the conversation I had with the Mayor recently.  It was at a holiday event so it was not lengthy. 

I believe that this year is to be a pivotal one in public education - for our district, our state and nationally. I'll go in reverse order.

Reader Robert Crunkshank put forth this idea that I think is a good one: I do think it would be a good idea to submit an education-related questionnaire to all the City Council candidates who make it through the primary. We should get all those candidates on record on the big issues, including Tim Burgess and Ed Murray's efforts to have the City take over the school district and impose unwanted "education reform" policies. So, dear readers, what questions would you like to see put forth to City Council candidates?  I would like to keep it to 4-5 questions because I don't want anyone trying to reject answering these questions on the basis of length of questionnaire. I think there should be a dead-on " Would you support the takeover of either the district and/or School Board by the Legislature to pass onto the Mayor to run?"  

 Update:   in a HUGE win, voters in Chicago voted to have an elected Chicago Board of Education (after 20 years of mayoral appointments.)   From the Chicago Tribune: Voters in 37 wards overwhelmingly endorsed an elected Chicago Board of Education, according to preliminary tallies Tuesday, a non-binding outcome that nonetheless promises to stoke a long-running debate over the mayor's power to appoint board members. In the 2012 general election, 89 percent of voters in five Chicago wards approved a similar advisory referendum for an elected board. Earlier this month, a Tribune poll also reflected broad support for the idea. Seventy-six percent of voters said they favor an elected school board while 14 percent backed an appointed board. Gee, sounds like voters in Chicago want to democratically elect who represents them in school governance. I tweeted this story to Mayor Murray and Rep. Eric Pettigrew (who is sponsoring a bill to allow the mayoral to ap...

Roosevelt and Garfield jazz bands both made it into the Essentially Ellington competition in NYC...again.  Congrats to both programs. And because I love high school newspapers - news from the Rainier Beac h student newspaper, Viking Shield. I received a press release today from the district announcing that  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will visit Sanislo Elementary's  3 rd -5 th graders  tomorrow .   From the press release:

The Times has yet another editorial on the state of the Seattle School Board.  Yawn. This time around they reference the three bills before the Legislature around large districts. HB 1665 -  Increasing compensation for school directors in districts enrolling twenty thousand or more students. HB 1497 - Concerning appointments of the board of directors of a school district of the first class having within its boundaries a city with a population of four hundred thousand people or more.  HB 1860 - that would limit a school district size to 35,000 (affecting SPS only).  

There is a belief that our school district could be reformed if the Mayor were granted the authority to appoint two school board members. That belief must be predicated on the knowledge that there are two people who, if they were on the Board, could do the job, but who, for some reason, could not be elected to the Board. Who are these Golden Two? And why can't they win a school board election?

A group of public education activists has come out against Rep. Eric Pettigrew's bill to all the mayor of Seattle to appoint two members of the Seattle School Board.  It includes statements from Director Sue Peters who, as far as I know, is the only Board director to go on record.  I asked for a statement - a week ago - from the Board but have received no answer. The Seattle Weekly has a good story that has a startling ending. 

 UPDATE:   If you’re the parent of a soon-to-be middle-schooler, mark your calendars for this Thursday, January 29th. McClure Middle School is hosting an Open House and Tour to help families learn more about Queen Anne’s neighborhood middle school. Incoming students can learn more about their new school and parents can learn more about what McClure offers its students. Check out the flyer below for all the information you need to know: http://mcclurems.seattleschools.org/ End of update If you are a member of your PTA, you might consider weighing in on the issue of hybrid mayoral control of the school board to both your unit (if they are taking a stand) and to the SCPTSA .  President – Katherine Schomer, president@scptsa.org Legislative Chair – Eden Mack, legchair@scptsa.org I think my stand is pretty clear; no.  It's not democratic, it questions voters abilities to make their own choice, there is no proof that the current mayor has any real credibilit...