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 a story about the principal at Garfield High School, Ted Howard.  Mr. Howard went to Garfield and his father was also a principal.  Mr. Howard has been principal at Garfield since 2004. (Fun fact; there are at least three SPS high school principals who graduated from their schools - Howard, Martin Floe at Ingraham and Kevin Wynkoop at Ballard.)  The focus of the piece seemed to be how Principal Howard has a "microcosm" of the city to manage. To note, it appears to me that the Times is on a careful campaign to try to point out the many ways that SPS is not bridging the opportunity gap.  I'm pretty sure this is in anticipation of figuring out a way - next legislative session - for the Mayor to take over some or all of the district. I'm not kidding.

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?"  

So says Edward Snowden in an op-ed in today's NY Times. I'm not Ed Snowden, nor will I ever be, but as I have stated in the past, sometimes you have to be the cheese who stands alone if you are trying to shine a light in the darkest of corners. Our school district is not corrupt nor is it run by venal people.   But I do believe some in senior leadership are listening more to outside influences than to parents, teachers and administrators.  I think they may even be trying to be helpful to those outside forces to allow them to seep into and then, take root in the workings of our district.  I think we are back to the old "need to know" basis at SPS - they'll tell you what they think you need to know. I even think that perhaps the powers that be - given who is running for School Board - have given up on trying to control the Board - they will get control of this district in other ways. I received an e-mail yesterday from an education writers group about fi...

Wow, just wow.  This from Publicola in its coverage of the Seattle marches related to the Ferguson decision (bold mine).  At the press conference prior to the arrests Murray said: "Bike officers do a great job. Officers will be out there [tonight] on bicycles." He added, "We're not Ferguson," citing the lack of African Americans on the Ferguson police force ["only three," he claimed] saying Seattle had "a number of African American officers." However, saying there was "an enormous gulf of mistrust" between African American communities and the police, he added that, "race remains our greatest challenge. We have to confront the challenge painfully again and again." He said there was "tremendous hurt in the African American community" about the grand jury's decision in "the murder of Mr. Brown." Murray boiled the issue down to the Seattle school system. "We are failing our young...

I plan on writing a thread this weekend that is an overview of how I see the Seattle School Board today.  There are certainly some interesting things being said by directors and frankly, I'm not sure I see them working as a unified body (but not the same people who usually get called out for having special interests).   I listened to the Board comments and more and more, I find them quite telling. - Update: forgot this one piece of info.  You may have heard that some school districts around the country have accepted various "items" from the Armed Forces.  One in San Diego accepted a tank.  Seriously.  I had a chance to ask Ass't Superintendent Pegi McEvoy this question yesterday.  She said the only things that SPS accepted from the military were blankets, cots and MREs.  Sounds good to me. - the district appears to have solved its website problems.  However, apparently the 46th Dems were to have an Endorsement meeting last night at ...

A thoughtful piece from Northwest Progressive Institute by Robert Cruickshank about the ever-popular issue of departing superintendents.  The real story, the one the Seattle Times does not want to tell for fear of undermining their anti-democratic agenda, is one of repeated mismanagement by a succession of superintendents and of a central staff that is unresponsive or overtly hostile to the board and the general public. About Banda, he makes some good points: Banda cited the debate over math textbooks in his departure letter, but these are often contentious issues in any school district. A good superintendent would have navigated it more effectively, accepting the board’s decision and moving on. After all, math curriculum figured prominently in the 2011 school board campaign, and parents had been vocal in their call for a different approach. Rather than accept the verdict of the board that employs him and the public that he serves, Banda – already looking for the ...

As some of you may have heard, there was polling done on the upcoming elections by Strategies 360.   They state:  None of the firm's clients paid for the survey, and Strategies 360 is supporting neither client.    (Yes, but someone thought up those questions and I can guarantee it wasn't all Strategies 360.)  The poll was 400 likely voters, 78% white, skewed to the north and highly educated.  Nineteen percent have children in public schools while 11% have children in other schools. Sad to say but in this poll, the School Board ranks only above "Republicans in Congress" and below Obama, Inslee, Democrats in Congress, Ed Murray, the City Council, and Mayor Mike McGinn.  The totals were favorable-37%, unfavorable, 32%, ouch. They asked a number of interesting questions about Seattle Schools, the School Board and the role of the Mayor.   They asked about which of the following items " will be most important to you in deciding who...

I had a few queries about the upcoming Mayoral Forum tomorrow, May 2nd, at Hamilton.  It is sponsored by the 46th, 43rd, 36th and 32nd district Dems (that's why there is nothing at Hamilton's website).  There will be a meet-and-greet with the candidates at 6:30 p.m. with the forum at 7 p.m.  The forum will be moderated by Enrique Cerna of KCTS.  I will be attending this one.