Seattle Schools Community Forum

And why not? He's a long-suffering SPS parent as well. In this particular column, Westneat asks some hard questions in his usual gentle manner.   He's writing about the Mayor's upcoming Education Summit and how the Mayor seems to be figuring out what he might think needs to be done for/to Seattle Schools.

Have any burning public education questions for either man?  Both are participating in "ask me" forums.

Well, it appears that the Seattle Weekly's statement that Reps. Pettigrew and Tomiko Santos wanting to divide up Seattle School district is true.  Meet HB 1860 . It opens with this: AN ACT Relating to first-class school director districts for the purposes of dividing large districts and limiting their number of board of director members; adding a new section to chapter 28A.343 RCW; creating a new section; providing an effective date; providing an expiration date; and declaring an emergency.  Okay, where's the fire?  If I had the time, I'd love to compare SPS to other mid-sized urban districts.  I'm not sure it would fall anywhere near the "emergency" label. Then, Effective September 1, 2018, no first-class school director district may comprise more than thirty-five thousand students or have more than five members of its board of directors. Well, that would mean SPS not only would be divided BUT would no longer have seven members of the...

The hearing on 1497 (allowing the mayor to appoint 2 school board members) will be in the House Education Committee on Tues., Feb. 3 at 1:30pm in the House Hearing Room A in the John L. O'Brien building.    I would encourage anyone who cares to send in a message to your legislator or even come on down.  On the Federal Reserve building , apparently it DID go the eBay way. The Times is reporting that there were six bidders with the top bid being $7.6M.  We only know for certain that SPS is one of the bidders.  But the deadline - which was yesterday - has been extended because auction rules state that "the bidding continues until the highest bid goes unchallenged for 24 hours."  

The Times starts off the year with their "headlines we'd like to see" contest.  Funny thing, their editorial doesn't even give the top reader winners' headlines but only the ones the Times wants to see.  (None of were about public education except for "No U.S. school shootings in 2015 " which won first place.) The Times calls their own headlines "wishful thinking" and they certainly are. Hey, look at that - four of them are about public education. 

In public education editorializing, the Times mantra seems to be, "keeping saying the same thing over and over and it'll work."  Well, it does sometimes but not always.  (You have to wonder about this tactic given their dropping subscription rates - people like to read about NEW things.) Here's their latest and it's fairly boring reading because it's the same old wording.  "Dysfunctional", they get the number of students in SPS wrong ("nearly 50k" - geez, aren't they journalists?), "melodrama" and, of course, should we have a conversation about governance? Here's my comments to them:

It is becoming increasingly clear that the vote on whether to offer the job of permanent superintendent to Larry Nyland at Wednesday night's School Board meeting will not be unanimous. In fact, appealing to directors who have not made any statements on this issue might be a good idea.  I think the issue of NOT telling the public that a shift in attitude had occurred over a search is a major issue for a couple of directors.   I think there is discomfort out there over voting yes because of promises made and now a change with no real explanation.   Again, I suggest writing to Director Martin-Morris and Director Carr who may well believe Nyland is a good superintendent but also have a good sense of fairness.   And what of a split vote of 5-2 or perhaps 4-3?  That is no way for a permanent superintendent to start his/her tenure. Now, of course, perhaps there are people trying to manipulate the situation.  What if this were done as a ruse so that eithe...

Oh look, the average tenure of urban superintendents has gone down to 3.2 years.  FYI, Mayor Murray and Seattle Times. Council of Great City Schools

You ask, the mayor answers during a live broadcast of Ask the Mayor , 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 22 , from Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Ave. Ask the Mayor’s format features a live audience and a topic of focus during the second half of the hour-long program. During the first half of the show, Mayor Ed Murray will join host Brian Callanan to discuss a range of city issues. Murray will answer questions posed by a live audience as well as viewer inquiries submitted via e-mail and social media.  In the second half of the program, Callanan and Mayor Murray will discuss his 2015-2016 budget proposal. Mayor Murray submitted a 2015-2016 budget that expands funding for priorities in education , worker protections, public safety and support for the homeless. The mayor is also proposing to bring new transparency to the city budget, including increased accountability for program outcomes and improved access to information on city finances. The City Council has begun their re...

Yawn.  Yet ANOTHER Times push for takeover of Seattle Public Schools.  I have said this elsewhere but I'll say it again: I believe there are forces, both within and without, trying to create a situation to take over the district. I believe there are some people in SPS who are either working with outsiders or working to drag their feet on some issues so the district will look worse. Back to the Times op-ed. I always find it interesting that people at the top of the food chain think that they will be able to force top-down edicts.  It's not going to work but it will be a very interesting exercise to see who lines up where.  Who stands up for local, elected control of our district by people elected to oversee the district (and nothing else).  The Seattle Times has its stable of ready mouthpieces for its public education view.  Honestly, Google and see how many times LEV's Chris Korsmo has had an op-ed.  Charters Lisa Macfarlane.  TFA's Chris Ei...

Update: I checked with OSPI about one reader's claim that there was a grand plan from OSPI and the feds to take over the district. From OSPI: There are no laws that allow for OSPI to take over a district. We can, in some circumstances (see Question 5), withhold funds from districts. But we can’t simply take over the district’s day-to-day duties. That’s what local control is all about. On whether OSPI would be part of any legislative action to take over the district: State Superintendent Dorn would have his position to influence legislators to vote one way or another. Has OSPI been supporting/advocating for this direction for SPS? No one that I know of at OSPI is doing that kind of work. If someone is doing that work, it’s not been sanctioned by State Superintendent Dorn. Would you know under what circumstances OSPI can withhold funds from a district?  Noncompliance of state law (RCWs) or agency regulations (WACs). Audit findings also can result in a district repay...