Seattle Schools Community Forum

As you may recall, a parent had written to me in confusion over how her daughter was on  place on the kindergarten waitlist, only to move downward days later.  She said something had to have changed. An eagle-eyed reader, found this new page at the SPS website, Waitlist Order Update, and it confirms what many of you thought. (Now I note - an issue of HUGE importance to parents throughout the district - and it's not even on the front page of the district's website.) Following the completion of Open Enrollment, an error was discovered in the priority system for waitlisting students. The distance tiebreaker was inadvertently left out of the waitlist priorities.     As a result, the initial waitlist order was incorrect. We have since corrected the error and placed students on waitlists based on the correct tiebreaker set , including the distance tiebreaker. 

I note that the district's home page has a prominent section on the upcoming Open Enrollment period that starts on Monday, Feb. 23rd.  It lasts until Friday, March 6th.  This period is to request "a school or program outside" of your regular assignment. As a general rule, your student is assigned to the same school he or she is attending now. In the case of students moving up to middle or high school, students will be automatically assigned to their neighborhood school. You will be able to confirm your student's school assignment via the Assignment Look-Up Tool after Feb. 23 or by calling our automated phone system at (206) 252-0212. If you would like to change your current or assigned school for the 2015-16 school year, get detailed Open Enrollment instructions at bit.ly/Apply-OpenEnrollment or by contacting the Admissions office at (206) 252-0760. School Choice forms will be available when Open Enrollment begins on on Feb. 23. If you request a different schoo...

Enrollment page. Page that has EVERY form. I have to say this all looks very involved so read carefully and good luck.     2014–15 School Choice Forms Pre-K (South Shore Only) Kindergarten Elementary Middle School High School Enrollment Information Line:  06-252-0410 Transportation Office:  206-252-0900 SPS Service Center and Bilingual Assistance:  206-252-0760 From SPS: Here's how the Open Enrollment process works: 1. All current students, and all new students for 2014-15 who completed early enrollment by January 31, 2014, will get an assignment letter mid-February  (right before Open Enrollment begins on February 24, 2014). Assignment letters will confirm continuing assignments or provide notification of new assignments for 2014-15. These are initial assignments, and nothing further is required if the family wishes to keep the initial assignment. These...

Update: here's a new one.  So if this is just a little pilot student survey of teachers, why is it the most hugely read post 4-1?  That is way off the charts for normal post hits.  (Naturally some of the hits are the same people but when it gets off a certain amount, you know there is a lot more traffic.  And on a holiday weekend.)  Someone called this a "tempest in a teapot";  I don't think so. 1)  Still waiting to find out who is paying for the costs for the pilot student survey of teachers by students.   2)  Still waiting to find out if teachers are contractually obligated to give out the survey in their classes and/or do students have to take the survey?   Will students be told this is an optional piece of work and allowed to not take the survey if they choose? 3)  I'm also waiting to hear what does the SEA has to say about this issue - both from the teacher level and the union level.  Hmmm. 3)  What's up ...

Open Enrollment starts the week after next week's Mid-Winter break and runs two weeks thru March 7th.  All forms must be returned either in person or online to Seattle Public Schools by 4 p.m., Friday, March 7, 2014.  Here's the info from SPS .   Also the Enrollment FAQs have many answers to questions.  (Oddly, the district's Facebook page has nothing about this.)  But, to keep in mind: the district isn't open next week so no, you can't call and ask questions the enrollment form is not available so you can't look at one and review it so that you are ready to go when you go in to enroll this is two weeks and that's a lot of kids to enroll.  I would encourage you to go early - in date and time of day).  I did write to Tracy Libros, head of Enrollment, two weeks ago to ask about why application forms could not be reviewed and why the enrollment window seems so short but I never received a reply. Looks like Superintendent Banda is to h...

This week starts the community meetings about the Strategic Plan.  I also received this info from a reader: Open Enrollment processing will be completed and information on next year's assigned students downloaded on Friday, April 12th. Information on assignments and waitlist status will be available to families beginning at Noon on Monday, April 15th.  You will be able to access this information on-line or by calling the automated phone line, 206-252-0212. Individualized letters will be mailed the week of April 22nd to anyone who submitted an Open Enrollment application. Monday, April 1st Strategic Plan community meeting at Eckstein Middle School from 6:30-8:30 p.m.  (Interpreters available in Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese, Amharic and Tigrigna) Tuesday, April 2nd Strategic Plan community meeting at Chief Sealth International High School from 6:30-8:30 p.m.  (Interpreters available in Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese, Chinese, Tagalog, Amharic) Wednesday, April ...

 Update (via reader Salander) - The head of HR, Ann Chan, just five months into her job has resigned.   Now interim CFO, Robert Boesche, is in charge.  I think the question is - who IS in charge down there?  So we lost the head of Facilities.   (At least in that position - I have a feeling they may keep Mr. Martin on temporarily to guide the BEX III projects which was his previous position.  But at some point, he needs to go permanently.) Also, today is the last day for Open Enrollment which closes at 4:00 p.m.   Community meetings on Saturday Director Martin-Morris - at Diva Espresso (Lake City) from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Director Maier - at Bethany Community Church (across from Bagley Elementary) from 10:30-noon.

Just to remind you that Open Enrollment ends this Friday, the 15th at  4 p.m .  Postmarks do NOT count.  Here's a link to the enrollment page for more info. Also, know an outstanding educator or education volunteer?  KCTS Channel 9 is accepting nominations for their Golden Apple Award .  Any person contributing time or services in Washington state schools from pre-K through grade 12 can be nominated. Nominations can be made online at KCTS9.org/goldenapple or you can request a nomination form by calling (800) 766-0900. Nomination forms must be postmarked by April 30.   The Good News - Washington Middle School student, Deanta Kelly, won the Regional Spelling Bee for King and Snohomish Counties and will advance to the Nationals (it appears there isn't a state championship).  It looks grueling with 3 rounds over 2 days in Washington, D.C. in June.   Deanta won on the word "obfuscatory." I can't spell well at all so I am always v...

As several people have reported (thank you), the district has quietly extended Open Enrollment thru April 15th due to changes in transportation services. This is at the News and Calendar page but not noted as a change on the Enrollment page. From the notice: A decision expected at the Feb. 16 School Board meeting. The Transportation Department will be sending out letters notifying families about students' transportation eligibility for next year. Open Enrollment is being extended to give families more time to consider whether these proposed changes will impact their choices for next year. What is to note at the Enrollment page is that the SPS Service Center will be closed all day this Wednesday, the 16th for training on the new Student Assignment System. Open Enrollment Period - March 15th - April 15th Tuesday the 17th There isn't an open meeting on Tuesday but there is to be a 3 1/2 hour Executive Session on Tuesday. It is about a complaint against a public employ...

The NOVA Project invites you to... Exhibition Night Tuesday, February 15, 6-8pm Exhibition Night is The NOVA Project's annual open house for prospective students. Students will be leading tours throughout the evening and students, parents and teachers will be available to answer questions about the school. Teachers will have activities in their rooms, including ceramics, science projects, silkscreening and poetry readings. Find the event flier and more details at the NOVA PTSA website. http://novaproject.my-ptsa.org/ The NOVA Project is one of the District's three option high schools and one of the District's three Alternative Learning Experience programs. Located in the Meany building on Capitol Hill, NOVA is open to students from all parts of the district. This public high school offers innovative challenging coursework, alternative pedogogy, project-based instruction, arts, in a close, welcoming community. All kinds of students find themselves at home at NO...

FYI, SPS is conducting early enrollment for incoming kindergarteners as well as students who will be new to SPS next fall. Early enrollment started in October and continues thru January 2011. Open Enrollment starts is from March 15-31, 2011 with notifications mailed in May 2011. I note that Queen Anne Elementary is having a couple of kindergarten meet-and-greets, one on December 14th and one on January 5th. These are NOT at the school but at a PTA parents' home so they are limiting it to 40 people. This information comes to us from the Queen Anne View. QA Elementary has a spiffy retro spaceship logo. Please let me know if you hear of any other kindergarten events before the regular January tours start. They have already posted the tour dates for high schools. These vary. A few schools do not have tour dates posted (Hale, Garfield, RBHS). Most are having 2-3 tours with Roosevelt having 1(!) day tour and one evening event.

If the school you named as your first choice for Open Enrollment does not have a waitlist, then you are in. That's confirmed. My daughter and her friend named Chief Sealth as their first choice for assignment. Chief Sealth doesn't have a waitlist, so they know for sure that they will be assigned there even though they don't yet have their assignment letters. You can check your school of choice from this web page to see if the school has a waitlist.

My daughter, an 8th grader at Washington, brought home a Garfield High School registration packet yesterday. It included a welcome letter from the principal, a ninth grade course options sheet, a registration calendar showing dates for next week, a sign-up form for Garfield music, a sign-up form for Garfield choir and vocal jazz, a sign-up form for double period math, information on the summer bridge program, and a registration guide and course description book. It was a lot. Only thing, my daughter has no intention of enrolling at Garfield. Garfield was her default assignment, but she opted for Open Enrollment and did not name Garfield on her list of school choices. The folks at the Enrollment Office say that Garfield is just trying to get out in front of the curve and that this neither indicates that my daughter has been assigned to Garfield nor does it put students who will enter Garfield through Open Enrollment at any sort of disadvantage. The person at the Enrollment Office said t...

It seems we are starting tours (some occurred already). Let us know your thoughts on any tours you have taken. What do you want to learn from a tour? I see a couple of people of posed questions about AP in high schools. I'll try to get to that (I'm not sure there is an all-in-one document at the district). What other questions do you have about a school that someone here might be able to answer?

Tracy had 75 slides. Holy cow! She was very careful to try to cover every situation and it showed. Okay, what do we suppose is one the barriers to our NSAP and the transition? Yes, it's the VAX. Mr. Kennedy says they are making progress but it's still a problem and yes, they will be using it for assignments (hopefully) one last time. (Sherry really gave them an out by saying, "You'll let us - the Board - know if we bumps into any VAX issues in our questioning." I mean, you could blame the VAX for almost anything. Handy.) Slide 6 reflects "We are unable to support additional scope (scope creep). Coding is currently underway and changes would result in project failure and our inability to support Open Enrollment." Slide 8 started the discussion of the Transition Plan and I find it somewhat vague. This is for one year only and there will be subsequent transition steps in years to follow. How they follow depends on the enrollment patterns. The...