Seattle Schools Community Forum

I had been told the fingerprinting issue had been postponed until further notice.  Thanks to reader, Lynn, for this update from Superintendent Banda in the Friday update. To: José Banda, Superintendent From: Joseph Paperman Date:October 4, 2013 SUBJECT: FRIDAY UPDATE TO SCHOOL BOARD Field Trip Procedure Revisions To help enhance the safety of our students when they participate in overnight or out of country field trips, Risk Management has recently made significant changes to the field trip procedures. These include clearer expectations for screening and training of chaperones and for behavior of student participants. The new requirements for chaperones include an orientaion by the lead chaperone (school employee), who will review student behavior expectations as defined in the “Basic Rules of Seattle Public Schools”,the Emergency Action Plan and procedures for overnight room checks appropriate to the type of lodging. Tohelp avoid blurring of boundaries between students and c...

Heard that the waitlists were running late - input from Tracy Libros in Enrollment: Our student information system is currently being replaced, so the most recent update of assignment and waiting list information was in mid-July. New information will be updated as soon as possible, which is likely to be at the end of August or beginning of September. We understand the importance of waiting list status and information as your family plans for the start of school and apologize for the delay. Of course, we will move waiting lists as soon as we possibly can. The technology folks are working diligently to get systems up and running as soon as possible.  That's the reason for the lateness of this information.  I know it must feel frustrating but summer is the best time to work on systems within the district. Hearing that 8th graders may all be enrolled in algebra (at least at some schools) and about the need for finger-printing for all chaperones for school trips ( no...