Seattle Schools Community Forum

 A truly compelling article from two researchers on what is happening with closing the opportunity gap. (bold mine) The enormous gap in academic performance between high- and low-income children has begun to narrow. Children entering kindergarten today are more equally prepared than they were in the late 1990s . From 1998 to 2010, the school readiness gap narrowed by 10 percent in math and 16 percent in reading. The gaps that remain are still vast. But even this modest improvement represents a sharp reversal of the trend over the preceding decades. It’s worth noting that the gap in school readiness narrowed because of relatively rapid improvements in the skills of low-income children, not because the skills of children from high-income families declined. 

This NPR story is aptly titled, Can More Money Fix America's Schools ? The bottom line to that question is yes BUT no one seems quite sure what is the best bang for the buck and many legislators are loathe to give out extra dollars if there is uncertainty about what to do.  (But more on that in a minute.) That's a super broad question.  Does it mean:

 This from SPS Communications on the upcoming closure of the Viaduct and traffic issues : School bus transportation and commute times for nearly all schools will be affected by the closure.

A few quick notes. 1) There's a photo of Lady Gaga at the SPS website regarding the RULER approach to students' emotional needs.  That was bit startling (although she does have another connection to SPS, namely the Mighty C89.5 station at Nathan Hale High that was one of her earliest supporters and that she visited early in her career.)  2) Also, the heart that the kids and staff at Greenwood Elementary created yesterday made the national news on NBC.  As well, the Mayor dropped by the school to offer his thanks to the school for their support of their community after the Greenwood explosion. Audit and Finance Agenda

I attended the Work Session on the City Pre-K last Wednesday.  An alert reader found this at the Seattle Schools' Facebook page just about a day ago. (bold mine) Seattle Public Schools is looking to expand our partnership with the City of Seattle, Mayor Ed Murray , and the Seattle Preschool Program to start up more preschool opportunities for families. In 2014, ‪#‎ Seattle‬ voters overwhelmingly approved an initiative to fund quality preschool throughout Seattle. Since then, SPS' Department of Early Learning and the City's Department of Education and Early Learning have been collaborating to operate three preschool classrooms. Right now, preschool is offered at Bailey Gatzert Elementary School, Van Asselt Elementary School, and Original Van Asselt. So first, when staff speaks of "Seattle Public Schools," doesn't that include the Board?  I'd like clarification on that because that was always my impression.

From SPS via KPLU (here's link to complete page with footnotes):

I will note that Director Murray has received no answer from the Mayor. I will note that Councilman Tim Burgess announced this week to an elementary school group that there WILL be 14 classrooms in SPS with the City's preschool plan.   Not "may" or "hopefully" but "will."  He did NOT mention the vote tonight by the Board nor did Director Marty McLaren.  In fact, McLaren said nothing about his statement in her own remarks. Done deal much? You will also recall that the Action Item on tonight's agenda has some Exhibits attached and that I had stated that there was no Exhibit "C."  Well, there is but it is not attached.  It's mentioned here in Exhibit B:

It's been a long day so I can only be brief here (but I'll write more another day).  Two fairly interesting things happened at the School Board meeting tonight. One, there is considerable support for the Middle College High School program , both from community and some Board members.  Speaker after speaker rose to support the program and ask that the Middle College High School at the High Point Neighborhood Center not be closed.  Especially moving was testimony from a former student, Paul Campiche, who said that these were not "throwaway" students and "people who are the most disenfranchised need the most help."  He had been thru the Middle College program, then went to Evergreen and is now in the Master's program at Antioch for counseling.  Peaslee, Peters and Patu (the Peter, Paul and Mary of the Board), in their Board comments, all said they want a second look at this decision (or at least more discussion).   The other Board members were fairl...

MoveOn.org is looking for the 10 best ideas to save the economy.  One comes from former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, who says Reinvent Education .

The Executive Committee Meeting meets today at 4:30 pm.  Here's the agenda with two very important items - the partnership agreement with the City about their Seattle Preschool Program and Charles Wright's $1M+ Start of School Transformation Project.   The agenda also includes the draft Board meetings' agendas for the next month.   The May 20th agenda is a huge slog of capital projects but also includes review of the Covenant Agreement of Sale for MLK to FAME, RTTT funding for more " community-school partnerships," an OSPI Math/Science grant for middle school science for $1.5M and, of course, buying more portables.  It also has the introduction of the Seattle Preschool Program Partnership agreement.  (Please note that for the draft agenda, not all items are live-linked.) The June 3rd agenda has the approval of the SPP partnership and RTTT funds as well as introduction of an item "Research Activity and Test Administration Procedure" (I'm th...

Scratch art by Ava Code-Williams Two SPS students were named Regional Award winners at the Regional High School Art Show that is sponsored by the Puget Sound Educational Service District.  Those students are Ava Code-Williams from Garfield and Huo Xian Wu from Franklin.   I love Code-Williams' haunting "You have your mother's eyes."  In a battle of the titans, the state boys basketball title went to Garfield who beat Rainier Beach High School, 64-51 last weekend.  Congrats to Garfield and a good effort by all.  (RBHS had beat Garfield for the Metro title but Garfield turned the tables on them in the state finals.) SPS was also awarded a 2014 Gold Star by Governor Inslee for getting students signed up for the College Bound Scholarship program.  SPS signed up 100% of eligible 8th graders.  Yesterday was the Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting.   I wasn't able to go but I know that Director Peters was going to try to get the SBA...

Many interesting meetings this week.

Quite a week to come. Monday, Dec. 8th Curriculum & Instruction Committee meeting, 4:30-6:30 pm.   Agenda It would appear to be a two-hour meeting but the agenda is quite slim as well as the time allotted for each item. Of interest: an update on Special Ed work and "pre-K work" from Early Education head, Cashel Toner.  Perhaps this is where she will explain how the new preschool classroom room at Bailey Gatzert likely won't be just for BG area students. Tuesday, Dec. 9th Audit & Finance Committee meeting, 4:30-6:30 pm.   Agenda UPDATE :   Agenda now attached.  Looks like several updates including an issue with the SEC, the WSS (with adjusted Guiding Principles which I have some concerns about), MOA with Africatown (NOT attached as usual, still concerns there), Transportation standards for next year and Title IX and grants updates.  Wondering if there will be any mention of the Gates Foundation preschool grant. End of update. Community...

It's too late for 1A but from The Atlantic comes a great story of this issue of why "pre-k" and what it means. Background (partial) " Pre-k" and "preschool" are often used interchangeably in education circles and by the news media.  After all, the two can mean the same thing: schooling that happens prior to kindergarten. But rarely do politicians who’ve declared early education a top priority say they want to expand access to preschool.  Pre-k is seen as a solution to those problems. Preschool , on the other hand, connotes nursery school. And when people imagine nursery school, they think of daycare. A babysitting arrangement.  It’s all about the single year that precedes kindergarten: pre-k.  In edu-speak , pre-k typically refers to a specific category of early learning that focuses on ensuring kids are prepared for kindergarten .   Framing the final year of preschool as pre-k, some say, implies that it’s an essential building blo...

I am urging voters to consider voting no to the first question on the preschool ballot measures in Seattle. Here's why. Preschool, especially for disadvantaged children, is a good idea. No one is arguing that point. But if the City and the unions truly wanted voters to say yes, there would have been ONE proposition. They had the opportunity to work together but choose to walk away from the table. That should give you pause about both sides. What the City and the unions have given us with these two propositions is confusion and division when what we need is clarity and unity. It's not like the City doesn’t already invest in preschool - 26% of the Families & Education levy (about $61M ) is dedicated to it. Seattle Schools has over 35 federal and state funded preschool classrooms right now. Also, as to this "we have to do this now, " well just like every other levy, it can be brought back very quickly to the ballot.  It is not that the issue isn...

  Summary : About the Gates Foundation grant for a preschool at Bailey-Gatzert.   Several on the Board want a more careful explanation about who is in charge of what (like curriculum, alignment, costs) while a few on the Board want to grab this opportunity.  There seems to be confusion over what early learning is in SPS.  The Board will not be voting on this grant until November 19th, well after the election vote on the preschool props, 1A and 1B. About the downtown school .  Some on the Board pressed for costs around finding room at other schools and the actual numbers for space for students in Central/downtown.  It is unclear what will actually happen but one thing that I believe is firmly settled is that the Board is not going to vote in to take on more debt to renovate the Federal Reserve building.  So unless some generous donor(s) come forward, it seems unlikely that the district will be given the Federal Reserve building.  However, the ...

Update from the School Board meeting tonight:

About preschool and SPS, a few items: - Director Blanford has been working with the City on their preschool plan almost since he got elected.  (I know this from some public disclosure e-mails.)  Trouble is, I went back and looked at his campaign interviews and I can't find one that mentions it.  Not even in a very detailed questionaire from the King County Dems where mentions being the director of an early learning center.  That seems odd given this statement he made in an e-mail to Councilman Burgess, Sara Morris from the Alliance and Holly Miller at the Office of Education in January 2014 about joining them on the preschool junket Thanks for including me in this opportunity, which I'd like to pursue.  As you know, I have some background in Early Learning (as the Executive Director of the White Center Early Learning Initiative) and hope to be a strong and informed advocate for Universal Preschool in my position on the Seattle School Board.   ...

Tuesday, September 30th Meet Superintendent Nyland from 6 pm - 7:00 pm at New Holly Community Center, 7054 32nd Ave S Wednesday, October 1st Meet Superintendent Nyland from 8:30 am-9:30 am at John Muir Elementary, 3301 S. Horton St. School Board meeting , starting at 4:15 pm (note: there is to be an Executive Session on Potential Litigation from 8-8:30 pm Agenda On the Consent Agenda are various Board policies that have been revised.  Of note is that the Board will not be posting their agenda three "working" days before the meeting but three days.  Under the old policy, you could see the agenda on Friday (with Friday, Monday and Tuesday being the three "working" days) but under this new policy, you may not see the agenda until Sunday.  Action Items (partial) Race to the Top money for Pre-K-3.   Parents, we need to have a very serious talk soon about the district's PreK-3 Action Plan.  I did not know this existed until today (and it's in i...

Update: A&F Tuesday meeting agenda .     The minutes from the previous meeting reveal that the next district audit will include Ballard High and Special Education.  (The previous audit included Garfield and guess what?  They were found to have several volunteers not screened or had no application at all. ) Also, the Internal Auditor, Andrew Medina, said this: Mr. Medina spoke about an additional finding for personal service contracts (PSC). He noted that there have been instances where work started before the PSC is approved, as well as sole-source contracts that lack adequate supporting justification. Mr. Medina also noted a lack of administrative procedures, an employee handbook, and clear channels of communication. The audit also cited that the District lacks procedures covering the delegation of purchase approvals to administrative staff.  Ms. Technow listed some of the forms, co...