Seattle Schools Community Forum

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

Despite the lowest reported SAT scores nationally in 10 years, participation rates - across all groups in Washington State - continues to go up. The steady decline in SAT scores and generally stagnant results from high schools on federal tests and other measures reflect a troubling shortcoming of education-reform efforts. The test results show that gains in reading and math in elementary grades haven’t led to broad improvement in high schools, experts say. That means several hundred thousand teenagers, especially those who grew up poor, are leaving school every year unready for college. [ State-by-state SAT score results ] “ Why is education reform hitting a wall in high school?” asked Michael J. Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a think tank. “You see this in all kinds of evidence. Kids don’t make a whole lot of gains once they’re in high school. It certainly should raise an alarm. It is difficult to pinpoint a reason for the decline in SAT scores, but ...

I'll lead with this - I urge you to write to the Seattle School Board and tell them to say NO to the agreement witht he City's preschool plan at Wednesday night's Board meeting.  SPSDirectors@seattleschools.org I'll say right now that if this is approved, the district will rue the day they signed onto it.  It is NOT in the best interests of the district and gives the City much more power and control than is necessary.

Unhappy with Pearson ?  Apparently you are not alone.  Speaking of Big Brother, here's the SBAC's "Guidance for Social Media Monitoring during the Field Test."  The State Senate is to drop its budget this week.  Let's see how that fulfillment of McCleary is going and where they find the funding.  I spoke to Speaker Chopp last week and that's pretty much all he would say.  I note that when I mentioned that while I think preschool is great, that the Constitution says K-12 is the state's paramount duty and that I was worried about the push that both preschool and higher education are receiving this session.  He said something to the effort that there would be more dollars for preschool but not in McCleary. Whether it's in McCleary or not is not really the point.  Because, frankly, education dollars are education dollars. I note that there's a new group, Why Not Us Washington that is pushing the Legislature to invest more in preschool.  ...

Despite Cashel Toner's "this is how it's done," actually NO, this is not how grant agreements over $250K are done in SPS.  Why anyone on the Board took her word for it is beyond me. From the Superintendent's Friday Memo: At the board meeting on Wednesday you approved the $750,000 Gates grant for a Gatzert pre-school. Thank you, that will allow us to move forward on providing much needed and appreciated services for high need students at Gatzert.    Following the board meeting, you noted that the support materials for that agenda item included a copy of the contract between the Gates Foundation and the District. It was noted that I, as superintendent, had signed the grant in September which is much earlier than approved by the board.    In following up, I have confirmed that we did in fact receive the money from the Gates Foundation in October however, those funds were held and would not have been spent until Board approval was obtained. ...

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...

Update:  I spoke with the Board office and they are likely to take five more people from the Speaker waitlist.  I believe President Peaslee may have some discretion in this area but that remains to be seen. Also to note, it appears that the Mayor and the Superintendent will be appearing at Rainier Beach Boys & Girls Club this morning .  I have not been able to find out why nor does this appear on the Mayor's published schedule.  I have another meeting so I cannot attend.  end of update Looking at the Speaker roster, it appears that the topic is "P-5 Schools Aligned with Seattle Preschool Program."   Out of 30 spots, all are on this topic, except for 4 of them for the 2015 State Legislative Agenda and on on Lunch/Recess Times.  (I have one spot about the preschool issue.) Then, there is quite a large waitlist of 30 people.  This may signal the Board may hear 10 more speakers as they tend to open it up if this many people are coming....

Below the cut is the latest message from Councilman Tim Burgess about the outcome of the vote on 1A versus 1B.  I am putting it up for a single reason - because so many people believe that this program was aimed at and will give preference to enroll mostly low-income tikes. It's just not true.  Currently, there is NO mechanism or "bump" to allow low-income students to the head of the line.  Placement of the preschools could very well decide who enrolls and that may very well be low-income students. But these preschools are open to all so when I hear "we had to do something for these kids," I sigh because that's not the way the measure was written. I'll pull out the pertinent phrases sans "low-income": Seattle's children best prepare children to encourage economically mixed and culturally diverse classrooms  our children He also says this which, to the best of my recollection, I have never seen before (and certainly not during ...

Update : West Seattle meeting with Senator Sharon Nelson West Seattle Blog ‏ @ westseattleblog 15m 15 minutes ago Nelson says she expects the Republicans to ask that i-1351 be suspended. # waleg @ 34dems end of update Passage of ballot outcomes according to Seattle Schools: 1B for Preschool: Yay! Great! Thanks Seattle voters. 1351 for Lower Class Sizes : Not so much. From Interim Superintendent Larry Nyland: It is too soon to know exactly how I-1351 will impact Seattle Public Schools in the wake of the Supreme Court McCleary ruling and actions anticipated during this Legislative session. Class size is one of the top four priorities of the McCleary ruling and long overdue since Washington’s class sizes rank among the highest in the nation. If fully funded by the legislature, the initiative would have a significant impact on staffing and building facilities. That will put pressure on Seattle...

From Seattle Schools: Seattle Public Schools celebrates with the City of Seattle and says a resounding thank you to Seattle voters for their approval of the pre-school initiative.  Our utmost appreciation for the leadership by the Mayor and the City Council in supporting this important work.  Providing an early start to our neediest families is one of the most cost effective ways to help EVERY student succeed.  The city initiative starts small and builds to 2000 students over the next four years.  We look forward to working with the City of Seattle in the implementation of this important work.   Naturally, we all think preschool is a good thing.  But really?  All the schools are excited about this work as they are underfunded and overenrolled?  Hard to believe but I'm going with headquarters staff is happy.   (I also note that the second sentence lacks a verb.)  The district is also WRONG in the "neediest famili...

Election Update : 1351 is still failing but has closed the gap by about 3,000 votes, 49.58% to No, 50.42% end of update 1B passed handily.  I was surprised at the "handily" part but Seattle folks are a generous bunch. I am going to be speaking at the Board meeting tonight and I may include a bit about what the passage of 1B will mean to SPS.  (I'd lay money a draft partnership agreement is coming very soon.)  But will agreement of that partnership come with a carrot or a stick?  I wonder if the money for the Federal Reserve building might materialize (via a group of businesses, maybe)?

The King County Labor Council only endorsed measure 1B even though, of course, there are many union members in 1A.  This had seemed a mystery to me because if both 1A and1B have union members, why not support both?  Well, it seems there may be a rift between some unions over that sole endorsement and here's a letter asking the KC Labor Council to rescind it. Dear MLKCLC Affiliates and Fellow Members:

Arne Duncan pushes hard on Obama's preschool initiative. “ Two different challenges that I think we have to face,” Duncan said. “One that [HHS Secretary] Kathy [Sebelius] talked about is sometimes you have a cultural piece where people are scared to put their kids in more formal care and they prefer, you know, to do the grandmother, the neighbor, whatever. “And so how we communicate very directly with families and churches and non-profits to make sure if we build it they will come, there’s some work we need to do there,” Duncan said. Sebelius said pre-school could make Hispanic children “culturally comfortable” with entering public schools as kindergartners. And this is the challenge (and the dismissal) by those pushing universal preschool. Who is Arne Duncan to say that people who want their children with them are NOT getting what they need educationally?  It's almost like saying, "we know better for YOUR child."  He is treading into dangerous waters here. ...

Update: well, will you look at that?  On the same day, Publicola and The Stranger choose to highlight one campaign issue.  And it's their support for 1B.  Hmmm. End of update. After several forums (most of which I was invited to), I've learned a lot about the two campaigns for childcare/preschool, 1A and 1B. Here's my vote: Vote NO on the first question (and your conscience on the second one but I'm voting for 1A because I believe that, overall, it will serve more low-income children, faster, than 1B.  That's where I want my tax dollars going.) That will get the City Council and the unions back to the table to deliver one early learning proposition they both agree on.

The Times (finally) had an op-ed that wasn't for mayoral takeover or promoting 1B.  That was written by Seattle Schools parent, Rita Green, is even better.  Rita is a savvy, smart, dedicated parent and advocate for Rainier Beach High School.  My hope is that she may run for the School Board soon (before it becomes an appointed job). Her POV is that 1B likely won't help low-income students and may even hurt the situation.  She supports 1A. Now I believe voters should reject both but, since you can name a favorite (or the lesser of two evils), you probably should vote.  My vote, like Rita's, would be for 1A.  I'll highlight her thoughts but my basic one is that, after consideration, I think more low-income children would receive the benefit of 1A and that's where I want my tax dollars going.

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...

A very busy week. Tuesday, Oct. 21st SPS College Application event at Garfield High School from 2:30 pm-5:30 pm College Application Events provide one-on-one support for high school seniors navigating the college application process. At these events, students receive help researching colleges, filling out applications, and drafting personal statements. Volunteers, including local college admissions officers, are on site to provide support with college applications and answer questions. Note: there will be several more of these events in the coming weeks at high schools thruout SPS.

  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 ...

Monday, October 13th Curriculum&Instruction Committee meeting from 4:30-6:30 pm at JSCEE. There quite a jam-packed agenda here including discussion of Advanced Learning/Highly Capable programs and discussion about the Board endorsing Prop 1B, the City's preschool measure. I note that the name of this item has changed: BAR for P-5 Schools Aligned with Seattle Preschool Program Universal Pre-K Initiative It a bit amusing as the City rebrands the name of their preschool initiative over and over.  But again, pre-k is NOT the district's state mandate nor are they state funded for it.   At Publicola, there is one person saying that Cashel Toner, who is the district's person for Early Learning, has been working with the Gates Foundation on aligning SPS with this effort via a $750K grant.  (This person says there are e-mails to show this and I hope to see them soon.)  I can only say that in e-mails I have obtained, Toner is very in the loop with many City peo...

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.   ...