Seattle Schools Community Forum

Or, as more commonly referred to, the SAP. Background The district created a new Student Assignment Plan in 2009 that was approved by the Board.  It was a big change, primarily because the district went from a choice plan to a neighborhood plan.  I know that many of you don't like this form of SAP but, at the time, many parents were clamoring for a neighborhood plan because of the assurance of knowing what school their child would be assigned to.  The interesting thing I wonder about is that under the choice plan, 90% of people received their first choice.  That's a pretty good percentage but was that their desired choice or just the best choice they felt they could make in terms of knowing where their child would be?  I haven't heard any numbers on the choice within the neighborhood plan. Then, with the explosive growth in the district, the plan had to be tweeted and so there was a Transition Plan.  What is confusing to me is that the district is stil...

Over at the Soup for Teachers Facebook page there was some unhappiness over what info is available at the SPS website around the Growth Boundaries.   Apparently some parents received an email about them but it had no link to the webpage (which means you would have had to search for it yourself.)  And here is the link.

From the district: The board action for the Student Assignment Plan scheduled  on Nov. 4, 2015  is being postponed until Nov. 18  to allow for additional understanding and feedback from our many stakeholders. Read More about Student Assignment Plan Board Action item Good decision but if there is confusion, it is at the hands of district staff. School Board election results:  First returns: Director District No. 1  Michael Christophersen  33.65% - 24825 votes Scott S. Pinkham  65.87% - 48597 votes Director District No. 2 Laura Obara Gramer  20.72% - 15480 votes Rick Burke  78.96% - 58982 votes Director District No. 3 Jill Geary 59.43% - 44392 votes Lauren McGuire 40.22% - 30041 votes Director District No. 6 Leslie Harris   74.51% - 55538 votes Marty McLaren  25.15% - 18744 votes I would say that clearly voters made clear choices.  The two Establishment candidates did not win.   Now the hard work towards ...

The Student Assignment Plan BAR on the Board meeting agenda has changed again. I have just spent about 20 minutes comparing this document to the real SAP (see next paragraph).  I have tried to understand what they are saying and you know what?  I don't believe ANYONE should have to be a detective to figure this out. This has gone too far and frankly, it's a mess.  The Board needs to say no. First, the document that staff is using is NOT the Student Assignment Plan .  It's the 2014 Annual Transition plan. To explain, the Board passed a Student Assignment Plan in 2009.  But there have been Transition plans for the school years since because of the growth of the district and the reopening of schools.  Each of these plans had specific items (like grandfathering - who got it and for how long) and were documents to work towards - I thought - a finalization of the use of the SAP which would now be based on address. The Oct 21, 2015 BAR said this: S...

I had an interview with KPLU's Kyle Stokes about the redlined student assignment plan.  He then went to the district who provided him with their accounting of the changes to the  SAP .  Apparently I'm Chicken Little. According to the district (and they put this in their document three times): There are only two proposed policy changes:  Waitlists will now be dissolved on May 31, instead of September 30.  The distance tiebreaker has been removed, in keeping with the Student Assignment Plan that was approved in 2009. This document is not at the district webpage (even as the Board will be voting on it this Wednesday.) Additionally:

It will be quite the week by the time we all get to the end of it. From SPS Communications : Tuesday, Nov. 3 Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) community gathering cancelled Due to an unforeseen circumstance we must cancel and reschedule the Nov. 3, 2015 DHH Community Gathering. A critical component for this meeting is appropriate interpretation services. Despite early requests and multiple agency contacts, interpretation services were not secured. The district was informed of this on Oct. 30.

Suggested e-mail to the Board on this issue with key points; edit at will. If you want the Board AND senior staff to see your e-mail, write to : schoolboard@seattleschools.org If you want ONLY the Board to see your e-mail, write to: spsdirectors@seattleschools.org If you want to sign up to speak at the Board meeting, call at 8 am Monday morning, 252-0040 and follow the prompts or send your email on or after 8am Monday morning to boardagenda@seattleschools.org E-mail suggestion Dear Directors,