Seattle Schools Community Forum

OSPI announced today the release of new data on student discipline.  According to the press release:

Good story from KOMO news about Highline's in-school suspension program.  Sounds to me like they have covered their bases well but to have this kind of in-school suspension program you need resources and space.  SPS would probably have the resources if they devoted some McCleary dollars but space?  Kind of at a premium.  Oh wait, maybe those City pre-K classrooms.

I didn't watch all of the Board meeting on tv last night but I did get to see the Board leave - en masse - when one speaker who didn't know the rules, challenged them on allowing her a second slot to speak again.  (The rules are one speaking time per person per meeting, no matter if someone is willing to cede their spot to you to give you more time.)  When she wouldn't back down, the Board just got up and took a break.  It was surprising to see given they generally give security the nod and the person is escorted from the room. The Board also voted to halt suspension for elementary school students for nonviolent offenses for one year.   Taken out of the mix for suspension are disruptive conduct, rule-breaking and disobedience.  (Seattle has a lower suspension rate than the state average but it still has the issue of suspensions that occur more for minority students, ELL and Sped students.)  This vote still doesn't solve the issue of what else happens if n...

Those two factors - a hot summer night and a full moon - might just set things off.  Word is that many Middle College supporters will be at the meeting and want to be heard.  Here are some updates from the supporters (and that includes me):

From ACLU of Northern California: SACRAMENTO, CA  – Today California becomes the f irst state in the nation to eliminate suspensions for its youngest children, and all expulsions for all students for minor misbehavior such as talking back, failing to have school materials and dress code violations. Gov. Jerry Brown’s signing today of AB 420 caps a landmark year for the movement away from harsh discipline policies and toward positive discipline and accountability approaches that keep children in school. AB 420 places limits on the use of school discipline for the catch-all category known as “willful defiance,” which also includes minor school disruption. Willful defiance accounts for 43% of suspensions issued to California students, and is the suspension offense category with the most significant racial disparities.  For the next 3.5 years, the law eliminates in-school and out-of-school suspensions for children in grades K-3 for disruptive behavior currently c...

A six-year-old calls Hasbro out on its Guess Who game (with 19 men and only 5 women on the game board).  They write back with a silly answer and her mom weighs in. A bipartisan bill has been introduced into the House of Representatives to cut down on high-stakes testing.  In the on-going debate about discipline, zero-tolerance discipline and how to keep a classroom orderly (while NOT suspending kids), an interesting article from Education Next.   One report, Discipline Disparities, has a lot of good info and says this: One oft-repeated justification for frequent suspensions is that schools must be able to remove the “bad” students so that “good” students can learn. There is no research to support this popular theory. To the contrary, when schools serving similar populations were compared across the state of Indiana, and poverty was controlled for, those schools with relatively low suspension rates had higher, not lower test scores. But two other studies ...

Two Special Education stories of note. First, the Times reports that the State will accept SPS's Special Ed plan with a few extra conditions.  The concern seems to be that the staffing plan seems more worried about teachers's needs than meeting student needs.  The State also wants the district to spend more federal dollars on consultants to help to shape/improve services.  Also, the AP is reporting that Bainbridge School District has to pay the family of a student with Asperger's who was bullied $300,000 in damages .  The lawsuit started in 2010 when the student was then 14 and at Bainbridge High School.  The parents had gone so far as to get a restraining order against four male students as well as contacting the Bainbridge Island police.   The students were found guilty of criminal conduct relating to their actions towards the victim. Another STEM school with an aviation twist has opened in south Seattle.  The school, Raisbeck Aviation High Sch...

From the Times : The candidates who were there had some tough talk for Seattle Public Schools. State Sen. Ed Murray said if he were mayor, he would forge a new partnership with the school district to increase the graduation rate. “The school district has to change,” he said, vowing to make improvements in the graduation rate and how money is targeted — or, he said, “Please yell at me and vote me out of office.”   Usually, the school district blames the state Legislature for district problems, so it was interesting to hear that. Ed Murray is my senator and yes, I am a bit surprised to hear him say this.  He hasn't said a lot about Seattle schools in any pre-mayor bid venue.  His advocacy has been limited (and appreciated) to the Legislature.  Without specifics, this isn't much (and I'm still waiting to interview him so we'll see). Also, note to the Times, the district does not blame the Legislature for all its problems; just the funding ones.  ...

Monday Another of Superintendent Banda's Community meetings , this time at Bryant Elementary 3311 NE 60th Street from 6-7:30 p.m. Director Peaslee Community meeting from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Lake City Library, 12501 128th Ave NE Tuesday Superintendent Banda Community meeting , this time at Concord International,  723 South Concord Street from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday School Board meeting at 4:15 p.m.  Could I put in a plug here?  Please write to the Board and tell them that this time is not conducive to real public engagement - schoolboard@seattleschools.org.  Agenda. One key item here is the Creative Approach Amendment that is supposed to put in School Board oversight to this process.   I need to read it line for line but my quick read is...not so much.   I feel the Board should have some kind of final input on any change.  The issue to me is that this Amendment only says the Board has to approve a waiver request and not the overall change to a...

The Civil Rights Project at UCLA has produced a report on the incidence of out-of-school suspensions with the data dis-aggregated by race and disability. Seattle Public Schools is included in this report.

I got there about 5:10 p.m.  A lot of the Mayor's staff, district staff and a middle school rock band warming up.  For all those people, there was no one to officially greet you or tell you anything about the event.  (I get that they needed staff but seriously, it was a lot of people for a simple Q&A.)