Seattle Schools Community Forum

When thinking of the Gates Foundation's work in the public education arena, there are not many wins to point to except for Common Core.  Of course, that's quite a large win even though many publications either don't know Gates funded that whole mission or they just leave it out of their writing about Common Core. I may have printed this editorial that appeared in June of last year in the Los Angeles Times   before but it bears repeating because of what the Gates Foundation says about itself.  About Common Core: The Gates Foundation strongly supported the proposed Common Core curriculum standards, helping to bankroll not just their development, but the political effort to have them quickly adopted and implemented by states.

Terribly disturbing news this week that middle-schoolers are now as likely to die from suicide as car crashes.  From the NY Times :

Update:   a couple of corrections. Sue Peters is, of course, the Chair of the Audit&Finance Committee (which I attributed to Director Harris.)  Director Peters had asked Harris to chair the meeting since Peters was unable to be physically present. As well, I attributed a statement to Peters that was Geary's about how Director Blanford felt the $11M should be spent. end of update As I previously reported, the Board was having an Audit&Finance Committee Meeting of the Whole and then had an Executive Committee Meeting of the Whole and then a Work Session on the 2016-2017 Budget to figure out to do with this $11M underspend that was found.

Personalized learning is the next big thing in public education but how it will play out in your child's classroom is, at this point, a big guess.  I note that Michael Tolley, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, seems interested in it and put forth requests to the Board about starting it up in Seattle Schools. (To note, I believe that many teachers are, of course, doing personalized learning as much as they can within the scope of the size of their classrooms and the resources they have.  This is what teachers have done since teaching began.)

Not that it's really a surprise but this story from The Guardian is making news: Allowing students to use computers and the internet in classrooms substantially harms their results, a study has found. The paper published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that students barred from using laptops or digital devices in lectures and seminars did better in their exams than those allowed to use computers and access the internet. The researchers suggested that removing laptops and iPads from classes was the equivalent of improving the quality of teaching. The study was undergrads so it's not clear if the results would be the same for K-12 students. What would help kids do better in math and English?  Apparently it's philosophy.  From Quartz:

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

Wednesday, March 9th Work Session from 4:30-7:45 pm.  Agenda Three different operations of the district will be discussed. First is Internal Audit, second is Technology Services (about 5:15 pm) and third is Assessments (about 6:15 pm.)

I attended the Operations/BTA IV community meeting at Roosevelt this week.  It was disappointing on several fronts. Attending staff included Charles Wright, Flip Herndon, Tom Redman, Joe Wolf, Richard Best, and Carmen Rahm (and a budget staffer whose name I didn't hear and can't find at the district website). There was a dizzying array of handouts.  I don't know if staff has something against trees or cannot devise a couple of handouts to cover the issues but this was overload.

I am trying to get an update on the Cleveland students involved in that two-car crash yesterday on I-5S.  The Times is reporting that two of the six are in critical condition and the other four are in satisfactory condition. Director Betty Patu has a Community meeting tomorrow from 10 am to 11:30 am at Cafe Vita. From SPS Technology: Seattle Public Schools will begin changing to a new website at 10 p.m., Sunday, May 31. The new site will look slightly different. Thank you for your patience during the transition. Should you experience any concerns, please email webmaster@seattleschools.org . More information can be found here: webinfo.www.seattleschools.org .

It is being reported that as of 9 am this morning, there had been issues with the wireless system at Seattle Schools.  It likely halted SBAC testing for at least an hour.  Outages and/or slow system may still happen.

The first of the community meetings around BTA IV coming up in Feb. 2016.  It's at Mercer Middle School, 1600 S. Columbian Way from 6:30-8:30 pm. There is also one on Wednesday at Ballard High School , 1418 NW 65th St from 6:30-8:30 pm. There are more next week at other locations; see the district calendar.

The last of the " Technology Vision Town Halls " will be tonight , starting at 6 pm at West Seattle High School.  Has anyone attended one?  Any thoughts?  Was student data privacy mentioned? Also to note, Friday, March 6th is the LAST day of Open Enrollment .  So hop to it if you haven't enrolled your student yet.  There is also an Operations Ctm meeting on Tuesday , the 3rd.  Agenda here .  It is likely to be a truncated meeting as Director Patu, the chair, is not available due to the death of her husband.  The agenda appears to be just capital matters. Then, Wednesday , there's Board meeting.  Agenda available here. One Action item (total) and that's the 2015 Board Code of Conduct.  Here's the redlined one and there are changes both good and puzzling.

Many interesting meetings this week.

The Seattle Times, like Crosscut, has redesigned itself (well, not in editorial writing so don't get your hopes up).  Both redesigns - to my eye - are not good.  Busy and hard to follow the categories.  The Times does have a good overview article from the AP about the opt-out movement. — Thousands of Colorado high school seniors walked out on new state-mandated science and social studies tests last fall. — An Ohio middle school teacher published a letter calling state officials “bullies” for printing a pamphlet that warned of wide-ranging consequences if students sit out exams. — At least 93 students at a single Philadelphia middle school are declining upcoming tests in a city that saw only 20 students districtwide sit out the exams last year. The Washington Post's Answer Sheet also has a great article from a high profile principal, Carol Buris, on what is really happening in American public education. - Backlash against Common Core - Pain but no gain ...

It appears the Board agreed to bid on the Federal Reserve building .  Interesting thing, though, is that the feds have lower the opening bid from $3M to $1M. On the one hand, the district could get themselves quite the bargain if no one else bids.  Or, it may go Ebay style and have multiple last minute bidders.  The district is paying for its own appraisal and can go 10% over that amount (with these "capital reserves" that are apparently sitting around).  I'll try to find out what that amount is.  (If the district is successful, look for this project to be number one with a bullet on BEX V.) The district is looking for members for a taskforce on the new 24-credit graduation requirement. In January 2015, the Washington State Board of Education approved the district’s request for a two-year waiver of the new requirement, which will increase the number of course credits needed for graduation from 20 to 24. Seattle Public Schools students currently are requir...

The Technology Department is having a "Teaching and Learning Technology Vision Summit."  From the SPS webpage: This summit will bring together representatives from SPS leadership, faculty, community partners, students, City of Seattle, business, members of the SPS Technology Vision Taskforce and others to help create a vision for Teaching & Learning at SPS, and how technology will enable that vision. A technology understanding is important...but representatives should also have a passion for creating an educational environment for SPS students to flourish in, be able to share the views and visions of the organization they represent, and provide a vision on how technology will enable that environment. All discussions and activities will focus on a vision for our students...not on specific technology products or services.  That comes later! The summit w...

 Monday, December 1st   Want to get on the Speakers list for the Wednesday Board meeting ?  They take e-mails/phone calls starting at 8 am (not before so don't bother).  Phone: 252-0040 or boardagenda@seattleschools.org.   Coffee Chat with Superintendent Nyland at Neighborhood House High Point from 6-7 pm.  The notice states: Dr. Nyland looks forward to listening to your feedback, concerns, and questions. So I think bring any and all input and questions. Community Meeting with Director McLaren at Neighborhood House High Point from 7-8 pm.

Monday, May 5th Community meeting with Director McLaren from 6-7:30 pm at the High Point Community Center. Tuesday, May 6th Special Education Advisory and Advocacy Council (SEEAC) Meeting starting at 6:30 pm at JSCEE in room 2700. Wednesday, May 7th School Board meeting starting at 4:15 pm.  Agenda - I see from the Personnel report that there is a new Director of Capital Projects and Planning, Richard Best.  The sheer number of capital projects - just on the meeting agenda - should keep Mr. Best busy. - on the Intro items, I see one of the first tech contracts keying around wireless services for all schools.   This particular contract is for $1.7M.  Of course, I'm a bit confused because in one place in the BAR it says: Fiscal impact for this specific contract will be part of the $6.5 million dollars of BEX IV Levy funding for wireless deployment. But elsewhere, it says: Levy voters approved $9.6 million dollars to support the deployment of w...

I reported previously on the discussion of the issue of NW Center and Cascade as discussed at the Board meeting on Wednesday, March 5th.  That, along with later start time advocates, was the bulk of public testimony.  I note that it seems that a call seems to have gone out that at every Board meeting, there needs to be two non-profit groups working with Seattle schools that come and tell the Board how much they need student data and how careful they are with it.  They also come with an "example."  There were two people at the Board meeting that night. I think I mentioned previously how one of these providers came to a meeting and practically outed a middle school student (with a lot of personal description about the student).   Coincidentally, the district is having a Work Session on how they take care of student data just this coming Wednesday but I'll write separately on that.  I'll just say this the district does NOT have everything in place...

I'm off to go listen in on the Work Session this afternoon about Capital Program Planning.  I was talking with an aide to a City Councilperson yesterday about this very issue.  Apparently the staff and families at the NW Center for Kids have been very active in reaching out in all directions to try to stay in the SPS building they currently occupy.  He was mystified at how there could be two groups - Cascade and NW Center for Kids - both whom serve special needs children that have somehow become pitted against each other.  Inwardly, I thought, "Well, that's about par for SPS."  He was also surprised at the lack of preventive maintenance in our school buildings especially given how packed and well-used they are.  Again, no surprised if you know that the district has cut back on maintenance since the late '70s.  They cut back and never looked back.  Well, there has been a lot of hand-wringing from Board members and superintendents and staff an...