Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Board will be having the Operations Committee meeting on Thursday, the 17th, from 4-7:15 pm.  Why such a lengthy committee meeting?  For one, it's a packed agenda but there are a couple of high profile issues that could take some time. They are: - Approval of the Student Assignment Plan for 2017-18 (F. Herndon) - Transportation service standards and contract (P. McEvoy) As well, there will be a COW (Committee of the Whole) session for Special Education Placement Update.  That they want the entire Board at this meeting must mean something.  (Frankly, it would be great if the entire Board was there to hear about the other two big issues as well.) I have not read thru the SAP info but reader Lynn has:

From SPS Communications: School Choice has ended and waitlists have been dissolved for the 2016-17 school year. 

I've had several emails from parents pleading for info on waitlists.  I truly have none beyond what the district says but I did hear from someone in the know.   Here's an opening remark: The waitlist is a dead end! Do not give parents and students false hope with the creation of a waitlist. 

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...

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,

As you may recall, a parent had written to me in confusion over how her daughter was on  place on the kindergarten waitlist, only to move downward days later.  She said something had to have changed. An eagle-eyed reader, found this new page at the SPS website, Waitlist Order Update, and it confirms what many of you thought. (Now I note - an issue of HUGE importance to parents throughout the district - and it's not even on the front page of the district's website.) Following the completion of Open Enrollment, an error was discovered in the priority system for waitlisting students. The distance tiebreaker was inadvertently left out of the waitlist priorities.     As a result, the initial waitlist order was incorrect. We have since corrected the error and placed students on waitlists based on the correct tiebreaker set , including the distance tiebreaker. 

A parent of an incoming kindergarten student wrote to me about issue she was having with Enrollment. Based on reading the Enrollment policy and speaking with different Enrollment staff, she believed that the only tiebreaker for the lottery into neighborhood schools is siblings. (It seems she wanted to put her child into a non-attendance area school.   The lottery was held and she was told that she was #4, and then, #3 on the waitlist.  Now, weeks later, she finds that her child moved down the list and another child moved up the list.  She is baffled how that happened. I have a query into the District but... Did this happen to anyone else? Any thoughts on why this might have happened? FYI, here the waitlist by school .  There are some interesting numbers.

By request.  Discuss among yourselves.

Is this discussion over enrollment numbers and school funding still happening where you are? Because apparently, it's still an issue for Nathan Hale High.  Hale parents are being notified, via a Hale parent group, that the district is underestimating their enrollment (by less than 20 students) and it will reduce their funding.  They say they have had a waitlist for years and don't understand why this is happening.  Unfortunately, this issue is pitting school against school as the notification goes on to say that the district is not moving their waitlist because some of the students on the list would be from the Roosevelt High School area and Roosevelt would then lose students.  I don't follow this line of thinking because it presumes that Roosevelt is lobbying for Hale's list not to move.  Are schools really looking over their shoulders at other schools?  Could be. But if the district is not moving waitlists (and looking to see if a school has had a w...

From SPS Communications: Student  Information System now live, Waiting List Moves will begin August 31 We want all families, including those with students on wait lists, to know what to expect as we implement a new, improved student information system. The system is live as of August 26. However, we must carefully check current capacity at schools before we begin moving waiting lists. We expect to begin moving waiting lists no later than August 31.    Waiting Lists: We expect to begin moving waiting lists no later than August 31 . If your child is on a waiting list for a school, please be sure to check your email and/or voice mail over Labor Day weekend. (August 31, September 1 and 2). We expect to make waiting list moves throughout that period, and will move waiting lists where space is available. Please remember, however, that we typically are not able to offer seats to all waitlisted students. We understand how important it is to families, studen...

 We've heard from many parents who are unhappy about enrollment issues like waitlists.  My understanding is that the district was switching technology systems.  Reading the Queen Anne Elementary principal's blog, it would seem that the whole system has been down,  in one form or another. Principal Elliot's explains that on Back to School Night (an event they are having this week), parents would be able to learn their child's classroom assignment from the school secretary.  He then states that "our student information system is not functioning.   The old system was purchased by a new company and our district has had to transition to the new company, a formidable task.  Our tech department has been working very diligently and we hope to have the system up and running by early next week.  What this means is that we have not seen any new student changes at all for the summer and will not be able to make any necessary changes until the system is...

Heard that the waitlists were running late - input from Tracy Libros in Enrollment: Our student information system is currently being replaced, so the most recent update of assignment and waiting list information was in mid-July. New information will be updated as soon as possible, which is likely to be at the end of August or beginning of September. We understand the importance of waiting list status and information as your family plans for the start of school and apologize for the delay. Of course, we will move waiting lists as soon as we possibly can. The technology folks are working diligently to get systems up and running as soon as possible.  That's the reason for the lateness of this information.  I know it must feel frustrating but summer is the best time to work on systems within the district. Hearing that 8th graders may all be enrolled in algebra (at least at some schools) and about the need for finger-printing for all chaperones for school trips ( no...