Seattle Schools Community Forum

This has (and continues to be) an interesting week for me as I stump against the two preschool measures.  More on this to come. From SPS: Hello West Seattle Families, Due to potential family scheduling conflicts, Seattle Public Schools is rescheduling the Monday, Sept. 29, Superintendent meet and greet at the Neighborhood House in West Seattle. We’ve recently learned the Seattle Housing Authority is holding a meeting about its proposal for rent changes at the same date and time at the High Point Community Center and many of our families wish to attend. We are rescheduling out of respect for many of our families’ desires to attend both meetings. The new date for the Superintendent’s meeting will be in late October to ensure families have time to plan and attend. Saturday community meeting with Director Patu from 10 am to 11:30 am at Cafe Vita.  I note that the SCPTA has this to say in urging members to go to Patu's meeting: Have your students been impac...

From the City of Seattle: Simply THE most important road safety meetings you can attend this year @ SeattleDOT School Road Safety. Why? Starting in 2015, the School Road Safety Plan will prioritize millions in safety improvements every year around our schools. ** Tuesday, May 20 at 6 PM to 7:30 PM SW Southwest Branch Seattle Public Library, 901 0 35th Ave SW ** Tuesday, May 27 at 6 PM to 7:30 PM Northeast Branch Seattle Public Library, 6801 35th Ave NE ** Thursday, May 29 at 6 PM to 7:30 PM Garfield Community Center, 2323 E Cherry St The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) invites you to a design workshop where we’ll examine how to improve traffic safety near Seattle schools. The workshops will include a presentation and discussion on road design treatments and a “walk about” intended to provide examples of traffic barriers and potential opportunities. These workshops are part of an effort to improve safety near schools through a combination of street im...

 Updates: - there were full tables and most were about one school or area.  There was a Coe table, a Beacon Hill table (with some hard facts about the changes for that area), a TT Minor table, Montlake, etc. - I found these to be people who knew their facts and, if they didn't, wanted to find out more.  One man pushed back against the format, asking why staff couldn't explain who thought up the boundaries and explain them.  He was told they just wanted "comments and feedback."  I don't think many were satisfied with that answer. -Rep Jamie Pedersen was there and he spoke as a father of four (one in school).  I think he's getting a good picture of the issues. Takeaways : - this region HAS had a lot of push-pull from the district.  I honestly had not realized how bad it has been.   And, like other regions, the boundaries are NOT taking into account established "community boundaries or geographical features.  For example, one are...

Want to review the Gates Foundation?  There's an open forum at Yelp .  Very empowering. It is being reported that the City Council voted in unison to use the money from the school zone camera ticketing just for road/ped safety projects by our schools.  So far the tickets have delivered at whopping $3.3M (but I'm thinking that's ticketing and not money collected).  Mayor McGinn had wanted to leave those dollars in the General Fund.  Usage of the funds could include new sidewalks and repainted crosswalks. I note that Buckingham Palace says that Kate "was delivered" of a baby boy.  Well, that's one way to put it, almost as if the stork ran the bell and handed over a baby.  Yes, that's just how it works.  (But I give William lots of credit for being there for the birth and staying the night with his wife and newborn.) What's on your mind?

The Stranger follows up on this question with some answers (but still with question marks): As you may have noticed, the city began using automated cameras to enforce speed limits near four schools in December of 2012, and they're going to expand the program to install cameras near five more schools next year. By June, the city had issued 30,400 tickets at $189 a pop. While initially estimated to bring in some $800,000 in revenue for the year, they're now expecting closer to $5 million. Five million? Wow, wouldn't that fund crossing guards (the City used to pay and stopped several years back)? This morning, the council's government performance and finance committee approved a bill that would create a separate fund for those traffic-camera dollars, so that how, when, and on what the money is spent would be more carefully restricted. There's been talk of simply making sure whatever amount is raised from traffic-camera tickets would then be budgeted toward school...

From Seattle.gov: Today Mayor Mike McGinn announced five new locations for future school zone speed cameras at locations across Seattle. The existing school zone cameras have led to a combined 16 percent reduction in citations for speeding across the four schools. “The public has been clear that we need to do more to protect children as they travel to and from school,” said Mayor Mike McGinn. “The data shows that the existing cameras are helping improve safety near schools by reducing travel speed and cameras should be installed at additional schools.” “Increasing safety in our school zone and beyond continues to be a high priority for me and for our school community,” said Sherri Kokx, principal of Nathan Eckstein Middle School, a potential location for future school zone traffic cameras. “School zone cameras are one more tool that can help increase safety.” Last fall, the City installed school zone speed cameras in four locations – Broadview-Thomson K-8, Olympic...

The Mayor's office has a School Road Safety Survey that they would like families to take.  If you haven't taken it yet, please do so in the name of better safety for all.  Thanks!

This story gets even more sad. The incident occurred on the first day the mother, Karina Ulriksen-Schulte, had ventured out after giving birth via C-section.  (As someone who has had C-sections, I know she must have been moving slowly and carefully.)  She and her in-laws decided to cross NE 75th at 33rd NE and she saw the pickup coming.  She doubled back to help her in-laws and all of them got hit. Both the grandparents, Judy Schulte and her husband, Dennis, were former educators who just moved from Indiana. Details of the conditions of the mother and baby from the Times: Elias, born March 15, was thrown to the pavement and wasn’t breathing when police and medics found him lying next to his unconscious mother, the papers say. He suffered skull fractures and a brain injury and underwent emergency surgery for injuries to his liver and intestines, charging papers say.  Ulriksen-Schulte suffered a crushed pelvis and later developed blood clots that caused...