Seattle Schools Community Forum

This is a guest post from Jack Whelan who ran for School Board in District II in the primary. “I have a button that reads: "Those who CAN teach. Those who CAN'T become education policymakers." Well, not all teachers can teach, and not all policymakers can't, but ... it's mostly true.” –Deborah Meier It’s mostly true of school administrators, too. And that’s why it’s just wrong to have a teacher evaluation system that depends on one person—the principal. It only makes sense in a world where you accept that schools are like businesses where you get your performance evaluation from your boss. That’s frequently problematic even in corporate settings if you have a jerk for a boss (like that never happens) or a boss who, for whatever reason, doesn’t know your job because he or she never did it. (Ask any special ed teacher how many principals she’s had who have even the remotest clue about what she is doing.) A boss who doesn't understand what you're doing...

Looks like Sharon Peaslee has made a little headway on Peter Maier's lead but if not by Monday, then it's probably a lost cause.  On the other hand, Marty McLaren has retained her lead and, by reading the Times this morning, not a minute too late.  The Times' has this great story about how the district never intended for principals to have broad oversight over student newspapers.  (Say what?  Did they read their own policy?  Yes - they - did.)  And the reasoning?  More laugh ensues. Seattle Public Schools officials now say they never intended to give principals broad oversight of students' newspapers, saying a controversial proposal resulted from the "crazy" time frame they are working under as they revamp hundreds of district policies this year. The board is pushing district staff to work at an accelerated pace because the current policies are out of date and not universally followed, School Board President Steve Sundquist said. "It's i...

Checking the latest election numbers as of 4:21 p.m. today,  all the outcomes are still the same.   There did not seem to be that many more votes counted today (I don't have the number from last night but I recall it as being under 25% and today it is at 27.96%). All the changes in numbers are less than 1% in every race. What is interesting is that this may be a real nail-biter as tomorrow will be the last day to receive any updates for several days.  Friday is the Veterans Day holiday and so, of course, KC Elections will be closed.  As well, KC Elections won't be receiving any mail (or processing it) so they are likely to get a fairly large batch of ballots on Monday the 14th. 

While doing some research on charter law, I saw this article from the LA Weekly, entitled " Charter Schools: Getting Your Child on the List - How to cut in line and pervert the concept of public education " by Gene Maddaus that I thought worth passing along. Apparently, at least a couple of tony LA charters had figured out how to exploit a federal guideline to pull in more of the "right" parents AND support their bottom line. Here's the basis for the problem (and I had never heard of this before so news to me): under federal guidelines, there are a handful of lottery preferences.  One is siblings.  Already have a child in the school? The next one is in.  Two is a preference for children of staff (according to most of the state charter law I found, this is restricted to 10% or less of the student population).  And three?  Well, that's for "founding parents."

From the Times : Silas Potter Jr., the central figure in the Seattle Public Schools financial scandal, was arrested during a traffic stop early Wednesday near Tampa, Fla., after he failed to appear for arraignment Tuesday on theft charges in King County Superior Court. A King County sheriff's detective who handles fugitive cases received a tip and relayed it to U.S. marshals, who found Potter, sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart said Wednesday morning. I had a feeling that since Potter was a non-violent criminal that it might hard to find him (he only pays cash and had disconnected his cell phone).  But sure enough, he got stopped on a traffic stop. He will make his first court appearance in Florida on Thursday, Kincheloe said. Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office, said prosecutors hope to learn on Thursday whether Potter will waive extradition. If Potter agrees to extradition, he could be brought to Seattle in a matter of days, Donohoe said...

Here's a link to the page on the King County Elections web site for results on Seattle School Board elections: http://your.kingcounty.gov/elections/elections/201111/respage36.aspx Here's a link to the results for the Families and Education Levy (scroll to the bottom): http://your.kingcounty.gov/elections/elections/201111/respage29.aspx These vote counts are scheduled to be updated once every business day at 4:30pm. Here are the results as of November 14, 4:10pm Director District No. 1 Peter Maier 59633 50.66% Sharon Peaslee 57686 49.00% Write-in 403 0.34% Director District No. 2 Sherry Carr 62119 53.60% Kate Martin 53291 45.98% Write-in 483 0.42% Director District No. 3 Harium Martin-Morris 69704 60.19% Michelle Buetow 45587 39.36% Write-in 525 0.45% Director District No. 6 Steve Sundquist 54111 46.74% Marty McLaren 61129 52.81% Write-in 521 0.45% Proposition No. 1 Regular Tax Levy Including Families and Educati...

It was a hard one to call and you could have placed bets on any and all of the incumbents or challengers and still not gotten it right. It looks like incumbents Peter Maier (up 2,992 votes), Sherry Carr (up 6,910 votes) and Harium Martin-Morris (up15,158 votes) will be returned to office.   Only challenger Marty McLaren appears to have won her race against Steve Sundquist (up by 1,831 votes). To note: I am amazed at the number of people who said they hadn't gotten their votes in until yesterday or today.  What it could mean for any candidate, I don't know. If late ballots can still flip an election, would that mean Marty McLaren could still lose to Steve Sundquist BUT it flips Sharon Peaslee to beating Peter Maier?  That could be one outcome if there are still enough votes out there (although the McLaren/Sundquist race is much closer).   I did have a feeling about the McLaren/Sundquist race only because that district seemed to have the most persona...