Seattle Schools Community Forum

As I previously reported, on the agenda at the Seattle School Board meeting this Wednesday, the 12th are the required financial disclosure forms from the Board and senior leadership.  One item that needs to be reconciled is whether Director Michelle Sarju was still working for King County. The KC directory reflects to this day that she is and yet she put down nothing. This has some bearing to SPS because of the Best Starts for Kids program that where she did some oversight.   Another item I did point out was that Director Brandon Hersey noted - without saying the name - of his close relationship with a lead at Upper Left Strategies, a consulting firm. Several years back I asked for the contract for this group and only got one. But seeing this notation from Hersey makes me wonder if the district is now paying for MORE work with Upper Left. Otherwise, why would Hersey have put that in there? It'll take months to get but I'm going to ask for contracts from the last couple of yea...

 It appears that the Seattle Education Association has a survey for members going on. It's lengthy (almost 70 questions) but interestingly, doesn't ask anything about Highly Capable despite those students being likely to return to all the neighborhood schools.    There is a group of parents of Highly Capable students who plan to advocate to the Board that no HC changes should happen until there is an authentic HC plan for what will be happening in neighborhood classrooms when HC students are returned to those schools. It's not unreasonable to ask for a pause until there are real answers.  From a parent Facebook page: Join us at the next school board meeting on Wednesday, Feb 12 at 4:15 pm at the John Stanford Center to tell them that we know Advanced Learning is not happening at all schools , and to stop phasing out HCC until a viable alternative exists for ALL students who need it.   Can’t make it to the meeting? Email the Board. liza.rankin@seattleschools.or...

  Registration is open for March 15th Blueprints for Special Education from 9 am to 2:30 pm. Info here. This is event is sponsored by the Washington Autism Alliance .   TOMORROW, Thursday, Feb. 6th from 8-9 pm - Sip and Chat with Seattle Special Education PTSA This Sip & Chat is an informal conversation around legislative advocacy during the 2025 WA legislative session. Discuss bills you are interested in and how you can support the legislation we need in Washington for students with disabilities and their families. -------- All are welcome to join, and membership is not required. We look forward to seeing you there! --------- Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89043152021 Meeting ID: 890 4315 2021 --- One tap mobile +12532158782,,89043152021# US (Tacoma) +12532050468,,89043152021# US --- Dial by your location • +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 890 4315 2021 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kimKdH9JS

You turn your back for a bit and look what happens. By the way, I enjoyed the slight snow in Seattle but yes, coming home to 79 degrees works for me. First up, the KUOW story about the Boys & Girls Club and issues at Sugiyama High School. This story was written by Ann Dornfeld who used to cover the SPS beat but honestly, her lengthier investigative stories are fantastic and this one is no exception.  There was a district investigation into these events and I will request a copy but that will take months to receive. It was 2023, and the seniors were part of a new, elite basketball program, Great Futures Prep, a partnership between Seattle Public Schools and the Boys & Girls Clubs of King County. It was based at Alan T. Sugiyama High School in Rainier Beach, which focuses on students at risk of dropping out, including teen parents. The school helps students catch up on credits and find career paths, like music production and horticulture. The basketball program was its lates...

Signing off for a short period of time for personal time in Seattle (yes, I see it might snow Saturday night, fun). Sadly, I won't be able to attend the Board's three-hour special meeting tomorrow on their Goals for the district. (Apparently there is also to be an executive session as well.) It appears it will be roughly 2 hours for the Goals and Guardrails and 1 hour for the executive session. Checking in with the agenda I am quite surprised to see they expect people to testify on this. What!? I saw no notice that this was part of this meeting. I suspect they will get little input.  For the Goals and Guardrails there are four amendments, three from Director Liza Rankin and two from Director Sarah Clark. On the Board Policy 0020, Goals for the District, the agenda states, " This item will be updated prior to action: Goals to be added pending additional Board discussion." For each Board-adopted Goal and Guardrail, the Superintendent will establish one to three interim...

A group of Option School parents have formed a new group, the Seattle Student Options Coalition. The group also encourages teachers and interested community members. Basically, they want to keep Option Schools and alternative programs open and alive. For over fifty years, Seattle Public Schools has nurtured innovative educational programs designed to provide schools and programs that responded to the diverse needs and interests of Seattle’s families. These schools have been known as alternative, option, magnet, STEM, HCC, dual language immersion, K-8, and Creative Approach schools, and they have served many different roles within changing enrollment and choice assignment plans. These intentional school communities, built in close partnership between educators and families, have provided vital examples for innovative instructional practices that continue to make a difference in classrooms across Seattle. We call on Seattle Public Schools to renew its commitment to these option schools, ...

 Advocacy letter from the Garfield High School PTSA to parents on pressuring the Legislature to fully fund public education. It covers a lot of important ground so I have nothing to add besides how legislators DO count the number of times they get input on any given bill.  DEAR GARFIELD COMMUNITY MEMBER, We want to thank State Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen (D-43rd District) for taking the time during the busy legislative season to come to the  PTSA Meeting  in the GHS library last week, and brief the school community about the state budget situation and the implication for funding education. Basically, it doesn’t look great, and hence it’s more important than ever to ask legislators to prioritize school funding. We came to understand, in a nutshell, that specific education bills pending in the Legislature will help address gaps in current funding plans and formulas, in ways that go beyond the targeted activities and populations. These offset costs will l...