Seattle Schools Community Forum

Okay, so by my reckoning the District is likely to start community meetings for the new Assignment plan by January/Feb/March. (They need it - finished - by October/November next year to use it for starting enrollment in Jan. 2009.) One thing to fight for is community meetings that are NOT all in one week and NOT all during the week. It needs to be drawn out, over several weeks or a couple of months, to give the most people the awareness of them and the ability to get to them. (When closure and consolidation did Saturday meetings they were well-attended and it speaks to the fact that not all parents have the energy or time to go on a weeknight.) So, thinking about it here are some of the major problems (that mostly would be there whether we have a choice system or a more neighborhood system); Boundaries: likely to be THE number one issue (after the ever-present equity issue but that's more problematic). How do we figure out how to draw these? For example, looking at a map wit...

This article about John Marshall appeared in the Times' yesterday. It seems they have a new principal and the spirit among the students is better. "As a result, the district forced out John Marshall's longtime principal and appointed Stacey McCrath-Smith to head the school. McCrath-Smith's rapport with the students is obvious as she strides through the hallways, stopping for hugs and to talk about the weekend, football, upcoming school events. When district evaluators visited the school, students gave them tours. She organized a student government, a basketball team, a back-to-school night for parents. Student artwork and photos fill the school's entryway, and this month a group of students took a field trip on one of the Lake Union tall ships." I was very pleased to read about the taskforce that is determine the future of the Marshall programs. "Barbara Moore is on special assignment from her job as principal of a similar high school in the South End ...

I receive this e-mail from Joe Swaja. "Please find attached my responses to the PI questions regarding schools. Thanks! Joe Szwaja Candidate for Seattle City Council Position 1 (206) 420-1830 joeforcouncil@earthlink.net " "I have been a public school teacher at Nova High School a Seattle Public School located in the Central District for the past fifteen years where I teach American Government and Economics, World History, Spanish and Weight Lifting. My son, Jozef Engel, always attended public schools, including Meany Middle School during the time he lived with me in Seattle. My three steps sons - Sam, Leaf and Reed - all attended Seattle Public Schools as well. There is a link between my teaching and the reason I am running; both are based on the politics of community and inspiring people to work together for the common good. I have won several awards for my teaching including the Outstanding Teachers of America Award as a result of student and staff nominations based o...

Denise Gonzalez-Walker's PI blog had some Q&A with a couple of City Council candidates (I'm sure she asked all of them and I wish they had answered) about Seattle schools. I particularly liked Jean Godden's answer that the Board needs to be paid more and have some staff beyond the basics. If you've never attended a joint City Council/School Board meeting, well, they are interesting. Hardly any public attends (it's a great place to say something to both parties if you have something you want brought to two governing bodies' attention). It's sort of like distant relatives all sitting around the dinner table, after dinner, trying to be polite. Not that there's bad blood but I'm not sure they know what to do with each other or whether the Board has the right to ask the Council for help or if the Council feels they can really do anything. It would be great to have more of a relationship between the two. On the other hand, there's Mayor Nicke...

Below are excerpts from an e-mail I received from Ron at ParentsCare. I'm happy to post other points of view as well. Just click on the link at the right to send them to me via e-mail. ***** "Thanks for keeping up the Seattle Schools blog. Now that we've cancelled our Times and PI subscriptions, we find more truth and honest opinions there. For reasons technically beyond our control, we were not able to contribute to the blog dialogue about the excess contributions that Mel submitted on Friday. We recently received an opinion from a neighbor regarding the ballot choices and for District 1 position on the School Board, there was a brief message that called for a response. We include our response below as a way for us to vent and perhaps inform others. While the campaign contributions are legal, it's clear that these candidates and endorsements, especially by Chow and DeBell for Maier, are Let's-Vote-No-For-Sally votes, regardless of the qualifications and experience...

If you missed the School Board candidates forum that was co-organized and co-sponsored by CPPS, it is being re-broadcast on the SPS Cable TV channel: Comcast Cable Ch. 26 Millenium Cable Channel 75 Mondays @ 8:00 AM, Wednesdays @ 6:00 PM, Saturdays @ 6:00 PM, Sundays @ 2:00 PM through Election Day (11/6) You can also read the candidates' responses to a questionnaire at: http://www.cppsofseattle.org/candidates2007.htm .

So I'm down at the Simple Majority headquarters (my son and his friend were making phone calls to encourage people to vote for it - they actually enjoyed it) and I see Cheryl Chow and Peter Maier making phone calls (good for them). And then I glance up from my reading (I wasn't making phone calls but reading a draft of the Facilities Master Plan) and there was Steve Sundquist making calls as well. I looked back down for awhile and when I looked up again who was sitting right next to Steve making calls? Maria Ramirez. Those two could have easily sat far apart but they didn't. I wish they could both be on the Board.