Seattle Schools Community Forum

I talked to Mr. Sheppard to ask a couple of questions about this meeting.  The notice came out 3-4 weeks ago (and yet, I didn't see it at the district website).  The "ask" from the district is about typical but, as he said, different neighborhoods have varying ideas on what impacts look/feel like.  NOTICE OF MEETING OF THE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS DEPARTURE ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR WILSON PACIFIC ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL Conditions: The Seattle School District is requesting a waiver (departure) from some City zoning regulations for the construction of a new Wilson Pacific Elementary School and new Wilson Pacific Middle School. The District plans to demolish the existing school and construct a new elementary and middle school building.  The School District is requesting modifications for greater than allowed building height, increase on-site parking spaces and parking location and off-street bus loading and unloading. The process for consid...

In a very moving and determined move, this Massachusetts parent tells his district what he thinks about ALL high stakes testing. This comes via The Answer Sheet at the Washington Post. Rosa is an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth who specializes in curriculum and instruction, language policies, Literacy and social studies education. In his letter, he refers to the 2013  Massachusetts Statement Against High-Stakes Testing , which was signed by  more than 130 Massachusetts professors and researchers  from some 20 schools —  including Harvard, Tufts, Boston and Brandeis universities —urging state officials to stop overusing high-stakes standardized tests to assess students, teachers and schools. Boy, I'd guess he'd be one of the ultimate parent experts given his profession.   And 130 academics all agreeing on something?  Not bad. What did he have to say?  (Emphasis mine). Last academic year, duri...

I had reason to check in at the Nathan Hale website and discovered their fine student newspaper , The Sentinel .  Very long (I haven't seen such a long student newspaper since I was in high school) and boy, they pack the news in.  (I note that The Sentinel took first place at a Western Washington University student journalism competition recently.)  From a front-page article, it seems that staff may ask the district/state for a waiver on the extra hours as they believe they are already " successful in all the parameters they're looking at compared to other schools..."   Their article on the change for several SPS high schools to the Metro football league is a great and informative one.   I also found great amusement in the first-person column of the Features editor about his relationship with time and being on time.  " I was born without a sense of urgency ." They mix the important with the sublime (a first-person plea about a treaty in...

I noted that at the strategic plan community meeting I attended at Hale, several parents said they (and some teachers) have frustrations with using The Source/Fusion. One reader replied: As an SPS teacher I would love to hear what parents like/dislike about the Source & Fusion. Is it limitations in the tool (and if so exactly what aspects)? Is it that teachers don't update the Source? With Fusion is it particular tools not working, limited teacher usage, inconsistent styles of teacher usage, errors in posts, etc? Some families may be able to make comparisons to tools in districts they've moved from and/or private schools they have their children in. At least the Source allows grades to be posted more timely than the traditional gradebooks. What else do parents want/need to see in the Source (this could help those of us who read the blog some be more aware of changes to lobby for in the future... well, if teachers ever truly had any input into district technology decisi...

Action expresses priorities . - Ghandi I never worry about action but only inaction . - Churchhill Inaction breeds doubt and fear.  Action breeds confidence and courage.  If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it.  Go out and get busy.   - Dale Carnegie The time for action is now.  It's never too late to do something. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery What's with all these inspirational quotes?  To inspire you to realize that the time is now to stand up and do something about Seattle Public Schools.  You do this, of course, for your own child(ren) to make sure that their school is the best it can be and that you feel confident in the education they are receiving.   But, if public education is (as I believe it is) the backbone of our great country, you must do this for all public school children.  YOUR school is really only as good as ALL schools in the system.  

Monday, March 17th The wearing o' the Green.  Happy St. Patrick's Day. To note: signups for public testimony for the School Board meeting start at 8 am this morning. Tuesday, March 18th Audit&Finance Meeting from 4:30-6:30 p.m.  Agenda Wednesday, March 19th School Board meeting starting at 4:15 p.m.  Agenda . I see a LOT of audit update items here that I am unclear about -might be worth attending. Items of interest:   - the winning bid for the work for Lincoln comes in at $828k.  What's interesting is that the district decided it needed wainscoting in all the new toilet rooms.  What's more interesting is the variance in cost to do it with the company bidding highest for the overall cost bidding the wainscoting at the lowest cost ($972k for overall, $3500 for wainscoting) and the winning bid at $812k putting in the wainscoting at the highest additional price, $16k.  The average cost for the wainscoting was about $9500.  How...

I'll let Representative Gerry Pollet - who worked his ass off to make sure this law was fair to Sped students - tell you about it (written on March 12th): Earlier today we did something terrific for our children and schools. We were faced with a punitive Senate bill to require every student to finish 24 credits to graduate from high school even if they were sick or homeless for some period of time, or had special education needs that were not met, and couldn't complete courses.  We would drive up the dr opout rate when students who are behind discover there is no way to make up and graduate with their classmates. As I pointed out repeatedly, the state and districts (like Seattle) don't even provide for free make-up, summer and remedial courses. This would have kicked in with students becoming freshmen a year from now - before we added guidance counselors, lowered class sizes, or provided students with options for career and technical education courses.  ...