Seattle Schools Community Forum

I am going to post some really good education stories from around the country that I've been saving.  But here's what the U.S Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, tweeted on December 16th: Every student should have access to an education that aligns with industry demands and evolves to meet the demands of tomorrow’s global workforce. It was apropos nothing and that is the full and complete tweet. And he tweeted this today: Our work to transform our schools is crucial to creating a strong economic foundation for our country. It’s time to break down the silos between K-12 systems and college, career, and industry preparation programs. This is how we transform education in this country. As you might imagine, many of us on Twitter had replies because that particular statement seems to makes it sound like U.S. education is for training workers and not creating educated citizens.  BOTH are important. Peter Greene: That's not education. Public education is not meant to serve th...

 In the middle of the Seattle School Board's agenda for Wednesday night's board meeting, there was this presentation: Student Outcomes Focused Governance: Progress Monitoring Memo #2, 7th Grade Math Goal I did not listen into the entire discussion; it was scheduled for an hour but ran almost an hour and 40 minutes. But I did listen in at the end. Director Leslie Harris got real and here I paraphrase:  We are facing the budget cliff from hell. I don't see costs for many of the initiatives here. Does that mean then that we, as a Board and administration, are going to hold portions of our budget as sacrosanct and untouchable? If we are to meet these goals, nothing is free and we need to be terribly candid and forthright about this.  Say some of our foundation partners decide they won't continue funding; we can't be budgeting on a wish and a prayer.  Curriculum adoption in years past has been the first thing to come off the budget.  I had a robust conversat...

Knowing how this is a key issue to families, I decided to first write about the Work Session on Transportation that was embedded in this week's Seattle School Board meeting. (I am attempting to find out if minutes were taken for both the embedded meetings but I haven't received an answer. If you want to watch the Work Session here's the link; start at minute 4:06:20.) Analysis Bottom line - transportation is gonna change but how? HCC is moving back to neighborhood schools so that means fewer routes for getting those kids to schools that provide service for them. Ditto for much of Special Education.  I would like to see the difference those numbers make BEFORE changing anything else. I would think that Walk Zone changes might be tough to do because many areas of the city don't have sidewalks or have safety challenges; not sure how to mitigate those issues.  As you will see from the discussion,  Option Schools seem to be the most mentioned in terms of changes. Ca...

I will put up a separate post about what was actually discussed at the meeting but I'm gonna start with the problems with this current Board and how they hold meetings.  Long Meetings Last night's meeting was about 5 hours. After a day of work, are you ready for a 5-hour meeting? Most people would not be mentally sharp for five hours. Recently someone in SPS came up with the brilliant idea of combining Board meetings with Work Sessions. And mind you, not putting the Work Session at the END of the Board meeting but rather, inserting it in the middle.  I think the idea was to allow staff who needed to be at the Work Session AND the Board meeting to have one fewer long day.  Last night the Board did one better. They inserted a review of a couple of Strategic Plan goals in the Board meeting (again, in the middle) and THEN had a Work Session and THEN had a few last Board meeting items. I note that the student member of the Board, Luna Crone-Baron, stayed for the ENTIRE thing....

Update:  RBHS also had to cancel this: RBHS PTSA will host a School Safety Town Hall on Wednesday, December 14, 6-8 pm, in the school Cafeteria. This will take the place of our regular PTSA meeting for the month of December and we would love for everyone to attend this town hall in person! Please join us in supporting our youth and families in problem-solving and resource-mapping to foster a safe community for our students. This was their tweet from last night: Due to safety precautions, Rainier Beach High School is closed tonight. All activities, including the basketball games vs. West Seattle High School, are canceled for this evening. We apologize for the inconvenience. From The Seattle Times: The school remains closed Wednesday, and all after-school activities have been canceled out of an abundance of caution, Rainier Beach High School Principal Ivory Brooks said in the statement. Rainier Beach HS has a game scheduled for Friday night versus Bishop Blanchet at Rainier...

Update via OSPI: “OSPI continues to advise school districts to use caution when deciding to switch to remote instruction when students  cannot learn from their school buildings due to unforeseen circumstances, like weather-related events or other short-term closures. School districts are advised to consider whether each and every student will have access to the equipment, materials, and household environment needed to fully engage with their learning away from the school building and ensure the proper planning has occurred for the shift to be successful. If a district determines they can provide equitable access to remote learning and it is the best alternative for all students, families, and educators, they have the option to provide continuous learning through remote instruction. So far this school year, OSPI has seen most school districts take “snow days” instead of providing continuous learning.”   end of update Dated December 13th from SPS Communications : Summary: In cas...

Update: Readers, I got one important point very wrong. Herbold and Juarez are NOT in open seats (I could swear that's what I read but I was probably reading too quickly). Thank you to those who pointed it out. I can say just as there are parents who establish residency in one area to go to a specific school, I would think in the history of elections, more than one person has established residency to run for an elected position that is based on regions.  A few of you spoke up about who has been connected to SPS that I thought might run someday.  Jill Geary - Jill is a likable person but she is not always honest about what she does (professionally). She ran as the parent of a Sped student who, as a lawyer, really understood those issues. She got on the Board and then did very little for Special Education.  She also lied to me. When the discussion first started about the "anti-racism" policy - the one that Hampson was pushing through during COVID times - I wrote to Geary. B...