Seattle Schools Community Forum

I have received from several readers this March notice from SPS about the budget. Here's the link to the Budget page at SPS. Principals are developing their building’s budget for the next school year. Budgets are like road maps for schools. They guide us as we work to prioritize inclusive and high-quality education for our students.  Our main goal is to make sure your student gets a great education, even when we face challenges. Right now, we’re dealing with a $104 million budget shortfall. This happened because Washington state is facing an educational funding gap, and there are fewer students enrolled at SPS. We also no longer have some funds we received in the past.  To achieve a balanced budget, we know we must make changes. We are approaching these decisions in a thoughtful way to ensure we minimize negative impacts on student learning.  Here are some things you should know:  How We Plan : Every February, school funding is determined b...

 The district now has the video statements that each applicant vying for one of the two empty spots on the Seattle School Board.  To view them, navigate to this page and then the video links are in the right-hand column.  District Four  Gabby Gonzalez talked about being an immigrant at 13, learning English through ESL at school and attending a magnet high school in a back neighborhood. She says she wants to turn around the "negative perceptions" about SPS and that she loves numbers and her work is based in data analytics.  Joe Mizrahi . He is from a refugee family and went to law school. He has three children in SPS. While he didn't say the magic phrase of SOFG, I believe he's pretty much on board. He said that he had the support of Teresa Mosqueda and Girmay Zahilay and one other but I couldn't quite get the name.  Rachelle Olden talked about being a Black woman raised by a single mom and the power of public education. She spoke in Spanish at one point (...

I perceive this could be a short meeting by the agenda listings.  First, there is a " State Auditor's Office Entrance Conference. " I looked at the attached materials and I don't see any real info beyond what areas the Auditor's Office looked at for SPS.  Next, there are 20 people on the speakers list with a 10-person waitlist. Most of the stated topics are broad but seem to be about student mental health care as well as counselors.  The Consent agenda is short and contains the revisions to the Board policy on "Board Member Residency." It still does not tell directors to - once a year - state that they continue to live in the district from which they were elected. I do not think that is a lot to ask.  Then they will have a Work Session on the empty board seats. This may be the most interesting part of the meeting depending on what is mentioned.  According to the schedule at the website, video statements from the candidates were recorded last week and s...

This question - parental rights at school - is something of a hot topic over on Twitter.  What rights DO parents have now and what else should they be able to do/know?  We'll ignore the silliness of banning books - you can simply tell the library "no books for my kid" or give them a list. I can't imagine a librarian would be happy either way but if some controlling parent wants it, I would guess so.   In the Washington State Legislature, there is a newly passed bill - that came from an initiative -  "a  parents bill of rights" at schools. Over at the Washington Policy Center, they were foaming at the mouth at any legislator that had issues with it and loudly applauding its passage.  We can go through the whole thing but from my read about 80% of what is in there is already law. Some are calling this bill an "enhancement." From the Spokesman-Review: Sen. Lisa Wellman, D-Mercer Island, said roughly 90% of these rights already exist under state or...

I am reaching out to gain a better understanding of the intentions behind the implementation of the National Black Lives Matter at School Week within the Seattle Public School (SPS) framework; an initiative that I believe holds significant importance in educating our students on the values of equity, justice and inclusion. However, I have concerns regarding certain aspects of the curriculum that have been associated with anti-Semitism, particularly the discussions around the topic of "Freeing Palestine".   https://www.blacklivesmatteratschool.com/teachingpalestine.html       It is essential for me to understand how these components were selected and the extent of community engagement in the process, especially considering the sensitive nature of this subject.    I also seek clarification around curriculum adoption via a private entity without the support of a Curriculum and Instruction Committee.  Given the significance of educational program...

Since yesterday, five of the 16 candidates have withdrawn. Let's look at the rest of the applicants. Since there are so many, I will pick out the ones to go in-depth about that I think are the most likely final candidates. Those who I believe are not ready for this role will be at the end of the post. Carol Thompson -  district link Thompson is/has been a research scientist (with a PhD in Biochemistry), program manager and technology manager. She has worked at the Allen Institute for Brain Science for 20 years. She worked to help "girls seeking careers in STEM through the Association for Women in Science" as well as managing youth sports. She grew up poor with a single parent. She identifies as a "non-white" person but I am unsure of that part of her background. She lives in Greenwood/Phinney. She and her husband have two SPS students. She says this about that area: Pre-covid, District 2’s enrollment in public schools surged, particularly in the Ballard/Greenw...

Update:  Well, this is interesting vis a vis the recent testimony at Board meetings.  Via the Seattle Times : UFCW 3000’s 47-member executive board unanimously endorsed the “uncommitted” vote at an emergency meeting conducted via Zoom, Joe Mizrahi, UFCW 3000’s secretary-treasurer, said in an interview. “We stand in solidarity with our partners in Michigan who sent a clear message in their primary that Biden must do more to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” the union said in a statement. Joe Mizrahi has applied for the vacant D4 seat. end of update    I went through these four candidates because there are 15 over in D2 (according to the Times, one person dropped out of race).  Overall, very impressive people. I'm not sure the Board could go wrong with any one of them. I feel that this Board will, of course, go for its own interests in maintaining their governance plan and wanting to have a more diverse board. I believe the former is more important ...