Seattle Schools Community Forum

After a few days of camping with my family near Mt. Adams, I jumped back in the school closure discussion by spending the evening at the public hearing tonight on the school closure plan. As was the case last week, the majority of the speakers were from Viewlands speaking passionately about the value of their school and the case for keeping it open. Below is a short summary of what I heard tonight. Please post your comments and reactions . Viewlands - Current problems at Greenwood that will be exacerbated by having Viewlands community arrive like "uninvited house guests." Concern over the welfare of Aspergers and Autism students located in the same building with EBD (emotionally/behaviorally disabled) program. Success of Viewlands in serving children who are from families that qualify for free-/reduced-price lunch. 90% of staff at Viewlands more than 10 years. High parent involvement. The other school communities with multiple speakers were Rainier View and Orca. Rainier Vie...

At Wednesday night's Special School Board meeting on school closures, 18 people spoke, the vast majority from Viewlands Elementary. I continue to be disturbed by the recommendation to merge Viewlands into Greenwood, and the lack of details on what is going to happen with the John Marshall programs, so I spoke to those concerns as well as my concerns about Phase II of the closures. (see my previous post on this topic) Several people presented the arguments that: No school should be closed. The closures unfairly impact non-white, lower-income children, and children in special education programs. As I listened, I realized that these were the same arguments I started with back in May, but that I have changed my mind. I have also changed by tone --- I was definitely one of the "angry" presenters when I started speaking at the Town Meetings, and I was speaking mostly to the community trying to create community-wide opposition to the closure process. Now, I find myself speaking ...

Looking through articles over the last couple of years, here are a few examples of how the principal assignment process has been mishandled: - Principal move upsets West Seattle High - Seattle school district pays principal to resign - For school leaders' sins, golden parachutes - School-principal transfers cause some upset My guess is that there are many, many more stories about problems with the principal assignment and selection process that aren't documented in the press. For example, the process (or lack of process) at Graham Hill Elementary as seven principals in six years have been assigned to the school is truly appalling. Please post your school's principal assignment stories as comments on this blog. The more we know about what is going on around the district, the stronger our collective voice will be.

The Superintendent's Final Recommendation on School Closure and Consolidation is the sole agenda item for tomorrow night's Special Board Meeting. (7/12, 6 pm at the Stanford Center) Only 7 people are currently signed up to speak, but up to 13 additional people can sign up at the door. Of those 7 people, one is from Viewlands. Any other people plannning from Viewlands to speak? Anyone from John Marshall?

Tonight I read through the Detailed Action Plans which spell out how the district aims to accomplish everything in the 5 Year Plan. For the issue of principal assignment , which I posted about yesterday, here are the details: Meet with Superintendent, CAO, Education Directors and HR to debrief the 2003-04 Principal Selection Process and Timelines. (HR Director) Meet with the PASS Resolution Team (5 PASS and 5 District team members) to review 2003-04 Principal Selection Process and Timeline, review recommendations from Superintendent committee, determine what worked and what needs to be changed, and develop recommendations. (Labor Relations Director) Take PASS Resolution Team recommendations to PAL Committee for review, discussion and possible development of a public review process. (HR Director) Implement 2004-05 Principal Selection Process and Timeline. (Human Resources) All of this was to be completed in 2004/2005. Did any of it happen? I certainly can't find any evidence of it....

Below is an excerpt from the district's five-year plan , last updated in May 2005. ************** To Improve District Leadership, We Will: Recruit, develop, retain, and promote highly effective and diverse leaders system-wide by: - Increasing the number of leadership staff who reflect the diversity of the student population; - Developing a targeted and coordinated professional development program that includes cultural competence; - Revising the principal selection, assignment, and transfer process to enhance family and community involvement and make the process smoother; - Improving morale and working conditions (environmental health, physical health, and emotional health); - Working with our higher education partners to improve their teacher and leader training programs for urban school districts; and - Developing and implementing a staffing plan for Seattle Public Schools that includes, but is not limited to, workforce diversity, staff recruitment, staff retention, staff recogn...

The proposed Viewlands merger (which is strongly opposed by that community) and the lack of details on what is happening to the programs at John Marshall are the two most troubling parts of the Superintendent's final recommendations for me. Here are some recent news articles that touch on both of those issues: --- School seeking options to avoid closure --- Final list of school closures released (text and video) --- Manhas trims school-closure list to seven --- Up to 11 Seattle schools to be closed (can post comments)