Seattle Schools Community Forum

Tonight at 6:30 pm is a public meeting at the John Stanford Center on the recent proposal to move the special education students out of Lowell. For more details see: Lowell Special Education program Special Education Students to Be Dispersed?

Thanks to Melissa Westbrook, here is the Letter of Intent between TAF & Seattle Public Schools. ********** Letter of Intent Since September 2005, The Technology Access Foundation (TAF), a nonprofit educational corporation, has been meeting with several key Seattle Public Schools (SPS) members including the Superintendent, Chief Academic Officer, several school board members, middle and high school directors, and principals to explore a partnership to bring TAF Academy (a 6th-12th grade school model with a theme of Science, Technology, Engineering. and Math) to Rainier Beach High School. After a year of discussing strategies and issues, we have determined that TAF and SPS will collaborate to bring the TAF Academy model to Rainer Beach High school with the following parameters: TAF Academy will collocate with the current Rainier Beach program. There will be a total of 525 students (75 students per grade) enrolled in TAF Academy. TAF Academy will start in September 2008 with a 6th, 7t...

The Program Placement Committee has proposed placing some portion of the middle school APP students at Hamilton International Middle School. This will represent a radical change in APP; the cohort will be split as it leaves elementary school. Even more so, however, it could represent a radical change for Hamilton. While Program Placement has not indicated how many APP students will be placed at Hamilton, the number cannot be less than 180 and may be as high as 250 or more. If Hamilton's total enrollment is about 1,000 students, that's 18% to 25% of the student body who are there for APP, not for the international-themed curriculum. When APP is at Hamilton you can expect Hamilton's Spectrum program to become a whole lot more popular. Right now, about 75% of the Spectrum-eligible students in the Northeast Region enroll at Eckstein, but that is likely to change. Of the 300 now at Eckstein, I would guess that somewhere from 90 to 180 will choose Hamilton with APP instead. Hamil...

I sent this to the School Board last week and it went out in the CPPS newsletter. I'm posting here as well so folks can comment. This is why the idea of bring former mayor Rice excites me. This is why I admire Dr. Mike Riley (Supt of Bellevue) as I've commented elsewhere on this Blog... --------------------------------- By Andrew Kwatinetz, Seattle public school parent and CPPS board member I hoped Raj Manhas would succeed as Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools. I admire his character, intelligence, dedication, and genuine passion to do what is right for the children of Seattle. I was one of the 14 people who volunteered hundreds of hours for his Community Advisory Committee for Investing in Education Excellence. With the support of the district staff and extensive community input, we provided 21 specific recommendations to the superintendent. An independent survey showed that two-thirds or more of Seattle residents supported every component of the proposed plan. Yet almos...

The idea, which has been around for a while, of Norm Rice being hired as the next Seattle Schools superintendent, was given extra life today by the PI in their article, Will Rice ride to schools' rescue? and by the Seattle Times in their article, Mayor pushes Rice for Seattle school head . An article in the Seattle Times this week, Vander Ark steps down from education post at Gates Foundation , makes me think Tom Vander Ark is throwing is hat in the ring for the Seattle Schools superintendent job. According to the article, he is staying with the Gates Foundation with a new position in January 2007 as a Senior Fellow. But I also read a recent quote of his that no one should stay in a foundation for too long, and that he wants to get back in the field. Vander Ark is the candidate touted by Robert Jamieson, Jr. in the PI today in his column, Jamieson: Take this schools job and love it . But he also discussed the Norm Rice rumor and other potential ideas, such as the Buffalo schools s...

As described by Charlie Mas in an earlier post ( APP Update ), the district is considering changes to the Advanced Learning programs. As part of that discussion, the plan on the table now suggests dispersing the special education students from Lowell to schools around the district. See the Times article " Special-needs students may leave Lowell " for details. "Michelle Corker-Curry, Seattle Public Schools' associate academic officer, said she had heard of no special-education parents voicing concerns about the move." This quote comes after the two quotes by parents of children with special needs doing just that. Why is that Jessica Blanchard of the PI has heard of special-education parents voicing concern, but Michelle Corker-Curry of Seattle Public Schools has not?

I've been trying to keep an open mind about the proposal for a TAF Academy and the Rainier Beach school and community opposition to it, but I think I need some help. I have been called naive at times (rightfully so), and so I am asking for more experienced and skeptical education advocates to help me out on my understanding of this issue. This is what I gleaned from today's article in the PI, " At Rainier Beach High School, 'we're fighting for our lives' ." Private money is evil. Any proposal that does not follow the current Seattle Public School model is wrong, and should not even be considered or discussed. The district has not supported Rainier Beach High School appropriately in the past. The district does a rotten job with communicating new ideas and getting public involvement. I totally get #3 and #4, and completely agree. But I have serious problems with #1 and #2. Based on discussions and testimony over the last year, I have also learned that: Many ...