Seattle Schools Community Forum

From the district website today: Seattle Public Schools (SPS) will make up four of the five school days missed due to inclement weather by scheduling Feb. 2, March 16, June 21, and June 22 as student days. The district will apply to the state to waive the requirement for a fifth day. This schedule, proposed by the Seattle Education Association (SEA), aligns with feedback from parents and guardians. The make-up days on the modified calendar are now scheduled for: - Friday, Feb. 2 (originally a day between semesters) - Friday, March 16 (originally a professional development day for staff) - Thursday, June 21 and Friday, June 22 (these two days were originally summer break for students; June 21 was a professional development day for staff). While the last day for students will be Friday, June 22, staff will work on Monday, June 25 and Tuesday, June 26 to make up the missed professional development days.The revised calendar, renegotiated between SPS and the Seattle Education Association (...

True to his word, Senator Ed Murray is introducing a bill for appointed school boards. Here's how it would work "The bill sets out a procedure for citizens or organizations to file petitions with the county auditor to transform a district from an elected board to an appointed board, or vice versa. To be successful, a petition must be signed by 10 percent of registered voters in the district and clearly designate who would appoint the board." Re-reading the article, it isn't clear to me if that puts on the ballots or, if the signatures are verified, it just changes. I'm thinking it puts it on the ballot but I'll have to go hunt down the original text of the bill. I had called the Senator's office twice this summer when I first heard about this bill. I am a constiuent of his and had expected to hear back from someone but I didn't. I don't honestly believe that he is hearing this from his constiuents. It didn't get mentioned in his newsletters...

I attended another Superintendent Search meeting this morning at the Stanford Center. It was, including myself, 8 women and 3 guys from Ray & Associates. They assured us that the numbers of people they are seeing at these meetings is about par but it seems very low to me. One woman there said she had gone to the Whitman one and it was about 12 people while the Hamilton one I attended was about 8 people. I felt this meeting was somewhat different from the Hamilton meeting as the people there seemed to want to put a rosier face on our district than at the Hamilton meeting. (I offered no opinions at the meeting as I had already spoken at the previous meeting. I made one correction when one woman said she wanted the superintendent to "manage" the Board and I told her that the Board legally manages the superintendent so that wouldn't be possible. She just shrugged and said she didn't agree. If any superintendent thinks that managing the Board is part of the jo...

A really excellent article, part of a series, in the NY Times today about middle schools (6-8) versus K-8 versus 6-12. This article covers the bases for me. It points out two main ideas: -what may work for one child may not be the best thing for another and, -what, in the end, makes the real difference is smaller class size and personalization. Going to a huge middle school like Eckstein or Whitman or Washington could be quite startling to a 5th grader at a 400-seat elementary school. From my experience, many kids do really well and enjoy a new group of kids, a new school building and being treated as an older student. But I can see benefits to all 3 kinds of schools. My first reaction to a 6-12 academy was no way because I wouldn't want junior/senior boys around 6th/7th grade girls (I've got boys so this is no slam against boys). The point that succeeds for me is the carrying the idea that you are working towards being ready to go to college and that a student would s...

Our neighboring district to the north, Shoreline, is in the middle of their own school closure and consolidation process. The current proposal is to close two schools: Sunset Elementary (west of I-5) and North City (east of I-5), cut seventh period from middle school, and move two programs to other sites. Now, the latest news is that the proposed cuts are insufficient and further cuts need to be made or the state may have to take over the district. (See The Enterprise Newspapers article " School Budget Hole is Bigger" ) I've been following the closure process with interest to see how Shoreline approached the challenge differently from Seattle, and what the result was in terms of community reaction to the proposal. One of the affected schools, Sunset Elementary, has organized to protest the closure plan. They have created a web site ( www.saveshorelineschools.com ) which, at first glance seems to be against the closure proposal in general, but on further reading is really ...

Important reminder: Superintedent selection meetings are being on Tuesday and Wednesday this week at several times and locations. See Superintendent Search Meetings Schedule Update for details.

Help! I Have a Middle-Schooler Here’s your chance to hear some practical advice for families of middle-schoolers and/or soon to be middle-schoolers. The Eckstein Annual Campaign and PTSA have invited Dr. Susan Quattrociocchi, author of Help! I Have a Middle Schooler, to lecture on the subject, 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 23, in the Eckstein Middle School auditorium. Quattrociocchi earned a B.A. in Sociology and an M.A. and Ph.D in Education — all while raising five children. A popular speaker and writer nation wide, she is a respected authority on the power of parental involvement and the educational/career needs of young people. Her broad experience with youngsters prompted her to reach out to parents to let them know that they, not educators, have the greatest impact on their children’s educational and career success. Seating begins at 6:30. A $5 donation is suggested at the door to support Eckstein. Help! I Have a Middle-Schooler 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 23 Eckstein Middle School 3003 N.E. ...