Seattle Schools Community Forum

Both the PI and the Times had articles on the sad recent history of Marshall and the removal of its principal and overhaul of its programs based on an independent report commissioned by the District. From the Times' report: "The report by the National Dropout Prevention Center, based in Clemson, S.C., blamed the district as well as the school's leadership for the problems there." I would second that. Marshall would never have gotten to this point if someone in the District was doing due diligence on its programs. I walked through Marshall during the CAC process and it was an odd and uneasy place. They have some very caring teachers but the lack of administrative guidance by either Mr. Drake or the District showed. But, these are programs that have to go on. Evening School is easily transferred to another middle or high school. Those students generally don't have the issues that students in the other programs do. The daycare set-up for teen parents was grea...

This article was in today's PI. Cheryl Chow is one of the members of the panel. If anyone has any ideas, e-mail her at cherylchow@seattleschools.org

Seattle Public Schools is hosting a series of drop-in meetings from Aug. 14-Sept. 6 so that parents and community members can continue discussion of Student Assignment Plan revisions. The Framework, based on input from community meetings last spring, establishes parameters for revising the student assignment plan. It is organized around five components: * elementary schools * middle schools * high schools schools * school choice * Southeast Education Initiative The next step is to more fully develop each component, and the District seeks community input as they proceed. The following series of drop-in meetings have been scheduled at the John Stanford Center, 2445 Third Avenue South: Tuesday, Aug. 14, 9-10:30 a.m., JSCEE Room 3802 Wednesday, Aug. 22, 4-6 p.m., JSCEE Room 2772 Thursday, Aug. 30, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., JSCEE Room 3802 Thursday, Sept. 6, 6:30-8:30 p.m., JSCEE Room 2774 There will be additional community workshops scheduled in the months to come. For updated inform...

Seattle Works, a new civic group for those under 40, has interviewed candidates and published a voters' guid e. It is good stuff and fascinating reading. They ask some usual questions like: "Some people describe the Seattle way of decision making as inclusive but inconclusive. How would you describe Seattle’s decision-making process and what, if anything, would you do to change it if you are elected?" but then ask for a favorite band and coffee shop (only in Seattle). Darlene managed to put her whole resume into one answer and said this to the question "Is the current school board model effective? It is as effective as the current U.S. Presidency or Congress “model”." Most of the SB candidates were thoughtful in their answers(some need to watch their spelling and grammar, sorry it's true). Patrick K. kind of fudged the question about how much time he spend on "school board service". He said 10-15 hours on "school board business" and...

From today's Times, an article on the District 6 Candidates. It makes me want to hear more from the candidates on their stated ideas. To wit: Steve: there are a lot of programs targeted at schools that have struggling populations. How much do you think needs to be directed to them, where would the money come from (the Alliance? or other groups?) and how would you direct it? Maria: How many schools would you have closed? What process would you have chosen? How long would you wait to redo the assignment plan if you were waiting for some schools to improve? Dan: Is the money given to math coaches enough to lower class sizes? Again, what would you do to improve schools and how long would you wait to redo the assignment plan? I have no questions for Mr. Fruit as he doesn't seem to know our district.

Have you all noticed the District's new slogan: "Every student achieving, everyone accountable"?

Ted Van Dyk weighed in on the upcoming elections in this piece . Here's what he had to say about the Board elections: "Schools: We can begin a turnaround of Seattle Public Schools. The district has had a 30-year dowhill slide as families with options have moved to suburban districts or sent their kids to private school. We are left with a dwindling school population of mostly minority and poor kids in a system plagued by low test scores and unacceptable dropout and truancy rates. As enrollments have fallen, so have state payments to the system based on enrollment. Middle-income families with kids will not move back to Seattle. They cannot afford housing here. But our schools can be saved, if the agenda can move from debate about fictional "institutional racism" in the system to improvement of teaching and achievement standards in quality neighborhood schools. Seattle is one of the country's most tolerant and diverse cities. It should be mature enough to recogni...