Seattle Schools Community Forum

I attended what I believe is the first forum for school board candidates last night at Roosevelt High.  Oddly, it was just for North Seattle candidates (not those in the SW).  I'll have a full report but it was strangely listless. Yesterday I tweeted the news about the 4500 Expedia employees coming over to the Interbay area and the newly announced 2,000 more Apple employees coming to Seattle to the district and the Superintendent.  No response but I suspect there are some families in there so it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

The Board is scheduled to vote on the principals' contract (PASS) at Wednesday's Board meeting.  Here's the agenda item.  I have not read it but I'm sure it's the airtight instrument it always seems to be.  Also disturbing - it's an Intro/Action BAR so very little time for any public input despite the deep and lasting effects that a principal can have at a school.

The district is currently working on Washington Middle School becoming a STEM school via the Technology Access Foundation model (TAF) which currently has one school of this type in the Federal Way SD.  (It is not a charter school nor would the one at WMS be.) I had been aware that TAF was expressing interest in trying to partner with SPS after being rejected by SPS about a decade ago over creating a STEM high school.  (I had thought it was to be at Cleveland back then but other news outlets say it was to be at Rainier Beach HS.) I said this from the beginning - I believe in the TAF model and support this effort.  But the district and the Board are NOT being transparency in what they are doing. 

I first saw this news at the West Seattle blog - that a softball coach has been preying on some girls on the team, apparently since about 2017.   From WS Blog :

From Seattle Parks: Lifeguarded beaches are opening soon!!! Seattle Parks and Recreation offers safe, lifeguarded beaches at nine sites around the city , and we strongly recommend swimming only where lifeguards are present. Summer Beaches are open daily, weather permitting, from noon to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. We also offer FREE youth swim lessons at every beach every week for kids ages 6 and u p. Details: http://ow.ly/T0W050uIjXC I've seen this notice on Twitter a couple of times:

One of the best new reporters in Seattle writes for Crosscut and her name is Liz Brazile.  I follow her on Twitter and she had this series of tweets today.  Parents, what have you heard about this? @LizBrazile Just sat in on a discussion about racism at Nathan Hale HS, organized in response to incidents of racist videos and graffiti discovered around the school. Today is Juneteenth, the day commemorating Black slaves in 1865 TX learning they’d been emancipated — 2 years after the fact. 11:37 AM · Jun 19, 2019

From SPS Communications: It is with mixed feelings that we announce the retirement of Director Aiomanu Betty Patu. Director Patu's family invite you to “please help us in honoring an esteemed woman and warrior for the children of Seattle Public Schools. Together, we will celebrate Betty’s new beginnings and blessed life.”  Join Seattle Public Schools in celebrating Director Patu's legacy on June 26 from 3 - 4 p.m. in the John Stanford Auditorium, 2445 3rd Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98134.