Seattle Schools Community Forum

 As of May 17th at 3 pm, it’s pretty sparse. For Eden Mack’s seat in District 4, only interim director Erin Dury has filed.  For Zachary DeWolf’s  seat in District 5, no one has filed. DeWolf declined to run again which was probably wise as he would have lost.  For Betty Patu’s seat in District 7, only interim director Brandon Hersey has filed to run.  Per this story from the South Seattle Emerald , Michelle Sarju announced her candidacy for the District 5 seat but it appears she has not yet filed with King County Elections. She is endorsed by Zachary DeWolf which normally I would consider a bad thing but as I said the last time she filed (and then withdrew), she’s an intriguing candidate who I believe would be her own person.  I feel sure that there will be challengers to Hersey and at least one will probably be Emijah Smith who lost to him during the appointment process for that District 7 seat.  And I hope there are other candidates than Dury for Di...

  Update from Massachusetts: Beginning May 29th, masks will no longer be needed at recess, students can begin sharing school items in the classrooms, and no masks for outdoor activities.  Via Twitter today: No remote education option next year in NJ. "All students will be back in school for full-time, in-person instruction for the 2021-2022 school year. Full-time remote learning option for families will be removed." I’m not sure that is a good idea for the next school year but, as states make their own choices, we’ll all have a front row seat to see how it works out. One item to note - even before COVID, districts around the country were absolutely trying more online learning and some of it WAS remote. For example, here’s flipped learning: Flipped Learning is a framework that enables educators to reach every student. The Flipped approach inverts the traditional classroom model by introducing course concepts before class, allowing educators to use class time to guide each stud...

 There were about 75 participants at the Seattle Council PTSA’s meeting last week with new superintendent, Dr. Brent Jones. Included in that count were Board members Lisa Rivera-Smith, Liza Rankin and Chandra Hampson.

 Editor’s note: I’m happy to publish any essays about SPS or public education in general. This one is from Megan Hazen who has three children in Seattle Schools.

 I am interested in your thoughts about school building reopenings.

 Via the Seattle Council PTSA Facebook page; WELCOME DR BRENT JONES! Seattle Council PTSA is delighted to invite our school communities to virtually meet our incoming Superintendent Dr Brent Jones. Please join the conversation this coming Thursday, May 6th from 6:30 to 8PM. Dr Jones will share his vision for Seattle Public Schools and community will have the opportunity to ask questions and offer their comments on the most pressing issues our school communities are currently facing. Please help us spread the word within your communities. Close captions will be available. If anyone is in need of language interpretation, please email president@scptsa.org by Monday, May 3rd. Hope to see you there! Welcoming Superintendent Brent Jones Time: May 6, 2021 6:30 to 8 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/96689631427?pwd=c0R2czN2L3kveDJMdWp2WXVXa0FJdz09 Meeting ID: 966 8963 1427 Passcode: 058654

 From SPS Communications via Twitter today: 1/2) Student transportation is impacted by several factors that SPS is working to address. These challenges make it impossible to provide transportation to all eligible students at this time. (2/2) If additional bus drivers become available, we will focus on establishing limited transportation based on the highest needs. The Transportation Department is also looking into alternative solutions to provide families as many options as possible. Also, of interest, SPS is to have an official deputy superintendent . This would be Rob Gannon who worked for several years for King County, left and moved to Montana and somehow Superintendent Brent Jones (who also worked for King County) got him to come back. I have to say that Mr. Gannon looks very qualified. I sense from this appointment that Jones will leave a lot of the operational issues to Gannon and Jones will work on social justice issues and be the public face for SPS. FYI, the district has...