Seattle Schools Community Forum

 I am a bit behind but did want to update folks about what was in last month's Board Operations Committee meeting. I hadn't heard of anyone who was running the Tech Department but, from the minutes, it appears there are two people. One is Carlos del Valle, Executive Director of Technology and Nancy Petersen, Director of Technology Infrastructure. Mr. del Valle's LinkedIn page says he's been in that position since November 2019. Maybe I lost track of hires during COVID. Ms. Petersen has been with the district for about 10 years with a different tech title. There's an interview with Mr. del Valle from November 2020 on the Technology recovery for SPS during COVID. From the minutes of the previous Operations Committee meeting:

 The district had a meeting tonight at Broadview-Thomson K-8. I don't see it on the district's calendar but there were people there.  Reporter Erica C. Barnett was live-tweeting and here is some of what she saw/heard. I'll add some comments in-between. 

 Via The Seattle Times : A 17-year-old boy suffered life-threatening injuries and a 14-year-old was in police custody after the two exchanged gunfire Thursday evening outside Aki Kurose Middle School in South Seattle, according to police.   Seattle police spokeswoman Valerie Carson said the younger boy was sitting on the steps in front of the school about 6:30 p.m. when he was approached by the older boy. It appears they both had firearms, she said.   The 17-year-old was struck multiple times and was lying in the street when officers arrived, she said. So questions: - How were there TWO underaged kids with guns?  - School isn't even open so I wonder why they ended up at the school? No comment from the district yet (at least on Twitter). 

The last Student Services, Curriculum & Instruction Committee meeting was held on August 18th.  Reviewing the minutes of the last SSC&I meeting on June 8th, a couple of items of interest:

 Next up, Executive Committee meeting held August 18th.  Public testimony at school board meetings may be changing. In the minutes from their previous meeting, it was discussed using an online form rather than either email or phone-in. The minutes don't say whether it was noted that not all members of the public or parents/guardians have email capabilities.  It includes the  proposed Board goals for 2021. Here's one. (Editor note: the table I had put in is not showing properly and I don't know how to fix that.) "Reinsert humanness in our interactions with one another, staff, labor, community." Didn't know they had not been doing this.  Superintendent Search It appears that the work will start any time now with a selection in April/May 2022 and a new superintendent coming in July 1, 2022. Timetable: They will be hiring a consultant for community engagement/RFP for headhunters by the end of August, 2021.  By October, 1 they will publish the RFP.  Novembe...

Update. Found out what the "Garfield Superblock" in the BTA V levy is.  Robert Stephens, Jr. has been one of the voices pushing the public agencies who each control a section of the Garfield High School campus, Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, to fulfil a promise made back when the school was undergoing a major renovation that opened in 2008 that cost the district over $100 million.   As part of the public process to approve building a new Quincy Jones Performing Arts Center, Seattle Public Schools had to be approved to get a variance in order to build fewer than the required number of off-street parking stalls. As part of that process, the district was required to provide a public benefit as a mitigation.   That project was the Super Block improvement project. “The community was just forgotten about,” Stephens tells CHS.   A center of these improvements is the Legacy and Promise Promenade. This pathway would fulfill the long-en...

  The Seattle Special Education has sent a letter to the district about lack of services.