Seattle Schools Community Forum

Not sure if district is bowing to SEA pressure but they issued this notice today which includes (bold mine): "The district has procured hundreds of thousands of masks to distribute as a temporary response to this variant’s recent surge.     On Tuesday, January 17, SPS will begin distributing higher-grade masks, including a combination of KN95 and N95 masks to all staff. Staff who require them have always had access and will continue to do so.     The district has also requested half a million KN95 and KN94 masks for students. "

I would advise parents interested in this topic to read this post all the way to the end.  From the January 18, 2022 Student Services, Curriculum and Instruction committee agenda:

 From the January 18, 2022 Student Services, Curriculum and Instruction committee agenda: We partner with various community-based organizations from the Filipino American communit y to determine topics, curriculum, and ways to leverage community expertise for the new Filipino American 8th and 11th-grade courses. This work includes organizing professional development partnerships to support educators in content delivery.

 From the January 18th Student Services, Curriculum & Instruction agenda documentation: K-5 Math Adoption We are writing to update you on the progress of the 2021-22 K-5 Math Instructional Materials adoption to select new K-5 Math Instructional Materials to be implemented in the 2022-23 school year. This adoption process began in June 2021. This month, we will update you on the review process of the K-5 Math Adoption Committee, the finalists to be field-tested, and the opportunities for public review of finalists.

Update: from the Executive Committee meeting minutes from Jan 7, 2022 during a discussion of the search for a new superintendent: Director Hampson requested that the Board’s adoption of the Student Outcomes Focused Governance Model for the district be shared with prospective candidates. end of update  SOFG stands for Student Outcomes Focused Governance and it's the new hot item for the Board. It was created by members of the Council of Great City Schools of which SPS is a member. In fact, the group that created it - "TeamRogue" included former SPS superintendent, Larry Nyland. The Board has been including SOFG in the last several Work Sessions. Here's a link to the overall report about how it works. Here's the link from the last Work Session where this was discussed (it is in the middle of a two-part Work Session document). 

  According to a press release by the Yakima School District, Superintendent Dr. Trevor Greene announced to YSD families today that the district schools must transition to remote learning (with some in-person exceptions) for Tuesday, January 18 - Monday, January 24, 2022. "We are continuing our struggle with staff shortages due to illness/quarantine. The omicron COVID-19 cases are expected to peak in our area next week likely making in-person operations impossible. We do not have enough bus drivers, food service workers, or school nurses to support learning in our current format. The cases are expected to decline rapidly after the peak and we will watch that data and more importantly, its impact on our staff and families closely". Again, I think if districts are having this many problems, they should do remote until the end of the month and Omicron dies back (as it has in other parts of the world.)

 I saw this at the district website: The Advanced Learning department’s family/guardian survey will soon be sent to families. The family Advanced Learning  survey results will help the Advanced Learning team determine student eligibility for services. This is a tool used to gather information on students’ strengths, needs, and cultural wealth in order to fully understand a student’s needs for Highly Capable services. The survey will ensure SPS stays committed to creating opportunities for all students, including those furthest from educational justice.   Important dates:   January 19 : Survey sent out via email to all  families of K-8 students.  February 25 : Survey closes at  February 25, 11:59 p.m. Once the survey closes, the Advanced Learning department will begin to review results and prepare findings to determine eligibility. More information w...