Seattle Schools Community Forum

From Superintendent Brent Jones, Dear Ballard High School Community, I am pleased to announce Ms. Abby Hunt has been selected as the next principal of Ballard High School. The BHS interview team, comprised of students, family and community members, instructional and support staff, and central office staff, were impressed by Ms. Hunt. In addition to her clear core values, strength in relationship building, honesty, integrity, and prioritization of student voice, she is committed to Ballard High School and the Ballard community. Ms. Hunt is currently an assistant principal at Nathan Hale High School where she has worked to operationalize racial equity, enhance family engagement, and support educators in their instructional growth. Prior to this, Ms. Hunt served as dean of students at Kentridge High School in the Kent School District and has been a language arts teacher in Seattle, Chicago, and Belize. Ms. Hunt is an equity-driven leader who is passionate about being a part of a collabora...

 The South Seattle Emerald has a good story on the SPS game that is musical chairs principals.  They go in-depth about the changes at Cleveland STEM (Catherine Brown) and Franklin High (Drew O'Connell).  The end of this school year is bringing continued uncertainty for two South End schools. Franklin High School will begin next school year without the principal and vice principals who guided them through this tumultuous year. And there will be no members left of Cleveland STEM High School’s administrative “ dream team ” in charge when the pandemic began. Cleveland:  At the end of last school year, Cleveland Assistant Principal Ray Garcia-Morales accepted a position to lead Chief Sealth International High School in the neighborhood he grew up in, and longtime Principal George Breland reportedly accepted a role with the district. Joined by assistants Trent Pollard and Megan Claus, this left the newly promoted Brown to continue the legacy of an admin team that had bee...

Looks like current head of HR, Noel Treat, is leaving....again.  What a game of musical chairs for Pritchett who has been all over SPS including sharing duties with Carrie Campbell as the " assistant deputy superintendent the Office of Strategy Deployment and Responsiveness. " I'm still not sure what the work was for either Campbell or Pritchett in that role. But again, here's SPS putting an administrator who has zero experience in HR to head HR instead of a real HR professional.   From SPS Public Affairs: Dear SPS Staff, I am pleased to announce that Dr. Sarah Pritchett has agreed to serve as the interim assistant superintendent of Human Resources beginning June 14. She will be taking over for Noel Treat, who is leaving Seattle Public Schools this week to take a position in private law practice. Dr. Pritchett has significant experience with our district, and I’m confident she will make rich and informed contributions in this new position. As ​assistant deputy superi...

 From King County Libraries : In honor of PRIDE Month, join a discussion with Lev Rosen , author of  Jack of Hearts and  Camp . Please register.  You will be emailed a link no later than one hour before the program. If you do not see an email, check your Junk or Spam folder. Reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities is available by request. Email  access@kcls.org  at least seven days before the event. Automated closed captioning is always available for online events. Suitable for ages 13-17. (As of now, there are 81 spaces left. This author has one of the most banned books across the nation so this may be of interest to some students.) Meet the Author: Lev AC Rosen Tuesday, June 28, 2022   Add to Calendar 4:00PM – 5:30PM Online event

Updated to reflect that SPD did the sweep and that my statement about an SPS policy of good news only was sarcasm on my part. end of update RHS closed early after a bomb threat was phoned in. The school was first in a shelter-in-place and then students were released around lunchtime. SPD did a sweep and found nothing. Per what seems like an SPS' new policy of "only good news!," there is no statement about the incident at SPS' Twitterfeed nor at their website.  

 

Update #1 Here's a link to a psych evaluation of the suspect in November 2021. It is shocking reading. Main findings: -  In consideration of these factors, I am of the opinion that Mr. Harasam currently lacks the capacities to understand the nature of the proceedings against him and to assist his counsel in his own defense. (bold theirs) -  The Court’s order indicated that  at least one of the charges  is designated as a “serious offense” as defined  in RCW 10.77.092. Should the Court find that Mr. Harasam is not competent to stand trial and that he  meets the criteria for competency restoration treatment, psychiatric treatment is recommended in order to assist in improving his mental condition so that his competency may be restored. -  Mr. Harasam is  and therefore is under continuous monitoring for discharge readiness. Considering this, an additional evaluation by a Designated Crisis Responder for civil commitment under RCW 71.05 does not appea...