Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update 2: The Seattle Times now has a story on this topic.  It looks like a strike will occur because the district and Local 302 cannot find agreement. The SEA says it stands in solidarity with the union but it's unclear if they will cross a picket line. The Times also says: "Teamsters Local 174 and the Joint Council of Teamsters No. 28 are also in support of the union. If all three unions refuse to cross the picket line, it’s unlikely SPS would be able to open schools Wednesday." stay tuned Update 1: My update on the situation is no update. I have looked at both the SPS website AND Twitter and there is no news. However, a couple of teachers let me know that as long as they do not empty trash or clean, they can teach. I had no idea that was a thing. And apparently, administrators and office staff will have to somehow man the lunchrooms if Local 302 decides to strike. end of update The last information from the district on the situation with the last labor contract - Lo...

Topline Seattle Schools is suing the City of Seattle and four Alki residents because SPS lost an appeal on having zero parking spaces for the renovation of Alki Elementary. Story When I was in Seattle and I attended the "well-resourced school" meeting at Nathan Hale High School, I met candidate, Maryanne Wood, who is running for school board to fill the vacating seat of Director Leslie Harris. We exchanged phone numbers and I interviewed her this morning. (I'll have a separate post on her candidacy but I found her thoughtful and engaging.)  As you may recall from this post, Ms. Wood is one of four Alki residents who had appealed several zoning departures in the rebuild of Alki Elementary School in West Seattle. The City Hearing Examiner came back with just one upholding of the appeal but it's a key one - the total lack of any parking. That bounced the appeal back to the City to review again. The district was not pleased. To note, the City code requires 48 spaces for t...

But first, some good news; there are comfort dogs at Mercer Island High School Finley, a 4-year-old Golden Retriever, and his sidekick, 2-year-old Guinness (also known as Little G.), are a cuddly, calming presence to both students and staff. The dynamic duo are the personal pets of special education teacher Andrea Confalone, who got the idea of bringing in therapy dogs back in 2017. Finley even has his own Instagram page. "Kids are welcome any time, so they can come in and visit with the dogs, and we do some work out in the halls and in the common area at other times," she said. "But for the most part, my classroom is like an open door for kids to come in when they need some additional support and staff as well." Confalone said counselors have brought in kids who are in crisis just to sit with the dogs. Confalone said between periods, the dogs will sit at the door and greet people as they're walking by. "They get a staff photo, and they are in the d...

The district has not reached a contract with Local 302 that serves Seattle Public Schools. If it happens, it would be a tough bunch of first days. This from Westside Seattle: A strike is looking increasingly likely by IUOE 302 workers since they say Seattle Public Schools is not offering an acceptable contract, set to expire Aug. 31. The approximately 400 union members are culinary, custodial, security and gardening workers. That means no school lunches, no trash service, no guards on duty among other impacts. These factors could delay the start of school for an indefinite period. The district serves more than 27,000 meals daily. The union says: "The District finally shared an economic proposal with the Union at our most recent bargaining session on Wednesday, August 23, just 9 days from our contract expiration. It was disrespectful and offensive to our members! After all the thoughtful work done to inform the District of the severe economic impact and strain on our m...

Speaking of well-resourced schools, I saw this article at Edutopia ,  7 Steps for Turning Around Under-Resourced Schools. It was from 2016. Let's look at what the article says to do and how it might apply to Seattle Schools. What I found interesting in the article is their focus on schools, not the districts. So my remarks are going to be mostly district-based but I'd like to hear from parents about what they think of these suggestions in terms of their child's school. 1. Define Success in Phases SPS has created timelines for some work like Student Outcome Focused Governance and the Black Boys Initiative. I think there are two problems, though. One, because of the narrow scope of who benefits, I'm not sure parents are paying attention. Two, the district has only quietly put out updates and that's probably because for the Black Boys initiative, the news is not good. I honestly can't speak to the entirety of what that initiative has accomplished but that's b...

Several weeks back, the Seattle School Board had a meeting which encompassed two items - a policy update and the Board's retreat. The entire thing was to be televised on the district's YouTube channel. The policy issue was for the Board to vote on the revisions to the formerly named Student Rights and Responsibilities (now Basic Rules of Seattle Public Schools ).  The Board had put a vote on this policy on hold several weeks before this meeting. They needed to get a vote in. The Board and Legal cut it down from 60 pages to 48, calling it "scrubbed" of wording that they didn't think had to be put in. However, the recording - audio and video - of the policy discussion/vote didn't work. Somehow, SPS AV staff managed to get the audio and video started up just in time for the entire retreat. So the entire policy discussion and vote was missed but the entire retreat was recorded.  Board office staff said said that they would have a link to the discussion about the...

From the opinion: Hampson first argues that the applicable standard of review is de novo because the Board’s decision was quasi -judicial. We disagree. When the District adopted the MFR Report and required Hampson to review the policy, neither the District nor the Board applied facts to law.  The HIB (harassment, intimidation, bullying) Policy is analogous. There is no applicable law, therefore, no law applied to fact. The application of an internal policy is not a normal function of the courts. There is no binding law for the courts to apply, rather, interpretation of an internal policy. This is a like an administrative adjudication, not a quasi-judicial function. As courts have said many times, the courts of this state are ill equipped to act as super personnel agencies.    Hampson argues that the Board’s actions were arbitrary and capricious because it lacked any...