Seattle Schools Community Forum

Folks, this may be late in the game but it's huge.  Betty Patu is a legendary school board director (and former Board president). The Stranger endorsed her over and over as a "badass." Betty is not a polished person and speaks plainly and to the point. At so many times, over her 12 (1!) years on the Board, it was Betty cutting through the crap and pointing out obvious issues that others had no courage to say.  For her to believe in Ben's skills is a very big deal indeed.

Or rather, the fiscal policy that Directors Chandra Hampson and Liza Rankin are putting forth. I was not able to tune into the Seattle Council PTSA meeting on this fiscal policy that was held last week. This policy is to come before the Board on November 15th; more on that later in this post. I will say that for such a sweeping amount of change that this fiscal policy would bring about, it's appalling how little is being said publicly. It kinda reminds of me Student Outcome Focused Governance (SOFG) because I'd bet very few parents know about it and even fewer understand it.  Someone I know did tune into this meeting and this is what she heard.  Hampson and Rankin along with Director Leslie Harris were the only Board members present. Also present was Janice White , SEA president. There were about 50 people signed in. (Editor's note: Janis White is the president of the Special Education PTSA; Jennifer Matter is head of SEA. Did I know this? Of course but my fingers sometim...

 Timely op-ed in the Seattle Times : Why isn’t Seattle Public Schools fighting for our kids  This comes from parent Sarah Nau. In the coming weeks, Seattle Public Schools will unveil its proposal to address its budget deficit, and despite the district’s insistence school closures are not a foregone conclusion, that proposal will all but certainly include the recommendation to close neighborhood schools across the city.  This announcement’s arrival on the heels of how disastrously SPS managed the substantial “reshuffling” of students and staff at over 40 elementary and K-8 schools is not lost on staff, parents, and communities; it has only fueled concerns and frustration at how little they center students, and is contributing to a growing discontent with both the district and the Seattle School Board.  Despite claims of transparency around the budget development process to address the deficit, we don’t have any insight into how the district is arriving at ...

 There's this bright HCC parent - Albert J. Wong - who writes at the HCC Seattle Elementary Schools Facebook page. (I hope he runs for the Board someday.) He has some thoughts to share about the upcoming Board elections. (Editor's note; there is brief editing but only because he mentioned things pertinent to only the Facebook page.) Bunches of folks have been confused about the school board race this year. Enough that I'm going to risk writing a (as balanced as possible) public post.   So first, the board in the past half decade is closer to the old supreme court, with 1 swing vote. Thus this election is important because you are either going to reaffirm the current direction or swing it. The swing votes are 2 races: Debbie Carlsen vs Liza Rankin, and Ben Gitenstein vs Evan Briggs.   A choice of Liza + Evan continues the existing trend because Liza is clearly the incumbent. Liza and Chandra Hampson rose out of SCPTSA (note SCPTSA has very little interaction with most PTS...

Update: Sorry to say but I gave up. The meeting started nearly 10 minutes late despite a full agenda. The main problem is that the microphone was not set up properly (maybe have a mic at each end of the table?). You could hear the directors well but many staff do not speak up. Plus, whoever was closest to the mic kept shuffling papers which made it difficult to discern what was being said.  I tweeted this twice, hoping someone might clue in the folks at the meeting but nope. What was interesting is the two presenters from Moss Adams who were virtual ALSO had issues hearing what was being said/asked.  The only updates I can give you are these. One, apparently it's not clear who is in charge/responsible to make sure the background checks/references/ sign-ins get done.  Two, Marni Campbell gave the report on security and safety. She said there were "foundational practices" like limiting entryways, going to the office and signing in every single time you are in the building b...

From KOMO News: The Seattle Police Department (SPD) arrested three people for car theft in north Seattle on Friday. Police said two of the people arrested were juveniles. This incident caused two schools, Nathan Hale High School and Jane Addams Middle School to go into a shelter-in-place for about 30 minutes. Police said the suspects were in a stolen red Kia and added that the car was towed and impounded. Seattle Public Schools (SPS) said no threats were made to these schools related to this incident. "It’s kids 17-18 late teens, in groups, some wearing masks, some who aren't, that are basically praying (sic) on other students coming home from school," said Tod Kibbee, Assistant Chief of patrol operations for SPD. As of this report, SPD said it’s unknown whether the suspects arrested Friday are connected with the recent robberies in the north Seattle/Ballard area. From the SPD Blotter story: The suspect vehicles driven were described to be either a red Kia, gray Hyundai, ...

To again state - I urge you to consider voting for: D1 - Debbie Carlsen D2 - close call here but I would go for Christina Posten  D3 - Ben Gitenstein D6 - Gina Topp A couple of people asked about candidates' stands on different issues so I've checked their campaign websites.  Kids in SPS Topp and Posten both have one child and both are under two. So neither have experience being an SPS parent but Posten was a teacher and principal in SPS so she knows the landscape. Rankin, Rivera Smith, Briggs, and Carlsen have their children in SPS. I believe Gitenstein has one child in private and one in SPS. HCC This was a question at an HCC Facebook page - who supports HCC? Clearly, Liza Rankin is not a fan so she's not a friend to HCC. She says at her website: All students should have access to unique and advanced learning opportunities, and equitable pathways to success with the opportunity to pursue their goals and interests.  Racial bias in the areas of special education, advance...