Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update: The student killed was Amarr Murphy Paine.  From Facebook via Curtis Wells, Jr. : Yesterday was one of the saddest days serving kids. Amarr would say to me every day. “ love you coach”. Yesterday at lunch time he came to my class asking for some Cup of Noodles. I told him how proud I was of how well he was playing in spring ball. We laugh & joke. He was happy about the fall season. 15-20 minutes later. I rushed to his side holding his hand telling him to breath, come back, your tough, hang in there, and hold on. I cried all day and I hug my players and other students. I told them I loved them. I should not be going to these kids funeral. They should be going to mine. God help our kids, show me what to do, tell me what to do, Lord comfort the Murphy Paine family. Don’t let Amarr death be in vain. Lord we need you, I need you, my coaches need you, my players need you, Garfield needs you, 💜💜💜💜💜💜Amarr I love you too I saw the entire photo of the shooter standing over ...

Well-Resourced/Closed Schools Meetings I heard that the Garfield meeting was a bit contentous. I’m hearing there are just not solid answers. One thing I find odd is that Superintendent Brent Jones has said if anyone has a better idea, they want to hear it but give over no time for that. And then, he says that they have looked at everything and this is the best way forward. Puzzling.  As for the West Seattle meeting, I look to the West Seattle Blog Though the first of this round of meetings was reported to have been contentious, this one only had one outburst, when an attendee yelled out that Dr. Jones should more aggressively push lawmakers to fix the persistent education-funding shortfall. Also of note, though the meetings were held regionally, there was almost nothing West Seattle-specific this morning, except for the question “Why build a new Alki Elementary when schools (will likely be) closing?” (More on Alki in a minute.) Jones said the balanced budget plan would be presented...

 I heard from a source that the first of five STAFF meetings on the well-resourced/closed schools plan was woefully underattended - just 15 people. Sarah Pritchett, head of HR, led the meeting. There were no school board members present but they had their own engagement meeting on Wednesday for the ‘vision and values” for the new Strategic Plan.  Apparently, because there were so few people, the audience members were allowed to ask questions at this meeting. There was one about option schools that didn’t get a real answer.  They did have a timeline slide. Looks like the time up to the announcement on or around June 10th from the Superintendent of the preliminary list is “Phase 1.0-1.5.” Phase 2 starts the legally required 30 days of “public review,” followed by the site-base hearings for each named school that have to fall within 90 days after the public review. After that the Board will have a BAR (Board Action Report) at the next Board meeting after the hearings and the...

 I’m hearing feedback from various sources at last night’s Well-resourced schools/Closures meeting at Roosevelt High School. - It was a near full house which is a good indicator of interest/concern in this subject. - Superintendent Brent Jones, coming into the meeting, was stopped by several parents who wanted to talk. He stopped and talked. Meanwhile, some parents were talking to media and then School Board President Liza Rankin apparently broken in to those conversations.  - State Senator Javier Valdez was in attendance and it’s reported that he told a crowd of frustrated parents, “ I heard zip, zitch, nada about the details and data.” Not good. - Apparently the district had some app available - the Thought Exchange -  to register questions/concerns; it seems many parents didn’t like this option. I note that one parent said it was not clear if the app would register how many times parents said the same comment (meaning, hey district pay attention here). - Finance guy F...

Just a couple of items. One , tonight is the first "well-resourced"- school closure meeting at Roosevelt High School from 6-7:30 pm. Wish it was televised but I'll count on readers to chime in.   Two, also in the mix over the next 10 days are the Board's " Values and Vision" meetings for the next Strategic Plan. Here's a link with info including a SURVEY.  The survey has five basic questions but not sure how they elicit "vision." Tepid and lame. How should we be able to describe a graduate of Seattle Public Schools? What should students in Seattle Public Schools know and be able to do? What does equity in education mean to you, and how should we measure it?   What's good about SPS or something working well for students that we should keep doing?   What is something that needs improvement in SPS to better support positive student outcomes?   Three,  the SCPTSA has weighed in on school closures. I find their messaging tedious. Clearly, t...

Update: I had meant to add this story out of Olympia, We Thought She Was a Great Teacher. This teacher was obviously very misguided but it's frightening that no other adults saw the behavior until it was too late.  update I have attempted to wade into this topic previously but new stories have cropped up so I think it bears revisiting.  I want to be clear - I believe trans people. I also believe that kids can know this about themselves. However, the issue of trans children in schools makes it part of more than just one family's life.  It can affect schools in many ways. In the classroom. In sports. In the locker room. In bathrooms. Parents, I'm not in SPS but what does the district send home at the beginning of the year that covers this topic? Anything? I recall decades back when police finally developed rape kits and it became okay to publicly talk about rape, the number of rape arrests went up. Were there more rapes or was there more reporting? I think the latter. Th...

Readers, I am taking a much needed vacation so I will not be able to write as many posts as I normally would. And, all the Strategic Plan board engagement meetings and Well-Resourced/School Closures meetings are coming up but I'll miss them all. If you attend any of these meetings, I would love if you would write a couple of paragraphs about your impressions about: - how the meeting was organized - how much open discussion there was - who attended - which Board members and what staff - what were major impressions you got on the discussion and what was the vibe of the meetings Send your thoughts to: sss.westbrook@gmail.com Thanks!