The Board's Role
I went to Director Martin-Morris's community meeting on Saturday morning and the conversation was really good. It was good, in large part, because we stayed focused on things that Director Martin-Morris could do - we kept the conversation within the boundaries of the Board's role. We didn't ask him and his Board colleagues to make decisions that have been delegated to the superintendent or direct the superintendent in what decisions to make or to overrule decisions that the superintendent had made. But we did ask him to assure that the superintendent's decisions were compliant with policy (and law) and to assure that the superintendent's actions were aligned with the District's stated values. This is the Board's job, and, frankly, they haven't been doing it.
We got started down this path early when I used the word "transparency" and he asked me what I mean by that. These words get tossed around all the time, but they are never defined. We are both convinced that people are not working from a shared understanding of their meaning. I replied that transparency has three elements: 1) Everyone knows what the rules are. 2) Everyone plays by the same rules. 3) The data is publicly available so we can all see - for ourselves - that the rules were followed. He asked for some examples of when the District failed to be transparent. He got them: The old MLK elementary wanted to start a Montessori program and was held to an impossibly high standard - different from the standard set for other schools wanting to start programs. The
Strategic Plan
We got started down this path early when I used the word "transparency" and he asked me what I mean by that. These words get tossed around all the time, but they are never defined. We are both convinced that people are not working from a shared understanding of their meaning. I replied that transparency has three elements: 1) Everyone knows what the rules are. 2) Everyone plays by the same rules. 3) The data is publicly available so we can all see - for ourselves - that the rules were followed. He asked for some examples of when the District failed to be transparent. He got them: The old MLK elementary wanted to start a Montessori program and was held to an impossibly high standard - different from the standard set for other schools wanting to start programs. The
Strategic Plan
The revised Strategic Plan for Seattle Public Schools is scheduled for introduction at the Board meeting on June 19 and for a vote at the Board meeting on July 3.
You can read it here.
You can read it here.
