Seattle Schools Community Forum:
The Turning Point (Again?) for Seattle Schools
Seattle Schools Community Forum
The Turning Point (Again?) for Seattle Schools
Deja vu all over again (with apologies to Yogi Berra). It's sometimes good to have been tracking this district for a long time. Basically, it's about institutional memory and its usefulness. Sometimes, it is frustrating, exhausting and frightening. All at once. I am speaking of the Board retreat going on today in reference to institutional memory. I could have sworn that if I shut my eyes, t
Seattle Schools' Own Math War
Clearly, something is afoot over the math adoptions. I don't know what school principals have been told but I don't believe it was just some kind of update about the outcome of the math adoption vote. It's hard to say.To note, I was very surprised at the Board meeting that there were 11 schools using enVision and 4 using Singapore (and what about North Beach? I thought they used Saxon.) Turns
Seattle Schools and Security
A reader put up a letter from Queen Anne Elementary principal, David Elliott, that was written in light of yesterday's Seattle Pacific U shootings (QA Elementary is fairly close by as is Coe Elementary). Mr. Elliott calmly explains what they did once the event became known to this (and this happened as school had just ended for the day).Apparently buses had left but there were many children and p
Another Column Blaming Teachers
A guest column in the Seattle Times today spread the weird idea that "Teacher Quality" is important and should be the focus of the school district's efforts to close the achievement gap.
Again, Tell Parent You Know to Enroll in SPS NOW
There was a request to open another thread about the connections between school budgets and "underenrollment." I am hearing from several schools that the district is saying their school is below the enrollment forecast and will be funded that way (even as many have had waitlists in the past and the district continues to grow).I suspect the district is playing chicken, hoping that there
The District Strikes Back, Again?
There are two unfolding situations that could have real ramifications for many schools in the fall; one is about math waivers and the other (separate thread) about school funding (and "underenrollment").Update: what I am hearing is that there is a thought to push a "districtwide" waver to use enVision over MIF. I'm hoping that's not true. It could possibly be the most uncons
Friday Open Thread
Tomorrow is the Board retreat; that should be interesting to attend. It's from 10:30 am to 3:00 pm at the JSCEE. Agenda. It appears the bell time analysis is to be presented in the morning and prioritized. After the math adoption, I'm sure there are priorities to be shifted. They have lunch at 12:30 and start work again on priorities at 12:45 pm. The rest of the afternoon is for governance/c
JUN 05
Math Adoption: Thoughts and Analysis
Good morning. That was quite an evening (and I even got to leave as the Board continue to slog through the lengthy agenda). I'll try to have another thread about other items I heard about at last night's meeting.As I go thru this thread, some of these thoughts will sound familiar as I quickly went thru the 11(?) threads I wrote for the comments. Some of these thoughts are your thoughts and I
JUN 04
Live Blogging - Math in Focus Adopted
Blanford - nayCarr - noMartin-Morris - noMcLaren - ayePatu - ayePeters - absolutelyPeaslee -ayeAmendment Two passes. The district will purchase Math in Focus for K-5 elementary curriculum.English says amendment was complete replacement for original BAR. Chair should call question on motion AS amendment. In favor is vote for sole adoption of Math in Focus.Vote goes the same.(There was great joy
Peaslee Reveals Vote: Looks like Math in Focus
Board has not taken a vote but I believe there are four votes for Math in Focus.
Live Blogging - Math Adoption, Part Twelve
Peaslee is now speaking. Thank you to staff and apologize for any misunderstandings and were trying to connect dots and close gaps in knowledge.Appreciate Peters and McLaren's hard, hard work.Peaslee reveals vote. She IS voting for Math in Focus.It appears - at this point - there are four votes for MIF. She believes it is worth more money to bridge achievement gap. S
Live Blogging - Math Adoption, Part Eleven
Carr - thanked Shauna Health and Michael Tolley and entire MAC. I am in agreement with McLaren on solidness of both curriculum. Happy with either. Means a lot to people and reasonable people will disagree. Staff have followed "a legal and robust process." MAC's rationale is good with CCSS. Second what Martin-Morris about curriculum and quality of teaching.Worth noting that prior to
Live Blogging - Math Adoption, Part Ten
Charles Wright continues with a long list of what they need for science, advanced learning, etc. that may be lost if Board chooses a more expensive math. Medical fragile, archive support (everything and the kitchen sink, it would seem). Data center is understaffed, can't do upgrades. Michael Tolley on waivers. Board policy exists, etc. Some schools have expired waivers and others seeking waive
Live Blogging - Math Adoption, Part Nine
Onto the next amendment to adopt Math in Focus. McLaren read the amendment (which was quite lengthy.)Staff to talk about issues around costs for Math in Focus. $5.6M versus some lower cost for enVision. Blanford - what does that money cover?Staff - includes 1-year costs, and range for 7 years. This completes the amendment issues (there was a blank place for the costs of Math in Focus). Peters -
Live Blogging - Math Adoption, Part Eight
Patu reading the BAR for adoption. McLaren said it came forward to C&I committee and they voted to move it forward. Peaslee asked for questions on original motion.Carr asked about procedure because in the past, they didn't discuss the motion before the amendments. Ron English said that amendments come first for discussion and then go back to original motion (with or without amendments depend
Live Blogging - Math Adoption, Part Seven
Board comments going on. (I'll get to details in a separate thread.) But Director Peters said this:On the math adoption - she ran for office on this issue and was told she "might be a one-issue candidate because of it" - Thanks to everyone who worked on issue - we are on the cusp of a change.Even those who didn't support her said "but I agree with you about the math."She said
Live Blogging - Math Adoption, Part Six
Rick Burke - member of MAC. Why is community so passionate about math and why should you listen? He had a handout for the Board of his daughter's math problem. Discovery was language-heavy and "crippled" K-5 students for years. Says "good, better, best" situation. He thinks enVision is good, amendment two is better (for just Math in Focus) and Amendment 1 - dual adoption -
Live Blogging- Math Adoption, Part Five
Next speaker noted that President Obama's daughters had Math in Focus.Sarah Sense Wilson said she approved of a dual math adoption. She also said the Board has a unique opportunity to honor what John Stanford promised - to pay tribute to a modern-day Native American leader. She was speaking of Robert Eaglestaff. He achieved success for their community and was a strong advocate for civil rights
Live Blogging - Math Adoption, Part Four
Public TestimonyTed Nutting - an honored and long-time math teacher at Ballard High School. Really effective in his speaking - he gets kids at the end of the K-8 line and wants them to be ready. He is retiring and believes Math in Focus is the best option.Kathleen Voss - should you reject staff's recommendation? Process was flawed and should they adhere to this "flawed process." Staf
Live Blogging- Math Adoption, Part 3
Unbelievably Blogger ate this post.To note, a very long discussion around Policy 2185 about using 2.0 GPA for participation in athletics. Back and forth by several directors and staff (who seemed none too happy about it). Director McLaren said they are correcting a previous clerical error and will be considering the issue at the C&I Committee meeting on Monday. President Peaslee was clearly u
Live Blogging - Math Adoption, Part Two
Superintendent is now speaking on K-5 process. Said had to follow a "legal" process, and MAC came up with recommendation. He supports that recommendation. More later tonight from staff. Thanked Shauna Heath and her team for their work. Update about Strategic Plan and implementing feedback. (I posted on this last month.) Recited all the top items on the list. Mentioned the renaming
Live Blogging from Board Meeting
This is likely to be several threads as I continue to have issues with live blogging.Right now the room is about half-full. Ballard principal Keven Wynkoop was honored as High School principal of the year and South Shore principal Keisha Scarlett was honored as Middle School principal of the year. (I believe this is for Washington State.) 2014 Golden Shoe Award for three schools were:- Dunlap El
Still Arguing about School Funding?
Is this discussion over enrollment numbers and school funding still happening where you are?Because apparently, it's still an issue for Nathan Hale High. Hale parents are being notified, via a Hale parent group, that the district is underestimating their enrollment (by less than 20 students) and it will reduce their funding. They say they have had a waitlist for years and don't understand why th
Math Adoption Updates
In case you didn't notice, the number of MAC members who filed their own opinions went up from 1 teacher to 3 more on the committee.I believe there may be three certain votes against the adoption of enVision. I think there could be a fourth vote but again, hard to discern.My concern is not that some members of the Board will agree with the recommendation (or the process used to get to this point
Room for Debate: Gifted Tracks
The New York Times has an excellent series of articles called Room for Debate where they have various experts write an essay for or against a subject. Their latest is about gifted education. I didn't read each article thoroughly but two things did stand out.Professor Bruce Sacerdote had this to say:My paper with fellow economists James West and Scott Carrell examines peer effects among students a
JUN 03
Math Adoption - The Staff Strikes Back
Reviewing the updated agenda for tomorrow night's Board meeting, it looks like staff have been burning the midnight oil.First, the speakers list is full with nine people on the waitlist. The overwhelming number of comments are to be about the math adoption.Next, on the K-5 Math Instructional Materials Adoption, there are many new additions. The BAR is now 23 pages long. To note: In response to
Seattle Schools Renames Programs
Editor's note: They renamed PROGRAMS and not the buildings that will house these programs. I also hope that one of the buildings at Wilson-Pacific will be named after Native American leader, Robert Eaglestaff. It is unclear to me in the naming of the Pinehurst K-8/Indian Heritage program if any Native American parents, staff or leaders were consulted. I'm checking.Update: I confirmed that yes,
Tuesday Open Thread
4 P-51 Mustangs will fly over Seattle in formation on Friday, June 6th at about noon... This is the 70th anniversary of D-Day - one of these planes flew 4 sorties over Normandy on June 6th, 1944. The Mustang was, and still is, an absolutely brilliant airplane.http://historicflight.org/hf/ Those slacker kindergarteners - check out some of the schedules from around the country. An hour and a half s
NPR; Not Such Neutral Reporting on Common Core
NPR has been getting dollars (a la the Seattle Times) for education reporting from the Gates Foundation. And boy, does it show in their Common Core reporting.First, their FAQs on Common Core read a lot like what comes from Gates. Two, they even have one FAQ "fact" wrong which is that Oklahoma has a bill going thru its Legislature to walk away from CC. The fact is that the bill passed
Thornton Creek Zoning Meeting
Thanks to reader Rocky for this info.The City is having a meeting tonight at 6:30 pm in the Thornton Creek Elementary cafeteria to discuss SPS' request for a waiver from City zoning regs for the new school.From the City's press release:The School District is requesting changes to City zoning regulations for the following: 1) Greater than allowed building height. 2) Less than required on-site par
JUN 02
Charter News from Around the Country
In breaking news from Politics Early and Often (in Illinois), the SEC has charged United Neighborhood Organization and its charter network with defrauding investors to the tune of $37.5M b "making materially misleading statements" about contracts. UNO leaders want to settle the case by "promising" to not use nepotism in their contracts and having federal oversight for a year.
Mining Student Data
Stories from KUOW and Politico (highly recommended) and information I learned about what's in a TFA contract today about student data. One is the KUOW piece about ConnectEDU and SPS. It fleshed out what I had reported and had a couple of interesting comments. Again:For the past three years, the school district has uploaded middle and high school students’ names, grades, addresses and demograp
JUN 01
Seattle Schools This Week
Wednesday, June 4ndSchool Board meeting, starting at 4:15 pm. Agenda.It is quite a long agenda with a longer-than-usual Consent agenda. I was surprised to see a item like this not being discussed with Intro and then Action but they need to get work done on the North Queen Anne Elementary School as soon as possible for the move in of the Cascade Parent Partnership Program. I find this also dist
MAY 31
Saturday Open Thread
Thought I would put this up in case readers attend Director Community meetings and would like to let us know what was said.Also, from SPS, how feedback from the Strategic Plan Town Halls is to be used (see link for details):1. Additional translations of District communications. Many families said they want to receive more translated versions of our communications. 2. Improvements to the District w