Friday Memo
September 25, 2015 This memo includes 4 attachments
Dear Board members,
Board Action: A few highlights from the board actions on Wednesday:
Salary increase for district level “non-represented” staff. This group has received 1.4%
increase over the past eight years (compared to 16.5% for teachers). The board approved
the pass through of the 3% state COLA for this group. In addition, the district is doing a
comparative salary study to see how these positions compare with other similar major
urban school districts.
Elementary Suspensions: The board approved a moratorium on elementary suspensions
… for subjective offenses. Students can still be suspended for violence or bullying. This
action will help address the disproportionate suspension of students of color. The board
approved plan also includes several supports for this transition: expansion of RULER;
PBIS training; intervention supports in the highest impacted schools; and on-call
assistance for schools with fewer suspensions. District-wide last year there were 200
elementary suspensions in this subjective category: 20 schools had NO suspensions; 30
had 1-3 suspensions; and a few schools had higher levels. In other work with principals
our focus has been on: asking schools to set goals and review quarterly; adopting
programs like RULER that grow socio-emotional skills; and positive adult to student
relationships. We will also be looking at positive outliers (the schools with no
suspensions) to learn more from them. Directors thanked Pat Sanders, Shauna Heath,
Michael Tolley and Bernardo Ruiz for thinking outside the box to find a way to address
this important part of closing opportunity gaps for students.
Board of Distinction: Each year WSSDA, Washington State School Directors'
Association, invites board members to do a self-evaluation around the state standards for
effective school boards. Seattle’s work over the past year compares well with the list of
effective board criteria. Each year WSSDA recognizes about two dozen districts that best
meet the standards for effective school boards. Those standards include:
o Governance … including SPS extensive use of board committees to review
pending actions
o High expectations … as indicated by the board adopted goals in support of the
strategic plan
o Safety and security … as part of our BTA work on seismic safety of our buildings
o Measuring academic progress … which is part of quarterly review of student
progress
o Engaging community … with each board member holding monthly listening
sessions
Board Comments included:
Betty Patu recognized a Franklin student who called out in a very positive way a private
school student who was making racist comments on Facebook.
Harium Martin-Morris commented on Ken Gotsch’s presentation on budgeting at the
Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) conference
Stephan Blanford commented on how important the discipline suspensions were in
interrupting the school to prison pipeline and urged supports that will make this transition
most effective.
Marty McLaren highlighted the family engagement work that is expanding through the
district and gave her support to the McCleary resolution aimed at full state funding for
schools.
Sue Peters commented on the strike and how our ability to negotiate fair salaries is a
function of the legislature. She also commented on several parts of the agreement:
recess, assessment, and case-loads.
Sharon Peaslee clarified many of the issues raised in the emails from parents regarding
the contract and strike. She also called out the board action on the testing resolution in
July calling for better balance in assessments.
Sherry Carr reminded us of the Paramount Duty and the desperate need to fix our
broken education system at the state level. She also thanked Ron English for his past
service to the district.
Current Updates
School started on Thursday, September 17th
. Two of our new preschools opened on September
21st – at Van Asselt and Original Van Asselt schools. I have been to seven of our schools
where teachers and students are all excited about the start of school. A few highlights below
…with more details on page six:
- Whitman Middle School was highly intentional and focused around learning … and
took time out in the middle of Day of Caring, Volunteer Orientation, and a visiting
delegation from Japan … to showcase student learning.
- Ballard was VERY intentional about welcoming students to school with evidence of
student names and student work everywhere: from “stars” with student’s names, to name
placards in every class.
- At Franklin I met their intervention team that each work with 30-40 students helping
them stay on track.
- Thurgood Marshall was welcoming students by taking them on a tour of the school;
teaching them about manners, the buddy-bench, reporting in to the office when late, four-
square rules and more.
Lots of positive energy and focused learning underway.
We have nearly 53,000 students according to enrollment counts – up from last year and down a
bit from projections. We added nearly 100 teachers this year, partly for student growth and
partly for class size reduction. 15 schools did not have enough classroom space for the extra
teachers and are using those teachers to provide interventions and support for students. Beacon
Hill International is an open concept school where several pods designed for three classes are
serving four classes. Thurgood Marshall has opened a new classroom in a smaller space by
limiting enrollment.
Regarding the strike, I’d like to thank our two bargaining teams for the many, many late nights
that went into reaching an agreement early on Tuesday morning. We are glad to be back in
school and eager to work with SEA on the many joint initiatives that we agreed to in the
contract.
Many thanks to the City of Seattle for their support for our families during the strike. I’d like to
thank:
Barb Graff, the City’s Director of Emergency Management
Debbie Goetz, the Community Planning Coordinator, who activated and coordinated the
response plan.
Lori Chisholm, Seattle Parks and Recreation, who coordinated all the city’s “drop in”
centers.
Jill Watson and the City’s Human Services Department in coordinating the feeding plan
with Parks and Recreation and other city departments.
Holly Miller, from the Department of Education and Early Learning for her coordination
efforts.
This coordinated response extended beyond city agencies and included many of our
school based child care centers as well as other community based organizations such as
the Boys and Girls club and the YMCA. Also, our City Year volunteers who were
invaluable to supporting this effort.
And finally, thank you to our SPS Nutrition Services department who made the lunches
and snacks for our students and the SPS Department of Early Learning who helped
coordinate our school-based child care resources for families.
Erin Okuno with Southeast Seattle Education Coalition (SESEC) who pulled together
churches and community volunteers to help support parents with child care options.
Numerous community volunteers who helped with translations of messages for our ELL
families.
Bargaining--Regarding the tentative agreement with the SEA, some of the highlights are:
Compensation: 14.3% (including COLA) over three years (6% in the first year; 3.8% in
year two; 4.5% in year three)
Equity: Partnership Committee to include SEA, SPS and Community members to
oversee expansion of equity teams and professional development on disproportionate
discipline
Recess: All students in K-5 will receive 30 minutes of recess during the school day
Instructional Day will be extended by 20 minutes in 2017-18; teacher day remains 7.5
hours
Evaluation: District determined student growth ratings are eliminated for the term of
this contract. SEA and SPS will collaboratively develop and implement a Peer
Assistance and Review Program aimed at elevating and supporting teacher practice
Assessment: Joint SEA and SPS Assessment Committee will review and make
recommendations to the Superintendent regarding impact of testing and solutions to
creating a balanced assessment calendar
Special Education preschool ratios lowered to 10:1:2; Distinct at 7:1:2; Access is same
at the elementary school and for middle/high will be 13:1:3. ESA Caseloads Case-loads
established: Physical Therapists at 35; Occupational Therapists at 40 (15-16) and 36 by
2016-2017; Psychologists are 1:1050; Audiologists are at 1:15,000
CTE Advisors: New stipends for CTE Advisors who lead OSPI and SPS Leadership
Programs (3 per building)
Career Ladder: New Career Ladder position: Content Demonstration Teacher
(Mathematics, Science, P.E. Arts etc.)
SEA has ratified the agreement. The board will vote on the agreement at the October 7th
board
meeting when we have a red-line version of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the salary
schedule and the updated calendar. In order to fund the agreement, we have suspended the K-5
literacy curriculum review/adoption scheduled for this year.
Calendar
Below please find the dates that the union has agreed to use as makeup days:
October 9
January 29
February 17, 18, 19 (people are at this point at least somewhat used to a shorter
midwinter break, and the spring break tends to be when schools and families take trips)
June 24 (school would end on a Friday rather than go into the next week)
o Some graduations will likely have to move later into June.
The school board will approve these dates on October 7th
.
Smarter Balanced Assessments:
Smarter Balanced scores will come to parents within the next week; through mail or home with
students.
SPS has outperformed the state in every grade level in both reading and mathematics (see
slide)
The SBAC field test showed very low rates of passage … with scores in the 30s.
Predicted scores for Seattle were under 50%
Actual SBA results were better than expected … in the 60s except for opt outs and 11th
grade.
SBA scores were slightly below the previous MSP scores (which measured a lower
standard)
Kudos to teachers, principals and T&L for great work in preparing for the higher standards.
FERPA:
FERPA – Family and Educational Rights and Privacy Act – requires detailed privacy
sign-offs from parents.
Opting out is easy for parents and for us … but then excludes students from things like
yearbooks.
Opting in gets complicated when we have many categories … and must keep those
records for many years.
We’re working on a solution that will work for everyone without mounds of more
paperwork.
School Messenger: FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has banned the use of auto-
dial calls except for emergencies. Schools REALLY miss this tool. It is the ONLY way to
communicate well with our ELL families. Making 100 phone calls in Spanish or sending letters
either by mail or kid mail is just not the same. Due to the FCC ruling, at this time, the district is
limiting the use of SchoolMessenger auto-dial calls to emergencies, and utilizing the email
function for non-emergencies. We have tried many ways to make this work but continue to run
into federal road blocks. Sending 53,000 forms out, getting them filled out, returned and keyed
into the data base seems overly time consuming. We are working on potential options, while we
join other districts to express our concerns to the FCC.
Listening Opportunities:
Senate Education Committee McCleary tour:
The Senate Education Committee scheduled seven (7) public hearings statewide to gain
input from the public
The Puget Sound ESD will host the Committee on October 19 in Renton, at 5:00 PM
Local stakeholders will be asked to respond to questions surrounding:
o Localization Factor: Should the State fund a localization factor in a new
compensation system? How can the State create a varied salary system that lessens
the reliance on local levy revenue?
o Supplemental Contracts: How can the State enable school districts to use
supplemental contracts in an equitable way and without creating an unconstitutional
reliance on local levies?
o Local Levies: Should the structure of local levies be changed? How can the State
ensure that local levy funds are not being used for basic education?
o Transitioning to the new Policies: How long should the transition
be? Immediately, 2 years, 4 years, 6 years, more? How should oversight and course
corrections be provided?
Legislation and McCleary
Each fall the board sets a “legislative agenda” for our work with the Legislature.
We will be bringing that work to the board on October 7th
.
We will be addressing the critical issues of salary and levies; two of the McCleary issues
that the Legislature has yet to address.
And we will bring forward – for a fourth year in a row – a resolution saying that it is well
past time for the Legislature to meet the terms of McCleary and fully and completely
fund K-12 public education.
Upcoming Levies 2016 Community Meetings
The district is hosting five (5) community meetings in the weeks ahead to share
information about our upcoming Maintenance & Operations Levy and our Buildings,
Technology, Academics/Athletics IV Capital Levy. This goes to the Board for approval
in late October and to voters in February.
M & O Levy renews every three years and funds 25% of our operating budget. The
current recommendation from staff is a levy amount of just over $750 million over the
three year period.
The BTA IV Capital Levy renews every six years.
Considering capacity issues and increased tech needs along with remodeling for safety
and security.
Informational Meetings on Boundary Changes and Student Assignment Plan Updates for
2016-17
In 2013, the Board approved boundary changes and promised to have informational
meetings each year.
These sessions are for changes for 2016-17 – not for the current school year.
The boundary changes next year are all in West Seattle near Arbor Heights Elementary,
which will open in a new building in fall 2016. Boundary and geo-zone changes for the
other schools opening in 2016 have already been adjusted.
Also at these meetings we’ll be discussing proposed minor revisions to the Student
Assignment Plan.
Revisions include elimination of the distance tiebreaker and other conflicting statements.
Once adopted, this will be the final implementation of the Student Assignment Plan.
Bell Times
We’re holding a final round of community meetings on the Modified Flip/Cost Neutral
Draft Recommendation.
Final Draft Recommendations will be posted next week.
Community meetings begin next week. Recommendation goes to the board for
introduction on October 21.
Traffic Disruptions
School bus and parent transportation impacts were minimal across the district related to
the President of China’s visit.
School bus delays due to Thursday’s tragedy on the Aurora Bridge were lessened by fast
communication to schools and parents. Only six of our 352 busses reported delays or
schedule impacts due to the accident.
Good News Rotary I met with the Rotary Education Committee last week. This is a high energy group that raises
funds to give “Winners for Life” scholarships to students who might not otherwise be able to go
to college. They asked great questions. I was pleased to share with them our Smarter Balanced
scores and other successes.
Equity Race Advisory Committee Award Recognition Ceremony
ERAC leaders recognized three groups of people who are moving the work stated in the
Educational and Racial Equity Policy No. 0030 in powerful way:
Rainier Beach International Baccalaureate Community Partnerships. The Rainier
Beach Community partnership is a group of families, community members as well as
Rainier Beach and District staff who worked collaboratively to bring a rigorous academic
program to Rainier Beach High School. They co-developed and co-designed the program
that would serve the students of Rainier Beach High School because they believed in the
potential of kids of color who attended that school. They’ve seen a dramatic increase in
graduation rates and participation of students of color in IB courses.
Indigenous People’s Day Working Group. The Indigenous People’s Day Working
Group was celebrated for their contributions in supporting the Indigenous People’s Day
School Board Resolution which honors the contributions of our indigenous peoples in
Washington State and all over the world. This resolution honors the native community
through a focused effort on celebrating indigenous culture, practices and art. This
celebration honors the historical and contemporary contributions of our indigenous
peoples in our city, state, country and the world. Recognized were: Gail Morris, Ronald
Boy, Theresa Hale and Bernardo Ruiz.
Senator John McCoy. Over the past ten years, Senator McCoy has championed Native
American curriculum. Working with indigenous nations, the state Office of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction developed a curriculum, “Since Time Immemorial:
Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State,” which is available at no cost to school districts.
However only 30 percent of school districts in Washington State had adopted the
curriculum.
The “Since Time Immemorial” curriculum seeks to improve student knowledge of
indigenous history and culture; foster cross-cultural respect and understanding; and
bolster cultural sensitivity in all students. It also seeks to give more balance to history
instruction, which has often ignored the state’s indigenous history and the sovereignty of
tribes in the Northwest.
Metro Classic provided two days of wall to wall football at Memorial Stadium over the
September 11-12 weekend. Kudos to Eric McCurdy, district athletic director, the sponsors,
coaches and teams for a great weekend. A special thank you to Marie Guzzardo in Accounting
who “flew to the ball” to make sure a critical contract did not fall through the cracks potentially
disrupting Memorial Stadium’s concessionaire availability. Thank you, Marie, for going the
extra mile.
Community Recognition: Mount Zion Baptist Church recognized many community
organizations and leaders during their Sunday Service last week – from: Education; Social
Services; Public Safety; Social Justice; and Civic Government.
All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. –
Martin Luther King, Jr. If that is the case, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what
you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. –
Rev. Aaron Williams
They honored Betty Patu, Board Director, and Seattle Public Schools for helping build a beloved
community … built on reconciliation … goodwill … gladness … and love. Rev. Aaron
Williams urged community leaders to: do justice; love mercy; walk with God.
School Visits:
Franklin High School principal Jenny Wiley is wildly enthusiastic about Franklin’s staff and
students and success. She starts by advocating for moving the wait list to allow Franklin to grow
... enough to sustain a viable cohort of ninth grade students. Balancing enrollments in the SE
becomes problematic unless we balance each grade level to assure adequate continuity of
staffing from year to year.
Franklin competes for students against Cleveland (options STEM campus); Rainier Beach
(priority IB school) and Garfield (longstanding tradition of quality) – without many of the extra
supports that other schools get.
Jenny talked about Franklin’s work with Performance Fact and their intentional faculty wide
focus on a few key levers to improve student learning: focus on standards; engage students and
measure results (one to 1.5 years of growth per year per student). She showed me their ELL
scores … where they serve more students than most other schools … AND far outperform the
state and district.
Franklin is also attempting to be highly strategic in using their staff. Two admins will take on
most of the evaluations … in order to free up others to work on: a) climate and a sense of
belonging for all students; b) operations and systems that enable everyone else to focus on
learning. I met many of the intervention team: Jolene McCann, JR Hasty, Lee Adams and CJ
Jackson. They each have about 30-40 students in their case loads and lock onto those students to
help insure their success. The school has developed protocols to help coordinate between the
work of teachers and the work of interventionists so they can be actively supporting one
another. The interventionists meet at least once a week in their grade levels and twice a month
with outside agencies to insure that the outside agencies have a clear scope of work and
measurable outcomes. Goal setting with individual kids – and progress monitoring – is a big part
of their shared work.
At Beacon Hill International Elementary I am met by the principal Andra Maughan outside on
a glorious day. She introduces me to Chris Hopper their building engineer that keeps the
building running. Beacon Hill is a low profile school built on the open concept with timber
supports and low ceilings. Many of the pods, intended for three classrooms, are now serving
four classrooms. They have grown from 280 to 480 students over the recent years. I sign in and
greet the office staff: Diana Furuta and Cheryl Nitta. I also meet Mariah Rosdahl, nurse and
Natalie Long, family support worker.
We are joined by Karen Harris, AP, for the building tour. Beacon Hill International serves
neighborhood schools in dual language immersion programs: one in Spanish and one in
Mandarin. Students get literacy in their native language in the early grades … and math / science
in their non-native language. Spanish classes are over capacity at 28; English classes are at 25;
Mandarin classes are at 20. Maintaining the appropriate balance is a challenge, especially as
students move through the grades and suffer some attrition. They have interns from China,
Spain, and Latin America that help create that sense of immersion for students.
As part of their growth, their lunch room has been divided into three classroom sized spaces; one
serves as art room and the other two serve as really small lunch areas. This requires double
supervision and leaves no space for assemblies.
Librarian Mary Thompson is working with Mary Howard on school lesson plans, incorporating
International Skills for the 21st Century with classroom units, library work, and hands on
projects. In recent years they have focused on human rights and composting. Students take the
lead in researching project based work. Students have adopted the nearby Lewis Park and have a
5th
grade green team that helps with composting. I also meet Virginia, an 82 year old volunteer
that has been volunteering for 25 years – 17 of those years at Beacon Hill.
As we visit classrooms:
Kelly Toland’s first grade class is working with math manipulatives.
The 4th
-5th
grade team has common planning time. I meet Ashley Duncan, Kyle Okada
and Andy Pickard. Kyle has been at Beacon Hill for 19 years; Andy for 17 years. Why
would we ever leave? One offers.
Senora Guzman’s Spanish speaking class is engaged in their Spanish based lesson. The
principal greets them, Buenos Dias, and then asks in Spanish and English how she would
introduce me. One of the students offers the proper format and I am introduced.
Andra tells me again about the strong staff and how they have all come together to support her
and Karen (AP) both new to the school this year. Much of the staff have been at the school for
many years. It is a tight knit and diverse neighborhood community. Parents and grandparents
walk students to school each morning. Only one student rides the bus to school.
Thurgood Marshall is named for our nation’s first African American Supreme Court
Justice. As I walk in from the parking lot, I notice five stately columns, in bright vibrant
colors. The plaque tells me about Thurgood Marshall and the values of truth, bravery, equality
and honesty. None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We
got here because somebody - a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns - bent down
and helped us pick up our boots. – Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall is a newer school built just adjacent to the I-90 Freeway lid which affords
them a generously large playground. As I enter the school there is a group of students seated in
the entry before an easel. The counselor Meghan Kaloper, is telling them about REAL values at
TM: Resilient; Empathetic; Accountable; Life Long Learners … and how TM students get off
the buses in the morning, look out for younger kids and exhibit good manners.
Principal, Katie May, explains that they are doing a Rodeo today, learning about the procedures
and practices at TM Elementary. The brainchild of AP, Audrey Kovacs-Storlie, students go
from station to station to learn the TM expectations. As an AP school they have a fair share of
new students each year and decided that they would be proactive in teaching school practices to
all of the students to start off the year. Next stop is the office where students are learning what to
do if they arrive late or need help in the office. On the playground, students are learning about
the “buddy bench” – the idea of the school counselor – a place they can go if they are lonely, sad,
or need a friend. And I hear that the questions from each group / grade are different. Who knew,
there are now several pages of rules around four-square.
In the hallway I meet Molly Chin, the school nurse. She is reporting on a student that just broke
an arm but is now cared for and in a cast. She is back on her rounds checking diabetic
students. I look in on Room 114, an overflow classroom, created to accommodate the growth
and added class size teacher. It is an inside room and on the smallish side. They will mitigate by
having only 20 students in this classroom and insuring that the students get some of the
coursework elsewhere during the day in larger classrooms. Yet another in our complex trade-
offs in the quest to find adequate spaces for students.
Robert Long’s classroom has desks arranged in fan shape I haven’t seen before. Jarvis was the
designated greeter for the day. He explained that students are up front working on their class
charter expectations. In order to be strong and smart … our class will need to … pay attention,
concentrate, listen, practice.
Mr. Yarr, the orchestra teacher is in his office, made smaller by the half dozen cellos he has
stored in his office. With 140 students in his orchestra the audience is noticeably smaller when
they are up front playing.
I see a quote in the hallway from Harriet Tubman … “Every great dream begins with a dreamer.
Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for
the stars to change the world.” … and ask one of my favorite questions … how do you celebrate /
recognize who your namesake, Thurgood Marshall, is. They celebrate Thurgood Marshall Day
and recognize the good work he did and having classroom presentations on what his work means
to us. Judges come for an assembly and stay for lunch with the older students.
I meet Marcie VonBeck, Career Ladder teacher, that helps support Balanced Literacy at
Thurgood Marshall. This year they were able to send 12 teachers to Teacher’s College and buy
new units for their work. Last year they also worked on the standards, shared assessments, scope
and sequence and supplemental materials on conventions.
Thurgood Marshall has been working on Growth Mindset. I see signs posted with I can’t cross
out and I can’t yet written below. Last year they read Carol Dweck’s book together. This year
they are reading Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People with the local author coming to meet
the faculty. Their RULER work has been launched this year by a team that includes the
counselor, special education, and a first grade teacher. They have been doing positive discipline
with Jody McVittie and are now adding RULER to their socio-emotional work with students.
Ms. Miller’s class is doing independent reading, while the teacher is explaining to students how
they can check out books from the classroom library. Students are also completing a “reading
inventory” that asks about how many books they own, have read this year, and their favorite
kinds of books.
In the SM4 class they are working on behavior and academics. I meet Vivian Clark, a new IA in
the program. We end the day in the developmental preschool where they have eight students …
six returning from last year. It is time to clean up, one young lady rings the “clean up bell”
enthusiastically and the rest of the student burst into song … and get busy cleaning up.
Larry
Associate Superintendent for Facilities & Operations Update: Attached please find Associate
Superintendent for Facilities & Operations Flip Herndon’s update for this week.
Associate Superintendent for Teaching & Learning Update: Attached please find Associate
Superintendent for Teaching & Learning Michael Tolley’s update for this week.
Assistant Superintendent for Operations Update: Attached please find Assistant
Superintendent for Operations Pegi McEvoy's update for this week.