Friday Memo

January 8, 2016

This memo includes 15 attachments

Dear Board members,

January 6th

Board Meeting:

12 schools win School of Distinction Award

Congratulations to the twelve (12) schools named 2015 School of Distinction Awards

from the Center for Educational Effectiveness!

The awards go to schools in the top 5 % of raising academic achievement over the last 5

years.

Those achievements include reading and math for elementary and middle schools and/or

graduation rates for high schools.

You can see all the schools on the wall to your left; four are repeat winners. They

include:

B.F. Day Elementary

Louisa Boren STEM K-8

Broadview-Thomson K-8

Cleveland High (repeat winner)

Hazel Wolf K-8

Olympic Hills Elementary (repeat winner)

Rainier Beach High

Rainier View Elementary

Thurgood Marshall Elementary (repeat winner)

Viewlands Elementary

West Seattle Elementary

Wing Luke Elementary (repeat winner)

Olympic Hills principal Helen Joung is the recipient of 2016 American Association of

School Administrators (AASA) scholarship award

Helen is invited to the 2016 AASA National Conference on Education in Phoenix,

Arizona in February.

This achievement acknowledges her as someone who provides exemplary leadership on

behalf of students in public education

She will be honored during the general session on Saturday, Feb. 13

She will also receive a scholarship in the amount of $2,500.00

Mia Williams, Aki Kurose principal invited to the White House

The Everyone Graduates Center invited Mia Williams to participate on a principals panel

for the My Brother’s Keeper Success Mentor Coach Initiative Learning Community

This event was held at the White House Executive Office Building on Dec. 16

Panelists shared their experiences and successes using early warning systems, student

success mentors, and enhanced student support systems to reduce chronic absenteeism

and student success

Thank you to Mia for representing Seattle Public Schools

Bonnie (Sandahl) Todd, nurse at John Rogers Elementary will be inducted into the

Washington State Nurses Association Hall of Fame (March 17)

Bonnie joins a select group of Washington State nurses to be recognized (only 60 since

1996…representing a “Who’s Who” of Washington State nurses). Here are just a few of

the many ways she’s contributed to good health in our state:

One of the first five pediatric nurse practitioners in Washington State

Nurse of the Year, King County Nurses' Association

US Presidential Appointee and Interim Chair to the National Council on Health Planning

and Development

Recognized and appointed to boards and councils by four WA governors

JSCEE Retirement recognitions

Kathie Technow, Manager of Accounting Services retired in December after 15 years

with SPS.

o We appreciate all the wonderful contributions she made to the district.

DuWayne Young, Sr., Resource Conservation Specialist and former Custodian, also

retired December.

o DuWayne was one of the most respected employees in SPS and served the district

for over forty years.

Board Comments:

Director Geary announced that she has been meeting with the schools in her region to

better understand their School Improvement Plans.

Director Harris complimented the parents, community and district facilities for the three

way partnership in upgrading the Lafayette playground – and asked for help in restoring

“Big AL(ligator)’s damaged foot.

Director Peters announced the MLK Day celebrations at Garfield and commented on the

historic fact that this is one of the places where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. actually

visited in Seattle.

Director Burke gave a shout out to the student presentations on: caring and inclusion

(Roosevelt), drinking water stations (Nathan Hale) and ORCA cards (Rainier Beach).

Director Blanford congratulated the twelve schools of distinction along with the school

staff and leadership.

Director Scott (along with many colleagues) asked that we continue to look for win-win

solutions for the UW EEU Kindergarten.

Director Patu thanked her board colleagues for electing her as board president and

pledged to reach out to parents and to be a change maker for equity and success of our

52,000 students

Current Updates:

Deputy Superintendent

Today I announced my choice of Steve Nielsen as Deputy Superintendent. Steve replaces

Charles Wright who has helped me tremendously during my transition. Steve comes to

us with a wide and deep range of experiences across the state and has a strong

background in systems improvement and performance management. He previously

served SPS in the role of Executive Director of Logistics and Acting Executive Director

of Finance. Steve is currently the Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Management and

Governmental Relations with the Puget Sound ESD. Steve will lead integrated planning

efforts, including cross-functional issues and projects that require inter-department

coordination and community collaboration. Steve will provide leadership for the

District’s day-to-day operations, systems improvement, government relations, policy and

School Board relations, the ombudsperson and customer service, and our new Office of

Civil Rights. Steve will assume this position in mid to late January and will take over

responsibilities from our current Deputy Superintendent, Charles Wright.

Dr. Brent Jones (HR) and Dr. Clover Codd (Partnerships) will be trading positions:

Dr. Brent Jones will become the Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer. With the recent

adoption of our Board governance priorities and the goals, we have made a public

commitment to close opportunity gaps for all students of color and those students who are

historically underserved by our school system. Brent has extensive experience in strategic

initiatives, leadership and organizational development, as well as roles as assistant

superintendent in urban school districts and executive level experience in higher

education. He will oversee Community Partnerships, Family Partnerships and Research

& Evaluation to coordinate, leverage and align departmental strategies, and ensure there

is coherence and implementation across departments.

Dr. Clover Codd will become the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources. Dr.

Clover Codd has been leading our Professional Growth and Evaluation efforts for the

past four years and leads strategic initiatives aimed at ensuring that we have the highest

quality educators teaching in, and leading our schools. These initiatives include the

Seattle Teacher Residency, Urban Schools Human Capital Academy – both of which

currently reside in Human Resources. She has been a key member of our negotiation

teams for both teachers and principals and I have asked her to lead a new effort to build

stronger relationships with our Labor Partners. In Clover’s new role she will lead a new

strategy to collaborate with SEA and PASS to design and implement a Peer Assistance

and Review program that enhances and builds upon our current evaluation efforts.

Because of Clover’s experience as a teacher and principal in Seattle, we are able to

ensure that the work of HR is centered on educator support and effectiveness, and a

coordinated and focused approach to building coherence between Human Resources and

schools’ needs. She will be leading the effort to ensure that the HR service model

supports our programs and our employees.

ORCA Cards

Thank you to the citizens of Seattle for approving Prop 1 and the City Council for

providing additional funds for student ORCA cards.

Thank you President Patu for your support of the increased Metro access for our students.

The Council and city agencies continue to work on the best package that supports the

maximum number of students with these funds. We want to acknowledge and thank them

for their efforts.

Funding requests include those walking more than one mile; those on free and reduced

meals; and hardship needs within one mile.

Pegi McEvoy will be working with the various groups to determine how best to allocate

funds; and request added funding for unmet needs.

Seattle Charters did not request state support from Mary Walker (see attached)

The state Supreme Court has currently ruled charter schools unconstitutional.

OSPI informed districts they would be willing to facilitate transfers of charter students to

Alternative Learning Experiences or ALEs through Mary Walker School District near

Spokane.

SPS said we would not subvert legal processes and undermine the Supreme Court to fund

charter schools.

Mary Walker rescinded their letter asking Seattle to consider a Memorandum of

Understanding that would allow them to serve Seattle charter school students.

Seattle stands ready to welcome all students who wish to return to Seattle Public

School.

Native American Program at Chief Sealth and Denny Internationals

Boo Balkan Foster has been hired to launch an Indian educational program at Chief

Sealth and Denny International schools where we have the highest percentage of Native

American students.

The program is modeled after the Proyecto Saber program that serves Latina/o students in

3 locations across the district.

It provides students with a supportive environment and encouragement in their

academics.

We are pleased to have Boo onboard

SPS developing partnerships that support our students

The School and Community Partnerships Department offers support to programs that

build the capacity of community based organizations and schools

In December we hosted a workshop that focused on current Academic Priorities in SPS

As part of our Strategic Plan we will hold more than 20 workshops designed to provide

our community partners with the tools they need to help educate students

Partnering on the School Budget process

The SPS Finance team has been working with SCPTSA on the school budget process.

They will meet on Monday, Jan. 25 here in the Stanford Center Auditorium from 6-8

p.m.

The finance team will give an overview of the budget process including:

o When the 2016-17 school budget planning takes place

o How funding is determined for school staffing, including understanding

information around class size

o How parents can be involved

Annual School Reports Available on SPS Website

The final 2014-15 School Reports were posted to our website in early December.

This is where families can learn more about their schools’ progress.

You can view these reports on the Assessments, Smarter Balance webpage

Also a link to the Panorama Education portal with 2014-15 school survey reports

including family, student and staff was posted in December 2015.

Education Career Fair – January 30th

Marks the Start of Hiring for 2016-17

On Saturday, Jan. 30 we will be hosting an Educator Fair that will focus on our district’s

high needs for teachers. These categories include

o Special Educations

o English Language Learners

o Language Immersion

o World Languages

o Montessori certificate with Elementary Ed

o Creative Arts

o School Nurse

Opportunity Gap

We continue to work to close the opportunity gap for African American males and other

students of color.

The district has three main strategies; we are investing significant resources in:

Positive beliefs,

Positive behavior/discipline and

Positive learning

In addition we are supporting and/or see the need for community support for parent

involvement and manhood development

The Department of Teaching and Learning, under Michael Tolley’s direction, has eight

projects underway and are in the process of filling a project manager role to help

coordinate the work.

The African American Think Tank made six recommendations – five of which we are

well aligned with.

In December, I met with the King County Task Force attempting to reduce the school to

prison pipeline.

This is targeted specifically at 60-70 students that are in detention.

These are students that we provide education for through our interagency program at

Alder Academy.

Law enforcement, judicial, schools and community are working together to find creative

solutions.

The numbers in detention are disproportionately students of color and predominantly

male.

Finally, a team of a dozen or more individuals – from inside and outside of the district –

will be attending an Oakland conference on lessons learned in their work on closing

gaps.

New Civil Rights Office Open to help support student safety:

In an effort to increase positive awareness and effectiveness around student rights, we

have created the Office of Civil Rights.

In the past we had concerns around Title IX, HIB complaints, the $700,000 field trip

settlement one year ago; the ongoing OCR investigation of disproportionality in SPS; the

ADA settlement on web accessibility and the increasing backlog of HIB cases.

We now have a Civil Rights Officer on board, a Title IX Coordinator recently hired, and

a Web Accessibility Coordinator hired.

We are posting for a HIB investigator and have not yet resolved the ADA 504 workload

issues.

The task force has some good recommendations regarding communications with

families.

They have vetted these ideas with principals and are working on messaging.

We know that talking about potential abuse area may increase parent anxieties and

reporting.

Recent Meeting with Mayor Ed Murray on Education Issues

Preschool Timeline:

o The City is moving now on standing up preschools for the coming year.

o The Mayor asked us to provide a timeline for district review/approval of pre-

school sites for the coming year.

o The City also wants to know about available space for preschools.

o We shared our priority: K-12, preschool, day care.

o We expect to add 65-75 new K-12 classrooms next year – making classroom

space even tighter.

o The City, the District and our principals and providers are anxious to know what

that looks like school by school.

Educational Summit: The City is planning an Educational Summit for this spring (see

attached letter).

Legislative Update focused on Levy Cliff which would reduce SPS funding

We met in December with local legislators about a variety of things including the Levy

Cliff, McCleary, teacher shortages, types of Special Education not funded, and a range of

other issues.

In 2009 the legislature allowed districts to raise their local levy by 4% to compensate for

state funding cuts during the recession. That 4% is scheduled to disappear in 2018.

IF the legislature does not act in 2016, MANY districts will need to make drastic 4%

budget cuts.

Our legislators heard this message and asked us to follow up with them. King County

superintendents will be making the same case. The December 21, 2015 Times Editorial

also urged the legislature to act.

Another item of high interest was the issue of construction. Legislators have worked

diligently to fund capacity projects and remodel projects in SPS – up to $25M in the last

session.

They asked two things:

how many classrooms do we need for McCleary and the Class-size Initiative

(about 350); and

what is our specific ask to address overcrowding. Flip Herndon is working on

those requests.

We also discussed

teacher shortage priorities, especially for math, science, substitutes

Types of SPED categories NOT funded (e.g. mental health)

More Seattle Public Schools leadership on resolving the McCleary “levy swap”

Better visuals on state funding disparity issues

Weighted Student Staffing:

Currently we are working on several parallel tracks:

Completing our WSS allocation formula for staffing

Completing enrollment projections for the district and for each school

Trying to determine SpEd and HCC program placements

Speeding up the HR hiring practices by hiring against estimates rather than actuals

WSS is like a bubble under the carpet. With inadequate funding each year leaves some part

underfunded.

The legislature took funding away in 2009 and has only just barely returned us to pre-cut

funding levels, however they have given it back in different places (all day K, primary

grades and transportation) and have strings on that funding.

Each year we try to plug too many holes with too little money. Last year we held a dozen

or more meetings with dozens of school representatives and thus, identified dozens of

programs where promises were not being fulfilled (counselors, IB, dual language, K-8

and many more).

We agreed to solve one fundamental problem by agreeing to “round up” to the nearest

whole elementary teacher; but in order to do so we had to staff at 26:1 which is the

contractual maximum. That caused consternation. As we rolled out 50 new elementary

McCleary teachers for this year, we considered and approved a principal suggestion to

round up or down on each grade level. That turned out to be rather volatile – what the

formula gave it could take back based on just a few student changes at a given grade

level.

So for next year, we are reverting to a more traditional formula that is easier to

follow. That formula drives out another round of increased elementary staffing for

McCleary (100 new elementary teachers over two years). The new formula also lowers

class size allocations at the high school by one student per class from 30:1 to 29:1 (actual

class sizes are 16% higher due to planning time).

Principals expressed concerns over this formula for several reasons:

o No staffing improvements at the middle level where many are moving to a 7

period day which is more costly (we agreed to add one teacher per building from

LAP funds).

o Concerns about the Title and LAP allocations. Title funds were taken away from

secondary schools years ago due to higher compliance requirements. Now, more

recently, the legislature has directed that more LAP funds be targeted to

elementary gaps … leaving fewer funds for secondary schools.

o Continued unmet promises for all of our specialized programs: K-8, Montessori,

dual language.

Finally, the WSS formula allocates (for now) $2M to offset enrollment projection

shortfalls. That would allow 20 schools to be overstaffed by one teacher--if their fall

enrollment came in below projection. This pot of money comes from our fund for

mitigation – meaning that we will have less money to address school requests to prevent

spilt classrooms, or provide for awkward splits in a dual language school. We are

working hard to find a solution to support as many needs as possible.

Two Levies are Coming Soon – February 9th

.

Our Report to the Community (on our website) tells about how our past levy tax dollars

have been spent. Great work by Tom Redman in Capital Construction to communicate

the facts to the public. It has a lot of great information about the Ops and BTA levies.

Our renewal levies come up for a vote on February 9; Voters will be asked to renew two

expiring levies.

o The Operations levy provides about a quarter of funds for our day to day

operations.

o The Capital levy provides $475 million over six years to fund buildings,

technology athletics and academics.

Staff Updates

UW Experimental Education Unit – Kinder Program – Wyeth Jessee

We value the UW partnership; the preschool work will continue into the future; the K

program is funded through June of 2016.

The funding of the EEU Kindergarten is an issue with respect to federal funding

parameters and compliance. We can no longer use special education funds to support

non-special education services.

We continue to meet with the UW and OSPI in search of a win-win solution.

Math in Focus – Additional Professional Development – Shauna Heath

The district adopted new math textbooks about a year and a half ago for our elementary

students.

This adoption kicked off a series of teacher trainings and curriculum work to support our

staff.

We will be scheduling a board work session to address this issue in greater depth

Middle College continues to be an important part of district services – Michael Tolley and

Cindy Nash

A lot of good work has occurred in the Middle College program.

Principal Cindy Nash is here with an update

Before and After Care spaces are becoming tighter – Dr. Flip Herndon

SPS is adding 100s of classrooms for student growth and smaller class sizes (McCleary).

Last Fall, we notified community based organizations about our growing scarcity of

classrooms

We value before and after school childcare but are having to prioritize classroom space

for teaching.

We have notified about half of our providers that it is quite possible we may need their

space.

In the coming weeks and months, as we have more specific information about the

classroom needs in each of our buildings we will be communicating with those impacted

organizations to see if there is the opportunity to use a different space within the

building.

Sometimes this may be possible and other times it may not. We realize that this will

have an impact on many families, however finding classroom space for K-12 instruction

is our top priority for students.

Listening Opportunities for December and January:

School Visits

In December I visited Bailey Gatzert, Leschi, Madison, Gatewood, Roosevelt,

Laurelhurst. This week I visited: Whittier, Loyal Heights, and North Beach Elementary

Schools.

PTA Reflections

Sunday I presented awards at the PTSA Reflections ceremony

Reflections is a national PTA program that encourages students to create art

Hundreds of works were created by students of all ages and abilities at 15 Seattle schools.

150 works were on display at the Seattle Armory and can be seen online at

seattlereflections.com

JSCEE staff meeting on Dec. 17

Before winter break I met with JSCEE staff in morning and afternoon sessions

I gave updates on the Strategic Plan, the new Board, and the customer service initiative

Director Geary attended, and it was great to hear from staff about ways they are working

to provide customer service to our families.

Other community activities

December and January were busy times. I participated in events with

o The P-3 Cross District Coalition

o City Families and Education Levies

o City Council Inauguration

o Review of ESSA by Senator Murray’s staff

o Seattle Housing Authority

o Asian Pacific Directors Coalition

Good News

KPLU’s special on Rainier Beach (“Renaissance Beach”)

Kyle Stokes, KPLU education reporter, broadcast a one hour long documentary about

Rainier Beach’s turnaround effort

Kyle went to the school over 40 times to tell the success story of Rainier Beach and the

school’s IB program

84 % percent graduation rate last June, this is a 30 % point increase.

Rainier Beach has improved to From worst to better than the district average

Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO visits Rainier View

I attended the Hour of Code and assembly at Rainier View Elementary

Satya Nadella taught fourth grades how to code using the game MineCraft

The “Hour of Code” is designed to expose students everywhere to computer science

Students played the game and then looked at the translated code in real time

At the end of the “Hour of Code” event, Mr. Jeff Wilke (Code.org Board of Directors)

presented Rainier View Elementary a $10,000 gift to purchase additional technology for

the school.

Seahawks visited Roosevelt and Catharine Blaine on Dec. 20

Seahawks DeShawn Shead surprised Roosevelt H.S. teacher, Tom Ledcke who was

selected as a "Symetra Hero in the Classroom"

Ledcke received a customized jersey, two game tickets and sideline passes to Seahawks-

Browns game

On the same day Seahawks Cooper Helfet participated in the “Play 60” Assembly at

Catharine Blaine

Donors Choose Project – Chevron’s 2015 Fuel Your School Program

Donors Choose Project, founded by Chevron, is a nonprofit website where teachers make

project requests for their classrooms called the 2015 Fuel Your School Program

The King County community generated $600,000 from fuel sales to fund 736 classroom

projects in King County.

In SPS alone, 243 classroom projects were funded across 74 schools benefiting over 26

thousand students

For example, students at Broadview-Thomson School received a kindergarten STEM kit,

including hands on math manipulatives and sensory activities

All told, 16 million students have received books, art supplies, field trips, technology, and

other resources that they need to learn

Muckelshoot gift

I’ve approved the acceptance of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe’s $10,000 donation to

Seattle Public Schools Indian Education Program for cultural enrichment programs and

basic student support needs.

This is as a result in part of Native American Education Program Manager Gail Morris

attending a recent native leader meeting, hosted by Seattle Mayor Murray,

Alki Elementary

Q13 came out to one of our schools for the second year in a row, and brought toys for

the kids to test - just in time for holiday shopping.

Second graders and even staff were fun to watch

Skydivers jumped over North Beach Elementary

The Jump for Joy skydiving team took a leap over North Beach Elementary last month

The organization performs skydives into schools where they remind kids to follow their

dreams, by tapping into their confidence and creativity

This aligns with the district’s efforts to continue teaching students an emotional

curriculum

North Beach is one of many Seattle schools that currently use the Second Step

social/emotional curriculum

Larry

Deputy Superintendent Update: Attached please find Deputy Superintendent Charles Wright’s

update for this week.

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 Business & Finance Update: Attached please find Assistant

Superintendent for Business & Finance Ken Gotsch’s update for this week.

Assistant Superintendent for Operations Update: Attached please find Assistant

Superintendent for Operations Pegi McEvoy's update for this week.

School Family Partnerships Annual Report: Attached please find Director of School Family

Partnerships and Equity & Race Relations Bernardo Ruiz’s annual report on School Family

Partnerships, as called for by Superintendent Procedure 4129SP.

Public Disclosure Commission Reminder: This is your annual reminder to check the PDC

website to determine your filing requirements and deadlines. If you have questions, please

contact the PDC, as the district is not involved with your filings.

http://www.pdc.wa.gov/filers/filingrequirements.aspx.