(1:44 PM UPDATE: SPS says in a statement that “Gatewood teaching staff will remain intact” because of the fundraising campaign – full statement is at the end of this story)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
They’re raising the money, but they’re angry about it.
While one group of Gatewood Elementary parents filled the chairs at School Board director Marty McLaren‘s regular community-conversation meeting last night, another led a fundraiser at a private home, toward their goal of raising $90,000 – described by some as “ransom” – to keep Seattle Public Schools from removing a teacher from their school.
Though they learned about the planned cut less than a week ago (here’s our original report), their fundraising campaign – including a hastily organized Saturday bake sale – has brought in $52,000.
That impressed McLaren, who opened last night’s meeting by saying, “I just want to acknowledge the extraordinary show of force that the Gatewood community has made … my sense is that many people from West Seattle proper have really invested in this. It’s really something.”
But also really something the parents can’t believe they have had to do.
“I am outraged,” declared one attendee. “I am just outraged that a major-city school district would try and pull a stunt like this … I cannot believe we are being asked to pay for a teacher salary. This is a major city, I cannot imagine this happening anywhere else in the country.” She drew applause.
“We’re being held for ransom for someone else’s mistake … and it feels precedent setting,” said another. “I don’t want a single dime of that money to go to the district that has a record of poor judgment and misuse … I feel it’s going to happen to another school.”
Before the meeting, the group that organized as “Friends of Gatewood” had received something of an update from the district, telling them they didn’t have to have the entire $90,000 in hand by today after all – provided they send in “a letter of commitment” today pledging the money, the imminent removal of a teacher from Gatewood would be put on hold. McLaren said she had met with deputy superintendent Michael Tolley and this area’s executive director of schools Israel Vela, and “both are very concerned, (saying that) the district would not want to do anything to disrupt the situation at Gatewood. Deadlines are secondary to resolving the problem successfully.”
That led one parent at the meeting to say, “If they already have decided to not move teachers (today), why not put this on hold while the root cause be found?”
That was the source of much anger and frustration during the meeting: Trying to figure out how the situation happened, what role school waitlists played in it – whether families enrolled at Gatewood were allowed to make last-minute switches, whether families were allowed at the last minute to add to Fairmount Park’s over-expectation enrollment – and what would be done to make sure anything similar can’t happen again, not just here, but anywhere in the district.
One thing heard over and over: If this was the result of a district mistake, why is Gatewood being forced to pay – literally – for it? Said one attendee: “My request is that the district solve the problem they caused.” Another: “Why isn’t there an option for district to take accountability for their actions?”
Over the past six days, different scenarios have been mentioned regarding how a teacher would be removed from Gatewood, which, however it happened, is said by the district to have 25 students fewer than expected. The one that was in circulation at the time of our first report last Thursday involved a first-grade teacher at Gatewood being moved to fourth grade, and a fourth-grade teacher being moved to Fairmount Park. The attendees last night included a man who identified himself as the husband of “the first-grade teacher in question, a master teacher (who) chose to take the Gatewood job” in the first place, “impressed by everything (about the school) she had heard. … To have this level of disruption and upset a month into it … has been eye-opening.” He, like others, expressed concern that “the district didn’t do anything to avoid this.”
Those in attendance sat in a circle, and each were offered the chance to voice their concerns, going around that circle. Several were on the brink of tears, and yet there also were moments of rueful laughter about what they had accomplished in less than a week, including spending Saturday standing on a streetcorner holding an emergency bake sale.
Some of the money to complete the district-requested $90,000 might come from the Gatewood PTA. One of its officers was at the meeting and expressed frustration and fear that its coffers might be virtually emptied for this – meaning the other things they raise money to fund, like so many parent groups at so many schools, might be in jeopardy. “I’m terrified to come to our membership and ask for something that will nearly bankrupt us.” The PTA wasn’t even able to have an emergency meeting to take a vote, as its rules require two weeks’ notice – more than the school community got regarding the teacher removal.
Anyone who thinks this is a “comfortable” school is wrong, said one parent. For one, Gatewood was affected in a big way by the last round of school closures, which district leaders have since admitted were a mistake: “We haven’t been in a comfortable place for so long. When (the Cooper Elementary program on Pigeon Point) was closed, we went from 250 students to 400. Either the district lied (when it made school-closure decisions) or they hired the worst statisticians ever.” She pointed out the portables that now take up playground space. Just creating room for more students wasn’t the only change; Gatewood’s ELL (English-language learners) program grew dramatically as well. And, as has been mentioned in earlier reports, the school has full inclusion for students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorder.
The suggestion of “comfort” because of financial status also is inaccurate, parents protested: “This is coming from our pockets, and our pockets aren’t that deep.” By the time the annual auction fundraiser – again, a staple these days for so many schools – comes around, someone suggested, the pockets will be empty.
Teachers also have contributed to the fundraising, and the aforementioned first-grade teacher’s husband said that left him shaking his head that he had just written a check to help his wife keep her current job.
The overall financial picture contributing to this seemed confusing at times, with McLaren saying that since Fairmount Park has more students than planned, it will get more money from the state, and is advertising a teaching position – leading some to ask, then why was it supposed to get a Gatewood teacher? (McLaren tried to explain that the Gatewood “one teacher too many” situation should be considered separately, but did not seem to get much traction.)
Those in attendance last night also included two Gatewood grandparents – a former teacher and her husband (who turned out to be a long-ago classmate of McLaren’s, in a moment that briefly broke the tension and emotion of the meeting). The former teacher said she had told ex-colleagues, “You won’t believe that this school has to do” to try to staveoff staff disruption.
Another attendee: “The district should meet us halfway.”
And yet another: “I really hope we’re not going to be asked to foot this bill.”
Before meeting’s end, asked what specifically she is going to do next, McLaren voiced empathy: “It seems like we should be able to come up with 90,000 dollars in an almost 600 million dollar budget,” and promised that she would be “back on the phone (today) … pushing hard for the district to cover this so you don’t have to … but everything I’ve heard so far is discouraging in that direction.” Looking at the bigger picture, she also promised, “I will be pushing hard to move the closing-enrollment date … moving it to August makes a lot of sense.”
In the meantime, the school’s families and staff have to move ahead with school day after school day, despite the unresolved questions. Curriculum Night is coming up, said one parent, a night when parents come to their child’s school to meet teachers and talk about what the classes will be working on, but: “Will this even BE my child’s teacher” once this is all over?
ONLINE DONATIONS: With time extended for the parents to finish raising the money, they have also set up an account online – follow this link to the GoFundMe page.
ADDED 1:45 PM: We’ve received this statement from the district:
Seattle Public Schools must remain fiscally responsible, following the direction of our own strategic plan: equitable distribution of resources that prioritize the needs of students. To meet this goal, it is our aim to assure funding follows students. It was with that goal we made the decision to move one full-time equivalent teacher from Gatewood Elementary to Fairmount Park Elementary.
Since receiving news of our decision, the Gatewood Elementary community has achieved an impressive feat of community involvement. As of today, the Gatewood community raised enough money to fund one full-time equivalent teacher at Gatewood.
The appropriate process was followed and paperwork to add a community-funded position to Gatewood for one year were submitted to the district today and are expected to be approved by Grants & Strategic Partnerships by the end of the day.
Moving forward, Gatewood teaching staff will remain intact and in place as they have been so far this year.
Fairmount Park Elementary will receive a full-time equivalent teacher, which the district hopes to see in place by the end of October if not sooner.
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