By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

“There are some really good things happening.”

So declared West Seattle/South Park’s rep on the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors, its newly elected vice president Leslie Harris, as she assessed changes in the district, one year after her election changed her role from outsider to insider. Increased transparency, in particular, is one of the “good things” she’s happy about. She’s also glad for something small, yet big – the district home page finally has a button linking directly to the School Board section (it’s toward the upper right), whereas previously you had to click through several layers to find board info.

These observations came on Saturday afternoon, as Harris opened one of her periodic community-conversation meetings, this time at Delridge Library. She also was clear that not everything is rosy. Not at all. She also was clear she wasn’t complaining. “I asked for the job. It’s a very uncomfortable job.”

More than 15 people were there to hear Harris also address – and listen to concerns about – the district’s potential $74 million budget shortfall, and other issues, such as boundaries and the Student Assignment Plan that’s coming up for a board vote after “lots of things got dropped in at the last minute.”

One of those drop-ins: The district’s announcement that Chief Sealth International High School was to become part of the international-education pathway for students in the Southeast section of the city, not a popular decision. Sealth was chosen because other high schools’ principals didn’t feel they could handle it, Harris explained. She also acknowledged that the International Baccalaureate program, offered at a handful of high schools including Sealth, “has never been set up in a sustainable fashion for the extra money and the extra teachers and the more expensive course work …”

Harris’s introductory remarks were followed by attendees’ self-introductions, including what concerns had brought each person to the meeting. Most were from outside West Seattle and concerned about a controversy related to the assignment plan.

But first, back on the topic of pathways, one parent from West Seattle’s Louisa Boren STEM K-8 wondered what their pathway to high school will and should be.

She said they had brought it up at another school board rep’s community meeting earlier in the day too: “We’re wanting to develop a relationship with Cleveland,” a STEM-focused high school, she said. STEM K-8 teacher Craig Parsley – who, Harris immediately interjected, is a “rock star” – wants to develop a relationship with that school. Harris said, “I will give you my personal assistance and bust my backside to make that happen. You all were made promises.” She reminded everyone that STEM K-8 (originally K-5) was the result in large part of “tireless” work by parents in the midst of a “horrific capacity problem,” not the result of a big district idea supporting an important educational trend.

Next was the PTSA president from Whitman Middle School in North Beach, which is tied in with the grandfathering controversy over new schools opening next fall, including the new Robert EagleStaff MS. She said the dilemma over whether to grandfather or not feels like how to remove a Band-Aid – pulling it off slowly or quickly.

The next person discussed related issues – which include concerns about what classes the new and existing schools will have – since the question is whether students will be moved to EagleStaff whether their families want them to be, or not. One big issue is whether all the people who need to know, even know what’s going on, said Harris – “my biggest concern aren’t those of you in this room, but all the people who don’t know how to negotiate this crazy, byzantine system.”

Harris also had invited each attendee to say what they’re hoping will happen in the new year.

“I look forward to Seattle Schools being funded appropriately,” said one man.

“January 16th – March on Olympia!” rejoined Harris, referring to plans for a Day of Action on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. She added that the budget crisis might play into the grandfathering controversy and concern about curriculum comparisons too. Your kids are guaranteed an education, she d – and that baseline guarantee must be fulfilled – “but your kids might not get advanced band,” for example, she said.

At that point Harris recalled the Gatewood Elementary fundraising to save a teacher a few years back, and how the district has been trying to allocate money so that kids are “not yanked around like widgets.” But – even without the current crisis – that doesn’t mean everything is guaranteed at all levels. Some of the issues discussed boil down to “sustainability,” Harris observed – a concept she said was at the heart of a lot of the district’s past “broken promises.” Are the decisions being made now going to lead down a path where other drastic changes will need to be made?

A few speakers later, Jennifer Ogle from the Alki Elementary community was the first person to bring up the “levy cliff” (explained here) as a standalone issue. “Seattle legislators are on board, mostly – (though) it doesn’t hurt to call and remind them – the best strategy is to get your friends who have Republican legislators in the state to find out what will happen to their schools …” She observed that people here know what’s going on but many elsewhere in the state do not. Contact your legislators and the governor, too. Most districts are facing a 5 percent budget cut, she pointed out.

Another Alki parent said she has three concerns:
-The school had to raise $ to keep a counselor at the start of the year. “I’d like to see them back in the basic education funding model for when the miracle happens and schools are fully funded.”

-Bell times – “We’re Tier 1 and it’s difficult on our family, my son’s doctor says he needs more sleep, but … then he won’t see his dad.” She wants to see a two-tier system “that is sane.”

-Working with the Alki PTSA, she also is advocating to get the “levy cliff” fixed. Harris again mentioned January 16th.

A dad with two kids in West Seattle elementaries said he has been agitating for years about school boundaries. He lives in the Fairmount Park neighborhood and is frustrated that he’s outside the boundaries for its namesake school, despite its proximity. He wondered how to pursue a fix. Harris suggested he seek a coffee chat with enrollment director Ashley Davies: “Send her an e-mail, copy her boss Flip Herndon, copy me, copy Helen Young, who is the executive director (of schools) for West Seattle … ask them how change would be effected.” (Another West Seattle parent who spoke later said she had the same concern, living near Fairmount Park Elementary but being in another school’s zone.)

Then again, it was back to the grandfathering issue for the North End. Stability is vital for kids of a certain age, a mom said, while lamenting no one has ever done grandfathering research for SPS, “ever. … so there IS no precedent.” She said the “levy cliff” factoring into this is just “horrifying.”

Two more parents echoed her, including a dad who recalled moving from school to school every few years in his childhood, and said he hopes for more stability for his daughter – and hopes for “full funding” for the district.

January 4th is the scheduled board vote on the Student Assignment Plan.

Before the meeting concluded, Harris mentioned the district is looking ahead to BEX 5, more than two years down the road, and said associate superintendent Herndon had recently been in West Seattle for a “rich and good conversation” about what it might include. She dropped a hint – a Lafayette Elementary rebuild was discussed, and, she promised, “The front door will not be on California!”

GOT A SCHOOL DISTRICT CONCERN? Contact Harris via leslie.harris@seattleschools.org

ABOUT THE BUDGET GAP: The district and citywide PTSA council have one more public meeting coming up, 6:30 pm January 3rd at Franklin High School (3013 S. Mount Baker Blvd.)