FOLLOWUP: Questions, advocacy emerge as teacher-cut news circulates at local schools; Sunday rally planned; district’s letter

(UPDATED with new online petitions, plans for a Sunday rally, and more – scroll to story’s end)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

At least five West Seattle elementary schools have been told they’ll lose teaching positions as a result of Seattle Public Schools‘ review of where enrollment stood at the end of September.

While a district-wide list has not been made available, as first reported in our Thursday coverage, we were able to confirm Alki, Highland Park, Roxhill, Schmitz Park, and West Seattle Elementary Schools are among the ~25 schools citywide dealing with this.

Nothing’s completely final yet, though, and principals and their school communities have been scrambling to see what they can do to minimize effects. Here’s what’s new so far today:

*Last night at Schmitz Park, this area’s most populous elementary with 600+ students, the annual Curriculum Night for first- and second-grade families found principal Gerrit Kischner trying to explain how his long-crowded school – moving into a new building next fall – has wound up with a teaching position on the chopping block. And it found parents declaring that the ongoing funding challenges of public education are unacceptable and vowing action, including a letterwriting campaign. (They also are continuing the online petition we mentioned in Thursday’s report.)

*This morning, an Alki Elementary parent confirms that school has started a crowdfunding campaign to try to save the position that’s slated to be cut.

First, from the Schmitz Park meeting, which we covered at the suggestion of several concerned parents:

“Remember, the kids are going to be fine,” Kischner reassured the first-grade parents who gathered in the school cafeteria instead of dispersing to classrooms as would have been SOP – a change made necessary by the expected loss of the first-grade class that was to be taught by Julie Pietsch.

Several parents, including PTA president Robert Kelly, sported T-shirts in support of that classroom, P-8:

(“The fox says” is a reference to Schmitz Park’s mascot.) In the early going at the meeting, before the second-grade parents left to visit their teachers, he promised the organization would find ways to support the teachers in what he declared to be a crisis, and reminded parents that volunteer work would be important like never before.

Kischner said principals had found out about the cuts on Monday night. He said a group of them is meeting with Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland today “so we can say we did everything we can to lessen the impact on kids.”

For the students directly affected – they will now be in three classes of 28 students and one of 29, though the contractual limit for K-3 classes, he said, is supposed to be 26. He said the students who had started the year with Pietsch had been told, and were discussing what would be good about the change and what would be not so good about the change.

For the parents directly affected – Kischner tried to dissuade them from considering emulating what Gatewood Elementary had done last year when faced with the loss of a teaching position, fundraising to keep it. He suggested that it just wouldn’t be fair, when, unlike last year, other West Seattle schools are being hit too, some in less-affluent communities where fundraising might not be an option.

And then came his explanation of how it happened, though it seemed apparent that what the principals had been told didn’t make much more sense to them than it did to the parents.

He explained that Schmitz Park had begun the year with a “start-of-school substitute” position, based on the enrollment trends they were seeing and expecting. “As recently as Sunday, our numbers held,” justifying the position – but then on Monday, he said, a “new formula, new ratio” was applied to the budget for K-3 classes in Schmitz Park and four other schools (which he didn’t name), none of which, he said, “hit the mark.”

A parent asked how many more students Schmitz Park would have to have enrolled for the cuts to be canceled. “It’s not that simple,” the principal replied. “… The rules changed.”

That’s where he again mentioned that the affected principals were meeting with district officials today, saying they had some hope of effecting change, because “in so many ways, this doesn’t make sense.” If it’s a budget shortfall, they would hope to get specific numbers, because “maybe there are some things that should be cut first.”

Earlier, he had said that teachers in the newly enlarged first-grade classes would get “overage pay.” When they moved to Q & A, that led to an impassioned parent asking, “But how will the KIDS be compensated?”

Kischner thought perhaps they could find ways to get a part-time reading specialist or some tutoring support.

Right about then, a man who was leaning against the wall in the back of the lunchroom, as were we, said aloud in disbelief, “This is the United States of America, and we have to go with our hands out like that?”

Back toward the front of the room, someone said, “The numbers don’t really seem to add up.”

And shortly thereafter, parent Emily Giaquinta, introduced as having served as the “capacity chair” and legislative chair for the PTA, spoke about the big picture – the state continuing to fail to fully fund public education. She said that in meetings, she was struck by “how often (elected officials) say they want to hear from us – but how seldom we speak out.”

This, she declared, has to change. “If we don’t flood them with communication, nothing will be done. We have to start to get people organized.”

The letter template is now posted on the Schmitz Park PTA website, and, she said, can be amended any way a sender would like. “Do whatever you want with it. Just get it out.”

Also declared at this point in the meeting: It’s time to advocate for all West Seattle schools as a community.

Clearly moved by what he’d heard, Kischner made one final point: Though there were concerns around the city that the strike-delayed school year would start under a cloud, he has instead seen “palpable” energy, concern, and spirit.

BACK TO ALKI ELEMENTARY: Thanks to parent Amy King for letting us know about the Crowdrise campaign, which is past $5,200 as of this writing. She adds – in the spirit of what we heard at Schmitz Park last night – “We have also reached out to parents from the other West Seattle schools to work together in our response. There is a meeting this morning with reps from at least 3 schools, as we at Alki are very aware that we have schools in our WS community that will be hurt by this even worse than us.”

WHAT’S NEXT: We’ll continue to follow up on this; we appreciate all the updates and information received from parents and others so far – community collaboration has been our coverage style from the start – while we have other communications channels, e-mail to editor@westseattleblog.com is preferred. You’ll also find citywide coverage of the situation at saveseattleschools.blogspot.com.

ADDED 4:50 PM: Word of a rally and two more online petitions. First, the latter:

*”Our Kids Need Their Teachers – Rethink Budget Cuts” – petition here

*”Keep Alki Elementary Class Size Manageable” – petition here

*And Emily, who sent word of the latter petition, says: “Sunday immediately following the Seahawks game folks will be gathering at the Admiral Junction to raise awareness, support, donations etc. regarding the WS school situation.”

ADDED 6:43 PM: The district has sent this letter to parents, signed by assistant superintendents Flip Herndon and Michael Tolley:

Every year at start of the school, districts across Washington state compare enrollment projections with actual student counts. School districts receive state funding to pay for staffing based on actual student enrollment (counts) as of Oct. 1.

Seattle Public Schools (SPS) undergoes a staffing adjustment process to monitor enrollment at every school, adjust staffing levels relative to actual student enrollment, and comply with negotiated staffing ratios.

This process is not unique to Seattle. All districts undergo the same process of staffing adjustments by school relative to the actual numbers of students who enroll and attend. Staffing adjustment decisions are made to match student needs with limited staff resources across the district. In Seattle, 52,399 students enrolled in the district this year, according to the 10-day student enrollment count. That is an increase of 411 students over last year.

While we have more students this year, the number is lower than we projected by 675 students. This translates into $4.23 million less revenue, not including the enrollment decline effects on Special Education, Transportation or Nutrition Services.The reduction in staffing allocations will reduce the effect of the loss of revenue. The number of students who transferred out of the school district is higher this year than last.

As your principal may have shared with you, staffing adjustment recommendations were developed by a team of representatives from School Operations, Human Resources, Enrollment Planning, Special Education, Budget, Capital Planning, Continuous Improvement, and English Language Learning using enrollment data. The team considers multiple factors including equity and detailed school, class and program configuration. Staffing allocation analyses are conducted at the individual class and grade level. Staffing allocations were reviewed and approved by the Superintendent’s Cabinet. Some schools have additional enrollment and require additional staff. Some schools have lower enrollments and require staff reductions.

It is important to note, teachers and instructional assistants will continue to be employed by SPS. Each staff member will be reassigned to another school. This process is a careful matching of individual skills and qualifications of certificated staff to school positions and needs.

Eight start-of-school substitutes were added district-wide and funded centrally in schools where principals believed their enrollment number was going to be higher than the district projection. Principals used this resource to support start of school efforts. The goal is to reduce the number of classes without a teacher, and to mitigate for last minute enrollment changes. Based on enrollment counts and class configurations, seven of these eight substitutes will be removed from their schools and returned to the substitute pool because anticipated enrollment did materialize at the individual schools. The eighth will be converted to a teaching position to support enrollment.

The School Board has highlighted resource stewardship as a board priority, refocusing the district on the importance of assuring responsible management of its limited funding. While more students are enrolled this year, the number is still lower than projected. With less revenue district-wide, SPS must reduce the staffing budget from schools with lower enrollment and add staffing budgets to schools with higher enrollment to ensure our class sizes and support personnel are equitably distributed to best support all students’ teaching and learning.

Additional good news is that elementary schools have benefited from an increase in funding for teachers in order to reduce class size (about one additional teacher per building) as part of the Legislature’s action in June. And the district has invested more in staffing for unique situations (mitigation) than we did last year.

Reductions are never easy, especially after the school year begins. Average class sizes district-wide, however, are improved over last year at the elementary level.

We know that these changes are not easy for our schools, students, staff, parents and guardians. Such decisions are a delicate balance of financial resources and needs across the entire school district. Our district team takes this work very seriously and tremendous effort and thought goes into every decision about every classroom in every school as the team works hard to allocate limited resources to the greatest need. In a situation where one school loses a staff member, that individual is moved to a school which has less staff and desperately needs more.

Staffing adjustments are being finalized, and your school principal will communicate that information once completed.

Also, at saveseattleschools.blogspot.com, Melissa Westbrook has published an update with some documents she obtained related to enrollment and the teacher-shuffling process.

We e-mailed West Seattle’s school-board rep Marty McLaren several questions about the situation this morning, but have not yet received a reply.

ADDED: We did hear from McLaren Friday night. She shared with us the response she said she’s had for those who contacted her:

I’m sorry to say that I have little power to help in this extremely painful situation. We are in a similar situation in many schools district-wide. Although enrollment continues to grow, there were many unexpected student transfers from SPS to out of district schools at the last moment, so overall enrollment is down dramatically – about 600 students.

SPS cannot operate at a deficit; we are legally bound to stay within our budget, and so are having to make painful adjustments all over the school district. I am cc’ing Israel Vela, Executive Director of Schools in the Southwest region, based on the possibility that expected continued growth at Schmitz Park might bring more funding. However, I know that he and other district leaders have already looked at the picture very closely.

I can say that all of us in the district are reeling at these developments. I’m sure that virtually everyone working in the district understands deeply the hardship involved. At this point, it’s not clear why there were so many transfers.

38 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: Questions, advocacy emerge as teacher-cut news circulates at local schools; Sunday rally planned; district's letter"

  • sam-c October 9, 2015 (11:15 am)

    The “new formula, new ratio” comment makes it seem like they did something dirty and deceitful. Not impressed with the school district.

  • Lauren October 9, 2015 (12:00 pm)

    Until I had a child in public school here I truly didn’t understand why Seattle has more kids in private school than other cities (30% of Seattle kids are enrolled in private schools). I’m a strong supporter of public schools and we can’t afford private school anyway, but I do get it. This district is a mess. The teachers are fantastic, the school administrators are impressive, but the district administration is a disaster and decisions like this will drive even more families to private school, meaning even more revenue shortfalls in the long run.

  • Gatewood Mom October 9, 2015 (12:05 pm)

    My daughter was in 1st grade at Gatewood last year so I empathize with everyone involved. To all of the schools facing this position, I just wanted to suggest that you continue to pressure the media to tell your story.
    KIRO Radio
    (206) 726-KIRO (5476)
    Email: newsdesk@973kiro.com

    KIRO TV
    206.728.8308
    newstips@kirotv.com

    KOMO Radio
    tips@komonews.com
    (206) 404-5666

    KOMO TV
    tips@komo4news.com
    206.404.4145

    KING TV
    newstips@king5.com
    206.448.5555

    Q13 TV
    tips@q13.com
    206.674.1305

  • Me too October 9, 2015 (12:39 pm)

    Lauren- exactly. now I get it. Too bad I love the WSEA community otherwise I’d be moving my family to a district that has a better handle on funding schools (ie the Eastside) with scrappy state funding.

  • Alice October 9, 2015 (12:42 pm)

    That “new formula, new ratio” notion is so sketchy, I don’t even know what to say. Changing the formula on October 5 in order to drop 25 teachers?!? I know the state is ultimately responsible for this disaster, but our district needs to be held accountable for its egregious behavior.

  • pile-o-rox October 9, 2015 (12:51 pm)

    “For the parents directly affected – Kischner tried to dissuade them from . . . fundraising to keep it. He suggested that it just wouldn’t be fair, when, unlike last year, other West Seattle schools are being hit too, some in less-affluent communities where fundraising might not be an option.”

    So the principal of my child’s school is asking me to stand down and not use every available resource to advance my child’s education.

    Wake up Kischner and start serving your students instead of worry about coming across as politically correct. Honestly, its that kind of statement that makes everyone question the school and the district. It’s analogous to our city counsel spending their time worrying about enacting legislation to force gas stations to put up warnings about global warming instead up doing their job, which is to fill potholes and maintain our infrastructure.

  • realist October 9, 2015 (1:01 pm)

    I know of one Alki first grader that was crowdfunded to private school. Another alterative to consider.

  • idea October 9, 2015 (1:09 pm)

    West Seattle needs to create a private foundation that raises and distributes money to all West Seattle public schools. This would be a foundation that takes private donations, works with each schools’ PTAs to give based on need. It could be an umbrella of protection against the incompetent SPS district. It would save schools the insulting need to crowd fund individually and would prevent competition against one another and crowd sourcing school by school.

  • AmandaKH October 9, 2015 (1:09 pm)

    Roxhill’s whole PTSA budget is $5,000 a year for reference.

  • Rick October 9, 2015 (1:22 pm)

    I moved east of the mountains primarily to get my kids out of this school system and am now back on this side. My grand children are now having to deal with this. Time to move again.

  • SLJ October 9, 2015 (1:57 pm)

    Why isn’t there a firm cut-off for registration that is before school starts? If the district decided to get final numbers by say August 1, then everyone can plan accordingly. If parents want to change schools after that, it would be on a space-available basis only. I guess there would need to be an except for a family that moves during the month of August, but that’s probably not that many people. It is ridiculous to change classrooms during the year. Transitioning back to school after the summer is already stressful. Making children change classes and routines after a month is awful. Luckily our public school isn’t affected (this year at least) but I really feel for the other families.

  • Earnest WS Native October 9, 2015 (2:09 pm)

    Put away your torch and pitch-fork, pile-o-rox, your angst is misdirected. This situation is different than last year. Though SPS’ formula application is probably used annually for moving staff around, this year’s late “re-calibration” of the formula is troubling because these teachers were otherwise safe when applying the formula that principals used up to that point for staffing guidance.
    I have known Kischner for 6 years as a SP parent. He is dedicated, fair, honest, and hard working. I would venture that he’s speaking as an educator/administrator in the public school system where the right to education is equal for *everyone*, regardless of income or location. Raising funds and saving a single teacher at one school adds and exclusivity element when so many are affected in areas where raising that kind of response is not possible. I understand you are upset, but Kischner is your advocate. Direct your angst at the next SPS meeting and specifically at the Finance department who changed the formula on their spreadsheet!

  • Ms. Sparkles October 9, 2015 (3:55 pm)

    While my option of SP’s principal differs from Earnest WS Native’s, I agree that the something fishy in this scheme is the SPS finance department.
    .
    I’m jumping to the conclusion that this funding formula change is the price we’re paying for SPS’s partial concessions on the teacher pay issue. Heaven forbid SPS cut any of their bloated administration / staff to fund the difference.

  • zark00 October 9, 2015 (4:12 pm)

    Might be interesting or useful to some of you.
    The list of legislators to contact (above post) and how they voted on forcing a recalculation of funding based on class size – aka the thing that is firing 5 needed teachers in WSea – and, yes, their political party – because it’s relevant.

    Steve Litzow – R – Yes
    Bruce Dammeier – R – Yes
    Rosemary Mcauliffe – D – No
    Andy Billig – D – No
    Christine Rolfes – D – No
    Sharon Nelson – D – No
    Mark Mullet – D – Yes
    Ann Rivers – R – Yes
    Andy Hill – R – Yes
    Joe Fain – R – Yes

    Anyone else see a trend here?

    Only one other Dem voted yes – Tim Sheldon – who also sponsored a bill to allow companies to pay to avoid cleaning up their emissions. Yeah – he did.

    Ann Rivers has a horrific record in terms of supporting teachers, schools, students, the poor, pretty much anyone who’s not rich and white. Except pot, she LOVES pot legislation.

    Now bring on the inevitable onslaught of posts about even mentioning political parties – you know it’s coming.

  • Jennie October 9, 2015 (4:34 pm)

    WSB, I appreciate your continuing coverage of what occurs in our public schools so that the public can be aware of how complicated (convoluted) the system is for families, kids, teachers and administrators. The continuous upheaval, the stress. This happens yearly across the city from north to south, and not every school is so lucky to have a well-off PTA who can afford to fund-raise and keep their teachers.

  • Gerrit Kischner October 9, 2015 (5:19 pm)

    WSB, I would like to join in thanking you for your careful and balanced coverage of this and other school issues. As an SPS parent myself, I can say that what is required of us all is to respond to the short-term need while saving energy and focus for the long-term. This must look different at every school, and I am continually impressed by the West Seattle community for its positive and constructive spirit. Thank you.

  • Waparent October 9, 2015 (6:22 pm)

    Were the new condos/apts in the SP zone even factored into the equation ? Whomever does the proections for the southwest region needs to be fired. SP has 20portables. Why put any more stress on the school that is already 300+kids over capacity? And did I read right? Roxhill is losing 3 teachers? How do you get projections that wrong?

  • dcn October 9, 2015 (6:47 pm)

    The class size initiative, which was mostly suspended by the legislature, at least was supposed to fund smaller classes for K-3. The maximum class size is supposed to be 17. Why is 22 students/class in first grade considered overstaffed? Raising that number to 28 and 29 is unacceptable.
    .
    Having a son who has attended overcrowded K and 1st grade classrooms (up to 26 students), I’ve seen first-hand the gaps that happen in his learning when the teacher is stretched too thin. It’s time to make everyone, from state legislators to SPS step up to the plate on properly funding educating for our children.

  • clementine October 9, 2015 (8:49 pm)

    Any information on when the teacher cuts for the high schools will come out?

  • Marine view mom October 9, 2015 (9:06 pm)

    Lauren and Waparent, great comments, you both make excellent points. SPS should be ashamed!

  • Dawsonst October 9, 2015 (9:38 pm)

    Marty, good bye. And the rest of the school board up for election can probably count on being replaced as well. You change your math prior to the school year, not a few weeks in. SPS no wonder you don’t have the trust of those you serve.

  • Mike October 9, 2015 (9:51 pm)

    If budget was the issue, then how can it be true that the teachers are being offered positions at other schools? I call BS on the district. Write to all the politicians you can, letting them know they need to back our teachers (even those that can only do so in media). Write to larger media outlets (appreciate all WSB does but getting BBC coverage puts the district under a great deal of pressure). Vote… I can’t say it enough… vote damn it! Pay attention to which politicians push agendas that hurt our students, vote them out.

    • WSB October 9, 2015 (10:05 pm)

      They already had been contacted. The “larger media outlets” didn’t care enough to do the story yesterday or to show up last night (one parent advocate had directly invited at least one TV station, and believe me, the citywide media people who monitor us ALL saw the story hours earlier and could easily have jumped on it). We did care enough to show up and cover it. WSB reaches 100,000+ people (not all in WS, and more than some of the “citywide” outlets) so please don’t underestimate the effects coverage here can have, and has had. If anything, you should get pissed at stations that will see some crime thing here and come running to copy it but have to have their arms twisted about an important story like this. At any rate, if you are a TV fan (keep in mind that their audience is mostly outside Seattle – 22 counties in the DMA – so this is irrelevant to most viewers), apparently KING is doing a story tonight. – TR

  • Heidi A October 9, 2015 (11:31 pm)

    I wish there was a like button for your comment, WSB!
    Idea- I like how you think. I have been mulling over establishing an independent 501(c)(3) for west Seattle schools. I am an attorney and founded, along with many hardworking parents and teachers, the STEM K-8 PTA. I don’t like the fact that the “good” schools are those with healthy PTA bank accounts.
    I cringe when we fund certain things while others go without.
    My most recent example is there is no district funding for emergency supplies (e.g., water and first aid supplies needed after an earthquake). Our PTA funded it, but that suggests to me that kids at our school “have” and our neighbors “have not” in emergency. How can we as a West Seattle community live with that? Are we really ok with that reality?

    But -is the community willing to act as much as we talk- in thinking about an independent non profit, some questions –
    1. Who would join me in the work? I would need a board (a rep from each sponsored school) people to coordinate what underserved schools need (I may have thoughts, but I want the schools who know their students best to tell us), people to solicit donations/fundraising and people to do ongoing accounting and IRS reporting.
    2. Would it work or would it be seen as competition to PTAs? Let’s face, those that can donate you our kids’ schools because we want the best for our kids. The royal PTA (the formal city/state entities) have suggested pooling resources and it has never gone over well. Are people going to donate when they could donate to their own PTA or ask donors for money for an independent nonprofit when they could be asking for their PTA?
    3. Is it better to crowd source through go find me type services for specific projects?

    Nonprofits fail all the time despite the best intentions. Are we willing to put our time and money where our mouths are? It’s going to take a village…
    Anyone seriously willing to explore it, connect with me on soup for teachers -underserved west Seattle schools.
    Heidi

  • Heidi A October 9, 2015 (11:58 pm)

    Soup for teachers – underserved west seattle schools is a facebook group

  • Can't October 10, 2015 (2:31 am)

    Mike- the district can’t “fire” these teachers. They have done nothing wrong. Although, some of the higher ups at the glass palace should be fired. These teachers have been displaced. The district will find a school somewhere at some point for them to work.

    Time to rally and raise hell at the state level!

  • Lauren October 10, 2015 (4:47 am)

    All I know is, my kindergartener at HPE came home today in tears – inconsolable – because his beloved teacher is moving to a different grade. And we got ‘lucky’, only one teacher is leaving and the remaining 3 classes won’t be over 22 students each.

  • GOP in WS October 10, 2015 (7:32 am)

    I hope supporters of the teacher’s strike give generously to the crowdfunding campaigns. Time to back up your talk with money.

    • WSB October 10, 2015 (11:36 am)

      P.S. to anybody checking back on this story – we’ll be writing our next followup later today, so thanks again to those who’ve been contacting us with updates, which we’ll be including – editor@westseattleblog.com – TR

  • Heidi A October 10, 2015 (8:49 am)

    In response to Marty:
    – enrollment is not dramatically down. It’s up and growing. This is another example of poor management to be supposedly off.
    – blame transfers? No, a mobile city has to take that into account and the real reason that has been alluded to is a change in methodology. What really happened? A board member should be asking these questions not saying oh well, nothing I can do.
    – operating at a deficit due to teacher staffing? Come on. How much is everyone at John Stanford making? Are positions eliminated there? Are salary cuts and furloughs considered there? How much are we paying consultants? again why isn’t our board member asking those questions.
    – teachers aren’t being fired so if there is a deficit issue, how does shuffling teachers without a cost saving address that?

  • Wsteacher October 10, 2015 (8:53 am)

    Heidi a, while I find your idea very innovative for school funding/help, I do not think it is the right thing to do. There would be more long term change if our communtiy pulled together to make changes within the district by voting in a new school board, and pushing for changes at the district offices. Putting pressure on them and keeping pressure on them until changes are made. If we solve all of WS school problems with a separate communtiy fund, then believe me, the district will give less to the schools. Yep, that’s how much confidence I have in the district offices. I work in the district and have worked elsewhere– This district has problems that all stem from the stanford center. District changes NEED to be made. The cuts should be made at those offices. instead of making a separate fund for schools, it would directly help schools, kids and teachers if a volunteer bank was made. Competent volunteers that could help reduce the materials prep time for teachers so teachers could devote more time to planning and analyzing student data, volunteers that could take over lunchroom and recess duties instead of using instructional aids that could be working with students, and volunteers that could read with kids, & help with students, academically, in the classrooms. Creating a fund for emergencies in WS is a good idea, but the district should be pressured to make the changes necessary to do what is best for our kids. That is what they are paid for…

  • Heidi A October 10, 2015 (12:37 pm)

    Wsteacher- we’ve been trying that approach for years with no impact- all the way back to the 1970s Supreme Court case regarding our mandatory bussing and the 2007 case regarding the student assignment plan. It’s gotten worse, not better after following the approach you refer to. I’m not saying give up on that pressure but kids shouldn’t have to wait, it’s long overdue that we add other support when the district has not been listening all these years.

  • Heidi A October 10, 2015 (12:46 pm)

    I have personally met with district officials, camped out at john Stanford, met with board members, made them my personal pen pals, and testified at board meetings. I’m not new to the inner workings of SPS.

  • StringCheese October 10, 2015 (5:38 pm)

    You missed one from the list: Boren STEM K-8 is also potentially losing a teacher. This was verified by the principal at our PTA meeting last Thursday night.

    • WSB October 10, 2015 (6:40 pm)

      SC, thanks, I’d heard a “maybe” on that school, from a reliable source, and we have been careful not to mention anything we hadn’t absolutely confirmed.

  • Jessica October 10, 2015 (6:35 pm)

    Cuts are not being made all over the district! This is a lie. Cuts are being made to classrooms only. No cuts are being made at headquarters. Shameful!

  • Vote Harris October 11, 2015 (7:04 pm)

    W. Seattle Rep, Director Martha McLaren:

    “I’m sorry to say that I have little power to help in this extremely painful situation.”

    It is unacceptable to place 28-30 children in K classes. I”m glad we have an opportunity to vote every four years.

    Central Administrative costs have gone up over $10M over the past few years. Moving class configurations in 25 schools is very disruptive. The board must insist dollars be used in the classrooms.

Sorry, comment time is over.