This just in from Delfino Munoz, the Chief Sealth High School teacher who has been publicly voicing concerns about the current Denny Middle School-Sealth HS shared-campus plan:
The Seattle Education Association Representative Assembly just passed a resolution calling “…on the Seattle School Board and District Administration to direct BEX III/Facilities to provide an option for rebuilding Denny at the current Denny site…”
More details when we get them. ADDED 10:01 PM: Here’s the text of the final SEA resolution, from a doc forwarded by Munoz:
Whereas the spirit and letter of our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) spelled out in Paragraphs A, C, D, and E of the Preamble commit the Seattle Education Association (SEA) and the Seattle Public Schools (SPS) to “building a collaborative partnership…†of all stakeholders based on “mutual respect and trust…â€; and the decision to combine the Chief Sealth and Denny campuses, which was made by the Seattle School Board and announced at the Sealth Staff meeting in August of 2006 without prior discussion with staff, students, parents, or community, is therefore in violation of the CBA, and,
Whereas the plan that followed for combining the two schools on one campus has also never included an authentic open process for all the stakeholders to become informed and to provide input, even though Paragraph F of the Preamble of the CBA states that success for our children depends on a “strong parent/guardian and community engagement process…†and;
Whereas Paragraph F of the Preamble further states, “We will provide a safe and healthy environment where discrimination, intimidation and harassment are not tolerated…†yet concerns of parents and Staff regarding the safety of mixing the age groups have not been adequately addressed, and;
Whereas the represented staff of Chief Sealth requested several times for the SPS to address the academic benefits for our students in the decision to co-locate the campuses and received no adequate response, and;
Whereas the staff of Chief Sealth has voted three times in overwhelming opposition to this plan, and;
Whereas the students of Chief Sealth have polled over half the student body and found 90 per cent opposed to this plan, and;
Whereas the current design plan results in considerable loss of classrooms to Chief Sealth that could drastically affect the way we deliver services such as IEP and ESL, again without affected stakeholder input, and:
Whereas there are significant issues of equity in the proposed plan, and;
Whereas a decision to not co-locate Denny Middle School and Chief Sealth would not require any diversion of funds from other schools currently in the BEX III plan, and;
Whereas the Sealth staff supports the Denny community’s right to a first class state of-the-art educational facility, and;
Whereas the Sealth staff is willing to accept only those building upgrades deemed essential under the BEX III and postpone further renovations, and;
Whereas the Seattle School Board has the authority to rescind the decision to combine the two schools on the Sealth campus, and;
Whereas this decision has long lasting affects on the staffs and community of both schools;
Be it therefore resolved that the Seattle Education Representative Assembly call on the Seattle School Board and District Administration to direct BEX III/Facilities to provide an option for rebuilding Denny at the current Denny site and completing the required upgrades in order to meet code for Chief Sealth;
Be it further resolved that the SPS establish a genuine process, consistent with our CBA, for community and staff input for the construction and renovation project.
Roberta Lindeman, one of Sealth’s SEA building representatives, who presented the resolution at tonight’s districtwide reps’ meeting, tells WSB there were three “no” votes but did not have a count of “yes” votes; she says the Denny rep voted yes. We will add more details from our conversation shortly. ADDED 11:30 PM: Lindeman says this resolution hs been in the works since last month. She says tonight’s meeting included “open mike” discussion about the resolution in addition to the vote, and she says most of the comments were supportive, agreeing with the contention that it is “a violation of (the teachers’) contract,” which, she says, “clearly indicates major decisions that affect an entire learning community need to have a collaborative process where the staff and students and community and parents all have an opportunity to provide input into a decision before it is made and of course in this case that never happened.”
She says those who voiced concerns about the resolution tended to be worried about the point district administration has frequently made, regarding construction-cost inflation adding significantly to the price tag for rebuilding Denny and bringing Sealth up to code if the work is delayed. “One member brought out, that’s happened in a number of (the district’s) construction projects,” she said. “This might in fact cost the district some money in the short term, but the long-term consequences (of proceeding with the current plan) would be far greater …” Lindeman observed that overall, this is “such a difficult time” for Chief Sealth, as it works to grow new programs such as the International Baccalaureate curriculum while facing the prospect of “having to pack” if the current construction plan is not changed, thereby requiring Sealth to move to temporary quarters at the ex-Boren site on Delridge starting this fall. “Someone didn’t think this through completely,” she said flatly. Regarding what happens next with the resolution passed tonight, she will be checking tomorrow on the process/timetable for it to be formally presented to district leadership.
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