Joy Anderson
I left the school boards meeting early, drove around Schmitz Park for 20 minutes trying to park, and was shocked to see the overflow crowd. It was only dissapointment from there. The District representatives knew the answers to one out of eveey five questions asked. You could cut the frustration with a knife. They could not even tell the crowd how many students they thought would be admitted. That building housed an an entire high school for years, yet they can't decide the enrollment? 350, 500? Class size? Not a clue. I felt compelled to ask them some of the harder questions, such as, "The last time this school was used as an elementary school, as the Cooper kids were housed there, waiting for their new building, there were no portables at Boren. Will the portables be removed so that the children be able to play on the playground again?" They did't know. What about the children who were assigned to schools not in their neighborhood due to the District's school closures? If they try STEM school, and it isn't a good fit, they lose their spot in their current school, and would be forced, due to NSAP, to go to their neighborhood school, which may not have been their original school. 3 schools. With so few details about this new school, why would a parent take that chance? Since there would probably be more boys at this school than girls, would there be an effort to hire more male teachers? What about teachers of color? A study was done, citing that many immigrant children of African descent, scored higher on math tests than other children of color. At Cooper, the children scored higher on the math WASL than the children at Arbor Heights. Yet it did not look like the District made any real effort to.include our sizeable African popluation in this conversation. With as many Somali cab driving PH.D. engineers I have met, this just slays me. I suggested that the District have this meeting at West Seattle Elementary and be aure to have translators. This was hailed as a "good idea" as if it were a.completely new concept to them. Unbelievable.
This meeting really seemed to me to be an lacklustre attempt to appease the parents of North West Seattle on their capacity woes. Unfortunately, I think it may have backfired, due to their incredible lack of information. The Disrtict underestimated parents every time, and they always blow it for the children. Business as usual.
Oh, yes. And the big carrot they dangled in front of these parents, was "Apply to be on the design team! Then you can make this school whatever you want!" To a lot of those parents fresh of a stint from one of those control freak PTA's we hear so much about, I am sure this sounded like nirvana... (The paradise, not the band...) I hope that the District makes a concerted effort to build a culturally diverse design team, and listens to the opinions of ALL parents, and even children, from West Seattle. This coukd be a eeally great thing, or a real distater. Only time will tell. The District is at a fork in the road wirh this one. Hope they choose the correct one for a change
I left the school boards meeting early, drove around Schmitz Park for 20 minutes trying to park, and was shocked to see the overflow crowd. It was only dissapointment from there. The District representatives knew the answers to one out of eveey five questions asked. You could cut the frustration with a knife. They could not even tell the crowd how many students they thought would be admitted. That building housed an an entire high school for years, yet they can't decide the enrollment? 350, 500? Class size? Not a clue. I felt compelled to ask them some of the harder questions, such as, "The last time this school was used as an elementary school, as the Cooper kids were housed there, waiting for their new building, there were no portables at Boren. Will the portables be removed so that the children be able to play on the playground again?" They did't know. What about the children who were assigned to schools not in their neighborhood due to the District's school closures? If they try STEM school, and it isn't a good fit, they lose their spot in their current school, and would be forced, due to NSAP, to go to their neighborhood school, which may not have been their original school. 3 schools. With so few details about this new school, why would a parent take that chance? Since there would probably be more boys at this school than girls, would there be an effort to hire more male teachers? What about teachers of color? A study was done, citing that many immigrant children of African descent, scored higher on math tests than other children of color. At Cooper, the children scored higher on the math WASL than the children at Arbor Heights. Yet it did not look like the District made any real effort to.include our sizeable African popluation in this conversation. With as many Somali cab driving PH.D. engineers I have met, this just slays me. I suggested that the District have this meeting at West Seattle Elementary and be aure to have translators. This was hailed as a "good idea" as if it were a.completely new concept to them. Unbelievable.
This meeting really seemed to me to be an lacklustre attempt to appease the parents of North West Seattle on their capacity woes. Unfortunately, I think it may have backfired, due to their incredible lack of information. The Disrtict underestimated parents every time, and they always blow it for the children. Business as usual.
Oh, yes. And the big carrot they dangled in front of these parents, was "Apply to be on the design team! Then you can make this school whatever you want!" To a lot of those parents fresh of a stint from one of those control freak PTA's we hear so much about, I am sure this sounded like nirvana... (The paradise, not the band...) I hope that the District makes a concerted effort to build a culturally diverse design team, and listens to the opinions of ALL parents, and even children, from West Seattle. This coukd be a eeally great thing, or a real distater. Only time will tell. The District is at a fork in the road wirh this one. Hope they choose the correct one for a change
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