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Title : All Good Things Must...Change
link : All Good Things Must...Change
All Good Things Must...Change
I believe change IS coming to Seattle Public Schools. This change for me has been a long time coming and I have talked about it with family, friends and colleagues for a couple of years now.For now, I will simply state that I no longer want to cover what this district is doing except as part of the larger picture (or, as an example) of public education.I'll see this current school year thru but, starting in July, I won't be writing about Seattle Public Schools. The blog will have its regular Tuesday/Friday open threads for any topics you like. Yes, I will still be moderating to keep it civil. (And I may have to think up a snappy new name.)
What I will be covering are topics like charter schools, personalized learning (which seems to be coming like a freight train - your child's school experience is going to look less and less like your own) and student privacy. I mention those because I think that those subjects will become ones that directly impact SPS. Of course, I welcome guest posts and any suggestions for topics. (Write to me at sss.westbrook@gmail.com.)
And, I plan to throw the bulk of my energy in getting the current denizen in the White House out in November 2020. No matter who you support for president, I think we all know next year is going to be a long, unpleasant slog to November.
I'll write about what I think see coming for SPS in Part Two of this thread.
Background
It's been about 15 years of writing this blog. I am proud of the work that Charlie Mas and I did here and the work that I have continued since he left about six years ago.
Today, though, I'm announcing that the blog will go on. But it will change its focus.
I have tried mightily to support this district from within and out. Meaning, within as a parent and after that, as a public education advocate. I have nudged, cajoled, harangued, fussed and fought for a better district. I've been on talk programs on tv and the radio, done newspaper and magazine interviews, testified to the Board, the City Council and legislative committees. As recently as two weeks ago, testifying before a City Council committee about committing FEPP dollars to charter schools, I pointed out that the Mayor's plan said there were 2,000 homeless students in SPS and I told them that had that wrong - it's more like 3,000. It's painful to see elected folks who can't even get the basics right about SPS.
For a long time, what I told every single new superintendent is that my belief was that Seattle could be the best public urban district in the country. Seattle has a smart populace who supports public education even as it has one of the smallest child populations for a major city in the nation. When was the last time a school levy failed in Seattle? It's been decades. And today, we have a booming economy in Seattle.
I told candidates running for School Board the same thing. And I also told them the same thing, election cycle after election cycle, yes, you are coming into a district that has been operationally challenged and has provided unevenness in services throughout the district and has continual budget challenges. Most of the people I supported for School Board got elected. It certainly wasn't just me that got anyone elected but the profile of this blog and the readers it has seemed to certainly help multiple candidates.
I also told candidates for School Board another thing. I would never, ever tell them to do something. I would never, ever ask them to do something. What I said I would do is ask them to consider a viewpoint, some data, or "if, then" scenarios and then, use their own best judgment.
I have held out hope for a better district via new superintendents and/or Board members. But it just has not panned out and I see no hope on the horizon. Not that Superintendent Juneau and the current Board don't care or don't have good intent. They do. But I think that, once again, it appears that they are working at cross-purposes and that - just - won't - work.
When the district had a major financial scandal in former superintendent, Joe Olchefske, (to the tune of $32M which was never fully accounted for), the district brought in a local group, Moss Adams, to do an overall assessment of the district. What a masterpiece of work that was; department after department assessed with recommendations (high/middle/low) and timeframe (now, months, years) and costs (high/medium/low.)
But a phrase that has rung in my years for all these years was this:
Unless you change the culture of a bureaucracy, you can change little.
There is such a culture at JSCEE so deep that it's embedded in the paint in the walls.
A decade or so ago, JSCEE staff just seem to regard the Board as an impediment, not a partner. As "volunteers" who staff tried, for a long time, to sweet-talk or baffle with bullshit and then staff would pretty much go off and do as they wanted as the "experts." Some of that has changed but, for some, that attitude still remains.
And yet, through all those years and all those experts at JSCEE, we still see operations struggle (and I'm not buying that it's all about underfunding by the state - senior staff made choices in all those years and some were bad). We have seen a lot of Capital building (great) with no real commitment to maintain those shiny new buildings (bad). We have seen a lot of hand-wringing as though staff at JSCEE has no idea why the district stagnates as it has when they were the ones making the decisions.
Of course, I still want this district to succeed. Tomorrow, and for the foreseeable future, what that success looks like may depend on who's talking (or who has gathered and consolidated the most power).
Actions always speak louder than words. Smiling faces and virtue signaling will not replace authentic and honest discussion. And when some use virtue signalling as a bully club to tamp down discussion, that's never good. I do believe some who believe the district is now taking a turn for the better may be, in the end, surprised to see what evolves.
You heard it here first.
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