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Title : TAF at Washington Middle School Updates
link : TAF at Washington Middle School Updates

TAF at Washington Middle School Updates

The district is currently working on Washington Middle School becoming a STEM school via the Technology Access Foundation model (TAF) which currently has one school of this type in the Federal Way SD.  (It is not a charter school nor would the one at WMS be.)
I had been aware that TAF was expressing interest in trying to partner with SPS after being rejected by SPS about a decade ago over creating a STEM high school.  (I had thought it was to be at Cleveland back then but other news outlets say it was to be at Rainier Beach HS.)

I said this from the beginning - I believe in the TAF model and support this effort.  But the district and the Board are NOT being transparency in what they are doing. 

The first public notice I had heard was sitting in the Executive Committee meeting on May 22nd.  Dr. Keisha Scarlett was the point person for staff, explaining it to committee members.   She noted several issues:


- the school would not be an Option School (even though Cleveland is) but a regular attendance school
- HCC is an issue because Board policy 2190 says HCC is to be self-contained and "you would have to change that" because TAF doesn't have separate programs in their school model.

There are two things to be said about that. One, as they did with Spectrum, the district is already dismantling HCC so I'm not sure how truly problematic that would be to have no separate classes at the TAF school.  Two, however, the district will change a board policy in order to create one new school?  I find that troubling that the Superintendent would ask for this.

- Funding would come from SPS via the WSS and any staff that TAF wants would have to be paid for by them.
- The first year would be 6th graders.
- The school would be called "TAF at Seattle Public Schools."  I think it fortunate that WMS was not named for a local dignitary because that would be a problem renaming it.
- There was a June 12th meeting about this idea, "centering on families of color."  And, that the district was "not telling people widely" about this new school.

- I also wrote this, " WMS and "Swirl" program coming for HCC."  I had put a question mark and I realize now that I need to follow up.
- The school would start in 2020-2021.  

Here's the MOU which adds much to the picture that somehow did not get communicated at that meeting.   I note that when I asked about the MOU, I was told on June 6th:

I have asked around….I think you’re a bit early, as there isn’t an MOU yet.

I find that odd considering the MOU was signed May 2nd. 

The first thing you notice - right off the bat - is that they are talking about a 6-12 school.  This was NOT mentioned at the Executive Committee meeting.  President Leslie Harris had signed the MOU and yet she said nothing either.  I don't get it.  

The MOU says nothing is legally binding but is just an agreement to set out a discussion. 

And again, what's weird to me is why it's Washington and not Aki Kurose or Mercer that surely have more students of color than Washington (and those students are the ones that TAF is most interested in reaching).

Aki Kurose is over 88% students of color, Mercer is nearly 80% students of color and Washington is 50% students of color.  I would guess that Mercer's international focus eliminated it but why not Aki?

 If this change does happen at Washington and the program becamse popular, the district would have no legal way to increase the numbers of students of color via enrollment. News stories abound about how the Central Area is becoming gentrified so, if anything, Washington MS might lean more white.

The program will require additional external sources of funding to support the implementation of the STEMbyTAF academic model.

I hope the district knows where to find those other sources of funding because the district is already operating in the hole.   

Identification of capacity challenges, enrollment trends over the next 10 years of selected school and surrounding school impacts.

I believe they mean "impacts to surrounding schools."  Well, let's see.  The district says that they don't need so much high school space (despite overcrowding in some and underenrollment in others) but they are bringing on another high school.  And, I had to smile "10 years of enrollment trends."  Good luck with that, TAF, because that is NOT SPS' strength.

There is also a line about changing the Enrollment plan so that students who do not want this model being provided at their attendance area middle/high school may opt into the one based on their address.  It is very hard to predict how much upheaval this might bring to that region.

It also only states that HCC students need "suitable coursework" but says nothing about changing the HCC model.  

They state they will have "extensive" community engagement before a formal agreement is signed.  Given that they want to complete the implementation plan by September 2019 AND we are now going into a dead zone of summer, how that community engagement is to happen is a mystery.

There's also a timetable and, at this point, TAF is suppose to be supplying financials on funding.  They want to sign an agreement in September 2019.

Big issues:

• So TAF would need either an exception to HCC policy for this model at WMS or HCC would have to be moved or the policy on HCC would need to be changed.  
• They picked the lowest diversity middle school in that region for a program that says it wants to support more students of color in STEM.
• With STEM being the focus of the TAF program and Washington being a poor-quality building, it will be interesting to see how that gets solved.  Oh wait, they Amplify now so not much need for those pesky and costly labs.
• Money
• Changing enrollment patterns for high schools

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