Public testimony will also be allowed tonight. Signing up beforehand is not required. They are not maintaining a list. The purpose it to gather public input.
I wanted to make sure that all know that community members and parents may testify tonight’s Community Workshop. The District is using Birth rate figures from 2005.
Please review the article from the Seattle Times:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2008383111_p
“The census numbers say it all. Between 2000 and 2007, the number of children under age 5 in the neighborhood rose by more than 15 percent — about double the increase citywide. In roughly the same period, the number of all family households in the CD grew by 13.6 percent — more than three times the rate in Seattle at large.”
Remember the workshops are tonight at the Stanford Center 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Saturday at Filipino Community Center 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Public Hearings at the affected building from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. will be as follows:
Dec. 15
TT Minor
Van Asselt
Pinehurst
Dec. 16
Genesee Hill
Old Hay
Mann
Dec. 18
Lowell
Testimony at the public hearings will be limited to 3 minutes and you must sign up by calling 206-252-0042 or emailing [email protected]. Comments may be emailed to [email protected].
Why no hearings at Thurgood Marshall or Hawthorne? They’re affected by the proposal at least as much as Lowell is…
Building closure and program closure have two different sets of legal requirements. Program changes have very few and building closures have quite a few. Note that no hearing is scheduled for the African American Academy. The meetings tonight and on Sat. are important places for to be heard. I have heard no comments from Hawthorne or Marshall.
The parents at TT Minor today learned that TT Minor was awarded an Academic Improvement Award by the school district for the school year 2006-2007. Although the letter from the district predates the closure announcement on Nov 24th (the letter is dated Nov 7) the letter and plaque was only received today. This fact, coupled with the sketchy demographic information that the School Board is putting out regarding birth rates in the Central District, their neglect of TT Minor school generally and their failure to explain how any of the school closures, which will only save 3.6 million dollars for the entire district (against a now projected 37 million dollar deficit), will benefit our children in any way is unacceptable. Our community needs to rally to ensure that this lazy and unjust closure proposal does not succeed.
Leschi is planning to have a community meeting on Thursday the 11th, from 6:00 to 7:00 because they will be affected by the school closures in the central cluster (particularly if TT Minor Montessori moves to Leschi). Our son starts K next fall and Leschi is our reference school, so I’ll be there as a community member. All Leschi parents and other interested folks, particularly from TT Minor Montessori since they might end up there, should feel free to attend.
We had a similar situation over here in West Seattle – a program to be closed that wasn’t getting a hearing – until the district announced an additional round of hearings/meetings at Tuesday night’s board meeting. Thurgood Marshall and Hawthorne are on the list. Confusing because the district website link to this is “how to get involved” instead of “hearings” …
http://www.seattleschools.org/area/capacity/getinvolved.html
I haven’t dug deep into the rationale or numbers behind the closure, but the way this was rolled out speaks volumes about the leadership at the School Board.
Why in the world would you announce a plan and then a week later announce another plan, totally blindsiding parents? Seriously? Dump the bad news once–ONCE–and move on. But to announce two sets of closures is just plain incompetence. No wonder anybody with $ sends their kids to private school.
My understanding is that hearings are a legal requirement when the district plans to close a building.
Moves, mergers and impact do not require the same legal process. The district is holding “workshops” to hear concerns. Given the superintendent’s view that such processes are slow and inefficient, I think we should see these as a “courtesy”- and not expect her to be swayed. Board members, on the other hard, may be more attentive/responsive to parent and community input. I hope.