What are your concerns with APP?Please contact Stephanie directly to work with her on this. Please also use the comment thread for this post to discuss what we should do to take some positive action to help our children.
I am a parent advocate for APP who is tired of our ineffective APP advisory board and is doing something about it.
I am your APP PAC ( parent advisory committee) representative. I am also on the Seattle Council PTSA as VP of Enrichment. I have 2 children at TM in APP, a 1st grader and 4th grader.
I have filed a complaint with the ombudsman at the district about the violence on the playground at TM. I am trying to get district help on the playground and help for Julie B. who seems overwhelmed.
I also have a meeting next Wednesday with the CAO Susan Enfield for half an hour to discuss APP issues. Please email me if you have anything you would like me to discuss.
I will be reporting back to this blog about what I find out. I am tired of complaining and want to take some positive action to help our children.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Barnett
VP of Enrichment Seattle Council PTSA
APP PAC Representative
sdonath@aol.com
206-931-4405
Update: Charlie Mas offers a detailed list of issues for the CAO in the comments, including the promised but missing APP curriculum, whether high school APP will continue to exist, the need for a north-end APP, and the lack of response to the APP audit.
2 comments:
I will be writing to Stephanie about things for her to discuss with Susan Enfield.
Among them will be:
The absence of the promised APP curriculum, without which the split should never have been done. Where's the accountability for this?
Dr. Enfield's remarks at the Board work session on Attendance Area boundaries when she denied the existance of high school APP and said that she intends to dissolve high school APP as soon as the number and selection of AP and other advanced classes at all high schools meets a baseline.
Dr. Enfield's refusal to place north-end elementary APP in the north-end, in clear violation of Policies D12.00 and C56.00 as well as the stated goals of the New Student Assignment Plan. There is plenty of capacity available at McDonald. If there isn't sufficient capacity then, in accordance with good capacity mangagement, she should open more capacity. North-end students deserve a school in the north-end; APP students are no different. What other 200+ north-end elementary students are assigned to a school south of the Ship Canal? This is her responsibility because she chairs the Program Placement Committee.
The absence of a response to the APP audit. This is a project of the strategic plan, "Excellence for All", and therefor should have a detailed timeline with action steps and milestones. Where's the progress? Where's the timeline? Where's the accountability? Where's the transparency?
On January 29, 2009 the Board voted to specifically direct the superintendent to review and recommend revisions to Policy D12.00. It has been ten months. What is the status of that review? What are the recommended revisions? Why has it taken over ten months to review a two paragraph policy? Is anyone even working on this? This is the only time that this Board has EVER voted to direct the superintendent to take a specific action and she hasn't done it. Where's the accountability?
What effort, if any, is being made to assure families of the quality and efficacy of APP, Spectrum, and ALO at each site? The District committed to annual reviews of these programs but has never done them. The District's procedures require the schools to meet annual requirements for re-certification as advanced learning programs but most of them do not meet those requirements. The only requirement is that they mention the program in their CSIP. Why don't the schools with advanced learning programs mention their programs in their CSIP? Why should we even believe that the program exists except in name only?
The District promised that, after the split, advanced math students in middle school would be able to take the third year of high school math in middle school. We now learn that this was a lie. Where is the accountability? How does this serve students?
I'd mention more, but it is only a half-hour meeting.
Charlie said: "Dr. Enfield's remarks at the Board work session on Attendance Area boundaries when she denied the existance of high school APP and said that she intends to dissolve high school APP as soon as the number and selection of AP and other advanced classes at all high schools meets a baseline."
Tell me she didn't say that. You have to be kidding me Charlie. APP parents were assured and promised just the opposite.
At which Board Session did she say that? Were there any other corroborating witnesses who will talk?
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