Monday, April 30, 2018

HCS Advisory Committee Meeting Tomorrow


The 
May meeting of the Highly Capable Services Advisory Committee will take place tomorrow TuesdayMay 1, 6:30 - 8:00 pm - at the John Stanford Center, Room 2700. You can check in at the Security Window for access to the 2nd Floor.

The agenda will include:

- Update from Advanced Learning Office
- Update on the new Advanced Learning Task Force being formed
- Capacity concerns at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School

The final meeting this year will take place:

June 5, Madison Middle School, Library

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sad to see how few staff representatives there are on this committee. I understand it's a volunteer position, but seriously--REMS, HIMS, and WMS all have unfilled staff rep spots? And Garfield? Pretty sad.

Maybe the PTSAs at those schools need to provide a stipend to help incentive staff to get involved. If not, maybe a few parents need to make donations that they specify can only be used for that. I realize the AC is not a very powerful group as is, but perhaps it's because there seems to be so little staff buy-in.

who cares?

Leslie said...

Please see the new "live" link for the Advanced Learning Task Force -



https://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=38024891

Additional announcements are to go out tomorrow to:

A. Manner of Notification – Notice of Nomination Process

The District shall provide public notice to individuals and organizations that may reasonably be interested in serving on the Advanced Learning Task Force. Notice shall include the following activities:


1.District Website;
2.Publishing in the Principal Communicator with direction to share with BLTs and PTSAs;
3.Direct written notice to active community organizations which may have an interest in participation;
4.Direct written notice to all Parent Teacher Student Associations (PTSAs) at all school sites;
5.Known subject matter experts; and,
6.News release to news outlets, including community and ethnic newspapers

Thanks in advance.

Best,

Leslie Harris
President, District 6
SPS Board
leslie.harris@seattleschools.org
206.475.1000

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Leslie.

Have you also sent emails to the other constituent groups in the listing, which includes "PTSAs at all school sites, active community organizations which may have an interest in participation and known subject matter experts"?

If not, then this posting to the very people who would already be most likely to have seen the information, reeks of favoritism and is unbecoming of a board president.

Watching

Benjamin Leis said...

@Watching: if you get to know Dir. Harris, you'll find she is one of the strongest advocates of openness on the board and tireless in disseminating information in as many places as she can. Your charge of favoritism is completely off base. I as always very much appreciate the update.

Anonymous said...

Sounds great, Benjamin. However, the proof is in the pudding.

So the question remains: Has she also informed the others on the list by sending a special email to them, too?

If not, she is not fairly representing her constituents and is giving favor to this audience. And that is unbecoming of her position as an elected public servant.

Watching

Anonymous said...

Watching, your personal attacks diminish you, not Director Harris who serves our district with the utmost dedication and fairness.

Do you have any evidence that other groups haven't been contacted? If not, then stop trying to impugn the professionalism of a wonderful public servant and inappropriately task board members with the District's job to publicize this task force.

Please direct your ire in an appropriate manner and contact Advanced learning with your concerns.

Civil

Anonymous said...

I'm not trying to diminish anyone and am only concerned with fairness.

If it's the "District's job to publicize this task force" then why is a board
director specifically publicizing it here? Since there was no response, who wants to bet that Director/Board President Harris DID NOT inform the other consituents on the list?

It is very appropriate for a public citizen to make sure public servants are carrying out their duties without favoritism.

If you want to refer to public accountability as "ire" then it diminishes you, and says more about your self-interests than the interests of the public at large.

Watching

Anonymous said...

@ Watching,

I assume it's a pretty safe bet that they've also informed that "equity" group that is based out of Thurgood Marshall and the HCS Advisory Committee (both would fall into that "active community organizations which may have an interest in participation" category), as well as UW's Robinson Center ("known subject matter experts").

As to your question about whether they've informed "PTSAs at all school sites," I think that's addressed by #2 in Dir. Harris' list, which says they will be "publishing in the Principal Communicator with direction to share with BLTs and PTSAs." So not directly, but via principals.

Sounds reasonable to me. If you have concerns that there are key groups that being left out, perhaps you should share the link with them and/or forward their contact info to Dir. Harris so the district can make sure they are included in future communications on this topic. You might also share the name of the organization or subject matter experts here, in case that sparks additional ideas for inclusion among the rest of us.

No need to assume the worst. Better to just help get the word out if you are so concerned.

all types

Benjamin Leis said...

Moderator Note: I'm going to say the same thing I said in the prev. thread. While I'm flattered by the influence ascribed to this blog this repeated line of conversation isn't productive. If you're really concerned please pursue this elsewhere.