Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Parent Letter To Superintendent Walker

RE: Student Reallocation

Dear Superintendent Walker:

We are writing in response to the enrollment shifts that are taking place on Monday. We have two children enrolled at Brookside Elementary – one of whom is being moved from a 5th grade class to a 5th/6th split class.

Washington’s Basic Education Act (RCW 28A.150.210) states in part that improving student achievement “will require all parties responsible for education to focus more on what is best for students.” Uprooting students from their classrooms (and the teachers they have begun to bond with) three weeks into the school year hardly seems in line with this charge.

Both the timing of these moves and the manner in which they have been communicated to families have been sorely lacking. Let’s examine some relevant dates in our situation (which we expect will be similar to others):

August 30: Classroom roster information made available to Brookside families.
September 5: First day of school
September 10: State’s official student counts are released.
September 13: District allocates additional certificated teaching staff.

The District had preliminary enrollment numbers and class assignment data available no later than August 30. Any potential class overload situations should have been apparent at that time, and contingency plans could have been established to address these overloads – either during the first week of school, or at worst immediately following the release of the State’s official counts.

Instead, the District chose to wait until three weeks into the school year to abruptly reshuffle students into different classes, causing huge disruptions for schools, students, and families.

Let’s go back to the calendar of events:

September 20: “Open Letter to the Community on Elementary Staffing” is posted on the District’s web site.
September 21: Letter from Brookside principal Kathryn Noble is sent home with all students announcing potential classroom changes.
September 22: Phone message received from Kathryn Noble informing us that our child was being moved.
September 24: Our student reports to his new teacher at the beginning of the day.
At no point during any of these communications was it mentioned how the transition would be handled, what criteria were used to determine which students were moved, or what the curriculum impact would be. Further, the phone message on the 22nd did not contain a phone number to call with questions. We are flying blind, which is completely unnecessary.

Again, the Basic Education Act states that improving student achievement “will require all parties responsible for education to focus more on what is best for students.” Given that our 5th grader (a good student) reacted to the changes by exclaiming, “I don’t want to go to school any more” and “why me”, this situation hardly seems in his best interests. We suspect he is not alone.

Your own Operating Principles state that you will:
Keep the focus on issues of student achievement as the centerpiece of our work together.
Treat students, staff, the public, and each other with respect.
Create opportunities for meaningful participation and input early in the decision making process.
Support and encourage opportunities for open, honest communication.

As parents of an impacted Shoreline School District student, we do not see where any of these principles were taken into consideration with this decision.

Unfortunately, recent District history combined with the haphazard manner in which these changes have been implemented leads us to conclude that the changes were made for one reason – to save the District money. We would also like to point out that it would seem that the degree of savings may be in question. Hiring lawyers and focusing additional staff time to defend against an unfair labor practice and to work through the grievance process costs money as well.

Finally, the question must be asked - could overload calculations and preliminary contingency plans have been developed during last year’s studies relating to the school closure issue? If the answer to this question is “yes”, then what took so long? Couldn’t some of these changes (i.e. split classes) been implemented prior to the beginning of the school year, lessening the disruption? We would like answers.

We respectfully ask that the District reconsider this misinformed action and return students to the classrooms where they belong for the remainder of the school year.

Sincerely,

Ted Reijonen & Sharon Reijonen

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, today's articles wasn't particularly insightful. See:
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=webshoreline25m&date=20070925

The SEA is either misquoted or didn't explain the problem thorougly, since it says the strike is "in response to a move by the district to shuffle elementary-school students between classes, resulting in some classes with a ratio of 28 students to one teacher."

The district, on the other hand, has a lovely quote saying that our community is being "unnecessarily damaged" by the SEA.

-GTK

Anonymous said...

We were interviewed by the Times & Enterprise yesterday and today.

The Times reporter seemed sympathetic to the parents/kids/teachers. I think the article will focus on Shoreline as a destination community for quality education in the past and impacts to families/kids as a result of the recent class adjustments. It will be in Wednesday's Times.

The reporter told me that she wasn't able to get numbers of students moved around in the District and that she had a hard time believing that they didn't know what they were.

I kept emphasizing the poor planning and communication about the changes. I also continued to point out how ridiculous it is to move kids into a new split class after three weeks of school had already passed. The kids and teachers both lose.

I hope that comes across in the article.

Anonymous said...

We chose to live in Shoreline to raise our children because of their focus on education her. But it is unfortunate to see what has been happening this past few years.
My daughter who is in Brookside was moved to a 5th-6th class. Our children are going thru the stress of puberty and now add this.In everything that is going on,our every decision,let's not forget who is affected the most....our CHILDREN......

Anonymous said...

Interesting that all the pro-union comments are made anonymously. I received a call at my home on Monday night from a very angry and abusive man who refused to give his name and ranted about my "not knowing the facts".
Here are the facts:
At the threat of a general strike, the Shoreline school district and the SEA resolve their differences and sign a contract.
The school year starts, and the district, which is hemorrhaging money (from mismanagement of funds that went completely ignored by the SEA over the course of several years, in spite of it being ostensibly in charge of protecting the interest of its members) finds a way to serve the students’ needs while reducing overload pay by easing the size of some classes.
The upshot is that some teachers’ class sizes grow and their workload increases with no net increase in compensation, while others see a reduction in compensation due to the loss of overload pay.
The union claims breach of contract, but since they know they don’t have a leg to stand on (their attorneys have told them as much, which is why the SEA doesn’t simply sue the district) they call for a one-day punitive strike.
Bloggers have a field day, parents have to scramble to find child care for their kids, the kids get a rainy day off in the fall in exchange for going to school one day later in the summer.

How’s that for facts?

Anonymous said...

I echo the comments of Chris Philips. I am reminded of a column in this blog that was written to refute a comment I had posted anonymously. The columnist implied I was cowardly for not submitting my name. All I had done was suggest that the contract negotiations were largely an economic issue and that many people were unnecessarily injecting way too much emotion into the subject. I was lambasted. In case anyone needs clarification about why anonymity is required, look at what happens if you're "brave". One is simply accused of not having the facts.

On that note, what are the facts? I posted a comment a few days ago for which nobody has chosen to reply. The comment, in brief, suggested that I've seen a whole lot of bluster about what the District is doing wrong, but what SHOULD they be doing? Is it a fact that the District could choose to not take the course of action they just did and it would have no economic impact? What cost-saving measures proposed by the SEA have been ignored by the District? Tell the public what they are! Tell them! If you don't lay out the facts and simply expect all parents to fall in line because "we love our teachers so much", that sort of smacks of bullyism. Which we don't appreciate on the playground, and is a cynical approach not helpful by those desiring a reasoned discourse on the subject.

So...tell me how the District should be cutting costs. I'm listening.

Anonymous said...

Have the two prior commentors read anything about this issue? For example, the SEA has been meeting with the District for the last 7 months trying to avoid this crisis. This issue is much bigger than an additional day of daycare my friends.

Anonymous said...

@Chris Philips said...

"their attorneys have told them as much, which is why the SEA doesn’t simply sue the district"

Really? How do you know this?

------------

As an aside, authors several legitimate reasons for posting anonymously online: they are a whistleblower and need to protect their identity; they have an unpopular opinion in their community and are afraid to anger their neighbors; or they simply don't know how to log in. I wouldn't get too hysterical about an anonymous opinion as long as everyone is polite.

Thanks,

-doug

Anonymous said...

I am so dam tired of all the whining. All students are affected, whether in an overloaded class or a split class, or moved in the third week of school. This year will be tough on everyone. Families have had to move schools. It has been very tumultuous. I think that our attitudes as adults, has a huge impact on our children’s success and all I see and hear is whine, whine, whine. (“This is so bad. oh woe is me, and my poor child.”) Children are resilent and capable of so much, if we can keep positive. They will be alright and succeed even under less than ideal conditions. There are things that need to be fixed and yes it could be handled better but the children know how you feel and see how you act. Lets act like the grownups that we are suppose to be and teach our children that sometimes life throws you a curve but that doesn’t mean you can’t hit a home run.

Take a deep breath and think about it.

Anonymous said...

I am the poster asking for the facts. I have read everything I can get my hands on about the issue. I state it again...point me toward cost cutting measures suggested by SEA that the District won't agree to.

One more time...point me toward cost cutting measures suggested by SEA that the District won't agree to.

I stand by my assertion that unless parents can be shown that the SEA has proposed perfectly reasonable cost cutting measures that the District won't agree to for whatever reason, this is all just politics. And it's shameful to bully the parents and students in this manner. It appears you have widespread parental support, I suppose. But in the long run, we'll see. You had better start talking with the language of money and budgets, otherwise the only people still listening will be those for which the emotional aspect is the only aspect which has appeal. Which is a shame.

Anonymous said...

Here are some of the proposals put forth by SEA as taken from David Guthrie's Blog:

"Where Else Could the Money Come From?

The School Board and Superintendent would have you believe that its employee contracts are the only place to get this money. However, they have rejected proposals to cut or modify following sources that could be used to make up the deficit

•Restructuring the Funding of ASB Accounts

•Making Christmas to New Years non-accountable days for Administrators

•Using interest from the sale of district property to balance the budget, rather than for hiring expensive consultants

•Eliminating program manager position.

•Eliminate or reduce athletic director and public information officer positions.

•Reduce administrators’ perks."

Another idea I heard several times in the community was rethinking the lap top program. I have been told that the money was earmarked, but come on, go back to the voters and ask if we still want a lap top for every 5th and 6th grader given the current situation.

Also, closing two schools and selling the property should provide a windfall for the district. Why can't a little bit of that money be used to actually reduce class size for everyone?

I find it interesting that you think teachers are being bullies. Isn't that a twist to the typical management - labor sterotypes. It certainly isn't how I would describe the teachers I know.

Anonymous said...

I think the key words the posts about union propsoing cuts are these, "reasonable cost cutting measures". I keep hearing from the SEA side that the way to do this is to cut other people's positions - "don't take away from me, how about them?". The list in the previous post reduces administrator contracts, eliminates two people's jobs, and call for getting rid of administrator perks. WHAT PERKS? I keep hearing this phrase, but have not seen any substantiation of what this is. This leads me to think along the lines noted earlier - SEA needs to get past the emotion and put reasonable cost cutting measures on the table.

Anonymous said...

Let's talk about bullies. Teachers are in a unique position, as opposed to the administration. They are in contact with our kids for the entire school year. Let's say that a parent has a dissenting view of the actions of the teachers and identifies his or herself publicly. I would like to think when the whole thing is settled, there's no effect on the kids. Here's the reality: kids overhear their parents' conversations, word gets back, "My mom says your mom is stupid", etc. It's not like the PTA folks keep their cards real close to their chests. And as this blog confirms, if someone just wants the facts or suggests that there might be another point of view, they are subjected to somewhat emotional and personal attacks. So there's not much in the way of dissent toward the teacher's position (publicly at least) that one could consider without consequences. I'm not saying teachers individually are bullies. The Shoreline School District has very good teachers and I've been happy with them. What I'm suggesting is that this strike is sort of a passive-aggressive maneuver. Isn't this the epitome of passive-aggressiveness? As a previous poster commented, it's reasonable to suggest that a one-day strike should be a last ditch effort, not the first thing the teachers could come up with. The capital of goodwill is being squandered.

Please note that the WEA administrators keep collecting their salaries while parents run around trying to maneuver through this squabble between SEA and the District. The teachers have a powerful, well-financed union promoting their agenda. To minimize this fact is folly.

Anonymous said...

Determining what is "reasonable" is up to each of us as parents and voters. The anonymous bloggers raise some great questions. What is the right amount of administrative personnel for a school district? What is the right amount of teaching personnel for a school district? How do we best achieve the goals of Initiative 728 in reducing class size and improving student achievement? How do the various administrative positions mentioned in my earlier comment improve student achievement? Is it all about cutting costs, or is there a way the school district can raise revenues or reallocate funds (ie. for people instead of computers)? Is the one-day strike passive-aggressive? What do you call the administration's tactics? What do you call the school board's tactics? Couldn't we have gone down a better path? If anyone has the absolute answers, let us know. Until then, let's keep the dialogue going.