VICTORY! The Seattle Public Schools board just restored its standing committees (Finance, Policy, Operations). *And* Liza Rankin withdrew her wrecking amendment, after a large public outcry against it led by All Together for Seattle Schools. Thank you to everyone who wrote the board!

This is @janedemel.bsky.social, taking over reporting the School Board meeting live posting from @thebethocracy.bsky.social

"Why Beth, another Seattle School Board meeting? Tonight? Haven't we had one every week lately?" Why yes gentle reader, yes we have. This one is likely to be spicy, between a lot of unhappy people on the testimony list and the will they/won't they about reinstating committees. Agenda below.

NEW: At a recent work session spread out over two meetings, SPS board directors learned a lot about the district's finances -- and how new Superintendent Ben Shuldiner intends to lead. Article by @janedemel.bsky.social:

The fabulous @thebethocracy.bsky.social is live posting the Seattle School Board meeting now.

I will be skeeting the board meeting tonight, which is on Goal 2: 6th Grade Math and a continuation of the budget work session from last week. I am VERY curious to see if I detect any shifts for Shuldiner’s first board meeting as Superintendent!

NEW: Ben Shuldiner is now in charge of Seattle Public Schools. Here's what he's been up to in his first few days as Superintendent -- ahead of his first board meeting tonight.

I still don’t understand why! Noted tho: Other districts we are compared to do opt-in bussing, have longer walk zones (eg 1.5 mile for elem, we do 1 mile), and option school bussing for a fee. Not saying these are things we should so, but let’s be clear what our peer districts do when we compare.

Comparison is helpful but total amount is important to note. So we’re spending more compared to others on SEL, but how much are we actually spending overall?

I believe CAI is Curriculum and Instruction

This is @janedemel.bsky.social taking over the live posting of the Seattle School Board meeting. Now they're talking about .... (drumroll please) ... the Current Budget Situation!

NEW: @thebethocracy.bsky.social recaps last week’s Seattle school board meeting — including the long-awaited return of board committees!

NEW: Big changes are coming to highly capable programs in Seattle Public Schools — including new cohorts in West and South Seattle. Julie Letchner recaps the board meeting HC update:

Vancouver (WA) Public Schools announced that Rocky Torres-Morales, currently the Assistant Superintendent here at Seattle Public Schools, will be VPS's new Superintendent:

NEW: What protections from ICE are in place for our own kids at SPS?Julie Letchner provides a detailed overview of the district's policies, which are already being put to the test.

This is @janedemel.bsky.social taking over from @thebethocracy.bsky.social in live posting the Seattle School Board meeting.

The fabulous @thebethocracy.bsky.social is live posting the school board meeting starting now!

Had to brief the teen at dinner today - when ICE is in the neighborhood and you're trapped at school, this is what will happen. Ug. Not exactly fun to parent thru this.

I just don’t know what the fuck y’all are expecting from children who have to repurpose their plans for active shooters to deal with their own government sending ALSO ACTIVE SHOOTERS to try to steal their friends and teachers.

NEW: Six SPS schools sheltered in place today after credible reports about ICE spotted near campuses in the South End. A procedure developed to protect students against armed threats now has to be used to protect them against the armed federal government.

NEW: What is “life readiness” and why is the Seattle Public Schools board focused on it? And what are district lobbyists saying about the 2026 #waleg session? Julie Letchner covers what we learned from Wednesday’s school board work session:

FWIW 15 years ago this was also an issue for some in SPS. This isn’t new. When I mentored low income HS students through graduation then onto college for a nonprofit, some kids (mostly in non-honors, non-AP classes) finished with decent grades but had to take remedial math in college.

This is a weirdly ignorant question: counselors are liaisons essentially. Tier 2 interventions can take myriad forms from check-ins to tutoring to pullouts etc.

Currently, one of the best ways to show colleges if you’re actually ready is to take normed exams like AP, SAT, etc. Without this corroboration, high school grades and graduation status are analyzed by colleges using known outcomes for students from that school

Naviance is a complete waste of money except possibly as an organizational tool for college applicants in 11th/12th - it’s one of the first contracts to axe to save money

This is @janedemel.bsky.social. I'll be live posting the Seattle School Board meeting that starts at 4:30 pm (in 7 minutes!).

NEW: The 2026 #waleg session begins this week, with a $2B deficit looming. @governorferguson.bsky.social proposed cuts to K-12 spending...as well as a millionaires' tax that could help fund schools at the end of the decade. Here's our overview of the legislative session and school funding:

We must note that @viviansong.bsky.social, despite being only woman of color on the board, twice elected to the board, won most votes of any director in 2025, has yet to be elected to a board officer position. For a district that claims to make racial equity a priority, this is unacceptable.

NEW: @robertcruickshank.com and @janedemel.bsky.social recap last week's board meeting, including officer elections, public testimony about ICE raids, small changes to rules about cops in schools, and big updates about the SPS budget and enrollment policy. Read all about it:

NEW: At Wednesday's board meeting Director Liza Rankin claimed SPS is "not doing SOFG." That's not true. Student Outcomes Focused Governance remains deeply embedded in board and district practice. We've got the details:

She doesn’t like what she calls the “free market of parent choice” determining school size which you can also call “community getting the options they say they require”

been floating the idea that SDOT should be responsible for contributing to busing costs when the busing is a result of unsafe crossings that SDOT hasn't yet fixed to make it possible for kids to walk to school within the school walk zones. Anyone heard of anything like this in another district?

This is a genuinely major revelation, and huge credit to @viviansong.bsky.social for catching it. SPS cited the need to repay this loan as a justification for proposing to close 21 schools in 2024. But that loan wasn't needed at all!

This particular slide from Seattle Public Schools admins drives me nuts. Many of us are aware that it is wrong to compare a government budget to a family budget. Especially since SPS can go out and attract more students, helping bring in more dollars and address this problem.

This is @janedemel.bsky.social taking over live posting of the Seattle School Board meeting from the fabulous @thebethocracy.bsky.social

This is @janedemel.bsky.social and starting at 6:30 I will be live posting the Seattle Times online webinar interviewing the three newly elected Seattle School Board directors: Vivian Song, Jen LaVallee, and Kathleen Smith.

SPS 2nd graders did not have their education interrupted by a pandemic. We should be investing more resources at all schools for evidence-based early intervention. How about using that $1B levy voters just passed on our public school kids? Our public school kids deserve it.

Just 57% of SPS 2nd graders are meeting standard in reading. Only 57% of 6th graders are meeting standard in math. “Staff did not provide hypotheses about what is driving this trend but said they were looking into it.”

NEW: Wednesday's school board meeting was a big one! New board directors were sworn in, and were immediately told SPS students are far behind on math and reading. Article by @thebethocracy.bsky.social and Julie Letchner:

NEW: Some SPS-related reading for the upcoming holiday weekend, including the new Superintendent's contract, more legal action against SPS for neglecting student safety, and concerns about SPS denying special education services.

"Suspicious, student board director Josephine Mangelsen, a high schooler, stated flat-out during Q&A: 'I know for a fact that the main use of AI at my school so far has been cheating.'" Read more about SPS's presentation on AI and cellphones at last week's board meeting:

Great recap and new resource!! Ridiculous IMO, however, that directors pointed out "if a [web]site was blocked by SPS it was probably blocked for a reason." Who vets this?! We use @kagi.com to avoid Google AI slop and it is blocked by SPS (or, at least, was blocked on my kid's SPS iPad last spring)

NEW: @thebethocracy.bsky.social and Julie Letchner recap this week's school board meeting:

First of many SPS School Board recaps to come! Publilshed on @thebulletinsea.org, a new source for SPS news. thebulletinsea.org/issue-5-nove...

Should Seattle Public Schools allow students to use GenAI? Or adopt an “away for the day” cellphone policy? SPS parent @emilycherkin.bsky.social takes a look and asks the key questions district leaders must answer about technology in the classroom:

NEW: @emilycherkin.bsky.social lays out the key questions families should insist Seattle Public Schools answer about AI in the classroom, cell phones, and technology more broadly.

SPS is still considering closing schools and engaging in sweeping austerity cuts as part of its budget, despite strong community opposition. Our report:

NEW: Julie Letchner writes about SPS interim superintendent Fred Podesta and assistant superintendent Kurt Buttleman's public presentation earlier this week on enrollment and budget:

The real lesson these kids are learning is how to bypass restrictions and technical controls. I say this as an infosec professional and from experience as a former child.

Props to Director Briggs for being skeptical about this AI business. This is just a classic neoliberal subcontracting/marketing ploy to create dependency on AI in children - it is not education