Friday Memo to the Board for November
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Friday Memo to the Board Superintendent’s Office for the week of November 9-16, 2020 Happenings: • Chief of Staff Kokx and Chief Wyeth Jesse met with Seattle Police Chief, Chief Diaz, to discuss our common work moving forward in partnership • Small cabinet attended several PTA/PTSA/parent meetings at schools this week to share information about remote learning, the upcoming levy, and Seattle Excellence • Shared information about Asynchronous Learning at the virtual townhall with Kari Hanson, Principal Dr. Gary, and Principal Jones-Huge thank you to this team! • Held monthly meeting with SEA leaders to discuss educators SEL in remote learning and brainstormed ways that we can collaborate to support our educators • Visited with the Seattle Times Editorial Board about, among other things, the great work aligned to Seattle Excellence happening in our schools, leadership during a pandemic, technology and internet, HR transformation, and SPS anti-racist work. • Virtually attended a reading Native author Traci Sorell at Fairmount Park with students, staff, and parents as a part of Native American Heritage Month. The Remote Learning Task Force page- https://www.seattleschools.org/families_communities/committees/remote_learning -is up to date with upcoming meeting dates and other information. The minutes from the first meeting have been posted. Friday Memo to the Board Schools and Continuous Improvement for the week of November 9, 2020 Behavioral Health Resources Guide The ongoing stress, fear, grief, and uncertainty created by the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism can have an extraordinary impact on our mental health, and young people may have an especially tough time coping emotionally. According to Seattle Public Schools’ 2018 Healthy Youth Survey data: • 1 in 4 eighth grade students, and 1 in 3 high school students, reported experiencing depression during the past year • 2/3 of high school students reported feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge in the last 2 weeks • 26% of tenth grade students, and 32% of twelfth grade students, reported using illegal drugs in the past 30 days Research shows that preventing drug use and promoting mental health among students is associated with higher productivity, better academic performance, and more consistent attendance. We strive to support every student in need and work to accomplish this through various strategies, including partnerships with youth behavioral health agencies. These partnerships increase student access to services and reduce interruption to instructional time. Coordinated School Health staff have created a Behavioral Health Resource Guide to assist staff in providing relevant and supportive referrals to our students and families. This guide contains responses from 18 local agencies and includes information on types of services provided, insurance accepted, diversity of staff and clinicians, contact information, and more. Please note: this guide does not designate an agency as preferred or approved, it is simply meant to provide supplementary information to assist in referral. Friday Memo to the Board Office of African American Male Achievement for the week of November 9-13, 2020 The theme for this week is Meta Cognition (thinking about one’s thinking) great educators like DuBois and Dewey have asserted that experience alone is not the greatest teacher, moreover, it is our reflection of experiences that leads to wisdom. Aligned with COSEBOC we were engaged with scholar practitioner Dr. Angela Ward, our office was challenged to embrace legacy and generational thinking. Whereas, Chief Dr. Williams always says the goal is to work ourselves out of jobs… Dr. Ward reminded us to serve as if we are directly impacting 7 generations from now! In the spirit of such, through collaboration with HR, (Kendrick Wilson) and SEA (Marquitta Prinzing) the office of AAMA facilitated its first Black Male Affinity Group meeting on Thursday November 12. This week launched the start of KOSE with 25 registered Kings across 7th – 12th grades from various schools across the district. The focus for this week has been on the importance of brotherhood and support. As the Kings engaged with one another, brilliance illuminated the space through their powerful perspectives on why these affinity groups are essential. In the words of one of the Kings (Nasir) when asked, “Why do you think KOSE exists?”, he responded, “As African Americans we are here to learn more about our strengths than our weaknesses”. This week we did not host a Student Leadership Council meeting relative to Veterans Day! However, we have been convening in smaller writing groups as we push to complete the first edition of the AAMA newsletter for review next week. On Tuesday, November 10, 2020, I was fortunate to amplify my voice as a visionary speaker during the five-day virtual Intersect, Washington Women’s Foundation’s signature annual educational program, There were speakers from throughout our community and country whose knowledge, lived experiences, and roots in community inform the work that can lead to community systemic transformation. Intersect 2020’s theme, “Building Beloved Community,” is inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of a world in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth, where poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated, and where racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by a spirit of love and connection. I had the honor and privilege to participate on a panel with these phenomenal Black women educational leaders, Angelique Davis, JD, Associate Professor, Seattle University, Lindsay Hill, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Raikes Foundation and Brenda Leaks, Head of School, Seattle Girls’ School. We were asked to consider the following questions: What does it take to have an educational system no one wants to escape from? How can education be the foundation of a Beloved Community? Why is it so difficult to navigate our educational system? Should one specific system work for everyone? Why are the different sectors pitted against one another? We need thriving systems in all these areas. I attached Lindsay’s PowerPoint about the critical history of the inherent bias and inequity of our education system Also, want to let you all know that the audio/video of Tuesday's session, as well as the other days of Intersect, are available at: wawfintersect2020.com. You scroll down to the day and just press play. The videos will be available for 4 months! Friday Memo to the Board Office of Public Affairs Essential Information for the week of 11/06/20 - 11/13/2020 Goal 1: Media Relations • Seattle Times – 11/10/20 - “Emergency rules allow WA school districts to redefine school time. Did they go too far?” https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/emergency-rules-allow- washington-state-school-districts-to-redefine-school-time-do-they-go-too-far/ • US News & World Report – 11/10/20 – “Bye, Betsy: educators celebrate the end of the DeVos era” https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2020-11-10/bye-betsy-educators-celebrate-the- end-of-the-devos-era • Ed Week – 11/9/20 – “Replacing DeVos: contenders surface for Biden’s Ed Sec pick” http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/11/replacing-devos-biden-education- secretary.html • KUOW – 11/12/20 “Juneau and Inslee on lists for potential Biden administration spots” https://www.kuow.org/stories/kuow-daily-digest • Washington Post – 11/8/20 – “Biden plans series of reversals on education” https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/biden-education-change/2020/11/08/b5b25c7a-21d5-11eb- a688-5298ad5d580a_story.html • Seattle Times – 10/29/20 – “Only 1 SPS student is receiving special education services in person right now” https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/early-data-suggests-some-schools-can- safely-reopen-state-health-officials-say/ • Seattle Times – 11/5/20 – “Remote instruction was hard enough. Now teachers have to explain the 2020 presidential election” https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/what-its-like-to-teach-and-learn- remotely-through-the-2020-presidential-election/ Goal 2&3: District Messaging – Outbound Communications, Customer Service • Continue to send out a weekly School Beat newsletter to school leaders, staff, families, and partners. The newsletter was translated and sent out in our top six languages, including English, to families. Around 100,000 people receive these weekly newsletters. This last week we saw a lower open rate 35%. As a reminder, School Beat used to be a once monthly communication. We will continue to monitor trends to determine if and when to reduce the number of editions each month. • The Communications Team supported a Virtual Town Hall focused on asynchronous learning with Superintendent Juneau, Director of Student Support Services Kari Hanson, Rainier View Elementary Principal Jones, and Madison Middle School Principal Dr. Gary. There were over 100 live viewers and around 1,500 total views. • Public Affairs staff, along with staff from Coordinated School Health, have been meeting with the Youth Advisory Board from Asian Counseling and Referral Service in support of their Beyond Youth Mental Health project. The young people have created social media content for SPS channels to help other teens understand and access mental health supports. These posts will be shared on SPS social media throughout the next few weeks. • Have launched a Strategic Plan social media campaign to direct people to progress towards our collective goals. Initial posts are focused on workforce diversity, AAMA, Seattle Super Readers, and the Academy for Rising Educators. These posts will change each week and will each run for two weeks through the end of December. • Created a nutrition services video and feature story celebrating the work of nutrition services: https://www.seattleschools.org/district/calendars/news/what_s_new/increased_student_meal_distributio n This video and new data was also shared via a press release. • Chief Campbell and Chief Kokx continue to present remote learning updates and progress towards strategic plan goals.