This workspace: http://BroadFoundationInSeattle.pbworks.com
Related pages: Comments on A Road Map---
This is the text of a draft email
The intent is to get a number of signatories, send this to every School Board Director. and read this at the next school board meeting.
Please let me know if you would like to be a signatory....click here
To request to be a "user" or editor of this workspace...click here
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May --x-- 2010
Dear Director of Seattle Public Schools,
It is now well established, and now fairly widely known, that the Broad Foundation is having a profound influence on District leadership, policy, and direction. My co-activists and I have compiled a tremendous amount of evidence on this. Any one who dismisses this influence as "conspiracy theory" is either in denial or has willfully or otherwise not bothered to look at the evidence. It takes little effort now to evaulate this question, due to the diligent work of my colleagues. So, having established that the Broad Foundation is strongly influencing the direction of SPS, then the question is this:
"Does the community want this influence?"
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Toward making a reasoned decision as to whether the Broad Foundation's influence in SPS ought to be welcomed or rejected by the School Board:
Here is a suggestion for a three activies that will help the school board to answer the big question, "Does the community want the continuation of the Broad Foundation's influence in Seattle Public Schools?" A fourth activity is a follow up action that would be undertaken if and only if the Board finds that the continued influence of the Broad Foundation is undesirable.
I am certain that there are community members who would be more than happy to assist the School Board in these three activites, were the School Board to decide to undertake these. The second activity might best be carried out in part by having a public forum, with recommended pre-reading, and then a follow-up survey for attendees.
Activity One: The School Board will develop a complete, concise, accurate statement that characterizes the goals and means of the Broad Foundation and their ally organizations.
For community members and their representatives (the Directors) to think contemplate whether allowing the Broad Foundation (and their ally organizations) to continue to influence SPS, it is necessary for primary stakeholders (parents of enrolled children) and their representatives (the Directors) to form an accurate udnerstanding of the goals and means of this organization.
It is not difficult to find this out, especially because of the work that my colleagues have done. In fact, one can learn a great deal about the goals and means of the Broad Foundation by looking first at the Broad Foundation's annual report [http://www.broadfoundation.org/foundation_report.html], and then by studying the materials on the www.broadurbanprize.org website. At the latter URL we find out what to the Broad Foundation are the characteristics of an exemplary school district. Here we can find out, implicitly, what is the Broad Foundation's vision for Seattle Public Schools.
Activity Two: The School Board will evaluate the alignment of the Broad Foundation's agenda for large urban public school systems with the community's agenda.
Does the Broad Foundation's vision for Seattle Public Schools fully accord with the values and priorities of especially the parents of children who are enrolled in?
We do not yet know the answer to this question. We do know that there are many parent activists that have made extraordinary efforts to understand what the Broad Foundation's probable vision for SPS is, and these activists are strongly opposed to this influence.
If we were to survey the broad community, then I think we would get a much more mixed message. If we were to limit the survey to people who had at least reviewed the two sources I mentioned, and who have been told about the best practices literature around High Stakes Testing and Federal Models of School Restructuring , then I suspect the survey results would show respondents to be strongly opposed to the Broad's influence.
Activity Three: The School Board will evaluate alignment of Broad Foundation means with genuine best practices in education
Does the Broad Foundation's vision for Seattle Public Schools accord as best as one could hope genuine best practices in education?
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I hope that this suggestion is helpful.
Please feel free to call me if you have an questions or, if you like help from me and my colleagues should you endeavor as a Board to implement or refine this road map.
My cell phone number is 206 307 7137.
I REQUEST THAT THIS LETTER BE INCLUDED IN THE PUBLIC RECORD, AS PER RCW 28A.645.020
Best regards,
Joan Sias
Mother of two Seattle Public School students.Activist for high quality public education for all.
Activist against corporatist regressive education reform.
Associate of Seattle-Ed 2010 and Seattle Shadow School Board.
Editor of http://BroadFoundationInSPS.pbworks.org, http://RaceToTheTop.pbworks.com and other related workspaces.