Alternative Education Committee Minutes

May 16, 2005

John Stanford Center

4:00-6:00 PM

Members present: Elaine Packard (Chair), Lynn Beebe, Rachel Bishop, Michelle Euster, David Marshak, Elaine Schmidt, Doug Selwyn, Cynthia Spencer, Sheri Touissant,

Interns: Liz Savage, Adam Sher, Diane Solvang-Angell

Observers: None

1. Minutes for 4/25/05 and 5/2/05 approved.

2. Handouts:

· Mikala Woodward’s written summary of the committee’s policy recommendations of 5/2/05 on choice, access, transportation and continuity.

· Liz Savage’s bulleted notes of 5/2/05 taken from the board.

· School Board Director Lilly’s Views of the District Restructuring Plan, 5/4/05.

3. Check-in/Reports

• The Chair said that recent comments by some School Board Directors and the alternative school community lead her to believe that our committee needs to support the Alternative Schools Coalition’s lobbying efforts with strong policy recommendations related to the Superintendent’s Recommendations. There was general sentiment that our committee did not want to derail our original mission by responding directly to the Superintendent’s Recommendations. However, we agreed to address those issues that most parallel what we are trying to accomplish as a committee.
• The conversation turned to Director Soriano’s comments (from the minutes of 5/2/05) on the New York City small schools where 90% of their graduates continue on to higher education. One member, familiar with the NYC school system, commented that these were probably not all Type III schools and cited Central Park East Secondary School as an example of a successful small school model in NYC. The speaker went on to say that the Seattle School District is different from New York which has a smaller population of white students. Perhaps Seattle needs to create many small personalized schools to achieve equity and the kind of success that many NYC schools are achieving…But, someone in the District needs to take the lead. As a wrap-up of the discussion, it was stated that Seattle has rich resources in alternative schools but that the communities of color and the alternative schools have not connected well. It’s a way to get at the whole problem of disproportionality.

4. Work Session on Policy Recommendations

• We agreed to a format that uses bullets followed by a short statement and a short explanatory paragraph. We agreed to bullet Choice (the why of it), All-City Access (because alternative schools are unique), Transportation (which can be addressed in various ways since transportation does not equal yellow buses), and Continuousness (a Best Practice of alternative education.)
• We agreed to make “ideal” recommendations based on ideal conditions and reminded ourselves of Director Butler-Wall’s statement to recommend the kind of policies that will make alternative schools thrive and grow. We also agreed to add our “realistic” recommendations at the end of our “ideal” recommendations.
• Informed Choice We agreed that families should acquaint themselves directly with the unique mission of each alternative school. Families or students are often misinformed about a school through word-of-mouth (e.g., the school doesn’t give homework) or are attracted to a school primarily because of test scores. Schools can provide a variety of opportunities for information—visits, printed material, and/or direct conversations with members of the school community. Information needs to be welcoming and available in all languages.
• School Visits Regarding the need for families to visit an alternative school before choosing it, the following concerns were raised: it is more difficult for working families to visit schools; it is easier for high school students to visit a school without parent/guardian presence than for elementary and middle school students, possibly an obstacle for elementary and middle school visits; as public schools, we cannot refuse enrollment because a family is not well-informed; we cannot contradict our Best Practice recommendation of “Open to All.”
• We reiterated our position that alternative schools should not change their climates and missions because of families who choose a school but are not well- informed about the school or committed to its mission.
• Feeder patterns Some alternative school students want to continue their education in another alternative school, others don’t; the concept of feeder pattern assumes an adequate number of seats for interested students; feeder patterns regarding alternative schools should not be based on an assumption that alternative schools are the same, even though they are more similar to each other than to traditional schools as a set.
• Continuousness Currently there are not enough seats for all students to continue in or transition into an alternative school.
• All-City Draw/Access Most alternative schools want all-city draw, one school wants to keep its limited draw because it keeps their transportation costs lower; all-city “access” better describes our objective.
• Transportation If alternative schools are unique and choice is a fundamental and best practice of alternative education, then the District needs to provide transportation for equitable access. The District needs to work with school communities to find creative ways to get students to school, such as the “hub” concept.
• Tie-breakers Socio-economic status and lottery seem fair criteria; previous alternative school experience is important for continuousness but we do not agree to recommend it as a tie-breaker because it would not provide seats for all students, i.e., “open to all” (one of our Best Practices); the problem is the lack of seats for every student who is interested in alternative education.

5. Preliminary decisions regarding choice, equitable access, continuousness, and student assignment.

• In order to provide choice, equitable access and diversity, all alternative schools should have the option of all-city draw.
• The District should work with the alternative school communities to design cost-effective transportation.
• In order to provide adequate seats so that students can continue in and/or enter an alternative school at any grade level, the District should expand alternative schools in configurations such as K-5, K-8, K-12, 6-12, 6-8 and 9-12.
• The Enrollment Service Centers need to understand the differences among the alternative schools to provide students and families with objective and accurate information.
• Families should acquaint themselves with the alternative school through school visits, printed material, and/or direct conversation with members of the school community.
• There should be no mandatory assignments to an alternative school.

6. Future Steps

• Elaine Schmidt will work with the Chair to write our policy recommendations for final review at our next committee meeting. David Marshak volunteered to edit our report.
• The committee secretary will work with the Chair to send out material to committee members in advance of the meetings.

7. Adjournment: 6:00 PM

Respectfully submitted, Diane Solvang-Angell, Committee Intern

Meeting Schedule: May 23, June 6, June 13