An equitable and excellent school district is one in which all students achieve high levels of academic success, regardless of any student’s race, ethnicity, culture, country of origin, neighborhood, income of parents, or mother tongue.  In an equitable and excellent school district, there are no persistent patterns of differences in the academic achievement or treatment of students grouped by race, ethnicity, culture, country of origin, neighborhood, income of parents, or mother tongue.  Equity and excellence occurs when each and every student is served effectively to achieve at high levels.*

The meeting ended with a things-to-do-list for next school year.  The first task will be to increase committee members’ awareness of their own biases, then learn strategies for engaging school and community groups in productive conversations about equity, and finally to determine when and where to have these conversations.

One committee member suggested that BSD talk to staff in the Bellevue Regional Library to see if they would like to do what Seattle Public Library has done for several years in encouraging all its residents to read the same book and participate in programs and discussions related to it.  One possible reading choice is the book from which the definition came, but also perhaps a book to be determined later that is less academic and more accessible to the broader community.

 *Modified from a definition given in Leadership for Equity and Excellence: Creating High-Achievement Classrooms, Schools, and Districts by James Joseph Scheurich and Linda Skrla. *Modified from a definition given in Leadership for Equity and Excellence: Creating High-Achievement Classrooms, Schools, and Districts by James Joseph Scheurich and Linda Skrla.

The group has brainstormed a vision of equity from 30,000 feet up, one that went well beyond the classroom and school and outlined the contributions that parents, residents without kids in school, business owners, as well as school personnel, could make in order to create an community-wide equitable system. The direction then shifted to a close-up view and identified elements inside and outside the district, which, if in place, would move the system closer along the continuum to a strong position of equity.

The outline details characteristics that would be present in various settings if our school system identified equity as a key operating principle.

Classroom
Teacher differentiates instruction
Every student receives attention
Teachers know their students
Students are expected to succeed
Students are engaged in learning and appropriately challenged
Data are used in instructional decision-making
Teachers understand equity
Students have access to materials they need
Teacher exhibits cultural understanding
School
Principal focuses on building teacher expertise
Data are used in decision-making
Administrators, teachers and parents work together in a collaborative fashion
District
Classroom resources are distributed according to greatest need
Data are used in decision-making
District focuses on building teacher expertise
Administrators, teachers and parents work together in a collaborative fashion
Community
Teacher engages parents
Volunteers are recruited and trained to work in partnership with teachers to improve student learning
Parents are provided with the knowledge they need to support students

• Equity in teacher expectations and behaviors
• Equity in access to good teachers
• Equity in career expectations and career or academic counseling
• Equity in access to technology, and
• Equity in access to school disciplinary processes.

What other equity issues come to mind when you think about a school system in its entirety?

One reason for this revival is that we want to bring your attention to a relatively new district committee – The Equity Leadership Committee*– that has not been in the spotlight like the Math Textbook Adoption or the Fiscal Advisory committees. Although the committee hasn’t had the same level of attention, it does share a number of common traits with other district committees. It represents both the district and all the different parent groups that donate hundreds of hours to support the academic needs of our kids, and it needs feedback from staff, students, and parents to meet its charge.

At this point you may be asking yourself, what is the Equity Leadership Committee trying to achieve? The answer is that over the last few months, committee members have been studying and meeting faithfully to develop a definition of a seemingly easy-to-understand concept, namely “equity.” Their journey began by reading a book: Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County Public Schools, and also locating resources on the internet to help guide their discussions. The book describes the journey of a 140,000-student school system in Maryland whose superintendent, after studying student achievement data, made a commitment to eliminating the achievement gap by first undergoing a system-wide examination of every district structure and practice and then making significant changes in systems, governance and expectations.

As the committee has quickly learned, there is nothing easy about defining equity. Now it is turning to you for help. What do you think equity means when it comes to public education? Is BSD operating as an equitable school district? We look forward to engaging in this conversation with you, so please take the time to comment on this blog post or e-mail EL committee members Ann Oxrieder (oxriedera@bsd450.org) or Tracy Maury (mauryt@bsd405.org).

* The Equity Leadership Committee is comprised of school principal representatives, a high school counselor, and representatives from the district office, Bellevue Schools Foundation, the Latino parent advisory group (Impulso Escolar Latino de Bellevue), the multiracial/ESL parent group (Parent Action and Advisory Committee), PTSA and the Gifted Parent Advisory Board.

Creating an equitable system is one strategy for helping schools eliminate the achievement gap. By some indicators our system is not equitable. Parents with more resources can choose to live in neighborhoods with higher-performing schools. PTAs in these schools may be able to pay for extra staffing in their schools, and thereby smaller classes, by hosting extraordinarily successful fundraisers. In a survey taken by Bellevue students at school several years ago, 95% said they had computers in their homes. 100% of the students in International School had home computers, compared to 75% of the students in Ardmore Elementary. None of these differences would matter if all students performed well academically; however we know that this is not the case.

In recognition of the fact that children of better-educated, wealthier parents are more likely to be academically successful than those living in poverty, Superintendent Cudeiro asked that a representative parent committee be formed to identify equity challenges and concerns within the district and lay the groundwork for a strategic planning process that will begin next school year. For now, this committee is being called the Equity Leadership Committee. The first task of the committee has been to define “equity.”

“School districts are allowed to raise local levies to fund things that are not “basic education.” The state limits the amount they can raise to a percentage of the total they receive in state and federal funding. This is so that districts like Bellevue don’t raise twice as much as districts like Yakima. The standard formula is that districts can raise up to 24% of what we call the “levy base,” the total state and federal funding. Some districts are allowed to raise more for obscure historical reasons. For example Bellevue is allowed to raise 30%, Lake Washington 25%, and Seattle 34%.

“The amount districts get resulting from initiative 728 and 732 is substantial – it could be as much as $750 or more per student. We’ve had to suspend these initiatives this year, which means that the levy base for the district goes down. If the levy base goes down, the amount that a district can collect in local property taxes goes down, even though voters have already voted to approve the higher amount. It’s like the voters wrote a check that the districts are being prohibited from cashing.

“HB 1776 allows districts to compute their levy base as if they were still getting the 728 and 732 money. This doesn’t cost the state money and allows local voters control over what they do.

“We tried to pass this bill last year right at the end of the session but it got hung up in the budget discussions. We had it up for a vote on the last day but did not have time to finish the debate.”

I recommend subscribing to Ross’ website and read the information there about education. He is a great resource we have here in the 48th Legislative District.

According to BSD’s finance department, passage of House Bill 1776 would keep the district from losing 33.5 teaching positions in 2010-11.  In my opinion as a student, one additional teaching or library position is too many to lose. Let alone more than thirty positions. 

A new Emergency School Closure Information image link has also been placed on our home page (www.bsd405.org). If you have problems accessing the text link above, please use the Emergency School Closure Information link on our homepage (www.bsd405.org) to access additional information and the “Steps for determining whether to close schools due to snow or ice.”

I was at the November 17th School Board meeting where Bellevue’s six legislators–Representatives Ross Hunter, Deb Eddy, Marcie Maxwell, and Judy Clibborn, and Senators Rodney Tom and Fred Jarrett–gathered to discuss the implications of the upcoming legislative session on education.

Bellevue is lucky to have such a strong legislative body at our disposal. Every meeting involving them is invariably informative with occasional jokes to lighten the mood. And the mood definitely needed some lightening on Tuesday.

Senator Tom started off explaining that the new revenue forecast looks bleak. On Thursday, we learned that the State is down $2.6 billion for a one- year period. Senator Tom then stated in comparison to last year’s budget cuts, that the cuts they’re looking at now are such that “you can take every cut we just made, double it, and half again, and you’re still not there.”

Representative Hunter was quick to note that he is “not really willing to make those kind of cuts” in the $2.6 billion range. Furthermore, he stated that in regards to raising taxes, “what is the right thing” about what they can raise and what the legislature can do is not always the same.

Ross then explained how American consumption habits have changed. Instead of spending 2-3% more than they make, Americans now save 5% of their income. That money is not going into the economy.  And it has “a big impact” on our revenue forecast.

Senator Jarrett then started to explain House Bill 1776 and why it did not pass last year. House Bill 1776 is very complex and is too much to explain in this post. Before December I will post a followup explaining House Bill 1776 and why it is crucial for school district funding.

The presentation continued with all the legislators trying to show their education credentials. Judy Cliburn, speaking about last years budget cuts, reminded the audience that “everybody who had to make these cuts really cares about education and really cares about the people we are cutting from”

After some more speaking from our legislative representatives, the meeting opened up for questions.

The librarians were there in full force. Jeani, a parent of students at Spiritridge and Tillicum, asked about the education reform bill–2261–passed last year. In 2261, librarians were part of a prototypical school.

For those not familiar, librarian positions were cut from every high school and middle school this year and librarians were offered teaching positions. Senator Tom eloquently stated that 2261 was an “allocations bill” and that it shouldn’t be construed as the legislature telling schools they must have librarians.

Then, an audience member asked the legislators, “What can we do to help you in this time of crisis?”

Ross then said, “Come down and talk with your legislators.  We tend to be reasonably sympathetic. But having you come down, particularly on PTA day, does help focus people’s attention” towards issues affecting schools.”

Ross then issued the challenge: “Tell us what you want, it helps to know what people want to do.”

He then followed up with a caveat that “we’re going to be facing some awful choices this year and I’m going to want to make sure I’m hearing from the district what they want me to do.  And I think that you’re part of that.” 

After a few more questions the meeting was adjourned and I went back to writing this post. Based on all indications, this session will be horribly painful. I know that last year I lost one of my favorite teachers to budget cuts. I don’t want to lose another one.

I urge you to listen to our legislators and pay attention to our local political discourse. It’s not as sexy as national news, but our local legislative action affects Bellevue’s education more than anything.

I will leave you with a quote from Michelle Miller, president of the Bellevue Education Association: “Kids only have one shot at school; it’s the paramount duty of the state.”

Now, let’s hope for a good session.

The expectations are that absenteeism and flu illness will continue to increase through the month of November.  Reminders:  Continue good hand washing practices; keep your kids home when they are ill; and get them vaccinated when the vaccine is available.

No Child Left Behind changes:  Things have changed since parents of children in Title 1 schools received a letter in August saying that BSD had no open schools for parents who wished to take advantage of the school choice option of No Child Left Behind

 We based this decision on enrollment projections, which missed the mark in a couple of schools.  Because our official October 1 enrollment was not as high as we expected at two elementary schools, families with children in Lake Hills, Ardmore and Stevenson elementaries were given the choice to move their child.  As a result, 35 students have transferred from Lake Hills, Ardmore and Stevenson to either Spiritridge or Eastgate.

November school board agendas:  We are starting to introduce school presentations based on ones that our superintendent observed in Chula Vista School District.  Over the course of the year, each school will be asked to make a 15-minute presentation that will involve school data, school goals and progress toward school goals.  Since schools are just beginning to set their goals, presentations made this early in the school year will not include progress made.  On November 3, the first school team to make this kind of presentation was from Clyde Hill Elementary School.  Odle will present on December 1.

On November 17, the school board will be asking local legislators to peer into their crystal balls and predict the state of the economy next year, and also talk about any potential consequences for school funding.  This will be an evening session so that working parents may attend.

Visit our Board webpage to access additional in information on school board meetings >