(I am quite disgusted with the slipping quality of our public
schools. I raised 4 good children and help all go pretty directly
thru public schooling and get B.As. or B.Ss (2 got MAs) and move
on into productive middle class lives.
I now have 5 grandchildren, and two of the families spent time
in public schools, now none are there.
I spend a lot of money thru taxes on the public schools,
for poor product for both my heirs, and all our people.

so - It is very interesting that even Angela Poe Russell
is agreeing with me! They need to improve or perish.)

from
https://mynorthwest.com/3958367/some-free-answers-seattle-schools-100000-question/

Angela Poe Russell: Some free answers for Seattle Schools’ $100,000 question
Apr 24, 2024, 8:24 AM | Updated: 9:39 am

seattle schools...
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)

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BY ANGELA POE RUSSELL
KIRO Newsradio host and writer
Why is enrollment declining at Seattle Public Schools (SPS)? It’s the
$100,000 question after receiving a grant of that exact amount to
investigate the matter.

I’ll never forget the moment I was done with public school.

My fifth-grade daughter explained she’d been finishing classwork early
and getting bored. I asked the teacher if she could keep worksheets on
hand, never imagining the answer would be anything other than
absolutely, but the response was indeed no. I can’t say I even got an
explanation.

More from Angela Poe Russell: The bold policy every school should adopt now

We were fortunate to be able to do a private middle school where,
coincidentally, the teacher kept challenge worksheets in a folder for
any student who wanted the extra push.

The bottom line is that people want to work with organizations and
businesses that go the extra mile. No doubt there are many SPS teachers
who do, but something is clearly off.

The district has lost 4,000 students in the last five years. And there
are some things Seattle Schools can’t control — like the fact that the
city has more dogs than children. In King County, the number of people
under the age of 18 dropped for the first time in 40 years!

During the pandemic, kids poured into private schools frustrated with
continued delays to in-person learning. Also, a number of families left
the city over public safety concerns.

More on the Seattle exodus: What Seattle police officers are saying
during exit interviews

But with any problem, there’s always a role we play in it and Seattle
needs to own its part. So I’ll channel Dua Lipa here and offer some “new
rules.”

1. The plan you had to eliminate Seattle Public Schools’ advanced
learning program, scrap it
I agree that the advanced learning program has problems, but the
solution is to fix what’s broken, not shut it down. And by the way,
telling people that the new neighborhood model is going to be better
because it’s “equitable, inclusive and culturally sensitive” is not the
best marketing.

Plans call for the advanced learning program to be gone by the 2027-28
school year, with the new model available in every school by the 2024-25
school year.

2. When people offer you help, consider taking it
It’s been reported on a few occasions that nonprofits offering to
support Seattle schools are facing so many barriers they give up and go
to other districts. We need partnerships.

3. Brush up on your customer service
While I get that you can’t treat schools like a business, you most
certainly can embrace the principle of offering products people want.
Programming, opportunities. If you make it attractive, people will come.

I realize declining public school enrollment is a national trend but
Seattle seems to be expediting this by stripping away what makes it
appealing to those with more choices.

More from Angela Poe Russell: Diddy’s sex trafficking allegations bring
up complex issue

I hate to make education a numbers game, but at the end of the day,
fewer students mean less money and cuts to programs. And while that may
be a hard pill to swallow, better to take their medicine now before it
gets worse.

Angela Poe Russell is a longtime Seattle media personality and a fill-in
host for KIRO Newsradio.

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