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MAY 28, 2024

Dear PTA leaders,


As Seattle Public Schools enters a period of increased uncertainty and change, we want to share information with you about the role of Seattle Council PTSA at this time. SCPTSA has been supporting PTAs in Seattle since 1972. Our current board members are caregivers and volunteers like you; collectively, we have many years of experience in school-level PTA leadership as well as other PTA positions, including during previous turbulent times for our school district such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Our own families are facing the same challenges faced by your families and the families in your community, and experience tells us that PTA can be a powerful force for advocacy for our children.

What to know right now about school closures and consolidations

On May 8, 2024, our School Board voted to acknowledge receipt of a plan presented by district staff that would create a “system of well-resourced schools” through the closure and consolidation of some schools. No information has yet been provided as to which schools may be under consideration for closure and/or consolidation with other schools. District staff have indicated that they will likely provide that information at the School Board meeting scheduled for Monday, June 10, 2024. Final School Board approval of any specific changes will not take place until the fall and early winter of 2024.


You may wish to familiarize yourself with the following resources so that you can keep your community informed during this process:

  • Agendas and materials for School Board meetings can be found on the School Board Meeting Agendas page as they are posted.

  • School Board meetings take place at SPS central offices at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence (2445 3rd Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98134
), in the Auditorium. These meetings are open to the public. This is an accessible building.

  • School Board meetings are also streamed live on YouTube, with captions available.

  • Limited opportunity is provided for public comment at School Board meetings. Only those who sign up in advance to provide testimony may speak at School Board meetings. Testimony may be given in person or remotely by phone. Adult speakers may address the School Board for up to 2 minutes; students may speak for 4 minutes.

  • SCPTSA has been actively advocating for improved processes and support for language justice and disability access at SPS School Board Meetings. If you are experiencing barriers to getting interpretation and/or accommodations to testify at a school board meeting, please reach out to SCPTSA at board@scptsa.org for advocacy support.


Once specifics are announced, School Board Policy H01.00: School and Instructional Site Closures will apply. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the public reporting requirements and public hearing timelines contained in that policy, and to share that information with your community through your regular PTA communication channels.

What can PTAs do?

As you consider the role of your PTA in this developing situation, it is critically important to remember that you are part of the nation’s leading child advocacy organization with a long (100+ year) history of effective advocacy for children. Whatever the specific mission of your own PTA, the overall mission of PTA as an organization is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children. Our heritage consists of generations of PTAs bringing families and communities together to learn about and engage in effective advocacy for children. This is where our greatest power to improve the lives of children resides.


When clearly acting as individuals, people who are also PTA board members may advocate as their conscience directs. However, when advocating as/through PTAs, our mission requires us to center students at all times, with a particular emphasis on those who are most vulnerable. For PTAs, this means that in this moment, while we wait for additional information:

  • We advocate not for or against school closures and consolidations in general, but rather for responsible and effective system-wide improvements to educational quality and equity for students in Seattle Public Schools, undertaken in a way that ensures that adults and not students bear the primary burden of any unavoidable disruption;

  • We advocate not for or against the closure or consolidation of specific schools, but rather around the potential effects (positive and/or negative) of proposed changes on students, and especially on those who are most vulnerable;  

  • We recognize that accurate data are critical to good decision making, and also that numerical data are susceptible to being weaponized and used unacceptably to tokenize students and communities. Storytelling is an extremely powerful advocacy tool that we can use to help our decision-makers truly understand how their decisions will impact our students.

  • In order to be able to share authentic stories, we will work to understand who is in our communities and dedicate ourselves to genuine partnership with all in our communities, using resources such as National PTA’s Diversity Profile Template, Local Leader Guidance for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and other DEI resources provided by National PTA.

  • If approached by media for comment, and we do not have an established media policy, we will refer to WA State PTA’s Ten Tips for Speaking With Media to ensure that our media interactions are mission-aligned.

  • We ensure that, as membership organizations, we obtain the approval of our membership before making official position statements or joining non-PTA-led advocacy campaigns.


Statewide Advocacy and Advocacy around funding our schools. In accordance with our purposes, SCPTSA will continue to provide services, information and support for local PTAs, and to promote cooperation among local PTAs, especially around collective advocacy. SCPTSA and WSPTA have a lengthy history of advocating for funding for our schools. SCPTSA has been and will continue to provide training and support for our members in understanding how to advocate effectively, as well as creating opportunities for our members to connect with decision makers. Please subscribe to our newsletters and attend our General Membership meetings to get the latest information from SCPTSA on actions you can take, trainings you can attend, and tips on advocating. Remember, our advocacy efforts are most successful when you participate.  


We continue to monitor this active situation and will be providing regular updates to our local PTA leadership. In the meantime, if you have any questions for us, you are always welcome to contact us at president@scptsa.org.  


We hope to see you at our General Membership Meeting on June 6, 2024 at 6:30pm at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence (2445 3rd Ave S, Seattle, WA 98134
).  All are welcome.


Sincerely,

Seattle Council PTSA

SPS Community Meetings  

Please let your communities know that the SPS Superintendent and School Board have scheduled two series of community meetings STARTING TONIGHT! School Board is responsible for gathering community input on the "What and Why" of the district (goals and guardrails based on vision and values) and the Superintendent is responsible for the "How" (well-resourced system, strategic plan).

HOW CAN SCPTSA SUPPORT YOU?

Seattle Council PTSA includeds all Seattle PTA Leaders in our subscriber emails.

Please encourage PTA Members  to  Subscribe and/or view past emails.
And feel free to update your preferences or unsubscribe if you wish.


Have other events, resources, or ideas to share with us? Secretary@scptsa.org