Present: Jane Fellner, Stephanie Bower, Heather Holmback, Linda Carlson, Sally James, Gene Nelson, Susan Derse (Garfield Principal), Lenora Lee (Garfield assistant principal), Karen Jensen, A.J. Skurdal, Rebecca Hughes, Val Morris-Lent, Chris Jackins, Kim Kemp, Lanie XXX, Alex Smith, Marian Sussman, Katherine Triandafalou, Norm Hollingshead (WMS teacher), Joanna Cullen, Shellise Montgomery

The meeting opened with a Garfield report. Susan Derse, who is leaving the Garfield principalship for the West Seattle High School principalship, said she feels “pretty proud” of what she’s been able to accomplish during her tenure. She said the first year was an investment, the second was harder, and this year has been the hardest yet. She said she’s leaving because she needs more balance between her family life and her work life. Last summer, she decided to do everything she could to give herself the resourcefulness needed to stay, but she realized that she just couldn’t do it. She said “I honor all of you,” in reference to the APP task force group. She has several worries about Garfield, including the transition of leadership and district funding issues.

She’s pleased about the design of the new school, and how it will lend itself to the things that people value about Garfield. The Garfield Foundation is up and running – the director has a 3 year contract. It’s trying to tap alumni to create an endowment of millions of dollars – it’s creating a database of all the alumni. The web site of the foundation is garfieldhsf.org.

She reported that Lenora Lee is working with the Language Arts department to try to make some moves before the end of the year to improve the curriculum in 9th grade language arts. Susan, Lenora and Steve Miranda will move forward to ensure that there is a standards-based ninth grade curriculum, and encourage, if not require, teachers to take training in teaching gifted students. Susan said the classes will still be heterogeneous; there’s still much work to be done in establishing standards and further refining what honors level work is. Val Morris-Lent said that APP parents owe Mr. Miranda a great deal of respect and admiration for the work he’s doing on this topic.

Jane Fellner said that, in reference to the language arts issue, that it’s no longer acceptable to take baby-steps on these matters – the quote in the paper about Garfield not being able to come to terms with the fact that it’s a magnet school is all too true.

Susan said that right now she has ten (teacher) grievances on her desk; it ties up the principal and it ties up the administration, plus all the public disclosure requests, plus the budget. She understands where Jane is coming from – what’s planned will be a big move; next year you’ll have to take another.

Linda Carlson asked if there’s anything parents should be saying to convey the fact that they’ve had it?

Lanie said that the APP cohort has a huge fight ahead of it in terms of the neighborhood’s ownership of the school – whenever someone says, the neighborhood wants this or that, we need to say, “I am the neighborhood.” Susan said that PAASE is working inside the system and with us – they’re doing their part. Jane said the school board has heard a lot of negatives about Garfield and not very much positive stuff, but they’re very receptive and willing to listen.

Alex Smith asked if there would be an evaluation of what the kids are given to read – he said some of the books are highly inappropriate for ninth graders. Joanna Cullen asked whether it was the content or the level of challenge that seemed inappropriate. She said she didn’t see it as an APP issue. Alex said one book was by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and contained graphic violence and brutal sex against women, and he didn’t understand why ninth graders were being offered it as an option.

Susan reported on the selection process for the new principal at Garfield. Shellise Montgomery and Jane discussed the question of the origin of the APP program, and Shellise offered her observations on the program’s shortcomings in serving students of color.

In Washington Middle School news, Norm Hollingshead reported that 60 or so APP kids were designated “at risk” because of their midterm progress reports (which apparently means, for APP kids, if they get Cs, Ds, or Es.) The teachers were to hand in grades tomorrow, and he predicted that that number would be somewhat reduced. He said that projected numbers for next year were up and that there would either be illegal class sizes or there would have to be another teacher.

Lowell is apparently full to the gills – there will be 5 fifth grades with 26-27 kids in each class. Penny Tisdale is retiring.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Ann Gwinn

APP TASK FORCE MINUTES -- March 18, 2004, Lowell Elementary

1. Introductions and Concerns:

Dana Nelson, whose daughter recently completed the identification process, has concerns regarding the process and would like to volunteer to help with this issue.

2. Building Reports:

Lowell – Reported by Hal Kimball and Sarah Alsdorf who shared parts of the Transformation Plan which includes: 1) revisiting the Social Studies Curriculum, 2) revisiting best practices both in SPED and APP, 3) developing a checklist of math skills, and 4) sharing a bank of ‘best lessons’.

Anita Yoder has a tutoring program up and running for students who need support. One challenge has been tutors canceling!

Budget issues are being dealt with - PTA is helping with this process. The goal is to maintain a reasonable class size. The district is projecting a large number of APP students at Lowell for the coming year. The ‘hard numbers’ may not be available until late April.

Washington – Reported by Norm Hollingshead. APP at-risk students (defined as those receiving D or E grades at progress reports) have been identified. This represents 30-40 students across the three grades. Teachers are collaborating to support these students.

WMS will be losing three teachers from the building next year. This year’s five LA/SS blocks will be compressed into four sections next year.

Focus will be on training for new teachers in the areas of gifted education, math and science.

Concern has been expressed by teachers about their classroom grants of $400 per teacher that are ‘up in the air’.

GHS – No report from Staff. Language Arts meetings are on-going, with Val Morris-Lent and Jane Fellner representing APP. Some short-term goals include placing strong teachers with incoming freshmen and working to define 9th grade honors curriculum. There is support for students being given the option of challenging the curriculum once it is defined.

3. School Board working session on Advanced Learning:

Due to time constraints, this will be the subject of a special working session to be held on Wednesday, March 31st at 7pm at Lowell.

APP TASK FORCE MINUTES -- JANUARY, 2004, AT GARFIELD HIGH SCHOOL

Present: Jane Fellner, Marilyn Day (Washington Middle School principal), Susan Derse (Garfield High School principal), Norm Hollingshead (WMS teacher), Joanne Robbins, Diane Brooks, Marian Sussman, Karen Jensen, Stephanie Bower, Lanie Young, Sally James, Katherine Triandafilou, Kim Kemp, Val Morris-Lent, Steve Miranda (very briefly) and others

The meeting opened with a discussion of issues at Washington Middle School. Norm Hollingshead reported that the work on accreditation of the program was complete, but said the evaluation team hadn’t visited the school yet. Sally James suggested that it would be good for a Garfield High School teacher to be on the team; that might be one way for the Garfield teachers to get to know the Washington program better. Jane said that the accreditation process at Lowell led to reflection on areas where the program could be improved, and wanted to know if that had happened at Washington. Norm said that “every strength” of the program “had its flip side.” Norm said that one focus of concern is that there’s inadequate time for APP staff collaboration. Last spring, APP teachers were able to get together and hammer out what should go in the APP reading curriculum, and what should go into language arts. But there aren’t many meetings where the teachers can get together and talk about issues as a staff. While substitutes are one solution, it takes teacher time away from their classes. “We’re incredibly efficient in how we spend our time,” he said. “There’s not a whole lot left over.”

Marian Sussman said that she thinks time for the APP teachers to collaborate is extremely important. Norm said it happens all the time, but informally. Marian said one of the APP teachers told her that she doesn’t feel that she gets that time, and Marilyn Day said the teacher needs to talk to her about that area of concern.

Karen Jensen said that the math department at WMS has “a foot in all programs -how do they get together to collaborate?” Norm said that “how math and APP fit together is a kind of question mark for me.”

Karen asked if, when the APP teachers do have meetings, who attends? Norm said that it varies. They’re all invited, but they don’t necessarily come. Mr. Isgur is a regular attender. So is Ms. Fortune, the orchestra teacher.

Stephanie Bower asked what kind of preparation the new APP teachers get. Marilyn Day said that Ellen Nottingham was paid to work with the new teachers, and that Marcy Shadow, Lisa Becerra and Norm have all worked with the new teachers. This led to a further discussion of curriculum. There’s no mandated APP curriculum, other than the requirement that students be working two grade levels above standard. Jane said that the more clearly it can be demonstrated that WMS 8th graders in APP are working two grade levels above, i.e,, at a 10th grade level, the better parents can articulate that students need more challenge than they’re currently getting in ninth grade language arts at Garfield.

Nancy Angello was supposed to be working on curriculum issues, but since she suddenly decided to retire, it’s unclear who will be working on those issues at the district level. Val Morris Lent said that 5th graders at Lowell were doing equivalent work to 9th graders at schools she works in. Jane said that “it’s hard just to do with standards - you need examples of the work.” Jane said the two new math teachers at Washington were each given three preps to do; she said it’s unclear how much support they got for that. “I know they struggled with it,” she said. Marilyn Day said that three preps are allowed by contract, acknowledging that “it’s terrible” - but the flip side is the scheduling difficulties. It’s extremely difficult when you have a certain number of kids in each program; with just two classes of Spectrum at each grade level, there’s no way she can give a teacher just Spectrum level courses.Norm made the point that not every teacher wants to teach the same thing all the time. Joanne asked about changes that had been discussed in Connected Math, including teachers supplementing it with other materials. “Is that happening?” she asked.

Marilyn said that she is sold on connected math, but that teachers need to use some supplemental materials. They need to be used with the parents. Parents grew up on algorithms, and they can’t help their kids. There isn’t an identified supplement yet.

Joanne said that the curriculum director Mike McMann had told her that he would see that supplementary material was provided. Nancy Angello was working on this issue. “Our kids aren’t getting what they’re supposed to get,” she said. Marilyn said that she disagreed with that statement, and said she doesn’t support the self contained approach in math (at WMS kids are placed in classes, not according to their APP designation, but according to their performances on a math skills test). Marian said that Fritzi Reisner likes Connected Math, but said the kids aren’t mature enough to look at the problems from different directions. So she tweaks it so they can.

Again, it was suggested that some kind of forum be developed at WMS so that some of these issues can be hashed out. This discussion of the pros and cons of “blending” APP students with other students prompted Katherine Triandafilou to say that her 9th grade Garfield student was reporting problems with the blended language arts class. “At first she said it was ok, but now she hates it. The kids don’t like her because she’s always read the book and always has the answers. The teacher’s wonderful, but she wishes she could be alone with the teacher.” There was a brief discussion of bullying issues at WMS; some reported incidents, but other kids weren’t sure whether it was bullying or just jostling, as the school remains overcrowded. The school is picking up two more portable classrooms this summer.

Susan Derse gave a brief Garfield report. She said that it’s questionable whether all teachers have the skills to differentiate teaching in classes of kids with heterogeneous ability levels. She said “if we can’t deliver, it’s time to rethink.” She said she’s talking with Lenora Lee about what the school can deliver next year. She said she sent lists of the APP students to all the teachers with blended classes and asked, what are you doing to meet the needs of the APP kids? “I got one response,” she said. Lanie said that the fact that we’re even getting a response on this issue, that you even let the teachers know about these kids, is encouraging.

From Lowell, Stephanie Bower shared a copy of a letter that the school will pass out to prospective APP parents, emphasizing the school’s commitment to diversity and desire to welcome families of color, as well as other strategies the school is working on to make minorities feel welcome. Folks congratulated Stephanie on the great work she’s done with this issue.

Jane Fellner ended the meeting with a brief report on district budget issues.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Ann Gwinn

APP TASK FORCE MINUTES -- DECEMBER, 2003 at Lowell Elementary School

Present: Hal Kimball, Helen Schinske, Kathy Tanaka, Val Morris-Lent, Jane Fellner, Bev Hesterberg, Sally James, Karen Jensen, Lisa Newbery, Kelly Bradford, Jeff Fenbert, Stephanie Bower, Heather Holmback, Kim Kemp, Katherine Triandafilou, Hank Hinnant, Sarah Alsdorf, Mary Ann Gwinn

The meeting opened with the Lowell report, as no central office personnel attended the meeting.

Hal Kimball, Lowell Principal, said the school is trying to develop a math tutoring program both for students who need help and those who need an extra challenge.

The report card for APP students remains an issue. The program’s benchmark of students working two grade levels above doesn’t dovetail neatly with the district’s standards scheme, Hal said.

With Nancy Angello’s assent, the teachers skipped using the report card at conference time, but this issue remains unresolved. At semester the school plans to send the same report card, and later send a survey to ask parents how it works for them. Nancy is working with five APP teachers to develop something that works better.

He reported that there have been staff development sessions on ADHD, technology and social skills, and reported on a new conflict mediation program that trains kids to help one another resolve conflicts at recess time. The staff has committed to three staff people on the field at each recess. The staff has also received training in conflict mediation.

Lowell’s big issues are with the budget and funding. Gates Grant money has helped fund Anita Yoder’s position; part of her job is to implement the transformation plan. He said some parents’ work with grant writing has secured two or three grants, with the possibility of two or three more. Hal would also like to improve the school’s partnership with neighborhood businesses.

Hal said the staff has engaged in the “Courageous Conversations About Race” initiative, but the issues are a bit different for Lowell. In other schools, it’s how people of different races interact; at Lowell (and in the APP program generally) it’s trying to attract more students of color to the program. Hal reported on the school’s efforts to develop a partnership with TT Minor elementary in continuing the “courageous conversations” program.

This led to a general discussion of how to attract more students of color to APP. Jane Fellner wondered if there is a way to encourage minority kids who are admitted to (qualify for) APP to actually enroll in the program. Val Morris-Lent wondered if minority educators in the district could be encouraged to look at gifted education, either through enrolling their own children or recruiting others.

Sally James suggested that the PTSA could have a diversity coordinator to direct people’s questions about the climate of the school in welcoming minorities. Helen Schinske suggested that the school become a locus of “summer camp” programs where kids could get their “feet wet,” e.g, testing the program. Hal Kimball talked about the exchange visits Lowell and Bailey-Gaetzert students made last year to one another’s schools. Sarah Alsdorf said there needs to be more movement on this issue at the district level. “The district has never been proud of us,” she said. “We need another voice at the district level that allows us to voice our issues, not the district’s.” Under Olchefske, she said, many staff hours were wasted trying to fit into the district’s mold. The program needs to spend its time on more program-specific initiatives, like linking up Lowell and Washington Middle School teachers.

Hal said that a number of principals' and district managers' kids have enrolled in the program - “from the inside, they know it’s a good program,” he said. He said the new superintendent, Raj Manhas, has visited Lowell and was very impressed. Jane Fellner told Hal that it would help if district personnel would recruit kids of color to the program, as well as sending their own. Principals and teachers currently have no incentive to recommend that high-achieving students leave their buildings to attend self-contained programs; in fact, there is a disincentive because schools are evaluated relative to the test scores of their students.

Jane said part of the problem is that there is not a true advocate for self contained programs at the district level. Working on appropriate service for kids at WMS and Garfield is “an incredibly difficult task,” she said. Many people think it’s socially wrong and academically not the best thing to do. This led to a discussion of the ongoing issue of language arts at Garfield, where kids are grouped together regardless of ability.

Val Morris-Lent described the debate as essentially having reached an impasse, so she suggested going back to basic questions of the history of and rationale for the practice, as well as surveying any research that supports the approach (or not). This approach could result either in parents becoming more persuaded that it’s a good idea, or teachers could be persuaded to rethink it.

Jane said parents need to be shown how instruction is differentiated in the blended classes. She said the staff remains committed to mixed grouping, but the new chair of the language department, (Steve Miranda) is aware of APP parents’ concerns. She said that discussion on this topic is continuing at Garfield, and that gifted education in high schools is on the agenda of the Advanced Learning steering committee. Sally James commented on the budget situation at Garfield. She said many staff are working with more than the union designated number of children in each class. The union filed a grievance on their behalf, so there’s a plan to “relocate” students in overcrowded classrooms. Jane said Susan Derse has found a way to continue to offer six classes to every child that wants them. But she said that the district faces cuts of another $12-15 million for the next budget cycle.The superintendent has agreed to look into the way the high schools are funded, she said.

No representative from Washington Middle School was at the meeting, so parents discussed the math program. Hank Hinnant, WMS parent and engineer, presented a critique that indicated that Connected Math was not appropriate for gifted students. He said the questions in the homework he’d surveyed are “mathematically ambiguous, there are two or three ways you could answer them.” This led Bev Hesterberg to comment that Hank was looking at the issue as an engineer, not as a mathematician.

Jane commented that there is some strength in Connected Math, because it forces kids to look at how they’re solving the problem, rather than just calculation. It works when teachers know how to teach it and supplement it. Jane said Nancy Angello is working on the WMS math issue. Heather Holmback told Hank that the situation does improve in the 7th and 8th grades. Jane commented that the WMS APP teachers don't advocate for the program because it's difficult to do so in the school environment, and that teachers at all levels are so hounded by district chores that there's not a lot of energy left over to say, "Oh, you should make major changes in your curriculum."

Jane once again indicated that she does not plan to chair Task Force next year, and suggested that time be devoted to discussion of task force leadership at the next meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Ann Gwinn

APP TASK FORCE MINUTES NOVEMBER 2003
November 20, 2003 at Washington Middle School

present: Karen Jensen, David Thompson, Linda Carlson, Bev Hesterberg, Joanne Robbins, Heather Holmback, Jane Fellner Susan Derse (Garfield High principal) Val Morris-Lent, Kim Kemp, Bob Vaughan, Nancy Angello (district office), Marian Sussman, Kelly Bradford, Michael Mogan.

GARFIELD HIGH SCHOOL

The meeting opened with a talk by Susan Derse, Garfield High principal. She reported on a grant the school has received for its teacher development center, and efforts to develop better assessment tools for eighth graders that can be given in the spring, so their ninth-grade teachers can have them by August. She also said the Garfield staff has developed both exit exams and pretests to assist in placing kids already at Garfield in the appropriate math classes.

She also reported on efforts, despite systemwide budget cuts that are projected next year at $18-$20 million, to sustain classes (such as BC calculus) that advanced placement kids need. "Building principals are saying that you can’t take any more from the buildings," Derse said. She said she would have some sense of next year’s budget by March. Jane encouraged folks to speak up at upcoming school board meetings on budget issues; "there’s no way PTAs should be paying for this," e.g., funding teacher positions that otherwise would have been cut from the budget.

Susan reopened a conversation on language arts at Garfield that began last month. She said the Language Arts program at Garfield remains in "some flux," but that the staff remains committed to heterogenous grouping. "The question is: how do we serve the needs of gifted kids in the process – some teachers do well (teaching different ability levels in the same class). Others need a lot of support."

Joanne Robbins asked several questions relating to how individual testing data is used in placement. Derse said she’s currently doing an analysis of former APP students now in the 9th grade to see if their teachers know they were in APP, and whether they have a plan to serve them. She also reported that the chair of the 9th and 10th grade language arts program had resigned from that position (she remains a teacher). Jane Fellner said she had never realized that the teachers didn’t have information on the APP kids, making the point that literature on gifted kids says it’s very important for their teachers to know that they’ve been identified as such.. Derse said that "I’m just making sure they (teachers) have that information and are using it."

Jane said that the eighth-grade language arts teacher at Washington has kids who are doing college level work: "I wonder how a teacher with all the kinds of kids you have at Garfield can handle that." Val Morris-Lent said that her son’s concern as a student at Garfield is for kids at the lower end of the ability scale in heterogeneous groupings who can’t keep up - "for kids who are giving up," she said. "I’m coming from the perspective of being a special educator and working in a secondary school. It’s a great dream to have teachers who can do this, (teach to all levels) but I know that it can’t be done. As much as I love special ed students being with their peers, I don’t think it can work."

Bob Vaughan said that "it’s a philosophy that drives this (heterogeneous grouping) – and no proof that it works. The mathematics system is based on tracking," but language arts isn’t. Linda Carlson said that "the weak kids just skip it – the kids that need it the most don’t get it." Heather Holmback said that she doesn’t believe that throwing kids together really promotes an understanding of diversity.

Susan Derse said that "sometimes not being heard goes both ways, " saying she’s presented data that shows that APP kids are making a year’s worth of progress in a year’s time. Jane said that APP kids are capable of making more than a year’s progress: "I’m not belittling year-for-year, but these kids are capable of more."

Nancy Angello talked about using value-added measurements in assessing students’ progress, and Jane suggested taking up the topic of language arts at the Advanced Learning steering committee.

In other Garfield discussion, BobVaughan suggested that Garfield kids don’t work hard at achievement tests because they think they don’t really matter, and that he wishes the school would use something like the PSAT that kids would really strive at. Bob complimented the Garfield staff’s efforts at recognizing achievement at all class levels, and said the counseling office is making heroic efforts to improve the college application office.

Bob also suggested that one way to serve the needs of highly capable kids is to take advanced placement classes as early as the 10th grade: "They could just prove that they’re ready to fit into the system that you already have." Nancy Angello responded that this strategy needs to fit both the school and the kids.

Everyone agreed that Susan’s willingness to meet with the task force represented a huge improvement in communication. She emphazied that changes at Garfield will take time. "It was the most wounded school I’ve ever seen" when she took the job, she said. "It’s getting better but it’s not perfect." She tries to concentrate on how things will look down the road.

WASHINGTON MIDDLE SCHOOL

Norm Hollingshead reported that Marilyn Day is back as principal after being out for back surgery – "that’s a big plus." He said the two new APP teachers "are doing great." The school is almost done with its accreditation efforts, and that he found it "to be a surprisingly good experience. It’s amazing to me that we (APP) are as good as we are when we’re just one piece of the whole pie." It was good to list the strengths and needed areas of improvement.

Ongoing issues in the math department were briefly discussed.

LOWELL ELEMENTARY

All seems to be well at Lowell – Nancy Angello reported on efforts to customize the district report card for APP students.

DISTRICT ISSUES

Nancy said there were about 3,000 applications for testing for eligibility to Spectrum and APP. Two hundred were from private schools. Vaughan, former head of the program, described this as a "very good, very respectable level of interest." The district tightened its testing procedures this year and no longer allows students from outside the district to take the test (apparently some parents were using the process as a sort of informal testing service). She reported on outreach efforts, including translating the descriptive flyer into 10 languages. Nancy reported on efforts to standardize the curriculum.

Jane said the district voted to renew the state highly capable as written (several Spectrum parents had lobbied to include Spectrum in the grant). Jane said the underlying problem is that the district is not truly committed to self-contained Spectrum. She said there will be a meeting next month to hash out these and related issues.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Ann Gwinn

APP TASK FORCE MINUTES SEPTEMBER 2003
Sept. 18, 2003 at Lowell Elementary
Jane Fellner, chair.

Present: Colleen Stump, Paul Wozniak, Norm Hollingshead (WMS teacher) , Heather Holmback, Val Morris-Lent, Anita McKay, Laureen Mar, Susan Fung, Linda Carlson, Liz Bell, Karin Fosberg, Marilyn Day (Washington Middle School principal), Lenora L. Lee (Garfield assistant principal) , Anne Mulherker, Marie Kurose, Nora Mar, Meg Strong, Kathy Tanaka, Stephanie Bower, Karen Jensen, Alex Ginn, Katherine Triandafilou, Kim Kemp, Jane Fellner, Bev Hesterberg, Lesa Sroufe, Brigid Anderson, Sarah Alsdorf, Jeff Tanner, Marian Sussman, Mary Ann Gwinn.

The meeting opened with approval of the minutes.

Jane Fellner gave Colleen Shea-Stump the floor. Colleen is the program manager for special education and advanced learning programs for the school district.

Colleen said that she is taking responsibility for policy and procedures that concern the advanced learning programs, and described several projects she’ll be working on this year. She oversees the accreditation process for highly capable programs, as well as the budget and the state grant for gifted kids."I’m your person for policy decisions," she said.

She’s also responsible for program development and program placement. Nancy Angelo, who works for her, will be the liason for Spectrum and APP teachers as well as working on eligibility for the program.

Many attendees at this meeting wanted to talk about the capacity issue at Washington Middle School – they had come to the meeting because they were led to believe that a decision on whether to move APP out of Washington was imminent. Colleen fielded several questions on this matter, but said she basically couldn’t discuss the options because of a crucial Highly Capable steering committee meeting the following morning (Sept. 19).

Jane Fellner said that there are widely divergent opinions on the best solution to the overcrowding problem. The one thing parents are united on, Jane said, is that there has been no real community engagement process on the issue, which has ramifications for APP, the Spectrum cohort at Washington and the neighborhood children who attend Washington.

Here are some of the questions parents had about the issue: Is there any document available that outlines the issues, including numbers of children involved, principles and values involved, etc.

Why has there been no public engagement process?
What is the timeline for the decision?
Who makes the final decision? (ultimately the school board and the superintendent, Colleen said).
What other options are being considered?
What about the disparity between the North End and South End in terms of program offerings (e.g., North End has lots of options, South End has few)?
Can concerned parents attend the steering committee meetings (yes, it’s a school district meeting and thence governed by the open meetings law)?
Why bust up a situation that seems to work for most parties ("It seems bizarre to dismantle something that works" – Anne Mulherker).
Why has there been no meeting at Washington Middle School about the overcrowding issue (Brigid Anderson – "I think you need to have a meeting at Washington and I think you need to accept that it’s going to be a brawl.")?
In general, Colleen appealed to the group to have patience and let the new leadership team (herself, Michelle Corker-Curry, Angello) have a chance to work on the issues.. "I know I’m number three in three years," she said, referring to the turnover in district leadership of the program.

Parents gave her feedback on the district’s record of soliciting parents’ input on decisions affecting the highly capable programs - and then ignoring their concerns. "I think there were decisions made to spite us," said Linda Carlson. Colleen said she would bring the group’s concerns to the steering committee meeting the following morning. The next morning, the steering committee decided that because of a slightly smaller APP cohort than expected at Washington, there IS no overcrowding problem at Washington, effectively tabling the issue for the foreseeable future.

Building reports:

Lowell – Sarah Alsdorf reported that Hal Kimball has become a grandpa and is beside himself with delight. Lowell started the year with 399 APP students, 13 under what they had hoped for for budgetary purposes.

A "fully functioning" counselor and a family support worker are in place. She reported that the Lowell staff has been "energized" by Nancy Angello’s visits to the school. "She’s a believer – we don’t have to convince her that our children exist," Sarah said. She also reported on attempts to deal with the district’s required report card, widely thought of as unsatisfactory for APP kids.

Washington Middle School – Norm Hollingshead also reported positive reponses from Angello’s visits to the school. He and Marilyn Day reported on attempts to hire permanent APP teachers for a couple of openings. Marilyn reported that the school is "stuffed" with children, plus 67 neighborhood children are on the waitlist for Washington. There are no waitlists for APP, but there are waiting lists for Spectrum at all grade levels. Despite a large staff turnover, both Norm and Marilyn reported that the year had begun smoothly, except for selected bullying incidents aimed at sixth graders (four eighth graders have been suspended because of participation in these incidents). Jane said kids find it difficult for various reasons to report these incidents.

Katherine Triandafilou said that overcrowding makes it difficult to get through the halls without being pushed, but she gave credit to Marilyn Day for a much improved environment at Washington: "Before Marilyn got there, the ER (emergency room) – type incidents were unconscionable." There was some discussion of the pros and cons of a parent-volunteer hall monitoring program.

Garfield: Lenora reported that Garfield is crowded, with 1660 students. She gave a report on new hires and new classes. There was ongoing discussion of how the Running Start program robs the high schools of kids and the budget money that comes with them. Val Morris Lent says the lack of honors offerings in some schools forces kids into Running Start who may not be developmentally ready for college situations.

Jane reported on the superintendent search; using the APP fall parent meeting as a school board candidate forum was discussed. On other topics Marian Sussman reported on work to update the web site for APP parents and other interested parties. Respectfully submitted,

Mary Ann Gwinn

. Mary Ann Gwinn
book editor
Seattle Times
phone: 206-464-2357
fax: 206-464-2239

APP TASK FORCE MINUTES JUNE 2003
June 12, 2003
7:00 PM
Lowell Elementary School

Jane Fellner, Chair

Attendance: Jane Fellner, Karin Fosberg, Marian Sussman, Sally James, Jeff Fenbert, Phyl Levine, Bev Hesterberg, Linda Carlson, Linda Kanter, Lisa Lukas, Debbie Paul, Norm Hollingshead (Teacher from WMS, APP team leader), Colleen Shea Stump (Manager for Advanced Learning), Nancy Angello (Advanced Learning Supervisor), Mary Ann Gwinn, Delia Floor, Hildy Ko, Helen Schinske, Susan Derse (Principal of Garfield High School), Hal Kimball (Principal of Lowell).l

The minutes from May were approved.

Colleen Shea Stump and Nancy Angello introduced themselves to the Task Force membership and tried to explain the new organization chart at the district for the department that will include Advanced Learning. As they explained, the hierarchy descends from June Rimmer at the top, with Judy Margrethe-Huge just below Rimmer. Below Margrethe-Huge is Michelle Corker-Curry, who is responsible for five different programs. These include: Title 1, Head Start, Special Education, and Advanced Learning. Colleen Shea-Stump has responsibility for two of those programs – Special Education and Advanced Learning. Nancy Angello works under Colleen and has responsibility for Advanced Learning.

Colleen told the group that she likes the idea of combining special education and gifted education. “I like my two new hats,” she said. Colleen introduced Nancy and explained they had worked together before. Nancy used to be in charge of WASL testing at the district. She has a doctorate and is considered an expert on assessment.

“You are looking at two advocates for your program and your children,” Colleen said.

Nancy explained that she is in her 37th year as an education professional. She directed gifted education programs in the Kent School district and in the 1970s was the director of reading for Seattle Public Schools. Nancy said she teaches college classes for fun in statistics.

One of the Task Force members ask the two women how they pictured themselves advocating for our program within a district that appears not supportive of the gifted education.

Colleen answered that she would wonder why people thought the district was not supportive. She asked the Task Force to give her time to get used to her job and said she needed to gather information. She encouraged Task Force members to send her email questions that are “positive” and look to the future.

SCHOOL REPORTS

GARFIELD: Principal Susan Derse gave an update on the PTSA fundraising drive to pay for a math teacher for the school year 2003-2004. She reported that $30,000 of the $60,000 total had been raised. She said, even with the half-funding, she would offer one class of AP B/C Calculus and one section of the lowest remedial math.

“If we raise the whole amount, we will add more sections,” she explained. All seniors will get into B/C Calculus. The juniors will be offered AP Statistics as an alternative. (They would then be first in line as seniors for B/C Calculus.) Susan told the Task Force that she is wondering whether Seattle might benefit from participating in a program called “College in High School,” which she used at Shorecrest High School. In this program, high school teachers are approved by the University of Washington and then they teach college courses in high school that earn the students college credits. Susan said the “weighted student formula” of the district does not provide any extra money for students who require advanced curriculum. A meeting was scheduled for June 24 at Garfield for the community to talk to School Board members about the difficulty of recent budget cuts to high schools. Susan said that her high-school principal group has told the district this year was untenable. They are hoping that the district will re-engineer the funding formula for next year. “I’m looking at this math position as a one-year stopgap measure. ..” she said.

Another problem with the funding formula is that it takes money away from high schools if their students are involved with Running Start, the program where they can take some classes at community colleges.

In order to keep some of those students on the budget map, Susan suggested there might be a way to offer on-line courses through Garfield that students could take. She said she is talking to Sharon Wilkins about those.

Finally, Susan reported on the Language Arts offerings for 9th and 10th grades. Many parents have complained over the years that these classes are below the challenge level required by students who are in the APP program in 8th grade. Susan said that Stephanie Taylor, a Garfield teacher of AP classes, would become the department co-chair for next year. Stephanie will concentrate on the “lower house” or two lowest grades and will be trying to differentiate the curriculum for honors level vs. ordinary 9th and 10-grade language arts.

LOWELL: Hal Kimball said it had been a terrific year at Lowell but the budget shadows were continuing to trouble the staff. Because there will be fewer students at Lowell next year, the budget is $70,000 short. The PTSA is providing some money and they will keep 17 teachers and a half-time counselor. They hired a woman for that position named Karen Harmon. They will have three split classes (1-2, 2-3, 4-5). Jane suggested Hal should send a letter to parents whose children are assigned to blended classes, explaining how they work at differentiating curriculum for different ages.

WMS: Norm Hollingshead reported that the building was losing Language Arts teacher Melinda Hill, but that they were appealing the definition of her seniority status. She might get credit for half a year that was not counted before. He said the staff had to figure out how to teach 5 different LA/SS blocks next year, and finally assigned two to Lisa Becerra, two to Marcy Shadow and one to Ellen Nottingham. * He said there would be a maternity leave of a math teacher next year and they will hire a long-term substitute. Jane told the Task Force that all incoming 6th grader were tested for math placement at WMS next fall.

TASK FORCE NEXT YEAR

It was agreed that Jane should name three leaders, one from each building, to serve as go-betweens for Task Force and each building’s staff and leaders. Marian Sussman is pursuing improvements to the Task Force communication, especially the web site. Jane told the group that these three people, plus Jane and the communications person and the secretary would constitute the leadership team for Task Force. This re-alignment of responsibility would allow Jane to remain as chair next year without spreading herself too thin. Jane welcomes names of people with Task Force experience who would be willing to serve in each building.

Adjourned about 9:15 p.m.

Submitted by:
Sally James
Task Force (substitute) Secretary

* Subsequent to the TF meeting, Ellen Nottingham submitted her resignation at WMS.

APP TASK FORCE MINUTES MAY 2003
May 15, 2003
7:00 PM
Washington Middle School

Jane Fellner, Chair

Attendance: Sarah Alsdorf, Stephanie Bower, Jane Fellner, Karin Fosberg, Alex Ginn, Heather Holmback, Chris Jackins, Kim Kemp, Herb Packer, Joanne Robbins, Marcy Shadow, Colleen Shea Stump, Marian Sussman, Katherine Triandafilou, Gretchen Wilkenson

The minutes from April were approved.

SCHOOL REPORTS

LOWELL: Teacher Sarah Alsdorf was at the meeting representing Lowell. Lowell’s budget is currently about $70,000 short for next year. The enrollment did not meet expectations. They are budgeting for 400 students but have not been able to get final commitments yet from all students and have not yet finalized the grade configurations. Lowell is not losing a teacher since the PTA is contributing money for that. There are other proposals outstanding to make up the budget shortage. Math issues were discussed (see below).

WMS: Teacher Marcy Shadow reported that WMS has lost APP LA/SS teacher, Melinda Hill, though she may be able to come back after the displaced persons application process occurs. The position calls for a teacher with a “gifted category,” which means at least one year of teaching in a gifted classroom. Next year, there will be 5 sections of 6th grade APP at WMS and the LA/SS blocks will be distributed thus: Lisa Becerra will have 2; Marcy Shadow will have 2; and Ellen Nottingham will have 1. Two of the 8th grade LA classes will be taught by the new teacher (and the others by Ellen Nottingham). Marcy informed us that the APP team leader stipend will be cut by 2/3 for next year, to $2000. Long-standing math issues were discussed (see below).

GARFIELD: Long-time teacher and current administrative intern Gretchen Wilkenson attended the meeting representing Garfield. She reported that Garfield has major budget problems due to the district problems and changes in funding. Six or seven positions at the school have been lost. Garfield conducted an early class sign-up activity to identify desired classes and decide where to make the cuts. This activity identified a desire for 8 sections of physics, which has led to an effort to secure equipment and funding for a second physics lab at Garfield. Marcy suggested that Garfield have a Period “0” and a Period “7” for physics and then the second lab might not be needed, assuming there is sufficient staff to teach the classes. Of particular interest to APP parents is that Calculus B/C got cut for next year. Jane wondered why this occurred since 42 students signed up for it, enough to have at least one section. Gretchen was not clear about all the details on this decision but noted that other parts of the math program were affected as well. We discussed the current proposal to secure parent and outside funding to get another math teacher for next year. Many affected parents have been willing to support such an effort if their student will be guaranteed to take the class, though this position is untenable for Principal Susan Derse’. Several parents found it untenable that this course for advanced students in a core subject area would be cut. Fundraising efforts are underway.

Comments during the Garfield discussion included the following: Gretchen pointed out that the continuity from keeping a good leader like Susan Derse’ will greatly help improve the school. She said their school-within-a-school plan involves providing for APP-type students. Jane reiterated the argument that a school with such a diverse population as Garfield needs to get more support to serve all of its students. Alex stated that since the Seattle School District accepts the state-provided grant for gifted students, they need to provide for the students through 12th grade. Katherine noted that the district needs to realize that cutting dollars from a high school creates a bigger impact than from elementary and middle schools since they have more students and conduct more types of activities, and have traditionally been more efficient with the dollars they get.

MATH AT LOWELL AND WMS: At press time, the math placement test for APP students entering 6th grade at WMS is not scheduled to occur, for reasons unclear. Joanne and others reiterated how important it is for the students to get tested to get proper math placement. Several parents noted that the 4th graders at Lowell and the 6th graders at WMS were using the same math books. Herb responded that there are similarities between topics in the math curriculum being used, but teachers are using different materials and doing different activities. Joanne pointed out that the curriculum being used was inappropriate for gifted students anyway, and the students should be using a math curriculum for gifted students rather than the regular curriculum a year or two ahead just so that APP and Spectrum could be fit into the existing standards. Herb said that the district was looking at Spectrum math in all the middle schools and also at the math transition from 5th to 6th grade and 8th to 9th grade, as a whole (which has become a problem with decentralization). Jane and Joanne insisted that this is a separate issue from ensuring proper placement of students going from Lowell to WMS. Joanne offered her services for the testing. In addition, Jane mentioned the possibility that 6th grade APP students move through the current APP 6th grade math faster and get into Integrated 1 sooner, as well as a proposal for students to get high school credit for the high school math classes completed in middle school.

OAL REPORT

PERSONNEL CHANGES: This is Herb Packer’s last meeting as director of the Office of Advanced Learning. He will miss next month’s meeting due to other important obligations. With high praise, Herb introduced Colleen Shea Stump who will sit in for him at the next meeting and then will take over next year as Manger of Special Ed and Advanced Learning under Director Michelle Corker Curry (who will oversee several different district programs). Michelle is planning to attend a future APP Task Force meeting. There will also be a supervisor for advanced learning who will team with Colleen to handle APP and Spectrum (and the other areas of advanced learning.) Herb will move into an education director position. Colleen gave a brief account of her background. She received her education in Wisconsin where she was involved in elementary education. She worked in Gifted Ed in Albuquerque and then became involved in Special Ed and learning disabilities. She also had a fellowship at the UW working in Special Ed. She was a professor in education at Stanford for eight years, which she left to come to Seattle. This is her second year with the Seattle School District where she has been a special education supervisor and has worked on: the inclusion program for middle schools and north-end elementary schools, site-based special ed planning, IEP’s and teacher training. She is also currently working with Herb on professional development for Spectrum teachers.

WMS CAPACITY PROBLEM: WMS will be overcrowded next year. Herb said that there is no indication that APP would be moved out of WMS. He said that perhaps there would not continue to be two sections of Spectrum in the future. The OAL is working with other middle schools to enhance their Spectrum programs. Parents expressed concern that the district was not doing enough to solve this and other APP issues. Herb explained that the district philosophy is that at some point the issues boil down to a choice at the individual school level. It was pointed out, however, that APP (and Spectrum) is a program offered by the district and that this district philosophy serves to pit programs in a building against one another and that the district administration needs to take an active role in solving the resulting problems.

UNIVERSAL TESTING: Universal Testing of 1st graders did not identify a higher percentage of minority students eligible for APP and Spectrum. Nor will there be significantly more 2nd graders next year because of the testing. Universal Testing may not continue in the future. Herb said that they are looking at other ways to identify students, as the program needs to become more diverse.

MISC: Over 2000 AP exams were given in the district this year. This summer, teachers of Advanced Placement classes are going to an AP academy where they can receive credits. There will also be an academy for Spectrum teachers, who will be paid to attend.

APP PARENT GROUP REPORT

Jane reported the APP Parent Group information for Courtney Jelaco. 1) The next APP newsletter will be published the first week of June and parents should contact Courtney with any relevant items. 2) The 5th grade transition meeting for parents will be held on Monday, May 19th, in the Lowell lunchroom. WMS counselor Debra Isgur along with other teachers and parents will be there to talk about WMS. Parents of current WMS students are invited to attend to help incoming parents. Students are also allowed to attend. 3) The APP New Parent Night will be June 10 at 7pm in the Lowell lunchroom. Old parents should contact Courtney at 726-1906 to volunteer to be involved in parent-to-parent discussions. 4) The APP Summer Picnic is scheduled for Saturday, August 16, from 11am to 2pm, at Lowell.

TASK FORCE NEXT YEAR

It was decided to keep rotating the meetings among Lowell, Washington and Garfield next year. Jane suggested that perhaps Task Force leadership could consist of a small board next year, including parent representatives from the three schools. This would fit in with the district philosophy of more building focus and less district focus (see above). Jane also felt that we need someone in charge of communications who can be proactive in getting information for the website as well as maintaining it. This, along with the fate of the current officers, will be discussed at the next meeting, June 12th at Lowell.

The meeting adjourned around 9:30.

Submitted by:
Heather Holmback
Task Force Secretary