Submitted by John Arbeeny. CPSD “Inside Schools”: Academic achievement and parental involvement. A change of emphasis? I received the latest issue of CPSD Inside Schools, September 2022 and was mildly surprised to see the emphasis on academic achievement and parental involvement in their children’s education. Superintendent Banner writes: “We are steadfast in our support of […]
Letter: What and Who is Lakewood CARES?
Submitted by John Arbeeny. What and Who is Lakewood CARES? (Citizens for Accountability, Responsibility, Education and Service) You may have heard of Lakewood CARES recently from people who have never attended a CARES meeting and who, disagreeing with CARES positions on issues, grossly mis-characterized CARES in their ignorance. If they can’t attack the CARES message […]
Letter: CPSD Budget Process: Why doesn’t the public show up? Why should they?
Submitted by John Arbeeny. Budget Timeliness and Timelines Have you seen the proposed CPSD budget briefing that will be presented during a public hearing, 7/11/22, at 5:00 PM? That’s because it hasn’t been released to the very public that is supposed to be commenting upon it during the budget public hearing! How many of the […]
Student Growth Potential (SGP): Real Progress or Self Deception?
Submitted by John Arbeeny. During the CPSD Board workshop on 22 June 2022, Brian Gabele, Director Assessment and Program Evaluation, gave a presentation on Student Growth Potential (SGP) which is used by OSPI and CPSD to assess student improvement and thus school and district improvement relative to other peers in math and English Language Arts […]
Letter: Observations from 5/23/22 Clover Park School Board Working Meeting
Submitted by John Arbeeny. I attended the 23 May 2022 Clover Park School Board (CPSB) Working Meeting via ZOOM and came away with the following observations. The public is still awaiting minutes from the April 2022 Board meetings after over a month. This delay is unacceptable and unexplainable. For example, draft minutes of the Lakewood […]
Letter: Clover Park School District’s “Ministry of Propaganda Half truths”
Submitted by John Arbeeny. “The truth, the WHOLE truth and nothing but the truth” When you’re sworn into court you say these words in an oath avowing to be completely honest in your answers. The same should be expected of our public institutions to include school districts. They owe the public “the truth, the WHOLE […]
Letter: OSPI Superintendent Reykdal inserts himself into Supreme Court abortion issue
Submitted by John Arbeeny. In an Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) statement dated 3 May 2022, Superintendent Chris Reykdal inserted himself into discussion of the leaked US Supreme Court majority opinion about Roe v. Wade. “As Washington state’s elected K–12 schools chief, it would be short-sighted for me to believe that my job […]
Letter: Cultural competence? Which one? How about USA cultural competence!
Submitted by John Arbeeny. I attended (via ZOOM) the Clover Park School District Board meeting on 28 March 2022 I was particularly interested in the presentation by Tim Garchow, Executive Director, Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA) about their “Cultural Competency Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (CCDEI) program. CPSD’s discussion of this program was a prior Board […]
Letter: CPSD discipline policy. A recipe for chaos.
Submitted by John Arbeeny. “There are none so blind as those who will not see,” Jonathan Swift, 1738. I reviewed the 14 March 2022 Clover Park School District (CPSD) Board regular meeting and came away with observations on the most significant issue: District discipline policy. Agenda Item 22-102, Adoption of Policies, Policy 3241 “Student Discipline” […]