- On whom does the burden rest?
Boy oh boy, Sundquist is losing it. Me thinks he’s gotten a bit stressed under pressure.
Tonight was the much anticipated Cooper/Pathfinder meeting. Here’s your clothes pin, you might want to stick it on your nose now.
At the beginning of the meeting, Sundquist laid out the agenda for the night as well as “the rules of engagement”; no cussing, stick to 3 minutes, no racial slurs, etc. He pointed out that initially 20 people signed up ahead of time to speak. An overflow list was also available and people interested in speaking were directed to it.
He also said that if a parent wanted to testify via an interpreter that they could do so at the end of public testimony, stating that interpreted speeches take more time and he wanted to be sure that non-English speakers had “adequate time to testify” (because it would take longer than the typical 3 minutes).
Sundquist pointed out that interpreters were available and asked people of those languages to sit together so they could hear the translation of information throughout the meeting.
The people who signed up, and SHOWED up, testified. They then moved to the overflow list, and went through that (some were not there).
After all “English” public testimony, one Latina woman spoke via a Spanish interpreter. When she had finished, a Somali man took the mic and began to introduce a Somali gentleman from the Cooper community, and himself as the gentleman’s interpreter.
<Insert Steve Sundquist losing his fuckin’ mind here>
Sundquist interrupted the interpreter and said “we have reached our 40 and we have to stop here, we do not have any more time”. One woman yelled “no you didn’t (have 40 speakers)!” All seem to agree that 40 people did not speak, though 40 or so names were called. We know this for sure because Sundquist took pleasure in announcing that folks were not present to cede their time to other potential speakers.
<insert fed-the-fuck-up community members here>
Someone piped up “you said they could speak at the end!”
Sundquist’s response was “we’ve reached our 40″, and something about names not getting on “the list”…they didn’t identify themselves “properly”, so they would not be recognized. The man with the mic was not a district interpreter (which is neither here nor there), and Sundquist said it was a problem that the parent in question had not identified himself to a district employee (though the man was not present at the start of the meeting, so how would he know that? Plus there’s that whole not speaking English thing).
The piper upper yelled at Sundquist that he had not been clear about that at the beginning.
People started to yell, “let him speak”, “it’s just one person”…etc. etc.
He repeated his muddy rules and the room broke out “translate, translate, translate!!!” Chanting lasted for over 1 minute, and then folks took pleasure in yelling at Sundquist: “you’re so predictable”, and, “why let him (the Somali father) speak, you (Sundquist) won’t listen anyway”.
Sundquist turned off his mic, set it down, and packed up. Within 5 minutes he was gone.
<Instert Sable’s dramatic sigh and head shake here>
You know peoples, this is fuckery afoot by definition. What the hell is wrong with this man? I mean I’m asking the question, really, tell me, give me an answer. Wait, let’s not get it twisted, oh I know the answer; do you? I kow you don’t like to use words like prejudice and bigot and insensative jackass, but c’mon, if not that, what? WHAT?!
Some have you have insisted that letting the man speak was “breaking the rules”. I think Steve Sundquist is the King of all rule breakers at this point, so I really don’t see the problem. Why does Steve Sundquist get to walk around with an all powerful do-whatever-the-hell-I-want-and-get-away-it badge?
We’re talking about access and equity and advocating for children, and how for non-English speakers, brown, Black and poor families there is little to no opportunity to adequately voice their concerns, and here we are with this bullshit, and it must be said, this IS bullshit. Sundquist couldn’t spare 3 minutes? 180 simple seconds so that a parent, volunteer, community member or teacher can put their precious energy into helping him understand how his actions impact a whole hell of a lot of people?
He didn’t identify himself “properly”? WTF was he supposed to do, jump up and scream “you’re a pig” and then throw both of his shoes at Sundquist’s head? I’m just askin’.
For all my years in working with schools and non-English speaking parents, please, tell me because somehow I missed this one; how does a non-English speaker “properly” identify himself to an English speaking arrogant jerk who doesn’t want to acknowledge his existence in the first place? And at what point did Sundquist ask the non-English speaking parents to identify themselves to him or anyone else? I’m just askin’.
Steve my man, I have to wonder, how do you identify yourself to people? Is it the “Property of AHPTSA” stamped on your forehead, or the smelly superiority complex you carry around on your silver platter, stacked as high as the Volkswagen bug in the IKEA commercials? I’m just askin’.
The district REGULARLY fails to provide interpreters, thus the communities impacted rely (wisely) on each other; it is NOT strange or unheard of for this kind of cooperation between friends/families/community members. Hell, you’ll find CHILDREN interpreting for their parents all the time. For the record, the expressions on the faces of two men who stood at the podium were of utter confusion; had they done something wrong?
I’m wondering, when is the next time this non-English speaking man is going to get the guts to stand up only to be disrespected and humiliated like that? Ummm, can you say NEVER?!
Way to go Steve, you’ve successfully disinfranchised another brown person family community.
P.S. WHY oh why did the SPS security guard only move from her perch when the Black folks got on the mic? Was it because they fit the description? Was she there to protect Sundquist from the community, because she for damn sure wasn’t there to protect the community from Sundquist.
Hmmm, now there’s an idea. When do we have public hearings for that?
Other bits:
- A member of the Arbor Heights community attended the meeting and gave public testimony thanking the Board for reconsidering AH for closure and recognizing the goodness of AH. Said she was sorry any buildings needed to close during this time. There was much eye rolling around the room. “You gonna come here and thank them for saving your kids at he expense of ours?! TYPICAL.”
- Pathfinder staff said unanimously that they do not want the Cooper (or AH) building, or ANY building that requires children to be evicted.
Testimony of the Night #1
Good Evening My name is xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx. I am a Cooper kid, I have two Cooper kids, I also work at Cooper. Nothing personal but it isn’t nice to see you all again.
This time we were not put one the first list AH was. The problem this time as we have heard, second hand, since we didn’t get any personal phone calls from our Ed Director and we haven’t attended meetings withSteve Sundquist, also has two parts.
First the projected increase of the deficit and secondtoo much capacity in WS South your numbers say that the need for seats will be in the North. Cooper being listed as a solution to either of those issues makes no fiscal sense. Cooper is in WS Norththe capacity problem that you outlined is in WS South our kids will put WS Northover capacity at each building and there will be about 85 kids without a school to attend. Those 85 kids will be bused all over WS. A large number of our families have 3-5 kids. When it is time for their siblings to enter school they too will be bused all over WS and may not end up at the same school as their sibling.
Mrs. Goodlow-Johnson said she did not want to “create a problem to solve later”. Doesn’t having all full and/or over capacity schools in the North create a large fiscal problem now and later? You said the projection is that the numbers in the North will rise while the numbers in the Southwill fall. Why bus children all over WS when you can just go with your original recommendation and solve the capacity issue and ease the money issue that you outlined in WS South?
So why is a recommendation that has nothing to do with the problem as you defined it an option? Is it because you buy into their idea that Cooper would make a good sacrificial lamb? Now that would create that future problem but if AH serves Roxhill on a plate I suppose that would take care of it? I don’t know why AH was the original recommendation? But it is clear why they are not now.
Race and money! Parents with money can pull there kids out of the district. Parents without can not. That’s a fiscal problem.
White’s nation wide vote more than other races, when it’s whites with money that number gets even bigger.
“Uh-Oh AH is where my bread is buttered”, “Cooper? Those poor people of color didn’t elect me anyway!” Since we were not on the list to begin with and we were added only after a white school with money “hatched several plans” one of those being closing a high school in Cheryl Chows area. That same school is pretty convinced that the “district is against them but the board may not be”. It would seem to me and many others that this is the case. The district recommended AH not Cooper. But their board member threw us in the fire. That’s right I said it their board member.
Their board member has not responded to any emails from our community. Their board member outlined clearly and quickly the dollars and cents issue there by allowing them time to mount a swift attack on another WS school. And for the record Cooper has NOT agreed follow that same model. Theirboard member suggested to one of our parents that Cooper should move to WS Elementary. Their board member hasn’t responded to our grave concerns about any of our children. Theirboard member said he didn’t have to have a meeting at a building that wasn’t closing had one at WS Elementary and didn’t even invite us. Their board member who told me that one of the reason’s Cooper was a better fit for Pathfinder was because we had a nicer building.
That seems to be an asset to a white school with money but a liability for a low income school of color! Shameful!
We are not just a building. Easy mistake to make when you’ve never been there…. right Steve? In closing a few questions. These from Cooper kids and families
1. How come they don’t like us? Us is you.
2. How come they don’t just build a school for Pathfinder the way they built the other new schools?
3. Why do we get in trouble for taking things that aren’t ours but they are trying to take our school? Again the they is you.
How do we get a board member of our very own?
Who among you will be your brother’s keeper?
Testimony of the Night #2
coming sooooooon!
Ouch! A picture tells a thousand words. Now I don’t know how many words there are for Racism. But I bet Steve’s picture is a definition for at least one. Sounds like he did what we all thought he would do tonight. That is pay no attention to anyone!! Way to be consistant Steve don’t do s#*t! I guess you were following the Brownie model. DAMN FINE JOB!! George would be sooo proud! Who is willing to scream for an investigation into this sold to the highest bidder elected official? The mayor, govner, king county council, NAACP(where the hell are you guys anyway!), ACLU, Americans with dissabilities Act. Well if there was any question of whether this is about “race and money” that was answered tonight! Showing the bottom of your feet or shoes(as we have heard on the news) is a huge insult to the person being shown. I’ve got one from the American culture and it involves a “special finger”. This one’s for you Steve!!! Or Brownie it is getting so hard to see where Steve ends and Brownie begins. Everybody call somebody!! I mean DAMN!
Uh-Oh you’ve done it now!
Did you hear that Dr. Goodloe-Johonson said the public hearings aren’t for input into the closure process – they’re just for people to “voice their opinions” or vent, in other words?
That’s right, they scheduled hearings but they won’t be hearing us.
Beansa, I did hear that.
I also heard her say that small classroom size is an unproven method and NOT a priority for SPS. Now that is quite jaw dropping.
Man! I don’t know whether to call the Urban League or get the popcorn! Y’all have a real life School Board version of “24″ going on before your very eyes.
The Testimony of the Night #1 states that whites vote in higher numbers.
Shouldn’t non-whites start voting in higher numbers in order to get more influence?
What the research actually says, as far as I remember, is (a) if you have a crummy teacher, you can reduce class size all you want and it does nothing, and (b) by far the greatest effects are found if you reduce class size to seminar-style classes of 15 and below (as in the more expensive private schools), which is quite unrealistic given the funding. There *isn’t* necessarily a huge effect when you reduce classes from, say, 28 to 24. All the same, there are obvious benefits TO THE TEACHERS of reducing class size as much as humanly possible, and reducing teacher burnout is hardly a bad idea.
Another thing that feeds into official perception of what the “research shows”: in California, decreases in class size were mandated to occur very quickly, and lots of inexperienced teachers were hired to pick up the slack. Guess what happened in small classes with inexperienced teachers? Not as much learning! Ding!
It’s also entirely possible that the benefits of class size reduction are very different for different populations, and therefore not easy to judge by looking at averages.
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Cheers!
so let’s start again-
1.last night there was room for people to speak. there were 40 seapkers, over 50 names called. there was an announcement for translators. at the end after the last person spoke thru transalation, someone else was made aware that they could . the school rep, told him to come up to the table and give his test. as they were only allowes to do “public” testimony for 40 people…
he was still allowed to have is statement on record.
there should have been more community help from the english speaking cooper people on behalf of their non english speaking community members. be an advocate
2. parking- if it was important one would walk a mile to represent. if someone is handicapped- then you should have had a person waiting outside to meet them at the curb and park their car for them…. be an advocate
3. cooper was notified in the beginning of the whole process, along with all the other west seattle schools.
4. yes cooper has a diverse community- we all do. diversity is more than skin color.
5. i am a person of color and feel ashamed at the disorganized mess last night was. race can be a factor bur we all know that it’s much more economical than it is race.
speak to the real truths- not the ones that will be the ‘oh no she didn’t” factor
Much more coopoerative comments, thank you for posting. My only question is who decides what the “real truths” are? How is that decided? Everyone has a truth of their own. So what is THE truth?
As for the “oh no she didn’t” factor, I’m not sure what that even is.
Additionally, I spoke witha reporter friend of mine who was in the room from start to finish and maintains that the gentleman in question was NOT allowed to give his comments, on the record or otherwise.
One more thing, I am assuming, since you’re pushing advocacy, that you stepped to park cars, assist non English speakers and so on?
Let’s continue the discussion…
also i might add that people using translation were given 6 minutes instead of 3… does that mean that others should cry about inequity?
You may have missed this, so I’ll post it again:
“Equity is not about treating people the same; it is about treating people’s individual circumstances with equal vigor”
So then, to answer your question; NO, they shouldn’t. But they likely will anyway. That’s the way of things.
i do know that towards the end of the night, i did see him speaking at the table. now if he was not allowed to give his testimony full then that is wrong, as they said he could. so it’ll be interesting to see what is the transcript says.
‘real truths’ = what happened at the meeting and not a spin.
i am pusing advocacy- if someone had told me there was someone outside needed assistance- i would have gone out there. if someone from my immeadiate community needed assistance and made it known- i would have been out there.
now- did i know what cooper’s needs were- no i didn’t. if i had heard from a webpage or a blog that cooper needed to know the ‘rules’ and that they needed handicapped parking- i bet i would have spoken with the SB and made sure that both were availiable. i might have even called genesee hill and asked where there handicapped parking was.
if it’s known- i’ll assist. but what i won’t assist in is slinging of mud. i am not saying that i agree with the naming of cooper after the AH thing. but if cooper doesn’t want it to happen then cooper needs to be loud- loud, respectful and organized. cooper needs to advocate for its school on something else besides race.
personally- i feel like it doesn’t matter how many of the kids are on free or reduced lunch. my kids are- and i make sure they do their homework. because i care. the main theme that i see is
- poor kids don’t do well in school because their parents don’t care or have the means to help them
bs- i care- there are free tutors, there is the library
-different skin colors= diversity
narrow sighted and we should be beyond color if not as a whole than at least as a community- we’ll never get there is we don’t stop looking at it
i am a single mother of two children in the seattle school district. i am proud of them and what they contribute. i will advocate for them in all the ways that i can. i will stay up late, i will go to early meetings, i will go to meetings after school, on the weekend
i will read what i can- if something doesn’t make sense- i ask a question.
cooper should obtain people to do free translation of all district papers- if the district won’t do it.
i bust my hump. i do what i need to do. i do it as a mother and a citizen who believes in fighting for what is right. with respect and with grace and with grit.
i am my power and my energy towards the real targets. not other communitites- but where the real decisions are being made.
so people either need to mobilize or shut up. it’s sad if there are 10 mobilized people and not more to help-it can be hard to swallow and i don’t envy those who are doing
things at cooper- but it’s time to get the whole community involved…
no people didn’t cry out- it was understood- people at the meeting clapped when it was announced that translations get 6 minutes- claps from all 3 communitities
i guess we’ll see if anything changes @ the meeting tonight.