The Rats Have Now Left the Ship

But do those abord know it has sunk?

Somehow, yes, I think they have.

State, City show no interest in taking over district

The fundamental flaws plaguing Seattle’s troubled school district go beyond money woes and controversial school closure proposals, many city and state leaders said Monday after the superintendent announced his resignation.

But neither the city nor state believes it’s their job to fix the district’s problems.

In Olympia, there isn’t “any interest whatsoever” in the state stepping in to resolve Seattle’s crisis, said Rep. Dave Quall, a Mount Vernon Democrat and Education Committee chairman. His Senate counterpart, Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, predicted any intervention would be only advisory.

At Seattle City Hall, some politicians blamed a host of district problems on the state, and some blamed the School Board. Many expressed grave concerns over the public’s apparent loss of faith in the district. But none endorsed a city takeover of the district.

For the non-locals, here is the quick run-down:

The Seattle School District has been a sinking ship for over a decade. With declining enrollment, most likely to do with the non-family-friendly atmosphere on the City’s face, and ever increasing teacher’s union demands (that include fewer days, fewer duties and more pay and more non-teaching staff), the school district has been short on cash for as long as anyone can remember.

We had an at least competent Superintendant for a while, keeping the ship barely afloat, but he died during his cancer treatment, and they haven’t been able to get anyone who can get the ship shape long enough to plug the leaks in the hull.

Manhas was doing pretty well until the whole idea of closing a few of the districts buildings and combining some of them together in order to save cash came around. The first list popped up and the parents went nuts. A number of the parents charged racism and others screamed favoritism, but the list’s reasoning was as sound as concrete. They went off  the building’s age, location, attendance and the school’s score in the standardized tests to figure out who got cut.

But, the schools listened. They came back with an even shorter list. Again, the parents bitched and moaned. So the district went back to the drawing board, looking to see which schools they could still close and piss as few parents off as possible.

A little over a week ago they came out with another “revised” list. Again, the parents complained and a fist fight even broke out at the meeting. This time the district capitulated completely and said they wouldn’t close any buildings.

Then, just a few days ago, Manhas put in his resignation.

He could have probably done a pretty good job, but he apparently feels as I do: If the parents don’t want to make sacrifices in either paying a whole lot more for their public schools or by having their child change schools, they they apparently don’t care enough about the problem.

I’d say goodbye too.