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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Seattle Schools Community Forum: What Knapp Says

Seattle Schools Community Forum: What Knapp Says:


What Knapp Says

As you may recall, on the same day as the Creative Approach MOU was remanded back to the Board by a Superior Court judge, there was an interview in the Seattle Times with Jonathan Knapp, the new head of the SEA.  It was quite a nice profile and had some telling bits.   Here's Knapp on change in relationships:

"Simply saying 'no' is no longer an option," said Jonathan Knapp, a shop teacher who crafted the approach as union vice president.

"The climate has changed, and we have to be advocates for public education in a way that 20 years ago we didn't," Knapp said. "And the way that we do that is building relationships, not by confronting people and saying it's our way or the highway."

I agree.  Being adversarial is not the way to build relationships and work for better academic outcomes for children.   However teacher Robert Murphy fires back:

We've already compromised too much," said Robert Murphy, a Franklin High math teacher who described