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Monday, December 31, 2012

Seattle Schools Community Forum: End of 2012 - Wrap-up and Hopes and Predictions for 2013

Seattle Schools Community Forum: End of 2012 - Wrap-up and Hopes and Predictions for 2013:


End of 2012 - Wrap-up and Hopes and Predictions for 2013

A rosy glow this morning across the horizon - maybe a good sign for things to come.

It was a HUGE year for public education - in Seattle, Washington State and the US.  For whatever reason, public education has become a huge issue.  Whether it's trying to break unions (in Wisconsin) or the push for more on-line learning opportunities (whether at school or at home), politicians had a lot to say this year.

Are we focusing on the right things?  I'm not sure we are.  I'm not sure that we won't look back in 10 years at much of the new education spending in this country and wonder if much of it was wasted on the wrong areas.  Or that there was too much effort made in directions that did not pay off.

One of the drivers of this - and it shouldn't be the biggest driver - is the large group of wealthy philanthropists who believe they know enough to try to determine the course of public education over the next 10 years.  And yet, they are not elected, hired or appointed so it is puzzling why their ideas should take precedence over anyone


Following Up on 2012

Over at Friend of our Blog, Seattle Education, Dora Taylor has a great thread about the expose by FireDogLake about Cory Booker and the $100M gift to Newark Public Schools from Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook.

Apparently the ACLU had to sue Cory "Superman" Booker for release of e-mails between him and Facebook executives.

It started on Oprah.

Facebook founder and Winklevii nemesis Mark Zuckerberg announced a $100 million donation to Newark schools to blunt PR damage from the release of The Social Network help school children. The money would not be going into the struggling city’s budget but would be privately controlled with Newark Mayor Cory Booker