Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, June 6, 2013

UPDATE:Seattle Schools Community Forum: Someone Blinked (Big Surprise, It's the Dems)

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Someone Blinked (Big Surprise, It's the Dems):

Someone Blinked (Big Surprise, It's the Dems)

Unbelievable.  Much those I wanted ALL our state legislators to get the budget done before the end of the Special Session next week, I did NOT want the Dems to give to the Reps and sure enough, they did.  And guess who is going to suffer?  Public schools.

From Publicola:

"At some point we had to make a move," state house finance chair Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-36, Queen Anne) said today, explaining the compromise budget offer the state Democrats made to the Republican-controlled senate. Carlyle concluded: "Because that's how you govern. I hope there's a deal now. We'll see if they continue to be intransigent, but this is what you do to create movement." 

So instead of asking for $1.3B for K-12, the Dems have scaled back to $700M.  That's $700M than is currently received so it falls in the "better than nothing" category but when you cut back to half of what you start with?  Not so much of a victory.  I have no idea how the Supreme Court justices would take what I consider a

Seattle Science Festival This Weekend

From the website:

The 2013 Seattle Science Festival, an 11-day celebration of the science and technology happening in our community, runs June 6-16, 2013. It features luminaries from the science world in opening and closing night events, a free Science EXPO Day featuring hands-on activities and special stage programs on Saturday, June 8 at Seattle Center, and a variety of Signature Programs at venues around the region throughout the Festival. 

Today is the Middle School Science Fair for SPS.

Looks like lots of great stuff and Saturday, June 8th, Science EXPO Day is FREE (and includes, no kidding, "a bilingual inflatable colon."

Science EXPO Day is filled with fun and educational programs, including over 150 engaging exhibits, an introduction to Geocaching, the 2013 Laser Roadshow, "an Amazing Glimpse into Lasers, Optics, and Photonics!" and a full day of Stage Programming.

Almost to the Point of Being Ridiculous

Remember that column I linked to at the Washington Post written by the Dean of Education, Leslie T. Fenwick at Howard University?  She said:

"Mayoral control, Teach for America, education management organizations and venture capital-funded charter schools have not garnered much grassroots support or enthusiasm among lower- and middle-income black parents whose children attend urban schools because these parents often view these schemes as uninformed by their community and disconnected from the best interest of their children. 

Indeed, mayoral control has been linked to an emerging pattern of closing and disinvesting in schools that serve black poor students and reopening them as charters operated by education management organizations and backed by venture capitalists. While mayoral control proposes to expand educational opportunities for black and poor students, more-often-than-not new schools are placed in upper-income, gentrifying white areas of town, while more schools are closed and fewer new schools are opened in lower-income, black areas thus increasing