Saturday Updates
Big meteor shower this weekend (Perseid by name). It has just turned cloudy here (and boy, what a lightening/thunderstorm last night) but if the clouds part. From My Northwest:"If you watched for an hour in a typical Perseid shower, you'd probably see about 70 meteors, maybe a meteor per minute," says University of Washington astronomy professor Julie Lutz. "Some would be brighter than others.
YESTERDAY
Class Size
In light of the on-going discussions about the teachers' contract, a request was made for a thread on class size.A couple of questions:- my experience, from this blog and time with children in school, is that class size matters. I tell every politician that crosses my path that it matters to parents (no matter what Bill Gates or the research says). I don't think there is anything selfish in that
Friday Open Thread
Primaries done and onto the general election. I think after we see a couple of debates, it might be a good discussion of what might change/happen depending on who wins. Following up on our own discussion about the mission of schools, an interesting read from Ed Week by James Hoffman, Ed.D. , the Superintendent of the Averill Park Central School District (Averill Park, NY). He ends with "Should s
AUG 08
Common Core Test Results From New York
Remember how I said the scores would low for Common Core assessments? That we were warned they would be low? This from Politico.New York released nearly 2,000 pages of data parsing the poor performance of students in third through eighth grade. In Rochester, for instance, just 5 percent of students scored proficient in math. Fewer than 9 percent of students in Syracuse passed the reading test. S
SPS School-Family Partnerships Advisory Commitee
From SPS Communications:Seattle Public Schools is seeking nominations for its School-Family Partnerships Advisory Committee to the Superintendent. The committee will be composed of parents/families/guardians who reflect the diversity of Seattle Public Schools families. The committee advises the Superintendent on the implementation of School-Family Partnerships Policy and Superintendent Procedure (
AUG 07
Charter Schools and Money
Update: when pondering this question of charter schools and money, I recalled the wording about charter schools and district levies. Now we all know that charters, whether new or conversion, may access levy dollars, whether capital or operations. That likely extends to the Families & Education levy. I have asked the City about this and yes, they are taking it up with the City Attorney. My
Times School Board Primary Wrap-Up
In a phrase, not good.The Times is not consistent in what they say about what they want in a School Board. First, they want continuity. Then they don't like that and want new people. At the last election, according to them, the sky fell because two incumbents (rightly) got ousted and two new members were elected. These were not people they wanted and they proceeded - from day one - to lambast
AUG 06
OSPI Claims SPS May Lose Federal Special Ed Funding
Oh for Pete's sake. No good news here. From the Seattle Times:The school district submitted a proposal to state officials by the June 30 deadline, but they have rejected it, saying it falls far short of what is required.The school district submitted a proposal to state officials by the June 30 deadline, but they have rejected it, saying it falls far short of what is required.The school district s
Blanford Wins Big; Estey and Peters Advance
In the School Board primary races, here are the results:District IVEstey 6,433 - 47.55%Peters 5,560 - 41.09%McColgan 1,461 - 10.8% 13,454District VBlanford 8,574 - 78.34%Green 1,415 - 12.93%Thomas 827 - 7.56% 10,816A really respectable showing for Peters and shows that Di
Finally! A New Downtown Playground at Seattle Center
From Goldy over at The Slog (I had been wondering about this myself):Two-and-a-half years after promising to build a million-dollar playground in exchange for replacing a beloved kiddie amusement park with a for-profit glass "museum," gift shop, and catering hall, Seattle Center director Robert Nellams announced today they will begin seeking proposals from local design teams to build the "Artists
Bad News on Charters and Private Schools
Yet another thing I missed on I-1240 (it's just the gift that keeps on giving) - I had thought you could not convert a private school to a charter but yes, you can. I know, I thought 1240 had prohibited this but, in my defense, I can only say that I had read so many other states' charter laws (and many do prohibit this) that I got confused. I double-checked with my ace reader, Eric B, and nope, w
Temperature Rising between SEA and District
Yet another KUOW report on the contract talks that makes it sound like they are pretty far apart. There is still plenty of time to iron things out but yes, we are less than a month out from school.Seattle Education Association President Jonathan Knapp says while there's been progress on smaller issues over the past week, large issues remain unresolved. For Ballard High School science teacher and
Tuesday Open Thread
It's less than one month now until SPS starts back up. Back-to-school resources from SPS.Tonight we find out who cleared the primary for Mayor and School Board. Might make for some interesting analysis tomorrow morning. What's on your mind?
AUG 05
Harmon Leaving Seattle Schools
I cannot print the word that came out of my mouth when I saw this from the Superintendent. It is very, very upsetting because Harmon was truly one of the good guys and one of the most calm and dedicated employees at headquarters. I had kind of thought he might be promoted to Bob's position. With him leaving (and Bob Boesche), I have deep concerns for the district. Something has to change to stem
Seattle Education News Roundup
KUOW is reporting a sticking point in the SEA and SPS contract negotiations - class size. Yes, SPS wants to go bigger in the upper grades. Seattle Education Association President Jonathan Knapp says the district’s latest proposal, made last week, would increase class sizes in Seattle by two students per class in grades four through twelve. That would create average class sizes of 30 students in f
State-by-State Evidence of Jeb Bush's Ed Reform Machinations
I know that many believe that the drumbeat, the concern, the outrage over corporate ed reform is a few voices in a canary mine. Or exaggerating. Or those voices are conspiracy therorists.And yet the evidence is stacking up as I have documented. Against TFA, against charters, and now, in one of the biggest exposes - corporate ed reform. The good news is that this house of cards is sagging and
AUG 04
Seattle Schools This Week
Tuesday, August 6thPrimary election including Mayor and School Board. I hate this "dead of summer" primary so every vote truly does count. I especially urge voters in District IV and District V to get in their votes for the School Board rep. I think this will be quite the interesting General Election and I will have some thoughts when the Primary is over.Wednesday, August 7thBEX IV meeting fro
What is the process?
If you had an idea and community support for a new school program, what would you do?The new program placement policy, 2200, for all its inadequacies, does make some things clear. It defines the terms school, program, service, and curricular focus and delineates the authority for each of them. The schools have authority to determine their curricular focus. That's why any school can decide to offer
AUG 03
Boundary Talk with Marty McLaren
I attended the Growth Boundaries meeting hosted by Director McLaren this morning and two themes stood out. One came from the District and the other from the community.The District's theme was mystery. There is simply no telling who would make the decisions about schools and buildings, no clue about how they would make these decisions, no sense of what data or criteria would be the basis for the de
Alliance for Education Continues Drive to Shape the Seattle School Board
The Alliance recently had an press "event" during a national urban school board directors convention held here in Seattle in late July. The theme of the convention was "Building Educational Communities to Close the Achievement Gap" but that was not what this event was about at all.I had hoped this would be a press conference but no, it was really a dog-and-pony show to somehow drive home this poi
Seattle Council PTSA Clarifies Fundraising Issue
Not completely (more on that at the end) but better. (Notes in red are mine.)From SCPTSA;Why the sudden change in policy of the new 10% fee for fundraising on school grounds by the district?It not really a new policy, but more accurately a policy the district should have been following but was not. In a workshop sponsored by WASBO (Washington Association of School Business Officials) the district