Update on Pinehurst but Final Decision up to School Board
From Superintendent Banda (color mine):Dear Pinehurst K-8 families and staff:This letter updates our discussion regarding the possible closure of the Pinehurst K-8 program after the 2013-14 school year. The criterion for this decision is whether an alternative location can be found which does not result in unsustainable costs. We have reviewed numerous acceptable locations and none have been found
What's Up with all the Stars Deciding They Know Education?
NBC News has been having these "Education Nation" summits once a year. I had high hopes until I heard anchor Brian Williams say that they were being lead by the Gates Foundation. (It's unclear if that is again the case this year.)But, you can look at the list of speakers and guess who is underrepresented? C'mon, take a wild guess. Yes, that would be teachers. There's one.But look w
Low-Income? Have a Smart Kid? Harvard will pay for their Education
Hard to believe but apparently true; if your child gets into Harvard and your family makes under $60k, that student can go to Harvard..for free. (They do not consider retirement assets or home equity in their financial aid calculations.) They eliminated student loans, preferring to offer jobs to help students with non-academic expenses. From Harlem World:For another year, Harvard University ann
Walk the Boundaries - Here's How
There was no press release on this from SPS so I checked and here's what's at the Growth Boundaries website on Walk the Boundaries (bold/color mine):"Community Input — Walk the Boundaries As part of the process, community members are invited to "Walk the Boundaries" and record their observations between September 18 and October 1, 2013. This provides a public, feet-on-the-ground rev
It's Banned Books Week - How Many Have You Read?
The American Library Association sponsors Baned Books Week every year to highlight censorship around our country. From The Answer Sheet:"More than 11,300 books have been challenged in libraries and schools since 1982, when Banned Books Week began. The 10 most challenged books in 2012 were: Captain Underpants (series), by Dav PilkeyReasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age groupThe Abso
Why is Your Student Taking an AP Course?
From Education Week's Caralee Adams:I'm looking for high school students to interview about why they are taking AP for an upcoming @educationweek story. Email cadams@epe.org.
Washington State Charter News
As you may have heard, Spokane School District was approved as the only other charter school authorizer in the state of Washington by the State Board of Education. They were the only applicants as the other 11 districts that had filed letters of intent dropped out (most of them citing time and resource constraints). Spokane can only approve charter schools that would be in its district. The Cha
Boundary Change push back
I've now heard of two neighborhoods that are not happy with boundary changes.Members of the Hawthorne Elementary community is not happy about having their middle school assignment changed from Mercer to Aki Kurose.Members of the Georgetown community are not happy about having their elementary school assignment changed from Maple to Van Asselt.From a press release (yes, a press release!) about the
9-22-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle Schools Community Forum: OSPI Doesn't Spot-Check State TestsThe Seattle Times has quite the lengthy article about how Washington State could have a cheating scandal, but doesn't know it, because OSPI doesn't do spot-checks on student tests. I read this article waiting for some evidence to show itself but it didn't. I'm not saying the theory is wrong but apparently, not that many districts