Seattle Schools Community Forum:
Seattle School District Archives
Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle School District Archives
Did you know the district has an extensive archive (complete with a trained archivist)? They do and it's a valuable resource. They have all manner of memorabilia - bound volumes of School Board minutes, uniforms, yearbooks, letters to the School Board, newspaper clippings - you name it. Archivist Aaren Purcell would be more than glad to look at what any school, group or individual has to offer t
Mann Building - Not Closed
I'm thinking it was a lot of smoke and mirrors on the part of BOTH the "tenants" and the district, these so-called negotiations. Because that building is wide open, being used in multiple areas, has advertised activities and classes and well, just doesn't look like a building that is shut down in preparation for being renovated. I checked and I took photos. Not closed by any stretch
Washington State Charter School Update
It appears that the Washington Charter Commission must have gotten a flurry of submissions because the final count is 28 letters of intent to apply to become a charter school.(I spoke to Spokane School district - the only school district authorizer in the state - and they received three letters of intent. They say they have one unused building in their district currently so that may be up for gra
Friday Open Thread
Friday, foggy Friday - be careful. There has already been a major accident on I-5 South.October enrollment numbers released.We now have the adjusted October 1 enrollment data.Enrollment grew by 1,146 students over last year, for a total enrollment of 51,010(181 lower than projected).Changes since last year:- 913 more K-5 students than last year, including: -1035 more students in grades 1-5 -1
OCT 24
Seattle Council PTSA Steps into Growth Boundaries Discussion
Quite the throwdown from the Seattle Council PTSA and good for them for stepping up (albeit a bit late). It will be interesting to see the response from the district. I note that this letter is not at their website so thank you to one of our great readers who forwarded it to me. (Color emphasis mine.)October 23, 2013Dear PTA Presidents & Leaders,Attached is a copy of the formal letter sent
West Seattle Blog's Advanced Learning Discussion
If you live in West Seattle and have thoughts on Advanced Learning in that area of the district, weigh in here.
Oh Times, How You Make Us Smile
It's true - when I want a smile or even a guffaw about Washington state public education, I go to the Times. I can always be assured of some odd omission of facts, brevity of context or just a nudge to the ed reform side. And that's just their reporting. Better to say little to nothing about their editorial writing which is generally shallow and uninformed. But now comes their Education Lab Blog
Parent Trigger? Not So Much
Wear Red for Ed shared Susan Smith's photo.FLORIDAfrom Susan Smith Last Night Jeb Bush's foundation and Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst group hosted a showing of the pro-parent trigger propaganda movie "We the Parents" in Jacksonville. Apparently, these are the Florida parents who support parent trigger.From Fund Education Now!, the story of the parenttrigger law in Florida in 2012:We are
OCT 23
Your Kid Going to Roosevelt in the Next 3-5 Years?
It's going to be a very tough time in the neighborhood. There is no way it will not possibly affect Roosevelt and its community.I just attended a community meeting at Roosevelt High School about the building of the light rail station that will be directly west of the school.First, as a resident, it is definitely NOT going to be fun. In fact, despite promises about mitigation, I (and many at the
OCT 22
Do You Want the Mayor to Take Control of Seattle Schools?
As some of you may have heard, there was polling done on the upcoming elections by Strategies 360. They state: None of the firm's clients paid for the survey, and Strategies 360 is supporting neither client. (Yes, but someone thought up those questions and I can guarantee it wasn't all Strategies 360.) The poll was 400 likely voters, 78% white, skewed to the north and highly educated. Ninetee
Washington State Charter School Letters of Intent Filed
The deadline for letters of intent to file a charter school proposal in Washington State was 5 p.m. today. Checking the Charter Commission website, I count 15 but Seattle Weekly is reporting 24 (I suspect SW called and asked and that the Charter Commission just doesn't have all of them up yet).Those 24 do NOT include whatever letters of intent that Spokane School District received as it is the on
Tuesday Open Thread
For your calendar, SPED PTSA General Meeting on Monday, October 28th from 7-9 pm at JSCEE. Tracy Libros will be coming to answer questions about boundaries and SPED. There will be an update on C-CAP as well.What's on your mind?
Owners of MLK, Jr. Building Cited in State Audit
The Times is reporting that First A.M.E. Church operated a daycare at Seattle Central Community College - rent-free - for 16 years. (Yes, I know - how is that possible?) The daycare was allowed to do this by a program at SCCC called Seattle Vocational Institute whose students' children were to have first-in enrollment. The daycare ran from Sep. 1997 to June 2013.From the Times:First A.M.E., whi
OCT 21
New School Shooting - This Time in Nevada, Two Dead
From CNN:A student opening fire with a handgun he took from his parents. Screaming students running for cover. A teacher, trying to help, shot dead. Two students wounded.As authorities investigated, details were still trickling out hours after a deadly shooting Monday at a Nevada middle school.An official used one word to describe the scene at Sparks Middle School: chaos.The shooter used a handgun
Odds and Ends
Called "Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks", a very interesting map of income/rent across the U.S. Zeroing down to Seattle, you can clearly see the delineation of income in our city.You may have heard that there is work going on around the city for new low-power FM stations for different regions. One might be coming out of Ballard High via science teacher, Eric Muhs, (a la the mighty C89.5FM at
The Board is Afraid of Advanced Learning
Have you noticed that just about any time Melissa or I write something about APP or Spectrum or advanced learning in almost any way two things happen: the thread gets about a hundred comments and the comments get nasty.Have you noticed that school board candidates - like all other politicians - prefer to speak in vague platitudes and evade any discussion of specifics? It's a funny thing, but in th
OCT 20
UW Event on Student Testing
Also next week on Tuesday, October 29th at Kane Hall on the UW campus at 7:00 pm- 9 pm Accountability at a Crossroads: Using Student Test Scores to Evaluate Teacher EffectivenessA panel of leading educators at the forefront of testing and teacher evaluation will share their differing perspectives on the questions:Is this a sound/effective policy? What is to be achieved, if anything, in holding tea
Jane Addams K-8 BEX Committee Petition
The Jane Addams K-8 BEX committee has set up an online petition to ask the Board to reject the interim plan. They don't have an alternative plan but would like to find common ground for the communities in their region. They aren't saying (clearly, they can't) that they won't accept the interim move to John Marshall but that they don't like this particular plan.
Seattle School Board Races: Views from Candidates and Others
Here's a link to the SE Chamber of Commerce event in early October. Note: the lighting was harsh and does not flatter either candidate. The video is also a little low. The first question seems to have gotten cut off - it was something to the effect of how many SE schools each candidate has visited.Also, the City Inside/Out show had a panel interview about Seattle schools and the races. The pane
Seattle Schools This Week
Wednesday, October 23Work Session: Strategic Plan Performance Measures from 4-5:30 p.m. No agenda available.Work Session:Distribution Services from 5:30-6:30 p.m. (hard stop at 6:30 pm as they have an Executive Session at 6:30 p.m.) AgendaThursday, October 24thRoad Map to College event from 3-6 pm at Chief Sealth Int'l High SchoolDistrict IV School Board candidate forum at Lawton at 6:45 p.m., f
OCT 19
Local/State Education News Updates
Two Special Education stories of note.First, the Times reports that the State will accept SPS's Special Ed plan with a few extra conditions. The concern seems to be that the staffing plan seems more worried about teachers's needs than meeting student needs. The State also wants the district to spend more federal dollars on consultants to help to shape/improve services. Also, the AP is reporting
Saturday Director Community Meetings
I attended Director Martin-Morris' this morning and yes, it was all growth boundaries. It was an interesting discussion because it was so specific in some cases (and rightly so - you look at the maps and the lines and have to wonder) and broader in others. I was pleasantly surprised at some of what Director Martin-Morris said (and his tone). Unfortunately, I can't recap right (no time) but I wi