Seattle Schools Community Forum:
Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle School Board Appoints Larry Nyland as Interim Super
The Board seems in agreement of the appointment of Dr. Larry Nyland, former superintendent in Marysville (and a former Superintendent of the Year) to be the interim superintendent. More to come. Board seems enthused.Updates:- Carr and Martin-Morris were out-of-town but were on speaker phone. All the Board spoke highly of Dr. Nyland. The vote was 7-0.- Nyland's motto - "Listen, learn and le
Feds Change Medicaid Coverage to Help Kids with Autism
From Disability Scoop:In what advocates are calling a major win, federal officials are for the first time telling states that Medicaid coverage must include treatments like applied behavior analysis for children with autism.Medicaid programs nationwide must offer “medically necessary diagnostic and treatment services” to kids with autism, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told states
Friday Open Thread
It looks to be a busy day in Seattle Public Schools. Banda is now officially going to Sacramento (and boy, that lack of enthusiasm from the Sacramento Bee) and we await the discussion/announcement today of an interim who is likely to be in place for the next 6-9 months. I have found out some interesting things about one of the potential interim candidates that I will post in a separate thread. I
JUL 17
Big Drop in Charter School Applications for Washington State
From the Washington State Charter Commission:The Charter School Commission (the Commission) announced today that four (4) non-profit organizations have submitted proposals in the second round of applications to open high-quality public charter schools in the state of Washington. Each applicant was asked to put forth a comprehensive and rigorous plan to meet the needs of the student population they
Another Seattle Principal Change
I received word today that Principal Pat Hunter at Maple Elementary is stepping down today. She is retiring. Apparently, she was well-liked. No word on who will fill her shoes.
Seattle Schools Interim Superintendent to be Announced Tomorrow
Update: The Modesto Bee reports that Jose Banda has been named that district's new superintendent. It was a 6-1 vote, with one trustee "dissenting." Superintendent Banda will be making $290K per year. He is expected to start on August 1st. I wish him luck but am disappointed he walked away in less than two years. Maybe the kitchen was just too hot for him. I think a smart leader, w
Special Education in our Country - One View
I haven't seen this education writer before but all I can say is she's good (and a great advocate for Special Education students and their parents.) Thank you, Dr. Nancy Bailey. As she says:Let’s take back reform and revive, rally, and recover public schools.Here she takes on Arne Duncan (red mine):The fact is there has been a concerted effort for years to get rid of special education. It did no
JUL 16
Homeless Students? How best to help them
This fall we see the opening of First Place School as a charter school serving mobile, high-risk students (mostly homeless). The Times had a story about how homeless students are served in schools in Washington state with an interesting question to it.The Times reports that there are about 30,000 homeless kids in our state today (and that number has steadily risen over the last decade). School ca
JUL 15
Another Department for Seattle Public Schools
I can see where the district might want to run their own internal investigations after the generous help from the City (and the ever-professional and helpful Wayne Barnett in the City's own office of ethics) but a whole department? Banda is certainly churning out the work as he exits. I hope there will be no last-minute surprises. From SPS:In order to improve accountability and transparency in
Tuesday Open Thread
Interesting discussion at the NY Times; Should books for children be political?Speaking of books for kids, I love this one - My First Kafka (which would be Runaways, Rodents, and Giant Bugs).Recess - it IS for learning. Great article from The Atlantic on one teacher's research. The arguing continues in the Seattle Pre-K discussion. The other initiative - not the City's - Seattle Initiative 107,
Who Was Using What Math (and how did Principals feel about the Math Adoption)?
I'm not sure this information will answer all questions, but I did put in a public disclosure request from SPS on the issue of what schools had been using enVision. Here's the feedback I received on June 23rd. (It is not complete as they are still trying to see if there were any MOU/agreements with the company.)Graham Hill – no records located. According to principal Laurie Morrison, Graham Hill
JUL 14
Seattle Schools Principal Assignments
From SPS:Dear Catharine Blaine K–8 Community,I am pleased to announce … Ms. Heather Johnson (formerly Swanson) will return to serve as your new principal. Your current principal, Ms. Julie Cox, will be Principal at North Beach Elementary next year.Ms. Johnson spent the past year as a middle school Principal at the American School of Barcelona, in Spain. Previously, she served as principal at Catha
What is Teaching Time Really About (and how is it counted)?
ST Reader alerted me to a story in the Times about Seattle Schools doing a pilot for a new company run by a UW professor, Zoran Popovic who directs the Center for Game Science at UW. He founded a non-profit called Enlearn with money from (who else) the Gates Foundation. But the Times notes:Enlearn is developing a commercial application for the interactive technology aimed at the global K-12 marke
JUL 12
Young Teen Writer? Crosscut Looking for Student Voices
Crosscut has a new project called the Student Voice, aimed at finding out what young people think. They are looking for solutions and opinions. Every Wednesday, we’ll pose a “Question of the Week” on Crosscut.com and social media and in our Student Voice mailing list. (Sign up here.) All you students out there, from high school on up, are invited to respond. (Just two paragraphs, please.) Our edi