Seattle Schools Community Forum:
Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle School Board Speaks Out on Garfield Field Trip Incident
From President Peaslee:Dear Seattle Public Schools principals, staff and community, I know many of you are concerned about the story that appeared earlier this week on Al Jazeera America news. I want to assure you that all School Board members – who are also parents – share your concerns about student safety. In the last year and a half, the District has reviewed and improved our field trip, train
Blather from Blethen
Sorry to pick on the Times but their publisher (and fearless leader), Frank Blethen, put up a speech that he gave recently to a Rotary Club. He makes a lot of claims without backing up his stats or explaining his thinking.To whit, We graduate only 18 percent of our high-school students work-ready or college-ready. Let’s break that number down: One-quarter of our high school students fail to grad
The Volume is Going up on the Garfield Rape Case
The Stranger has a very pointed article - with questions posed just as Charlie has - on the topic of the Garfield field trip rape incident.There is also this from Monisha Harrell:I’m an Alum of Garfield High School, and until yesterday I sang “I’m So Glad I go to Garfield High” with pride. Please read the attached petition to understand why I believe we as a community need to push for new leaders
Director Martin-Morris Community Meeting
Director Martin-Morris is hosting a community meeting tomorrow on August 9 at 10:00 at the Northeast Branch Library, 6801 35th Ave. N.E.You should go.You should go and ask the Director about seriously he takes the issue of sexual harassment. Never mind what he says; let's take a look at what he has done.He didn't bother to enforce the Sexual Harassment Policy 3208. It calls for an annual report, b
Help for Parents Navigating the School System
I've been corraling stories about how to help parents make informed choices about schools and how to judgm how their child's school is doing.Need help figuring out schools? A handy "cheat sheet" of what to ask from the Huffington Post.More questions you should ask your school/district especially around student data privacy. This is a truly great and comprehensive list. A great idea fo
Ed News Roundup
There are so many truly "must-read" stories I'm going to group them into different threads.This one? The "everything but the kitchen sink one."First up, in New London, Connecticut, the school board has postpone the hiring of one Terrence P. Carter as superintendent. Why? Because apparently the search firm they hired managed to miss that he had been using "PhD" and
Friday Open Thread
What does Rand Paul, a possible candidate for the Republican nomination for President, think should happen in education?“If you have one person in the country who is, like, the best at explaining calculus, that person maybe should teach every calculus class in the country,” the senator said. “You’d still have local teachers to reinforce and try to explain and help the kids, but you’d have some of
JUL 24
Don't tell us - show us
The School Board has a new form letter response:"Thank you for contacting the School Board Office. Please be assured that we take the issue of sexual assault seriously and are continuing to work with all parties involved -- including state and federal agencies and the family -- to address the concerns that have been raised and ensure that the appropriate legal process is followed. The family
Seattle Public Schools - Dr. Nyland Can't Get Here Soon Enough
Between the issue of the Pre-K mission study junket and the appalling action (or lack thereof) on the issue of the Garfield field trip rape case, it's hard not to feel very angry. As you may recall, in the e-mails about the Pre-K mission study, there was a lot of back and forth over where the money - about $2700 per person - was going to come from to pay for the trip. Well, I found out where the
Arbor Heights Rebuild Stalled
From the West Seattle Blog:Three years ago, demolition of the old Denny International Middle School was well under way within a month of the end of the school year. This year, though a month has passed since the last class at Arbor Heights Elementary School, the backhoes aren’t even onsite yet. That’s because the permits haven’t been finalized, since another appeal is awaiting a hearing. This is s
A Thoughtful Post about Native American Students by Our New Superintendent
I was just browsing the web, looking up Larry Nyland's background. His LinkedIn page has a very long list of accomplishments and awards. Impressive.At the state level I have had the opportunity to serve as: - Superintendent representative on the Washington State Educational Coordinating Council.- Representative on the State Board of Education Math Panel.- Past-president of WASA (Washington Assoc
JUL 23
Seattle Downtown School - Is the Fix In?
I make no secret of the fact that I had been pushing for the district to consider applying to take over the empty Federal Reserve building downtown. I believed it was worth looking into (and still do). However, that is now tempered by this rather large push for the building. Who's pushing? All the forces that have decided that, for SPS, preschool is the cause de jour (de annee, as well). I thi
JUL 22
Big Day for Special Education in Seattle Public Schools
The district has released the report from Accelify Consulting on the state of Special Education in Seattle Schools. It will officially be released at a family meeting tonight. The name of the report is Foundation for a Brighter Future: Essential Needed Improvements in Special Education in Seattle.Special Education Community MeetingTuesday, July 22, 20146:30 - 8:30 pm2445 3rd Avenue South - Audit
Tuesday Open Thread
The 2014 Band Jam event will take place at 6:30 pm this Friday July 25, 2014 at the Southwest Athletic Complex – 2601 SW Thistle St. (across the street from Chief Sealth International High School.)Band Jam is an annual band showcase intended to highlight what we all know to be the best part of the summer parade season – the bands. In addition to featuring some of the youth ensembles participating
A Tragic Story
Here is an example of where the culture of lawlessness can lead.No one bothered with the rules for field trip. No one bothered with the rules for chaperones. After the crime no one bothered with the rules for investigation or response. Instead of stepping up and doing the right thing, everything was routed to the general counsel's office where they were committed to a cover-up and suppressing the
JUL 20
Seattle Schools' Pre-K "Mission Study" - Day-by-Day Timeline
I will do my best to get this in a linear order but the e-mails were not always provided in that manner.To note, the trip was March 3-6th so clearly, getting started in early Feb was difficult on staff. I wonder how the City thought the district had so much travel money to try to send 5+ people to three cities. Key staffers involved:Cashel Toner - head of SPS Early Learning, seemingly the lead
Seattle Schools' Pre-K "Mission Study"
This will be Part One of a thread about the Pre-K "mission trip" that several Seattle schools' employees took as well as one Board director.Part One will be the Narrative of what happened. Part Two will be the day-by-day planning for this trip. Mirmac1 got e-mails via public disclosure and they paint a very damning picture. Because of my concerns over this troubling incident, I wrote
Stand for Children's Petition - Don't Sign It
Stand has this "education" petition going around. Consider not signing it.First, note the source. That should tell you all you need to know right there. (What's funny is they want one word changed and claim it will "free" Washington from NCLB. There's no way they can know that for sure. Next, it is a GOOD thing that Washington State stood up to the feds on No Child Left Beh