Thursday, September 8, 2011

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Public Testimony (and Opt Your Kid Out Now)

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Public Testimony (and Opt Your Kid Out Now):

Public Testimony (and Opt Your Kid Out Now)

One point before the public testimony info. Last night I put forth arguments on three topics that seem to neatly line up with accountability (Sealth elevator), transparency (TFA donor) and public engagement (Series 4000). I hope the Board realizes that mouthing these words without backing it up with action means little.

Last night had some interesting testimony (along with some funny lines).

Highlights:
  • There were two speakers who talked about military recruiting in the schools. One was Garfield parent, Kathy Barker, who said that the district used to have a good policy that had been carefully crafted. Now, with the new overhaul of Board policies, she thinks it has been weakened. NCLB allows the military in (that was built into the law) and is in a different category than other recruiters. One troubling issue is that sometimes recruiters can come in extra times and if they do 15 minutes of tutoring, they can then talk about the military. She also mentioned a Garfield coach who was the recruiter at the school (this should not have been allowed). She also mentioned how College and Career counselors used to monitor this situation but now they are gone.
  • Another speaker on the military was veteran Mike Dedrick of Veterans for Peace. He made my radar go