Saturday, November 3, 2012

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Playing One Card Too Many for I-1240

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Playing One Card Too Many for I-1240:


Playing One Card Too Many for I-1240

The Times, in its never-ending push for charter schools has one last salvo to throw out there and boy, it's big.  Actually it's two.

The first one is that this is a civil rights issue.  Lynne Varner, who sadly writes about education for the editorial board and yet seems to never do her homework, says it is.  She writes, constantly, about Rep. Eric Pettigrew (of the 37th) and how he believes his district has been underserved.

What's interesting to me about that is the Pettigrew and Varner complain about the exact same things and never offer any real ideas of their own.

She also cites writer Pedro Noguera who writes for Ed Week and links a his blog post about a recent visit to Seattle.  She says this:

Noguera does not see charters as public education's salvation or its downfall making his words all the more 

School Board Meeting of 11/7/2012

Here is the agenda for the upcoming School Board meeting.

Lots of good stuff here:

  • High school grade and credit marking policy (with the promise of new policy to follow)
  • Annual approval of schools (with the usual problems with incomplete CSIPs)
  • Superintendent Evaluation Instrument
  • BEX IV Plan
  • A rule to clarify the consequences when a lot of board members abstain

Transportation Task Force Recommendations

Here are the recommendations from the blue-ribbon committee put together to serve as a Transportation Task Force for Seattle Public Schools.

Here's the short version:

Conclusion
The Taskforce commends the District for desiring to reduce student transportation costs in order to protect classroom funding. The implementation of several of the recommendations by the District has started this process. District staff is applauded for initiating improvements such as:
  • Analyzing ridership, routes, cab use, and capacity Planning 2012-2013 routes to