Wednesday, March 27, 2013

UPDATE: SB 5242 - Just Say No Seattle Schools Community Forum: Odds and Ends

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Odds and Ends:



SB 5242 - Just Say No

You'd think that our state legislators would have their hands full trying to figure out how to fully fund education per the McCleary ruling.

Apparently not.  We have the "give every school a letter grade" bill and now we have SB 5242.  It's short and to the point and I agree with the WEA on this one - it's nothing but a distraction and gives principals too much power.  (It also ties the hands of school boards because they have to follow this directive in all collective bargaining agreements.)

From the WEA website:

This misguided and punitive legislation allows school districts to fire teachers without any kind of fair or objective process and regardless of their job performance or experience. Administrators and principals would be allowed to 



Odds and Ends

Rainier Beach is one of three comprehensive high schools to not have a complete renovation.

Chief Sealth has had major work done and got some of it via the fallout of them having to share a campus with Denny.  Ingraham is the other but Ingraham has also had major work done and has been on every single BEX and BTA.   Rainier Beach got a performing arts hall (but no performing arts curriculum or program so it sat, mostly unused for years) and had some building area upgrades but not much else.

According to the Times, the Rainier Beach community isn't going to wait for the district to make their building better.  They would like to make it the greenest high school in the state.  The story in the Times.

The community’s aspirations were announced Tuesday at a news conference where Mayor Mike McGinn and Denis Hayes, president of the Bullitt Foundation, expressed their support, albeit not the financial kind. 

The Bullitt Foundation doesn’t fund capital projects, Hayes said, but it helped the Rainier Beach community benefit from what the foundation learned in building the Bullitt Center, which may be the world’s greenest office building.

Among the participating organizations are the Rainier Beach High PTSA, the Rainier Beach Foundation and the Rainier Beach Empowerment Coalition.

The first fundraiser is scheduled for May 11 at the Sho­Ware Center in Kent, where some of the nation’s best high-school basketball players are expected to participate in a West Coast all-star game. Current NBA players