Wednesday, February 26, 2014

2-26-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:




Off to Austin for the Network for Public Education Conference
I am so excited to be attending this new conference.  It will be great to meet other education writers and bloggers from around the country.  The keynote speakers will be Diane Ravich and the head of the Chicago teachers union, Karen Lewis.Los Angeles special education teacher Vincent Precht will be carrying the conference on his channel here, at SchoolhouseLive.orgThe conference will begin at 8:3
District Puts Forth What is Likely Final Position on Cascade/NW Center
I attended a meeting today at the Cascade Parent Partnership school at Wilson-Pacific.  The meeting was called by Superintendent Banda who was in attendance as was Facilities chief Flip Herdon and NE Ex. Director Kim Whitworth.  The school had just finished a spelling bee and there were plenty of parents and students in attendance. I hadn't been to Wilson-Pacific in awhile.  What a pit.  There is


Boycott Common Core Assessments: Some Seattle Schools' Teachers Say Yes
The Stranger has an article (which I am in) about Common Core.   I actually didn't know that the main thrust of it was about some Seattle Schools' teachers who plan to boycott the Common Core assessments. It seems to me like the same wolf in different sheep's clothing. How could we not boycott that?" says one longtime high-school teacher. "We objected to the MAP test because we didn't kn
Waiting to Hear from Advanced Learning? Good Luck
A reader sent in the latest info from the AL webpage:If you sent an appeal to the correct address, you may assume that it has been received and filed. We do not have the resources to send individual receipts. Our office is currently swamped with emails and phone messages which would normally be answered by the same people who are scheduling and conducting assessments, making eligibility decisions



On Switching High School/Elementary Start Times

From School Start Later-Seattle:As a brief update, the school board approved transportation standards for next year that will move us to a 3-tier system in order to save approximately $3 million.  It was impossible to get the school board to consider putting secondary schools in the later tiers and elementaries in the earlier tiers.The good news is that Sharon Peaslee, board president has introduc


2-25-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Great Thoughts from a Smart GuyYou know, there are some really smart people out there thinking about public education and public discourse.  I wish more people would read their writings.  It's people like Trish Millines Dziko who runs TFA Academy.  (FYI, they are having STEM Day camps during Spring Break.) Vu Le, who is the Executive Director of the Vietnamese Frie