Friday, May 26, 2017

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Hey, Big Spenders (that would be the Gates Foundation)

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Hey, Big Spenders (that would be the Gates Foundation):

Hey, Big Spenders (that would be the Gates Foundation)

Image result for big education ape gates money monster

The Gates Foundation has this notice on their grants page:

Seattle Public Schools


April 2017
to ensure the K-12 team’s work in equity is grounded in the real experiences of teachers, we must engage them directly in our learning
$225
1
K-12, K-12 Education
United States
Seattle, Washington
http://www.seattleschools.org 


Now, my first thought is, "Is that a typo? Because $225 isn't going far.  But this is the Gates Foundation so how could that be?  

As well, notice of this grant has been on Twitter from national public education activist, Leonie Haimson, with this tweet:

Same time @gatesfoundation gave $2M @schoolzilla gave $225 to Seattle pubschls to "ground work" in teacher expernce  

It's too late in the day for me to ask the district but yes, I did ask the Board about this.

Speaking of the Gates Foundation, KUOW has a series, Local Wonder, that examines issues in Seattle of the "what's up with that?" nature that readers submit as questions.

One Anne Martens wrote in, asking about philanthropy in Seattle. 

Turns out that she's not just a random listener posing
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Hey, Big Spenders (that would be the Gates Foundation):