Friday Open Thread

After today, the weather's supposed to be looking good.  Maybe time for some planting?

Look no further than Olympic View Elementary's annual Plant Sale.  It's May 4th, 5th and 6th at 504 NE 95th Street in the east parking lot.  Annuals, perennials, vegetables, pottery and more. 

Friday - 9 am - 7 p.m.
Saturday 9 am - 6 p.m.
Sunday 10 am to 2 p.m.

Can't make this weekend?  You're in luck - Nathan Hale is having its Spring Plant Sale from May 8th to 10th from 1-6 p.m. and May 12 from 11 am to 3 p.m.  Hale's greenhouse is one block north of Jane Addams K-8 (across the street from Hale to the north and behind Addams.)  Their greenhouse has a retractable roof so don't miss it.

Also, Seattle Parks reaches out to LGBTQ teens With a special Purple Prom event
Seattle Parks and Recreation and Born This Way Kafé are hosting the Purple Prom on Saturday, May 19, 2012 from 8 – 11 p.m. at Miller Community Center.  The Purple Prom is an event for queer youth of color, all queer youth, friends, and allies, ages up to 20 years old. Miller Community Center is located at 330 19th Ave. E. Seattle WA 98102 and served by Metro routes 8, 12, and 43 with Metro routes 11 and 48 nearby.
The evening offers live DJs, a great dancing opportunity, food and fun. Youth can obtain free tickets by visiting: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/243179.  The event capacity is 100 people and requires advance tickets.

Last, GOOD LUCK to Roosevelt and Ballard's jazz bands at the Essentially Ellington competition in NYC this weekend.  The top three bands will be announced at 1 p.m. Sunday, then there's a winners concert and at the end of the concert the order of the top three is announced to the audience.   Go Seattle!

What's on your mind?


Comments

ArchStanton said…
Opening Day of Boating Season is Saturday. Good to keep in mind whether you want to attend or need to plan for traffic delays across the Montlake Cut.
mirmac1 said…
Once again, SPS is free and easy with Personal Service Contracts, paid with federal grant monies.

PSC Summary under TIF
mirmac1 said…
Roxhill's Night for the Stars! auction is tonight. Be there or be a falling star. : )

For tickets and info, click here

Great meeting last night about BEX IV planning for WS. Thank you Marty McLaren for helping give voice to Roxhill's dedicated community.
Anonymous said…
I would like to put my PTSA Exec. Board in contact with parents who have navigated their PTSA away from the WA State PTSA and toward a Parent-Teacher organization not affiliated with the state organization.

Could anyone tell me what schools have gone through this process in Seattle? If you've gone through this and are willing to share your experience, I'd love to hear from you!

Signed,
~tired of the state PTSA organization making up platforms without member input
Jet City mom said…
At Summit K-12 we had a PTO. Often alternative schools have PTOs instead of PTAs.
Salmon Bay has a PTO for instance.
http://www.salmonbayschool.org/families
Eric B said…
Does anyone have figures (or know where to find them) on the numbers of HS/MS/K-8/Option/K-5 students the District transports on yellow buses, and the number of buses they currently use to support these needs? Of course, this is critical to any meaningful public input, and I can't find anything anywhere.

Right now, it looks like they plan on using one group of buses for the HS/MS/K-8/Option group, and another set for K-5. I'm working on an alternative that would have the buses used for K-5 for a first shift and everything else in a second shift. If it pans out, you could do everything with one set of start times, and older kids starting later than younger ones.
Anonymous said…
Did any of you catch this? Rep. Pettigrew bringin $2 millions to two Seattle public schools. Does anyone know which are the lucky schools?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politicsnorthwest/2018132062_extra_2_million_to_seattle_sch.html

-hope it's mine
Charlie Mas said…
I saw the story in the Times.

The OSPI will choose the schools.

Here's the language straight out of the budget document:

"(vii) $2,000,000 of the general fund--state appropriation for fiscal year 2013 is provided solely for an urban school turnaround initiative as follows:

(A) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall select two schools in the largest urban school district in the state. The selected schools shall be among the state's lowest-performing schools; be located within the same community and form a continuum of education for the students in that community; have significant educational achievement gaps; and include a mix of elementary, middle, or high schools.

(B) The office shall allocate the funds under this subsection (vii) to the school district to be used exclusively in the selected schools. The district may not charge an overhead or indirect fee for the allocated funds or supplant other state, federal, or local funds in the selected schools. The school district shall use the funds for intensive supplemental instruction, services, and materials in the selected schools in the 2012-13 school year, including but not limited to professional development for school staff; updated curriculum, materials, and technology; extended learning opportunities for students; reduced class size; summer enrichment activities; school-based health clinics; and other research-based initiatives to dramatically turn around the performance and close the achievement gap in the schools. Priorities for the expenditure of the funds shall be determined by the leadership and staff of each school.

(C) The office shall monitor the activities in the selected schools and the expenditure of funds to ensure the intent of this subsection (vii) is met, and submit a report to the legislature by December 1, 2013, including outcomes resulting from the urban school turnaround initiative. The report submitted to the legislature must include a comparison of student learning achievement in the selected schools with schools of comparable demographics that have not participated in the grant program.

(D) Funding provided in this subsection (vii) is intended to be one-time."
Charlie Mas said…
I think it's pretty clear that there is going to be a middle school among the pair, and that middle school is going to be Aki Kurose.

So the only question is whether the second school will be Rainier Beach High School or one of the elementary schools in the Aki Kurose service area.
Anonymous said…
Does anyone know how athletic equipment gets purchased for a sport? Ingraham and Hale share gymnastics equipment and a coach. Neither of these schools has the proper equipment for the floor exercise while Roosevelt and Ballard do. The girls at Ingraham and Hale use a wrestling mat and wear a sock so that they can turn. This is very unsafe and I am surprised no one has gotten hurt. Gymnasts now use spring floors. Any suggestions on how to get the Ingraham and Hale gymnastics teams properly equipped? I have tried contacting the coach but she never responds.

FHP
Christina said…
Joanne Barkan has an article in Dissent Magazine's Spring 2012 issue about education reform, Hired Guns on Astroturf: How to Buy and Sell School Reform
FHP, that is troubling but I suspect budget issues. (That said, find out if the football/basketball teams got new equipment in recent years.)

The coach may be an outside hire and therefore not likely to respond.

I would contact Eric McCurdy, head of district athletics, 252-1800. If you e-mail, cc your Board Director and Pegi McEvoy in Operations.
RosieReader said…
FHP, It took the intervention of ESPN to return the Ingraham gym floor to a safe surface. If I were you, I would start fundraising.
Curious said…
Wasn't sure if anyone else had posted this yet, but from the West Seattle Blog:

http://westseattleblog.com/2012/05/followup-seattle-public-schools-now-wants-your-opinion-on-transportation-plans-that-could-change-bell-times?tw_p=twt
ArchStanton said…
My photoshop take on the transportation fiasco.

/trying to work up an Enfield - stay tuned...
Christina said…
ArchStanton, if you work up a Photoshop (your oeuvre is hilarious!) don't use this image on the blog, or Sousa Nun Field will threaten legal action.
suep. said…
Arch -- Brilliant, once again.
Anonymous said…
I'm a new teacher who got my "you are non-renewed because you failed Danielson" letter from Enfield this week. It's pretty amazing how little has to be done to fail and "fire" a new teacher with the new evaluation system.

-$50K of student loans for this.
Patrick said…
$50K of student loans, who or what is Danielson?
Jan said…
Patrick, I wondered too. When I did a search, it came up with something called the Danielson Framework for Teaching (or something like that). Below is the link I found. No clue what the political leanings are of the site, but since it is an excerpt with Danielson herself, I thought it might make useful reading. From what $50K says -- and what she says in the interview -- I would hazard a guess that the SSD is using the framework badly.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2011/06/straight_up_conversation_teacher_eval_guru_charlotte_danielson.html
Sahila said…
Robert Valiant:
Do you have any idea what it will cost to start up and implement the Common Core Standards? Here is the Pioneer Institutes cost estimate for this experiment on our children:

Over a typical standards time horizon
of seven (7) years, we project Common
Core implementation costs will total
approximately $15.8 billion across
participating states. This constitutes a
“mid-range” estimate that only addresses
the basic expenditures required for
implementation of the new standards.

Here is a link to the entire study. As they say, read 'em and weep. http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/pdf/120222_CCSSICost.pdf
ArchStanton said…
Solvay,
Saw your post. Email to discuss.
-Arch
StopTFA said…
$50K in student loans,

Actually, the Board approved on March 21st revised CBA language that afforded new teachers some latitude under the new super-secret evaluation framework. Look up those meetings minutes. Email me to be put in touch with others who are questioning the evaluation tool (StopTFASeattle@gmail.com).

Did others know that NY state has a law that principals must be certified as trained and knowledgeable in the evaluation instrument, before being let loose on their staff?
Anonymous said…
Do folks know that staff have been RIFed (laid off)? I hear no mention of it anywhere. Once again it seems the most certificated cuts are to counselors. I heard 12 counselors were cut (this after two years of deep cuts. how can there be any left?). Also cut are at least 5 PE, plus music and art teachers.

I find it so misleading and disrespectful that there hasn't been a memo about these cuts.

foroccupyingjsc

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