The Anti-Board Advocacy of the Seattle Times

Once again the Seattle Times is whipping up anti-School Board animus.

This is an old and discredited lie. And the "news" story is full of misrepresentations and omissions. I'll amend this post when I have time to list them all.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I actually didn't think it was that slanted. The headline is, sure, but I thought they actually addressed both sides more than usual. I didn't think it was bad reporting. -Rare Commenter
7/29/14, 8:22 AM
Anonymous said…
Many people only glance at headlines. This is the Seattle Times narrative — a dysfunctional board that cannot keep a good superintendent.

Never mind the fact that we have had decades of bad math curricula, accepted by boards who never questioned staff recommendations.

Many of us voted to bring in these new directors. We were tired of bad decisions on curricula. It is more important to get better textbooks than worry about hurting the feelings of a staff member who may not be doing his job.

S parent
7/29/14, 8:31 AM
Eric B said…
I was thinking that the Times was about two weeks later than usual on this report. Normally, this story appears within a couple of days of the superintendent announcing their departure. I guess it took a little longer to do a find and replace to change Enfield to Banda.
7/29/14, 8:38 AM
Anonymous said…
Gee, Didn't somebody say it was the board and the math issue that pushed Banda to go? And Melissa and her crew said, Oh No, he was going anyways?
Well it's looks like Peters and her know-it-all attitude did in fact make for bad blood with the Super.
But even she is taking a beating from Charlie(who doesn't even live here anymore)( I remember fondly when he threatened to quit blogging after he took heat for maligning the dead).
Good clouds above, what are we going to do?
When are all those smart adults we helped get smart in their segregated APP classes going to come rescue us?

Ulysses
7/29/14, 9:06 AM
Watching said…
Blanford made inappropriate comments during a board meeting that were in violation to board policy. Then again, Blanford does not seem to know about board policy.

The article also failed to mention that Blan(d)ford used to work for the Alliance for Education.

Superintendents also leave because conflicting opinions within political and business communities.

The article utterly failed to mention that district administrators failed to follow board policy in adopting math. The article failed to mention that the board has legal responsibility for curriculum adoption.

We'll see what happens with two issues that are brewing. For certain- it will be the boards fault.

What was with Carlyle's ridiculous comment?
7/29/14, 9:15 AM
Reader47 said…
Does this surprise anyone? The Times does a lovely job of pretending the Garfield/Pre-K junket brouhahas aren't happening with a "look at this shiny object over here" strategy...

And yes, many people never go beyond a headline, but then that's the point of this..
sigh...
7/29/14, 9:26 AM
Watching said…
When is the Seattle Times going to report that McGraw got thrown out of adoption process because they failed to meet district policy? When is the ST going to report that Heath and Tolley went wild and tried to circumvent math adoption? When is ST going to report that district administrators failed to benchmark recommended math materials?

I was atleast happy that Higgens got a comment from Gerry Pollet.

The only place for education news is the Seattle Public School Blog!
7/29/14, 9:34 AM
Anonymous said…
The reporter is a hack. He thought the key to fixing special education at SPS was having a parent liaison.

Please don't provided Mr H with any information should he contact you.

The ST agenda shines brightly again.

--Michael
7/29/14, 10:50 AM
Anonymous said…
Ulysses,

If this board does nothing beyond prevented another failed math adoption, good on them. They listened and that's what I want them to do. Scuttling yet another staff eff up shouldn't be a threat to yet another highly paid superintendent, should it?

Given how Common Core obstructed a fair assessment of materials, I didn't see the committee's recommendation as a done deal. And we still don't know if staff already had a deal in place, do we?

The Goodloe-Johnsons and Bandas of the world know how much they skate away with. Nobody drives them away. Board members are unpaid.

Westside
7/29/14, 11:13 AM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Sorry, Charlie, I didn't see your post before I wrote mine.

Ulysses, I have no crew. I never said Banda was going "anyways." (And I would never use the word "anyways.")

I said that I never felt he had both feet in this district/state. Again, apparently not only was the grass greener in California, the heat is less in that kitchen.
7/29/14, 12:14 PM
Anonymous said…
Anybody you don't hate today, Ulysses? Excluding yourself, of course.

WSDWG
7/29/14, 1:09 PM
Anonymous said…
Banda did mAke mention of the effect of the bile spewed In this blog. It's irresponsible agitation and gets uniformed but hostile people angry at the district. The blog becomes a mob. People literally say " heads should roll" and call anyone from teachers to administrators to board members to "reformers" to activists the most vile names. I'll mKe a list but everyone has read them. It's like the comments in the Times on occasion and that's really in the gutter.
I see less good and more harm from this blog as time passes.

Tuna Buna
7/29/14, 10:46 PM
Anonymous said…
I love you Dawg cause you remind so much of how my friends and I bantered back in Kindergarten.

U
7/30/14, 12:45 AM
Anonymous said…
Gee Tuna Buna - perhaps there wouldn't be a need for this alternative information source if the District and the City's major newspaper actually did their respective jobs.

Sure, it gets messy here now and then but guess what? Democracy is messy and contentious and sometimes wholly uncomfortable.
As President Truman once said - "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen"

reader47
7/30/14, 8:19 AM
Melissa Westbrook said…
"The blog becomes a mob."

Maybe in some comments but no one has ever seen a "mob from the blog" down at a Board meeting. I'd have to see evidence of that one.

Yes, some people do get upset. Maybe it's the thought of their own daughter getting sexually assaulted on a school field trip. Or the idea that Sped kids are being put in closets. Or that staff is taking money from different pots to take their own field trip.

Tends to irritate and make the blood pressure rise.

7/30/14, 9:05 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, gr...
Read more

Education News Roundup

From the ever-amusing Washington Policy Center : Vouchers are Pell Grants for students under 18.  Vouchers are no different than Pell Grants or GI benefits, except the money goes to the families of students younger than age 18.  Except they are. Pell Grants were created to help needy students and that's not really the goal of the voucher program.  The Pell grant website does have a couple of great studies on why low-income students drop out before finishing their higher ed and what makes a difference.
Read more