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.)
Comments
Hope you have a great break and that whatever holidays you celebrate are wonderful.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/education/21shared.html?_r=1&hp
But, yes, thanks Melissa, Charlie, Beth, and all of the rest who work hard to bring us information and help create a sense of shared community in SPS.
I'm hoping that this year I can get them to listen to it. It's not like they are doing anything else.
This year it seems particularly applicable, especially lines like:
"December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeers."
and
"I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six."
I certainly hope that my daughters remember this year, when it snowed for six days and six nights when one of them is twelve.
I think you can hear it here. I not Welsh - I'm not even Christian - but I dearly love this poem. I had an English teacher in high school who played it for us every year and had a slide show that went with it. It is the most perfect expression of nostalgia for childhood I know. It rates right up alongside "A Christmas Story" - in fact, I think "A Christmas Story" put together from several stories by Jean Shepard, could have been titled "A Child's Christmas in Indiana".
And zb, you completely made my day when you wrote that this blog helps "create a sense of shared community in SPS." That was my goal when I started this blog. Thanks to Mel, Charlie and everyone else who has contributed to making that a reality.
I feel the same way (though its not a seasonal thing) about Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which my third form (1st year of high school in New Zealand) English teacher had us study, which she made forever unforgettable - for me anyway - by accompanying the text with our listening to Welsh actor Richard Burton's incomparable rendition... the joys and paradoxes of a 1970s liberal arts/classical education taught in an 150 year old Catholic girls' school where the teachers were young feminist nuns!!!
And I have just finished reading Amy Tan's the Bonesetter's Daughter, which sparked me to reflect (once again) on the intergenerational connections and patterns that thread down the (in my case) matriarchal line, and the renewal of the realisation that we are each - whether we are awake to that or not - on the archetypal hero's journey... and what a BIG thing that is - what brave beings we are to have consciousness and to choose to use it - and yet again, paradoxically, what a small thing that is - just life...
How does my participation in this SPS closure issue and these blogs change the picture of my life and the world around me?
As the calligrapher Precious Auntie teaches her child - think before you begin about what is your intention, for once the strokes are on the page they cannot be undone... the ink tablet and stone contain all of the universe's potential, but once the stroke/ink is on the page, it is locked there forever in time...
What a metaphor for life and relationship...
Namaste to you all...
Sahila ChangeBringer
Some random thoughts....
I don't have any kids in the district, but I do work with the district and it can be absolutely maddening when they obfuscate, delay, LIE and, generally, act like petulant children. They have no concept of hiring people that know what they are doing (in some administrative positions), know that there are laws they need to comply with (even if they don't like or agree with those laws), and don't contemplate the need to pass on institutional knowledge. This last one results in them attempting to, or having to, reinvent the wheel, and also in constant violations of not only laws, but their own policies, i.e. BEX.
There are staff in the district that do an amazing job everyday in trying to educate kids with not only the basics such as math and reading, but in conveying values such as respect for others. But the whole effort is essentially hamstrung by bureaucratic and political bungling of an astronomical order since no one can ever seem to step forward, put it all on the line, and make a decision.
Please keep up the good work (even if I don't always agree with what is posted here).
Not Christmas-related, but full of starry wonder (and page-turning suspense) is Lucy and Stephen Hawkings children's book about black holes called "George's Secret Key to the Universe."It includes gorgeous Hubble photos.
Gosh there's a lotta snow out there...
Subject: Urgent request on behalf of Career and College Center
Specialists
Importance: High
(letter written to faculty at GHS)
As you know, I am on the Career and College Center Specialist Advisory board, and I am so disheartened to learn that your position is up for elimination/reduction in this new $37 million budget cut.
I am so grateful for the partnerships that we have with you, and am deeply saddened to think about the impact this would have on you and your many students.
Cutting this needed position would be a tremendous disservice to students. The Career and College Center Specialists are the hubs of the schools. They are the critical contact points between the student body, and the many colleges, volunteer and youth opportunities that exist. Because they are not tied
to teaching in a classroom, they have the time and capacity to support students from ALL grade levels who need help and want to form
relationships with them.
I have voiced my opinion and I encourage others to advocate for your position as well. Please let me know if there is anything else you think I can do to help.
Thank you so much for everything that you do!
Amy
PEOPLE TO CONTACT ABOUT THIS ISSUE:
Carla Santorno: cjsantorno@seattleschools.org
Chief Academic Officer
Michael Tolley: mftolley@seattleschools.org
Director of Instruction, High School
Wanda Brown, wmbrown@seattleschools.org
Director, Prevention & Intervention
Second I have the feeling that the School District is going at School Closure, Facility Capacity and Student Placement and Program Placement BACKWARDS.
I mean, to me it would make sense to: FIRST know what a facility capacity is and where those facilities are. SECOND how many students are in the area of each school. THIRD what is the primary interest of students near the schools. (Programs)or what are the interest of parents and students regarding programs in the district. FOURTH determine what is the space needed for each program. FIFTH keep schools open that will accomodate that programs needed space, SIXTH place the students and SEVENTH close schools no longer needed.
I know this is an idealistic situation. Not all students will be near the schools that have programs they want. That is why the school program space and building must be determined first, and would be best determined by the number of students nearest the school interested in the program (which again is ideal, but worth a try).
Some problems with my ideal scenario above would be the delay in student placement and program determination, which makes it hard on both students and parents. Would the end results make this bearable?
Thank you.
that may be your browser.
mine shows dates and times
for instance you posted above @ 12/25/08 9:37 AM