Danny Westneat Nails It Again
This Sunday's column by Danny Westneat of the Times is spot on. He explains how he wasn't really going to talk about the special 3-person Spanish class set up for basketball star, Tony Wroten, and 2 others.
It was especially niccceeee because Garfield is the most jampacked, overcrowded high school in Seattle. I figured there wasn't much I could add about the sway sports holds in schools and society that wasn't summed up best by that one tweet.
But as he says, last week the class cuts started at Garfield.
"At Garfield, budget cuts are being translated to cuts in Advanced Placement courses and other classes, including the cancellation of AP Calculus BC, reductions in sections of AP Chemistry, and AP Spanish," read a bulletin from a parents' group. (italics his)
Translation: After finding the wherewithal to gin up a three-person Spanish class so the star player can remain eligible to play ball in college, the school now is cutting back on the Spanish classes needed for scores of kids to do academics in college.
So how did Ted Howard, the principal at Garfield, explain the special Spanish class?
The Garfield principal's defense was he created the special Spanish class because he "felt we owed those kids and parents credit and also an education."
I'm sorry. Did Tony and his friends not have the opportunity to take a regular Spanish class? Yes. So why the "special" class? Is this kind of owed help available to every single student in the school who manages to fail a class? (I'm sure UW will continue this treatment when Tony gets there as well.)
As Danny says, one other thing got missed:
Speaking of stars, did you see the other news about Garfield? It barely made a blip. It was just announced Garfield had more National Merit scholarship winners than any other public high school in the state.
I've met Mr. Howard and he's a good guy and it's a big school. But this is unacceptable. What is the district's response to this?
And yet they fired Martin Floe but Ted Howard is still sitting in his $120M school. (The irony here is that Martin Floe, in yet another heroic effort, has been through BTA/BEX fix after fix. He had to wait out neighbors on the decision about whether to cut a grove of trees for a new addition. And yet, Ingraham will never get the rebuilt that nearly every other high school received because of all the "fixes" done over the years. It's a strange thing.)
It was especially niccceeee because Garfield is the most jampacked, overcrowded high school in Seattle. I figured there wasn't much I could add about the sway sports holds in schools and society that wasn't summed up best by that one tweet.
But as he says, last week the class cuts started at Garfield.
"At Garfield, budget cuts are being translated to cuts in Advanced Placement courses and other classes, including the cancellation of AP Calculus BC, reductions in sections of AP Chemistry, and AP Spanish," read a bulletin from a parents' group. (italics his)
Translation: After finding the wherewithal to gin up a three-person Spanish class so the star player can remain eligible to play ball in college, the school now is cutting back on the Spanish classes needed for scores of kids to do academics in college.
So how did Ted Howard, the principal at Garfield, explain the special Spanish class?
The Garfield principal's defense was he created the special Spanish class because he "felt we owed those kids and parents credit and also an education."
I'm sorry. Did Tony and his friends not have the opportunity to take a regular Spanish class? Yes. So why the "special" class? Is this kind of owed help available to every single student in the school who manages to fail a class? (I'm sure UW will continue this treatment when Tony gets there as well.)
As Danny says, one other thing got missed:
Speaking of stars, did you see the other news about Garfield? It barely made a blip. It was just announced Garfield had more National Merit scholarship winners than any other public high school in the state.
I've met Mr. Howard and he's a good guy and it's a big school. But this is unacceptable. What is the district's response to this?
And yet they fired Martin Floe but Ted Howard is still sitting in his $120M school. (The irony here is that Martin Floe, in yet another heroic effort, has been through BTA/BEX fix after fix. He had to wait out neighbors on the decision about whether to cut a grove of trees for a new addition. And yet, Ingraham will never get the rebuilt that nearly every other high school received because of all the "fixes" done over the years. It's a strange thing.)
Comments
And wasn't this special class created after the fake class/grade was daylighted?
It seems to me that there is clear and admitted evidence of misconduct on the part of the Garfield principal, but he gets to keep his job. Why?
(I also wondered why this kid gets to keep his spot at UW, when so many qualified students who actually worked hard in school, and deserve a spot at UW were denied one. Oh yes, silly me. Because athletes are more important than the rest of us. How could I forget that)
Like Danny Westneat, I would think academics should be the last thing to be cut, protected until the end, only cut after everything else is torn to the bone. Is that not the opinion of the vast majority of parents?
Was there discussion of Garfield cuts before this decision was done? Is Garfield's budget publicly available? I can't seem to find it. Are there any surveys of what parents would prefer to be cut? I can't seem to find that either. I would be very surprised if protecting academics was not the top priority for almost all parents, but perhaps I am missing information?
SPS has always had two sets of rules, one for the people who have connections like Mr. Howard (son of a long time SPS principal, brother-in-law of another administrator, and ex-brother in-law of crack dealer/district paralegal Ronnie Bryant) and one for people who don't. Not to say that Martin Floe didn't get a pass on things, his downfall was that his patron Steve Wilson was ousted as CAO.
At best, Ted Howard should be fired for being wasteful. A small amount of digging (i.e. a public records request for any email he has ever sent or recieved about Tony Wroten or the AD who is taking the fall for him) will probably uncover that he should be fired for dishonesty. And it should reveal who else has been covering up the backroom deals at Garfield (like Ammon McWashington).
-Just Sayin
I'd be willing to be none of it.
Here is my question. Can the school require kids to take classes off campus (with attendant costs - books, fees) in order to take classes required for graduation? Is this legal?
Laura
Isn't running start free for kids? Books and fees are probably not covered though. But my kid at Roosevelt had books to purchase and other fees for classes, so not unheard of within the district.
I am in the same boat as others, I do not see how this saves money if kids are still able to take 6 credits at school.
I haven't followed capacity management as closely as I should, so maybe I'm completely wrong. But it would be a shame if these kids are being threatened in order to create a fake emergency that gets TFA into the schools.
The APP kids at Garfield are coming into high school with credit for 2 years of science in middle school. If they have taken the alegebra sequence and geometry at WMS or HIMS, do theses classes also count as high school credit? Looking at it from a strictly graduation requirement angle might explain why calc b/c could be cut if the kids who have had precalc and calc a/b as 9th and 10th graders have completed 4 years of high school math credit with the middle school credits included.
It is not right. I hope that the classes will be reinstated with some creative shuffling of classes and budget. High school students should not have to go to college. Running Start should be a choice, not a requirement. But the writing has been on the wall all year regarding the state budget, and we have all watched Gregoire make difficult cuts across the board. Garfield hopefully can work around this, and the uproar will probably help get at least some of these classes back into the schedule, but the budget and Washington voters have to own some of the blame for the situation schools find themselves in.
I just can't get over the cutting of math and science classes in preference to other options. Core subjects are those required for graduation. It does not make sense to cut core classes.
My student informs me that non-AP statistics has been cut for next year. There is not room in the AP statistics. That leaves no math for him and about 60 other kids.
Seattle Central Community College will offer Calculus 1 at the following times next fall:
- Daily at 9 AM, 10 AM, 11 AM, and 12 PM (50 minutes)
- Tuesday and Thursday from 6-8:30 PM
Students would have to allow at least 30-40 minutes each way to get from Garfield to SCCC by Metro, so the daytime sections would force them to miss all or part of three class periods at GHS. That leaves the evening section as perhaps the only viable option for students that still want to do most of their coursework at Garfield. If that is in fact the case, I'd expect the 32 seats available those evenings to fill pretty quickly :-(
As to the larger question... I don't get it either. If the district and GHS are committed to providing six classes to every high school student that wants it, then it shouldn't cost any more to provide additional full sections of Calculus BC, AP Spanish and/or Spanish 4 in place of the classes those students would otherwise be forced to take. If the district and/or GHS are NOT committed to provide every student an opportunity to take a full course load, I'd like to hear them say so explicitly and justify it.
I too am wondering if we are seeing the results of the clash between low-ball enrollment projections out of the central administration and actual course registrations submitted by real, live, current and incoming students. Are we going to see a repeat of this year's fiasco, with kids sitting around for the first month of school, waiting for Garfield to hire teachers to meet the "unexpected" demand? Or will the central admin projections become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as families flee the mess that has been created?
Also, we have been told that the community college will not accept the AB calculus for placement. They will have to take that first year over again.
AB calculus is not the equivalent of a year of college calculus.... at best it is a semester ... or perhaps one quarter depending on the school.
The premiere Science and Engineering School on the West Coast... Harvey Mudd (SAT MATH average of those accepted is 790) will only allow students to start above beginning Calculus if they score a "5" on the "BC Calc" exam ... and then do well on the Harvey Mudd placement exam.
Please notice that as the number of students attending college has risen over the last 20 years and the percentage of students entering college with AP Calculus credit has increased ..... The absolute number of students enrolled in second year calculus has dropped and the absolute number of engineering graduates has dropped .... and we best not even think about native born USA students in second year calculus.
Yes, the shine is ebbing.
GHS
high school parent
I understand that HS and college calculus pacing is not exactly comparable: AB and BC calculus (2 years) is accepted as equivalent to 3 semesters of calculus for most colleges. So, the HS students get one more semester to get through the work. I still think the high school students should at least get to take a test to place into the appropriate semester of calculus, and not have to automatically start at the beginning again.
It's my understanding that they get placed in higher level classes starting in 9th grade, but only have credit if they've requested it. As we're seeing with the class cutbacks, it may actually harm students to take the HS credit for middle school classes.
-parent
I mean, really, I know the answer - Gates will funnel it through one entity or another. But it seems odd to have this dragged out this long. Why the mystery?
Or will the district actually show some spine and ONLY hire TFA math/science recruits?
RIFs are out, how many at GHS?
I would be surprised if a school counted AB+BC as three semesters. AT UW it is two quarters. That means students who are used to the slower high school pace, who might have taken BC Calc as an 11th grader, start at UW in third quarter calculus, multivariable calculus and it can and does kick their butts.
If all students must take the same number of classes at GHS, how is cutting the AP class saving money? Don't those students have to be in another classroom with another teacher?
Am I missing something?
stu
They blow off the advanced classes because they figure the kids registered for them will graduate one way or another (either they do Running Start, or they sign up for basket weaving.)
If we as a society valued education more (income tax anyone?), then all of our kids could get an appropriate education. As is, we are left to do triage and balance one kid's (perceived) wants over another's needs. (Given that their goal is graduation, not having every kid reach their potential.)
While the Wroten situation is an issue, surely the district would have had to pay a lot inpersonal damages to the three students that the Athletic Director gave grades to if it had prevented any of them from an education at the next level, regardless of whether or not they were to only attend one year of college. In athletic terms that would have been a "slam dunk" legal win. A student should not be done harm regardless of who they are or what we feel about them because adults made a mistake. That's the unwritten oath educators take.
Oh, and if the school board 6-7 years ago hadn't kicked pop machines and snacks out of SP high schools, totalling roughly 30-40K per year, while students at the high schools go off campus and buy the stuff right near their schools EVERYDAY, that revenue would be able to help pay for athletics and activities.
athletics and activities are funded through ASB and directly from the district Athletic office. THE ARE NOT FUNDED as part of a buildings academic budget.
If you believe that to not be true call the district athletic office or any high school.
So again. APP funded classes vs. The rest of the regular or sped population? Sounds like a catch 22!
Parent
Other than Ingrahm have any other HSs in the city upped their AP offerings?
--Newish to Seattle and already out of patience
I'm not sure I agree with you about the voters and Tim Eyman. The voters of Seattle have been asked, time and time again, to tax themselves for schools and, time and time again, we have thrown hundreds of millions of dollars into the coffers. In addition, hundreds of thousands of dollars are raised by PTAs each year, to fund things that haven't been funded.
That said, I think the administration has squandered millions in the way they run the district. A million here for an unproven "Stem" program, instead of building your own, a million or two there to pay for things that have nothing to do with our children (Pottergate), teacher coaches instead of classroom teachers, more administration than any other district . . . yes, the whole country is going through some tough financial times. But that's when you want people who are fiscally responsible and no one on this board has shown any strength.
The very first thing you fund are the classes and teachers. If you have to start cutting, you cut AWAY from the classrooms first. If you want to make an argument that a class that only attracts 3 students, say a remedial spanish class for a star athlete, should never have been funded, especially when you're cutting programs that attract hundreds of kids, that's one thing. But cutting AP courses at one of the premiere high schools in the state without even offering the students left twisting alternatives?
Vote out the four . . . cut administration costs . . . build on successful programs . . . reward creativity in teaching and funding.
The people of Seattle pay A LOT OF TAXES towards the schools; how 'bout rewarding them by listening to some of their suggestions?
stu