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From Salander:
Here is the blog I have just created for Seattle area teachers.
I've just discovered this blog: Stories From School. Regular readers here may be particularly interested in Kristin's posts.
I have been following An Urban Teacher's Education for a while now. He used to teach HS Social Studies somewhere just south of Seattle. He wrote one of the best descriptions of why using students' test scores to evaluate teachers makes no sense that I have seen (can't find it now-he doesn't have a very searchable system.).
Salander, I hope you don't mind if a non-teacher posts once in awhile. If I find anything that I think teachers might be interested in (re: MAP or whatever), I would like to share it.
Salander said…
MAPsucks-
Posting is open for all! The blog just intended to have more of a teacher sharing focus.
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.)
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, grief, that is to come fro
Here's the agenda for tonight's Board meeting. I note that people can no longer sign up to speak at a Board meeting by phone. It is strictly by online sign-up. Not good. Public Testimony seems to cover two topics. Apparently, the Chinese program at West Seattle High School is in jeopardy and there are several speakers for that issue. The other issue is, of course, school closures. There are six people on the waitlist. Here's the latest from the Times which says that " Seattle Could Close about a quarter of its elementary schools." First, that would be a heck of a lot of schools (17) and two, only elementaries? My cynical side is that the district is throwing out a big number so they can "generously" only close 10-12. The article claims that the district is taking "$32M from its reserves" which is not true; they have no reserves. I think the reporter means capital reserves. I'll be tuning in with updates. 4:15 pm and has the 4:15
Comments
I have been following An Urban Teacher's Education for a while now. He used to teach HS Social Studies somewhere just south of Seattle. He wrote one of the best descriptions of why using students' test scores to evaluate teachers makes no sense that I have seen (can't find it now-he doesn't have a very searchable system.).
Posting is open for all! The blog just intended to have more of a teacher sharing focus.