Music News

Dear Parents,
 
If you are still trying to find some musical activities to keep your child playing their instrument during the summer, please consider the district’s Summer Music Program.  Two sessions are being held at Eckstein Middle School this summer and space is still available.   Please check out http://district.seattleschools.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?sessionid=6bafd21131f06e755f243024165230dd&pageid=219375&sessionid=6bafd21131f06e755f243024165230dd for more information about the program, necessary forms, as well as information about partial scholarships.
 
Sincerely,
 
Katrina Sibicky
Elementary Instrumental Music
Seattle Public Schools

Comments

Anonymous said…
The same program is also being offered at West Seattle High School location! I wonder why she failed to include that important piece of information.

-Patient Southender
dan dempsey said…
Speaking of Music .... Kila from Ireland will be playing on Sunday Night in Olympia, WA

Doors open at 6:30 ... Music at 7:00 pm
$20 general Admission

Band Formed 1987:

Kíla have Played In

IRELAND, FINLAND, GERMANY, USA,
ENGLAND, SWEDEN, CANADA,
SCOTLAND, DENMARK, JAPAN,
WALES, AUSTRIA, ISRAEL,
ITALY, SWITZERLAND, AUSTRALIA,
SPAIN, HUNGARY, NEW ZEALAND,
BELGIUM, TURKEY, FRANCE,
SLOVENIA, CORSICA, CZECH REPUBLIC, PORTUGAL, THE NETHERLANDS

Countries Seeking Self Determination that Kíla have Played In

QUEBEC, CORSICA, THE BASQUE COUNTRY, THE CANARY ISLANDS, CATALONIA
Anonymous said…
Would love to do this but 9-12? Some of us have to be at work!

Mr. Ed
Anonymous said…
I don't get it. I thought there were no district summer programs this year?

confused
Anonymous said…
Ms. Sibicky teaches at some Eckstein feeder elementaries, so I suspect that's why she mentioned the Eckstein location.

This is a parent-pay program (possibly why it's still being offered?) that's been operating for many years. My daughter and some of her freinds participated for a few years and really enjoyed it.

-NE music parent
Jan said…
confused -- I am only hazarding a guess here. My assumption is that the "summer school" that is NOT being offered is free, academic summer school, designed for credit retrieval, to avoid being retained (if that ever happens anymore), etc.

This program sounds like it is just an "enrichment" summer-campy kind of thing. They are charging tuition (though there is a reference to scholarships), no "credit" is involved.

That doesn't make it a "bad" thing -- in fact, it seems like a GREAT thing. But if my guesses are correct, it is not the same as the vanished summer school classes.
dan dempsey said…
Jan,

Thanks for the excellent chuckle...

designed for credit retrieval, to avoid being retained (if that ever happens anymore)

The promotion / non-promotion policy was never followed (even though Harium mantained it was) .... so it was recently revised by Holly Ferguson and approved by the Board. It now says nothing at all.

Sure am glad that Michael DeBell gave the 15 minute evaluation on how the District and the New Super are doing...... for the most part it pretty much fell right in line with saying nothing at all ... very similar to the strategic plan update.

"If Retention occurs it is only by accident, not by design."

The District fails to even acknowledge its complete failure to serve struggling students .... thus socially promoting rather than educating is apparently the plan ... no summer school needed.
SeattleSped said…
I must be out of it but there IS still ESY for SpecEd, right?
Jan said…
Dan: I must confess. I am an ardent foe of retention (anecdotal stories of success being far outweighed by studies showing harm done and lack of success) -- so if the Board is going to neglect a policy, I vote for that one.

That said -- I cannot in good conscience applaud the ignoring of Board policies -- no, here I wish they would leap zestfully upon this policy, stab it in the heart, and heave its carcass out the door, while diligently and briskly implementing a system to identify kids who are struggling and to provide targeted interventions to catch those kids up to grade level.

But alas. That is not happening either. How do we convince the District that while just "passing" kids along, as they slip farther and farther behind each year, while the District tells their teachers to just "differentiate" across 2, 3, 4 or 6 or more grade levels may be the "cheap" answer, it is not the "right" answer?
dan dempsey said…
Hey Jan,

My beef is with the complete failure to provide effective interventions.

The Old ignored policies were very specific about the need for interventions.

The plan now is just to continue promoting largely skill deficient students rather than educating them.

The District has such poor instructional programs that are founded on an ideology that just does not work ... that they promote everyone rather than make solid moves to provide an education to students. These seems to be the current practices "of the ed elites who are in the know."

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