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
How wonderful to know that Dr. Enfield met with Dean Tom Stritikus, of University of Washington's College of Education....
and Attended: Puget Sound Educational School Districts Superintendent’s Meeting etc. etc. etc.
Perhaps now she or the Seattle School Board would care to address why they believe that conditional certification for Teach for America Corp Members is legally merited under WAC 181-79A-231.
Two problems here: (1) sounds like she doesn't know how to run a study (2) the word "data" is plural: data demonstrate, data do not "demonstrates"
"We are determining what data to collect that will best measure success of the pilot. I will update you periodically through the year regarding which data we are collecting and what the data demonstrates."
She must be a Writers Workshop grad.
-JC.
I know it sounds like 20/20 hindsight but when I read through the Friday update that mentioned the Sutor Report, my immediate response was, "What is that report and why would the Business Journal want to write about it?' That was not the reaction from anyone on the Board including Peter Maier who knew what was in the report.
You would have thought that would have been a BIG red flag to him "I thought Fred said he was taking care of it and now there's a news article on it?" But no. And he didn't alert any Board members and it did not catch the eye of one of them.
I have confirmed with everyone but Betty and Kay that no one read the Sutor Report until the real trouble became apparent. I have no idea what Peter told his fellow Board members about why he didn't mention it to them either when he first read it or when he saw there was a news article being written about it.
I am fascinated with the current friday update (one week delayed) in all the transportation changes. It is probably very normal for there to be such changes (especially given the changes in the assignment plans, programs and transportation scheduling) but it makes me wonder how transportation is budgeted. Did they have a cushion for more buses and if so, how much? Sure makes me itch for a transparent budget.