Friday Open Thread
Charter school initiative at Sec'y of State's office and assigned a title:
Ballot Title
Initiative Measure No. 1240 concerns public charter schools.
I will write a separate thread but let me just say that I don't care if you like charters or not - this is one scary and vague piece of work. It's pretty shocking to see what could be allowed to happen. Like the bill in the Legislature, this initiative is bad news.
Upcoming threads:
- Board retreat from last Saturday
- underenrolled schools - do we really know why they are underenrolled? The district seems to have left a couple of schools hung out to dry
- who's next to endorse charters? Could be a City Councilperson and/or a parent group
Saturday Community
meetings
Director
Carr from 8:30-10 am, Bethany Community Church, access from N 81st
by playground
Director
Martin-Morris from 9:30-11:30 am, Diva Espresso, Lake City Way
Director
Smith-Blum from 10-11:30 am, Capitol Hill Library
What's on your mind?
Ballot Title
Initiative Measure No. 1240 concerns public charter schools.
I will write a separate thread but let me just say that I don't care if you like charters or not - this is one scary and vague piece of work. It's pretty shocking to see what could be allowed to happen. Like the bill in the Legislature, this initiative is bad news.
Upcoming threads:
- Board retreat from last Saturday
- underenrolled schools - do we really know why they are underenrolled? The district seems to have left a couple of schools hung out to dry
- who's next to endorse charters? Could be a City Councilperson and/or a parent group
Comments
FWIW, I met and liked Martin before the whole flap blew up, but didn't have a student at IHS at the time. Now I do - my son is finishing up his freshman year - and I'm even more impressed with him. It's impossible for me to believe that the district would want to bring that whole mess back up again.
EDUCATOR EFFECTIVENESS DATA
There are many interesting documents posted here
http://www.psea.org/uploadedFiles/Publications/Professional_Publications/Advisories/DanielsonFrameworkForTeaching_Advisory.pdf
http://www.danielsongroup.org/
fyi
"We don't know who Melvin G Ashton is, but we're pretty sure the "Save Seattle Schools Blog" is not a primary source of hard facts."
I don't understand how anyone can continue to repost this individuals writing without understanding that it offends a lot of parents. (Maybe it's because it offends parents not in Melvin's tax bracket.) https://www.facebook.com/standwashington/posts/265885413519717
This is one case where you'd hope the Framework would be used as a tool for the principal to remove an ineffective teacher.
Stand has no High Horse to get up on.
This blog has no money (well now maybe a little via those ads?) involved in its mission. participation of hundreds. Readership of thousands.
Stand has politicians who won't participate in its endorsement process because its brand is so tainted at this point. It has parents who attend a meeting or two and say no thanks. And that's with its millions.
Stand trying to dismiss this blog? What a fail. This blog makes news.
Reformed Reformie
So, if you were being paid to "observe" a teacher, you are going to come up with something to justify your $100K+ a yr. In one instance, a teacher was dinged for not having a date on the lesson plan.
And what do students think when they find out a teacher's on probation? All right, I can screw off and blame it on the teacher. I can claim I'm being cheated out of a good grade. I can act up in class (and the observer will ding the teacher again for poor classroom management).
This is the Work that is costing our district millions to implement. $1.4M in roster verification alone.
When youngest was in 8thgrade, I helped chaperone the 8th grade of Summit, at Camp Orkilia, for their springtrip.
Several suburban elementary classes were there at the same time, and a few conflicts occurred.
The program was really not engaging enough for kids ready to enter high school, so it put more burden on the chaperones to keep them together.
Still I really appreciated the opportunity to work with the kids- that is one of my favorite ages.
I got more sleep while chaperoning the 10th grade marine biology trip through the North Cascades and into Eastern Washington , albeit the chaperones were led by the legendary Craig MacGowan and his rugby pals.
Any response from the directors regarding the recently released performance audit?
Or is this going to be used as an excuse to implement charter schools with their reduced " administration", even though the suburban school districts direct more money into classrooms thanSeattle.
I wish our 8th graders had gone to Deception Pass for their capstone trip. It sounds like a lot of fun (and lots of work for parent volunteers).
Funny response from SFC. I've always found this blog a good source of facts, particularly when they come from Melissa or Charlie. Maybe the difference is that SFC doesn't know the difference between facts and opinions? Actually, that would explain a lot.
"Oh...keep reading. Especially interesting are the exchanges with Jon B. Start at page 38-40."
Not-Anonymous
So they say. But Melissa and Charlie have more than a few people in this town jumping.
Congratulations on your free publicity.
Frank Greer, Sara Morris, Matt Griffin. And the crew at Strategies 360.
How many ways can one person say Yuck. Ick. Blech.
"Disgusted Too"
Mike
Yes, Floor Pie, that thread on underenrolled schools will include Green Lake.
ALTF news? I will probably write something on Monday as I'm fairly certain now that someone (s) are trying to run out the school year clock.
Me too. I found pages 36-38 particularily illuminating. Maybe I forgot, but when was Jon Bridges elected to the board?
This crap is totally Enfield's style and yes it is nauseating.
4c: communication with families
Yes--that is part of our evaluation
--Sorrel
Just read the SPS leaks and boy, I am really mad. I think this needs to be outed in a big way.
I'm not sure who thinks they are the biggest dog in this town - Frank Greer or Jon Bridge.
(And if any of our Alliance or Stand friends are reading, early warning. Fur is going to fly.)
This crap is totally Enfield's style and yes it is nauseating"
I agree. We now know the politicos that control the message and the media. If Banda does not support the agenda of these folks...I think it is safe to say they will use the media to make swiss cheese out of Banda.
Seriously Jon? You put a blog on blast for not representing anyone besides the writers' own selves, and then attempt to represent the "silent majority"?
With arrogance like that, one may be inclined to assert that you, Mr. Bridge, are a contemptuous, entitled windbag.
Speaking of that whole situation, sure is interesting how low a profile Bree Dusseault has maintained this year. Because I'm an eternal optimist, I'm hoping she's learned some lessons in how to effectively supervise folks.
It is time for DeBell to GO!
Future STEM Parent
Future STEM Parent
Auntie to a STEM kid
mirmac, do you know if Joanie Deutsch (p.79) of Strategies360 is related to longtime SPS HR guy Harvey Deutsch?
Interesting to read Kay Smith Blum's push back to the Alliance4Ed's fee increase (p.91). Did that end up going through?
So Matt Griffin (throughout) is in commercial real estate?
I'm not sure I blame Enfield for hanging out with some of these people--a person has to have a social life and they have common interests. If they are friends though, they should be doing it on their own time/email accounts. Then we wouldn't even know who was influencing whom.
The cost would upset me; I depend on hand me downs and do very little back to school shopping in the fall.
Uniforms? I don't know. With the new school, I suspect it may be parents as well as the district. I'm not sure I get why. But they have to offer some kind of discount for them because you cannot force people to pay for clothes who can't afford new clothes.
As for Bridge and Greer, look, the media and the "community" say what they want. But one, not all the media are going to swing their way.
But two (and most important), if Banda makes district staff, school staff, parents, and students happy, there's not a darn thing they can really do to him. If he does well, parents and the real community will rise up to protect him against all foes. If we have a transparent and well-managed district, then there' not so much they can say.
If Banda succeeds, the district succeeds. We need to help him make that happen.
Fascinating reading - and yes, one can socialize where ever one wants, but should that social circle have such access? It's all so interwoven and frankly, disturbing.
But then us pesky blog readers arent the silent majority, so what does it matter what we, voters, parents, concern citizens that we might be, think ;o)
It was not parents. There was a poll on the STEM yahoo group and parents voted against uniforms. How do I find out who has authority to make this decision. If the parents don't want it, can we do anything?
I know there are other schools in the district that require uniforms, so I am wondering if there is a process a school needs to go through in order to implement requiring uniforms.
Future STEM Parent
It all goes on the scrap heap. It died when Dr. Enfield announced she was leaving.
I hope nothing was done about any of it because it all just evaporated.
Which leads to an interesting question, who sets policy about things like uniforms? Can a principal/site council do it unilaterally, or does the Board have to get involved?
I just don't get having uniforms when the school system as a whole doesn't have them (and you can bet that wouldn't fly). I associate uniforms with KIPP and more regimented school atmospheres.
Back when HMM had his blog, there was a long thread about uniforms. They backed off. Yes, some parents were in favor of uniforms, but many weren't.
It just feels like a divisive topic. When you're trying to build a community, why even go there as a design team?
js
This "presumes" a number of things: first, it presumes that most of the activity that will be undertaken is already stuff that can/should happen in ordinary course, under the ordinary budget/staffing process -- and that the "vision" simply rearranges priorities (a little) and reorders thought processes so that everyone can feel part of a team that is moving toward commonly adopted goals. No clue whether that ever happens at SPS, but I think that (plus some PR value) is what was intended. I don't see any "loss" from moving away from Excellence for All and Everyone Accountable (MGJ's language/vision) to Enfield's Four Pillars.
Where I part ways is with the Strategic Plan. In this case, the "vision" sort of jumped its box and became an expensive, District adopted action plan, with deliverables, damage if those deliverables were not delivered (like the problems of running an attendance based system before you make every school a "quality school" -- oops. Sorry RBHS.) In that instance, I don't think the "plan" vaporizes with its proponent. I would be much happier if the Board and new District management would deal openly with "what happened?" Is there still a viable "Strategic Plan" out there, continuing to miss one milestone after another. Did we decide we hated it as much as we disliked its author, so we formally terminated it? (Ok by me, but there is value in actually going through that process, rather than just kicking it under the bed and hoping no one ever looks under there -- besides credibility and integrity issues, it tends to make the proponents a little more accountable (what did it cost, what did we achieve, where did we fail, -- and maybe most important -- what replaces it? If nothing, is that ok? Did we ever need anything like it? If not, would we ever caper down that path again? And why or why not?
The Board could figure all this out in an hour -- make a pronouncement -- and move on. I wish they would. It would be so -- adult. And I am happy for Mr. Banda to come in with his own vision, and articulate it how he likes (as long as the Board, his bosses, are happy with it).
I nodded at this, but, ironically, I'm sure many parents look at uniforms as unifying. I know some think of uniforms as a way to be sure some kids don't feel inferior because they can't afford the latest clothes. I'm with Po3 though, uniforms would have to cost more (even used) than what my kids have grown up wearing.
I had a conversation with a mom who has a kid diagnosed with Asperger's, she mentioned that her kid would have a terrible time tolerating a uniform and it would take a huge amount of energy everyday trying to get the kid to wear one. (Sensory issues I think? collars and waist bands?) My kid isn't on the spectrum (afaik), but would be miserable being told what to wear every day. (I wore a uniform for 11 years (Catholic School). It was great. I would think hard before I sent my kids to a public school with uniforms. Hypocrite?)
From Frank Greer
To Michael DeBell
...I've had a long talk with Lynne Varner …she's beginning to understand..would love for you to talk with her, even if on “background”…to provide an understanding of what the problem is with Kay and what she did to drive Susan away…and why this policy is so important to limit her interference with the Superintendent. ..it’s really important to help her understand and I think she will be very helpful…
And the downtown people point to this blog as rabblerousers. This is insane stuff. Frank Greer, Lynne Varner...I hope Banda has zero time for both of you. And frankly for DeBell too. Shame.
Disgusted Too
http://emersones.seattleschools.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=213172&sessionid=006425882a8592449a16076c8883d5b2&sessionid=006425882a8592449a16076c8883d5b2
"School is student's workplace and as adults have dress standards within the workplace, so do students at Emerson Elementary...[the] dress code...demonstrates that school is a place for studying and learning."
I don't know why this makes me cringe, but it just does.
js
-fed up
"public charter school" --
they are NOT public! we already have public schools! they're charter schools, which, are NOT public!
ha ha ha ha. Glad I didn't and Glad I won't vote
ForPreppy
Around page 180 (in an e-mail exchange between DeBell and Bridges) Bridges wants the Alliance to be included in the Superintendent search. Bridges feels the Alliance deserves a seat because of "our MOU".
Also noticed Greer talking about some meetings with the Chamber of Commerce. Was he part of the whole campaign to discredit the board?
The few years when my kids have been in schools with uniforms were no big deal. It was easy to dress for school. School ran a "hand me down" exchange as the kids grew. No obvious flaunting of wealth or personal politics on clothes. And maybe a heightened sense of identity with the community -- that all seemed fine. (And they would have all been fine with no policy, as well). But the idea of little kids all dressed up in the kid equivalent of business attire (lacking only their little briefcases) -- blech.
I finally took it upon myself to buy a bunch of shirts so that when kids needed a clean one they would always have one. As the resource room teacher in a school with a lot of homeless kids, I found myself taking at least three loads of laundry home a week. When word spread that I had clean shirts, kids came knocking from all classes and grades.
The notion that uniforms somehow help our poorest families is flat out wrong.
Teacher Sally
So much energy and effort expended on hiding and obfuscation. Sigh.
Waiting for Godot, too
It almost reads like a sit com.
Do any of these people even have kids in SPS?
Do they operate differently? They do. Do they cherrypick students? They do. Do some of them have admissions policies? They do.
I believe Madrona also has uniforms. I can see the good and the bad but I would like to know who made the decision and why.
Non-uniform family
Here are some random thoughts: I also have a 2E kid, though not one with that specific issue. I think that there should be exceptions -- so your child can wear something different if it is a Sped issue.
Neighborhood schools: it makes me wonder. My understanding is that in many other countries (both European and Asian), all kids just wear them -- whether to neighborhood schools or to magnet schools. And it is just not a big deal. Leaving aside the few reasons I think are just plain wrong -- I wonder why we all have such a reaction to the idea of school uniforms. Regardless of the merits, I just wonder at what the "communal genesis" is of our collective resistance to uniforms?
Melissa- Would you be able to post a thread about this topic and that k-5 stem at boren (an option school) decided to impliment required uniforms after parents had already signed their kids up thus giving up their neighborhood spots. the yahoo group is clearly divided on the issue and I want it to be made more public so more parents are made aware of it and can voice their concerns if this is also a concern to theirs. If this is what the majority of the community wants that is one thing, but I don't believe this is what the majority of the community wants.
Future STEM Parent
Mr. Griffin appears to have hands in many pies - he's on the Board of the Downtown Seattle Association, the YMCA, Rainier Scholars. His company Pine Street owns things like the Seattle Art Museum bldg, and Pacific Place..
1) And is anyone surprised that the ridiculous proposal - when we have NO $$$$ for existing schools - for a South Lake Union school is proposed for the upcoming BEX levy? Deep pocket developers speak and politicians and the school district jumps, doncha know.
2) Downtown Seattle Association is the Downtown Chamber isn't it? Doesn't the DSA/Chamber actually issue the paychecks of The Alliance for Education's staff? Because if Griffin has this sense of OUTRAGEOUS entitlement to issuing directives to the system, then you know where Alliance CEO Sara Morris gets her sense of entitlement to 'running' the distict 'the Alliance Way'.
DistrictWatcher
Public School Parent
Parents signed their children up for STEM before they knew it was requiring uniforms. They gave up their spots at their neighborhood schools and are now forced to go to a school requiring uniforms.
Future STEM Parent
Non-uniform, I have one of these at home and we had to do this went we lived in another country. It WAS difficult. One of the main issues is tags and "how it feels". It makes life for a parent much harder.
We don't have that many schools with this policy and I think that parents should have input. Why not start the year and talk to parents and THEN decide?
On another topic -- Charlie posted on another thread that we are due for new elementary and middle school math materials, but had postponed it due to budget issues. If Mr. Banda can find the funds to replace the horrible stuff now used with Singapore (and Saxon as a back up for kids who learn best with spiraling), the effect on test scores will make him look like a genius in about 2 years!
Yes, they are publicly funded, but they are NOT publicly owned.
Their ownership is private. KIPP owns KIPP schools, Green Dot owns Green Dot schools, and RocketShip owns RocketShip schools. They are not public assets.
Public schools are owned by the public.
It is the ownership, not the funding, that says whether they are public or private, and the public does not own charter schools therefore they are not public schools.
see the May 30th report & discussion on the West Seattle Blog-
"Dr. McKinney stressed repeatedly she wasn’t bringing up the uniform/dress code idea as a means of “behavior control.”
Primarily, she said, she saw it, potentially, “as a way to elevate the expectations at our school … so far as, kids come to school, dressing for success. … I (would) want them to be proud of the fact they are coming to school dressed for success, ‘we’re here to learn and this is an awesome opportunity’.”
And in the next breath, she declared it would be a “community decision.”
The yahoo group is the only place I know of that the community could voice their support/concern. The the majority according the poll on the yahoo group did not want to explore the option of school uniforms.
Future STEM Parent
Like it or not, in this city, in the public schools, very few schools have uniforms. No uniform is the norm.
Thanks, Charlie -- I needed that. You are exactly right. Charter schools are no more public schools than my doctor is a "public health care doctor" because she accepts Medicare and Medicaid patients.
Not clear why I was so offbase on that.
Forget Bridge as the Superintendent Whisperer. Griffin is buying himself a school board there. And I just learned his wife Evelyn Rozner apparently also threw buckets of $$$ to them.
And then there is the fact that Harium and Griffin are discussing a campaign on Harium's public official account. Isn't that an ethics violation? My knowledge is hazy but it seems like it should be.
In any case, jeez, this is a deeper and deeper steaming pile of gaming (buying?) the system stink.
Disgusted Too
I am hugely against uniforms for many many reasons, if I wanted my kids to wear uniforms, I would send them to Catholic school or West Point. I choose neither, I choose public school, and as a member of the public, I choose to wear (and dress my children) in anything I damn well please.
Luckily it never came to be an issue, because I was going to go the mat on this one. Phooey.
Griffin. He sent an email to the directors suggesting they read a particular editorial about
Enfield. Now remember Carr gets all indignant when it is suggested she is too close to her top
donors or gives them special treatment. Carr responds to Griffin (her top election donor) within 26 hours
(on a Sunday) even though he was not asking a question and the email was not targetted at her.
Griffin does not live in district 2 and does not have children attending a district 2 school. I however
do live in district 2, my child attends a district 2 school and I am most certainly not a Carr donor.
So why is it as someone she alledgedly represents I have never had an email response in that time?.
It is quite a different experience when you are not a top donor, email questions are sent and resent
to Carr since she invariably does not respond. It is not uncommon to simply give up on waiting for a reply.
So why does Carr reply on a Sunday morning to her top donor and I have to give up if as she says
there is no special treatment?.
Perhaps I should send my questions to Matt for him to forward?. Or perhaps I should suggest when he
asks a question of Carr he should send it to me and I'll ask - that way he'll see what is $ is buying.
Congratulations!
"West Seattle High School was awarded one of five high school Levy grants! We will be receiving $350,000 per year for the next seven years! It was an extremely competitive process and we are very proud of our grant, and the continuing work we will be doing to support students. The funds are from the City Levy."
Check out the new murals at Sacajawea Elementary.
These are from the same group that painted murals at Pinehurst last year and some playground refurbishment at Van Asselt at AAA the year before that.
Very proudly, my hub was the lead on all three projects.
x0x0,
-StepJ
Don't miss this article:
http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/should-charter-schools-be-called-public-schools/
Be sure to paste this article to your facebook page and share with others.
neighbor
Yeah, that's what they did to SpEd in '10. "Let's wait 'til they go on vacation..."
pissed
Future STEM Parent
-Neutral on Uniforms but Supporting the Principal
How nice to see that Mr. Bridge thinks teachers don't matter. I wonder if any of these rich people had any idea their comments would be made public - perhaps they think they are immune to public record requests, or in their arrogance, never considered it to be a possibility. These back room deals and a$$ kissing emails make me sick.
CT
-Neutral on Uniforms but Supporting the Principal
It doesn't help that they are do gooders because even if they are bad doers, they didn't include us on the important decisions that affect our daily lives and our children's lives. They don't get our ire. They don't get why we can't accept their noblesse oblige with a smile instead of bile. They talk about us and our kids as if we are a separate entity to be helped, to be led, to be controlled.
Maybe that's the way it has always been and I didn't realize it. My vote doesn't seem to matter and certainly my donation doesn't compare. I volunteer all over this city and pay my taxes dutifully. I've always voted Democratic, but I think this year, I'm sitting it out.
fed up
obama putting in summers and geithner, that hack arne, and throwing the population under the bus on health care access made it easy for me to not vote Democratic in 2010 for federal and state wide offices -
I couldn't vote for the right wing liars, so, I wrote in "my blue hat" or something - and then the lame duck "Democratic" congress defunded social security with that idiotic 'payroll tax cut' and allowed the unemployed to be held hostage so millionaires and billionaires could keep more of what they taken for all of us - and I felt proud of voting 'my blue hat'. At least I hadn't wasted a vote to get sold out.
Please please please vote - and when it comes to state wide Dems and federal dems - write 'your green hat' !!
MyRedHat
I found the period when Goodloe-Johnson was fired and Enfield about to be announced interesting. Pages 78-81 and around that point. There was Lesley Rogers working for pr firm Strategies 360 to shape Enfield's introduction and next thing you know she was the head of SPS Communications. That's insider baseball, people. Strategies 360 puts One of Their Own inside.
More troubling. What was Frank Greer doing manipulating that message? He works at GMMB. Gates' advertising agency. He has an agenda. There is no way he should be telling the super what to say and how to say it. Unless GMMB was on retainer at the time. Does anyone know?
Worst of all is Sara Morris at the Alliance for Education. What is she doing running the introduction project? She's not only telling Enfield what to do and how to say it, she's arranging robocalls, summoning civic leaders and getting into the most minute details of what Enfield should say. (See page 83). Things like: "Emphasize you are running a NATIONAL search, not just a search, for CFO and COO". Or "would love more imagery, something emotional and more evocative..."
In other SPS Leaks I have seen Morris demanding minute details into teacher performance details. This whole idea that The Alliance via its CEO can make insert itself into every crevice of central administration is unnerving. I think it is 100 percent inappropriate. Be a fundraiser. Hell, be a PAC. But you are not invited to be a district employee nor are you invited to be a board member. Want to help out? Volunteer for a task force or two. But none of this disgusting pseudo-employee crap. Especially since The Alliance shoves Ed Reform up this city's ying yang - much to my dismay. The Alliance or perhaps it is just the CEO, is way, way, way, way over the line.
SavvyVoter
Compare to something like The Seattle Foundation. They raise $$$ to help civic causes. I don't see them telling city council when to jump, where to jump, how high to jump and whose arms to jump into.
SavvyVoter
A thoughtful request. However, realize that the few of us who stick our necks out often face retaliation (not necessarily a problem with me and others because we wouldn't be pushing if we didn't know others would like this information about expenditures of our tax dollars). Please realize that ANYONE can ask for this information. All you need do is email ckcarlson@seattleschools.org and ask for what it is you would like to see. Then plan on waiting 6-8 wks for it (maybe sooner if you are lucky).
Finally, in closing, the due diligence must be on the part of public employees spending our money to (purportedly) comply with law. Unless I have, in a criminally or civilly liable way, an actionable issue, we have, as a democratic republic, every right to ask for everything and anything, related to our issue. So don't expect for employee grievance files or FERPA protected student info, but everything (including emails sent from personal accounts relating to public business) is open to disclosure with very specific exemptions.
SavvyVoter, if you have the same interest as I do, please email Ms Clarkson (who is a diligent, conscientious public steward) for the desired information.
I found the period when Goodloe-Johnson was fired and Enfield about to be announced interesting. Pages 78-81 and around that point. There was Lesley Rogers working for pr firm Strategies 360 to shape Enfield's introduction and next thing you know she was the head of SPS Communications. That's insider baseball, people. Strategies 360 puts One of Their Own inside.
Yes, and yet the district still went through the charade of conducing a "national search" (or claimed it did) and creating a committee of "more than 30 people" in order to find the district's communications director -- only to hire Rogers from Strategies 360 who was already working for the district and is based right here in Seattle.
(And then Susan Enfield's fan club had the gall to suggest the district not even bother with a national search for our permanent supe -- clearly a more important job than PR head.)
Savvy, don't forget that the Seattle Foundation financed Teach for America, Inc., stepping in when Enfield was floundering and fibbing because there were no private funders to pay TFA, Inc.'s $4,000 per recruit per year fee (& tapping wealthy individuals like Griffith, Rozner et al who also contributed to or endorsed the political campaigns of incumbents Carr, Maier, Martin-Morris and Sundquist).
Once again, it's the same small moneyed circle of people pushing the corp ed reform agenda and buying policy for SPS, parents be damned.
I have heard that, like the Alliance, the Seattle Foundation has also changed its stripes in the past few years, going from (ostensibly) a funding-focused, somewhat neutral do-gooder to a political operation with an agenda and strings attached to every dollar they touch, and a corporate ed reform bent.
The tangled web of ed reform.
Gifts and Gratuities. District employees and officers generally must not accept gifts or gratuities from people who may have an interest in District actions...
prohibits receipt of complimentary services from interested parties like Greer. Or is it okay if he's one of yours?
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/beyond-sats-finding-success-in-numbers/
The article also addresses how we measure students for college admission, and how those data points are not a complete measure of the person. For me it was an important reminder of why affirmative action is still so important when many people think we should be ready to move past that. It is a discussion we are having a lot in our house as our eldest prepares for the college admission process this year.
"Many find their performance greatly affected by simply being reminded that the stereotype exists. Researchers, for example, gave a math test (pdf) to a group of Asian female students. Before the test, the women filled out one of three types of questionnaires. One asked about their gender, one about their ethnicity, and one asked about neither. Those who were reminded they were Asian did the best on the math test. Those reminded they were female did the worst. Another researcher found that when black adults were given tests four times in 2008, on two of those occasions their scores were much higher than the other two. What made the difference? Barack Obama. When the test was given right after his speech accepting the Democratic nomination, or just after his election, the scores of black test-takers were statistically equal to the scores of whites. On the other occasions, the whites scored higher."
I've always wondered about public access to personal (non-SPS) email accounts. On multiple levels. We see in this thread that there are obvious personal accounts, like noeltreat@yahoo.com (and who is uspenfield@aol.com?), but requests to Ms. Clarkson can't possibly reach into Yahoo or AOL's email system, right? I've heard that ALL communication is supposed to be available, I just don't understand how that would work in practice.
Beyond this, there's nothing to stop anyone from creating a personal web-based email account that only a few people know about. If the user is careful to always use their own computer and never CC SPS accounts on those emails, there's almost no way that anyone would ever be able to find them or even know they exist. If I felt like I was giving anyone tips they didn't already know I wouldn't post this, but I'd be shocked if this doesn't happen already. Thoughts?
(from page 99, Matt Griffin to Susan Enfield)
"Great. Let's return to Mexico where we met last time. and I'll buy the beverages."
Technically, I believe this would even be prohibited, although she may very well have refused the offer. Savvy elected officials are usually very careful about any "gifts" they accept, even small ones.
Yes, we're seeing folks like Greer and other very sophisticated strategists/ business people involved with manipulating our district. Thanks, DeBell.
We're on to you guys.
Mr. Damon writes that the bond which holds all of us collectively responsible for the society we live in tears as our moral obligation dissolves and when that happens, the rules of the jungle prevail. It's CYA all the time now. What follows is a free for all.
That is why we have documentaries where we get to watch anguished parents and kids sitting through lottery draw trying get into the "best" public schools and this is highlighted as if it's a good thing. I call it shamful when the pursuit of good education brings to mind the gladiator arena where there are a few victors and many losers. That is why we can talk about the goodness of charter school that will help a handful of kids, but not the majority of kids. That is why the news celebrates when one school wins a grant funded by tax dollars, but made no mention of other schools with just as much need, do not. It is the law of the jungle. There is something horribly wrong here.
Our school was once a strong school and suffered from the last 4 years because of careless handling. The district made many personnel and program changes to our school for practical administrative reasons, but they were not done for good educational (or even good managment) reasons. Today it is a school foundering trying to find its way back.
This is what happens when school leadership is distracted by other things. They neglect the fundamentals. They don't seem to have the time to work on basic things like curriculum and fail even at managing things like bus schedule. The lack of direction, consistency, and discipline trickle down into our classrooms and our kids are the losers.
fed up
How many times have we printed public disclosure information here? And yet, no one at SPS (virtually) seems to want to edit themselves or consider whether they would like the world to write what they are writing.
It's baffling unless you feel you are above it all.
The "distractions" are exactly the problem. This district struggles and struggles with being well-managed and I think it has very little to do with any kind of issues between Board and staff.
We can't get a basic like bus schedules right. How is that possible? If we have such high costs and issues, then cut back on bus service but at least make it fair and make it clear. But to have these varying start times, pick up times, who gets a yellow bus, who gets a taxi - it's craziness.
Where are all these business types when it comes to give help with these kinds of issues that they so clearly have experience at? No, they focus on being able to manipulate wording and power.
While I applaud anyone who cares about public education, I sometimes question their motives given their actions.
Legislators continue their pursuit of failed initiatives. Yet, they themselves have failed-miserably- at fulfilling their duty to amply fund education. Shame on them.
MT @MakUpFront: Up Front today. Good to have A.P.'s @dgblankinship.
Alright, Based on SPS' meda machine and recent emails, we know these "news media" types know what side their bread's buttered on. Whenever you read anything re: education from the NW, know that Donna Blankinship and Lynne Varner are friends, mutually and on most all things Ed Reform. I would now add Robert Mak to that list.
Mr. Greer certainly has a personal and political interest what the district does, but as long as the District never hires GMMB, he does not have a direct financial interest and therefore is not covered by the policy.
http://dianeravitch.net/
Later, in another thread, a teacher asks why politicians think they know more about teaching than teachers. I don't think it is about education anymore. It is about breaking unions, lowering pay and benefits and writing if all off as ridding society of people who can't teach. That's the agenda.
We no longer live in a civil society where education and opportunity matter.
That's the real problem.
n...
Gates gave $498K to measure teacher effectiveness via neurotransmitter bracelets
I wonder if Microsoft would consider bracelets to insure their workforce stay engaged?
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Philanthropic Partnership for Public Education
They're paying for Prof Honig at the UW's CEL to help with and HR "transformation." Wonder how much of that money went to pay for Nathan Fitzpatrick's salary...
Romney Campaign Chair: ‘Taxpayers Really Do Want To Hear There Will Be Fewer Teachers’
At the end, I felt like I had been blanketed in fake marzipan.
And now, our NEW Superintendent, Mr. Banda arrives -- and will have to actually fend for himself? How refreshing! The first of July cannot come soon enough for me! Here is hoping he shows Leslie the door and gets folks to do pr for the District and ITS objectives, rather than for its leader, and hers.
-hope springs eternal
And DeBell talks about "agendas"????
It appears the only agendas he approves of are for sale on email.