Friday Open Thread
From SPS, 23 of our high school students have placed as Semifinalists in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Corporation competition. Garfield had 13 students and led the field. Roosevelt had two as did Ingraham, Hale/Ballard/Center each had one and there was one student from the "Cascade Parent Partnership Program."
Good work to all these students!
One Board community meeting tomorrow with Director Martin-Morris at Diva Espresso at 80th and Lake City Way from 9:30-11:30 am.
Heads up - the first of Superintendent Banda's community meetings is Monday the 17th at Mercer Middle School from 6-7:30 p.m. There's also one on Tuesday the 18th at RBHS at the same time as the Monday event.
There is a School Board meeting next Wednesday the 19th but the agenda is not yet available. Sign-ups to speak start Monday morning at 8 am (either boardagenda@seattlesschools.org or 252-0040 to leave a message). This might be a good time to pressure Banda on math concerns or the Board on BEX IV or any other issue that you feel needs to be daylighted.
What's on your mind?
Good work to all these students!
One Board community meeting tomorrow with Director Martin-Morris at Diva Espresso at 80th and Lake City Way from 9:30-11:30 am.
Heads up - the first of Superintendent Banda's community meetings is Monday the 17th at Mercer Middle School from 6-7:30 p.m. There's also one on Tuesday the 18th at RBHS at the same time as the Monday event.
There is a School Board meeting next Wednesday the 19th but the agenda is not yet available. Sign-ups to speak start Monday morning at 8 am (either boardagenda@seattlesschools.org or 252-0040 to leave a message). This might be a good time to pressure Banda on math concerns or the Board on BEX IV or any other issue that you feel needs to be daylighted.
What's on your mind?
Comments
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/gates-foundation-oakland-teacher-we-have-di
I plan on signing up to speak at the meeting about the importance of putting the hiring of a Sp ED director on a front burner now. The SpEd leadership situation is untenable at best and is one of the root causes of the number of legal challenges that SPS has been facing lately.
I would encourage other SpEd parents and staff members to do the same.
Does anyone know if the testimony time has been pushed back to 5:30?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/magazine/kalamazoo-mich-the-city-that-pays-for-college.html?pagewanted=1
Donors to this program are putting their money in the place where it can do the most good, me thinks.
-Muir mom
BTW, did ya'll know that Erinn Bennett is the new Manager of Policy & Strategic Research and Theresa Hale is the new Board Office Manager (the latter is Right On!) There was talk at the last Exec Committee that the District still has to hire a Gov't relations type, so will they replace the Holly F/Erinn B/Theresa H. with Person X/Erinn B/Theresa H/Office admin?
I believe the testimony time is still 5pm.
-SPS is turning me RED
Erin B. is now promoted internally? She was brought on to be an independent resource for the board, so there would be no more 'not tellin' you nothin' Goodloe-Johnson shenanigans.
So now we've got the admin in that job, which means it's less powerful, and Erin is fully Central Bureaucracy? AND they are going to hire another new manager in Government Relations?
This stinks. It circumvents the purpose of the position as set up (board advocate instead of administration glorifier) AND it puts another manager on payroll.
Ridiculous.
DistrictWatcher
redder
Please talk to friends. Charter schools on average are not better and they cost us more.
Center School had 1.
BHS
They say they will not fill Theresa's old position interesting since they downgraded the pay level of the manager job (advertised pay range was about $20K higher when Ms. Bennett was in the position). Ms. Hale is great, but it seems that she won't have much time for Policy Analysis. Maybe the Board can get an intern?
AND they are hiring a government relatmions person? Fiscally irresponsible.
It is a horrid operations move, no doubt promoted by DeBell. After all, this move undermines board independence, and DeBell does not like the current board makeup.
DistrictWatcher
District Watcher, I don't disagree, but once Bennett became Fergie's protege, the position was essentially dismantled. The two were the Doublemint twins when tag-teaming on DeBell's 1620BP manifesto.
Meanwhile, DeBell is running amok. Seriously, he bullies in meetings, squelches discussion, has Ron English acting like his personal lawyer to push whatever interpretation of the law favors his pet positions. DeBell smears his colleagues on a regular basis in the media.
In fact, after that last attempted hatchetjob, I think the same commission that ruled KIRO and Chris Halsne out of line, should take a close look at Varner, Shaw and the Seattle Times/Rupert Murdoch enterprise.
Where are our board community advocates on this? Peaslee? Patu? Smith-Blum? McClaren?
DistrictWatcher
“I can’t provide assurances, but I can tell you that it is a contract that the committee will recommend to the membership,” said CTU attorney Robert Bloch, “and if we have read the membership correctly, a contract that they will approve.”
Sup't Banda!!!!! Get a Sped Director ASAP! Or, alternatively, make principals accountable to SPED consulting teachers. Doing nothing is wrong, inappropriate, and unprofessional. Doing nothing harms all the students. Harm is happening NOW.
SPED staffer
-option school high school parent
Currently SPED in SPS is a disaster and often non-compliant.
It should be a top priority.
-high school parent
We have a high school student that lives 2.1 miles from his assignment school - and we had to buy an Orca pass and pay for Metro everyday.
-No HS Transport provided
Snarky Sped
I notice a yellow bus to the middle school does stop about a block from our house. I'm actually happy to have my kid bike, but I wonder if it would be possible to get her on that bus since the route already exists near our house.
Lurker
National Merit Semifinalists are 1% of high school seniors. To me, the total number in SPS sounds low, but I am not sure about the total number of eligible students.
Maybe the special ed ptsa needs to just do their own search and find a candidate and gift wrap it for the district. Even the proposal of that should change things.
sped
But I agree- SPS has had many more NMSF in the past, often Garfield/Roosevelt rivaled Lakeside in numbers.
In '08 for example, Garfield had 6 finalists, Roosevelt 2, Ingraham 1, Lakeside 1.
You should be able to get at least the middle school kid on that yellow bus near your home on a "space available" basis. I know a family doing exactly that for an option school. You have to call transportation and they will put you on a list. Once it's clear that they have space on the bus in question, you will get a letter giving the all clear to use the bus. You would have to reapply each year.
In the know
Unfortunately, I have been at IEP meetings with unprincipled principals who ride roughshod over IEP team recommendations, actually stating: "I can do what I want, I am the principal." My guess is they are playing fast and loose because they are answerable to no one. No one that is except the few parents who file Citizens Complaints. Is that what the sped staffers option is? Prompt parents in that direction since there is nobody at the helm?
Someone in this thread suggested a parent from the Sped PTSA nominate themselves. Since some of them seem to be expert at Sped rules and regs, I totally support that suggestion. Somebody has to turn this ship around!
Sped Staffer
http://thenotebook.org/blog/125141/district-details-questionable-application-processes-green-woods-other-charters
Rachel
I can't believe those low numbers from Garfield and Lakeside -- are you sure that's not from a story about National Merit Scholars rather than finalists? The kind of figures I remember from the years when Garfield and Lakeside have been neck-and-neck were more like 20+ each.
Re buses, you absolutely can get your middle school child on an existing route at an existing stop on a "space available basis". This is true for many, who live too close, but are near an existing route. If the bus is too full, then it might not work, but those buses are rarely full. Call transportation. If you know the bus route number or stop location, even better. You can also use a "green card" to use that stop just once in a while.
--Transit Answers
You're absolutely right. Here's the 2008 list of semifinalists.
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2008170287_websemifinalists10m.html
In 2008, Garfield had 20, Lakeside had 30. SPS seems to be dropping though, SPS only getting 23 citywide. Several schools on the eastside get around the same number as the entire SPS. Newport HS, Interlake HS.
-Lurker
So, if a principal makes some mandate, and requires something inappropriate to be in the IEP - then write up the decision and the considerations: Podunk High School has a policy that all sped students will take folding-the-laundry instead of math, therefore SuzieQ will take folding-the-laundry. SuzieQ's parents wanted her in a math class. Podunk high considered it, but since there is a school policy that disabled students take laudry-folding, SuzieQ was placed in laundry-folding instead of math. (as an example of something that happens frequently!) Accurate prior written notice is already something you're supposed to provide. Mostly teachers don't provide it.
Anyway, if parents have the truth in writing - then it is much easier for them to get traction on special education service. It won't matter for most decisions, but honesty does make improvements in service possible. Spell it out!
Snarky sped.
I was a National Merit Finalist and it really doesn't mean much!! And it means nothing at all about the quality of your high school. It means you did well on the PSAT in your junior year because you started reading at a young age because maybe your mom taught you to read before you entered school, as did mine.
The College Board itself states that the results should NEVER BE USED TO COMPARE SCHOOLS as this is an INVALID application of the test. But you all are doing it anyway -- great. .. .
Get a grip and don't buy the hype -- there is WAY more to true intelligence and the quality of ones high school education than doing well on a two hour bubble test in your junior year.... Spoken as one who could claim fame as a National Merit Scholar but doesn't because it would be embarrassing to do so -- it truly means so little. ... In fact, it is so embarrassing when I meet people and they drop that tag line -- I say in my head, "Wow, way back in 11th grade of high school, you did well on a test, and I'm so embarrassed for you for telling me that I'm not even going to burst your bubble by saying 'me, too!' so I'll pretend to be impressed. Big deal -- what have you done lately?"
So this talk about the number of National Merit Semifinalists per school just exposes the superficiality and flawed use of those measures and feeds into the College Board test-hype "non-profit" (yeah, right) machine. Rise above it, people! Use your critical thinking skills! You do know better than this, don't you? Or maybe you don't, because you obviously weren't "National Merit Scholars," right? . . .
I actually won a National Merit Scholarship that paid me a lousy $750/year. No, it doesn't mean much. However, the low number of National Merit Scholars in combination with the high proportion of students needing remedial help in college makes me a little anxious for my kids' futures.
Lurker
Thanks for the reality check, lassen and pm.
--enough already
-NeverWonIt I. Swear.
Weak argument. If I ever meet you in person, I won't be telling you how I did on that test in 11th grade -- guaranteed. So my divulging it here, anonymously, obviously brings no gain to me. Rather, it allows me to comment on the topic without someone saying, "Oh, that's just sour grapes because you aren't one of them." The whole thing is meaningless -- that's my point. Yeah, that's really bragging, isn't it?
Did the scholarship seem meaningless for you at 11th grade also? Then why did you do it?
Because I think, there are lot of things in life that look meaningless if you look back, but at that point, when you did it, it had a (big) value. If not more, maybe only that you could put in on your resume when you applied for a college.
- Curious
Of course I liked the money. The point is that the money was based on a meaningless qualifier --- a test -- and yes, even at the time, I knew there were people smarter than I who didn't get that money because on that one day, I took the test better than they did.
The College Board has done a masterful job of promoting itself with these scholarships. I have a piece of advice for ACT -- start offering money for the highest scores and pretty soon, the National Merit trademark (yes, it's a trademark) will have less press because it won't be the only game in town.
And the larger point is that it is MOST meaningless to compare HIGH SCHOOLS by the number of Merit Scholars. That is how this discussion began.
I repeat -- the test-makers themselves, the College Board, state that the scores should NOT be used to compare schools, but people, including on this blog, continue to do so. That, to me, is dangerous, but all too typical of our society's propensity to rely on easily digestible "data points" without examining the information behind data points.
I've said all I can say, which I'm sure is a relief to most. All y'all can just go back to listing how many scholars are at each school and therefore how good or bad that school is.
I came from a family of nine children. Four of us won National Merit Scholarships. My father never graduated from high school and was a mechanic for a chocolate factory. He was also the union president. My mother went to school, in order to obtain a nursing degree. We were dirt poor. There was one thing my father took great joy in. It was his version of "sticking it to the man." Every year, like clockwork, the management ended up taking my dad and one of his offspring out to dinner to celebrate them winning the company's sponsored National Merit Scholarship.
Perhaps winning a National Merit Scholarship does not predict how well you will do in college, I can't say. I can tell you that there was lots of energy in my family around winning scholarships. It was seen as the only way out of a bleak economic outlook. And for us, it worked well. I would imagine that for others, it also worked well.
If a school can draw and KEEP kids like that in school and provide enough learning opportunities to furthur (nuture would be better) them along, then for me, that's something to value in a school.
reader
Another Sped Staffer
-parent
parent
http://dissentmagazine.org/atw.php?id=835
-MMC
For what it's worth.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/08/26/2269227/small-but-well-regarded-university.html#disqus_thread
Public School Parent