No on I-1240 Op-Ed in Seattle Times

Will wonders never cease!

The Seattle Times printed a guest editorial in opposition to I-1240 and it is a pretty good one.

Op-ed: Reject Initiative 1240 and sending public money to charter schools by Mari Taylor, Vice President of the Washington State School Directors’ Association and a current member of the Lake Stevens School District Board of Directors.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wow - I knew it was cold outside, but I didn't realize it was cold enough for hell to freeze over.

CT
10/23/12, 7:17 PM
Jet City mom said…
Linda Shaw has a piece today about Lisa Macfarlane " seeing the light" about charter schools.

Or is this just an update of an earlier story?
10/24/12, 6:20 AM
Jet City mom said…
My Seattle Times iphone app story was updated Wednesday & has more details than the online story which was written Tuesday.
10/24/12, 6:24 AM
Unknown said…
They probably thought they had to allow that op-ed to salve their guilty consciences for the first-page headline editorial masquerading as news: "Former Foe now embraces charter schools." Who's the former foe? DFER hack Lisa McFarlane. Oy.
10/24/12, 8:01 AM
Anonymous said…
I was glad to see in the article about Lisa MacFarlane's change of heart, that they posted the data on contributions. The top five contributors and the amounts they contributed are very telling. Sure, those darn "union teachers" are not for this bill - but the amount they have been able to cobble together is nothing compared to the big dollars from very wealthy business people going into this campaign.

Whenever someone mentions "running schools like a business", or is pleased to see a group of wealthy business leaders supporting an initiative - we have to remember what business is about. It is about making profit. Nothing evil in that, but it isn't about being streamlined, providing the "best" service, or anything else. It's about making a profit, streamlining when it will improve profitability, and providing the product that can be marketed for the greatest profit.

- Just because I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't out to get us
10/24/12, 9:58 AM
Anonymous said…
Linda Shaw wants to keep her job. It's a great piece for Ms. Macfarlane's career. In light of the McKenna ad-gate, if you work for this paper, you have to know by now that your job priority is to bring in the revenues not about impartial, quality, and independent reporting. I think soon the reality will be job security means your boss gets to "mine" your votes and you will have to toe the line.

The line which separates is gone.

light went out

10/24/12, 10:46 AM
Anonymous said…
A few things from the No-1240 facebook page that may a be of interest..

http://www.scoop.it/t/no-on-i-1240-charter-schools?hash=28ae3714-24ef-4b0e-92e0-226e6e0e91c6

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Charter Schools

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLmXV4-CBOQ

-no1240
10/24/12, 11:55 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

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, gr...
Read more

Education News Roundup

From the ever-amusing Washington Policy Center : Vouchers are Pell Grants for students under 18.  Vouchers are no different than Pell Grants or GI benefits, except the money goes to the families of students younger than age 18.  Except they are. Pell Grants were created to help needy students and that's not really the goal of the voucher program.  The Pell grant website does have a couple of great studies on why low-income students drop out before finishing their higher ed and what makes a difference.
Read more