Friday Open Thread
Very good valedictorian speech from New York State. It's worth a listen as this is Common Core on-the-ground experience from a student perspective.
The young woman, Amber Kudla at North Tonawanda HS, is not a great public speaker but she takes on Common Core and gets some great zingers off. She received multiple applause points (and, at one time, all the adults behind her on the stage were very happy - I think as educators they were happy to hear someone stand up for them).
She was also thoughtful enough to say that yes, their class was now graduating and leaving so why worry? Because she is concerned for all the students who come after her.
What's on your mind?
The young woman, Amber Kudla at North Tonawanda HS, is not a great public speaker but she takes on Common Core and gets some great zingers off. She received multiple applause points (and, at one time, all the adults behind her on the stage were very happy - I think as educators they were happy to hear someone stand up for them).
She was also thoughtful enough to say that yes, their class was now graduating and leaving so why worry? Because she is concerned for all the students who come after her.
What's on your mind?
Comments
FERPA, CCER and the Road Map Project
Do directors have ANY idea?!
Candidate’s views on homosexuality surface in school board race
Posted by Linda Shaw
LaCrese Green
A candidate’s views on homosexuality have surfaced in her race for the Seattle School Board, based on a letter she wrote last year to the late Cheryl Chow, a longtime educator who served on the board and the Seattle City Council.
The candidate, LaCrese Green, is running for the open seat in District 5, which covers Central Seattle and Capitol Hill. Green, 70, wrote to Chow last October, not long after Chow, who was suffering from central-nervous-system lymphoma, publicly announced she was gay.
Green, a private tutor, started out by saying she was sorry to hear Chow was ill, and apologized for attacking her in the past.
“It is true we had opposing views, especially when you were on the school board,” she wrote, adding that she never considered Chow a personal enemy even though “perhaps you’ll say I had a strange way of showing it.”
But then Green wrote that she was troubled to hear Chow was a lesbian, because “my personal belief is that it won’t go well for you in the hereafter.”
“We may have had our differences,” Green wrote, “but not to the point that I’d wish for you to miss Heaven.”
She urged Chow to lay aside her “bullheaded stubbornness” and ask for God’s forgiveness.
Chow’s partner, Sarah Morningstar, sent the letter to The Seattle Times, saying she thought the public should know Green’s views since she is a candidate for public office.
In a written statement, Morningstar said that “as a mother who has a daughter entering Seattle Public Schools and as Cheryl’s widow I believe we need board members who see value in all of our families.”
“Sending Cheryl such an upsetting letter to our home while she was dying is not the act of someone I want making decisions for anyone’s child.”
-watching closely
Dale-Etsey campaign donations
Peters campaign donations
Two things stand out to me. First, Steve Ballmer (and his wife) are among the biggest donors to Dale-Etsey. Second, Dale-Etsey's campaign funding (at $37,700 so far) is five times higher than Peters' and funds spent so far over sixteen times higher; the big money is definitely behind Dale-Etsey.
What that means is up to interpretation, but it definitely is interesting.
Superintendent
Seattle Public Schools
...
Dear Mr. Banda,
We wish to add our voices to that of the many individuals who support Jon Greenberg, a teacher at The Center School, and his innovative curriculum and teaching.
Many Center School students reside in our Council districts and are our constituents. We have had numerous opportunities to interact with the students in Mr. Greenberg's class at the school, thanks to his innovative curriculum and outreach to elected officials. Mr. Greenberg has consistently brought his students to county government hearings to listen and testify on issues of importance to them%u2014we would note that Mr. Greenberg is not only the only Seattle teacher to do so, but also the only teacher in King County to do so.
Notably, for many years Mr. Greenberg brought his students to testify in person to the King County Council during our annual County Budget public input process. His students' impassioned and creative in-person testimony, usually in support of human services funding, and their written follow up to councilmembers, are always an inspiration. On at least one occasion, Mr. Greenberg has invited us to The Center School to speak to his students about local government and politics, and we have been consistently impressed by the students' knowledge and activism. In a word, Mr. Greenberg is educating our next generation of leaders, and teaching them to be active, critical thinkers. This kind of young leader is desperately needed in our community.
We urge you to reconsider your decision to remove Mr. Greenberg from The Center School. We can personally attest that his curriculum provides a unique and immediately relevant education that we believe will serve his students and their communities well into the future.
Thank you for your consideration of these comments.
Sincerely,
Larry Gossett, Chair
Metropolitan King County Council, District Two
King County Courthouse
516 Third Avenue, Room 1200
Seattle, WA 98104-3272
206.296.1002
larry.gossett@kingcounty.gov
Larry Phillips, Councilmember
Metropolitan King County Council, District Four
King County Courthouse
516 Third Avenue, Room 1200
Seattle, WA 98104-3272
206.296.1004
larry.phillips@kingcounty.gov
TCS Parent
Curious in Bryant
CT
Half the student body calls for the AP to get fired. What happens? She gets a promotion!
It's not what the students and families think of you, it's who you know downtown.
Solvay Girl
FrustratedbyFox
RBHS disgruntled parent
Lynn
As for whether the directors have any idea, I think at least some of them have some idea, but I'm not sure any of them really understand what's happening in any depth.
Your summary report on scribd contains a lot of good info (culled from obviously huge documents), but I doubt any Directors, even ones that might read this blog will take the time to dig into it in detail. It's just not something on their front burner. It definitely helps to go to their community meetings in person and have actual discussions, with back-and-forth questions and answers.
I do think if some of the Directors understood how bad the lack of oversight is, especially over how far the data is likely to ultimately be disseminated that they would be appalled. But staff is bullshitting them, telling them that everything is legal, everything is safe, everything is secure. Not only is the safe and secure part not true, but it doesn't even get to the meat of the issue, which is that some of this data should simply never be passed around outside the school district. Ever. For any reason.
Keep fighting.
That makes sense. I'd like to see how enrollment services determines the number of available seats. This is going to be more of an issue as our high school numbers climb. Every high school except Rainier Beach and West Seattle has a 9th grade waitlist. If that means they're at capacity, district enrollment forecasts show we won't have enough seats for all of our students in two years. And someone is going to have to attend Rainier Beach.
Lynn
-Muir Mom
We've really liked Dan Sanger at JA. He's involved, solid, thoughtful and well-liked. He has also been a part of JA's development as a spectrum program which started walk-to-math for all students who are able to do the work, starting in Kindergarten. JA has also been quite good about clustering AL students at JA. I don't think they've been using the Brulles model completing, but it has been working. I think you'll find his AL experience at JA will help you at Bryant. We'll miss him (and wish him luck!)
~JA Mom
Bryant AL
If class rosters haven't been published yet, it's not too late to contact your new principal and advocate for some thoughtful grouping of AL students in the fall.
Lynn