This and That
According to KIRO tv, 565 teachers and 13,523 students reported absent from SPS. Wow. (I had thought of attending but being short makes a parade challenging. It started late and sounds like an absolute zoo (of the crazy, fun kind but really cold to wait for).
The Police were asking the crowd to keep cell phone use to a minimum because they were not getting 911 calls.
Ed Week reported on Seattle's efforts to have later start times.
Your next job (or probably your kid's) based on video gaming ability? Maybe.
Remember all that outcry over "bad" teachers? Turns out that the Department of Education found that "less effective" teaching is responsible for just 2-4% of the achievement gap? Study here.
Great article from Edutopia about kids and their views on student engagement (and what they like in a classroom).
The Police were asking the crowd to keep cell phone use to a minimum because they were not getting 911 calls.
Ed Week reported on Seattle's efforts to have later start times.
Your next job (or probably your kid's) based on video gaming ability? Maybe.
Remember all that outcry over "bad" teachers? Turns out that the Department of Education found that "less effective" teaching is responsible for just 2-4% of the achievement gap? Study here.
Great article from Edutopia about kids and their views on student engagement (and what they like in a classroom).
Comments
- North-end Mom
Did the teachers call in sick? Do they get personal days?
It irks me that this whole thing was not handled better, but then I remember we are dealing with SPS. I think Banda leaving it up to principals made it inequitable and confusing.
It just convinces me that many teachers suck and don't care about the kids in their care.
Ire should be directed towards the city and the idiot mayor who rebuked the school district without understanding that you can't just cancel school on a whim, particularly since many parents, especially low-income parents, work inflexible shift work where a day off means a day without pay or the threat of a job loss. Higher income parents, often those who own their own businesses or who are managers or work in high-tech companies can be more flexible and take that time. If the city had waited until the weekend, more lower-income families could also have attended, the school issues could have been avoided, and many of those poor downtown workers who had to fight the traffic coming and going without the luxury of attending the parade could have had their normal commute.
Poor planning on the part of the city, complete ignorance on the part of the mayor.
Geez
I am an SPS teacher, used one of my two personal days today to take my two SPS student daughters (one elementary, one middle school) to the parade. Each brought a school friend. For me, the experience they had not only bonding with me and their friends, but also feeling connected to this wonderful city and community was worth missing the day in school.
The crowd was family-friendly, upbeat, celebratory -- and diverse! I wanted my daughters to be part of this moment in time, they wanted to be part of it, and so did I!
-- Ballard dad
I am still wondering about the obvious question, why didn't they do the parade and celebration on the weekend???
IDK
Rocky
Skipping School
HP
Chris S.
Crime control. Alcohol control.
A weekend or late afternoon/evening parade would have had A LOT more drinking involved, and a lot less family friendly environment.
If the parade had started at 4 pm you can bet there would have been booze involved, and that gets very different. Lots of cities have experience with parades - including ours - and they know that time of day and day of week influences crowd behavior/expectations.
I think it was brilliant to have it at 11 am on a weekday.
Signed: We went
Gen Ed Mom
GEM
And what Geez said.
What I think these people don't get is that this parade was a celebration of the 12th Man --- a celebration of US --- as much as it was a celebration of the Seahawks Super Bowl victory. It was a community event more than a sports event. And I think the children that were there, meeting new people and seeing joy and camaraderie, will never forget it.
And because the superintendent made the correct decision to not cancel school, those low-income children who needed it had a warm place to go and warm meals to eat.
It was a phenomenal event for a great many people, I truly am sorry that others found it so disgusting and unacceptable.
--- 12th Man
championship parades happen as soon as the players get back to town, it's tradition, like a NYC ticker tape parade. i'm guessing the delay from tues to weds was in case of weather delays.
this was a community event, and my kids were just as excited to see the mayor (with his husband at his side) on a float as the football players. it was a historic, community event, not just "a football thing". if it wasn't the right decision for your family, i respect that. but no need to be sanctimonious about it.
the excused/non-excused absence policy bothers me. education of course is important. but learning does not just happen in the classroom and i want to feel free to take advantage of opportunities like this and not have my kids be dinged.
it was a right decision to have school for childcare, meals, etc reasons. still haven't heard from our principal if absences were excused or not. but i did hear other schools received calls, emails, etc clarifying the principal's position, once banda left it to principals. i wish our principal wasn't so non-communicative. there should just be a set number of excused absences allowed/semester and this debate could be moot.
-diane
Not #12
1) that the city blithely made the decision to have the parade in the middle of a school/work day. Apparently this is because the the Garden Show is on Saturday and they didn't want to mess with that; or it's because the Seahawks are going to Hawaii on Saturday and god forbid that we interrupt their vacation to have a parade for them.
2) that Mr. Banda muddled the situation by rambling on about this being an historic event. blah, blah, even though he was going to keep schools open. Of course he would keep the schools open--that's his job--but the way he did it made things worse. He should have just stuck to the facts that school was going to continue and that if you chose to pull your kid out of school, that was your choice but would be an unexcused absence. End of story. Why all the whining from the parents? I don't get it.
3) that Mr. Banda then made it worse by then putting the problem onto the shoulders of the principals, who were put into the horrible situation of either bowing to peer pressure or being thought of as a "meanie."
4) that the whole thing turned into a peer pressure situation for the parents who didn't want to or couldn't take their kids out of school.
5) that the teachers who actually did the right thing and went to work were rewarded by significantly fewer students in their classrooms and the knowledge that it wasn't worth their time to teach something b/c so many kids were absent
6) that the kids who went to school were rewarded by a wasted day at school.
7) the lack of awareness of what civic pride and community is. It is not about football and a parade for football. If you want to be an uber-fan, fine. But acknowledge it for what it is: fandom.
-Middle school mom
sidneyd
HIMSmom
sidneyd
CCA
Wow, I wish my 5yh grader had been in your class, sidneyd.
I think the 'd' stands for 'dear', but that may just be me!
This is the kind of thing that happens when you have quality teachers that really care about learning and their students. They find a way to make things work; a way to continue learning, in spite of (or even helped by) circumstances. It doesn't need to be material that will be on a test the following week, but it's not hard in most classes to come up with some kind of supplemental material that keeps kids in the groove of learning.
If there's anyone here from the JAMS hiring team, I've heard sidneyd is available this fall. IMO, she would be an outstanding hire for that building.
If she's interested, then by all means she should apply for a position at JAMS (there's an interview process, etc...).
- North-end Mom
Just a couple years ago?, Ted Howardlll was put on the spot because the group that took over from GTA ( global technology academy) wanted to continue their program which ran over spring break & a few more days.
Howard told them it would be unexcused & blamed it on the district.
The students then complained at a school board meeting & were told it was up to the principal.
A lot of learning can take place out of the classroom. If I was a teacher, I would have used the parade as a field trip & given kids whose parents couldn't afford to take the day off a chance to participate in a historical & positive community event.