Friday Open Thread

There's a teenaged-boy with autism missing in our are. Please take a look at this photo in case you see him.

In one big difference between Seattle and Spokane school districts (in addition to Spokane being a charter authorizer), apparently they don't feel the need to expand at the administrative level nor give raises.  From The Spokesman-Review:

As Redinger (Spokane's superintendent) said in Friday’s Spokesman-Review article, “It used to be you moved to the district office for the pay increases. We’ve shifted that. We have changed how the principals operate within the district; they move in and out of the district office to do work.”

Principals now have input on curriculum decisions. And their pay is increasing 1.5 percent without setting off a chain reaction of increases at the central office.

When she was hired, Redinger was touted as an energetic change agent, and she’s followed through. She’s thinned the bureaucratic layers, even though a state audit showed the district spent less on administration than comparable districts in the state.

Lines from The Princess Bride that teachers could use when grading high school/college freshman student essays.

Only community meeting tomorrow is with Director Blanford from 10 am to noon at the Douglass-Truth library. 

Comments

Patrick said…
I am kind of amused at all the publicity about super moons. They are not "much" bigger than normal full moons, they are slightly bigger, probably not enough to notice unless you're paying close attention. There are so many more interesting astronomical phenomena!
7/11/14, 9:53 AM
mirmac1 said…
What is cool Patrick is the low tides! : )
7/11/14, 10:00 AM
Anonymous said…
Should Seattle consider hiring away Spokane's superintendent? I like less money in admin.

HP
7/11/14, 12:28 PM
Benjamin Leis said…
I remember finding a reference to what Spokane was doing with math curriculum during our math adoption.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/dec/04/spokane-public-schools-looks-to-adopt-new-math/

This type of process is nothing I'd want to import to our district.
7/11/14, 1:19 PM
Eric B said…
I just received an update from SPS about the process for replacing Banda. No big shocks here--the Board will hold a special meeting in the next couple of weeks to assign an interim. They have been meeting in executive session to determine next steps.
7/11/14, 3:12 PM
Christina said…
Evan Stocker, an autistic teen boy with Asperger's, has left home before (April 2012, located in Lynnwood). He could be attempting to camp out, as he's a fan of the TV show "Survivor Man" and was found while camping out in early 2012. He also is a frequent passenger on public transit.
7/11/14, 3:24 PM
Anonymous said…
Shall we swap Sacramento Banda for the Kings to even things out a bit?

GMG
7/11/14, 4:52 PM
Anonymous said…
Does anyone know if SPS actually updates the waiting list info over the summer? We filled out enrollment forms for the schools my kids are scheduled to attend, and I'm sure others did the same.

I'm POSITIVE there are many APP middle school kids who will not be filling their guaranteed spots at Garfield and would bet that at least some of their parents have filled out the form indicating this, and yet my son hasn't moved on the list from his original spot(still 15th).

If anyone from SPS is reading this, when you do you start updating the list? The earlier the better as far as getting kids mentally prepared for a change.

-SPS parent
7/13/14, 9:23 PM
Lynn said…
SPS parent,

I don't think your chances are good. There are 476 freshman projected at Garfield next year. As the school's capacity is just under 1,600, they need to keep each class near 400. Last year only 7 of Garfield's 382 freshman received open choice assignments to the school.

If it makes you feel any better, I think the days of APP's guaranteed assignment to Garfield are almost over. There are just too many students enrolling in the program in the north end. APP enrollment for next year is projected to be 307 in 8th grade, 320 in 7th grade and 452 in 6th grade.
7/13/14, 11:36 PM
mirmac1 said…
I'm curious if anyone went to Blanford's meeting....?
7/14/14, 9:57 AM
Anonymous said…
I'm curious why anyone would bother going to Blanford's meeting

#BlanfordWTF

(tongue firmly in cheek - God bless anyone who wants to try and invest their energy educating him, truly; I just see it as a fool's errand)
7/14/14, 10:54 AM
Christina said…
Missing teenager Evan Stocker found, reported by Seattle Police.
7/14/14, 11:54 AM
Disgusted said…
I'm afraid #BlanfordWTF is correct.

Blanford was backed and funded by those wishing to carry-out the agenda of Seattle's business community.

I wouldn't waste my time going to his meetings. Your comments and concerns will fall on deaf ears.
7/14/14, 1:14 PM
mirmac1 said…
Kind of like Sundquist's meetings. With the same snark, assuredly.
7/14/14, 2:07 PM
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, grief, that is to come fro
Read more

MEETING CANCELED - Hey Kids, A Meeting with Three(!) Seattle Schools Board Directors

 Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting.  In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance.  - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
Read more