Friday Open Thread

Yogi Berra-type tweet from Rep. Ross Hunter on 1351 (via KPLU's Kyle Stokes) - "When you look at a thing that can't be funded, it won't be."

Saw a photo from a community meeting that was held at Nathan Hale High School with Rep. Gerry Pollet of the 46th about the upcoming Legislative session  - it looked packed.

Saturday Community meeting with Director Carr from 8:30 am-10:00am at Bethany Community Church.

What's on your mind?

Comments

mirmac1 said…
I was disappointed at the turnout to the Paramount Duty presentation. No-shows who should have given their seat to someone who wanted to go. You missed an informative, entertaining talk by Tom Ahearne! Was nice to see my state legislator and the Supe there.
Anonymous said…
Melissa -- highlights of the A&F meeting?

Thanks!

reader
Anonymous said…
Does anyone know what happened with the transportation item at the Board meeting affecting SE/SW schools? I heard that their bus service may have been saved, due to testimony from Graham Hill families and other advocacy efforts! Can anyone confirm?

SESeattle Transportation
Anonymous said…
It looks like the previous post on the coming SW Seattle charter school in place of the Jesus Center/Freedom Church could use an update.

According to the Seattle Times, it's actually going to be one of the Summit Schools, not a Green Dot School. Their models are quite different (though of course they get $$$ from the same places).
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/educationlab/2015/01/09/charter-school-operator-eyes-church-in-west-seattle/

-CA & WA ed follower
mirmac1 said…
They probably picked that name so that their application can glide on through our wonderful Charter Commission.
Anonymous said…
Mirmac1 (or anyone else), do you happen to know if that talk by Tom Ahearne was recorded? I wanted to go, but couldn't. (I wasn't a no show.) Would love to listen.

-parent
mirmac1 said…
There was a video camera set up. I'll inquire.
Anonymous said…
Thanks, Mirmac1. I'd really appreciate that (and I'm sure I'm not the only one).

-parent
Watching said…
Mirimac,

Was Andrew Nicholas at the Paramount Duty event? I've found Mr. Nicholas to be quite intelligent and I respect his opinions. I'd love a report, if possible.
Anonymous said…
The Paramount Duty event was actually very well attended particularly given the number of competing events that night. There were about 100 folks there, though we had 200 RSVPs. I got lots of last minute "I'm sick" messages and "I want to lobby for education at the 46h district Dems Town Hall" messages.

I hope that Tracy Libros doesn't mind me saying this, but I was really honored to have her come up to me and tell me that it was the best event she had been to in recent memory. Thanks Tracy if your are reading, it made me very happy to hear that.

For everyone who couldn't make it in person, Yes, it was filmed by the Seattle Channel. The link should be live by Monday and I'll post when it is available.

Eden
Anonymous said…
Also--In case you haven't done this yet please take a few moments to fill out this survey to ask your legislator to fully fund education. Your response will get turned into a post card which will be delivered to Legislators on WSPTA Focus Day January 19th. Survey will close on Monday Jan 13th. Thanks!​

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FocusDay2015

Eden
broken said…
Apparently I got behind on my reading, and missed the Ballard High School emailing of all transcripts mess on another thread. Let me repost the district response here, then I'll comment below to keep my comments separate.


December 18, 2014



Dear Parent/Guardian,
A serious error was made recently. On December 8, 2014, the student transcripts of the Ballard High School senior class were inadvertently sent by a Counselor through email to a Ballard High School parent and the admissions office of Western Washington University. Immediate action was taken as soon as the school was informed of the error in order to minimize any risk to our students. As a result, both recipients have confirmed in writing that they deleted the data and did not disclose or use it in any way.



As a result of this incident, we have reviewed our transcript release processes and educated our staff on best practices to avoid this from happening again. These protocols include searching for transcripts one at a time when it is to be shared and establishing an expectation of double checking personal information to be shared is accurate before it is shared with anyone else. Furthermore, we will continue to review all practices related to the sharing of student information for issues that could potentially lead to similar problems.



The transcripts released in error have been deleted and are no longer in the possession of any private parties outside the district. 



Questions can be sent to kswyncoop@seattleschools.org or you can also call 206-252-1000.



I apologize for this error and we will continue to work on safeguarding student records. 


Sincerely,

Keven Wyncoop

Principal
broken2 said…
Blogger (google) keeps deleting my comment, which is a follow-up to the letter from Mr. Wyncoop.

I've tried to post it 4 times, each time it's there for 30 seconds, then disappears. Ideas? Apparently google doesn't like criticism?
Broken, I don't know what to tell you but send it to me via e-mail and I'll give it a try.

sss.westbrook@gmail.com
Anonymous said…
I had notices in my various political worlds about the 'paramount duty' thing around the same time as the 46th dems and the town hall event with ... Matt?

I'm sure the town hall event was on their website for a while.

I finally figured it out today, after another bunch of emails about Critical! Important!! Events!!! in the next 10 daze - events which people could have been pencilling in months ago -

When YOU send out some kind of Critical! Event!! Important!!! notice 5 or 10 days before something is to happen, and you do it on a regular basis, you probably think you're conveying to people just How Important and How Busy You Are, and, How Blessed the little peeps are to have you directing their little lives!
You're also telling people that their lives are so freaking boring, and little, and unbusy, and unimportant that they Should-Drop-Everything-For-Important-You!

What a great way to build

AMovement
mirmac1 said…
Sorry parent. I left after Ahearne's talk. Eden might be able to tell you.

I'm glad I went and am not talking it down at all. It did seem about half full (not half empty).
LEV Again said…
Will somebody stop LEV- please!

College admissions are having many conversations regarding the upcoming SBA and college entrance. There is a lot of confusion and our children's futures are at stake.

Over at LEV, LEV is confident that individuals that score in the 3-4 range on the SBA- whatever that is- will be able to enroll in college. Where does the SAT and ACt fall into this picture? Wait, doesn't the state want to use 11th graders as guinea pigs, this year, to take SBA which will help determine cut scores?

Individuals that score less than the 3-4 range will need to enroll in "Bridge to College" courses.

SBA was JUST piloted and these guys are creating systems based upon an unknown test.

There are over 90 languages spoken in SPS and NO ONE has seen the test to determine cultural relevance etc., and there are many unknowns regarding SBA.

LEV has gone mad and someone needs to stop them. Of course, LEV represents Nick Hanauer and Bill Gate's whims and public dollars are shifted.

You should actually check-out LEV's blog it is rather bizarre.

http://educationvoters.org/2014/11/12/a-smart-balanced-approach-for-all-students/#more-23313

mirmac1 said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
mirmac1 said…
broken offers this:

Let me call attention to a specific problem with this response:

The transcripts released in error have been deleted and are no longer in the possession of any private parties outside the district.

The question no one is asking: who is or are the email providers of the Ballard parent? Hotmail? Gmail? The statement above is false, because the email provider(s) are still in possession of those transcripts, and they have almost certainly already been added to personal profiles (existing or shadow) for every name on every transcript, followed by associating that data back with those kids' gmail, hotmail, etc. accounts wherever possible. You can't "undo" a mistake like this.

All text and data, whether it's in the body of an email or embedded in decipherable enclosures is fair game for data-mining purposes. This is not in question, Google has made it very clear that not only do they do this, but they believe it is their legal right to do so:

Google says Gmail users have no expectation of privacy

The important thing to remember: nothing EVER gets deleted. Unless the district has written confirmation from Google or Microsoft or whoever that the content of those emails have been deleted from their systems, and the subsequent data-mining analysis removed from their databases, the statement above by Mr. Wyncoop is a lie. It may be an accidental lie, but it is still incorrect.

The reality of 2014 is that most email providers never delete your emails or their analyses of them. Ever. They're just marked as not being visible to you. Something everyone should consider with their personal email, and something that all kids should be taught from day one.

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