Tuesday Open Thread
We will hear the President's thoughts in the State of the Union address tonight.
Let's hear your thoughts here.
Let's hear your thoughts here.
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.)
Comments
Is there room next year for all the students who are currently guaranteed a spot in the HCP at Garfield?
Is the district planning on forcing students in the HCP to go to their neighborhood high school?
Will additional AP classes be expanded at all high schools in order to meet the needs of HC students who were not in the HCC in middle school? Garfield"s offerings are clearly superior, yet HC students are required to be served at all schools, so where is the AP Physics at West Seattle or Ballard?
Finally, what about music?
Washington and Garfield followed by Eckstein and Roosevelt, have programs that need to reproduced in all high school service areas.
I'm not advocating tearing down any program, just bringing other programs up to the higher level so kids who are choosing not to cohort in middle school, as well as other students who have not tested into the HCP yet need the challenge, can take classes that are appropriate. Music programs also need to be equitable across comparably sized schools.
Compare the Garfield website, especially the academic offerings, to any other SPS high school. They should all look like Garfield's.
Why doesn't Roosevelt have honors classes?
Things need to be standardized across schools.
Questioner
One thing confused me though. When we were on the steps of the capitol listening to various PTA officials and legislators, one of the PTA people called out and thanked the government relations staff person from League of Education Voters as if there was some sort of formal relationship with LEV. I thought it was very peculiar, as PTA fired its government relations person and insisted that our work be grassroots, and then there's LEV which has little to no constituency as an organization and different agendas and different agenda-setting procedures, and yet this organization was our "partner?" How so?
--PTA MOM
They presented administrators with a petition signed by hundreds of students to let their teacher begin teaching on the first day of the semester.
center supporter
http://townhallseattle.org/event/anya-kamenetz/
The presenter is the lead education reporter for NPR.
Also, more research was recently released linking inadequate and disturbed sleep in teens with alcohol binging/alcoholism:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/01/16/377720744/teens-who-skimp-on-sleep-now-have-more-drinking-problems-later
And I would also like to thank Eden of Seattle Council PTSA for her work in rallying many legislative chairs and PTA members across the city, leading to over 100 Seattle attendees at yesterdays Focus Day in Olympia, the strongest Seattle presence in years. It's clear that inadequate funding is at the root of many of our problems, and we need to keep the pressure on the legislature to change this. (I know, we're preaching to the choir with many of these legislators, but they do need to know how important is it to us.)
HB 1240 is legislation that would improve statewide policy on restraint or isolation of students in public schools. WAAA has been working hard to make sure legislators hear how important this bill is to students with autism and their families. On January 26, HB 1240 will be heard in the House Education Committee. Statewide parent testimony is needed.
If your child or another student you know has experienced harmful seclusion and restraint, please consider attending this hearing to support HB1240. If you can’t be there, you can send your written testimony to the committee. Go to link below to learn how to testify.
http://washingtonautismadvocacy.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=375ba27384f32413b3f5c6240&id=4663815852&e=a3e2fc6c02
You'd better believe it, and it is NOT OK. Heard about a school this morning that shortened their social justice assembly to have a mini-rally for the Seahawks. Great article below.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/l-steven-sieden/seahawks-in-super-bowl-ce_b_6503150.html
--- swk
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/01/new-sat-new-problems/384596/
Seems pretty smarmy to attribute this to IAs rather than the extreme privilege of the families that attend McDonald.
~~For Real
http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2015-16/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1497.pdf
Are they going to get that message and respond to it?
Which SAT will be administered this year, old or new? Thanks!
Chris S.
HP
I just emailed Gov. Inslee and my legislators and told them to fully fund educator compensation and smaller class sizes for our kids. You should, too! We need to make sure they fully fund K-12 public schools when they write the state budget. Click here to take action: http://action.washingtonea.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=10712
Glad I left
NEmom
Confused
Let's take the McClury money and make every school like those two with schools that can afford a thousand per kid coughing up like them and the rest getting what they need.
Like HCC, don't destroy what is good, simply spread that goodness around and at the same time make these programs more reflective of the district by adding poor and SpED and ELL kids to their cohorts
http://q13fox.com/2015/01/20/13-year-old-girl-missing-4-days-after-boarding-metro-bus/
reader
HP
-skeptical-
I'll add that from my perspective, SPS seems hell-bent on stamping out excellence, and even adequacy, wherever they can. This drives families that can scrape together tuition out of the public schools. Rather than creating equity, it adds to the separation of have and have-not.
Can you please explain what you mean by "SPS really does not follow the law with respect to Title III, which requires that ELL students be measure with respect to AMAOs." Is SPS not calculating AMAO data appropriately? I saw something with 2013-2104 AMAO data, which had the district meeting AMAO 1 and 2 goals, but not AMAO-3. AMAO-3 would seem to be the most relevant to your concern noted above, but I don't see how the McDonald situation plays into that. What AMAO data should be reported instead?
Also, the part of your comment re: DeBell and funneling confuses me. Are you suggesting that ELLs shouldn't be allowed to go to schools where they only represent a small portion of the student population or where there aren't many FRL students? Perhaps your concern is that ELL data don't show up on the individual school report cards when the groups are too small, is that it? Those data will still be included in the overall district ELL stats though--and I don't think anyone interprets the lack of ELL reporting for an individual school (when numbers are too small) to mean that everything is peachy.
If you are simply suggesting there needs to be greater analysis and evaluation of individual schools and program data--for ELL students and otherwise--I'm in full agreement.
HF
HF