Friday Open Thread
Two Director Community meetings tomorrow.
Director Peters from 11 am to 1:00 pm at Queen Anne Library.
Director McLaren from 10 am to noon at SW Library.
I see that next Tuesday the Board is first having an Executive Session on "litigation" followed by a Closed Session. This may be a final decision on Ron English with a vote on what they will be doing. ( I perceive that Mr. English is not going gently into that good night and will receive a payout to go away.)
Interesting thought from the NY Times "Education Life" series from a Harvard professor:
Imagine you are Dean for a Day. What is one actionable change you would implement to enhance the college experience on campus?
A few years ago, the responses began to move away from “tweak the history course” or “change the ways labs are structured.” A different commentary, about learning to live wisely, has emerged.
On my campus, Harvard, a small group of faculty members and deans created a noncredit seminar called “Reflecting on Your Life.” The format is simple: three 90-minute discussion sessions for groups of 12 first-year students, led by faculty members, advisers or deans. Well over 100 students participate each year.
They guide the students thru five questions about what they want their college experience to be but really, what they want their life to be. I'd love to see this in SPS high schools if only to get students thinking about their future. But you could even do this with your own teen.
Speaking of the Times, they received
I heard this story and I initially thought, "They must be losing money on people sneaking in outside food." Nope. It's guns.
Director Peters from 11 am to 1:00 pm at Queen Anne Library.
Director McLaren from 10 am to noon at SW Library.
I see that next Tuesday the Board is first having an Executive Session on "litigation" followed by a Closed Session. This may be a final decision on Ron English with a vote on what they will be doing. ( I perceive that Mr. English is not going gently into that good night and will receive a payout to go away.)
Interesting thought from the NY Times "Education Life" series from a Harvard professor:
Imagine you are Dean for a Day. What is one actionable change you would implement to enhance the college experience on campus?
A few years ago, the responses began to move away from “tweak the history course” or “change the ways labs are structured.” A different commentary, about learning to live wisely, has emerged.
On my campus, Harvard, a small group of faculty members and deans created a noncredit seminar called “Reflecting on Your Life.” The format is simple: three 90-minute discussion sessions for groups of 12 first-year students, led by faculty members, advisers or deans. Well over 100 students participate each year.
They guide the students thru five questions about what they want their college experience to be but really, what they want their life to be. I'd love to see this in SPS high schools if only to get students thinking about their future. But you could even do this with your own teen.
Speaking of the Times, they received
I heard this story and I initially thought, "They must be losing money on people sneaking in outside food." Nope. It's guns.
The nation’s largest theater chain, Regal
Cinemas, announced it will be stepping up its security measures by
checking bags and backpacks of customers.
The increased security comes after a gunman in Lafayette, Louisiana, killed two women and himself in a theater during a screening of Trainwreck in July. The next month, a man attacked moviegoers with pepper spray, a hatchet, and a pellet gun during a showing of Mad Max: Fury Road in Nashville. He was quickly killed by police.
Your kids use Spotify? They are really giving up their personal information (mostly via their phone information). FYI.
Worried about your kid versus the "cool kids" in middle school? Seems like being cool on campus early is a good predictor for not doing so well later on. From the NY Times:
“The fast-track kids didn’t turn out O.K.,” said Joseph P. Allen, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia. He is the lead author of a new study, published this month in the journal Child Development,
that followed these risk-taking, socially precocious cool kids for a
decade. In high school, their social status often plummeted, the study
showed, and they began struggling in many ways.
Yesterday was National Radio Day and in the Puget Sound region, there was celebration over 15 new low-powered FM stations that will come on-line as part of the Puget Sound Community Radio. Cohort. These hyper-local stations can give voice to what is being called "media justice." One of these has been co-created by Ballard High teacher (and uber-smart guy) Eric Muhs. That station has a focus on Ballard. The name of their group is Fulcrum Community Communications.
What's on your mind?
Comments
"At the June 18th candidates meeting, Carr made it very clear that incoming board members should take care in not creating more work for the administration. She said, "the administration is sensitive to request, especially when not channeled through the superintendent first". I believe Leslie Harris can confirm this statement, as well as the others who attended."
I've never heard of the district holding a candidates meeting? Seems very fishy.
Who else was at this meeting with the "candidates" and what was the purpose and agenda.
Hale Parent
Lynn, never saw this. It's odd because Director Martin-Morris and Director Blanford mention this issue all the time but never really present what they are doing. I find it strange.
I found that document through a link in the Seattle Times (today's education round-up.)
On another topic, I had anticipated that lunch schedules were going to be adjusted this year to comply with Board-Approved Procedure H61.01 which says
Meal periods shall be long enough for students to eat and socialize – a minimum of 10 minutes are provided to eat breakfast and 20 minutes to eat lunch with additional time as appropriate for standing in line;
Our elementary school's schedule has been posted and it looks like this:
11:05-11:40– Lunch/Recess K-1
(11:05-11:25 in the lunchroom; 11:25-11:40 on the playground)
11:10-12:45 – Recess/Lunch 2/3
(11:10-11:25 on the playground; 11:25-11:45 in the lunchroom)
11:45-12:05 – Recess/Lunch 4/5
(11:45-12:05 in the lunchroom; 12:05-12:20 on the playground)
Nothing seems to change.
McLaren ran on a promise of Transparency and she isn't delivering. She shut down conversations regarding SBAC and conversations regarding an important initiative is not shared via work sessions etc. with other board members.
McLaren campaign slogan -- "collaboration" and "leadership". I'm not seeing it.
What current board members where at the meeting? It all sounds very Makavalian, did they place horse heads on the tables?
Hale Parent
Hale Parent
In other HR news, a recent reorg resulted in more internal promotions at JSCEE. Tolley and Herndon are now both Associate Superintendents.
HF
HP
HP, they are not talking about terrorists (unless you consider these shoot-up acts of terrorism - I don't). These are just idiots with guns.
The district is creating the OOCR due to numerous OCR findings. In the 7/25/2015 OCR settlement, the district agreed to create the position/s. There is also another investigation decision due next week faulting the district for various 504 and Title II violations, again the OCR in the order is requiring SPS to create the position of ADA administrator .
ADA 25years
HF
---GL
ADA 25years
ADA 25years
I am new to this blog.
My concern is that there are several hundred students (at least 240 for the international schools alone) on the waiting list for special programs that go above and beyond the mandated general education offered at various schools. My daughter is one of those students. She is 27 on a waiting list of 49 for grade K. And this is only one school!
I know that this issue has been addressed before on this blog. I feel that the access to these programs isn't equitable in that the majority of them are neighborhood schools (and the majority of people in Seattle cannot afford to up and move close to their preferred school), and the few options schools still give higher preference to families who live close (please correct me if I am wrong about that). I understand that there is probably more desire for a space in these programs, than there are places in these programs. However, it seems that if the school is offering something you can't get in another school, then the access to these programs would be more equitable if everyone had a chance to get in by draw and that these schools aren't "neighborhood schools" per se.
I recently wrote a letter to the administration about the issue (which I think was more succinct than this post...sorry!), and have been in contact with the Ombudsman. It seems to me that it might be beneficial if the parents who are on these waiting lists were to organize, our voices would be louder together and therefore harder to ignore. My email is shukira123@gmail.com . Please contact me with your constructive ideas and feedback. I really would appreciate it.
JL
Do our students really need a longer day? I'd rather have a longer school year.
-Nolong
Ugh, I just got that email too! What a terrible idea. On top of no sleep, no breaks, and no time to eat lunch, the LAST thing kids need is A LONGER DAY. An extra half-hour is likely to accomplish ... nothing.
Laputa
6 hour school days do not allow parents to work without daycare. This only makes Seattle less affordable. Cost of living is crazy here. Another 2 or 3 hours, and no homework would help.
Another option would be to eliminate SBAC and Amplify, that would give many more hours of instruction, or a few more minutes for lunch.
West Parent
West Parent, I will put up something on lunch; I saw those times and I think it's ridiculous.
I commented on this on the post "Nyland on SEA Talks." If we expect adults to work eight hours a day, what is the appropriate number of working hours for six and seven year old children? Six hours is plenty. Young children don't need more time in the classroom - they need more frequent breaks in their work day and unstructured time after school. There are states and countries that are successful with shorter school days.
Sounds like a very important book.
S parent
I concur. I am going to grab a copy as soon as it is available. (It comes out Sep. 8) The review at the New York Times is at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/books/review/the-prize-by-dale-russakoff.html?_r=0.
--GL