Here's the agenda for tonight's Board meeting. I note that people can no longer sign up to speak at a Board meeting by phone. It is strictly by online sign-up. Not good. Public Testimony seems to cover two topics. Apparently, the Chinese program at West Seattle High School is in jeopardy and there are several speakers for that issue. The other issue is, of course, school closures. There are six people on the waitlist. Here's the latest from the Times which says that " Seattle Could Close about a quarter of its elementary schools." First, that would be a heck of a lot of schools (17) and two, only elementaries? My cynical side is that the district is throwing out a big number so they can "generously" only close 10-12. The article claims that the district is taking "$32M from its reserves" which is not true; they have no reserves. I think the reporter means capital reserves. I'll be tuning in with updates. 4:15 pm and has the 4:15
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But this is just another example of out-of-touch administration that have no idea what really goes on in a classroom or what it's like to be a teacher. I have no doubt that thousands of equally brilliant innovations are rolled out in schools across the country every year.
“It’s the 21st century — you don’t need desks,” Connelly said, sources told The Post.
Connelly told teachers she “does not want them sitting,” an insider said, although no chairs were tossed.
“Figure it out,” she snapped when staffers asked where to store their supplies, a source said.
As to where teachers should grade papers, Connelly answered, “Use the lunch room,” sources said.
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So where has this strategy been used effectively to increase student achievement?
Show me the data.
Will this effort maximize the learning opportunity for each student?
Will classroom instruction be significantly improved?
Do these teachers believe they are being treated as education professionals?
If NOT then why was any of this done?
I guess this is alignment with 21st Century thinking.
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As bizarre as the above action seems it happened at only one school.
So now consider the undercover abandonment of the "Math in Focus" scope and sequence at every SPS elementary school. Ask the same questions
So where has this strategy been used effectively to increase student achievement?
Show me the data.
Will this effort maximize the learning opportunity for each student?
Will classroom instruction be significantly improved?
Do these teachers believe they are being treated as education professionals?
If NOT then why was any of this done?
I guess this is alignment with 21st Century thinking.
YIKES!!!
-- Dan Dempsey
reader
You know, I took a class from Marva Collins whom some of you might remember from 60 minutes and other media events. She was a great teacher who taught in very poor neighborhoods. She had a private school for black kids. She believed teachers should never sit but circulate, circulate, circulate. Of course, in those days, teachers were teaching far more basic than now. Our plates are much, much fuller. And she had a shorter day. I liked her idea then.
Some teachers do sit more than they should. But this woman has an anger management problem or she is narcissistic. Something like that. To throw out medical devices is asking for law suits. Honestly, they ought to remove her from the school because she is a problem and I think that school is in danger of her outbursts. Her behavior is just not normal or even rational. Scary.
Working in the trenches in SPS is kind of like being self-employed.
When we got our new building, we got huge, heavy office bookcases. Brand spanking new. 12' deep. We had to get rid of our old school district customized bookcases which were efficient, less deep, made of hard wood, and narrower. Much better for classrooms than these behemoths we have now.