Tuesday Open Thread
Concerns about traffic around Bailey-Gatzert makes the Capitol Hill Times.
Surrounded by arterial streets and now First Hill streetcars, Bailey Gatzert Elementary can be a dangerous destination for students, a majority of which walk or bike to and from school daily. Luckily, it is high on the Seattle Department of Transportation’s list of priority schools in need of improvements.
“It’s like an island surrounded by these really fast streets,” said Brian Dougherty, SDOT Safe Routes to School coordinator, who also attended the walkabout and offered suggestions for noted trouble spots.Kudos to Ingraham High School's Improv Group, SHEILA, for their second win in a row at the Jet City Seattle Open.
Several community groups plan to work with Bailey Gatzert parents, teachers and the principal to develop a plan for requesting funding to possibly study traffic issues in the neighborhood or make quick improvements, such as improved signage, striping at crosswalks and enhancing visibility. Dougherty told the Capitol Hill Times he will wait to receive Gyncild’s report from the meeting and then assess how SDOT can quickly make a number of traffic improvements on its end.
A total of eleven teams began the competition two weekends ago before the field narrowed to six for Saturday’s semifinals and three for the finals last night.In advance of the Seattle Speaks show on April 19th on public education in Seattle, they have a poll going.
In addition to the trophy, SHEILA wins a chance to come to a Jet City Improv rehearsal and the opportunity to perform at our annual fundraiser, The Brew Ha-Ha.
As the state Legislature defers fully funding public education for yet another year, what are the implications for the Seattle school district? The first City of Seattle Education Summit in 25 years will happen this spring, and there's a lot to discuss: an overcrowded district, the achievement gap, discipline inequity, new programs and decaying buildings. Are we on the right path to funding and providing a quality education for our students? How can we improve graduation rates? What can the community do to ensure students are prepared to succeed? Join host Brian Callanhan for a town hall discussion on our live, interactive show Seattle Speaks. Presented in partnership with Seattle CityClub, Town Hall and Seattle Channel.What's on your mind?
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For more information and to test your own knowledge, see the Ocean Knowledge quiz available on the Ocean Bowl website nosb.org
Proud Garfield parent
http://seattlereviewofbooks.com/notes/2016/03/21/heres-what-you-can-do-to-fight-the-inequality-in-seattle-public-schools-libraries/
So says the Washington Post.
-- Dan Dempsey
Thanks,
Coalback
Concerned Teacher
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35314-how-democrats-for-education-reform-pac-channels-out-of-state-dark-money
You are not wrong to be worried about the level of (behavioral) tracking that this app does. Dangerous from a data-in-other-organizations perspective and also from a real-time-in-the-classroom perspective. Read these for more info:
NYT: Privacy Concerns for ClassDojo and Other Tracking Apps for Schoolchildren
This short article itself is mostly pointless, but the many comments from real parents are extremely enlightening.
A Parent's Review of ClassDojo
As for SPS policies, it's very unlikely that your classroom has permission from downtown to use this tool, especially if the kids are under age 13 (which requires your explicit written consent). Teachers are being lured into signing up for services like this without consulting either IT or legal staff downtown, and it's a mess. I would advise you to call both SPS IT and SPS Legal. It doesn't need to be an unpleasant call, let them know you're just checking in and want to make sure that they are aware this program is being used in your school. They want to know. There are almost 100 schools in our district, with thousands of teachers, many of which have no clue that they are not supposed to be signing up for services like this on their own. They need a gentle reminder, and it should come from downtown.
Please comment again (on a fresh open thread) and give an update.
Has anyone heard or know if geo-splits are planned as a part of the implementation?
-StepJ
-StepJ
Broadview-Thomson K-8 feeds to Eagle Staff and Viewlands feeds to Whitman, so the B-T students will drive through the Viewlands attendance area to get to their middle school, but the Viewlands kids won't be going there.
Washington has only three feeder schools: Bailey-Gatzert, T. Marshall, and Kimball. Part of the Kimball attendance area is south of Alaska and Mercer, the middle school that is closer for them. It has to be this way because if Kimball fed up to Mercer (as you might expect), then Mercer would have to give up a school to Washington. That would be Beacon Hill, the northernmost school for Mercer, which would be fine except that Beacon Hill is a language immersion school, so it has to feed to Mercer, which was selected as the International middle school for the southend. This is a case in which program placement drove the feeder pattern rather than vice versa.
Meany is drawing from seven schools: Lowell, Montlake, Stevens, McGilvra, Madrona, Leschi and Muir. There are going to be students in the Leschi area who live very, very close to Washington but will be assigned to Meany. And some of the kids in the Muir attendance area who get assigned to Meany will have a long way to go each day.
In West Seattle two of three schools (Gatewood, West Seattle, and Sanislo) get assigned to Madison and the third gets assigned to Denny. The district chose Gatewood and Sanislo for Madison, despite the fact that their attendance areas extend further south than West Seattle's, which goes to Denny.
Lowell is the assigned elementary school for all of those downtown kids, whether they are in South Lake Union or the International District.
-sleeper