Tuesday Open Thread

End of school year congrats to:

- Queen Anne teacher, Joe Bailey, who was named Kidd Valley Teacher of the Year
- John Rogers Elementary students earned the Anti-Defamation League's No Place for Hate® campus for the 2015-2016 school year. It's the first SPS campus to earn the award.

Speaking of Queen Anne Elementary, the Queen Anne & Magnolia News has this update on their new addition. They are considering two ideas, one of which would move the main office to the addition with the library. I hope the district is taking safety conditions into consideration because I think having the main office in a separate building might have effects in emergency conditions.

Architects presented two schematic concepts for the project, both of which add a gymnasium and eight classrooms, and boost the permanent capacity of the school to 500 students to address current and projected elementary growth in Queen Anne and downtown, while reducing overcrowding in other area schools.

The differences in each scheme are in regard to where certain aspects of the school are housed. Though both called for a new gym just off of the current covered play area on site, one scheme called for a two-story addition with four classrooms on each level, while the other suggests moving the school’s head office to the new addition along with the library, while making the existing cafeteria slightly larger.

- See more at: http://queenannenews.com/Content/News/Homepage-Rotating-Articles/Article/Plans-for-Queen-Anne-Elementary-addition-move-ahead/26/538/38715#sthash.rfnDjA16.dpu

I hope you didn't miss (and it bears repeating) this great story on KUOW on students at Interagency.

There was also big news about Nathan Hale High School. From SPS:

Seattle Public Schools (SPS) is pleased to announce former Portland Trail Blazer All-Star guard and Seattle native Brandon Roy has accepted the job of new head basketball coach at Nathan Hale High School starting the 2016-17 season.

Roy started his basketball playing career in Seattle where he attended Garfield High School. He quickly earned the reputation as one of the state’s best high school player.

But the Seattle Times sports columist, Larry Stone, asks this question: Did Lorenzo Romar, Brandon Roy and UW's recruiting of the Porter brothers cross the line?

He asks this because Michael Porter, Jr., a one-of-seven home-schooled siblings - who is 6 foot 9 inches tall - is likely to go to Nathan Hale this fall along with his younger brother, Coban. Romar, UW head coach for basketball, hired this student's dad as an assistant coach (they have a long-time friendship.) After that, Brandon Roy was hired to coach basketball for Hale. (Stone calls Hale "a previous basketball wasteland in the powerful Metro League," ouch.)

Stone says that the NCAA passed legislation to limit "so-called package deals, forbidding schools from hiring any individual associated with a prospective athlete in a non-coaching staff position for two years before and after enrollment." (It's also being reported that a top player at Garfield is transferring to Hale. Hmm.)

Hard to know what to make of this story but if all this pans out, it certainly is going to make for some exciting basketball in the Metro League.

Charter group Green Dot's founder, Steve Barr, is running for mayor of LA. Luckily for LA, they have a pretty well-liked/regarded mayor in Eric Garcetti. Look for some big-pocket funding for Barr's campaign from wealthy charter supporters like Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, and Eli Broad.

Barr’s entry into the 2017 race comes amid a historic push by local activists to expand charter schools as an answer to problems in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and is likely to revive debate around a recurrent theme in L.A. government: the relationship between LAUSD and City Hall. L.A.’s mayor, unlike those in Chicago or New York City, has no formal authority over the school district.

Garcetti's campaign manager echoes what many of us say about Mayor Murray's lean towards control of our district:

“It’s one thing to be somebody who is focused on education as their issue as an education advocate,” Carrick said. “It’s another thing to be the mayor of a city where you have got a lot of issues.”

What's on your mind?