Seattle Schools This Week

No meetings being held; July is generally when tumbleweeds roll thru JSCEE.

Director Blanford has cancelled his community meeting for next Saturday, July 16th.  
However, Directors Patu and Harris still have their community meetings on that date.
Patu - 10-11:30 am Caffe Vita, 5028 Wilson Ave S.
Harris - 3:00-4:30 pm Southwest Branch, 9010 35th Ave. SW

Message from Superintendent Nyland on the events of the last couple of weeks and resources for you to help your child. 

The following resources can help you discuss troubling events with children:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Please,please attend the directors' meetings and let them know loud and clear that this new blending of Garfield students is very misguided.

We can change this but we need people to show up and explain to the directors the harm this will cause to ALL students.

Please find time to attend at least one meeting.

Hamilton Parent
7/10/16, 12:11 PM
Anonymous said…
Thanks Hamilton Parent!

Anyone know why Blanford has canceled his meeting?

Ambushed
7/10/16, 2:45 PM
GarfieldMom said…
Hamilton Parent, what is misguided about it? Can you give examples of students who would be harmed and specifically how? So far, I am not seeing any persuasive arguments against the change and will be letting directors know that I am in favor of it.

7/11/16, 11:11 PM
mirmac1 said…
I support it as well
7/12/16, 8:37 AM
Charlie Mas said…
GarfieldMom, what gives you such confidence that the Honors for All classes will be as rigorous as previous years' Honors classes?
And, if the instruction is not as rigorous, wouldn't that be a negative for the students who would have chosen Honors if it were a choice?
7/12/16, 10:37 AM
Anonymous said…
Now if they would only be so committed to including and differentiating for students with disabilities, whose outcomes are also shown to improve with inclusion.

reader
7/12/16, 11:36 AM
Lynn said…
I am guessing that many of the students taking the reading support class are students with disabilities. Wouldn't that make sense?
7/12/16, 11:56 AM
GarfieldMom said…
I'm confident because I know the teachers who are working on this. My kids have had many of these teachers, for gen ed and honors/AP classes. My kids were in private schools until high school (except for some non-US public schools). Based on what I know about them and the scores they achieved on various standardized tests over the years, I know that had they been in SPS for K-8, they would have certainly tested into HCC. Also, I have a graduate degree in education, FWIW.

I have been happy overall with the level of academic rigor expected of my kids at GHS (health class notwithstanding -- what a wasted semester that was for both my kids). I'm also extremely pleased with the non-academic skills and knowledge they are gaining that will serve them as adults in a society where curiosity, problem solving, communication, resourcefulness, empathy, and creativity are going to be more important than whether they can score highly on an AP or SAT test. Students who fail to learn those skills are going to be less successful adults, no matter how rigorous their classes were or how high their GPAs were.
7/12/16, 2:22 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Reader, that is a good point. Hmmm.
7/12/16, 3:58 PM
Anonymous said…
LOL!! Her kids would have totally tested in to that horrible program that separates rich white kids from poor black kids if she wasn't too morally superior to test them for it. Also, they were in private school at the time.

Chuckles
7/12/16, 4:18 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Chuckles, please don't be cryptic; who are you talking about?
7/12/16, 7:00 PM
GarfieldMom said…
Chuckles is talking about me, Melissa -- he/she is referring to what I wrote in response to Charlie's question. I'm not sure why Chuckles thinks I didn't have my kids tested out of some kind of moral superiority. There is no testing into HCC coming into 9th grade. I really don't know whether I would have wanted my kids to test for HCC or not if we'd been in SPS at the time. It's a moot point though, since we weren't.
7/12/16, 10:19 PM
mirmac1 said…
I support it as well
7/12/16, 11:47 PM
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