Tuesday Open Thread
The race for Supreme Court justices continues to heat up with the news that yet another billionaire has teamed up with a legislator to target Justice Barbara Madsen. From KPLU:
Troubling news from the Bellingham Herald on the rate of teen suicide in Washington State.
Olympic Hills' principal, Helen Joung, sent a letter to parents announcing her departure from their school to become the new Executive Director for the SW. This is a good thing for schools in the SW and a bad thing for Olympic Hills as well as the soon-to-open Cedar Park Elementary.
Principal Joung had been a leader in trying to explain to the district and the Board on the folly of the make-up of the student body at Cedar Park especially in light of this new lens of "equity."
A couple of notices from SPS:
Student Health
The Washington State Department of Health is urging parents to make sure their kids’ immunizations are up-to-date before heading back to school this fall. The State Department of Health now requires two doses of chickenpox (Varicella) vaccine for all students in grades K through 12.
School nurses will review each student’s vaccination records and notify parents through regular postal mail by the end of the current school year if a student needs additional vaccinations.
A complete list of immunization requirements is available at the following Washington State Department of Health website.
Before/After Childcare - a bit of a interesting notice given the district's moves towards possibly closing some of them because of capacity needs (or maybe for City pre-k space.)
What's on your mind?
Ken Fisher of Camas, Washington is a Forbes-listed billionaire. Rodney Tom is a Medina Democrat who joined with Republicans to take control of the Washington Senate in 2013.News of this funding by ed reformers (both inside and outside our state) has drawn national attention. The Washington Post, Diane Ravitch and bloggers in other states are tracking this race.
Recently Tom formed and Fisher funded a new political action committee called Judicial Integrity Washington. In recent weeks, the PAC has spent $100,000 on radio ads for Kittitas County Prosecutor Greg Zempel. He’s challenging Chief Justice Barbara Madsen for her seat on the Washington Supreme Court.
To date, independent expenditures in this Supreme Court race have outpaced spending by the candidates by a margin of more than seven to one.
Troubling news from the Bellingham Herald on the rate of teen suicide in Washington State.
Across the U.S., 1 of every 9 adolescents aged 12 to 17 had at least one major depressive episode in the last year, according to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Of the 10 states with the highest rates, four were in the West: Oregon, Arizona, Utah and Washington state. Oregon ranked first, with nearly 15 percent of teens reporting major depressive episodes. Washington state ranked seventh, with 12 percent.
An average of two youths kill themselves every week in Washington state, with another 17 attempting suicide, according to the Youth Suicide Prevention Program in Seattle. And the state’s report found that 20 percent of the state’s 10th-graders had seriously considered suicide in the previous 12 months.
In 2014, firearms were the leading cause of suicides in Washington state, accounting for nearly half of all deaths. In 2014, Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill that called on the state’s Department of Health to create a suicide prevention plan for people of all ages.Good opportunity for musical students: Meter Music School Youth Scholarships. Application due by August 15th.
Olympic Hills' principal, Helen Joung, sent a letter to parents announcing her departure from their school to become the new Executive Director for the SW. This is a good thing for schools in the SW and a bad thing for Olympic Hills as well as the soon-to-open Cedar Park Elementary.
Principal Joung had been a leader in trying to explain to the district and the Board on the folly of the make-up of the student body at Cedar Park especially in light of this new lens of "equity."
A couple of notices from SPS:
Student Health
The Washington State Department of Health is urging parents to make sure their kids’ immunizations are up-to-date before heading back to school this fall. The State Department of Health now requires two doses of chickenpox (Varicella) vaccine for all students in grades K through 12.
School nurses will review each student’s vaccination records and notify parents through regular postal mail by the end of the current school year if a student needs additional vaccinations.
A complete list of immunization requirements is available at the following Washington State Department of Health website.
Before/After Childcare - a bit of a interesting notice given the district's moves towards possibly closing some of them because of capacity needs (or maybe for City pre-k space.)
Ninety three percent of SPS elementary schools have on-site care programs. Programs offer fee-based before and after school, school break, and (usually) summer care for elementary school-aged children. Many also offer preschool for 3-5 year olds (full day or part day).The Blue Angels flew overhead yesterday as I was eating lunch outside at a restaurant in Georgetown. So heads up (ha!) for that.
What's on your mind?
Comments
--GL
--GL
That pattern does make Mr. Fisher a pretty typical Education Reformer. Corporate Education Reform is mostly about reducing taxes. It is only secondarily about re-directing public funds into private hands.
Diane Ravitch reports:
"Mike Pence is the most far-right candidate nominated for a national office in modern times.
He addressed the annual meeting of ALEC, the American Legislative Executive Council, of which he is a member, and declared that he supported ALEC “before it was cool.”
https://dianeravitch.net/2016/07/30/mike-pence-alec-is-a-model-for-the-nation/comment-page-1/#comment-2581426
Follow-up – comprehensive list of how Pence is destroying Indiana:
http://www.thomhartmann.com/bigpicture/why-do-people-indiana-hate-mike-pence
Thom talks about the long list of Republican and Libertarian policies that Mike Pence instituted in Indiana, and why the people of his state view him so unfavorably.
-McClureWatcher
I guess I wasn't clear. What I meant to say is that because there is unhappiness in certain sectors over more than just the charter school issue, the issue of replacing these judges has appeal to a far broader audience than just the usual suspects.
--GL
Michael J. Fox Mel Westbrook • 2 hours ago
"I voted for the Charter Schools initiative, but I now agree that it is unconstitutional. I'm a retired Superior Court Judge, and have read the Supreme Court decision thoroughly. It is well reasoned and firmly based on our State Constitution, just as is the McCleary decision which found that the State was not meeting its "Paramount Duty" to adequately fund public education. The Washington State Constitution was passed at the height of the Agrarian Populist Movement and has many unusual provisions and clauses, and many citizens find them inconvenient, and out of date with the times. That may very well be the case. But the duty of the Supreme Court is to follow that Constitution until the people decide to change or replace it. This campaign against Justice Madsen is a campaign to install result driven judges, who will do what their funders want."
I agree with Melissa's comment, too. Why is Stand On Children involved?
Stand On Children:
“We’re just concerned that the decision about charter schools was based on political beliefs rather than impartial judgment,” said Stand for Children spokeswoman Deborah Jaquith. Madsen authored the 2015 majority opinion that found the charter school initiative unconstitutional."
-- Ivan Weiss
Regardless, I was happy to see how poorly Zempel did in comparison to Madsen, and hope that continues in the general. Zempel is tied to Tim Eyman, who is considered toxic in many places, and if he ends up in jail, I don't think that will play well for Zempel, Stand on Children, or all the billionaires who would never deign to donate money for a public school playground or for library books for public schools, but who happily hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars to be wasted on campaign ads. But its all about the kids!
CT
- CaveatEmptor
no murray
Charitable organizations are required to disclose their annual tax returns and their application for tax exemptions. I don't believe they must disclose anything else. The state public records act doesn't apply to them.
-HarrisonB
Divisive
What's up?
http://www.k12.wa.us/Equity/pubdocs/ProhibitingDiscriminationInPublicSchools.pdf#AppendixD
FWIW
-2cents
What's up?
On the other hand, maybe this is just an attempt to gather information to inform the public. (The district already knows when parents pay staffing costs.)
We are collecting budgets and surveys through August 30, 2016. All surveys provided will be confidential. We will combine data from budgets and surveys provided and no individual school names will be reported. We may report out by areas, for example, in North Seattle… Budgets will be analyzed for amount of funds raised, per student by area of Seattle, how parent contributions are used (staffing, afterschool programming, etc.), and data from surveys will analyzed for themes that emerge from responses. Our process for analyzing data collected will be inclusive of the wider community. We will be hosting a public meeting at several libraries in early October, which will be advertised. We plan to use the data to put together a policy statement to the Seattle Public Schools District and potentially publish our findings in an education journal for wider audiences. This is completely voluntary and we are doing this community survey as private citizens and parents.
I can only imagine what "themes" might emerge. How would a promise of confidentially be upheld? Published in an education journal?
What Lynn said.
http://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/School%20Board/committees/A&F/2014-15/June%2011%202015/8%20South%20Shore%20LEV%20Grant_Stone.pdf
I'm not aware of any Seattle PTAs raising $1M.
-big picture
It seems to me that you think higher SES schools are getting things that lower SES schools don't get, and you want them to have those things too. You want the PTA info so you can use it to advocate for equity, as you define equity. Basically taking away things from some schools to give to poorer schools.
Why not just be honest about it? That is really the discussion. Do people think that parents should not be allowed to give money to schools unless the money is evenly divided...or perhaps divided so that schools with kids with more needs get more PTA money than schools with kids without as many needs.
I know you rationalize away all of the Title 1 money that schools get by saying there isn't much freedom with that money. Isn't that what you are trying to do? Take away choice from PTAs so that parents no longer have control over what is going to happen with the money they give to schools.
Honesty please
There are AT LEAST 2 people in this world, that love you
There is AT LEAST 1 person in this world that would die for you
There is AT LEAST 3 people in this world that want to help you
There is AT LEAST 1 person in this world that wants to help you
You are more than people say
You are beautiful, like a diamond
You are a SAVIOR to someone out there
You can do it
You can make it
You are worth it
You just need to be...
YOU
~Someone that wants to help