Tuesday Open Thread
Carrie Fisher, our Princess Leia, dead at 60. I just watched a great documentary - Bright Lights - about her and her mother, Debbie Reynolds. It was a fun and funny film about two women who lived their lives out loud. Sad.
Interesting story from NPR about whether software in classrooms can help save lives from teachers viewing what topics students searched for.
Interesting story from NPR about whether software in classrooms can help save lives from teachers viewing what topics students searched for.
He turned to a startup called called GoGuardian, which helped the school create a list of off-limits sites: porn, hacking-related sites and "timewasters" like online games, TV and movie streaming. The software also has another feature: It tracks students' browsing and their searches.Proving that SPS isn't the only district that struggles with facilities issues, a good article about Longview School District and its struggles.
And that's how Yeh was alerted that a student appeared to be in severe emotional distress.
He recalls getting an indicator at work that a student had been searching for suicide and several related terms. "I then went in to view the student's browsing history around this time period." The more he saw, the more Yeh was convinced that this wasn't an idle or isolated query.
Monday’s special board meeting was designed for the district’s facilities advisory committee members to present its latest plan to address the district’s building needs. The two, nearly identical options presented to the board only addressed needs at the elementary level.Wondering about how curtailing/revamping Obamacare might look? One GOP lawmaker gives us an idea...via his own son.
Board members prompted the committee throughout the night, looking for more answers on how to stagger the costs and balance those with the inevitable maintenance projects.
The example Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) gave in an interview with MLive.com was from his own experience when he waited until the morning after to take his youngest son to the doctor with an injured arm, because he did not want to waste money on an expensive emergency room visit. The arm, it turned out, was broken.Districts need to continue to watch out for Title IX issues as parents of softball players at Skyline High show.
A group of parents representing Skyline High School softball players are poised to file a Title IX lawsuit against the Issaquah School District and the school if measures are not taken to put the program’s facilities more on par with the boys baseball program.What's on your mind?
“I’ve been trying to explain to my 11-year-old daughter why the baseball team has a locked, exclusive field with fences all the way around to home plate, with dimensions that exceed Safeco Field, while the softball team plays on a substandard community field,” Parker said. “How is it equitable the school district spent approximately $400,000 in 2011 to improve the exclusive-access baseball field while the softball team doesn’t have its own dedicated field to play on? How is it equitable to move fences on and off the field in order to conduct practice or games? The boys don’t have to do this. The bottom line here is it’s not equitable.”
Comments
As some of you may have heard, on Thursday, December 15, Ultimate Frisbee Club coach Kelly Donovan required medical attention at the end of practice.
Last week, Kelly’s family confirmed for Seattle Public Schools that she had passed away due to cardiac failure. Her death is a great loss for our school, our students and our entire community. I want to express my deepest condolences to her family and friends.
Through her coaching, Kelly had a broad and positive impact on the youth in the greater Seattle area. She was active in Ultimate Frisbee and coached the Ingraham and Hamilton Ultimate Frisbee Club teams. While she moved to Seattle just over a year ago, her commitment to students and coaching has been transformational for our program. She is personally responsible for helping to revive the Ingraham High School ultimate program and managed three full teams.
Ingraham High School families have done an amazing job of supporting Kelly’s family. Thank you to the families and other club coaching staff for wrapping around Kelly’s family during this time.
Again, I want to express my deepest condolences. Kelly's death is a great loss for our school community and students.
Sincerely,
Principal Martin Floe
-sleeper
[rant] This is a disease I had as a kid -- in the 1960's. NOBODY should be getting this any more, unless they are so immunocompromised that they are not good candidates for vaccination. EVERYONE ELSE should be vaccinated. This should never ever happen in our schools. [/rant]
If you've chosen not to vaccinate your kids, and they go to NOVA, plan accordingly.
Link to the SPS release about this case
HP
Most of the infected are kids and 70 percent of the King County cases are reported in people whose vaccines are up to date. The vaccine works, on average, in 88 percent of the population.
HP
http://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/communicable-diseases/immunization/child/school-immunizations.aspx
--VaccinesWork
-pro vaccine
-sleeper
HP
-- Curious
Why can't they accept the standard pediatrician's office printout?
Yes.
--in the know
@Curious, it depends. Those who have current 7th graders who would otherwise be required to move are likely to be in favor. Those who have students at a school that may be negatively impacted by the sudden out-migration of students may also be in favor, although some may look forward to a smaller school and the opportunities it provides.
On the other side, those who have students who will end up as 8th graders at the new school next year are probably against the grandfathering, as it's likely to leave their student in an unviable cohort and thus with a very limited set of course options, since there might not be enough students to offer advanced classes--not exactly what a student needs in the year before high school. Similarly, those with advanced current 6th graders, who will be at the school as 7th graders, likely don't support the grandfathering, as the absence of a viable 8th grade cohort will also likely limited the availability of advanced courses their 7th grader will need (e.g., would geometry be available in 7th, and algebra 2 in 8th). Additionally, the overall community at the new schools may suffer in some ways if they start with only 7th and 8th graders, as clubs and sports teams and music levels and such will all be more limited, and this can impact kids in all grades. The school wouldn't offer all that we expect a comprehensive school to offer. Finally, schools that need significant capacity relief (e.g., Hamilton) would get less if grandfathering passes, and continued overcrowding would impact the entire school (although it's possible the relocation of 6th and 7th graders that first year would provide sufficient interim relief--we need to see the numbers associated with grandfathering).
One additional issue I've not seen addressed re: the grandfathering proposal is how to handle students who newly tested into or were planning to move to HCC for 8th grade. If they are not already at Hamilton, they can't be "grandfathered" there, and REMS is the new HCC pathway for many. Will REMS-zoned HCC 8th graders newly joining HCC for 8th grade next year be allowed into Hamilton instead, even though it's no longer their pathway and they don't have grandfathered status?
unclear
As for the availability of advanced classes at the new middle schools, how does McClure provide them and how will Whitman in the future?
former JAMS
-what I heard
former JAMS