Tuesday Open Thread
Interesting article from Mosaic about what Iceland is doing to curb dangerous teen behaviors - In Iceland, teenage smoking, drinking and drug use have been radically cut in the past 20 years.
I guess Nathan Hale High wasn't the only school out there importing athletes - it happened at a tiny private high school in Idaho. Trump's new travel policies may end this one. There was a good story in the Seattle PI about Hale's championship. Hale also received a top player/coach honor, winning the Naismith award.
One more Hale note - there's an Native Sign Language class tonight from 6-9 pm, from the Seattle Clearsky Native Youth Council. Join us in learning Native Sign Language, learn your how to sign your name and basic conversational terms and exchanges
Testing season starts with "incentives" to take standardized tests.
Look for some really good news mid-afternoon for one of our high schools. Updates to come.
What's on your mind?
Today, Iceland tops the European table for the cleanest-living teens. The percentage of 15- and 16-year-olds who had been drunk in the previous month plummeted from 42 per cent in 1998 to 5 per cent in 2016. The percentage who have ever used cannabis is down from 17 per cent to 7 per cent. Those smoking cigarettes every day fell from 23 per cent to just 3 per cent.
“Why not orchestrate a social movement around natural highs: around people getting high on their own brain chemistry – because it seems obvious to me that people want to change their consciousness – without the deleterious effects of drugs?”Twenty great quotes from children's books, a fun and thoughtful read.
I guess Nathan Hale High wasn't the only school out there importing athletes - it happened at a tiny private high school in Idaho. Trump's new travel policies may end this one. There was a good story in the Seattle PI about Hale's championship. Hale also received a top player/coach honor, winning the Naismith award.
One more Hale note - there's an Native Sign Language class tonight from 6-9 pm, from the Seattle Clearsky Native Youth Council. Join us in learning Native Sign Language, learn your how to sign your name and basic conversational terms and exchanges
Testing season starts with "incentives" to take standardized tests.
Look for some really good news mid-afternoon for one of our high schools. Updates to come.
What's on your mind?
Comments
"Parent strike? Good morning - as you may or may not know, SEA members are voting this week whether or not to have a one-day strike on May Day, in support of immigrant rights, education funding, and labor rights. I know there is some buzz about a parent strike and what that might look like - joining forces with teachers is what we do best, so this might be an opportunity...."
Leave my child alone and picket AFTER the bell rings. Organize and rally on the weekend. I generally support teacher walk-outs, but this is getting old.
Bloody Chickens
enough
My child is loosing education time due to an early release, today, and our children are loosing time to testing etc.
Leave my child in class and protest on your own time.
enough
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/03/22/may-day-seattle-educators-moving-closer-to-strike/
And from Kshama Sawant:
"Let’s use the coming weeks to begin planning for workplace actions as well a mass peaceful civil disobedience that shuts down highways, airports, and other key infrastructure."
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/may-day-general-strike-trump-international-womens-day/
googled it
Don't understand
Do these organizations and individuals realize that the push to "fund" education may result in a net LOSS for Seattle Public Schools? Do these groups realize that they may help push the per pupil funding model??
When was the last strike? One year ago?? Washington Charters would LOVE to use another strike to promote charter schools.
Neither I nor my child will participate in a May 1 strike despite my support for education and teaching staff funding. There is already too much shirking of classroom time in this district.
-SPS_Parent
Foreign exchange students studying in the United States say that classes here are easier than in their home countries, according to a new report from the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings.
These students also tend to say American high schoolers spend less time on school work than students do back home. And it's their view that American students place more value on sports than their peers at home, and less value on mathematics.
According to these results, not a ton has changed since 15 years ago when the Brown Center last asked international students these questions about their U.S. school experiences.
=======================
-- Dan Dempsey
-- Dan Dempsey
There is so much weird information, somewhat-off information, and just plain misinformation coming out of the Trump administration these days that we at BBA felt the need to set the record straight on a few key whoppers. (And they are by no means limited to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, though she is for sure pulling her weight.)
So here are our top ten, in no particular order, and with the caveat that this is only a partial list:
Hooray - Setting the record straight - what a good idea.
vote no
No other way to show support of immigrant rights, education funding, and labor rights?
I would want clarification of what is meant by "immigrant rights" and "labor rights" before I supported. No way should a strike be used. Any thought on honoring a contractual obligation? What about anarchists rights?
-- Dan Dempsey
I hope SEA votes NO. Another district needs to lead this effort.
Teachers are free to take a personal day and testify in Olympia. The session will probably extend into the summer. Teachers, parents and students are free to rally- then.
flabbergasted
Clarification:
I'm sure Olympia would love to see Seattle's educators strike(sarcasm).
Olympia hates Seattle. Olympia thinks Seattle wealthy. Seattle has access to levy dollars; this is not the case for other parts of the states.
Seattle Public Schools is considered fiscally irresponsible for settling the teachers strike. Isn't this the reason SEA stayed quiet during attempts to delay the levy cliff?
I think there would be backlash.
I have testified in Olympia for ample funding. I have made calls and sent emails and post cards and flyers.
Seattle teachers should be thankful to the parents and District for supporting their raises before we had funding to pay these raises. They should get creative and raise their voices about workers rights and immigrant rights without striking. I will be dissappointed if they vote to strike.
If parents want to pull their kids and March-go for it. If there is a huge effort to boycot testing-I'm in. If there's a strike-my Advocacy and empathy will quickly slow down.
Don't plan to disrupt the classrooms now while negotiations on budget solutions from each party and our district/board are just rolling out. Save it for fall...you'll likely need the energy then, sadly.
Funding advocate
If the strike occurs during AP and IB exams...there will be backlash from GOP and charter supporters.
Putting kids in a circle and asking on day 1 of sixth grade what the students preferred pronoun is, is insane. If I had a transgender child, I would privately reach out to the school before the first day to make any necessary accomodations and let the school know my child's preferred pronoun. My child had no idea what this meant and the kids were all laughing and making fun of the situation. Imagine if there actually was a transgender child in the class?!
No wonder people across the country make fun of us. I'm a democrat and some SPS teachers are out of control.
https://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/School%20Board/16-17agendas/03_22_2017/20170322_Agenda_Packet.pdf
I would love to hear what was discussed, if anyone has info.
Fix AL
I think we ought to start looking into whether voters who file taxes from counties with republican state senators should be allowed to own property in King County. Perhaps there could be a special education property tax on those specific individuals. Or an education tax for businesses that file Excise tax in counties with republican state senators.
Or if companies employ more than 100 people in a given WA state county, they need to pay an education tax to support education for those 100 employees' children.
Way too much of the onus for educating the workers of the future is falling on the children's parents. This is a state-wide, society-wide issue.
gobsmacked
"Cuts Threaten Equity Efforts
The impact of budget cuts is starting to become
very real. You may know that we received some
legislative relief, that greatly reduces the $74M
deficit we were expecting, but does not get us
anywhere close to our anticipated expenses next
year. Thus, we're looking at significant reductions.
The Superintendent proposed Tuesday night that Central Office
bear the brunt of most of these cuts, which I believe could
negatively impact our efforts to close opportunity gaps. I've
asked that the Superintendent be clearer about his rationale for
all cuts falling on Central Office and any assurances that he is
prioritizing equity when making these cuts."
Sigh.
Questioning Motives
Surprised
At this point, that means that less than 2 percent of all school staff will be reduced. Central administration is still scheduled for a 5 percent reduction. Thank you to the School Board for responding to our family, staff, and partners’ priorities and moving to restore school supports so quickly. We hope to have new school staffing allocations communicated by April 7."
Full message:
http://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=22393428
-StepJ
Surprised
It seems a strike would extend the school year until Tuesday. Would final exams be given on Tuesday? If final exams are given on Friday, it seems students would not be at school on Monday and Tuesday. It costs taxpayers millions of dollars to keep schools open each day. If students are not at school, we're wasting millions of taxpayer dollars.
What about families with vacation plans?
http://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=2082626