Tuesday Open Thread
Facebook in Australia seems have gotten caught trying to collect data on kids' emotional states to fuel advertising. It does not seem a surprise but it is one more example of the vast collection of data on kids.
What's on your mind?
Mining Facebook for young people and children's negative emotions including "stressed," "defeated," "overwhelmed," and "useless" seems contrary to the ethical standards the Code's authors, the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), champions.A horrific story from the AP on a sexual assault at school that escalated from bullying and teasing to sexual assault. A cautionary tale about the consequences of not nipping bad social behaviors from the start.
Relying on state education records, supplemented by federal crime data, a yearlong investigation by The Associated Press uncovered roughly 17,000 official reports of sex assaults by students over a four-year period, from fall 2011 to spring 2015.The district has a great story about the visit of civil rights icon, Congressman John Lewis, to Seattle and his book, March.
“Schools are required to keep students safe,” said Charol Shakeshaft, a Virginia Commonwealth University professor who specializes in school sexual misconduct. “It is part of their mission. It is part of their legal responsibility. It isn’t happening. Why don’t we know more about it, and why isn’t it being stopped?”
Elementary and secondary schools have no national requirement to track or disclose sexual violence, and they feel tremendous pressure to hide it. Even under varying state laws, acknowledging an incident can trigger liabilities and requirements to act.
The donation originated from SAM supporter and Seattle attorney, Mathew Bergman, who provided 3000 copies of the March trilogy plus tickets to see its authors at a sold-out SAM event held in Benaroya Hall. Of the 3000 copies, 1800 will be used in schools while the remaining 1200, plus tickets to the Benaroya Hall event, were offered to students of Cleveland, Franklin, Garfield, and Rainier Beach, high schools with which Bergman had connections to in the past.A big thank-you to Mr. Bergman for his efforts and generous donation.
What's on your mind?
Comments
Wondering
Yes! There's new energy behind the school now, and a new principal, and they have a waiting list for 9th grade this year. As long as people don't let fear guide their decisions, then there's no reason to think we can't make the school stronger than ever. Plus, all the high schools are crowded; why shut one down and create more overcrowding elsewhere? Speculation can become a self-fulfilling prophecy though; one friend with an incoming Center 9th grader decided to go private instead, because of comments on this very blog. She "read between the lines" and felt that SPS was not planning to support the school, and didn't want to risk it. Yes, the fact that the district is still withholding funding, while the waitlist remains unmoving, is maddening and concerning. But we are going to take the leap of faith.
A similar situation happened at Rainier Beach. The whole neighborhood was thrilled and excited about the IB program, and was ready to rally behind the school. Then SPS announced that it wasn't planning to fund the program after two years, and all the air went out of the balloon. No one thinks our neighborhood can come up with the 200K+ needed to fund the program, and no one trusts SPS to do the right thing.
(Rant over). :)
Susan H is probably a person on the ground who is seeing positive things and so her thoughts are pertinent.
But, I'm not sure Center has great support at headquarters.
The City keeps talking about redoing Seattle Center. They have said they will include the school but I keep wondering how much more the district will need to stay there.
The district seems very high on a downtown high school at Memorial Stadium and I suspect that will appear on BEX V. This would seem a bit counterintuitive given there is no K-8.
However, Ballard and Garfield are overcrowded. You'd hope with Lincoln reopening that would take the pressure off but I suspect that will be mostly for Roosevelt.
The district might site Center in a new high school which may save it but it's hard to know at this point.
I think if you go in now, your child will finish at Center. But in 5+ years, I don't know.
MJ
The proposed 2017-18 calendar will be discussed by the executive committee May 4th and introduced at the May 17th board meeting. It's worse than I'd anticipated. Now the Wednesday release is going to be 75 minutes early - for a total increase in instructional minutes of 25 minutes per week. We're told that the longer day/early release cannot be changed because it's in the SEA contract but apparently this only applies to changes for the benefit of students and parents. There's no reason the district can't instead bargain with the SEA for a longer work day on Wednesdays with no change to the student schedule. If they absolutely must add 25 minutes a week to get the correct total hours, just add five minutes to every day.
This info is all in the Executive Committee agenda.
According to the Personnel Report attached to the agenda for today's board meeting, both Dan Gallagher (Director of College and Career Readiness) and Veronica Gallardo (Director of ELL and International Programs) are leaving the district. It's an opportune time for Mr. Gallagher to leave as the district has failed to come up with a plan to help next year's 9th grade students meet the 24 credit graduation requirements.
Also notable, Nathan Hale is losing the teacher who runs the media arts program there.
IMHO, Center School is not going anywhere and you should enroll there with confidence.
High School enrollment is growing and options for high students are desperately needed. Additionally, I suspect that a number of Queen Anne area families will be moving to Center School as the uncertainly around the future Lincoln High School and mandatory geo-splits continues to grow. If you go to Ballard, you will be geo-split to Lincoln but if you go to Center, you will be allowed to remain at Center. That one data point is going to make the Center School very attractive for many families.
Finally, a memorial stadium high school is being planned for the next BEX levy. If this project is approved, then a permanent home for the Center School will be a part of that construction. If that project is not approved, then Center School as it is currently configured will be even more important for capacity reasons.
Is Hale losing the teacher due to staff reductions or they are just moving on to something else?
HP
I would say that at this point Center could be considered a permanent piece of the SPS fabric. They finally got a sorely needed new principal and energy is good! Enrollment is trending up and with the middle school surge coming, that will likely continue.
The Seattle Center has always liked having the school on the grounds as it brings a bit of life to the campus during the week.
I would say, if it is a good fit, then go for it. You may have some bumps along the way, both parents and students need to be fully engaged, but in my experience with the school, that was a good thing.
TCS alum
The teacher leaving is Simon Thwaits who has a dual position at Hale.
NP