Tuesday Open Thread

Congress missed the deadline to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program.  The ramifications are huge.  Please urge your congressional reps to pass this bill.

Congress missed a deadline to reauthorize the CHIP program, which helps states provide inexpensive health insurance to children in low-income families.

Despite the Senate releasing a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the program for five years, a vote was never scheduled.

The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provides health coverage to eligible children, through both Medicaid and separate CHIP programs. CHIP is administered by states, according to federal requirements. The program is funded jointly by states and the federal government.
Please vote for Tuesd Chambers at Ballard High in the Farmers Insurance  Dream Big competition.

Educators from across the country submitted proposals dreaming of the possibilities a $100,000 Farmers Insurance grant would bring to serve you and our communities.  

Based on America’s votes, Farmers will award five visionary proposals with the most votes with $100,000 each. Winners will be announced in December.

Registration for the 2018 Euro Challenge – a competition for 9th and 10th Graders - is now open.  Participation is free.

This is a competition for 9th and 10th grade students passionate about world history, European studies, economics, trade, migration, health, environment security, and global business. The program aims to increase students’ knowledge of the Euro Area and its single currency, the euro, through a unique learning experience that moves students out of the classroom into the real world.

Students from Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska are encouraged to participate and compete through an online version of the event. Judges based in New York will then select a winner to be flown out, all expenses paid, to compete at the national level.
Congrats to World School for their summer mural project - looks great!
About 100 students from World School, a transitional learning school for immigrant and refugee children, volunteered part of their summer break to give back to a community that has given them so much. They painted a mural along a concrete wall along the school's playground badly marred by graffiti.
What's on your mind?

Comments

Kate (Belltown) said…
My husband teaches in a middle school in the district. A colleague told him that he took a live bullet from a student last week. My husband learned of this only because of the conversation with his colleague; other teachers learned of it from one another. The principal didn’t notify staff about this incident,much less how it was followed up on. When the principal was asked why teachers weren’t notified, they were told that district policy doesn’t require any notification to teachers, or apparently, anyone, about taking a bullet away from a student, apparently because a bullet isn’t a gun. This seems to me to be dangerously misguided - a bullet may not be a gun, but where there’s a bullet, there’s a reasonable possibility that there may also be a gun somewhere. Have any readers had any experience with this in this district, or heard of this district policy?
10/10/17, 3:57 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Kate, that's a sad but not surprising story. What gets told to staff and parents really varies from school to school depending on principal. The issue about not telling teachers is an SEA one and I hope that teacher did report it to the union. I think teachers have the right to know because of the ramifications of a bullet in a student's possession.

I'm not saying parents should be told about this except for the student's parents/guardians. But parents don't often know about issues until something big happens.
10/10/17, 10:52 PM
Anonymous said…
Is there an approved curriculum being used for high school advisory? With middle school, materials could at least be viewed by parents. The activities my child describes sound like an idiotic waste of time. Meanwhile, there's less time outside of school hours to get homework completed.

waste o'time
10/12/17, 11:50 AM
Anonymous said…
Look at this:

Parent Power Index


Parent Power Index

Nevada and New Mexico are highly rated ... so what?

NV and NM have very low HS graduation rates and very low NAEP scores.

This I guess is just another example of the baloney pushed by Center for Education Reform and similar organizations.

"To improve a system requires the intelligent application of relevant data."
-- W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993)

-- Dan Dempsey
10/12/17, 5:13 PM
Anonymous said…
Charter School that is grading parents.

Grading Parents

I taught for a few moments at charter school "The Accelerated School" in urban LA and parents were required to put in volunteer hours.

-- Dan Dempsey
10/12/17, 5:21 PM
Watching said…
SEA has endorsed Cary Moon for Mayor. SEA believes they will have a spot at the table when discussing the Family and Education Levy.
10/12/17, 9:45 PM
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