Friday Open Thread
I'm off to the BEX Oversight Committee meeting this morning - I haven't been in quite awhile but I saw this notation on the agenda:
I believe this discussion is in advance of the upcoming Board Work Session on May 1st - Capital Projects Semi-Annual Report, Annual Enrollment Report and Capacity Evaluation.
I'll let you know what I learn.
(To note, somewhere along the line, staff renamed the Committee, the BEX/BTA Oversight Committee.)
Upcoming threads - principals, Facebook and student data privacy issues, and integration in our schools.
Did your child sign this agreement when taking the PSAT:
BEX V Capital Levy Update (Flip Herndon/Richard Best)
Build another high school or expand the present schools?
How should SPS determine to renovate or replace existing schools?
Build another high school or expand the present schools?
How should SPS determine to renovate or replace existing schools?
I believe this discussion is in advance of the upcoming Board Work Session on May 1st - Capital Projects Semi-Annual Report, Annual Enrollment Report and Capacity Evaluation.
I'll let you know what I learn.
(To note, somewhere along the line, staff renamed the Committee, the BEX/BTA Oversight Committee.)
Upcoming threads - principals, Facebook and student data privacy issues, and integration in our schools.
Did your child sign this agreement when taking the PSAT:
”if your
school provided information about you to the college board, the college
board may retain that information to provide educational services
related to the test such as score reporting in scholarship eligibility
and opportunities.”
And is that all they will use that information for? Hmmm. Can a minor sign such a document and it's binding?
And another thing that makes you go "hmmm", on the City's Families and Education levy, no minutes or agendas from either the City's Levy Oversight Committee (created this year and comprised solely of City Council members) OR the levy's Advisory Committee for the last couple of months. It doesn't instill faith to the public when there is no way to read what the discussion has been for the renewal of the levy for the last several months. I'm attempting to find out why this documentation isn't available.
What's on your mind?
Comments
wiggle room
This is not the norm in other districts where they do it section by section (as they did at Hale). Takes longer but then again, everyone is going to the site in their area and not busing across town (ask Loyal Heights if this has been fun for them).
So, from here on out, it'll have to be done on-site because the only true interim left is John Marshall and that's going to go away. (Of course, if they do buy back the Lake City building lease, they'd have that but only for elementary.)
http://www.seattle.gov/education/about-us/about-the-levy/levy-oversight
I have also been connecting with staff about the missing materials and minutes on the LOC's web page. I received word on Friday 4/6 that this would be a priority to deal with ASAP this week, but the materials are still not there, so I just sent another email.
According to the web page, the next LOC meeting is next Tuesday 4/17. I think I got this info wrong in a previous comment. The meetings are "generally" on 2nd Tuesdays which would have been this past Tuesday, but this month it is on the 3rd Tuesday.
http://www.seattle.gov/education/about-us/about-the-levy/levy-oversight
I did some searching but I could not find any info about the levy's separate Advisory Committee mentioned by Melissa, except news articles referring to its past actions. Is there a web link to info on the Advisory Committee? Or maybe the name got changed from Advisory to Oversight? Thanks in advance if anyone can provide info.
Jonathan Mark
http://www.seattle.gov/education/about-us/about-the-levy/levy-oversight
However, in Feb., the City Council set up this committee:Select Committee on 2018 Education Levy.
"With the Families and Education Levy (2011) and the Seattle Pre-School Levy (2014), both expiring in 2018, the City of Seattle looks to renew our commitments and investments to support quality learning that is centered on closing the opportunity gap and expanding access to learning for Seattle's children and their families.
The Committee will consider the Executive’s proposal for a ballot measure to fund the renewal of the Families and Education Levy and the Seattle Preschool Program Levy."
Co-Chairs are Gonzalez and Johnson and the other members are the City Council CMs.
Next meeting: April 23, 2018, 10:30 a.m., Select Committee on Education Levy Council Chambers,City Hall
It seems to me that the city should not allow this type of activity on school grounds.
Meanwhile, there are increasing numbers of needles being found at Ballard's public library.
The city needs to get out of the education business. They need to focus on public health and safety, and transportation.
What I don't understand is why the school administration, or parents have not taken action to remove this tent?
-StepJ
It has been SEVEN months since the Family and Education Levy Committee posted minutes. The last minutes were posted 9/17.
www.seattle.gov/education/about-us/about-the-levy/levy-oversight/loc-archives
There was an underspend of $3M (possibly prek).
The city wants to add 200 prek seats.
There will only be 3 months between the city and SPS levy asks.
The city wants to ask voters for $700K- nearly 3/4 billion dollars. Yet, this committee can't provide citizens with updated reports. For this reason, I'm voting NO.
As of Saturday morning 4/14, the Levy Oversight Committee's 2018 materials & minutes are still not on the city web site.
Jonathan Mark
I am with Transparency Please; it will be interesting to see the City defend this practice of not putting up information on a program that they now have their hand out for again.
Here's what it does and why kids like it.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthy_kids/Dextromethorphan-Why-its-not-just-cough-medicine.html
Here's the products it's in:
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002628.htm
Why can't the kids just get some pot if they want to get high? There still remains to be even one death from overdose of weed. The district needs to do a review of its drug education program I think if kids are using drugs like this dextromethorphan.
It's not just REMS either BTW, it's a middle school thing and parents should be alerted and pour out their cough syrup at home.
baldy
Full investigation
When you have many people camping, IV drug use, lack of sanitation it breeds disease. There have been some outbreaks of disease in Seattle lately, but I think there won't be action to get everyone into shelters with sanitation etc until there is a major issue. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/infectious-disease-oubreaks-in-seattle-homeless-people-concern-health-officials/
SW
" Ballard library staff recorded a dozen needle-related incidents, including a man slumped over after shooting up at the library, a needle left unattended in a Pop-Tart box in the lobby, needles found floating in toilets on two different occasions, and an oversized CD case stuffed with needles and empty baggies that had been tossed in the book drop. In one case, an uncapped needle was found lying on the floor in the teen area of the library; in another, a library staffer discovered two needles in the restroom while cleaning up piles of trash and clothes that a patron had left behind."
https://thecisforcrank.com/2018/04/13/morning-crank-needles-are-a-longstanding-problem/
These ARE public health and safety issues. The city is failing to protect the public from needles that may carry deadly diseases such as Hepatitis C, HIV etc. Don't expect help from Councilmember Mike O'Brien.
The article says students shouldn't be getting "just right" books that are below grade level. Marilyn Jager Adams, a cognitive and developmental psychologist who is a visiting scholar at Brown University, said: “Giving children easier texts when they’re weaker readers serves to deny them the very language and information they need to catch up and move on.”
Timothy Shanahan, an emeritus professor at the University of Illinois and the author or editor of over 200 publications on literacy, says that recent research indicates that students actually learn more from reading texts that are considered too difficult for them—in other words, those with more than a handful of words and concepts a student doesn't understand.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/04/-american-students-reading/557915/
I'll note that CM Mike O'Brien has been a strong long time supporter of both providing more housing and shelter for people without homes and for safe consumption sites and other treatment services for those suffering from addition.
I'd also suggest that rather than badmouthing these people facing hardship, we set a good example for our kids and show compassion and re-double our efforts to help these people. Pushing for the head-tax on large businesses would be a good next step to providing more funds for affordable housing.
REMS staff knew well before the group OD last week of the problem with dextromethorphan. REMS and JSCEE staff chose not to warm parents which possibly would have prevented last week's incident.
Full investigation
I suggest those of you who support "re-double our efforts" first open your homes and wallets before pushing your strong-arm tactics on tax payers!
Just facts
That is what the teachers at Garfield have been advocating in Honors for All. They knew/know that dumbing down the language and texts keeps the students from progressing.
Looks like the research proves them correct.
Good Job
More Work
SW
Middleweight
P.S. - Psst, Garfield. How about those evaluation data on how well HFA is working? How many of last year's minority and/or struggling students decided to take honors or AP classes in 10th grade, and how are they doing? How many of this year's 9th graders are signing up for Honors or AP classes next year. How do students feel the classes are--too easy, too hard, just right? With all data broken down by race, income, and HC-identification status, of course. Additionally, a side-by-side comparison of the new curricula vs. the old should also be done.
P.P.S - Psst, Seattle School Board members. Why aren't you stepping in and asking questions, requiring a meaningful evaluation, etc? If more and more SPS high schools are going to the HFA model, isn't that curricular change within your purview? Is HFA really honors level work? How do the curricula and work requirements compare to prior GE vs. honors versions of LA and SS?
How do the new HFA versions compare to comparable honors courses in nearby districts? If this is a widescale change, maybe you need to hire an evaluator to quickly look into it.
all types
Minutes from the Family and Education Committee have been updated. Previous to you, the city failed to update minutes for the past SEVEN months.
http://www.seattle.gov/education/about-us/about-the-levy/levy-oversight/loc-archives
I think the Atlantic article means not just in 9th grade language arts classes, but the whole way through school. Like, for all the students who are being given "just right" books at Fountas and Pinnell levels BELOW grade level. Giving students who are reading at a lower than target reading level access to engineered readers where all the hard words have been taken out (while kids at grade level get the same books with the hard words left in and kids reading above grade level get the same books with an extra helping of hard words scattered back in throughout the book) is HURTING the low-level readers. It is depriving them of the very education that they would have had access to if they hadn't been given only the dumbed down books that very well intentioned but misguided (and institutionally racist) adults gave them.
So SPS is trying to fix this in 9th grade only, at one high school only? How's that going for us? If that works for Garfield, maybe we can try family support workers only for 9th graders at Garfield, too? Hmmm. And how is that working, again?
Seems like we ought to fix this for all students who learn to read in the district. At all grade levels.
The article discusses the link between income and reading gaps - children from higher income families will have had more knowledge boosting activities outside of school. All the more reason to boost content knowledge at school (think Core Knowledge approach) through more intentional reading.
In our experience, SPS tends to focus on skills over content. It's not just the reading level of texts that's important, but the content as well.
CK fan
FNH
I'm also wondering how struggling students are managing to keep up if your strong student from an elite private school is finding the classes so demanding.
If the Garfield teachers have indeed managed to crack the code and are able to provide all of he support struggling students need while also providing all the challenge advanced students need, they should share the evaluation findings publicly, and with the education world as a whole. Your account makes it sound like they are doing the impossible!
All types
What do you actually know about Honor's for All? Apparently, nothing.
No kid in the classes, no actual knowledge of it.
Yet, you're going to contradict a first-hand account by a current parent with a child coming from a highly rigorous background.
All we hear on the blogs is how middle school is the HC weak link, but suddenly it's way better than a challenging international school. Yeah, right!
Anything to preserve the status quo...anything. Even made up information.
One type
Just stop being elitist.
Boom
Boom, aren't you clever? You do know that when you relabel it's not like parents and students don't figure it out.
Westbrook only questions the validity of a poster when it calls into question the HCC program or somesuch.
She accused the same parent of fronting for something at one time, too. LOL.
Amazon Cards
it happens
NW parent
Remember, per WAC, "for highly capable students, access to accelerated learning and enhanced instruction is access to a basic education." Does a class really provide "accelerated learning" if it's a class that any student can handle, even those reading or writing at elementary school levels? I'm skeptical that the answer is yes, but if it is, GHS should definitely share that information because there are a lot of schools and districts and states that would love to know how to effectively differentiate with wide ranges in abilities and very limited resources.
@ Boom, the labels aren't the issue. It's the abilities. If you eliminate all labels, it doesn't change the fact that some students will be ready for more advanced classes than others. If you're actually talking about eliminating the levels--e.g., no more honors or AP or IB classes--you're talking about a one-size-fits-all approach, and I'd like to see evidence of why a student reading at the 12th grade level in 2nd grade should be reading 2nd grade texts, or why a student ready for algebra in 6th grade should have to wait until high school to take it.
I'm with Grumpy Parent. I don't care one iota about the labels themselves, as long as sufficiently rigorous classes are available to all who want them. All students should be able go to class each day with the expectation that they will likely learn something.
all types
https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/hand-middle-school-teacher-likely-to-be-fired-for-making/article_f0e9a46e-41b9-11e8-a943-47e429d3a4fa.html
HP
Concerned Citizen