Tuesday Open Thread



 Update: Congrats to Garfield High's boys soccer team - 3A state champions!
A former teacher vowed to write to President Trump every single day and one day she received a letter back.  Did I mention she was a high school English teacher?  From the New York Times:

‘OMG This Is Wrong!’ Retired English Teacher Marks Up a White House Letter and Sends It Back

The notes were sprawled across a letter bearing President Trump’s signature.

In the top left corner: “Have y’all tried grammar & style check?”

At the top right: “Federal is capitalized only when used as part of a proper noun.”

And toward the bottom: “OMG this is WRONG!”

The letter, dated May 3 and printed on White House stationery, was addressed to Yvonne Mason, 61, a former high school English teacher who retired last year but hadn’t quite left “grading-paper mode,” she said on Sunday.
There was more, but she didn’t correct everything. “I did not mention the dangling modifier,” she said. “I focused mainly on mechanics.”

Good opinion piece from the Editorial Board at The Olympian on funding schools. 
Olympia Superintendent Patrick Murphy said that his district goes over a funding “cliff” in 2019-20. 

And Tumwater Superintendent John Bash said his district is gradually losing some $7.25 million in school levy funds per school year over the 2017-2020 period. This wipes out most of the increase he expects to see in state funding.

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/opinion/editorials/article211394234.html#storylink=cpy
Aihave heard various SPS leadershi

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/opinion/editorials/article211394234.html#storylink=cpy 
I have heard various SPS leaders make statements on the same theme.
One reason for the shortfall is the way lawmakers chose to raise funds for schools, which they did commendably to the tune of some $4 billion over several years at the state level. 

At the same time the Legislature cut local school levy support and changed the way the state sends money to school districts to cover teacher salary increases. Salaries are a major cost of education, and districts with more experienced teachers expect to come up short by millions of dollars. 

The salary problem results because new salary-allocation formulas are based on a statewide average for pay. This penalizes districts that have more experienced and more expensive teachers, including Olympia.

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/opinion/editorials/article211394234.html#storylink=cpy
Two Board Work Sessions this week:

Tuesday - State Auditor's Exit Conference/Budget

Wednesday - SMART goals for district for 2018-2019/BEX V

Saturday - Board Retreat

There are only bare-bones agendas but I have requested the documentation for all these events.  No Saturday director community meetings because of the Board retreat.

What's on your mind?

Comments

Michael Rice said…
Interesting article in the WaPo from Valerie Strauss.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/05/30/what-and-who-is-fueling-the-movement-to-privatize-public-education-and-why-you-should-care/?utm_term=.f00edade5e15&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1
5/30/18, 9:25 AM
Anonymous said…
Great piece on a local radio station highlighting Whitman's fantastic music program, and visual arts program.

https://soundcloud.com/user-589897095/exit-stage-left-whitman-530-61

Ballardites
5/30/18, 1:25 PM
Former Souper said…
Would like to know what is going on between the district and SEA. SEA and the district have months to figure out their contract. I'm unwilling to support another strike.

Rumors are swirling that WEA is ramping up for strikes across the state.
5/30/18, 7:25 PM
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