Friday Open Thread
I attended a great talk last night sponsored by Town Hall. The speaker was Professor Justin Driver and he talked about his book, The School House Gate, which covers public education cases in the Supreme Court. Interestingly enough, one of the cases he writes about in the book is the race tiebreaker case from Seattle Public Schools. (He also talked about one of my favorite public ed cases, one in which a student got into trouble for his sign, Bong Hitz 4 Jesus.) I'm going to read the book.
He did mention one issue about the Seattle case that I hadn't known - the district had a box on the enrollment form for race that had to be filled in (if the parent didn't do it, the district did). I let him know that the parents who brought the case never got what they wanted - a high school in their area - and that the racial tiebreaker had worked both ways (for white students wanting to get into Franklin).
Speaking of Town Hall, they have a great series of family concerts coming up. The next one is October 13th at 11 am at The Royal Room by the Bushwick Book Club Seattle. Tickets are $5 for adults/kids over 12. Kids under 12 go for free.
It appears that several states are dropping the PARC/SBAC in favor of state-produced assessments.
Look who's getting into public education - Jeff Bezos. He wants to open free nationwide pre-k schools based on the Montessori method. Wonder what this might mean for the city of Seattle's pre-k program.
No director community meetings this weekend; the Board is having its first retreat with Superintendent Juneau. The agenda doesn't really explain much about what will be discussed. Open to the public; JSCEE from 9 am -12:30 pm.
One item to note - next week's Board meeting will be on Tuesday, the 18th, not Wednesday. I didn't find out what caused the change for the meeting; Board meetings are normally on Wednesdays.
What's on your mind?
He did mention one issue about the Seattle case that I hadn't known - the district had a box on the enrollment form for race that had to be filled in (if the parent didn't do it, the district did). I let him know that the parents who brought the case never got what they wanted - a high school in their area - and that the racial tiebreaker had worked both ways (for white students wanting to get into Franklin).
Speaking of Town Hall, they have a great series of family concerts coming up. The next one is October 13th at 11 am at The Royal Room by the Bushwick Book Club Seattle. Tickets are $5 for adults/kids over 12. Kids under 12 go for free.
It appears that several states are dropping the PARC/SBAC in favor of state-produced assessments.
Maryland plans to replace PARCC with an assessment of their own The Baltimore Sun reports. Maryland’s upcoming departure coupled with New Jersey’s exit will drop the Common Core assessment consortium that once boasted 27 partners (including 24 states) down to five.
When a state has decided to jettison PARCC or Smarter Balanced, as long as a state continues to use Common Core math and ELA standards they will have a Common Core-aligned assessment. The Every Student Succeeds Act mandates the alignment of a state’s standards and assessment.From Ed Week: Oregon has decided to drop the Smarter Balanced exam at the high school level, a move that has not only practical but symbolic significance, since the state served as a home base for the consortium, and played a leading role in its development.
Look who's getting into public education - Jeff Bezos. He wants to open free nationwide pre-k schools based on the Montessori method. Wonder what this might mean for the city of Seattle's pre-k program.
No director community meetings this weekend; the Board is having its first retreat with Superintendent Juneau. The agenda doesn't really explain much about what will be discussed. Open to the public; JSCEE from 9 am -12:30 pm.
One item to note - next week's Board meeting will be on Tuesday, the 18th, not Wednesday. I didn't find out what caused the change for the meeting; Board meetings are normally on Wednesdays.
What's on your mind?
Comments
Missed two weeks, but it's the outcome we wanted. Didn't like how communications were handled by the District.
--Frustrated
I'm frustrated too
Purple Haze
no caps
APP Parent
FNH
ps. gunshots/shooting reported several blocks south of Garfield, near 25th & Yesler, about half hour ago.
FNH
Garfield wasn't and isn't forthcoming with details. Bad hiring strategy gave way to parents complaining perhaps and they suddenly found a french teacher after months of searching.
I emailed the Super, the Principal, Ombudsman, Board member DeWolfe and President of the Board Harris.
The Ombudsman was helpful, she reached out to the Principal who then did reply to my email (last time for that)
Sarah J. Pritchett, Executive Director of Secondary Schools, responded to my emails to the Super for awhile, then I think she got tired.
Board members did not respond at all.
Garfield's ship has sailed.
HCC students September 2017 avoided it (they chose to stay local at Roosevelt and Ballard instead: not because those fine schools could meet their needs, but because those were less worse/uncertain).
This year, majority of HIMS and JAMS once again did NOT choose to go to GHS. That should tell you all you need to know (ones who did go GHS were from Hale or Lincoln zone). District and Garfield have relentlessly targeted HCC program, so students are not getting their needs met. Instead students are wasting their time (of course, they are not alone in this regard).
Believing in public education should mean that *each* child is valued, regardless of whether they love basketball, dream of becoming a chef, are enthralled with Latin, dedicate themselves to calculus, live for theater. Regardless of whether they can walk, regardless of their address, regardless of their religion or race.
Washington Middle School music and world languages WERE OPEN TO EVERYONE. Every single child could chose and register for BOTH!!!! Those courses are electives and have nothing to do with the HCC program!!!!!! So, because some students choose NOT to take some courses, those courses must be eliminated? Even if they are valuable academic and cultural experiences for the students who do take them, and, prepare them on a college track? How about supporting those who did not see the value or desire to take music and/or language with better communication so that they may be enticed to take music or world language? And, with choir, instrumental rental is a non-issue. Music education correlates with better math performance, for example, so rather than kill a program that has been a source of joy and community and pride, how about support all students with exposure and information. JAMS specifically does a major push to recruit students to music by doing outreach of a 'field trip' day to JAMS, where 5th graders tour the school lead by students, listen to a concert, and, a welcomed with a ton of positivity as future Jaguars with the instruction that when they get their elective form to fill out in the spring, go for it, pick music!!! Music is demystified and hyped as an incredibly positive, fun, experience where you will truly belong and get to develop lasting friendships and connections. How about that WMS principal try that instead?!
The trend at Garfeild has not been good if one looks at academics. The number of National Merit Scholars, while but one indicator, shows the slide. They took away World History AP for freshmen, even though the freshmen were doing well on the AP exam. They took away cherished learning opportunities by cutting off important field trips. They took away Honors English, and have quietly 'rolled that up'. They took away instructional minutes by pushing in advisory, aka 'mentoring'. They won't consider a flip classroom for highest level courses because they said it presented equity issues (yet other SPS schools with higher F&RL do it). In short, they have been steadily degrading the education, so more and more students are avoiding it. Look at the PTSA, they never used to struggle to fill it out. And the future is clear, West Seattle will also trend away.
We spoke to a former bulldog who went to GHS but pulled out and switched to RHS. Surprised that was the case, but, even if there are, for the moment, a great science course list at GHS, said you could get to take it because those spots are triaged to graduating students who must complete the credit to graduate, then seniors, then juniors, so, even with all the math prerequisites done, you still are not going to be getting those courses, so you may as well go to RHS, and skip the commute.
Don't shout down the messenger, look at facts. The problem is that once a school is willing to denigrate one 'set' of students, a line has been crossed and they will be willing to denigrate all. Education is not a limited sum game.
Future Bulldog (no more)
-Parent246
That seems pretty close to the library.
Reports of Garfield's demise, like Twain's, are greatly exaggerated here. While HCC students have been exiting the cohort, the student population has been trending increasingly affluent and demand/competition for advanced classes is higher than ever. Splitting the HCC cohort will help all the students. I don't see educational outcomes falling off a cliff, as some here imagine (or hope, strangely it seems) will happen. Rather, they will simply become similar to those at other bourgeois high schools. Ironically, that will only enhance Garfield's appeal to more families, not diminish it. (Meanwhile, I would turn my eye toward Franklin...)
Although but one flawed metric, Garfield again leads the SPS crop of NMSFs this year with thirteen. Congratulations to all of them, at all the schools!
FNH
Former HIMS
Former HIMS
I have the app and received the alert. My student describes experience very differently. Asking for greater detail just now, I’m told three minutes of shelter in place starting 3:30-35ish (blinds lowered) then ten minutes or so of lockdown (doors locked, stay seated). Released from classroom by “3:49” and went to XC practice held as usual. The shooting occurred at 3:20 and was across and half block from library. I was nearby and heard it. My child also heard the rumors of a robbery but it was a targeted shooting directed at specific house. While the older kids were still in school, there are lots of elementary kids outside at that time. Grrrr.
FNH
serve all
I found this on the WMS PTA website.
Q&A with WMS Administration
Mon, Sep 17 at 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Washington Middle School, 2101 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98144, USA
Hear from Principal Emily Butler Ginolfi and her team. Learn facts & ask questions about:Course & scheduling context, plus changes for 2018-19 and ideas on how to address them in 2019-20 Policy updates Support needed from families including lunch-time supervision, French & Japanese support, and others!
https://wmsptsa.com/
My Garfield freshman, who went to private school last year, loves the world history class, and says the LA class is "fine." We had an especially wonderful LA teacher last year, and it's not a favorite subject, so that's actually a pretty good review.
It never ceases to amaze me how commenters here will hasten to tear GHS down. One doesn't see that level of vitriol about other high schools.
Go Bulldogs!
Ruthie
thanks but no thanks
Frederike
Serve all
http://discussapp.blogspot.com/
-Caphill Parent
Now maybe Garfield parents are just more forthcoming on these issues but many of the issues also made it to the Times.
Equity for the students of the city of Seattle must necessarily include that a highly capable student who happens to live in SE Seattle can receive an education that is as challenging as a highly capable student who happens to live in Magnolia or Windermere or North Beach.
Equity does not happen in a bubble at just one middle school.
The K-8s are mostly option schools, so I guess that makes it okay that families have opted out of a school that had more languages (in most cases).
I agree with whoever on the board wanted to add a dual immersion path for SE Seattle. I personally feel it's really important regionally for kids to have access to similar and strong offerings in general (like dual immersion, highly capable, option schools, etc.) I don't see how it would be feasible to guarantee 7th graders access to a world language. Well, maybe if schools were amply funded... Hm...
Flummoxed
Each Kid
Salmon Bay Middle School has offered Spanish for 7th & 8th graders in the past but was unable to find a teacher for this year. Second kiddo will have no exposure to foreign language before High School.
Equity???
N by NW