Seattle Schools Community Forum

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” A.A. Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh)     “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” T.S. Eliot     “Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.”   Gandhi "Thank you for listening. Thank you for abiding me. And now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, I bid you goodbye and take my leave." Frank Deford   Thank you for listening. Thank you for abiding me. And now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, I bid you goodbye and take my leave. Frank Deford Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/goodbye-quotes Thank you for listening. Thank you for abiding me. And now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, I bid you goodbye and take my leave. Frank Deford Read more at https://...

A couple of readers asked about resources on public education.  I honestly cannot recommend any local education blogs.  I wish there were one to recommend but there isn't. Nationally, I would recommend:

Just so many people to thank for their support of this blog and my efforts to bring transparency and honesty to this district. Back to the beginning.

Getting ready to move, I am naturally going thru many items. I have three SPS items if anyone wants them:

The last Friday Open Thread (for now).  Here's hoping you all had a satisfying Thanksgiving with friends and family.

Thoughts on Thanksgiving from Native Americans

From the student newspaper , The Garfield Messenger (bold mine): Dear Superintendent Juneau, In the past months, you have made it your mission to make the district more equitable by ending the Highly Capable Cohort (HCC). We know from firsthand experience that the HCC program has its flaws, and we appreciate that you want to make it equitable for all. However, we don’t believe that your approach to this issue is appropriate. Despite your good intentions, The Messenger feels that your perspective on the issue and the words you have used have alienated the people you are attempting to help. By using terms like “slave ship” and “Apartheid High” to describe the most racially diverse high school in Seattle, you not only disrespect and belittle the students of Garfield, you also oversimplify the effects of a complex issue the district created in the first place.

From SPS Communications :

Editor's note; I took out the reference to a "swarm" of people, forgetting that swarm actually implies a large group and that was not my intent.  As well, I had one unpleasant comment saying I was comparing people to insects. Not the case because there are many words used to describe a group. Swarm is one of them.  You can look it up. end of Editor's note The Superintendent visited the Special Education SCPTSA last week.

A thoughtful reader sent me a couple of links around the issue of grouping for highly capable students. I first want to say - as I have said all along - if the district wants to return all HCC kids to their attendance area schools, that's fine.  As long as they do/understand several things:

The South Seattle Emerald is a gem of community media.  I suggest you check in there regularly if you want to know about the issues that south Seattle cares about. They have a great on-going column - Ask a Therapist.

There's this phrase - "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" - that I see used quite often when speaking of public education initiatives especially in defense of charter schools.  And then, districts, states, the feds plunge on into initiatives, apparently hoping it will all turn out well (see Race to the Top, remember that one?). This issue, restorative justice, is a very good example. "We've got to do something" -  because student discipline is so skewed towards two groups of students - Special Education students and Black students is the cry from many in leadership.  But the work, the actual work, falls to those in the trenches.

Saw this story via a discussion page at Facebook on Kent School District - in 2017 the ACLU filed this court case against the state of Washington for Special Education students. ACLU accusing the state of neglecting students with behavioral disabilities. One of the plaintiffs says her 13-year-old son who has bipolar disorder and ADHD has been targeted by teachers and excluded from his classroom. Speaking of OSPI , OSPI Releases 2018–19 Student Discipline Data

My email to the Board this morning: Dear Directors,

Some of you might have seen the Board meeting or even been there but others might have heard through the grapevine. I am leaving Seattle and thus ends this blog as it currently is focused.  It will likely close after Thanksgiving unless there was some breaking news that I think important for readers to be able to talk about and discuss.

Congrats to the Catherine Blaine girls soccer team for winning the K-8 championship for Section 7AA!

Update: Highline Indigenous People's Art Fest You're invited! The Highline Indigenous Peoples Story, Film & Art Fest will take place on Saturday, November 23 at the Highline Heritage Museum from 11:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Via Facebook: If your student identifies as 2e, please note and if you can help share that there is: 2e meeting tonight (Monday Night) at Thurgood Marshall and Dr. Liliana Sacarin will be the parent speaker tonight discussing Tomatis & Audio Therapy.

Thank you for visiting publicsafetysurvey.org . Through this website, Seattle University administers the citywide Seattle Public Safety Survey. The survey is sponsored by the Community Oriented Policing Services Office, the Seattle Police Foundation, and the Seattle Police Department.

As many of you know from your own experience, if you volunteer in Seattle Public Schools, you need to go thru a training and then take a test on it.  I think the test may have gotten an update as I came across a parent who was not happy with the answer to one question (see left).

Update : Here's wording from a parent group coalescing  around the topic of revision of HCC.

In the past, many superintendents have used the term "laser-focused" but Superintendent Denise Juneau is about the only one who really walks the talk on that term.   But I see signs that there seems to be a parallel, less articulated agenda with the Superintendent and the Strategic Plan.  Let's examine the evidence.

From Neal Morton at the Seattle Times via Twitter - interesting reading:

HCC or probably any other topic. The last several years have seen the Times skew their writing on public education.  Whether it's because part of their writing is funded by the Gates Foundation (and the Times clutches its pearls if you even suggest that the Foundation gives them guidance on what to write and how to write) and/or input from the Editorial Board, I don't know. What I do see is a steady decline of balanced reporting and it's troubling.

I restored the comment function so go ahead and comment on any post that is open. From the shooting yesterday at a high school in California via ABC News: "I should have never had to treat a gunshot wound as a choir teacher," said Holt. "And there's something really wrong and something has to change, 'cause I held a bleeding child today in a room with 40 sobbing children."

As you may recall, there is a book out by a Garfield student who is bi-racial and transmasculine about their experience at Garfield.  The author's name is Azure Savage.  The name of the book is You Failed Us: Students of Color Talk Seattle Schools. There was an author event at Elliott Bay Books tonight and some interesting, illuminating tweets from it via a reporter at the Seattle Times.  Savage was interviewed by writer/editor Marcus Green.

Update: there are now two high school students who have died in this incident.  The shooter killed himself.  Yesterday was his 16th birthday.  From the New York Times : Not that details are not important but there are key facts in this story about the whole picture of guns and school safety in our country. Sheriff Alex Villanueva of Los Angeles County told NBC in Los Angeles that all of the victims were students and that the gunman was also a member of the student body. Please send a prayer or comforting karma to all the students at Saugus High School.

From SPS TODAY : Seattle Public Schools Native Education Title Vl, Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) Meeting from 6-6:30 pm.

From Forgetful, I'm curious (concerned) about drug and alcohol use among SPS high schoolers. Kiddo tells me that kids have passed around alcohol at school, are sometimes buzzed in class (says teachers don't notice or don't care), drugs are easily available, and juuling is rampant. This isn't even touching on what happens out of school hours/parties etc. There have been some deaths publicized but thats just the tip of the iceberg. I really don't know what to make of it. I mean i expect some experimentation in the teenage years but not really during school hours and not to such an extent. What do other folks hear? Is it as bad as I'm lead to believe? How do kids/families navigate this? I mean we talk about it with kiddo and obviously discourage it but feels like its an uphill battle when it considered cool to do it and its so widespread. What is SPS doing to address this?

A really informative article from The Atlantic on PTA fundraising.  Wonder if the new Board make-up, what with a former president of the SCPTSA and a former SCPTSA Board member, might have the courage to tackle this one.  But there is not just an "opportunity gap" but this: A 2017 report from the left-leaning Center for American Progress found that of the roughly $425 million that America’s PTAs collectively raise each year, about a tenth is spent at schools attended by just one-tenth of 1 percent of the country’s students. I also note that the district loves the money that flows into the district from PTAs because it certainly helps their bottom line.   Does the state fund education so that each teacher is not going into their own pocket to have the supplies/resources they need? No and neither does the district in turn.

Dear Readers, Tired of troll-like remarks and spam in the comments section? Me, too. I'm going to shut down all comments after 10 pm until about 9 am the next morning.  This has to be done manually, which is tedious, but I generally only have two-three posts open at a time so it is doable. I have turned comments back on for the Tuesday Open Thread.

In very good news for the families whose children were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary school, the Supreme Court today decided that the families' lawsuit against the gun manufacturer, Remington, can go forward.  From NPR :

Don't let the feds do to COPPA what they did to FERPA.  Is your child's information for sale to the highest bidder? I hope not. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ( COPPA ) is a law created to protect the privacy of children under 13.     From the Missouri Watchdog blog : The Federal Trade Commission is considering several changes to this law that protects children’s online information.  The FTC is accepting comments from the public, deadline December 9, 2019. 

Thank you to all the veterans in Seattle Public Schools - staff or parents or past students.

Who is Moss Adams?  I'll let them tell you: Moss Adams is a fully integrated professional services firm dedicated to assisting clients with growing, managing, and protecting prosperity.

Some of you must be new.

Some readers wanted to share thoughts on the opening of Lincoln High School.  The comments below are the opening ones.  (I note that two Lincoln High students made remarks at the beginning of the school board meeting on Wednesday.   I was very impressed.  They noted several clubs especially around minorities and LGBTQ and that since their school was largely white, they want more literature from writers of color. Also to note, there is a very active Lincoln High Facebook page.

Tell us a good news story from your SPS community, big or small. And go Sounders! And go Hawks!

From Crosscut , WA state is having trouble finding enough Special Education teachers .

Seattle Public Schools files lawsuit against vaping company Juul. From KOMO :

I did not attend last night's Board meeting but it sounded lively.  (I had a ticket to hear Anita Hill speak and to the entire audience's great pleasure, Christine Blasey Ford introduced her. Powerful stuff to hear from both of them.) I heard from tweets that the discussion around Washington Middle School, HCC and STEMbyTAF was over an hour long.  And Geary's amendment to somehow bypass the SAP to put in that program went down. And it is very hard on TAF because they do have a good model and yet the district hasn't had a meeting for them with Gen Ed parents? What?

From UW's Robinson Center and Families of Color Seattle (FOCS):

As many may recall, former SCPTSA president (and all-around loudmouth) Sebrena Burr had many, many words to say at the last Board meeting, including name-calling me. And now, at her Facebook page (again, who are these people that leave their Facebook pages open?), she says talks about the Board members, calling some out as "racist" AND Hampson hearted the entire thing. (This was sent to me; I didn't go looking.)

Odd little thing.  After Brandon Hersey took the oath of office, there was a group photo for the Board taken. But yet, at the SPS website, they only have a photo of kids. Waiting for new members? Maybe but why not use the photo with Hersey and the rest of the current Board? Great story from KUOW about Nova High School . I can't say it enough - Nova saves lives.

Dyslexia event tomorrow, November 7th at Green Lake Library from 11:30-2pm

Update, Tuesday 3:35 pm - Just listened to KUOW's reporting on races today and what King County Elections knows.  Apparently some ballot boxes are filling up fast (they named one in Ballard) and they have sent drivers out sooner to make sure voters can get their ballot in the boxes. They said that because of what looks like a last-minute rush, that the ballots they count at 8pm will ONLY be the early ones already received and likely ONLY half of what they believe they will receive. end of update Now I'll tell you how I think the school board races for Seattle Schools will come out.

Betcha thought I meant the school board races but no. Primarily the question is will Superintendent Juneau win on her full-court press to break apart HCC. (And she played college basketball so I'll assume she's good at it.)

Some directors, on their way out the door when they don't run again, try for a big flourish action. Usually, it's something like renaming a school in honor of a community member. Director Jill Geary is doing something else that I don't even think is legal under Board policy, no less passing the sniff test.

My first thread explained how the results from the 2018 National Assessment of Educational Progress were flat and not inspiring.  The key takeaway - aside from not much improvement - is that the gap between students at the top and those at the bottom is growing (even as those at the bottom are doing better). Let's see reactions from other public education outlets, keeping in mind that Bill Gates led many reforms like Common Core and Race to the Top.

Or, as they are referred to in shorthand, NAEP .   Frequently called "the nation's report card," they are a snapshot of a set of students in 4th and 8th grades for reading and math in public schools in the U.S.  The scores are mostly flat with a continuing gap between white/Asian students and non-Asian students of color.  Approximately 296,900 students across the nation participated in the 2019 mathematics assessment.  Washington State scores were among those that remained mostly flat. From the NAEP blog:

From KUOW : Seattle Public Schools said it is missing immunization records for about one in ten students. The district sent letters to about 5,700 students’ families Oct. 28th notifying them that they will be barred from school beginning Jan. 8th if they still lack proof of the required immunizations, exemptions, or evidence that they are in the process of getting vaccinated.

In case anyone missed this in the Advanced Learning Updates, there's an AL survey out there. The Seattle Public Schools (SPS) Advanced Learning Task Force (ALTF) is interested in hearing from families about their experiences with Advanced Learning in SPS. This survey is specifically focused on students identified as Highly Capable (HC). Please complete the following survey using the following link: https://forms.gle/ TtHUEEP7gHsx5rSu9 However, there is nothing at the AL page or the AL Task Force page so I asked Kari Hanson. Here’s what I was told: This survey is for students. And a “sub-group working at the behest of the ALTF are (sic) the owners of the survey.  So it's an ALTF survey but the district gives no system-wide notice of it? Gee, almost as if they want to discourage participation and then, discount any findings.

Because this is an easy post to write on a Saturday night, I thought I'd dash it off. Jill would be director Jill Geary and Tracy is, well, Castro-Gill. Now Castro-Gill says at her blog that she's "tenacious" and has this tough girl stance.  And, of course, verbally, even more so. But the conversation she had at her Facebook page, pleading with Director Geary to create a policy to protect her and others in the district doing "anti-racist work" was then kinda confusing.

Actually, Honors for All is the wrong nomenclature.  It's now called, "Integrated Honors." I read it and while I am a fan of Eric Anderson, the Director of Research & Evaluation, I am not a fan of this document. While the document acknowledges that there isn't near enough data to make it conclusion, it seems promising.  Kind of. I don't have time to do a full thread on it but I thought it might be of interest to many readers.

I ask this question as a Sultan School Board member, Ed Husmann, was involved with this interchange about Special Education students (from KING-5 ): Chairman: "We're required to educate these students." Husmann: "But then maybe they're not educatable." Chairman: "We have to educate every student that's brought to our school, required by law." Husmann: "Some kids are uneducatable." Chairman: "That has nothing to do with it."

Good luck to teachers, administrators and school staff this day after Halloween . So many stories to cover but coming soon: - dyslexia - NAEP scores (and Common Core and Bill Gates speaks) - Facial recognition and other tracking in classrooms, very scary stuff PEMCO is putting on a "Safety Surge" event which is an emergency preparedness event at Rising Star Elementary and Bailey Gatzert Elementary on Tuesday, November 5.  Students in grades 3 through 5 will learn preparedness tactics and emotional coping skills that could keep them safe during a crisis situation, including home fires, winter storms and earthquakes. The Safety Surge will demonstrate actionable steps that students can take to react confidently in an emergency situation. Through interactive presentations led by PEMCO employees, students will also learn valuable coping skills and preparedness tactics through the American Red Cross Pillowcase Project curriculum.  I hope to go to one of the s...

Now to the conversation last weekend at the Central Area Residents Against Violence Facebook page about HCC.  I am teasing out parts of the conversation but you can go to the page and read everything.

The information I present comes from several sources.  One of them is a member of the Advanced Learning Task Force, Kari O'Driscoll.  (I'll just state that when I was on the Closure and Consolidation Committee, we were warned NOT to talk about our work and allow the designated folks on the Committee, the chairs, to make all public comments. But that was ages ago - maybe service on a taskforce or committee has changed since then.) It appears that Superintendent Juneau and staff are forging straight ahead with changes to HCC without waiting for the recommendations from the Advanced Learning Taskforce or Board approval.  Actually, I don’t think they need the Board’s approval but letting the Board know there are changes being made BEFORE they enact them would be a professional courtesy. Evidence (phrasing in red indicates findings)

A reminder: if you have to drive tonight, please be extra careful and look out for trick-or-treaters.

This came up in a different post today: LGBTQ Dad said... As a father of a LGBTQ child, it saddens me to see Rankin supporters laughing at SEAMEC's candidate ratings on the SPS Community facebook page (formerly Soup for Teachers).

From the West Seattle Blog via a reader tip: West Seattle High School principal Brian Vance has disclosed that students have been disciplined for use of “racist language and symbols.” Multiple recipients forwarded us this letter he sent to families last night:

Update: apparently this is a draft.  End of update This time it's Loyal Heights and their PTA is fighting back.  They are organizing to get signatures for a petition and they are asking for documentation from parents about issues they may personally have had with the principal, Geri Guerrero.

National College Fair this weekend at the Washington State Convention Center: Friday from 9 am-noon Saturday from noon to 4 pm

Just a heads up on a candidate for King County Council - Girmay Zahilay - who is challenging incumbent Larry Gossett.  I have talked with Mr. Zahilay who is all the things you might want for the Council.  I have found Gossett to be equally compelling so I don't envy those who are voting for that race. However, I did find out that Mr. Zahilay served on a charter school board in NYC, starting sometime in 2017.  It's unclear to me if he still serves (I would think not). As well, in a photo at Crosscut, he is joined in a photo with former school board candidate Omar Vasquez as well as Dexter Tang, both local ed reformers.   This information certainly gives me pause and I wish I had learned it sooner because I would have asked Zahilay about it when I spoke with him.  I do have a message out to him. The ratings for candidates, including for Seattle School Board, are out from SEAMEC .

An excellent op-ed from Jordan Cahoon, a senior at Kent-Meridian High School , on how we talk about individual schools and the effects of a school's reputation on the students enrolled there.

The story was from the Seattle Times about students at Hazel Wolf K-8 having a protest over the lack of action from their administration on the use of racial slurs. What the Times writes versus what some of the comments - which seem to be from PTSA/staff - are quite different.  As in most of these cases, there are two items to remember.

I’m not sure you can have a bigger contrast between the Seattle Times’ article about the Board race between Leslie Harris and Molly Mitchell versus this article about the other two races, both in the northend.  The Times is a lot more even-handed here and that’s what you should expect in this kind of article (unless one candidate is severely deficient in skills).

Oakland Unified School District is the first district that I know of that uses targeted universalism (and has for seven years).

Update : the district announced today - via Twitter - that Franklin High School is now 1:1 for computers in the school.  The district plans to be 1:1 at high schools with higher levels of F/RL first and then start with 9th graders at the other high schools, with the eventual goal of all high school being 1:1 for all students.

Readers alerted me to the latest story from the Times' so-called Education Lab.  (Currently, the Gates Foundation is paying to seemingly get the Times to write about what the Foundation wants them to. They sent one reporter to Australia to look at a program for homeless youth in schools. Nice work if you can get it.) I want to first put forth my thesis on what is happening.

Seattle Alliance of Black School Educators Candidate Forum for Seattle School Board Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Editor's note - The Roosevelt HS concert info was sent to me and the Garfield HS concert info was in a reader comment.  I cannot find info at the SPS website or Garfield's webpage.  Two high schools have concerts with the Seattle Symphony and the district can't advertise it?

I know that when we get this point, where the General Election is on the horizon and readers have passion for/against candidates, people then want to push harder.

We need to reelect Leslie Harris , the incumbent and not elect her challenger, Molly Mitchell.

District 3 is a bit of a challenge for me; not the most solid/best choices in this race between Rebeca Muñiz and Chandra Hampson. I'm voting for Rebeca Muñiz in this race.

Update: see the bottom of this post. I received my ballot just this week; I believe everyone registered to vote should be getting theirs soon.  I'll have a post for each race. District 1 - Eric Blumhagen

KUOW had this story a couple of weeks back:

The district has a slightly new look at their website.  There's a little human figure on the left side that if you click on it, brings up an accessibility menu. On the other side, there's a "Contact Us" link. It allows you to send a concern/compliment/query to staff (apparently anonymously if you want).  I am not sure if either are truly live but the "Contact Us" link's phone number is 123-456-7890 so probably not. There is also their Strategic Plan page which reveals a couple of ideas that I didn't know about the plan. (It's also gives you a chance to look at the new slogan and logo for SPS.)

Here's an article from the Wenatchee World about dual-language programs in their schools.

Speakers:

FADE IN: INT: SEATTLE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD MEETING - DAY

Maybe you have already talked to your teen; if not, please do so.

From My Northwest : Good News: Washington Youth have Fifth lowest Obesity rate in the U.S. Bad News: Washington youth between 10-17 are at an 11% obesity rate.  

I know. I know I said I wasn't going to do this but I had checked in at the district webpage for updates and was browsing the agenda for this week's board meeting.  I lay it out below but this isn't even all of it. I wish someone would pick up the reins just on Board meetings because I think the pace of change is going to pick up. From the Board's agenda for Wednesday night's Board meeting, their legislative priorities:

You have about two weeks to weigh in at the State Board of Education on new graduation requirements. From the Seattle Times:

Update: Can't make the Tuesday candidate forum?  There's another one on Thursday, October 17th at North Beach Elementary from 6:30-8:00 pm.

I have often said, "I sure would not want to be raising a child right now."  It is a very different world than even 10 years ago and so much to watch out for without being a helicopter parent.  Kids absolutely need to know how to monitor their world and take hard (for their age) hits and get back up.  Meaning, you are there to always have that blanket of love and acceptance but your child needs to know how to put on their own coat of resilience AND zip it up. The New York Times had two important parenting articles and both are issues I have raised before.

I'm not sure it has been officially announced but a source tells me that Manal Al-ansi will be the new Director of Racial Equity Advancement.

In case you hadn't heard , there will be several traffic issues this weekend in the Puget Sound region so keep that in mind as you are out and about. The Burke Museum - in its new building - reopens tomorrow.  It will probably be mobbed but I'd like to eventually see it. I'm sure any field trips to it would be exciting for students.

Some helpful hints from the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy:

Update: Superintendent Juneau issued a statement yesterday about the majority vote of the Curriculum & Instruction committee to not move forward to the full Board the changes to Policy 2190 about Advanced Learning.  I myself have not often seen a superintendent issue any kind of statement on Board committee decisions; I find it odd.  From the statement:

Like many times when SPS either tried to roll something out without clear communication OR when something gets out too soon and the district has to rush to explain, the Math rubric for Ethnic Studies is one of them.  And that brings us to the Seattle Times' story on that issue.

The district finallly put up a public notice about the rash of overdose deaths from pills laced with fentanyl by several teens in the Puget Sound region including one at Ballard High School.   Several surprises (at least to me). I am surprised at the amount of time it took.  I am surprised that it didn’t get “above the fold” location on the district website for at least a couple of days.   I am surprised at the seeming lack of urgency in that notice.  School board directors? Might want to tell the Superintendent that her pet projects don’t supercede student safety.  (Editor’s note: I don’t know how I missed it - and I checked but readers say they saw the notice more promeniently placed. I stand by the lack of urgency in the district notice; maybe the one to parents was stronger.) From OSPI on parents’ rights to view the results of their child’s state test scores .

The Seattle Times has a story about how Washington State charter schools are eligible to apply for dollars from a $20M grant that the Washington State Charter School Association will receive from the Department of Education.

Update: fyi, I will not be at this meeting.  But if you go, take notes, take video (upload to YouTube) and let us know your thoughts.  I’m thinking they will likely move the meeting to the auditorium as the Board conference room can fill up fast. End of update At next Tuesday’s Curriculum&Instruction committee meeting, a policy change around HCC is going to be introduced (and likely pushed by) Chair Jill Geary.  The meeting is in the Board conference room, starting at 4:00pm, instead of the usual 4:30 pm.   Agenda here.    Looking at the agenda, I would say the topic would come up around 4:30 pm; however, sometimes items get pushed to the top for various reasons. The Advanced Learning Taskforce hasn’t even made its recommendations and word is that members of color do want to keep the cohort model.

I say this so much but many people do NOT read for content; rather, they pick out bits that suit their personal narrative and think they understand a topic or what others are saying.

Looks like staff at the top levels at JSCEE are shifting.  

From Facebook: Make sure your kids know not to take Rx pills not prescribed to them (no matter the circumstances).  I'm an addiction researcher at the UW and we are seeing some deaths among teenagers in King County taking fake Rx pills that are actually fentanyl. From Public Health Insider:

The first is this one from NE Dad:

How come Superintendent Juneau demoted Principal Emily Butler Ginolfi out of Washington Middle School and made it clear that EGB would be an assistant principal at lower pay and then reversed that by appointing EGB to Licton Springs K-8? 

Wishing a good and sweet year during Rosh Hashanah to all our Jewish friends and neighbors.  (I see that many images for Rosh Hashanah include pots of honey.  That makes me smile as my name means honeybee in Greek.  Although, as I learned when I visited Greece, they don't use it as a girl's name.)

There's an upcoming candidate forum that includes School Board candidates.

They had some kind of scare on a Longview School District schoolbus ; the driver was allegedly drunk .  And yes, thank goodness one kid had a cell phone and called 911. In the Board race for District 1 , the Seattle Times has endorsed Eric Blumhagen for the post .

There's an interview at the Capitol Hill Blog with Director Zachary DeWolf and it's so him.  (Also, I have to laugh at how both he and the Superintendent like to have me as "she who will not be named" and call me "a blogger." And hey! he's writing a children's book.  I'll let you read the piece (hoping that parents in his region don't roll their eyes too much as he seems to think all is well) but here's my comment.

Watch this frightening, stunning video created by Sandy Hook Promise, an anti-violence nonprofit founded by the parents of victims of the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012.  Is this what we want for our kids when they are at school? The ad reflects a grim reality for the network of survivors from the more than 228,000 students who have experienced a school shooting since the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999.

First Nutrition services and now (still) Transportation.  I cannot imagine the fear that both kids and parents felt about this situation.  The district must do better.

Update: Somehow I forgot what was the main reason I wrote this thread. Because it's not about me, it's about a lot of other people.  At the end of her Facebook post about me, she said this: September 19 at 8:58 PM · Also, POC were talking about who was sitting with and talking to #WestbrookSoRacist last night. We see you.  That "last night" was September 18th and I was at the Board meeting where the vote for the D7 director was being taken.  I was sitting at the media table.  Know who was sitting with me? Two women of color.  Who are reporters.  And that's where we all sit.  They are colleagues but not friends. 

Great news for your weekend - the national parks are free tomorrow, Saturday the 28th for National Public Lands Day and the state of Washington has decided that their parks will also be free on Saturday as well.

Via the City of Covington's Facebook page - please, if you see something that doesn't seem right, say something. Please tell your child it is not tattling or snitching; it's doing the right thing.

But it begs the question - what about input from Washington Middle School parents and community? Here's the email I sent to Tim Robinson who is my contact for SPS Communications.  I did cc the email to the Board in case they hadn't heard about this. Hi Tim, I have seen credible emails saying that Washington Middle Schools teachers are to take a vote on Monday about WMS changing to the STEM by TAF model.