Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting. In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance. - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
Comments
MK
IB students are in a similar situation as AP students - with the added issue of many taking a full load of IB classes. They will be done with testing by the end of May, yet will still need to twiddle their thumbs for another month.
New York City starts after Labor Day.
Most Massachusetts school start after Labor Day.
Philadelphia and Chicago public schools all start after Labor Day in 2019.
Portland Public Schools (OR) start after Labor Day in 2019.
Testing drives the calendar in states with a higher level of lower-income populations, and also states that have attached high-stakes to testing.
-CT
MK
-South End Teacher
Fairmount Parent
@Fairmont Parent, my partner is UW faculty who has reviewed credit-hour requirements, and you misinterpret them here.
In any case, these are state requirements outside of SPS control. My reading, is SPS will look to waive the non-contact days after after Mon Jun 24, and after... As teachers we have to determine how to shorten instruction and that's a challenge, often we are still beholden to high-stakes tests...
-South End Teacher
As South End Teacher has stated this does not help students achievement.
"As a teacher of an AP course, my students start a month behind the rest of the country. Starting at the end of August instead of after labor day wouldn't be a bad thing..."
I agree and wish our calendar year for all our high school students was better aligned to truly help our kids on pathways to college, instead of placing them at a disadvantage. I am curious as to how the high school schedule aligns with running start as well.
Adding to the issue, our only local commutable (no room & board can equal more affordable) in-state university in Seattle UW also is much more competitive than it should be for certain majors such as engineering and computer science.
SPS seriously wants to help their students achievement? They should be doing whatever they can to better align their schedule so teachers and students do not have an unfair burden. They should be helping our local students college readiness.
MK
HP
MK