Around the Horn with Public Education

Looks like Keisha Scarlett, Chief Academic Officer for SPS, has applied for yet another superintendent position, this time in St. Louis.  She's one of three finalists. Here's hoping third time is the charm for her. 

On Feb 1 the Board will be having an Executive Session for a half-hour on Feb. 1 for "Real Estate."

To consider the selection of a site or the acquisition of real estate by lease or purchase when public knowledge regarding such consideration would cause a likelihood of increased price.

Hmm. This will be followed by a Work Session, "Building Relationships with Youth."  There is no documentation attached yet.

Then there will be another Executive Session, this one on "Litigation." 

To discuss with legal counsel representing the agency litigation or potential litigation to which the agency, the governing body, or a member acting in an official capacity is, or is likely to become, a party, when public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in an adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency

Following up on a Seattle Times' investigation of private schools for Special Education students and how little oversight there is of them (or the money spent to sent students to them), ProPublica reports:

A King County judge ruled last week that a private special education school that has been the subject of a recent Seattle Times and ProPublica investigation has to comply with public information laws and release records to The Times.

The ruling has the potential to shed light on an obscure part of Washington’s special education system, in which school districts send students with disabilities to private programs at taxpayer expense. Few other legal rulings have defined how the state’s public records laws apply to private organizations that assume the functions of government agencies.

Via the City of Seattle:

Seattle Public Schools (SPS) in partnership with the Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) is expanding The Creative Advantage program into the Whitman K-12 Pathway, which includes nine neighborhood schools. 

• Adams Elementary 
• Loyal Heights Elementary 
• North Beach Elementary 
• Viewlands Elementary 
• Whittier Elementary 
• Whitman Middle School 
• Licton Springs K-8 
• Salmon Bay K-8 
• Ballard High School

From the Columbian:

Clark County’s first state-approved public charter school, the Rooted School Vancouver, is set to open its doors to ninth grade students this fall.

The founders of the Rooted School, which follows the model of locations in Indianapolis and New Orleans, say the school’s goal will be to attract a diverse student population with a focus on project-based learning and preparing students for job opportunities immediately upon graduation.

“The school mission is simple: to provide our students personal pathways to financial freedom,” said Jonathan Johnson, the school’s founder.

From The 74:

Digital monitoring company Gaggle says it will no longer flag students who use words like “gay” and “lesbian” in school assignments and chat messages, a significant policy shift that follows accusations its software facilitated discrimination of LGBTQ teens in a quest to keep them safe.

A spokesperson for the company, which describes itself as supporting student safety and well-being, cited a societal shift toward greater acceptance of LGBTQ youth — rather than criticism of its product — as the impetus for the change as part of a “continuous evaluation and updating process.”

From the NY Times, this story has implications for Google use in classrooms

In 2021, privacy consultants working for two Dutch universities issued a critical report card on Google’s education apps, a set of classroom tools like Google Docs that are used by more than 170 million students and educators worldwide.

The audit warned that Google’s tools for schools lacked a number of privacy protections — like narrow limits on how the company could use students’ and teachers’ personal data — that were required by European law. Although the company addressed some of the concerns, the report said, Google declined to comply with Dutch requests to reduce a number of “high risks” cited in the audit.

It took a threat from the Dutch Data Protection Authority, the nation’s privacy regulator, to help break the deadlock: Dutch schools would soon have to stop using Google’s education tools, the government agency said, if the products continued to pose those risks.

Two years later, Google has developed new privacy measures and transparency tools to address the Dutch concerns. The tech giant now plans to roll out those changes to its education customers later this year in the Netherlands and elsewhere around the world.