A Gentle Reminder

Folks, I do this work as a labor of love. Public education matters greatly to me and since I've invested so much time in learned about Seattle Public Schools, I write about them a lot.

You also know that I put up so many other links like good news, state education stories, national education stories, educational opportunities, etc. 

At any given time, I have at least 5-10 stories in the hopper because I know that I HAVE the time to go out and find, read and write about these stories and most parents don't. Some stories just have to wait because of breaking news. 

So it stings a little when I see comments about how I don't cover Story X (but I print that comment anyway). If you think I'm missing a big story, could you just email me (sss.westbrook@gmail.com) rather than try to make some public point? I would appreciate that. 

Thanks!


Comments

Anonymous said…
Melissa - so appreciate all you do!

BLUE SKY
2/24/23, 5:41 PM
Anonymous said…
Appreciate you, Melissa!

There’s always some dumb commentor that thinks they’re entitled to tell you what to do. Ah, Internet.

This Blog is Gold
2/25/23, 11:26 AM
Anonymous said…
Thank you for attending so many meetings and recapping for us. And for requesting so many public records and sharing. So many parents are stretched thin these days. It's a huge help.

Middle Seattle
2/25/23, 12:49 PM
Anonymous said…
Truly appreciate what you do and the immense amount of work it must take. Seattle Times has such shallow, infrequent coverage of SPS. Thank god we have someone willing to do the legwork to inform parents and voters what’s going on at JSCEE.
3/2/23, 10:33 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Who Is A. J. Crabill (and why should you care)?

Why You Should Care Mr. Crabill has found quite the acolyte in Director Chandra Hampson. In the course of discussions over SOFG, she says his name over and over, "A.J .says we...." Now that's not too surprising given the direction the district is heading and that it is Mr. Crabill's work with the Council of Great City Schools is how we got here. But it appears that Mr. Crabill is working very closely with Hampson and we know she wields some amount of power over the majority of the Board. Mr. Crabill is going to continue to work with the Board as SOFG is instituted in SPS. In fact, his role may become more public as it did at one SPS Board meeting in the spring where he was on the phone during the meeting and suggested the Board stop the meeting to "self-reflect." I also noticed that in a district in South Carolina, when things weren't going to plan, he blamed the Board for not following SOFG to the letter. Look for that to happen here if Board members w
Read more

Why the Majority of the Board Needs to be Filled with New Faces

This may only be a partial list of reasons; please, add anything else in the comments. The deadline to file to run for the Board is May 19th. Entire Board Majority NOT vetting the Superintendent in any way, shape or form. Even the Seattle Times thought that was wrong.  It was just absolute hubris and it was wrong. For the second time in just over a year , board members voted to negotiate a superintendent contract during a special meeting with no opportunity for public comment. This time, they showed an even deeper disregard for their responsibilities as public servants: Aborting a national search for a new superintendent and denying Interim Superintendent Brent Jones a chance to show students, parents and taxpayers that, indeed, he is the best person for the job. Government bodies can’t fast-forward through transparent processes just because they think they know the right answer. One other odd thing about the hiring of Brent Jones - most permanent SPS superintendent contracts ar
Read more