This and That

 KOMO is reporting that West Seattle High School has asked students to mask up. 

This week, students at West Seattle High School are being asked to pack their masks once again as COVID-19 case counts begin to rise.

"The precautions the principal is taking at the school are done with a focus on the health, safety and welfare of all students and staff," said Tim Robinson, a spokesperson for Seattle Public Schools (SPS).

According to the SPS COVID-19 dashboard, 120 cases have been reported at West Seattle High School for the 2022-2023 school year.

According to the story, Ballard, Roosevelt and Lincoln have reported over 100 cases each for this school year.  

There's a bill in the WA legislature to give charter schools more money. Keep in mind, that some of the state funding gets withheld from charters precisely because with the freedom they get to be "innovative" is used for oversight to protect the use of those public dollars. They also get fewer dollars because under the actual WA state constitution they are not "common schools" and therefore not eligible for levy dollars. Sigh.

An editorial in the Times supporting more dollars for charters was dead wrong:

He (Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah) is sponsoring a bill that would provide charters with more money for tutoring, English language learners, highly capable and special needs students, and transportation.

But Washington’s constitution says only schools governed by a locally elected board can use levy funds for these extras, which cuts out charters.

"Extras?" Special Education is "extra?" In what educational sense is that? And folks this is what Sped has to fight every single day. Yahoos who don't know the law and, apparently like the Editorial Board at the Times, doesn't care.

Another bill in support of gifted education has passed unanimously on the Senate Floor; it's SB5072. Now it's onto the House.

From the organization, WA Coalition Learning Without Limits:

A surprisingly large number of Senators took the time to speak in favor of SB 5072 during the scheduled floor debate on February 8th. We heard: “terrific bill” “important tool” “my lived experience” “thrilled” and “one of the best bills coming out of Early Learning K12 Education this session.”

It requires all Washington state school districts to universally screen students for Highly Capable services. This best practice is already in use in school districts like Northshore, Pasco, Kent, Sumner–Bonney Lake, Quincy, and Rochester. In these districts universal screening identifies historically under-represented students effectively, including low income students, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities (twice exceptional) - at no additional cost.

Find out more about universal screening: https://wacoalition.com/identification/

Superintendent Brent Jones put out a safety update on 2/9 and it was mostly more of the same. The only specific in the announcement (bold mine):

We started with our high schools. This work is a continuation of our safety and security reviews already conducted in our buildings. These reviews include our school building management and capital improvement teams.

One of the early recommendations coming out of the review process is the need to create consistent safety and emergency signage in our schools. Another is updating all building locks to be sure they can be activated from inside a room. The lock replacement project is already underway, and we are making progress on this update in our buildings.

Cannot believe for all the years and years on the issue of building locks that it took a murder for the district to act. And they ARE sitting on a pile of BEX/BTA dollars from levies long ago - I would guess that's where the funds to do this work are coming from.

And speaking of capital funds, a new wrinkle for SPS and building renovations - a giant tent for Rainier Beach High School.

 

Work to install the 175 feet wide, 260 feet long, and 60 feet high temporary structure began in mid-December and was finished the second week of January. Built with metal supports and heavy canvas, both ends are enclosed to create a dry work area inside. Fans supply air flow and fresh air. The tent is also equipped with lighting.

“This is the first time we’ve used a tent to keep a construction site dry during the winter,” said Richard Best, director of Capital Projects and Planning. “Without it, critical below-grade waterproofing work would not be possible during this season’s wet weather. Right now, we’re seeing pooling water outside of the tent, but the inside is protected, allowing construction to continue.”