Seattle Schools Community Forum

Good luck to ALL the students, parents/guardians,  teachers,  principals, and school staff! I see the district is using a texting system for parents to contact teachers and office staff. TalkingPoints  is a two-way multilingual family engagement and communication tool helping SPS teachers, staff and families to stay connected via  text  message. Through the platform,  SPS families can quickly and easily message teachers and school staff  from their phone. The central district office also sends important reminders and updates.    TalkingPoints is a simple and handy tool that makes communication accessible to every family. Messages sent through the platform can be automatically translated into 110-plus home languages, which removes language, access, and technology barriers.    The link has many helpful ideas to make this work for your family. I'm pretty excited myself for tomorrow as I start my 4th year here in Tucson with my ki...

From The Seattle Times: But there’s one essential element that will be missing from Bryant’s library when students return to school Wednesday: Anne Aliverti, who served as the school’s librarian for 15 years.  Aliverti was struck by a car while crossing Sand Point Way on Aug. 4, and died from the resulting traumatic brain injuries on Aug. 14. “This is the heart of the building, and she was the heart of this — and so her reach is tremendous,” said Steve Garlid, a fifth-grade teacher who is about to start his 31st year at Bryant. “It feels like our heart is broken.”  Garlid is among the thousands of students, parents and teachers who have cycled through the library during Aliverti’s tenure. Many of them are still in shock over her death.   “We’re not really sure how the students are going to be,” Garlid said, trying to anticipate the mix of emotions as students in first through fifth grade begin the new school year Wednesday. She “saw the precious quality of life,” Gar...

To note, I asked most of the same questions of all candidates but because Song, Clark, and Mizrahi have already been or are on the Board, I phrased one question differently.  I do also always thank the candidates for having the courage to step up, write their name down, and say, "I think I can do this job." It does take courage to do that. I'm going to have a separate post for endorsements.  I am happy to state that I found both women to be enthused and smart. It also makes it harder for me to categorically state that Candidate A is "better" than Candidate B. Both women seem very much data-driven and that's something the Board needs to focus on and press district staff about.  If I was a voter, I might try to balance out concerns over Smith's learning curve as a new Board member vs Clark’s health issues (which continue).  One question I have asked all the candidates is, "Barring illness/death in the family, do you commitment to serving the entire fo...