This and That, February 14, 2026

Monday is Presidents Day and so national parks will be offering free admission (any other services are still fee-based). I see this notation:

Free entry is for U.S. citizens/residents;, beginning in 2026, fees are no longer waived for international visitors on these day.

I'm not sure that the Trump regime's dislike of people from other countries is going to help tourism. 

 

Speaking of tourism, a lot of chatter about FIFA moving World Cup matches out of the U.S.

From The Los Angeles Times:

What worries soccer officials, politicians and diplomats isn’t just ICE’s aggression. It’s also the mercurial and unpredictable actions of President Trump, who in the last month ordered the extraction of the president of Venezuela, threatened military action against Iran, fired on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, paused U.S. visa applications for citizens of 75 countries and insisted that the U.S. had to acquire Greenland. 

“Seriously, can we imagine playing the World Cup in a country that attacks its neighbors, threatened to invade Greenland, disregards international law, wants to undermine the U.N. [and] establishes a fascist and racist militia in its own country?” asked Eric Coquerel, a member of the French parliament representing the left-wing La France Insoumise party. 

FIFA officials declined to comment when asked about the growing calls for a U.S. World Cup boycott.

Wonder how it will play out in Seattle.

And here we go again (shades of the Garfield HS shooting) - Seattle Police are seeking help/information from anyone who was at the bus stop near Rainier Beach High School two weeks ago when two RBHS students were murdered .

Via The Seattle Times:

We want to speak with the crowd waiting at the bus stop as well as passengers on the bus,” Seattle police Detective David Simmons was quoted as saying in an online blotter post. “There were dozens of students from local schools at the stop when the victims were shot." 

Killed were Tyjon Stewart, 18, and Traveiah Houfmuse, 17, who were students at Rainier Beach High School. Both died at the scene. Police believe they were targeted. 

The double homicide occurred just before 4 p.m. on Jan. 30, right after students had been let out for the day. The gunman arrived at the stop at Rainier Avenue South and South Henderson Street on a Route 106 bus. He fled the scene on foot before officers arrived. 

Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Department’s violent tip line at 206-233-5000. Callers can remain anonymous.

I do not mean to speak unkindly about the silence. If this was gang-related in any way, I can understand that fear. But it appears that there were many people who were waiting at that bus stop who may have seen something. You cannot stop this kind of violence if no one speaks up. 

In case you missed it, SPS has a webpage - Immigrant Students and Families Support - that outlines rights, "rapid response," and "family preparedness plan."

The webpage also includes this information and statement of purpose:

Deportation Defense Hotline: Call 1-844-724-3737 to report federal immigration enforcement activity or get connected to emergency resources.  

At SPS, we are committed to providing safe, welcoming, and inclusive learning environments for every student. Our immigrant students and families belong at SPS.

There is a new Seattle group called Seattle Families for Intentional Tech that you might want to put on your radar. I say this because worldwide, more and more schools seem to be turning away from believing tech is the best way to supplement teaching. 

And now we have AI. I am planning on an in-depth look at AI in SPS. (And, if you read my post on the last Board meeting, you heard a teacher complain, in speaking of advanced learning in every school, that at her school, they were told to use AI. 

We are Seattle Families for Intentional Tech (SFIT), a group of Seattle Public Schools parents/caregivers who care deeply about how educational technologies are used in our kids’ classrooms and about our role in mediating those experiences.

Our founders, both parents of kids in Seattle Public Schools, are Hilary Patterson, a Seattle based teacher since 2012, and Erica Shutes-David, LMFT, a mental health therapist with specialization in ADHD. We formed SFIT to rally together other parents/caregivers so we can begin to get traction with the Seattle school board and our local school administrators. 

At the bare minimum, we believe the Seattle school district needs clear, publicly accessible policies around using tech in school, particularly devices connected to the internet, AI-based software, or programs that send data about our kids to external organizations. We are troubled that these kinds of ed tech are likely operating without our consent or knowledge. 

From the KUOW interview with Superintendent Schuldiner, interesting thoughts on school closures:

Shuldiner said many of the district’s schools are 100 years old and he’s not sure he wants kids learning in those buildings — especially when the district also has some “brand new cathedrals to education.”

“Why wouldn’t we want to figure out what’s best for kids in terms of getting them into the best environment with the best learning, the best resources?” Shuldiner asked.

If he did consider school closures, Shuldiner pledged to approach the situation differently than Seattle officials did the last time around.

“One of the concerns that I heard most often about the school closures was like, ‘Well, here’s a list of schools. Now what?’” he said. “I would never do that. That’s crazy.” 

In Lansing, Shuldiner said the district shut down four schools in two years, and “the community was part of it.”

I will again say that I think SPS will start the closure process within a couple of years. What I am a bit suspicious about is the new plan for Highly Capable. The district had been very hardcore on closing the HC-based elementary schools and moving those services into neighborhood schools. 

But now, they do a 180 and expand the program even further? You could say that this is just the district listening to parents and trying to lure some of them who left back into the SPS fold. You could also say that moving HC into a couple more schools will help fill those schools. Rainier View Elementary is underenrolled and Alki Elementary, in a brand-new but not filled up building, will both see HC increase their enrollment.

I suspect that then it will leave schools surrounding those schools with fewer students. There's a good excuse right there for SPS to close a few buildings. 

Oh my, the Epstein scandal reaches into education.  This via the NY Times: 

Joel Klein, the former leader of the New York City school system, met repeatedly with Jeffrey Epstein in 2013, years after Mr. Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. 

At the time, Mr. Klein had left government and was working in education technology. Mr. Klein was leading Amplify, at the time a struggling education technology outfit then owned by News Corp. It has since grown into a respected purveyor of curriculum materials in science, reading and other subjects. 

For years, Mr. Epstein cultivated a network of high-powered contacts in finance, media, academia, entertainment and technology. But the emails with Mr. Klein and others show he also got involved in K-12 education, during a time he was attempting to bolster his reputation through philanthropy. Mr. Epstein announced investments in charter schools and other education efforts serving low-income children, including a network of high schools affiliated with Bard College.