This and That, September 12, 2026

On Civics, an op-ed from the Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court and the President of the Washington State Bar Association:

There’s urgency for this kind of real-world connection. On the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 22% of eighth graders scored proficient in civics, and 31% scored below basic, the first decline since the assessment began in 1998. Scores don’t improve much with age: Nearly four in five American adults can name freedom of speech as a First Amendment right — but less than half can name any of the other four. 

What to do? Let’s start by investing in our students right now, this Constitution Day, and continue the habit throughout the school year. 

To our legal colleagues across Washington: If you haven’t yet made plans to visit a classroom on or around Constitution Day, there’s still time: visit wsba.org/classroom-ambassadors. 

If you’re a teacher, principal or parent: Invite us in! We’ll come with a grade-appropriate lesson in hand and require nothing more than the time you can give us: visit courts.wa.gov/education/lawyers/ to make a request.https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/democracy-is-learned-thats-why-were-heading-back-to-the-classroom/

 

I did recommended this incredible tv mini-series  called Adolescence. It has received many honors and awards. And now, in the Netherlands, they are using it to talk to boys about "What makes a man a man?"

Korenblik’s class focused on online bullying and influencers in the so-called manosphere, and was built around the Netflix series “Adolescence.” Using clips from the show, he prompted students to talk about their experiences with both online and offline bullying, as well as about their thoughts on masculinity and gender roles.

The class is just one example of how educators are trying to counter misogyny and other forms of online hatred that young people can find on their social media feeds.

It's not just the Netherlands - Belgium and France are using it as well. (England is going to create its own curriculum about misogyny.)

In England, Over said, the courses her team was working on were meant to help students combat misinformation and sexist stereotyping. She said in an interview that children were “almost inevitably going to come up against these sexist myths, like women aren’t as clever as men, or men can’t be kind and caring.”

It would be safer, she said, for them to be able to learn about these stereotypes “from trusted adults in an environment where it can be constructively challenged, rather than in the form of toxic memes on the internet.”

But:

The series was “never designed as a teaching resource” and offers a “narrow portrayal of boyhood,” King-Hill added. 

Korenblik, who designed his social studies class around selected clips from the show, said, “The series should be a tool for sparking a conversation, not an end in itself.”

The Superintendent had a sit-down with a reporter on KUOW's Soundside. He talked about Special Education (which he called "super complicated"), AI which he said needed a discussion and that an announcement was coming in a couple of weeks, recess, and school safety, noting that at the high school football games he went to, everyone went through a metal detector. He seems to me to want parent backing for trying that at high schools. I would love for them to pilot this.

But Superintendent Shuldiner may have hit his first real roadblock and it's the 30-minute recess rule for elementary school. Lots of chatter out that about this issue. On the radio he referenced the work of Piaget, the noted child psychologist - I do find his random references amusing.

But it was a troubling part of the discussion because he said most schools do fine with just two recesses but "a handful" who had three were doing poorly in academics. I thought that SPS wasn't going to do blanket pronouncements from the bottom up but consider what is best for all kids? 

Hilariously, he said parents could contact the Executive Director in their region. I have NEVER heard a superintendent say that and I wonder if the EDs know they will be hearing from parents soon. 

I'm on the fence about the 3 a day recesses but yes, kids do get a lot out of interaction with each other outside the classroom.



As I mentioned in my post about President Gina Topp and Director Joe Mizrahi penning an op-ed for The Stranger, they did seem to throw some shade at State Superintendent Chris Rykdal over school funding. Did he hear them? This from KUOW:

“We fundamentally believe that we are no longer being amply funded, that the constitution is not being met, and the Supreme Court’s order in McCleary is not being met,” Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal said, referencing the landmark 2012 state Supreme Court school funding case.He says testing results show more cash should go to Washington State public schools. 

After seeing significant academic declines in the aftermath of the pandemic, OSPI has tracked shaky recovery — scores increased in 2022, only to decline in both categories the following year. Since then, scores have steadily increased and leveled out. 

This year, nearly 74% of Washington students across all grade levels performed at grade level in English and language arts, according to the state’s latest standardized test results. And in math, nearly 67% of all students performed at grade level. But both those figures lag several points behind pre-pandemic scores. 

National assessments have told a similar story, though Washington fourth and eighth graders performed on par or slightly above the national average in the latest National Assessment of Education Progress, better known as “the nation’s report card.”

However, as has been the case for a long time:

The 2024 NAEP results also showed the state’s achievement gaps are worsening. In eighth grade math, for example, the average score among students from low-income families was 36 points lower than their peers.

Reykdal on Thursday pointed to those disparities as a systemic issue that could be addressed through the state’s tax code. 

That means he supports the so-called "millionaires tax." 

He's looking to get $2B more in the next state budget. 

Between 2024 and 2025, state and local funding per student topped out at $17,733, according to OSPI. When adjusted for inflation, that’s about $582 less per student, compared to the $18,315 spent per student between 2018 and 2019.

He makes a fair point that just as families feel the higher costs of food and fuel, so do schools.



The district has a post at their website on Religious Accommodation Guidance for 2026-2027.

Is there anything we should consider when updating the Guidance for Religion and Religious Accommodations document in the future?

Please send feedback to laborrelations@seattleschools.org.

As well, here's a list of the new principal appointments so far.

The first School Board meeting of the new school year is coming up this Wednesday, September 16th. No agenda yet available.

One item that WILL change in Washington State is high school graduation requirements. This from KHQ TV:

The Washington State Board of Education said it approved a legislative proposal on Sept. 10 that would update high school graduation requirements and send the plan to lawmakers for the 2027 legislative session.

The board said the proposal followed nearly two years of work through its FutureReady initiative, which focused on changing graduation requirements so students leave high school prepared for education, work and civic life.

The board said the proposal kept academic expectations in place while giving students more room to match classes with their interests and plans after high school. It also included skills community members identified as important, such as financial education, technology and media literacy, life skills, mental health and well-being and civic knowledge.

The legislative package included several changes. The board said it would remove the current graduation pathway requirement, expand access to technology and media literacy across all high school grade levels and require districts to offer at least one career and technical education sequence tied to a credential, college credit, apprenticeship or related work.

The proposal also called for statewide consistency on competency-based credit, physical education excusals tied to athletics outside school and language credits for multilingual learners.

To know, parts of this new "FutureReady" plan do not need legislative approval so the WSBE will keep working on those. They include stronger math requirements, updated PE/health courses, and credits for CTE.



Shoreline School District and its paraeducators, technical and health staff, security guards and secretaries reached agreement on a new contract to avoid a strike on Monday. No word in this story about the teachers and frankly, I'm not even going to look it up. An intern wrote this story and it shows.