Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update:  Let me make a couple of things clear.  Again, the superintendent cannot just get rid of unsatisfactory staff, whether it's a teacher or administrator or staffer. Their contracts have been written with safeguards - for them - and the district has to follow whatever procedure is on place.  The district HAS to follow the process or it may get sued.  I think the time came to put Anitra Jones back in place as a principal and The current principal, Doug Sohn, at Adams ES is leaving.  I was wrong about why the Adams principal may leave early ; he is not retiring but has an health issue which may or may not allow him to stay until the end of the year. Jones will still be putting in time at RBHS as she transitions to Adams ES. According to the press release on this topic, Jones will be at Adams ES full-time in the fall.  I know it is not easy for a school community to have to be part of the necessary process, especially if the staffer brings some baggage. I...

Update: In what appears to be a Wait, What? story , former Seattle Schools superintendent, Brent Jones, has taken an position for six months as the interim president of Seattle Central College.  The comments from people on the ground at SCC appear to show shock that Jones would be selected.  Here's a partial from one: The appointment of Brent Jones as president of Seattle Central College is a complete slap in the face to our entire community. Jones left Seattle Public Schools with a gigantic deficit in all areas including student academic achievement, meeting students’ needs, parent involvement and engagement, teacher retention and support, graduation rates, administrative oversight, and budget oversight. Furthermore, to add insult to injury, Jones gave himself a significant salary raise in the midst of all the chaos and dysfunction that he fostered throughout SPS before taking a 6-month leave of absence (while still collecting his salary, mind you) and hightailing it outta th...

That faith I reference? It comes from an editorial in Sunday's Seattle Times. I'll get to that after This and That. First, kudos to the SPS Communications department. They are really seeking out good news in Seattle Schools. Under "News" on the SPS home page, you should check out the stories there. I am especially impressed with the Regional School News Roundup and SPS Shout Outs - there is much to celebrate.    Under the News, there is a story about Superintendent Ben Shuldiner marking his first 50 days in office and he has already visited more than half of the district's 106 schools. One teacher, who has been in SPS for 29 years, said this was only the second time in her tenure for a superintendent to visit her school.    As well, there was a story about Sanislo Elementary reopening its food pantry for families and an update on transportation from Fred Podesta.    I was forwarded an update email from the principal on the situation at Cascade Parent Part...

Local Hey, there's a math museum in Kent, the Seattle Universal Math Museum (SUMM).  From The Spiral Notebook: The museum staff will do outreach programs at schools, has an extensive array of math toys, and it even has a very cool collection of math stuff on its website , with factoids and articles that are very compelling for adults and big kids, like “Math in … Probabilistic Fallacies” and “Math in … Fraud Detection.” The author, Jillian O'Connor, brings up a good point on math learning and I'll put that up in a separate post for discussion.   For the 31st year, elementary students throughout the district participated in the Global Reading Challenge. From The Seattle Times: The beloved competition has been hosted by Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Public Library for 31 years. This year, about 3,700 fourth- and fifth-grade students participated, discovering books they may not have read, learning how to pay attention to hyperspecific details, curating team-buildi...

Just to note, Superintendent Ben Shuldiner continues his Community Engagement meetings this week. Tonight Tuesday night at 6:30 pm, he is at West Seattle Elementary School and on Thursday, he is virtual with the meeting starting at SIX pm, not 6:30 as for the in-person meetings. The link is not yet available but I will post when I see it. They do ask you to RSVP especially if you need interpretation services but it is not required. I feel like John Oliver saying this but "Now to our main story." This headline says it all - J ury Finds Meta and Google Negligent in Social Media Harms Trial From NPR : A California jury on Wednesday found that Meta and Google were to blame for the depression and anxiety of a woman who compulsively used social media as a small child, awarding her $6 million in a rare verdict holding Silicon Valley accountable for its role in fueling a youth mental health crisis. The jurors concluded that Meta and Google should pay the woman $3 million in compens...

  O'Connor Institute Ambassadors Online Civics & Debate Club invites your teen to join for free. As an Ambassador, You Will: Discuss and learn about today’s most relevant civic issues with students nationwide Strengthen your knowledge of government, law, and civil discourse Connect with other motivated students from across the country Stand out on college applications by demonstrating civic engagement and leadership Earn community service hours and participate in local volunteer opportunities Receive a graduation cord as a senior who completes the program Join a national network of curious, driven high school leaders Build confidence in public speaking, discussion, and critical thinking Seniors: compete for $5,000 scholarship opportunities No debate experience required — just curiosity and a willingness to participate