tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post1011935142359879379..comments2024-03-29T02:41:52.718-07:00Comments on Seattle Schools Community Forum: Dealing With the DistrictMelissa Westbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-76395863905869919512010-04-07T09:21:21.060-07:002010-04-07T09:21:21.060-07:00There's far too many of these "coalitions...There's far too many of these "coalitions" popping up overnight, filling my inbox with great-sounding initiatives. Judging teachers on student scores means teachers will "judge" that children with special needs (many with normal cognition but needing some supports) are unwanted in their classroom. They are viewed as dragging down the curve.<br /><br />So on the one hand, the district wants to reduce "highly qualified" special education staff (make them "mentors" and "collaborators" instead), and have SpecEd services delivered by gen ed teachers and IAs. On the other hand, they work behind the scenes through Alliance etc. to weaken the teacher's union, increase ratios, and reduce the likelihood of individualized instruction in the classroom.<br /><br />Who suffers in the end? Conscientious teachers who believe ALL children deserve a good education, but need smaller class sizes and the administrative support behind them.cpvmachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02797869029816432943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-6981597552076857292010-04-07T06:03:13.016-07:002010-04-07T06:03:13.016-07:00MAP is useful when it provides information about ...MAP is useful when it provides information about kids w/suspect skill levels and great 'cover up my deficit' strategies. However, when num's indicate a standard deviation of three grade levels and greater below grade level and no one- neither admin, counseling, nor parents- put the student into intervention/support classes, further tying my hands, using those students' lack of sufficient progress as a metric of me is unfair. I will be sure to document such instances, perhaps develop my own hold harmless agreement for all parties to sign, to keep as part of public record and to protect myself. Bring it on. I will only be held accountable for that which is in my control and will hold the rest accountable for that which is under theirs.ttlnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16036145163804967748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-66620673628283900482010-04-05T15:33:38.949-07:002010-04-05T15:33:38.949-07:00Sahila-That certainly is the $64,000 Question. My ...Sahila-That certainly is the $64,000 Question. My guess is because the status quo benefits too many people in power all the way from the tiniest town's local politics all the way to the top. Sigh.SolvayGirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12709893209963350066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-53804598613524272692010-04-04T16:40:12.798-07:002010-04-04T16:40:12.798-07:00that's one of my (many?) failings, Dan....
To...that's one of my (many?) failings, Dan....<br /><br />To re-write Robert Kennedy's own misquote... "some ask why, I ask why not?"<br /><br />http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy<br /><br />Why dont we have the best education system in the world?<br /><br />Why dont we look at what other countries do in health and education and use the best of the ideas/practices?<br /><br />Why dont we acknowledge and use/emulate the 2,000+ year old wisdom and expertise of other systems from other parts of the world?<br /><br />Why wont we spend money on our kids (and our elders)?<br /><br />Why do we spend more on war and "defence" than we do on health and education and housing and infrastructure?<br /><br />Why dont we really have democracy?<br /><br />Why dont we care that we're using up the planet, killing off other life-forms and keeping billions of people in slavery for our greed?<br /><br />Why cant it be different?Sahilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11610179287237833742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-83755551016518870402010-04-04T09:32:35.514-07:002010-04-04T09:32:35.514-07:00"We need teacher quality to ensure quality sc..."We need teacher quality to ensure quality schools and a quality education for everyone!<br />Uh, could someone help us out with a definition of 'quality'? We aren't quite able to define it. But you know, it's that certain je ne sais quoi thing, we're sure you know what me mean!"seattle citizenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16724175257161649500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-57408629362565982502010-04-04T00:40:13.139-07:002010-04-04T00:40:13.139-07:00But ... But ... But..
it all depends on more than...But ... But ... But..<br /><br />it all depends on more than that ...<br /><br />1: determining what is a quality education; and<br /><br />2: managing the implementation/delivery of said quality education...<br /><br />as how is "Quality Education" defined???<br /><br />===========<br />Quite sure if the "Quality Education" definition used is similar to their interpretation of the "Quality Schools" these hucksters are creating with their separate and unequal New Student Assignment Plan........ that they ALL are doing a fine job.<br /><br />Ms. ChangeBringer you have traveled too widely and learned too much to understand the definition of "Quality Education" in Seattle.<br />-----------<br />You remind me of the family that moved from Atlanta GA and were thrilled to be coming to the schools in the high tech Boeing & Microsoft Northwest .... that enthusiasm lasted about 2.5 weeks after children were enrolled in PNW schools.dan dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-66718209815487741952010-04-03T09:11:28.542-07:002010-04-03T09:11:28.542-07:00Patrick -
you have no idea how funny I find all t...Patrick -<br /><br />you have no idea how funny I find all this brouhaha about "performance management and evaluation"...<br /><br />I was demonstrating prototype software to senior government and business leaders from all over the world - 2, 3, 4 and 5 groups per day, and each group evaluated me on my 'performance' - a good dozen criteria with the 1-9 scale applied to each.... <br /><br />My 'audience' or 'students' or 'clients' where highly educated mixed gender but mostly men, mixed age, but mostly baby-boomers (naturally, given their seniority) and often from countries where English wasn't their first language (sometimes had to deliver the 'message' - the lesson - through an interpreter)...<br /><br />In other arenas, I often present or teach to groups ranging from 3-4 people to 30-40 at a time...<br /><br />And I've grown three children to adulthood within the New Zealand and Australian public and private education systems and now am shepherding a 6.5year old through the US public system...<br /><br />Given all that experience and insight, I think teachers do an amazing job with kids and SPS, MGJ and the Board do a p**s-poor job of:<br /><br />1: determining what is a quality education; and<br /><br />2: managing the implementation/delivery of said quality education...Sahilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11610179287237833742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-57726387737198045182010-04-03T08:54:21.113-07:002010-04-03T08:54:21.113-07:00Patrick -
here's what I do in (paying) life.....Patrick -<br /><br />here's what I do in (paying) life...<br /><br />www.metamind-creative.com<br /><br />(cant seem to get 'regular' employment here so doing some consulting for private clients)<br /><br />and<br /><br />www.metamind-spirit.com<br />(quite a lot of activity helping people get real with their lives and make the changes they want/need)Sahilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11610179287237833742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-74272642397540349692010-04-03T08:46:45.795-07:002010-04-03T08:46:45.795-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Sahilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11610179287237833742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-48356926270405755502010-04-02T15:27:30.122-07:002010-04-02T15:27:30.122-07:00SC said:
"it will much more harm than good, a...SC said:<br />"<i>it will much more harm than good, as <b>it will depress real teaching while not addressing individual student need.</b></i>"<br /><br />Apparently MG-J admin has the depressing of real teaching as Job #1.<br /><br />Check textbooks adopted, suppression of teaching content, use of according to<i><b> Project Follow Through </b></i>extremely poor practices ... Performance Management from this crew ????<br /><br />Are we all April Fools for the entire month? and all of the next decade?<br /><br />Are we Really Ready to be deceived by screwy judges and our screwy school district forever more?<br /><br />Last day to appeal the Performance Management decision of 3-17-2010 is April 16, 2010.dan dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-24708214069982478042010-04-02T14:48:42.112-07:002010-04-02T14:48:42.112-07:00Sahila, I'm sorry you lost your job. In the a...Sahila, I'm sorry you lost your job. In the absence of any reason given, it's natural to be suspicious. And of course you'd never know for sure.<br /><br />You had daily performance evaluations? Is that typical in the high tech world? It sounds like they're nuts to spend their time that way.Patrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16260807460417787614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-88736487547601254162010-04-02T12:17:48.782-07:002010-04-02T12:17:48.782-07:00Three+ years Dan. My daughter will be off to colle...Three+ years Dan. My daughter will be off to college by then and I should have a bit more free time. I'm no legal eagle, but excel at marketing and public relations. I'm a pretty good organizer too.SolvayGirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12709893209963350066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-19775805825454414522010-04-02T11:32:23.010-07:002010-04-02T11:32:23.010-07:00none11....
Others have it straight from the horse...none11....<br /><br />Others have it straight from the horse's mouth...<br /><br />I have it from someone I trust that it is true... I understand lawyers were involved....<br /><br />KUOW's former education reporter Phyllis Fletcher (on maternity leave) told me at court several months ago (when we turned up for one of our hearings on our closure case but the District didnt - Ms McMinime was sick, she said) that Marie Goodloe Johnson had called her bosses, demanding that she be fired....<br /><br />And speaking personally, in June last year, I lost a nice little part-time job I had, at a big Washington tech company (coincidentally the employer referred to by Gavroche) "because I didn't look the part".... <br /><br />My DAILY performance evaluations scored 7.5-9 on a scale of 1-9 and both my immediate "tech company" boss and my recruiting boss tried to appeal the sacking, but the senior executive who demanded my firing wouldnt budge.... no i/v, no warnings, no written explanation, nothing defined as being remiss that I could correct...<br /><br />Now, maybe it was just a coincidence...maybe I'm just paranoid... I cant prove anything... but if I hear of threats against one parent's employment, and then threats against an education reporter, and I - a very vocal opponent of SPS actions this past year or two - get fired for no justifiable reason... I have to wonder.... <br /><br />And its interesting that I havent been able to find work in my field in the tech industry since ... lots of applications and not a single call back... I'm very good at what I do and there ought not to be any reason that I am not scoring interviews... and I know blacklists exist in the industry - I wonder if my name is on one!Sahilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11610179287237833742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-806768409701941082010-04-02T07:14:51.631-07:002010-04-02T07:14:51.631-07:00Mr Jackson of Olympia is the close "friend&qu...Mr Jackson of Olympia is the close "friend" of one of the current lawyers on the staff of the District. THATS why he gets cases such as this.<br /><br />They worked together at King County before she came to the DistrictSSDemphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10262177662503999431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-84233453216978491762010-04-02T06:11:34.625-07:002010-04-02T06:11:34.625-07:00Chris is brilliant ....
reminds me of E. F. Schum...Chris is brilliant ....<br /><br />reminds me of E. F. Schumacher and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_Beautiful" rel="nofollow">Small is Beautiful ....</a><br /><br /><i><b>"Will the consumers win in edu-reform? Can macro-brew drinkers really be college/career-ready? I'm sorry, I just prefer my children to be "crafted in smaller lots" and I don't think that option should be limited to those who can pay a premium..."</b></i><br /><br />Please Note:<br />This is the exact opposite of the direction that MG-J is dragging the kicking and screaming public ... well I mean that small portion of the public which possesses any awareness of much of anything at all.dan dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-66920031841489666062010-04-02T06:02:43.923-07:002010-04-02T06:02:43.923-07:00SolvayGirl1972 said:
"Just wish I had more ti...SolvayGirl1972 said:<br /><b><i>"Just wish I had more time and energy to fight the fight."</i></b><br /><br />I wanna get out of this mess when will you be ready to take the torch?<br /><br />I know a few SPS teachers who are interested in retiring in three to five and planning to be a lot more vocal when out from beneath the vindictive thumb.<br />===================<br />In dealing with the district I am now convinced after wasting almost three years with testimony and letters without much legal action that legal action may well be the way to go.<br /><br />Note Chris Jackins is once again the leader in this area as he likely would have won several actions had the K.C. Court played fair. Now if we can explode (w/ Supreme Court help) the sorry game of fool the public with this alleged legalized illegal deception from the bench, then more legal action may be the way to go.<br /><br />Dandan dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-71684361120254073482010-04-02T02:20:03.959-07:002010-04-02T02:20:03.959-07:00Charlie said: "APP community didn't oppos...Charlie said: "APP community didn't oppose the split,"<br /><br />and gavroche said: "It absolutely did. Hours "<br /><br />(you mean THOUSANDS of aggregate hours!)<br /><br />"and many efforts were spent fighting this, meetings and discussions with School Board members, (wasted) entreaties to the Superintendent (who responded to one parent's concerns and dissent with a threat to that parent's employer, by the way...)"<br /><br />This last statement is appalling! Has this been acknowledged publicly? Or is there a way to validate this claim? It's a bit late now, but that kind of behavior, if validated, would be just the kind of thing that could take down someone in public office, including a superintendent. Can you shed any more light on this?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-42714516491603198142010-04-01T23:12:42.600-07:002010-04-01T23:12:42.600-07:00OK .. enough of April 1 who HAW.
Here is what I d...OK .. enough of April 1 who HAW.<br /><br />Here is what I did today.<br /><br />On Monday Judge Laura Middaugh gave SPS another Get Out of Jail free card. 3-29-10<br /><br />Who made her the Monopoly banker anyway.<br /><br />The Law says 20 days so she gives the district an additional 40 after the 20. Transcript due on March 25 so she says that 5-7-10 is just peachy.<br /><br />So not wanting to waste a bunch of time, today I paid $280 and filed a motion for Discretionary Review with the Supreme Court and then spent another $12.43 to run off the full "Writ of Mandamus" package and delivered that.<br /><br />So now we have the <br /><br />King County Superior Court and Judges Doyle, Inveen, and Middaugh as in need of assistance from the supreme court in figuring out how to enforce the law.<br /><br />WOW!!! SPS needing to follow the law ... visualize that.dan dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-34021149189073980082010-04-01T22:02:41.019-07:002010-04-01T22:02:41.019-07:00Dan, congrat's, what will we do? I would like ...Dan, congrat's, what will we do? I would like to wish you well in person. I wonder, if we ever got all got together in "real life" would we start a riot, a brawl, or a revolution? I'd be up for trying it. Maybe we could wear disguises.wsnorthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03795943009142572757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-68357397187204405372010-04-01T22:00:57.316-07:002010-04-01T22:00:57.316-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.wsnorthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03795943009142572757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-9844333839080382612010-04-01T20:50:47.746-07:002010-04-01T20:50:47.746-07:00Yea, Dan! Congratulations! Yes, plesae do come hom...Yea, Dan! Congratulations! Yes, plesae do come home with your law degree, we need you, in support of good education, or for fair courts, you pick!seattle citizenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16724175257161649500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-34680781904606714102010-04-01T20:31:44.161-07:002010-04-01T20:31:44.161-07:00Dan Dempsey has been accepted into Yale Law School...<i> Dan Dempsey has been accepted into Yale Law School where he will begin training for his second (third? fourth?) career in the fall.<br /></i><br /><br />Couldn't get into a <b>good</b> school, eh?<br /><br />Congrats,<br /><br />stuStuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11769983958729170219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-27214838255804883142010-04-01T20:12:18.783-07:002010-04-01T20:12:18.783-07:00Chris, that ranks up there with the youtube text m...Chris, that ranks up there with the youtube text mode. Next update will include that Yale Law School has moved to Topeka?Dorothy Nevillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17108759281089768738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-13383800520992446302010-04-01T20:06:21.785-07:002010-04-01T20:06:21.785-07:00Hooray for Dan!!! I'm impressed! Hopefully he ...Hooray for Dan!!! I'm impressed! Hopefully he will come back and fight the fight for true quality in SPS.SolvayGirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12709893209963350066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-36421992995024290192010-04-01T19:14:09.915-07:002010-04-01T19:14:09.915-07:00He will be helped along his way with a scholarship...He will be helped along his way with a scholarship via the McLaren Foundation's Urban Jurisprudence Prize which aims to transform urban courts into effective public enterprises.Chris S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17016898261120819596noreply@blogger.com