Seattle Schools Community Forum

March and Rally to Gates Foundation To note: there is the march and rally to protest the ed reform work of the Gates Foundation today, starting at 5 pm at Westlake Park.  The march will then go to the Gates Foundation on Mercer at 5th.  There will be speeches and some kind of flash mob dance. The police are warning of possible traffic issues.   From Diane Ravitch: Speakers: Anthony Cody (prolific education leader from CA) & Kshama Sawant (speaking as a teacher & city council member) will engage the crowd by connecting public education issues to larger issues of democracy vs. oligarchy. Morna McDermott & other education heroes will also make the case for school transformation, not corporate reformation. (Editor's note: Cody is a former teacher and writer at Education Week.) Anthony Cody will be speaking at 10:30 on Friday June 27th at the University of Washington HUB Room 332. His talk about the education ‘reform’ movement and how to recla...

It would have been a quiet week for SPS except for the new issue of Superintendent Banda wanting to leave.  As well, there are a couple of events that will impact our district. Monday, June 23rd Seattle City Council will vote on their Preschool for All bill at 2 pm in City Council chambers.  They do take public comment but I note it comes after presentations (which means you get to sit through a lot before you can speak).  This is important because it involves our district.  I cannot support any measure that puts a burden of time and resources on our district.  It is not the district's core mission nor do our facilities in any way support this use of space. Wednesday, June 25th I see that the previous Work Session on the Superintendent's evaluation has been pulled. Public Hearing on the 2014-2015 Budget from 4-4:15 pm.  You are allowed two minutes to give your input on next year's budget.  I believe you can submit a written statement via e-m...

Update 2:  Arne strikes back.  Today Sec'y Duncan, in an apparent effort to shore up support (and that's putting it nicely), pretty much threatened the state of Oklahoma for backing out of Common Core. Word to the wise, Secretary Duncan, want to make even MORE people suspicious of Common Core? Try the federal government strong-arm. You're only giving them more to work with. From Yahoo News: Duncan had ominous words for states that buck the Common Core trend. “We partner with states whether they’re in Common Core or have their own high standards. But where we will challenge status quo is when states dummy down standards,” he warned. End of update. Update:   the NY Times is reporting the Gates Foundation has "called" for a two-year moratorium on states making any "high-stakes decisions based on tests aligned to the new standards."  Well, that's big of them considering THEY have caused this rush to new standards and testing.  The letter ...