Seattle Schools Community Forum

I didn't watch all of the Board meeting on tv last night but I did get to see the Board leave - en masse - when one speaker who didn't know the rules, challenged them on allowing her a second slot to speak again.  (The rules are one speaking time per person per meeting, no matter if someone is willing to cede their spot to you to give you more time.)  When she wouldn't back down, the Board just got up and took a break.  It was surprising to see given they generally give security the nod and the person is escorted from the room. The Board also voted to halt suspension for elementary school students for nonviolent offenses for one year.   Taken out of the mix for suspension are disruptive conduct, rule-breaking and disobedience.  (Seattle has a lower suspension rate than the state average but it still has the issue of suspensions that occur more for minority students, ELL and Sped students.)  This vote still doesn't solve the issue of what else happens if n...

Yawn.  Yet ANOTHER Times push for takeover of Seattle Public Schools.  I have said this elsewhere but I'll say it again: I believe there are forces, both within and without, trying to create a situation to take over the district. I believe there are some people in SPS who are either working with outsiders or working to drag their feet on some issues so the district will look worse. Back to the Times op-ed. I always find it interesting that people at the top of the food chain think that they will be able to force top-down edicts.  It's not going to work but it will be a very interesting exercise to see who lines up where.  Who stands up for local, elected control of our district by people elected to oversee the district (and nothing else).  The Seattle Times has its stable of ready mouthpieces for its public education view.  Honestly, Google and see how many times LEV's Chris Korsmo has had an op-ed.  Charters Lisa Macfarlane.  TFA's Chris Ei...