Seattle Schools Community Forum

From the Arizona Republic (another state that underfunds public education): Why didn't GE choose Arizona as its new HQ? 

This series on Seattle Channel (21) premieres tonight.  From Seattle Channel: The five-part series premieres tonight; chronicles levy programs to increase student success in school.

One of our sharp-eyed readers linked an op-ed that LEV's leader, Chris Korsmo, wrote for the Times.  It is quite the tale and one that she tells frequently.  The last time I heard it, though, she was screaming at a room full of people based on a comment that Charlie had made.  I'm thinking this was about 2010 when we had Dr. Goodloe-Johnson.  C.R. Douglas was moderating a live discussion that was being taped about the Strategic Plan.  It was a great show because it was completely under the control of Seattle Channel and not the Alliance.    What was interesting was that a lot of the room was filled with the usual ed suspects and we all knew each other.  So C.R. would ask questions and get answers/comments from the panel and audience but he didn't have time to have the audience members ID themselves.  So, the at-home audience didn't know who we were. At one point, Charlie got up to say that the discussion was ignoring the issue of pover...

I was invited to be a guest on Seattle Voices with Eric Liu and I wanted to provide a link to the interview.  Eric Liu is a great interviewer and this is probably the best interview I have ever done (and Eric and his crew are great professionals). Eric is the author of several books including " Guiding Lights; How to Mentor and Find LIfe's Purpose ".  He also served as a speechwriter in the Clinton White House  one term and deputy domestic policy adviser in the second term.  He has served/serves on several civic boards including LEV.  He has children in SPS.

The Seattle Times has a couple of interesting stories this morning. The first one is - big surprise - about state budget cuts. No new news here but they do have a poll going about what to cut. Currently, K-4 class size reduction money (14.8% of the vote), Initiative 728 (19.88%) and Initiative 732 (15.2%) are leading the cuts poll. The other story is great news for Bailey-Gatzert Elementary . Seattle University, which has provided tutoring for the last 20 years, is creating a project for $1M a year to help provide: more tutoring and after-school help, free legal aid to recent immigrants provided by the university's law school and free health assistance from the nursing school. The project aims to touch all aspects of the neighborhood's social, health and educational development, and will include assistance to Washington Middle School and Garfield High School. They are trying to model the services after the Harlem's Children's Zone in NYC. By working with the...

Update: that was interesting! (My husband attended and said it was less dull than when I watch School Board meetings on tv. His suggestion? Hire C.R. Douglas to moderate the School Board meetings and have voting on-line and in the audience for what is being discussed. It's a thought.) Here's the link if you missed it live. The poll/comments are still live as of this date. It was a much smaller crowd than I thought because they had an intimate set-up. By my count, I'd say about 60 people. The audience was about one-fourth City Year students in their bright red jackets. They were attentive but I think some of what was being said went over their heads. (C.R. Douglas, the host, was asked before taping started, if the Seattle Channel got any of their money from the Gates Foundation. He said no. One City Year student asked what the significance of the question was.) I knew who many people in the audience were. Besides the panel of Kathy Thompson (Curriculum and Ins...

Tuesday, Feb. 8th Board Work Session on Transportation Service Standards, 4-5:30 p.m. Community Meeting on Transportation Standards 7:30-8:00 p.m. at Chief Sealth High Wednesday, Feb. 9th Executive Committee Meeting, 8 am-9:30 am Community Meeting with Director Sundquist, 11 am-12:30 p.m., Delridge Library Board Work Session on the Budget, 4-8 p.m. (this is where we see the budget really take shape) Thursday, Feb. 10th Audit and Finance Committee meeting, 4-6 p.m. Seattle Channel Town Hall on Education, 7-9 p.m. at Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave (with Dr. Goodloe-Johnson, SEA rep, Seattle Council PTSA rep and others. (I just checked and unfortunately, this event is sold out so look for it on Seattle Channel. I was interviewed for the pre-taped portion of this show.)