Seattle Schools Community Forum

As promised, I did attend the Washington Policy Center's "gala" fundraiser that featured Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos as well as Neil Cavuto from FOX News.  Here's my account as published in The Stranger today. This is a longer version that I wrote for this blog:

A teacher-writer, Sean Riley, at The Stranger thinks so.  It's a pretty lengthy article but one that has good history that I hadn't heard before (not having grown up here.) In total, 10 of my 13 years in Seattle Public Schools involved long rides on a school bus. Between the ages of 6 and 9 alone, I logged thousands of miles looking at the city from a green vinyl seat. This is true for thousands of Seattleites. Seattle Public Schools used busing from the late 1970s through the mid-2000s in the hopes of achieving racial integration. To give just one snapshot of the program's breadth: In 1980, mandatory busing involved 12,000 of the district's 54,000 students. He has one pretty funny line (but I'm not sure if he meant it to be funny): It was watching the OJ verdict with black kids and getting so caught up, I joyfully sprinted in the halls with them for a second. 

In their usual no-nonsense manner, The Stranger laid out its opposition to 1240, pretty much calling it smoke and mirrors. If there were a single credible, independent, peer-reviewed study to suggest that charter schools do a better job of educating children than traditional public schools, we might drop our opposition to this measure. But there isn't. A widely cited Stanford University study finds that 17 percent of charters do substantially better, while 37 percent do substantially worse. Maybe it's our public-school education, but we don't like those odds. I-1240 would draw scarce funding from existing public schools, while handing control over these dollars from elected school boards to private boards. A petition signed in secret by a majority of a school's parents could initiate the conversion of your neighborhood school to a charter school, but there's no like provision to convert a charter school back to a public school. Charters are nominall...

Way back when, David Letterman used to give celebrities about $5,000 to make a short film for his "Holiday Film Festival."  My favorite was one with Bette Midler who made a film about a boozy barfly laying out her life and views and she always ended with, "Why bother?" The Lady Di one was about Bette's character explaining how Diana came to the U.S. for the first time and "she brought 2 trunks and 15 suitcases.  She went to...JC Penney.  And I said, Lady Di, why bother?" And so I say about the media in Seattle on Seattle Schools, why bother?

As of today, nearly 500 seats have been reserved for The Stranger/Washington Bus/Save Seattle Schools blog School Board Candidate forum on Wednesday, September 28th from 7:30-9:00 p.m. at Town Hall.  Tickets are still available (and free!) but going fast.  You need a ticket to get in.

I wish I could say it better but I can't (so I won't) -  so take it away The Stranger: Ready to dive into the slightly-byzantine, totally-enraged politics of the Seattle School District? Neither are we, but we must . After a three-year run of controversies—ranging from school closures to a $1.8 million alleged fraud scandal that ended in the superintendent’s termination—a majority of the Seattle School Board is up for reelection this fall. A sweep by four serious challengers in the general election would tip the troubled district’s balance of power. But do these Cliff Mass-endorsed hopefuls have the skills to run the school district? All four incumbents and all four challengers will debate at Town Hall on September 28 at 7:30 p.m . in an event sponsored by The Stranger . Lightning rounds with all eight contenders? YES!  Four sets of one-on-one mini-debates? YES!  Vote via text after every round for the winner of each match?  YES! YES! FORTHEC...

Primary Endorsements from The Stranger From The Stranger: First, let us repeat the long-standing, deeply considered, and eternally unchanging opinion of the SECB as it relates to people clamoring to be let on the Seattle School Board: They are fucking crazy. District I: Sharon Peaslee District II: Kate Martin District III: John Dunn District VI: Joy Anderson You will notice that The Stranger did not endorse ANY incumbents.

Over at the Stranger Slog , they have an area called Questionland where they pick a topic, get some experts and then you can ask away.  April 13th the expert will be none other than Susan Enfield.  They take questions beforehand so get your questions in soon. 

The Stranger invited both sides of the Supplemental School Levy to write posts for their news blog, SLOG. You can read them here and here .

Because it's for the kids. Stranger Endorsements .

Here's the headline at the Stranger Slog : Goodloe-Johnson Resigns from Board Amidst Criticism of Conflict of Interest I know, I know you read the first 3 words and get a little...well, something. The story is about her resignation from the NWEA Board that she announced at Wednesday's Board meeting. The SEA's comment (bold theirs): The Seattle teachers union, the Seattle Education Association, listed Goodloe-Johnson's position on the board as a conflict of interest when they voted to have no-confidence in her last month. "It's good that she is hearing concerns of educators in Seattle and taking account of what they think of her leadership," said union vice president Jonathan Knapp. "There would have been more confidence in her had she disclosed that she had this connection and nevertheless recommended the services of this company. In my opinion that's not good practice." Good for the Slog because they seem to be trying to keep up m...