Seattle Schools Community Forum

A couple of interesting contributors to Stephan Blanford' s campaign - former Board member Nancy Waldman (ousted from office in the wake of the Olechefske financial scandal) and former Board member (and Seattle mover and shaker) Don Nielsen.    One oddity, though, is a contribution out of Indianapolis from the Eli Lilly company.  Why Eli Lilly is interested in a Seattle School Board campaign is a mystery. Interesting in keeping up with national education trends ?  Here's a link t o the top ed Twitter feeds.  Who's at the top?  Why it's a tie between Arne Duncan and Diane Ravitch. Americorps gets into the school turnaround action and I think I trust them far more than I would any business. Officials announced in July that $15 million would go to 13 organizations nationwide during the next three years to put more than 650 AmeriCorps members in schools. One of the funded projects that will help rural schools exclusively was Berea College...

 Update:  And so he did resign, saying an old ed reform canard,  Florida "doesn't have time to waste." He also said (and again, another old tactic):  “The most important thing we have to do is educate children,” Bennett said. “Maybe what we ought to do is debate how the best way to do that is without being personal and assigning motives to it.” From Indiana Public Media: Bennett’s successor will be the sixth person to fill the position as Education Commissioner under Florida Governor Rick Scott. Pam Stewart, current Florida DOE Chancellor, has been names as a possible choice for interim commissioner in Bennett’s absence. End of update Frederick M. Hess, a more moderate righty who writes for Ed Week, thinks so.  As he puts it for poor Florida: If Florida Supe Bennett resigns today, will be tough to recruit strong replacement.  Three chiefs in three years?  Yikes.  It's like drumming for Spinal Tap. He also tweeted: If Fl Supe Ben...

So continuing on the parade that charters are better, more innovative and, above all, allow more accountability, we have Exhibit 1.  That would be former Indiana and now current head of schools in Florida, Tony Bennett.  I'll let the Fort Wayne Journal tell you what "Mr. Accountable" did (bold mine)(graphic by Jersey Jazzman): But when it appeared an Indianapolis charter school run by a prominent Republican donor might receive a poor grade, Bennett's education team frantically overhauled his signature "A-F" school grading system to improve the school's marks. Emails obtained by The Associated Press show Bennett and his staff scrambled last fall to ensure influential donor Christel DeHaan's school received an "A," despite poor test scores in algebra that initially earned it a "C." "They need to understand that anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work," Bennett wro...