Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Washington Education Association has filed a challenge to the ballot title and summary for 1240, the charter school initiative. A hearing is set for tomorrow morning in Thurston County Superior Court. I don't know that the judge will actually rule on it tomorrow (Friday is the day the judge hears all motions so I don't know if there will be time.) The judge must rule within five days (and undoubtedly will be asked to hurry it as they need as much time as possible to get signatures). I will gently point out that if time was the issue, the supporters should have made the decision to get this filed much, much sooner. They have no one to blame for themselves for this short window of time. From the News Tribune comes their coverage. This is a funny story for me as yesterday, I traveled to Olympia to file a challenge as well. I was not successful. It is a Kafkaesque tale to be sure and a reminder that while we have laws, we may not always be able to access them as regu...

So how's your day going?  Mine started at the computer at midnight trying to get onto the Target site.  (If you have been keeping up, you'll know what I mean; otherwise, carry on.) Later on, when there was daylight, I had a great talk with Mary Linquist, President of the WEA, and Becky Pringle, the Sec-Treasurer of the NEA .  The NEA does these across-the-country school tours and this year's tour was part of their new campaign, Priority Schools .  This campaign is in support of the work of NEA members in SIG schools across the country.  Ms. Pringle came to Seattle to see West Seattle Elementary and Hawthorne Elementary (Cleveland is another one but not enough time).  She and Ms. Linquist were very impressed with both schools, both with the staffs AND spirit at each school. They both agree that these were two of the best SIG schools they had seen in staff enthusiasm, planning and outcomes.  It was nice to hear and kudos to those two schools.  ...