Seattle Schools Community Forum

WAPTA will no longer have a lobbyist at the Legislature.   Expect to be asked to send someone from your school/region to the Legislature to testify; it will become more important than ever. Dear WSPTA Members: As you may have heard, WSPTA took action this week to align our staffing and expenditures with our mission. In particular, WSPTA eliminated three positions on our staff , and made other spending plan changes to align our actions with our mission. We acknowledge these changes will be difficult for the three employees who have left us and for those of you who had meaningful relationships with them. We wish those affected the very best in the future. I want to explain why we took the staffing and cost realignment actions and what we can expect in the future as a result of these changes. As the WSPTA Executive Director, I understand that “everything we do is for kids.” Every dollar we receive from a member must be spent on our mission. Members must be support...

That's the basic message from the Washington State PTA and they - are - right. Special Session?  Why?  It is now costing money to have the session AND costing time. And just like our school districts have discovered, the Legislature knows that parents are ponying up money and time because they won't let their school communities down. E-mail your legislator today. I note that many Legislative watchers are seeing that the roadblocks seem to be around certain ed "reforms" like grading schools.  To hold the entire budget hostage for something that practically already exists (the info on every single school in the state is at OSPI for the reading and certainly is more comprehensive than a single letter grade) is wrong. The bottom line (highlights mine): The studies have gone on for years. The discussion, the indecision, the inaction. Families deserve to know when the money will come. If you spend a billion or less on the program of basic education this ye...

I just don't get it but apparently, the Washington State PTA has entered into a partnership with....McDonalds.  WASHINGTON STATE PTA PARTNERS WITH MCDONALDS TO PROMOTE HEALTHY EATING FOR KIDS Washington State PTA and the Washington-based owner/operators of McDonald’s franchises have entered into a partnership agreement for the purpose of promoting healthy eating by kids. There are approximately 14,000 people employed in more th an 285 McDonalds restaurants located in Washington, with 84% of the restaurants being locally owned and operated.  Responding to both public comments and changing customer tastes, McDonalds has recently expanded its menu to include a number of lower-calorie and more nutritional items, and of course promoting child health and wellbeing is a core value of Washington State PTA.  Under the agreement, McDonalds will be a platinum level sponsor at the Washington State PTA’s 100th Convention next May, and its exhibit booths will featu...

It's an interesting thing to see who has endorsed which campaign around I-1240. First, you can thank me for the Yes side even having an endorsement page because they didn't have one for months.  But I kept calling it out at debates and I guess they got embarrassed.  What is kind of cute is the little mini-bios they have for every single person listed (but it does make the page look longer). For variety, there isn't a lot of comparison.  The Yes is a lot of business groups/ed reformers and, for the elected officials, Republicans (with the "roadkill" Dems thrown in). The No side / No side is quite varied and long on elected officials (but yes, very Democrat-heavy). As far as educators and those in education, there is no comparison.  Educators, administrators and elected officials in education are overwhelmingly against I-1240.  Community groups?  Quite a variety especially up against the Yes side. Newspapers?  Very much for the Yes side but ...