Seattle Schools Community Forum

Good article over at Crosscut by Lisa Arnold.  I love the way she starts with a nod to all that parents do to raise money for their schools.  Selling cookie dough is good. Widespread, ongoing citizen action directed at the Washington State Legislature is better.  She quotes me and I probably could have stated it better  about this issue.  Parents have and do want to advocate for fully funded schools but, in the absence of much movement in that direction (even with McCleary), parents hunker down for their child's school (and that's good and bless them). She makes some good points about what does work in this advocacy recently around issues like the MAP boycott: Each movement made a single, clear demand; was hard to ignore; and wouldn’t go away. How can busy people who care about education create a focused, stubborn, cannot-be-ignored campaign that also overcomes the too-few -people and too-little-time barriers?   She has some good advice es...

Whether it's ed reform or just plain old reform, there is praise to be given to anyone who speaks up for public education.  I have respect for even those with whom I disagree because public education matters. (I do have less respect for those in ed reform who do not want to have a dialog unless you agree to agree with them.  That's happened to me on charter schools.  I also have less respect for those who only want to tell one side of the story.  Tell me the WHOLE story and then we can agree to disagree but ed reformers, taking a cue from conservatives will never say, for example, that there are any significant concerns with charters.) The Times had a guest op-ed by Kimberly Lasher Mitchell last week entitled "There's no shame in being an education reformer."   It was better than most ed reform writing and that's to Ms. Mitchell's credit. I waited to write about this because I had submitted an op-ed that challenges some of her statements and was wai...

I'm sure most children have no idea what is happening in Congress but I expect that they will feel the ramifications - short and long-term - in their lives.  And who gets hit the hardest if the government shuts down?  You better believe it's those who need the most help. Update:  From The Answer Sheet at the Washington Post, here's what happens to public education if the government shuts down.  From the DOE: A protracted delay in Department obligations and payments beyond one week would severely curtail the cash flow to school districts, colleges and universities, and vocational rehabilitation agencies that depend on the Department’s funds to support their services.  For example, many school districts receive more than 20 percent of their funds from Department-funded programs. Here's a helpful chart (show it to the kids) from the NY Times on how this could all play out in the next 48 hours. An interesting op-ed at CNN by local writer/thinker, Eric...

In the continuing kerfuffle over BEX, one of the women in the trio of NE moms trying to get the BEX to fail (albeit quietly via very large neighborhood e-mail lists) has sent quite a pointed e-mail to Director Peaslee that was less-than-effective.  This e-mail is in reference to a video that Director Peaslee helped Jane Addams K-8 make in order to try to attract more students that in turn, would help take the pressure off neighboring elementaries and, of course, Eckstein.  This mom seem to believe, without quite coming out and saying it, that Director Peaslee has done something unethical.  (And fyi, the district HAS a method to alert them to any potential or perceived ethics violation and it has been well-advertised.)  The mom asks a laundry list of very pointed questions to Director Peaslee, most of which should be answered by district staff, including the Legal department. Short of name-calling, this e-mail breaks almost every rule in the activist rulebook....

One reason for this blog - and that has always been the case since its earliest days - is discourse and encouraging activism.    I said this recently in an interview and I frequently have parents tell me that it's the only place they can really go to ask questions.  I am glad that enough parents know about it that they feel comfortable to come here and raise issues.  (Some also e-mail Charlie and me and that's fine as well.)  One topic that came up in the Eric Lui interview was about how parents can be involved (and how deeply) in their children's education.  Eric pointed out that many parents don't want to speak out.  I've said this before - my belief is most parents just want a good school that they have confidence in the staff and where they feel welcome (either as a volunteer or a parent who visits occasionally).  I don't think most parents want to be activists.  I think most parents want to be advocates for their child's education...