Seattle Schools Community Forum

At the Times, Lynne Varner continues her string of unintentionally funny editorial pieces .   She starts out right: If we’re going to talk about money, let’s talk about the future of teaching because nearly 80 percent of education spending goes toward salaries. Okay, BUT when 22% of American children (and that's about the same here in Washington State) live in poverty and you ignore that fact, then you are missing a HUGE piece of the puzzle. As well, most of the money may go to salaries but the Legislature is not funding schools enough to provide funds for other needs.  Your biggest and most primary need is always going to be a teacher. She then says: A recent Seattle Times front-page story pointed to a rapprochement between teachers and ed reformers at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Imagine if the two sides had been working together all along. Well, I 'm sure the teachers (and their unions) would have been more than happy to work with Gates b...

As summer is slowly winding down (but not temperature-wise - yay!), the number of District meetings is slowly ramping up. Monday, August 13th Curriculum&Instruction Meeting from 4-6 p.m.  This is quite the folksy agenda as practically everyone is IDed by their first name.  I'm thinking this isn't a final agenda as there are number of scratch-outs.   There are a number of policies to be discussed including  Ensuring Educational Equity, Advanced Learning, Definition of a High School Credit, Copyright Compliance, and Equitable Access Status Review. They were to discuss the Creative Approach Schools Board oversight process but sadly, that is scratched out.  I'll have to ask why as I think this is a big deal to those who were hoping the process would move forward quickly.  It isn't even in the "parking lot" list.  Wednesday, August 15th Board Meeting at 4:15 p.m.  Agenda (it's a huge one).

This looks to be a busy week for K-12 Education at the Legislature.  It looks like Reuven Carlyle's bill, HB 1593 , to provide a 3-year alternative waiver for people who want to be principals.  Basically, this is TFA for principals.  The candidates have to be able to present their qualifications (but they do not have to have them from working in a school setting) and be working towards a principal certification.   (i) Strategic planning; 26 (ii) Supervision and evaluation of personnel; 27 (iii) Budgeting and allocation of resources; and 28 (iv) Employee professional development. 29 (b) The standards must also include a consistent record of 30 satisfactory performance in previous employment. Just like TFA, it will expand the pool but you can be someone who just needs a job for a couple of years (with no intention of staying in education).