Seattle Schools Community Forum

From OSPI:

This from a survey done by Seattle Greenways 

Good coverage by Publicola over the Mayor's huge Transportation levy and safe walk/bike routes for students.  The group ( Seattle Greenways ) believes that upgrading walk sheds around the city’s 97 schools with bike and ped safety amenities will transform Seattle into a  perambulatory paradise—not just for kids, but, by planning for kids’ safety, the strategy would simultaneously benefit everyone. Disappointed in the plan’s $7 million line item for Safe Routes to School, they called for $40 million. Mayor Ed Murray spokesman Jason Kelly tells me that despite the $7 million line item listed in the presentation to council, the mayor’s plan actually spends $47 million on Safe Routes to School programs. Kelly says there’s $7 million in the levy, plus $33 million from school zone cameras and $7 million in grants that would complete one Safe Routes to School project at every Seattle public school. Greenways director Cathy Tuttle says she’s well aware of the ...

Have you kept up with the steady stream of toddlers either shooting themselves, their sibs or their parents?  We need some gun regulations with teeth for people who will not secure their guns (whether at home, in the car or at Walmart).  In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie doesn't like Common Core (where, previously, he did).  Oddly, he doesn't want to get rid of the PARCC test that is used there.  Someone must be running for President. Speaking of Pearson (from the Washington Post ), they just had to pay a $7.7M fine to NY State because the "nonprofit" arm of their business had created Common Core products to generate “tens of millions of dollars” for its corporate sister. “The law on this is clear: non-profit foundations cannot misuse charitable assets to benefit their affiliated for-profit corporations,” Schneiderman said in a statement Thursday.  According to the settlement, Pearson used its nonprofit foundation to develop Common Core produc...

From Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, some stats on the Bike to School Day: Stats from Walk.Bike.School for May 7 2014 Bryant K-5                            200+ Whittier K-5                          155 Alki ElementaryK-5            150 Salmon Bay K-8                 136 Laurelhurst K-5                  121 McDonald K-5                    120 Stevens K-5                        101 JSIS K-5                                91 Pacific Crest K-5                 70 Eckstein 6-8         ...

OSPI announces Walk and Bike to School Day on Wednesday, the 9th.  (I think the International Day is today but the U.S. day is Wednesday.)  Details can be found by checking your local school/district or community partners such as health departments, police departments, city leaders, and non-profit organizations. A Web site, www.walkbiketoschool.org , has been established to register schools and to check which schools have posted their events. Also, In partnership with Washington Department of Transportation, Feet First, and the Washington Bicycle Alliance, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction will be accepting grant applications in November. The grants will support 10 school districts to implement Safe Routes to School Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Education programs in middle school physical education classes in the 2013-2014 school year. The grant application will be posted to the Safe Routes to School Website at: http://www.k12.wa.us/healthfitn...

The Mayor's office has a School Road Safety Survey that they would like families to take.  If you haven't taken it yet, please do so in the name of better safety for all.  Thanks!

In starting this discussion, I will make a point about transportation in SPS that was made at the Work Session on the Budget.  Overall, SPS transports many more students than the average district does.  My understanding of that meaning is that many other districts do not provide transportation to schools outside of your neighborhood and the amount of transportation available to middle/high school students is far less in other districts. I understand the concern about limiting transportation especially when so much has been provided in the past.  I also understand that it can be seen as a social justice issue when cutting off transportation makes it harder for some families to access programs.  But this is the way it is in most urban cities and students are still able to access schools via public transportation.  (I know in NYC that many students take the subway or bus - for an hour or more each way - in order to access speciality programs.) So what is to f...

Well, that was embarrassing.  I knew this was a busy weekend in Seattle and trying to help parents out, I posted a list of events from last year.  (Darn Google - I typed in "this weekend" but clearly should have searched by date).  I apologize for any confusion.   I just decided to delete the whole thing. From Diane Ravitch's blog , we learn that officials in the Oklahoma DOE posted, at the website, personal information about students who had not taken the state test.   These students had received exemptions and thus, waived their rights under FERPA but that didn't mean the state education officials had to do what they did.  Unhappy legislators want to know if this was done out of ignorance or as retribution for students who opted out.  What seems clear is that this was a distinct action and not an accident; meaning, someone had to directly put this info out there.  Congrats to West Seattle High School which learned it is receiving a g...