Seattle Schools Community Forum

This blog started in May 2006.  It was started by parent Beth Bakeman who was worried about her children's school appearing on the possible closure list during the period of time when the district had determined it was necessary to close schools.  (Her children's school fell off that list and Beth determined that while she couldn't carry on the blog, it should carry on without her because of its reach.  She turned to Charlie Mas, myself and a few others to carry the torch. ) I am always grateful to Beth for getting this thing rolling. Last week we passed over 7,500,000 views.  That's a lot of views. I thank everyone who tells a friend or colleague about the blog.  And, of course, I thank our longtime loyal readers who have stuck with us. 

On this blog you cannot (partial): - swear (beyond the occasional BS because we seem to have some readers with delicate sensibilities) - name call - leave racist, sexist, homophobic or likewise undeserved or irrational personal comments - make statements that you cannot back up unless you state it as an OPINION and/or use the words "it is alleged" or "it is my belief" when making comments about someone especially SPS staff It's allowed to comment on someone's job performance.  In public jobs, it's part of what comes with the job.  (And before anyone jumps down my throat, of course, I myself have erred here and there.) Example of what NOT to say:  Staff X is stupid and dumb. Example of how you could say it: I have found that Staff X's job performance is not competent or of low quality.  Make your point about the work/outcomes, not the person.   One person made a point recently about getting sued for statements you make here and that ...

As Diane Ravitch said, when starting the Network for Public Education (NPE) , We are many.  There is power in our numbers.  Together, we will save our schools. I felt very embraced at the 500-person conference.  We were parents, teachers, bloggers, public education writers and activists. We want a bigger and more diverse tent.  What was amazing was to heard many stories - from across the country - about what other states were experiencing.  I can tell you that Washington State is not half as bad off as other states (and the people in Louisiana, Florida and New York are really having to fight major battles.)  The conference was the #1 trending hashtag on that Saturday (and this was with the Oscars coming on Sunday and the issues in the Ukraine.)   One topic was blogging.  I learned that Diane's own blog , at one year old, had passed one million hits in April 2013.  In January 2014, her blog passed nine (9!) million page views....

It's true - when I want a smile or even a guffaw about Washington state public education, I go to the Times.  I can always be assured of some odd omission of facts, brevity of context or just a nudge to the ed reform side.  And that's just their reporting.  Better to say little to nothing about their editorial writing which is generally shallow and uninformed.  But now comes their Education Lab Blog (remember when they were advertising jobs for this)?  They are going to have no fewer than 5 reporters on this (so that's where Linda Shaw went) and an intern(?) manning their blog "to help foster constructive dialogue online and in-person."  Sounds a lot like what LEV used to do when they had blog (now gone) so you better be on your best behavior and play nice at the Times or they won't print your thoughts. (There's a Solutions Journalism Network they are to be affiliated with and their definitions about "reporting" are pretty funny.  So in ca...

I want to give notice to the reports from Syria that several journalists were killed yesterday.  Among them: Veteran Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin French photographer Remi Ochlik several journalists including a video blogger, Rami al-Sayed Syrians who want to flee cannot; there are snipers everywhere.  From The Guardian : Ms. Colvin's last report: "I think the reports of my survival may be exaggerated," she wrote. "In Baba Amr. Sickening, cannot understand how the world can stand by and I should be hardened by now. Watched a baby die today. Shrapnel, doctors could do nothing. His little tummy just heaved and heaved until he stopped. Feeling helpless. As well as cold! Will keep trying to get out the information." Sayed's last posting: On Tuesday night, Sayed also lodged a final missive. "Baba Amr is being exterminated. Do not tell me our hearts are with you because I know that. We need campaigns everywhere across the world...

Yes, it's the changeover to a new format. First off, to our angel computer whiz, thank you, thank you.  It went much more smoothly than if Charlie or I had attempted this ourselves.  (Our whiz has asked to remain anonymous to you but I count the kindnesses of our readers among the blessings of this blog.) Second, still a work in progress.  Lists have to be cleaned up.    There may be some font and color tweaks.  We did choose to stay with Blogger because of its ease of use and protection of our content.  (I understand the issues of the spam filter and I am going to do more in-depth research on how to avoid that issue.) Third, you'll note the new calendar off to the right.  It is going to be updated to include events outside of the district's calendar.   We did put the Labels in a cloud at the bottom that can be scrolled.   It's kind of big and messy looking but also kind of cool to see what are the big issues that we...

I say that often here - words have meaning .   I bring this up because I have noticed over the last week or so some wording being used here that is pointed at the person and not the argument.   It both hurts this blog and the argument when that happens.   There is also some unsaid (but implied) arguments that aren't really helpful. I noticed things like: someone saying he/she is open-minded (and implying that others aren't).  Opposing ed reform doesn't mean you aren't open-minded to new ideas in education.   For example, I think most everyone here would agree that technology - both in teaching and learning - is and is going to be, a larger part of the education picture.  That's a new idea that has gotten stronger and stronger.   I especially dislike the implication that if you aren't for new trends in education, you are for the status quo.  That is a weak and tired argument and not a worthy one. someone saying that ...

Following up on the reports of President Obama's remarks about standardized test comes an article in the NY Times about what some bloggers wrote and the White House reaction.