Seattle Schools Community Forum

In election results related to education, it looks like it will be Erin Jones versus Chris Reykdal in the general election for state superintendent of public instruction.  I think it will be an interesting race as they both are qualified and yet seem to be coming at the job in different ways.  There was not a huge difference between first and second place so it's a very competitive race.

A very well-written piece by Adam Gopnik in The New Yorker called The Simple Truth about Gun Control.    Those who fight against gun control, actively or passively, with a shrug of helplessness, are dooming more kids to horrible deaths and more parents to unspeakable grief just as surely as are those who fight against pediatric medicine or childhood vaccination. It’s really, and inarguably, just as simple as that.  

From KING-5 News: Andrew Fryberg, a 15-year-old Marysville student who was critically injured after another student opened fire inside a high school cafeteria two weeks ago, died Friday from his injuries, Harborview Medical Center officials said. The last victim, Nate Hatch, went home from the hospital this week.  He and Andrew were best friends.  The Daily Herald in Everett writes about a gun control bill to be reintroduced in the Legislature: State Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Seattle, whose district includes parts of south Snohomish County, for two years has sponsored a bill that would require that guns be safely stored, making it a crime if a person stores or leaves a loaded firearm in a place where a child under 16 could get it.It didn't get out of committee in 2013 and didn't get a hearing in 2014. She said Wednesday she'll try again in 2015. The Legislature convenes in January. She introduced it because of a series of accidental child deaths and adolescent suicides ...

As you may be aware, there are two competing initiatives going to the Legislature (and, in fact, going before a committee tomorrow). One is SI 591 - Protect our gun rights and the other is SI 594 gun sales background check.  Both are about background checks - one for and one against.   You might want to consider contacting your own legislator on this issue.   Look, do I think background checks for guns will prevent all gun violence?  Nope but it's a start (and, at this point, we need to start doing something).  I think the bigger question - for our purposes of talking about gun violence in schools - is whether parents who own guns will have the common sense to secure them from their children.  That seems to be quite a problem and for the life of me, I don't know why.  Guns and kids - of any age - do not go together.  (Hunting is different if it part of your family's culture and still, the weapon should be secured when not in use for ...

No "This Week in Seattle Schools" today.  Instead a round-up of stories - happy and sad - about parenting. Let's go with happy first (and you can skip sad if you want to). What to do over the holidays (unlike the Times, I'll try to give you the free/low-cost stuff): visit the Gingerbread Villlage at the Sheraton, 1400 Sixth Avenue. Donations accepted for Juvenile Diabetes. Free. Seattle Center Winterfest.   Lots of activities, not open on Christmas.  Free. Holiday Carousel at Westlake.  Fee. Model Train Festival in Tacoma at the Washington State History Museum.  Fee. Seattle Public Library events today and tomorrow.  Libraries are closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.   Note: on Friday, December 27th/December 28th there is a Children's film festival of animated short films at the Central Library.  I recommend a walk around Green Lake to look for bald eagles and blue herons.  The bald eagles can sometimes be found way up ...