Seattle Schools Community Forum

N.J. school gave students the wrong PARCC test Students in the gifted program knew they do well in math but thought this test was way too easy. That's because the algebra test they were supposed to take wasn't what they got.  Among the other tidbits of info from this story. Christiana said he doesn't think it's fair to the students that they wasted an afternoon on the wrong test. "Now they are told their test was nonsense and they have to take another one," Christiana said. "I am frustrated, and they are not giving us any answers." Less than a week earlier, students were locked out of PARCC testing because of an error by an employee at Pearson, the company that provides the exams. Teachers are instructed not to look at student's computer screens during PARCC testing, even if a student has a question, said Matthew Stagliano, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers union. So the kids can tell s...

Congrats to the Ballard High School Talisman newspaper. From an SPS tweet: The 2016 # NHSJC Best of Show award for Newspaper, Tabloid 17+ pages goes to The Talisman ( @ BallardTalisman ) from Ballard HS! The newspaper staff also won several individual awards. As well, there was this tweet: Washington Achievement Award April 18, 2016 A total of 258 schools earned for 2015. 16 Award-winning schools in @ seapubschools inc @ Sanislo

Below is a roundup of information/stories from the (Southeast Seattle Education Coalition) SESEC e-mail update; they do a very good job in covering youth/ed issues in South Seattle. The City of Seattle Youth Employment Program (SYEP) is an ongoing comprehensive internship program. Applications are currently open until May 2. Seattle Opportunity Youth Fair for 16-24 year-olds not working or in school. Thursday, May 5. 9.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. All attendees must register online . South Lake High School is seeking volunteers and donations for their 4th Annual Teen Parents Community Baby Shower on April 29 from 4.00-6.00 p.m. Really good article on diversity in our neighborhoods from KUOW . Starting on Saturday, national parks have free entry for a week for National Park Week from April 16-24th.  #FindYourPark and #EncuentraTuParque. The National Park Service is celebrating 100 years of service this year.  

From Moms Who Demand Action (for Gun Sense in America): If you haven't already, get *very* familiar with these letters — they're the core of our new #BeSMART campaign. Following these easy steps can help reduce unintentional child shootings that occur once every 36 hours. The latest school shooting was on a school bus in Florida.  Shooting into a bus full of kids.  (It was gang-related and probably done by juveniles who should NOT have any access to guns.)  We can do this.  Given the huge number of accidental shootings in this country (not to mention the suicides and actual murders), we either have too many guns or too many careless people who own guns.  We probably can't do anything about the number of guns but we can do something about the numbers of careless people. 

There is an Audit and Finance Committee meeting today at 4:30 p.m.  Wish I could attend but I have an event.  Here's the agenda which has some interesting items: - adoption of the 2014-2015 budget book .  This might be interesting since the pick of MIF for K-5 Math adoption.  Of course, until a contract is executed, no one truly knows how much MIF will cost the district.  They had, according to their presentation at the last Board meeting, been willing to spend about $3.6M on enVision.  MIF is more expensive but, as has been pointed out, many of the items that staff pointed to as costs can be mitigated one way or another. - a loan from the Capital Eligible Program (CEP) to pay for the renovations at TT Minor for the Seattle World School .  They don't give a figure for this loan.  - one of my perennial favors is on the agenda - JSCEE Bonds annual update .  It's amazing how that building is the gift that keeps on taking from this distri...

(Update: I do include a correction about the Simpson murders; they were stabbed, not shot.  My attempt was to link the uptick in shooting with the Simpson murders simply because going after a murder criminally is NOT the only way to go.  Apparently this linkage was lost on some readers.  My apology for anyone have their whole world view explode over this single point.) There was a shooting today at a Portland high school just after 8 am.  The shooter and a student are dead.  Clearly, something is in the air.  Whether it's extreme right-wing paranoia of our government or narcissism or mental illness or teen unhappiness, their one link is guns. So far we can't do much about adults who get guns.  (But we can work to close those gunshow loopholes.  Yes on 594 .)  The Daily Show had a hilarious skit that pointed out how Second Amendment supporters like Bill O'Reilly said that there will "always be mass murders."  Except, as the Daily Sh...

From Washington Ceasefire : Asking Saves Kids (ASK) - Washington is a public safety education campaign aimed at encouraging inquiry by parents and neighbors about guns in homes where their children play. Our goal is to persuade parents that this conversation—to ensure that their kids play in a gun safe environment—is an essential parental responsibility. Despite the very real dangers of guns in proximity to children, pro-active dialogue is necessary due to the often delicate nature of any conversation in this country involving guns. Thus, this effort does not interfere with nor infringe upon anyone’s right to legally possess a gun, but normalizes parent responsibility to ask and make an informed decision that where their children play is safe. The conversation is worth the effort given that ten children a day in this country under the age of 18 are killed or injured in the home with a gun. An estimated 40% of homes in the US (and in Washington State) have guns. A recent study by King...

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 ...

From CNN: A student opening fire with a handgun he took from his parents. Screaming students running for cover. A teacher, trying to help, shot dead. Two students wounded. As authorities investigated, details were still trickling out hours after a deadly shooting Monday at a Nevada middle school. An official used one word to describe the scene at Sparks Middle School: chaos. The shooter used a handgun taken from his parents, according to a federal law enforcement source who was briefed on the situation. The shooter then used the handgun to shoot and kill himself, the source told CNN's Evan Perez. The victim who was killed was math teacher, Michael Landsberry, who had served in the military, including in Afghanistan. And once again, a teacher, Mr. Landsberry, put himself between students and a gunman.  He saved lives. Please, remember that tomorrow when your children go off to school.   The staff in your child's building will put themselves betwe...

I'm sure most of you saw the news yesterday about a heavily armed man entering a large (850 students) elementary school in Georgia.  (Again, it was a locked-down school - meaning you had to be buzzed in but somehow he got in.) And yet, within a hour or so, he gave up his weapons (after a couple of shots back and forth with police).   Why?  Because school clerk, Antoinette Tuff, took the chance to try to talk to him. Amazing interview with Miss Tuff - this is the person you want in your child's school. From NPR : Tuesday's terrifying incident at an elementary school near Atlanta — in which a gunman with an assault rifle and other weapons entered the building — ended with no one being hurt after a school clerk apparently spent about an hour talking to the young man. She says she persuaded him to put his gun down and surrender. "He had me actually get on the intercom and tell everybody he was sorry too. But I told them, 'He was sorry, but do not come ou...

Remember that thinking, after the mass killings at an elementary school earlier this year, that we should arm teachers and staff at our schools ?  Well, Kansas passed a law allowing teachers and others to be armed.  Guess what the problem is ? Via TPM: An insurance company based in Iowa has refused to renew coverage for Kansas schools that permit teachers and staff to carry concealed firearms on campus, the Des Moines Register reported  on Sunday. EMC Insurance Cos. made the decision after Kansas enacted a new law to allow the concealed guns on campus. The company told the newspaper the decision was based on financial policy, not politics. The company reportedly covers 85 to 90 percent of Kansas school districts. "We’ve been writing school business for almost 40 years, and one of the underwriting guidelines we follow for schools is that any on-site armed security should be provided by uniformed, qualified law enforcement officers,” Mick Lovell, EMC’s vice ...