Seattle Schools Community Forum

I missed it but there it was reported by the Times yesterday that there was an 18-year old girl at Chief Sealth High School who reportedly had a gun on campus.  Police arrested her off-campus at a nearby shopping center. The police did not find a gun but the Times says "they arrested her for investigation of a firearms violation."  (I asked SPD and they said the arrest was made because of credible information about the gun issue and her "status" at CSIHS.) SPS had briefly put both Denny and Sealth on a shelter-in-place.  Apparently a group of students - not related to the incident - ran from police when confronted.

Downside: this article from The Guardian , with infographic, of the mass shootings in this country over the last two years. If this doesn't chill you, then how about this.  Yesterday the U.S. Senate voted down an amendment that would have kept guns from people on the U.S. terrorism watchlist and an amendment to expand background checks for online gun sales and gun shows. American exceptionalism indeed. Upside: a new girl-empowerment/self-acceptance/self-love group called I Am That Girl has started up nationally, with a chapter here in Seattle. I Am That Girl is a movement inspiring girls to love, express, and be exactly who they are. The Friends of the Seattle Public Library is having their first ever Children's Book Sale, Sunday, December 6th from 1-4 pm at the Ballard Branch Meeting Room.  Most books will be between $2-4.  Bring your own bag. Taylor Swift donated $50,000 to the Seattle Symphony and some of the donation will go towards music education fo...

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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.  

The month of Ramadan started this week; best wishes to those who are part of the Islamic faith.  I remember when my husband and I visited Egypt in the early '80s on a TWA tour during Ramadan.  TWA told us nothing about Ramadan and we could not believe how all these people - in May in such hot weather - could be so patient and calm about not eating and drinking.  It's a testament to faith. Interesting story from Good Morning America about a preschool in an elder center in Seattle.  This is a great idea and one that Seattle Schools used to do in several schools.  They used art/music rooms for elders to come and visit with younger students.  The elders would read to the kids and show them how to knit or tell them stories.  But the space was needed for other things so it went away. From the HuffPost Parents section, " 10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under the Age of 12."

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. 

Is this truly what we are doing in our schools?  What does this kind of thing do to a 6-year old child?  Or high school kids who watch the news and wonder if their high school is next?  One good (maybe small but good) step forward: pass 594.   Next step, make gun owners financially liable for what happens with their guns (if not stolen).  Nothing gets people's attention like their pocketbook.  My party line is own all the guns you want (within reason - no one needs an semi-automatic assault rifle).  BUT, you should be held responsible for use of said guns.  That's seems a fair trade-off.  And, like cars, you should have to license them, get training to use them and have insurance.

(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 two area PTSAs: We are proud to announce the Seattle Council PTSA Board and Northshore Council PTSA Board, which represents the PTA's in Woodinville, Bothell and Kenmore, have endorsed I-594. Join these parents and teachers to help make our schools and state safer for Washington families by endorsing 594 today: http://bit.ly/1hbXVd6 This is the measure for background checks for guns.   So I was pretty surprised yesterday that both Banda and Herndon stayed so long at the Cascade meeting give there was the Board Work Session on the Budget at 4 p.m.  (they left around 3:45 p.m.)  Naturally, I did not attend but if anyone else did weigh in, please.

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 ...

I ask because I honestly thought that after the horror of Newtown that things would change.  On December 16th, it will be the one-year anniversary of that horrible event.  Twenty small children and six staff members were killed . Today is December 8th which is the 33rd (!) anniversary of John Lennon's murder.  This is what his widow, Yoko Ono, tweeted. Those are his actual glasses. When does this stop?   Over at The Stranger Slog, they had a running thread nearly every single week of toddlers and kids who got a gun and accidentally shot themselves or other kids they were playing with nearby.  The Slog managed to find a story every - single - week. I note that in Iceland they passed a very sad mark for their country last week.  It was the FIRST time in their country's history that police officers shot and killed a man.  (He was mentally ill and would not put down his weapon.)  The police extended their condolences to the family.  How ...