Seattle Schools Community Forum

Here's something I missed on tonight's Board agenda; okaying a joint agreement with Highline School district (directly south of SPS) as Highline's Aviation High will be housed in the Museum of Flight by fall 2010. There was this article about it in today's PI. From the article: "Technically, the site is on Seattle Public Schools' turf, about one-third of a mile from the district's southern boundary. So the two districts want to strike a deal, one that would allow Highline to build and operate its school at the new site and to ensure the Seattle district benefits from having the high school within its boundaries." Also, "There are still key points to work out. Seattle school officials want Highline to promise a certain number of the high school's spots to Seattle students, for example, and that the agreement would be reviewed annually. There are also logistics to consider, such as whether transportation would be provided to the school, and i...

On the post about the assignment plan, we diverged off on high school. One post was this that I wanted to follow up on: "And...a friend just told me that her daughter, a junior in the fall, has already taken all of the AP classes Franklin has to offer. With many colleges using AP classes as admittance markers, we can't afford to have any student who wants to attend college unable to take AP classes at their school. People keep talking about running start...but, it is not free, nor am I ready to have my 16-17-yr-old sitting in a class with college-age young men. And, I'd like her to get to experience the social aspects of high school: dances, student clubs, etc." My son did Running Start (in the evenings rather than during the day) and it was a great experience. However, it is a challenge to work it in and I'd bet it's harder for kids who try to make classes during the day. (High schools lose money when these students leave campus so I think there are mixed...

I received this information from the League of Education Voters: "The Washington State Board of Education will vote in July to decide if they should raise our state’s high school graduation requirements. It’s important that you send a message to State Board members that you support this change. Join us at the State Board's upcoming community engagement meetings next month: Monday, June 2 4:00-6:00 PM Spokane Community College Littlefoot Conference Room, Student Center (Bldg. 6) 1810 N. Greene Street Spokane, WA 99202 Tuesday, June 3 4:00-6:00 PM Yakima Convention Center 10 North 8th Street Yakima, WA 98901 Wednesday, June 4 4:00-6:00 PM University Heights Center Room 209 (Auditorium) 5031 University Way NE" (I can't attend the Seattle meeting. If anyone does, could you please let us know how the discussion goes.) They also mention a Times' editorial that appeared last week, supporting higher standards to match college entrance requirements. I had read the ed...

In a previous thread, there had been a question about a later bell time for Garfield. Then I heard West Seattle was going that way. I had looked into this earlier this year and called the Transportation department. I was told that no other high schools were likely to get to change their start times until the assignment plan was changed. Because of the confusion between what I was told and what I heard here, I e-mailed Michael Tolley, the high school director, about this issue. I'm still waiting to hear back from him. The issue is not if all the high schools are going to Metro for transportation; they are. (I believe all of them will be by this fall.) However, nearly every school has some form of yellow bus service whether it is for Special Ed, ESL or other students. Because of those yellow buses, it makes it difficult to change to a later start time. I was told Ballard and Hale were able to because they are both right next to alternative schools that they could share yello...

Bob Herbert, a columnist for the NY Times, had a column about the decided lack of progress in American education. He wrote a column about it, Hard Times Ahead . From the column, "Mr. Wise is president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, a policy and advocacy group committed to improving the high schools. The following lamentable passage is from his book, “Raising the Grade: How High School Reform Can Save Our Youth and Our Nation”: “International comparisons rank the United States a stunningly unimpressive eighteenth for high school graduation rates, a lackluster ranking of fifteenth for high school reading assessments among 15-year-olds in developed countries, and an embarrassing 25th for high school math.” Those are not the marks of a society with a blissful future. Four years of college is becoming a prerequisite for a middle-class quality of life and we’re having trouble graduating kids from high school. Mr. Wise believes (as does Bill Gates) that America’s high schoo...

This listing of high school musicals was in today's Times. These are some of the best cheap entertainment in town and many have high production values. I note that the musicals Bat Boy and Footloose seem very popular.