Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Seattle Times ran an editorial today on the kerfuffle over the letter to the teachers. The Times editors made their first mistake in the lead sentence. They wrote: "Seattle school district officials followed Washington state law by notifying teachers of a proposed one-day reduction in the length of next year's contract." But the District officials did NOT follow the law (RCW 28A.405.210). The law requires that: "Such notice shall be served upon the employee personally, or by certified or registered mail, or by leaving a copy of the notice at the house of his or her usual abode with some person of suitable age and discretion then resident therein." As we know, these notifications were sent through the regular first class mail. Every single one of these nonrenewals could be easily and successfully appealed on the basis of faulty notification alone. The Times editors are not lawyers, but they should be journalists enough to check their facts. Before they claim...

What do others think about Carla Santorno leaving Seattle? Seattle school official Carla Santorno going to Tacoma (Seattle Times) Does this open the doors for a different approach to math education? With a superintendent with as strong a personality as Goodloe-Johnson, what type of Chief Academic Officer would be a good match?

The Washington Education Association is sponsoring an essay contes t on "A Teacher To Remember". Here's the entry form . From the website: Washington state public school students in grades 3-12 are eligible to enter. Students may write about a special teacher who positively influenced them. One grand prize winner will be selected from each of the combined grade-level categories (3-5, 6-8, 9-12). There is a category for ESL/ELL students, and a category for multimedia entries. Here are the categories: Grades 3-5 -- Essays should be no more than 300 words Grades 6-8 -- Essays should be no more than 500 words Grades 9-12 -- Essays should be no more than 600 words ESL/ELL students (all grades) -- Essays should be no more than 500 words Multimedia (all grades) -- Presentation should be no more than two minutes Essays should be neatly printed or typed. Multimedia entries should contain audio-visual artistic elements, (not just a talking head), and be viewable on common Micro...

As many of you may have read, last Sunday a 31-year old mother of 3 was stabbed to death in her home, allegedly by her ex-husband (who fled and is still on the run). The three children and their aunt, coming home from church, found her. Those 3 children are Seattle school students - one at Roosevelt, one at McClure and one at TT Minor. Looking at the situation, they are effectively orphans (but, of course, are now being cared for by family). A benevolent fund has been set up at Washington Mutual for these children under their mother's name, Noemi Lopez. Deposits can be made at any branch; tell them it's a benevolent account as it is listed differently than other accounts. I know it is shocking and sad to read about and we can all only imagine the pain of loss they are going through. If you bank at WaMu or happen to be going by a branch, could you please consider making a $5 or $10 donation to show support for these students who go to our public schools? Thanks.

Some good news: the Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club and Rainier Valley Teen Center opened this week. It was profiled in this article in the PI. From the article: "The steel-and-cement building with large windows has two gymnasiums, several basketball courts, a dental clinic, an audio-and-video recording studio, classrooms, computer centers and an Internet cafe." It hopes to serve 4,000 kids a year up from 1,000.

From the UW website: The learning of science and math is a civil rights issue, and schools should give students broad participation in those areas as early as possible, says Philip Bell, a UW associate professor of learning sciences. Bell will deliver the College of Education's Fall Lecture, titled Pathways to Excellence and Equity in Science, Math and Engineering Learning , from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, in the UW Tower auditorium. Admission is free, and a post-lecture reception will be held from 8:30 to 9 p.m. People learn about science and math in a wide range of settings -- classrooms, homes, online communities. As such, Bell says, education needs to be understood as taking place across a wide range of associated institutions -- schools, families and after-school clubs. Bell directs the ethnographic and design-based research of the Everyday Science and Technology Group. He has a background in human cognition and development, science education, electrical engineering a...

From the PI's Seattle 911 Blog: "Top city brass were in West Seattle on Monday morning to unveil the Seattle police speed van – a vehicle they hope will increase safety in school zones. The van's photo radar was first used in July when Seattle officers gave school-zone speed warnings during the last week of summer school. Police say the van will be used this year at eight Seattle public elementary schools: Bagley, Broadview-Thompson, Bryant, Blaine, Gatewood, Schmitz Park, Stevens and West Woodland. From July to September, 809 warnings were issued, according to the department. The $189 tickets were first issued by the van last week. But if you get nailed by the speed van for breaking the 20-mph speed limit, there is a silver lining: The violation does not go on your driving record, and photo radar can only be enforced where school zones are properly marked." I've read where and when school zones are enforced and it's somewhat vague. In light of these new...

This article in the Seattle Times about the Mayor's Town Hall with Seattle youth had a number of concerning issues. First, there was this: "Laurie Reddy, 16, a sophomore at Ingraham High School, told Nickels she worries about gangs at her school. She wanted to know how to keep kids from joining and what could be done to end the existing gangs. The mayor told her more police officers were being added throughout the city, "and we also need more things for young people to do, more places for young people to be constructively engaged." It's one thing to say we need activities for youth* and another to address gangs. I'm not sure that more cops and more activities are necessarily what is going to solve a gang problem. A lot of that activity is based on fear and the feeling of security in a gang. *(On the subject of activities for youth; I grew up in a little town with literally nothing to do. Ever seen Friday Night Lights? That was my town. Not to complain...

I went to hear the Dalai Lama speak on Saturday at Qwest Field. A lot of his talk really resonated with me. He spoke, in significant part, about peace and non-violence. Peace, he said, is not merely the absence of war. Peace is in how we address conflict. There are conflicts everywhere on every scale. This is natural and normal and not, in itself, a bad thing. There are global conflicts, national conflicts, regional conflicts, community conflicts, and conflicts at work and in our families. He said that the path to conflict resolution was not through violence, but through dialog. The Dalai Lama is a big fan of dialog. More, he said that it isn't enough to acknowledge the principle. It isn't enough to accept the principle. It isn't enough to adopt the principle. We must act on the principle. Let us act on these principles. We can open dialog in our homes with our families and in our workplaces. Let us act on these principles in our community by working to establish dialog ove...

Over at the Chalkboard blog at the PI (by parent Denise Gonzalez-Walker), she reports that the district is doing two amazing things. One, on the first day of WASL, on Monday some students (she doesn't report which schools or how many kids) are going the Seeds of Compassion event with the Dalai Lama (I'm assuming after they take the WASL). Two, the bus transportation is free. (Parents can opt to not have their children go.) Over at the Times today, there's an article by Emily Heffter about parents who are troubled about sending their children to hear a religious leader speak. From the article: "Melissa Jones is a Christian. Patricia Gorham isn't affiliated with any particular religion. But both women have the same concern about Seattle Public Schools arranging for their children to hear the Dalai Lama speak Monday. "It's a public school, and we're having a religious leader come and speak to our kids," Gorham said. "While I think he has ...

This doesn't particularly have anything to do with education but about electing people (and we elect School Board members). So Venus Velasquez was arrested for DUI late Wednesday night driving down Market Street in Ballard after a late dinner with staffers. She passed a police officer in a car (she didn't notice - it's not like Market street is hopping at 11:30 at night on a Wednesday) who noticed her speed (about 50) and that she crossed over the yellow line. So he turned around and arrested her. She was arrested for DUI, no license and parking in a bus zone (dumb charge -when a cop stops you the first thought is get over fast). She is very remorseful, said she's a small woman who had 2 drinks with dinner and didn't think she was impaired (a staffer she was with was too impaired and that's how she ended up driving). Unfortunately for her, her driving record is not great (a speeding ticket in '95, running stop sign, numerous driving without proof o...

Attention WASL takers: did you fail the 10th grade WASL reading or math? SPS has an iPod shuffle for you. No kidding, according to this article in today's Times. You have to spend 5 weeks in a WASL summer prep program. This is a joint project with SPS and Seattle Community Colleges but the city is paying for the reading iPods, a donor is paying for the math iPod. (Call 252-0815 by the end of today to register and get one.) Apparently fewer students were signing up for this program (which existed before but not with iPods). From the article: "The programs, called Summer College, are designed to help students pass the WASL and to give them the chance to experience college life. One program focuses on math, with one-on-one tutoring available to students who scored very low on the math WASL. The other is for students who failed math or reading on the 10th-grade WASL, and includes classes in literacy, math, and enrichment courses. They are offered at North Seattle and Sout...