Seattle Schools Community Forum

From the SPS website: Seattle Public Schools is inviting families to comment on the parent/teacher conference schedule for the 2011-13 school years. The survey is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z8JGDDY until 4 p.m., Monday, Jan. 3 . This survey will take between one and five minutes to complete. Responses will be summarized, shared with School Board members and posted on the SPS website. SPS is applying to the state Board of Education for a waiver to allow the three full-day parent-teacher conference schedule to continue. The three-day model replaces the prior model of seven half-day/early dismissals.

I saw this question in today's Times (in the Home and Garden section) about what to do if your child says he/she "hates" a teacher. I was a little surprised at the answers given. It seemed to me to sway very heavily in the teacher's favor. (The discussion seemed to be more at an elementary level than middle/high school. All of them are different areas and you can't necessarily believe the same things will work at each level.) Some of the suggestions: self-advocacy . (This from a principal.) Seriously, for an elementary school student? I would say do this but only with a parent present. That's asking a lot of a little child to go to their teacher and say something like "I don't like it when you only give us 5 minutes to do an essay." personality conflicts . "I remind my children there will be teachers, coaches and ultimately co-workers and employers with whom they don't get along. Learning to coexist and, in some cases, win the...