Seattle Schools Community Forum

As the nation gets into its standardized testing season, the number of parents, in districts throughout the nation, that are opting their children out is growing.  In a story from Chalkbeat Colorado , one mom was very clear on her wishes for her daughter.  When the school ignored them - placing her daughter in an office with adults who were talking to her about the test and refusing to allow that child back in class AFTER testing was done - well, you watch the video. It's funny because a letter sent out to superintendents that had a series of "misconceptions" seemed to also have its own problems. Angela Engel, a former Colorado teacher is became an author and parent activist said this: Parents are sick and tired of the commercialization of our child’s education,” Engel said, explaining just one of the many arguments of parents who want to opt-out their students. “They are not for profit. The policies around high-stakes testing is making a lot of money for the test...

Locally (and thanks to reader Carolyn), news from Real Change newspaper about getting food to needy students for the weekends.  While the kids of John Hay Elementary School play outside, LaRock carries bags of food into classrooms and surreptitiously slips them into the backpacks of 15 kids at the 500-student school on Queen Anne Hill. Each bag contains cans of soup, crackers, tuna, granola bars and fresh fruit. There’s enough food to get a student through the next two days: two breakfasts, two lunches, three dinners and snacks.  Administrators slip the food into backpacks when students are outside of the classroom to avoid stigmatizing the students receiving the help. So anti-hunger nonprofits decided to stop relying on parents to get the food from the food bank and instead bring it directly to the kids to take home.  The Queen Anne Helpline and the West Seattle Food Bank launched their programs in November at a handful of neighborhood schools, and hope t...