Seattle Schools Community Forum

From SPS Communications: Seattle Police chief talks safety with middle school students Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole will visit Denny International Middle School’s Youth Ambassador (YA) class this afternoon.  The class, facilitated by Lori Markowitz and Denny staff Mathew Riippa, emphasizes peer mentorship, leadership and compassion. The YA’s are currently culminating their acts of compassion projects. The scholars felt compelled to explore issues of student safety by writing a grant to help promote safety awareness. In preparation for the Chief O’Toole’s visit, the YA’s surveyed approximately 150 eighth graders to acquire a sample of youth opinions on how they feel safe in their neighborhood as well as questions and comments they would want to share with the chief.  This will be a great opportunity for the Seattle Police Department and students to share ideas and create visions for the community.

The wave of stories about bullying since the beginning of the school year in this country shows no signs of stopping.  One of the latest stories pulls back the curtain on a settlement between the district and the family of a boy who was paralyzed by a punch to the abdomen by a known bully.   (The hit to the abdomen was so severe it caused a blood clot in a major artery to his spine that left him paralyzed.) The Ramsey Board of Education in New Jersey settled with the family for $4.2M.  The district says the settlement was "the decision" of the insurance company and that they did nothing wrong. What? No, the district was told how bad the evidence was against them, was counseled by the insurance company to pay out and now wants to say, we're paying but we deny we did anything wrong.

One point before the public testimony info.  Last night I put forth arguments on three topics that seem to neatly line up with accountability (Sealth elevator), transparency (TFA donor) and public engagement (Series 4000).  I hope the Board realizes that mouthing these words without backing it up with action means little.  Last night had some interesting testimony (along with some funny lines).