Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Times is reporting that the City will be installing speed cameras at five more school zones this summer.  They are Roxhill Elementary (WS), Dearborn Park Elementary (Beacon Hill), Bailey-Gatzert Elementary (Central) and Eckstein Middle (NE).  They will be used starting Sep. 2nd.  For the first 30 days, you'll get a warning and then the ticket is $189.  They will be used one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon most of the time. The Times is also reporting that the Bellingham School district is installing a panic button in every school office in their district using a grant from OSPI.   (As I previously reported, SPS also received money from this grant but I am unsure what it will be used for in our district.) The UW's Computer Science and Engineering Department recently honored 57 teachers in our region for being "Inspirational" teachers.  They include Assegid Derseh from Chief Sealth International High School and John Boucher f...

Well, that would be no but here's the latest National Report Card on school funding by the Education Law Center at Rutgers.  The authors are Bruce Baker, professor in the Department of Educational Theory, Policy and Administration in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University , David Sciarra, Executive Director of the Education Law Center (ELC) and Danielle Farrie, Research Director at ELC. From the Introduction: The third edition of the National Report Card examines the condition of states’ finance systems as the country emerges from the Great Recession, but is still wrestling with its consequences. As in prior editions, this Third Edition of the National Report Card continues to make the case for states to take immediate and longer-term action to improve the fairness of their school finance systems. Two predominant characteristics of the U.S. education system highlight the importance of systems of school funding that are bui...

Yet another thing I missed on I-1240 (it's just the gift that keeps on giving) - I had thought you could not convert a private school to a charter but yes, you can.  I know, I thought 1240 had prohibited this but, in my defense, I can only say that I had read so many other states' charter laws (and many do prohibit this) that I got confused.  I double-checked with my ace reader, Eric B, and nope, we missed this. Turns out at the Board of Education (which has to write some rules around the law), they have had a bit of a struggle over this issue as well. Okay, so let's go over what we do know. First, the words "private school" do not even appear in I-1240 so that should have been a dead giveaway from the start.   I was told by the BOE that yes, " the statute is indeed silent on this issue. "  They aren't saying it's a omission but I believe it is a deliberate one. The private school has to be a 501c3 (or create one). The private schoo...

Keeping in line with Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel had a bit of a hissy fit yesterday when a local reporter asked where his children would go to school.  He just smiled and said he was elected, not his kids, and got up and left the interview.  (Christie, on the other hand, huffed and puffed.) Obama's kids go to private, too.   McGinn's kids go to public school as do/did most of the School Board's children. I have always said that I believe every parent has to do what is right for their child and only they know the right thing.  I don't have a problem with anyone who chooses private school for their child.  Of course, for elected officials, it CAN be a problem because, well, if you are talking about public education as a part of your job and you wouldn't send your own kids to the schools you represent, for some voters it might not look good.  Naturally, if you are a billionaire who is trying to be a de facto deputy s...

The NY Times Sunday edition has a story about private school parents struggling with what to do for the coming school year. Deposit checks are late across the country as parents, who have cut out frills for their child's education, now worry about a possible job loss. Why this title? From the article: "Later, in an e-mail message, the therapist wrote that the family had decided to, as she put it, “commit financial suicide.”' Wow. To think that making the decision to put your child into private school puts you at the edge of financial disaster is very compelling. From the article: " This year’s hand-wringing over tuition might be dismissed as the latest hardship for the patrician class, which, like everyone else, can simply educate its young in the public system. But of the more than three million families with at least one child in private school, according to the 2005 census, almost two million of them have a household income of less than $100,000. According to ...