Seattle Schools Community Forum

Got a middle-schooler ?  Is he/she " flipping waterbottle s?"  I have to say this one makes me smile for all its low-tech fun.

This issue of posting documents at the blog has given rise to a couple of issues that I hope to resolve now. It is fine to either link to documents from their source and/or if you scan them in and link to a source like Scribd if they are publicly available documents.  Do not link documents that are not within the public domain.  You can send them to either Charlie or me but please do not put them up here.  Do NOT put up any document that reveals the name or face of a minor if it is a sensitive matter.  It does not matter your opinion about the need to post; don't do it.  Do NOT put up any document that reveals personal data like the address of any Seattle Schools' employee or members of the Board.  It does not matter your opinion about the need to post; don't do it.  If you see that a document has been redacted but the redaction is not complete (meaning, they missed something), do NOT post it here.  It does not matter your opinion ...

I myself have not spoken with the family of the victim but Charlie has and believes the sincerity of their story.  I see now at their Facebook page -Stop Sexual Assault in High School - that the district is trying to shape the narrative of this incident. Here's what the family says has happened recently: -  Yesterday, the District wrote it was sending out the parents' Oct. 18, '13 response to the District's skewed investigation without including essential information we parents provided , e.g. National Parks Service reports with the assailant's testimony acknowled ging rape. For the complete thread, request all correspondence between Julie Barbello, public information office, and the parents from July 29-August 1, 2014. From the parents' e-mail to the district:

Monday, June 9th Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee Meeting , 4:30-6:30 pm.  Agenda A large agenda for various policies and includes an update on Creative Approach schools, Advanced Learning update, the BARs for the Highly Capable Program Annual Plan and Seattle Teacher Residency.  At the end of the agenda, just added - Math Adoption Update. If you do one extra thing this week (besides writing to the Board/your principal about your thoughts on the math adoption), try to attend this meeting from about 5:45-6:30 pm .  If that small Board conference room was packed with parents/community, it would send a powerful message to all in the room.  Even if you had to stand in the hall and try to listen, it would be worth it. Wednesday, June 11th Executive Committee Meeting, 8:30-10:00 am.  Agenda Among the items is "public access to district records- policy 4040", review of annual required reports (which is a funny one considering how - according to Cha...

From Representative Gerry Pollet: I will be prime sponsor in House of AG Bob Ferguson's open government agenda bill (HB 2121). We've spent the past year collaborating and refining the bill to require that public officials take an on-line training to learn their obligations to the public to meet in open public meetings, and ensure that the public has access to public records . Watch the AG's news conference here from TVW.  I will also be introducing a constitutional amendment to undo the recent State Supreme C ourt decision giving Nixon-like Executive Privilege to the Governor to hide public records and corporate lobbying (the decision was not about Gov Inslee, who pledges not to claim Executive Privilege).  The 3rd piece of my open government agenda is HB 1197 to guarantee that you have a right to comment at a city / county or other council or state agency board meeting BEFORE the council or agency takes action. Many councils and board don't take...

I attended the Executive Committee meeting last week. The minutes from the previous meeting on June 12th were somewhat telling.  They reflect some discussion of the new Seattle Teacher Residency program.  Michael Tolley noted that it had been assigned to the Audit and Finance Committee and not the Curriculum and Instruction Committee.  That's interesting because I would think training teachers would be C&I but there was not an explanation in the minutes. As well, Duggan Harman said that "costs have not been finalized."  Remember that for the future because the STR program may well cost much more than we suspect and the money has to come from somewhere.  As well, this item WAS to be on the August 21st Board agenda and the Superintendent pulled it.  I suspect it is because the Board was not going to vote for a program with no budget attached.  Rightly so. I note that Directors were updated on conditional certifications for TFA teachers and ...

Like you'll really want to stay indoors and read this weekend but if you do, read on about: a $43K K-5 school in NYC how the income inequality gap hurts kids on both ends public disclosure in NYC lunchroom hidden camera - what's in that food, anyway?

I had heard of this but never checked it out before - the online Visual Dictionary .   It could be helpful (and fun) for kids who are visual learners.  If only we had known this sooner about Michelle Rhee .  Interesting article from John Merrow- Who Created Michelle Rhee?  Turns out, all of us.  From Ed Week , School Board Transparency in the Digital Age. As online and digital interactions increase, so too does public concern that officials have more opportunities to violate state open-meetings and open-records laws meant to prevent them from communicating secretly. Maryland is among several states that are taking other steps to bring such laws into the 21st century. The legislature set up a joint committee on transparency and open government in 2011 to examine how Maryland can promote government transparency—in the state capital, Annapolis, and locally. Committee members evaluate current policies and practices on meetings and records and make recommendat...