Seattle Schools Community Forum

From the district webpage (with links to all the info/surveys): Results of recent state and federal surveys of health- and risk-related behavior among Seattle Public Schools middle and high school students provide a snapshot of everything from drug use and sexual behavior to how often they eat fruit and vegetables and watch television. The state-funded Healthy Youth Survey is taken every two years by students in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 and focuses on attitudes and health risk behaviors. Topics include gangs, physical activity, suicide, sexual activity, bullying and drug, alcohol, and tobacco use. The federal CDC-funded Youth Risk Behavior Survey , also conducted every two years, surveys students in grades 9-12 , with a focus on health risk behaviors that result in unintentional injuries and violence; tobacco use; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that contribute to HIV infection; other sexually transmitted diseases; unhealthy dietary behaviors; and physical inactivity. ...

There is a petition at Change.org, asking Superintendent Banda to end early dismissals at SPS .  I have no info as to who started it (it only says F. Jacobs).  It has over 200 signatures.  It's fairly simple text: To: Jose Banda, Superintendent, Seattle Public Schools Jonathan Knapp, President, Seattle Education Association Phyllis Campano, Vice President, Seattle Education Association Please stop early dismissals at Seattle public schools. Frequent early school dismissals are a terrible hardship on families. Parents under financial stress, working parents, multi-child families, single parents, and many other caregivers have no good childcare and/or transportation options to manage early school dismissals. We urge you to find a family-friendly way to provide teachers with the planning time they need.   As well, tomorrow the results of the 2012 Healthy Youth Survey and the federal Youth Risk Behavior survey will be released.  I'll be a...

On Saturday, September 22nd, at their Fall meeting in Yakima, the Washington State Democratic Party unanimously passed a resolution OPPOSING Initiative 1240.  Out of nearly 500 delegates voting, not a single delegate from any county in our State voted to support 1240. The vote was 500 to ZERO to oppose Initiative 1240.  From the NY Times, an important story about the use of epi pens at schools. B ut school nurses in many districts face an agonizing choice if a child without a prescription develops a sudden reaction to an undiagnosed allergy. Should they inject epinephrine and risk losing their nursing license for dispensing it without a prescription, or call 911 and pray the paramedics arrive in time? A  study last year  in the journal Pediatrics found that about one in 13 children had a  food allergy , and nearly 40 percent of those with allergies had severe reactions.  A recent survey in Massachusetts, where schools are permitted to administer ep...