Seattle Schools Community Forum

I am sorry to report that a Cleveland high senior, Robert Robinson, Jr., was killed Sunday afternoon by a drive-by shooter.  He was shot walking thru his neighborhood around 4 pm. The deepest of condolences to his family, friends and school staff.  (I am more than a little surprised to see no notice of this at the SPS webpage. Cleveland's principal, George Breland, did send out a letter to his community.) Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call 206-233-5000. Update: SPS is reporting this event: Remembering Robert Robinson: students/staff to hold school-community-only, open mic vigil on Thurs 6:30 pm. 

From SPS Communications: This message was sent to all principals in the district, to aid them in preparing for and advising their students regarding the Ferguson Grand Jury Verdict.

From the Stranger Slog : A Central District high school was locked down yesterday afternoon as police responded to reports that a former student and suspected gang member had assaulted several peers and had allegedly pulled a gun on one student.  Students from Nova High school and the World School, a multilingual school for newly arrived immigrant and refugee students that shares space with Nova, were locked into the building at around 2:30 p.m. yesterday, after teens reported seeing a bloody, brass-knuckle-fueled fight between at least four high school students on the schools' playfield. "A 14-year-old student who used to go to the World School had basically been kicked out and was going to Chief Sealth school, but he wanted to be re-admitted and the principal had turned down his request," confirms Teresa Whipple, a spokeswoman for SPS. "He’d apparently shown up at the school to confront some students. He said they were spreading rumors that were...

Roosevelt principal Brian Vance sent home a letter to parents about the rape at Roosevelt (it is also posted online). I plan to write a detailed thread about this incident because it raise a lot of issues that all parents should understand about what can and can't happen in our schools. It may inspire us to tell our legislators to change notification laws. But to address this letter, I have a continuing troubled feeling here. On the one hand, the district was very clear, in its statement to the press, that the school knew of this student but did not tell the district. (The law requires the Sheriff's office to notify the school, not the district. Dumb? Yes.) My first reaction, because I worked with Brian for two years when I was co-president of the RHS PTSA, is that there is no way Brian wouldn't have done due diligence on this work. He is a good principal, a decent man and a detail-oriented person. I find it very hard to believe he overlooked telling the district ...