Seattle Schools Community Forum

The race for Supreme Court justices continues to heat up with the news that yet another billionaire has teamed up with a legislator to target Justice Barbara Madsen .  From KPLU :

An excellent article on teen suicide from a parent and psychiatrist in Palo Alto, California after the suicide of high school student there. What is notable about Palo Alto is that it is in Silicon Valley and both high schools have experienced a fairly steady rate of suicides over the last several years.  It is an area of high expectations and high hopes and that may play a part in why teens kill themselves. The author, Adam Strassberg, gives this advice: There is no single cause of suicide -- the act can arise from any combination of multiple factors -- biological, environmental, psychological and situational. As a community, we agree that whatever can be done to mitigate these factors must be done; where we disagree, however, is where one might expect: What does "whatever can be done" entail? Our public debate continues -- in community meetings, in online forums, in newspaper letters, in school board and city hall meetings. But for me, on line at Starbucks, i...

Popped into the City Club's One-Stop Ballot Stop this evening.  Not so many people but the mayoral debate was interesting.  One quick-fire question: " Do you think the Seattle School Board is doing a good job?"   Murray - yellow (waffle), McGinn (refused to answer - "I think they are doing the best they can at a hard job.  I don't want to put them down." , crowd (mostly yellows with a smattering of green - yes and red-no).  I had forgotten but City Club puts all the candidates for each type of election together so there was this uneasy line of Dale Estey, Peters, Blanford and Green.  Blanford and Green appeared to completely ignore each other (as did Dale Estey and Peters) while Dale Estey and Blanford appear to be pretty good buddies (so I guess that CASE - the Chamber of Commerce PAC - isn't wrong in calling them "a slate.") The Supreme Court has taken on case on affirmative action which involves a Michigan case using race for college ...

You may recall my update on Common Core?   I left out the biggest news which is the looming showdown between California Governor Jerry Brown and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.  The fight is over - what else? - testing .  From EdSource : Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday defended the state’s decision to suspend state standardized tests this year and instead offer students a practice test in the Common Core standards that’s now being developed. And he gave no sign of steering away from a collision with the federal government over this issue. The governor wants to pilot CC assessments for schools that have the necessary equipment.  The issue is that a new California law says this: By requiring that every district capable of administering a computer-based test give students a Common Core field or practice test next spring, the bill will put California out of compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind law.  And that's because California - like m...

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. ...

Only one Director community meeting this Saturday .  That would be with Betty Patu from 10am-noon at Tully's, 4400 Rainier Avenue South.