Seattle Schools Community Forum

Kevin Bacon, who is in town yesterday for the Seattle International Film Festival, asked to visit a high school theatre class and Garfield was chosen. He came and spoke with theatre, film, newspaper and LA students.  (Coincidentally, I saw Bacon last night at SIIF where he gave a very funny interview and saw his new film Cop Car.  It's kind of a Stand by Me on speed - very effective.) Garfield Theatre Department Presents RENT! Garfield High School is proud to present Jonathan Larson’s groundbreaking rock-opera Rent. Set in New York City during the HIV crisis of the 1990s, Rent follows a year in the lives of Alphabet City’s bohemian residents as they struggle with issues of AIDS, sexuality, homelessness, and economic hardship. Although Rent deals with weighty and often controversial subject matter, its overall message is one of love, hope, and the triumph of the human spirit.

From SPS Communications: Officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the names of two Seattle Public Schools students included in the second group of winners in the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners are: • Anthony L. Bencivengo from Nathan Hale High School, whose probable career field is playwriting; and •  Tara I. Martin-Chen from Garfield High School, who listed her likely career field as international relations. Several SPS high school theater groups have been nominated for theater awards from the 5th Avenue Theatre to be given out on June 9th at Benaroya Hall.  Congratulations to Ballard High, Ingraham High, Franklin High and Nathan Hale High.   What's on your mind?

Friday, April 13th Swing Fling 2012 at Rainier Beach High School Swing Dance Party (with lessons!) Lessons at 6 p.m., Dance at 7 p.m. Crawford Court Rainier Beach High School, 8815 Seward Park Avenue S. RBHS collaborated with The Center School's graphic design program to develop the posters for this event.  The RBHS Jazz Combo will be your dance masters for the evening.  There's will be a photo booth and a raffle.  Among the prizes are tickets from the 5th Avenue Theatre and the Seattle Theatre Group (Paramount, Moore and Neptune Theaters) for Rent and Cats, respectively.   More info, contact Director of Music Brian Dyson, 252-6414 Saturday, April 28th Washington State TIOS Mini-Conference @ ACT 700 Union Street The Washington State TIOS Mini-Conference will connect classroom teachers with theatre companies, teaching artists, and arts organizations.  Keynote speakers will inspire, and breakout sessions will provide opportunities for each gro...

So following up on yesterday's thread, is foreign language instruction and/or arts instruction part of basic education? Kids could live without having either and could be educated without either. But that's not really the point (I know it is for Tea Party people - the "basics" and nothing else). But I would say for 21st century learning, a foreign language is going to be very useful. And not just learning the language, but the learning that comes from finding out where a country is on the globe, its culture, etc. are all part of a 21st century America. Arts. Well, how do we live without them? The world and the school experience would be so much less without music, theater, video production, painting, etc. Arts like sports is something that keeps kids in school. But it's a cost. So should the state help at all?

From the School Beat newsletter: Bilingual Department to host three May meetings on audit progress Seattle Public School's Bilingual Education department will host three community meetings in May to share the progress in addressing the bilingual audit received in August 2008 and to support families by sharing reading strategies with their children. At each meeting, families will receive folktale stories in several different languages to take home with them. The three meetings will be held at the locations listed below. For more information, contact Veronica Maria Gallardo, Bilingual Education Program Manager, at vmgallardo@seattleschools.org Monday, May 11 6-8 p.m. Summit K-12 11051 34th Ave. N.E. Tuesday, May 12 6-8 p.m Aki Kurose Middle School 3928 S. Graham St. Saturday, May 16 10 a.m. to noon John Stanford Center 2445 Third Ave. S. Also, I note that Broadway Bound (a community musical theater group that has been working in the Rainier Valley) is putting on "Cats" a...