Seattle Schools Community Forum

Have you kept up with the steady stream of toddlers either shooting themselves, their sibs or their parents?  We need some gun regulations with teeth for people who will not secure their guns (whether at home, in the car or at Walmart).  In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie doesn't like Common Core (where, previously, he did).  Oddly, he doesn't want to get rid of the PARCC test that is used there.  Someone must be running for President. Speaking of Pearson (from the Washington Post ), they just had to pay a $7.7M fine to NY State because the "nonprofit" arm of their business had created Common Core products to generate “tens of millions of dollars” for its corporate sister. “The law on this is clear: non-profit foundations cannot misuse charitable assets to benefit their affiliated for-profit corporations,” Schneiderman said in a statement Thursday.  According to the settlement, Pearson used its nonprofit foundation to develop Common Core produc...

From the City of Seattle: Simply THE most important road safety meetings you can attend this year @ SeattleDOT School Road Safety. Why? Starting in 2015, the School Road Safety Plan will prioritize millions in safety improvements every year around our schools. ** Tuesday, May 20 at 6 PM to 7:30 PM SW Southwest Branch Seattle Public Library, 901 0 35th Ave SW ** Tuesday, May 27 at 6 PM to 7:30 PM Northeast Branch Seattle Public Library, 6801 35th Ave NE ** Thursday, May 29 at 6 PM to 7:30 PM Garfield Community Center, 2323 E Cherry St The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) invites you to a design workshop where we’ll examine how to improve traffic safety near Seattle schools. The workshops will include a presentation and discussion on road design treatments and a “walk about” intended to provide examples of traffic barriers and potential opportunities. These workshops are part of an effort to improve safety near schools through a combination of street im...

OSPI announces Walk and Bike to School Day on Wednesday, the 9th.  (I think the International Day is today but the U.S. day is Wednesday.)  Details can be found by checking your local school/district or community partners such as health departments, police departments, city leaders, and non-profit organizations. A Web site, www.walkbiketoschool.org , has been established to register schools and to check which schools have posted their events. Also, In partnership with Washington Department of Transportation, Feet First, and the Washington Bicycle Alliance, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction will be accepting grant applications in November. The grants will support 10 school districts to implement Safe Routes to School Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Education programs in middle school physical education classes in the 2013-2014 school year. The grant application will be posted to the Safe Routes to School Website at: http://www.k12.wa.us/healthfitn...

The Mayor's office has a School Road Safety Survey that they would like families to take.  If you haven't taken it yet, please do so in the name of better safety for all.  Thanks!

In starting this discussion, I will make a point about transportation in SPS that was made at the Work Session on the Budget.  Overall, SPS transports many more students than the average district does.  My understanding of that meaning is that many other districts do not provide transportation to schools outside of your neighborhood and the amount of transportation available to middle/high school students is far less in other districts. I understand the concern about limiting transportation especially when so much has been provided in the past.  I also understand that it can be seen as a social justice issue when cutting off transportation makes it harder for some families to access programs.  But this is the way it is in most urban cities and students are still able to access schools via public transportation.  (I know in NYC that many students take the subway or bus - for an hour or more each way - in order to access speciality programs.) So what is to f...

In advance of National Walk-to-School day, SPS put out this news : Thirteen elementary schools will celebrate International Walk-to-School Month in October, more than twice as many as last year, with activities ranging from scavenger hunts and “walking school buses” to a visit from Mayor Mike McGinn. Feet First, a local non-profit organization that develops Safe Routes to Schools programs, will provide assistance at several of the events. Schools participating include Daniel Bagley, Lafayette, Laurelhurst, West Woodland, and Green Lake, West Seattle, View Ridge, Van Asselt, Sacajawea, Leschi, Graham Hill, Concord and Coe.   It would be great - since we went to neighborhood schools under the NSAP - if there were more schools involved.  I walked to school until my sophomore year in high school.  Both ways and uphill (but being Arizona, no snow).    Also, in late breaking news, Alki Elementary principal, Clover Codd, has been named TIF Director and another p...