Seattle Schools Community Forum

I had planned to post an account of the forum last night (and I will) but I feel the need to address the tone in this blog. (Note: this is me talking but I defer to Beth. She started this blog, I consider it her blog and I refer to it as her blog even if people say to me "your blog". She may have something to say on this subject.) 1. This is a blog and not a chat room. Personally, I feel there is a difference. A chat room is where you go in, remain anonymous (or even pretend to be someone else) and say whatever pops into your head on any topic. This is an education blog that relates to Seattle Public Schools. I'd like to think we'd do better than chat room smack-downs. 2. I love sarcasm (probably why I like the Daily Show). I do try with all my heart not to do it here because I know some don't like it. 3. I appreciate that people want to be positive. I thought of this today reading about a young SU student who died in Chile in an accidental fall dur...

You can view and read School Board candidates' responses to the CPPS questionnaire at this web site: www.cppsofseattle.typepad.com

A really stellar article in the NY Times on the value of arts in school. Two researchers who had written in a study published in 2000 that arts do not help with overall academic performance. There was a tremendous backlash against them and they went on to do another study, arguing that while they stand behind their initial thesis they believe people are viewing arts' value in school incorrectly. From the article: "The researchers found that the visual arts classes did have broad indirect benefits, even if they were not directly related to quantifiable performance in other subjects. “Students who study the arts seriously are taught to see better, to envision, to persist, to be playful and learn from mistakes, to make critical judgments and justify such judgments,” the authors conclude." Important to our discussions about what people want in high schools is this excerpt: "When students who take art also generally do well in school, Ms. Winner and her co- researcher...

The Times had an editorial in Sunday's issue with their picks for who they believe would be the best SB candidates. This is for races with more than 2 candidates (those with just 2 will go straight to the general election in November). For District 2, they pick only Sherry Carr. The only other candidate mentioned was Darlene Flynn and they had this to say: "Darlene Flynn was endorsed by this page four years ago. But the veteran city employee's tenure has been a disappointment, marked by rancorous divisions and disagreements, and a loss of public confidence." For District 6, they picked Maria Ramirez and Steve Sundquist. Their last paragraph was interesting if vague. "Election debate needs to sharpen, with candidates offering concrete proposals to help struggling students and to combat the stubbornly high dropout rate. School overcrowding in some communities and underutilized schools in others are also ripe for debate." School overcrowding? Roosevelt? ...

This article appeared in a recent issue of the Charleston Post-Courier. The principal at one of the top magnet schools in Charleston has applied and been okayed as the new Director of Instruction at SPS. From the article: "Tolley's job in Seattle will be similar to that of an associate superintendent's position here. He will oversee the district's high schools and lead their reform efforts. Taking the job had nothing to do with any dissatisfaction in Charleston, he said, but rather the job appealed to him because it was an opportunity to influence the education of a larger number of students. It's also an opportunity to advance his career, he said." Also: "He became the principal of Academic Magnet about three years ago and has worked to strengthen its curriculum and preparation of students for Advanced Placement courses. In his time there, the school's enrollment has grown, and students often take more than the required four Advanced Placement class...

Tomorrow will be August 5th marking that school will start again in exactly one month. Is summer dragging for your kids? Are you looking forward to it or dreading the organizational work that is getting a kid off to school each day? Is your child starting a new school or a new level (i.e. moving from elementary to middle)? This post can be an Open Thread for anything about education you'd like to discuss; I just tossed off school start-up as a place to start.

This was in the Seattle PI today. I remember the Seattle Times doing a front page article on this in the spring. If there are any Marshall teachers reading this blog, I would love to hear your perspective on this. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/326398_schools04.html