Seattle Schools Community Forum

 Update with correction from SPS: This was a drive-by shooting at the 2900 block of S. Graham of a 15-year old boy.  It is unknown if he is an SPS student. The victim did NOT go to Orca K-8 but a shelter-in-place occurred at 5 area schools as a precaution when the first report of a shooting occurred.  The police determined it was a drive-by shooting (and no gunman was on foot in the area) so the shelter-in-place was lifted.  No word on the condition of the victim except that he was ambulatory and had made his way home. End of Update Reader Southpaw reported that Orca K-8 was sheltering in place (somewhere around 1:15 p.m.). The issue was a person - reportedly a 15-year old - who had been shot somewhere else came to the school to see a family member.   The school likely sheltered in place as a precautionary measure. There was no gunman at Orca. No real info on the victim (who it is and where the person came from) but he/she is apparently alive....

So no snow in my area so here's hoping yours is dry as well.  I received my Seattle Public Library newsletter and wanted to alert readers with high school students about a new scholarship opportunity.  It's the Stim Bullitt Civic Courage Scholarship.  (This is a bequest from the late Stimson Bullitt who supported public libraries.)   High school seniors and undergraduate students who live, work or attend school in Seattle are invited to participate. The competition asks students to write an essay about an individual or group of individuals from Washington state who have demonstrated civic courage on an issue of importance to the community at great personal, political or professional risk. Essays must be submitted online between January 2 - February 28, 2014. Winners will be announced in May 2014. Winning essays will be added to the collection in the Hugh and Jane Ferguson Seattle Room at The Seattle Public Library and will be given directly to the participa...

I saw that phrase in needlepoint on a pillow once.  I laughed because well, I did find it apt and funny. Now along comes Gawker with a great (and very long article) by Tom Scocca called "On Smarm."  Boy, does it hit a lot of high points with me. "Haters", snark, and smarm - he covers them all.  (And he uses Thumper - the rabbit from Bambi who famously said, "If you don't have anything nice to say about anyone, don't say anything at all." ) I've come to understand that people make statements at this blog for ALL kinds of reasons that may have nothing to do with the topic at hand or me.  Me, Charlie, the blog - we're just a convenient target. Of course, we are also something of a problem for some because we are fighting some very big ideas and some very wealthy and powerful people. But back to this article.   Given how many of the defensive remarks that come out seem to all have the same theme, it almost seems that it is not critic...

I ask because I honestly thought that after the horror of Newtown that things would change.  On December 16th, it will be the one-year anniversary of that horrible event.  Twenty small children and six staff members were killed . Today is December 8th which is the 33rd (!) anniversary of John Lennon's murder.  This is what his widow, Yoko Ono, tweeted. Those are his actual glasses. When does this stop?   Over at The Stranger Slog, they had a running thread nearly every single week of toddlers and kids who got a gun and accidentally shot themselves or other kids they were playing with nearby.  The Slog managed to find a story every - single - week. I note that in Iceland they passed a very sad mark for their country last week.  It was the FIRST time in their country's history that police officers shot and killed a man.  (He was mentally ill and would not put down his weapon.)  The police extended their condolences to the family.  How ...

Monday, December 9th Curriculum & Instruction Committee meeting from 4-6 p.m.  Agenda.  Update on math adoption scheduled. Wednesday, December 10th Executive Committee Meeting, 8:30 am to 10 am. Agenda .  Mostly review of upcoming Board meetings and legislative matters. Oversight Work Session; Finance . 4-5:30 pm.  Agenda Interesting to see on page 13 that in nearly every division in the Budget department, spending is to go up in 2013-2014.  This after our new CFO (and that's what I'm going to call him because these lengthy titles are a pain), Ken Gotsch, said at the Board retreat that the current shortfall is between $18-19M and they have to look for reductions.  They could try keeping the budgeting for these divisions at their current levels for one.  (In fact, the "assistant superintendent" - I'm not sure who this is -  has a budget that goes from  $301,117 to $484,269.  That's up over 30%.) On page 15, they have a pa...

This SPS page has updated documents and a "look-up" tool for you to see, based on your address, what your child's schools will be.

Whether it's ed reform or just plain old reform, there is praise to be given to anyone who speaks up for public education.  I have respect for even those with whom I disagree because public education matters. (I do have less respect for those in ed reform who do not want to have a dialog unless you agree to agree with them.  That's happened to me on charter schools.  I also have less respect for those who only want to tell one side of the story.  Tell me the WHOLE story and then we can agree to disagree but ed reformers, taking a cue from conservatives will never say, for example, that there are any significant concerns with charters.) The Times had a guest op-ed by Kimberly Lasher Mitchell last week entitled "There's no shame in being an education reformer."   It was better than most ed reform writing and that's to Ms. Mitchell's credit. I waited to write about this because I had submitted an op-ed that challenges some of her statements and was wai...