Seattle Schools Community Forum

This from reader Gavroche: "Some possible news from the meeting at McClure Middle School with Michael DeBell & Reuven Carlyle Tuesday nite: (not sure where to post this) Tomorrow School District will announce plans to reopen Old Hay in Queen Anne, put money into refurbishing it to make it a K-5 for QA/Magnolia. (Sad news for SBOC, for whom the District never found the money to improve the building while they were there, and so much for the District's stated imperative of saving money by closing Old Hay). DeBell said there would also be some announcement about RIFs, enrollment and school openings -- hinting at "good news." Tomorrow the Superintendent's evaluation will also be announced or presented to the Board. Language Arts curriculum will also be voted on or presented to the Board. Money for Meany may also be on the agenda. Alliance for Education has invited NCTQ to Seattle to somehow be involved in the teacher's contract negotiations. A Google search o...

Tonight's Board Meeting promises to be a real hum-dinger. Lot's of hot issues. Let's see how the Board confronts them and if they actually resolve any of them. Operating Budget - No information yet Capital Budget - No information yet The high school student speaking spot is going to a student from NOVA. This could be interesting if he takes the opportunity to speak about some controversial topics such as the NOVA move - either the spurious need for it, the spurious urgency of it, or the District's miserly refusal to cover the full cost of it - curriculum alignment, or the long overdue alternative education audit. He could, of course, talk about almost anything, but there is some real potential for him to take the opportunity to confront the authorities with uncomfortable truths. Executive Committee Report on Superintendent and Board Evaluations. I'm as interested in the board's evaluation of themselves as I am in the their evaluation of the Superintendent. S...

You have to read deep into the Scope of Work document from Education First, but you will eventually find it, on page 9: In this strategic curriculum mapping process, the goal will be to produce materials that will be utilized district‐wide. I am all in favor of students across the district having equal access to high school courses that will make them college-ready. I am all in favor of curriculum alignment - teaching the same body of knowledge and skills that a student should learn during a given course so it is the same from school to school. I am all in favor of developing a truly standards‐based, learning‐focused, student‐centered classroom. None of this, however, requires schools and teachers to all use the same materials. In fact, just the opposite. If you read the RFP , you will see that it says that the District wants to: revise SPS high school course offerings in all core content areas to align to essential skills and knowledge for college readiness The focus here is on the s...

Here's a link the latest column from Times' editorial writer, Lynne Varner. I only had one read-thru and I'm not sure what she's saying. That everything really is all right with education? Help me out here somebody because maybe Iwas just not following her train of thought. Also, one interesting line "Education is science-based like medicine." Again, help me out here. Medicine certainly does use science as the foundation. But when you are dealing with human beings, either in a classroom or a hospital bed, and it is an altogether different thing. If education was just a formula, I think someone would have figured it out long ago. She references the Gates as well as former Microsoftie, Scott Oki, who is on the education trail with his new book. Why haven't they figured it out? Why isn't there one urban district that has figured it all out? Because education is hard, individual work. You are trying, in medicine and education, to put into pra...

If you are interested in the direction for science in SPS schools, here's a link to their webpage.

Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson had a guest column in the Seattle Times this morning. She didn't write anything new or substantial, but did try to get the word out on the upcoming new Student Assignment Plan. You can read the column here: Seattle Public Schools is making changes to help students succeed

Busy day today. First we have an online chat with Seattle Public Schools superintendent, Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson. It will be hosted by the Seattle P-I at this address: http://www.seattlepi.com/chat/viewchat.asp?chatID=29 from 1130 to 12:30. You may submit questions in advance. Also, tonight, from 6:30 to 9:00 at Eckstein Middle School, there will be a City Council Town Hall Meeting to discuss the City's Role in Seattle Schools. These Town Halls are a public forum for community discussions. They will focus on prevention of youth violence, legislation to protect trees, and the City’s role in public education and Seattle Schools. The Town Halls will begin with brief presentations on the City’s work on these issues followed by discussion groups around each of the issues. The groups will then come back together to share their conclusions with the other groups and the Council. We are looking for your input on actions that the Council should work on.