Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update - if you cannot follow the blog rules - which have been stated over and over - I will not print your comment. Give yourself a name/moniker. I'm hearing that Rainier View Elementary will "merge" with Rising Star Elementary next school year. Apparently the Superintendent will be making an announcement this week. Isn't this technically closing a school? Hmmm. I ask because there legal steps that must be taken to close a school building. Rising Star ES is about 11 minutes (3 miles) north of Rainier View ES. There was a story in the South Seattle Emerald about the Community Passageways Safe Passage Program. Beyond the updates on a program that SPS uses, I read some good questions. One, At the most recent meeting, parents asked about shelter-in-place and lockdown drills, in the wake of a shooting on Sept. 24 that left a man wounded on 42nd Avenue South. One parent expressed concerns about reunification sites and the possibility of a shelter-in-place order occurri...

Update: the Camas High School girls cross-country team won the district meet on Wednesday. But it was not pretty, according to The Seattle Times: A transgender runner on the Camas High School girls cross-country team, who has been at the center of political controversy in recent weeks, placed second at a district meet in Southwest Washington on Wednesday afternoon. She helped her team secure the district title. The transgender athlete competed in the boys category during the first race of the season before switching to the girls category in a Sept. 15 race and onward. What came before?  Last week, more than a dozen Camas runners walked off the start line in protest of their transgender teammate’s participation and others have decided to forgo the rest of their season. Opponents of transgender girls competing in youth sports organized a “Camas Courage” rally to support “girls’ sports and fair play” ahead of the district meet. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association...

Good news for SPS - I nteragency Academy’s Recovery Campus is celebrating national accreditation for its work supporting students in their academic and recovery journeys. Interagency is the only Washington State public recovery high school that meets national standards. From SPS Communications: The recognition marks an important milestone for a program that has supported students and families for more than a decade. The Interagency Recovery Campus grew from a partnership between Seattle Public Schools and King County Behavioral Health and Recovery Division and is Washington’s only public recovery high school. The campus provides a supportive, sober environment where students in grades 9–12 can work toward their academic, career and recovery goals. Students have access to academic support, individualized recovery plans, on-site substance use counseling, sober support groups and connections to additional resources. And the program is making a difference. From 2015–2025, 67% of students...

This story comes from the West Seattle Blog on Friday, the 9th: Local school warns families about ‘growing encampment The local school in question is Chief Sealth International High School. Below is an email sent to CSIHS families by campus administration. Hello Chief Sealth’s Families, We are aware of the growing encampment within Longfellow Creek (east of Chief Sealth). We have reported it to Find It, Fix It App ( seattle.gov/customer-service-bureau/find-it-fix-it-mobile-app ). We encourage you to do the same! For safety reasons, please ask your student(s) to avoid the area at this time. Thank you, CSIHS Admin The WS Blog said: It seems startling that the district wouldn’t have a better way to surface safety concerns than Find It Fix It, so we’ll be following up with SPS on Monday. One commenter sats there is another encampment just one block from Bailey Gatzert ES.  If I were a parent, I'd be calling electeds. This already happened before and lasted a year. There is no reason fo...

I found this article at the Seattle Special Education Facebook page - how to plan inclusive events so they are accessible to all. Pass this along to leaders at your school. The actual article has a checklist. There will be a trick-or-treat event at the Seattle Children's Autism Center for Halloween. 

 Google guru  Dan Russell is a friend of mine. His blog, Search ReSearch can help you do better research in many ways. He had this to say about: How to Verify Assertions in an Age of Infinite Noise I n these tumultuous days of AI-slop and intentional misdirection HOW do you determine if something is true or not? Here's my attempt to outline a reasonable way to figure this out. (Along with teaching tips for teachers who need to help students in the AI-era.) Via PNW Parent Education Facebook page: From ChatGPT to Claude, Roblox to Instagram, from YouTube and TikTok... our kids are growing up in a hyper-connected world. We are excited to partner with media/technology expert, Dr. Devorah Heitner, to learn about how we can support our kids as they grow up in this world. Join us to learn: - How caregivers can mentor children as they grow up on Roblox, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media apps - How caregivers can help kids use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and others ...

From a friend's Facebook page: Dear WA friends: whatever your opinion on trans girls in girl's sports, were you aware that this initiative would require all girls who want to play sports to have a genital exam? (Unless they opt for a DNA or hormone test instead...) Yes really. Spread the news. Shared