Seattle Schools Community Forum

On June 18, the School Board will have an executive session dedicated to the Superintendent Evaluation. As it is an executive session, it will not be open to the public. Just seeing this item on the calendar got me to thinking about the topic. And I have to say that I'm having trouble finding positives. What with all the talk about accountability and the definition of accountability as clearly defined measurable expectations, I can only presume that there is already a set of criteria, metrics and benchmarks the Board will use to evaluate the Superintendent's performance. I can only presume it because I don't know what these objectively measured expectations are. You would think that they would be published somewhere, but I couldn't find them. I do know this: when Dr. Goodloe-Johnson was hired people were told to expect four things. Decisive Leadership. I'm not seeing any decisive leadership from the superintendent. First, no decisiveness. We haven't had action,...

Jessica Blanchard and Amy Rolph, education beat reporters for the Seattle P-I, have started a new blog called School Zone . The School Zone is where you'll find education news that might not make it into the newspaper, but still impacts your life as a student, parent, teacher or taxpayer. Join us here to find out what issues are mobilizing your local PTA, what your best bet is for financing that college degree - even how happenings in the "other" Washington will affect education here. This is in addition to the P-I Reader Blogs: Chalkboard and Education for a Global Age .

As reported at the West Seattle Blog , there are 12 individuals and one union suing the district over the Denny-Sealth combined campus. From the brief: "The legal documents say the individuals are concerned about “property values, crime, and other effects” of the move, as well as the safety of a 6-12 campus; the union, which represents classified school workers, says it’s concerned about job loss. The appeal also contends, among other things, that the decision was made without “following the procedural requirements for citizen involvement required by the school closure statute.” The appeal is filed in King County Superior Court . Hmm, it sounds like a weak case except for the procedural requirements. While they are not technically closing Denny, they are closing the building (and so it becomes extra inventory). I think there are likely rules about this which may or may not have been followed. Stay tuned; this may not be the only lawsuit the district faces from that area.

After reading the blog comments posted while I was camping the last two days, I decided it's time to experiment with a change to the blog. I have changed the settings to require "registration" in order to post a comment. This doesn't require you to reveal your true identity when posting, but it does require you to register with some kind of a name and use that when commenting. If you have technical problems with doing this or want to voice your opinion privately, send me an e-mail message. Thanks.

I started a new class today called "Human Learning and Educational Practice," which provides an overview of theories of learning and their educational applications. Both the teacher and my fellow students seemed quite interesting. And I'm looking forward to sharing some of what I learn on this blog. One of the interesting tangents the class discussion took was to touch briefly on the "math wars" and why they make no sense. Prof. Bransford believes, as I do, that good math instruction includes both a focus on math concepts and theories as well as fluency with mathematical operations. He had the chance to talk with one of the leaders of Singapore math in Singapore, and learned that what the way Singapore math is discussed in the US is not how it was designed or implemented in Singapore. The three core principals of Singapore math are supposed to be: Learning with understanding Fluency with math facts Managing the students' affective relationship with the subj...

(Update: I neglected to provide a link to a story about this issue. Here's the PI's article from April 2.) So as I have been pondering the Memorial Stadium issue (which apparently won't take place soon as the Mayor has decided to try to direct levy money at Pike Place Market in November), I had wondered how to get the best deal for the district. I found it odd the City only offered one option and that option would have us lose 4 of our 9 acres (of prime real estate...in downtown Seattle) and that option would move a memorial wall that was built precisely where it was because it was honoring Seattle school students/grads who died in WW II. There was also the possible loss of money from a reconfigured parking lot that is a cash cow for the district. So what would be a better deal? I open the newspaper and there's the story about the ex-Sonic guys who want to build a multi-use facility that would be a showcase for this city. Ha! Very funny. (They do have it right thou...

This article about the Northshore district appeared in today's Times. Apparently,they have, in administrators' contracts, this deal: "The deal allows top managers and supervisors $1,800 over three years to purchase personal technology for home use and be reimbursed with district money. The purchases do not have to be job-related." And, they get to keep, for themselves, whatever they buy. So that big screen tv that an administrator bought to "use" as a monitor when he hooks it up to a computer was work-related. Ditto the ipod. This was a district that just dropped a plan to close an elementary school because they said they had to save money. I guess we can count our blessings.