Seattle Schools Community Forum

I attended a fundraiser for the Roosevelt class of 2010 last night. I was talking to a dad who attended our parent education night in the fall on electronic addiction. One thing we learned that night was that girls are more addicted to their cell phones and boys are more addicted to video games. But what this dad told me is that kids think e-mail is for old people (read: parents) and business uses. Texting or IMing is the way to go to communicate with friends. I don't know why that surprised me but thinking about it, being a teen is all about real-time experiences and not waiting for an answer to an e-mail. I thought about this as I read this article in the NY Times about electronic language creeping into students' schoolwork. From the article, "Nearly two-thirds of 700 students surveyed said their e-communication style sometimes bled into school assignments, according to the study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, in partnership with the College Bo...

There was a post under Beth's thread "Middle School and Enrollment Discussions" and one reader, Old Salt, had posted about the Bryant meeting. I thought I might add my impressions/information. It was kind of amazing because I got there at 6:45 (and we started right at 7:00 - the Bryant principal is by the book on meetings, good for her). In that period of time (there were maybe 5 people when I got there), the room filled. I'd estimate that there were at least 60 people there. Representing the staff were Don Kennedy, COO, Tracy Libros, Enrollment and Planning, Rachel Cassidy, Enrollment and Planning. Harium Martin-Morris and Sherry Carr were in attendance. In addition to the Bryant principals, the principals of Thornton Creek, Wedgwood and one other area school (I'm sorry; somehow my notes don't reflect who it was). The principal, Linda Robinson, stressed that the over-subscription problem (for awhile they kept referring to it as as over-capacity proble...

Communities and Parents for Public Schools of Seattle (CPPS of Seattle) has organized two opportunities next week for parents to talk with district staff about hot topics: middle school and enrollment . From the newsletter : CPPS Annual Meeting: " What's Up with Middle School Education in Seattle Public Schools ?" Panel & Discussion Wednesday , April 30 Meany Middle School CPPS Annual Meeting: 6:30 - 7:00pm Middle School Panel: 7:00 - 8:30pm Why do we find the middle school years so educationally challenging? What do we really want? Join us... We know that some district middle schools are considered "good," popular alternatives and others are not; some folks shy from the public middle schools altogether. What's up? What is present or lacking in Seattle Public Middle Schools? The panel includes: Ruth Medsker, SPS Middle Schools Director Bob Vaughan, Director for Advanced Learning Princess Shareef, Meany Middle School Principal Michael Tolley, High Schoo...

This article appeared in today's PI. I had tried to record the Board meeting last night because I knew that there would be discussion of the assignment plan and the VAX system (computer) they use for it. This article is all I have to go on so if anyone saw the presentation please speak up. Good news: "But Sherri Bealkowski, the district's interim chief information officer, suggested there may be a silver lining: There's now a detailed plan to fix the problem -- and money set aside in the district's capital budget to pay for it." I'd like to see where in the capital budget this is coming from. I had pointed out to COO Don Kennedy that if money hadn't been taken from the BEX III Tech fund for Sealth it could have gone for this effort. Apparently, they are going to not do yet another project on the tech list and move the money to this plan. Bad news: "But because of the complexity of the current school-choice system and the limitations of the comput...

There is a column by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson in today's Seattle Times. It's titled " A critical juncture for education: Can our money match our vision? " and that seems to be the general topic of the piece. Two things about this column really trouble me. First, almost every word of it is fluff. The whole thing could be boiled down to this one paragraph: The only way to maintain progress — to pursue our vision of a world-class education for all students, boost our competitiveness and reinvigorate our flagging economy — is to invest strategically and substantially in our education system. And that's not really news, is it? Terry Bergeson wants the legislature to allocate more money to education. Wow. Stop the presses. Second, although she says that we have a Vision for education in Washington State, she doesn't really describe it. I have to say that I'm not aware of any such Vision. Honestly, I don't think she has one. L...

Today's NY Times reported on the efforts of Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to adjust NCLB so that states would support it instead of the rising tide of efforts to dismantle it. Her explanation? "Ms. Spellings said she was proposing the fixes because efforts in Congress to rewrite the legislation have stalled and because “everywhere I go I meet parents who are demanding change.” " With the Bush administration on its last legs, it doesn't seem like her ideas will go anywhere but here are some of them: -requiring states to use a single federal formula to calculate and report high school graduation rates. Interestingly: "Ms. Spellings’s proposed regulations would require states to calculate their graduation rates in a uniform way by the 2012-13 school year, using a formula that in 2005 all 50 governors agreed to adopt. In the years since, only a dozen or so states have done so. Under the formula, graduation rates are calculated by dividing the number...

Well naturally, the newspapers had to weigh in on Eckstein teacher Carl Chew's decision to not give the WASL to his students. The PI's response was more measured while the Times let Lynne Varner loose on it with just about what you'd expect. From the PI: "We won't pass judgment on the science teacher's decision to refuse to administer the Washington Assessment of Student Learning; he says he is willing to accept consequences. The key is for Seattle Public Schools to impose adequate discipline, which is fair to the teacher and nuanced enough to discourage escalations of the tactic on others' part." Well, the district may be able to stop teachers but they can't stop parents. If more parents opted out, the Legislature and OSPI would have to listen to their concerns. Mr. Chew mentioned that in California teachers can tell parents about this option. I didn't know it was not possible here for teachers to tell parents about opting out. S...