Seattle Schools Community Forum

From our friends at the West Seattle Blog we learn that new Board member Marty McLaren has stepped up in a big way to hear what constituents are thinking about the capacity management plans for next year.   (I'm sorry for not posting this earlier - still nursing that cold - but there are still two other meetings.) *Tomorrow, Saturday, January 7th, Southwest Library, 10 am-noon *Monday, January 9th, at West Seattle Library, 10 am-noon *Saturday, January 14th, Delridge Library, 11 am-1 pm

From the thread, Drawing Lines in the Sand , below is this heartfelt plea from a teacher.   I sometimes give these teacher thoughts their own thread, not so much for comments, but so we can all hear what it is like from the front lines.   (I have teased it out, line by line, to maximize the impact and realities of what teachers face.)  I have been teaching for 6 years. Last year and this year have been the toughest years of my short career by far. I have bigger classes, less support, and more district bull to deal with.  I spent countless hours last year battling badly designed alignment plans.  This year I have been told to raise my expectations to close the achievement gap as if I have not had high expectations for my students to begin with. As if raising my expectations more will make my students magically rise to that expectation. A mentality that conveniently disregards the need for boots on the ground support in schools. I ca...

As I mentioned previously, I attended the Coe Elementary event last night.  It was fairly full but I wish I had publicized it more as it was worthwhile being there.   But it deserves a separate thread. But a couple things happened and as I pondered them in bed last night (while nursing a cold) as well as thinking about all that has been written in the media lately, I came to some conclusions.

Word is out that there's a big all-JSCEE meeting this morning at 9ish.  Everyone is meeting in the auditorium with the speaker being Dr. Enfield.  Hmmm.   Is there a big announcement coming? Also, I attended the Coe Elementary event last night with Michael DeBell, Dr. Enfield and Rep. Reuven Carlyle (and Harium Martin-Morris also came).  It was quite interesting and I'll write up a separate thread.  There was an awful lot of "please Susan stay" from the panel and enthusiasm from parents.   But no mention or hint of any announcement. I can think of one of two things:  one, Dr. Enfield has decided to stay or two, she has decided to leave earlier. I think the former unlikely (unless like Lady Gaga, she's got a great poker face) and the latter more probable as she is now not an interim but a lame duck superintendent both to staff and to the Legislature. Or maybe it's a coffee hour. Also to note; there are no Board Director community mee...

The Alliance for Education's 10th annual community breakfast will be at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Seattle on March 29. This is one of the big community fundraisers for the Alliance. Last year they raised $220,000 at this event. The Alliance has about $11 million in cash and securities and raised about $7 million in contributions last year, so this breakfast is not completely insignificant, but it is mostly for show. The bulk of the Alliance's fundraising is done at the Gates Foundation, not with the general public at all. Unlike a lot of my friends, I do not believe that the Alliance for Education is the debil, although they have become a puppet organization for the Gates Foundation. I am glad to hear that anyone - Gates, Broad, Phillip Morris, or Darth Vader - wants to contribute to public education. Now, I may think that some of their contributions are misguided, but - with the exception of a handful of specific privateers and profiteers (Goldman Sachs, I talking abou...

The Washington State Supreme Court has upheld the ruling by a King County judge that the state is failing to fulfill its constitutional duty to provide funding for public schools. Here is the Court's opinion. Then the Court threw up their hands and admitted that there was nothing they could do about it. They can't - or won't - force the legislature to do anything and they have given the legislature six years to mend their ways. Can you imagine? "This Court finds that you have been mal-nourishing these children in your charge and gives you just six years to start feeding them properly." And if they don't? Then I guess the Court will bring them in and give them another six years to comply. Here is the story in the Seattle Times by Brian Rosenthal. Here is the story in Publicola.

From the Hamilton website: There comes a time in the life of every community when painful events occur that compel us to take pause and support one another in our sadness and distress.  It is with a heavy heart that I share information with you that has saddened our Hamilton International and Washington Middle School communities. As you may have been aware, one of our teachers, Ms. Shadow, has been critically ill. Tuesday afternoon, December 27 th , Marcy died peacefully surrounded by her family. Ms. Shadow was a passionate teacher. She began teaching Gifted and Talented students in 1976. She moved onto Washington Middle School in 1980 where she taught with the APP program until 2009. In 2009 Marcy moved to Hamilton International Middle School when the APP program opened here. Words cannot begin to express the wide range of emotions we are all feeling and our heartfelt sympathy goes out to Ms. Shadow’s family and friends. Ms. Shadow’s enthusiasm for inspirin...