Seattle Schools Community Forum

 From SPS Communications: Seattle Public Schools will be asking staff, students, families for feedback on schools through an annual phone and email survey. Questions will include topics such as effective communication and school safety. The District will email or call all families the week of Jan. 13 and do a second round the week of Jan. 20. The calls and e-mails will be in the home-language spoken.  The family survey on our schools will be administered through School Messenger. The student and staff survey are paper based and will occur between Jan. 6 and 17.  We appreciate your participation in this year’s family survey. If you have any questions please email research@seattleschools.org . Fifth-graders at Thornton Creek have joined the discussion on the new Seattle game show, " What's Up with Bertha?"   (If you missed it, Bertha is the world's largest tunneling machine that is now stuck under the Viaduct. Why?  No one knows or, if they do,...

Over at the Times, they had an end-of-the year wrap-up for their "Education Lab" adventure with the Gates Foundation.  They ask the question, "What else would you like to see Education Lab tackle in the coming year?" How about truthfulness about your venture? You would think a joint venture with OSPI accessing and using SPS student data to write stories would be a major story for them.  And yet, there was not a single story about it.  Again, almost like it isn't happening. It's very hard to take them seriously (and so I don't). Did I mention that yet another data security breech happened in our country?  That would be Snapchat which is particularly popular with teens.  Hackers posted over four million of its users phone numbers.  From the Mercury News: But pilfered phone numbers can cause broader problems. By combining them and usernames with databases of commonly used passwords or other information, experts warn, hackers can sometimes stea...

Locally (and, of sorts, public education news) comes the announcement that 37th district Senator Adam Kline will not be running to retain his seat.  Naturally, when a senator retires, the obvious replacement often comes from whoever are the representatives in that district (see Jamie Pedersen for Ed Murray).  I am hoping that Rep. Eric Pettigrew runs so that all the ed reform nonsense he has pushed and supported (and seemingly not understood given some of his past statements), he has to explain to voters.  And then he loses.  I also hear that Eric Liu, a great writer, is also thinking of running.  Eric is a great thinker but has never been elected to office.  He is so bright but also his BFF is Nick Hanauer which would (1) fund his campaign but (2) probably get him to support all Hanauer's ed reform push. Also locally, interesting story at KUOW about one family's work to get help for their autistic child , this time with a good outcome in Shoreline Sc...

Charter School Applicant Forums (via the very helpful Charter Commission staff) Applicant Date Time Location Pioneer School January 6 5:15-6:15pm Spokane Public School Administration Building, 200 N Bernard Spokane, WA 99201 Yakima Academy January 8 5:30-6:30pm Perry Technical Institute, 2011 W. Washington Ave. Yakima, WA 98903 Sunnyside Charter Academy January 8 6:30-7:30pm Evergreen Leadership Academy January  9 6-7pm Hoquiam High School: The Little Theatre, 201 W. Emerson, Hoquiam WA 98550 Washington STEM Academy January 13 5-6pm South Seattle Community College, 6737 Corson Ave S, Seattle, WA 98108, Building C, Room C122 CAL Elementary January 13 6-7pm Sports in Schools Team Charter January 13 7-8pm Coral Academy January 15 5:30-6:30pm Puget Sound Educational Service District, 800 Oakesdale Ave SW, Renton, WA 98057 Excel Public Charter...

A great piece from @The Chalk Face by John Kuhn who covers both the year in review AND what to do in 2014.  His queries for 2014: Will the education reformers rebound from their numerous defeats this year? They still have the money, they still own the media and the US Department of Education, and they have fresh NAEP and PISA scores that “prove” whatever they want them to prove. (Tennessee and DC students showed major gains on NAEP,  they enthuse , but then they conveniently forget to mention all the reform-friendly states that didn’t show gains at all. Asi es la vida.) Will the Common Core be perceived by the masses as a sensible set of standards to guide instruction in 2014, or will progressives across America view it as another armament in the artillery trained on public education and teachers, while conservatives across the nation view it as a federal takeover of a traditional state responsibility and an attempt to brainwash the children?   His Fi...

More news rolls in for updating charter schools in Washington State. First, three Charter Commissioners have expiring terms and are up for re-appointment (apparently all three want to stay).  Commissioners Chris Martin, Margit McGuire and Kevin Jacka have expiring terms.  It's early to say who should stay and who should go but so far these three seem capable.  Margit McGuire is the most thoughtful of the these three and definitely should stay. The Commission welcomes public comments and asks that all comments be delivered to the Executive Director, Joshua Halsey, by January 11, 2014. Comments can be emailed or mailed to Director Halsey. Email: Joshua.halsey@charterschool.wa.gov  Mail: Joshua Halsey  Re: Commissioner Re-nomination  PO Box 40996 Olympia, WA 985004-0996    As well, public forums for each charter application are starting to be scheduled.  The first one I know of is next Wednesday, Jan...

Pop quizzes! Pew Research Center - News IQ Quiz Slate's News Quiz. Nice idea for the new year - a Good Times Jar project.   A good way to keep track of what matters to your family and showing gratitude for the good things (big and small) in your lives. Even little victories count. Start this January with an empty jar. Throughout the year write the good things that happened to you on little pieces of paper. On December 31st, open the jar and read all the amazing things that happened to you that year.