Seattle Schools Community Forum

From our readers, news about great work being done by Seattle students who are interested in space studies. From Eric B: The Ingraham Rocket Club i s one of 12 middle and high schools nationwide accepted into NASA's Student Launch program this year. The program requires students to design and build a rocket to carry a student-designed and built scientific or engineering payload to 5,280 feet. Along the way, their work will be reviewed by NASA in the same way NASA reviews their own projects.  In April, our students will go launch their rocket in Huntsville with staff from the Marshall Space Flight Center.  From McClureWatcher via Geek Wire :

I attended the Operations/BTA IV community meeting at Roosevelt this week.  It was disappointing on several fronts. Attending staff included Charles Wright, Flip Herndon, Tom Redman, Joe Wolf, Richard Best, and Carmen Rahm (and a budget staffer whose name I didn't hear and can't find at the district website). There was a dizzying array of handouts.  I don't know if staff has something against trees or cannot devise a couple of handouts to cover the issues but this was overload.

Update : a link to a Soup for Teachers Facebook page with a school-specific petition (you take their wording and put in your specifics so Super/Board know what will happen at YOUR school). end of update With all this discussion, I thought I'd throw up a few pieces of information. Fun Facts In 2004-2005, the most recent year for which statistics are complied, 55.3% of the over 45M children enrolled in public K-12 schools were bused to school at public expense. The United States spends $17.5 billion per year on school bus transportation at an average cost of $692 per student transported.1 The percentage of children bused has been declining steadily since the mid-1980s, when slightly more than 60% of children were bused. At that time, the average expenditure per student transported was under $300.2 In FY2009, approximately $180 million in federal Safe Routes to School funding will be made available to each state’s Department of Transportation to help school ...

Good News: Duncan's much anticipated departure finally at hand. He's leaving in December. Bad News: Bloomberg reports that John King, former NY Ed chief, will be named as replacement by Obama at 3:30 today! Meet the new boss, worse  than the old boss. Friday, October 2nd Community Meeting on Bell Time Analysis at Washington Middle School from 6:30-7:30 pm. Bikes being recalled.   Nearly 1.3 million bicycles in the United States are being recalled for a defect that could cause riders to crash. The recall affects 17 different bike brands from 13 companies, with bikes ranging from model years 1998 through 2015, and a price range of $200 to $10,000. Referendum to overturn tougher vaccination opt-out law in California fails. Flu shot clinics at SPS high schools.  Free to adults with insurance (or $28 without). Flu shots are offered to all children (age 18 or younger) free of charge, regardless of insurance coverage . Got T-Mobile ? They got h...

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Update :   Mayor's press release Chappelle will seek to form stronger strategic partnerships with Seattle Public Schools, institutions of higher learning and other education stakeholders throughout the region, with an eye to improving outcomes for all Seattle children. Well, well, it certainly looks a Trojan horse coming thru that no longer needs its cover. From Dr. Nyland: We are so proud of Mr. Chappelle and are thrilled that the mayor has chosen someone with such integrity, accomplishment, talent and dedication to equity. Mr. Chappelle has been a positive, transformative leader at Rainier Beach High School over the past four years. He has worked side-by-side with students, families and the dedicated Rainier Beach staff to create a college-going culture, elevating expectations for students by bringing in the International Baccalaureate Program. Under his leadership, graduation rates have soared and enrollment has almost doubled. As Director of the Department of Educatio...

Thursday, October 1st Community Meeting on Bell Time Analysis at MLK,Jr. Elementary School from 6:30-7:30 pm. Executive Committee Meeting, JSCEE from 4:30-6:30 pm.  Growth Boundaries Community Meeting at Thornton Creek Elementary from 6:30-7:15 pm. There's just way too many meetings on big issues all happening at once.  I've heard from candidates for School Board that they are trying to make as many of these as they can but between the number of meetings and campaign stops, it will be hard to make one of each type of district meeting.