Seattle Schools Community Forum

The first story comes out of Bethel School District.  From the Seattle Times : Starting this fall, the Bethel school district will cover the full cost of Advanced Placement exams for every student — with no cap on how many AP courses each student can take.

The Southeast Seattle Education Coalition has announced a public forum for District 7 candidates looking to replace retiring Director Betty Patu. Co-hosted by: Seattle Council PTSA, Beacon Hill International School PTA, John Muir PTA, Kimball PTSA, Friends of Hawthorne, Van Asselt PTA, Mercer Middle School PTSA, and Southeast Seattle Education Coalition (SESEC) WHEN: Wednesday, July 31 | 6-8 p.m. | Doors at 5.30 p.m. Program starts promptly at 6 p.m. WHERE: Rainier Avenue Church*, 5900 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118

Readers, I have seen a few people claiming that I allow too many people free rein in what they say here at SSCF. I offer these thoughts so that there is a better understanding of what it means to run an open and active blog. Anyone who has ever moderated a blog or Facebook page knows how hard it is. Now if a blog has very few readers and almost no comments, it may be hard to understand this point.

King County Elections says that everyone should have received their ballots by now for the August 6th primary .  Check with them if you haven't.

On Filling Betty Patu's Seat District Communications tells me that answers to the questions the Board has put forth are due from candidates by Monday, July 29th.  I would think they would be uploaded that day but I'll keep track and let you know.  Personally I found some of the questions somewhat repetitive and leading but it's always good to hear what candidates think. Also to note, if you have new information that you think reflects badly on a candidate, you need to sign your full name to your comment or I will have to delete it. I see a slight uptick of people trying to smear candidates and that won't fly here.  You are absolutely welcome to give your opinion of a candidate, hopefully based on the knowledge you have gathered about that candidate .  I think it important to say how you got the information (candidate website/Facebook page, newspaper, school website, working with the candidate etc.) that forms your opinion.

Tomorrow is the 50th Anniversary of the United States landing on the moon .  (I was alive then to see that - from a town in Arizona - but I suspect most of you weren't.  It was pretty damn exciting.)  Lots going on at NASA including a replay of original Moon landing broadcast from July 20, 1969.