Seattle Schools Community Forum

  There is also something rotten at JSCEE.  I just don't get what they put in the water there that makes people working there think and act in dysfunctional ways that will NEVER turn out well. Or they will get found out, sooner or later.   I know some think I get a kick out of pointing this out. I don't. That it happens over and over again - and that's over the course of my 20+ years of district watching - is just saddening.  I still have public disclosure requests into the district over the Hampson-DeWolf HIB investigation. The public records section of the SPS Legal Counsel have been nothing but polite and helpful.  There are two things I want to report out of the last pile of documents I was sent which were the invoices for the costs of the investigation.  The overall cost for two law firms and a mediator came to just over $120,500. Sadly mediation, which cost $33,000, was for naught. It appears the investigation started in November 2020, two m...

Update via The Seattle Times , both SPS and Bellevue SD are closed on Friday. Bellevue said it was canceling school Friday because of staffing shortages, “anticipated inclement weather, and COVID-19 restrictions,”  according to its website . After-school programs will also be canceled, but athletics will continue as scheduled.  And, across the nation: School districts across the country have also canceled school Friday, and some have also cited shortages in staffing and substitutes. Others said it was a day for students and staff to recharge during what has already been an exhausting year of school thanks to the pandemic. And some schools are closing for the day to vaccinate students.  San Diego Unified School District students have the option of taking Friday off as a mental health day, The San Diego Union-Tribune  reported .  The Associated Press reported  a school district in Virginia closed the first week of November over concerns about mental health an...

 From t he Seattle Times: When Ballard High School senior Eric Anthony Souza-Ponce first heard his English teacher describe a class essay assignment — to write about how the Frankenstein monster in the novel by Mary Shelley represented oppressed people — he was taken aback. To Souza-Ponce, who is Latino, the essay was asking students to write about “why oppressed people do bad things,” he said. “It perpetuates that people of color do bad things.”   This was in January 2021.

Update at 1:10 pm Told by Tim Robinson, the PIO for SPS, that yes, there was a bomb threat, students cleared school and sent to football field and SPD is investigating.  End of update Update at 1:07 pm. Told by SPD that "there is something happening there" but that I would have to ask the district's Public Information Officer. Can't be really serious if SPD is not on the scene. Will update as I learn more. end of update  I am being told by a parent that Garfield High evacuated today at 12:30 pm due to a "bomb threat." I cannot find info anywhere. No SPS tweet nor anything at Garfield's Facebook page. I tried calling the school but no answer.  Anyone hearing anything?

There's an elective math course at Garfield High School  labeled " BUSINESS MATH 130" that look straightforward in the course listings but there's a lot more to it than "business math."

There's a Town Hall tonight from 7-8:45 pm, to assist parents in making COVID vaccination decisions for their children. This looks good but they have waaaay too many speakers at 15(!) including the U. S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy. Facebook.com/BlackDoctor.org YouTube.com/BlackDoctororg The district has finally set a timeline for the homeless encampment at Broadview-Thomson , from My Northwest:

The Hampson interview is probably the most problematic of the interviews. Like Director Zachary DeWolf, she feels it important to lay out a roadmap to her thinking leadership based on her childhood.  Her words do open up broader questions about what school board leaders believe about leadership, especially as the school board elections approach. In fact, several things that Hampson says deserve further discussion and I'll be writing a wrap-up post bringing in those issues. She talks quite a bit about her Native culture and being a Native woman. However, it is a bit of a surprise that she spent about half the interview talking about herself. Also, Hampson said she would supply MFR Law Group with evidence of her work to support the Black community. She did NOT do so even though the report says she was offered several chances to do so. Clearly, she wanted to present a narrative that she couldn't possibly have committed racist acts. The report supports that she didn't. But boy,...