Seattle Schools Community Forum

 Via KUOW: In King County, passengers can show a youth ORCA card, a student ID, or simply board Metro buses and Link light rail. The county will move toward a more universal youth transit pass in 2023.   Under the Move Ahead Washington package, King County Metro will receive an estimated $31.7 million in grant funding to implement its free youth fare policy by Oct. 1, according to the county . Seattle Public Schools has distributed free transit passes for middle and high school students in recent years, but only during the school year. High school student Chloe Dhamdhere said in the past youth would run into trouble if they lost or forgot their ORCA passes, and students were often surprised to realize their passes were suspended during summer months. She said this new policy sounds more comprehensive.   “I’m glad because some of the drivers will get annoyed because they notice ORCA cards aren’t scanning, or kids will be like, ‘I forgot mine,’” Dhamdhere said. “I’ve gotten...

Parents, it doesn't look good. You might start preparing to have your student home for the first week of school. I'm sorry.  Yesterday, SEA on Twitter: Sounds hopeful.  SEA today on Twitter: Yesterday SPS canceled 5pm bargaining at 4:52pm. Today they say they're not available. It's time for SPS to match SEA members' dedication to our students and to starting school on time. Send an email to the SPS Board - spsdirectors @seattleschools.org From the SEA website: Upcoming Events Monday:  SEA Labor Day Strike Prep   Tuesday:  United for our Students Rally From SPS: SEA Declines to Enter into Mediation Seattle Education Association has turned down Seattle Public Schools’ request for legal mediation in an effort to reach a contract agreement before the start of school next Wednesday. The offer, extended earlier today, was met with immediate decline by SEA.  SPS was prepared to begin bargaining in June, and we honored SEA’s request for a two-w...

  SEA tweet this morning: Working for free today? We all have too much work to take today off, but the district won't acknowledge that by paying us and instead are proposing to take more of our paid prep time away. Why are you voting YES to strike? Sounds like they want to strike.  Over at the Seattle Public Schools Twitter feed , their tweet is about getting messages from SPS and updating parent contact info. Also from yesterday, Look who's on a Wheaties box!! Congrats to our Director of Culinary Services, Aaron Smith. He was recognized by General Mills for his innovative approach to making sure our students are fed food that is culturally responsive, nutritious and fun. #TrayBlazer (sic) # SPSFresh Also via Twitter: If you are a K-12 public school teacher or school psychologist who would be willing to answer a few questions for a piece in The Atlantic, I would love to chat with you. Send me and email: stephaniehelenemurray@gmail.com. Some of you may have seen that the resu...

1) That first paragraph where it says "free of political bias?" History is written by the winners. History IS very much political so trying to sanitize it all will be some job.  2) So kids will be taught that racism exists today but the U.S. is not fundamentally or systemically racist. What if a teacher has a lesson on redlining and has research that it still occurs today? What then? Racism in this country only occurs in a few pockets? Oh brother! 3) So "nor disparaging treatment shall be applied to learning about any race,..." Again, the teacher is putting forth info on the Civil War. A student makes an observation that it looked like the slave owners were all white and the enslaved were all Black." Is that student to be censured? Can the teacher agreed in theory?  4) I absolutely agree that no one's race makes them responsible for "past transgressions of their race." But doesn't that phrasing imply that yes, there IS a race that was responsi...

 Seattle Schools' Twitterfeed reflects a tweet that's been there at least three days about high school start/end times. Not a word at all. No new updates at their webpage. The Seattle Education Association's Twitterfeed is cheery photos of various schools and their teachers wearing their red education shirts.  However, they have this notice posted TODAY (bold mine): Together in SEA, we are speaking with one strong voice for what our students and educators need. Last night, the membership approved language for a strike authorization vote. Voting begins Thursday, 9/1 at noon and closes at 9:00a.m. on Monday, September 5 .   SEA will announce voting results on Tuesday, September 6 and a strike, should we not reach a TA by then, will begin on September 7. Timeline September 1-4: Members vote on strike authorization September 6: Announcement of strike authorization vote September 7: First student day if we reach a TA or first day of strike I will note that the SEA does...

 From The Seattle Times: Seattle police arrested two men in separate child kidnapping attempts a few hours apart on Tuesday, authorities said. At 11 a.m., a man allegedly tried to force a 10-year-old girl he did not know into a car in the 6500 block of 45th Avenue Northeast in the View Ridge neighborhood, the Seattle Police Department  said in a blotter item . A witness intervened and the man fled, leaving the child behind, police said. Officers found his car in Fremont, arrested him and booked him into the King County Jail.  Police are still investigating the incident. Shortly before 1 p.m., a 45-year-old man grabbed a 7-year-old boy who was walking with his grandmother on Second Avenue, lifting him off his feet, police said. The boy’s grandmother held onto him as a passerby helped fend off the man. Police found the man, who appeared to be in crisis, several blocks away and booked him into the King County Jail.

 New tweet from SPS of interest: Beginning this year, most high schools will start at 8:50 a.m. and end at 3:40 p.m. You can find start and end time for all schools at: https:// buff.ly/3F2uEBi