Results tagged “seattlepublicschools”

• Starting Monday, Susan Enfield will take on her role as Seattle Public Schools' new chief academic officer. Now if only we knew her stance on high school math.
• This Saturday, you won't find a cheeseburger on the grill at Hillside Quickie's. But you will find tofu at their 4th Annual Vegan BBQ Buffet. We will add this to the "Only in Seattle" column.

The UW's weather guru Cliff Mass is part of a threesome that have appealed to the King County Superior Court to block the Seattle Public Schools' adoption of an inquiry-based math textbook series: Discovering Algebra, Discovering Geometry, and Discovering Advanced Algebra. In a press release, they argue that inquiry-based math instruction has resulted in a growing "achievement gap in mathematics among ethnic minority and free-lunch students in 4th, 7th, and 10th grades." The argument is also playing out in the op-ed pages of the Seattle Times, where a math teacher at Roosevelt responded to Mass's vocal criticism, oddly without including a single math-achievement benchmark that might sway us in favor of the series.

Just when Seattle Public Schools--as well as private schools--are tightening their budgets and laying off teachers, we hear a story about why they shouldn't. For nearly a decade 18-year-old Jessica Terry from Sammamish had been suffering from a mystery stomach illness that her doctors couldn't identify. But thanks to her AP Science class, the Eastside Catholic School senior analyzed her own intestinal tissue through a microscope and discovered that she had Crohn's disease. A pathologist later confirmed her self-diagnosis.

The Seattle school board voted last night to approve Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson's proposed list of closures, which means that a total of eight programs will be re-located or shut down completely. The following schools will close: Genesee Hill, T.T. Minor, Mann, Van Asselt, and John Hay the Old Hay building. In addition, the following programs and school entities will be discontinued: African American Academy, Meany Middle School, Cooper Elementary, T.T. Minor Elementary, and Summit K-12. Cooper Elementary's building will house Pathfinders K-8, displaced by Genesee Hill's closure. See the Seattle Public Schools press release for more detailed information about program relocation.

Rainier Valley Post has a few reasons why it's wrong to close the African American Academy. (Sable Verity wholeheartedly disagrees.) West Seattle Blog was on the ball this afternoon and has an updated post about the school board's proposed amendments to what were supposedly the final recommendations for school closures. The board votes on the recommended list tomorrow. Not everyone was thinking about school, though. MyBallard, for instance, was contemplating cottage-style housing developments. And Central District News learned from SDOT that 23rd Avenue is in such bad shape, it will take more than the usual time and effort to repair it.

The vote on school closures is fast approaching! On Thursday, the city school board will make the official call--and emotions are running high. Parents and teachers at the schools on the final recommended closure list made sure their voices were heard this weekend at a rally at T.T. Minor Elementary, one of the schools on the recommended closure list. Though it's possible the school board will vote not to close any schools (a strategy recommended by former school board director Dick Lilly over at Crosscut), it's not likely. Money is just too tight, and something's gotta give. The complaint, however, is that the "somethings" taking the brunt of the cuts are Seattle's poorest, least lily-white neighborhoods--and some are going as far as to call the selective closures racist, flat out. The local chapter of the NAACP is on the case, though last we heard, NAACP national leadership hadn't heard about or approved any legal action.

• West Seattle Blog was at the Seattle Public Schools board meeting last night to hear the discussion on final recommendations for school closures. She posts running updates from the conversation and links to the Save Seattle Schools blog, which was also posting to-the-minute commentary.
• Burien's B-Town Blog has also been busy going to city meetings. Gina Bourdage has detailed notes from a recent City of Burien open house about the planned partial annexation of North Highline.
• Is Massline faux-beefing (no soy) with itself? Raindrophustla posts the latest video riff on the Blue Scholars' much-snarked-about "Coffee And Snow," this one produced by BS label-mates Common Market.

In a press conference at 3 p.m., Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson released her final school closure recommendation list [pdf]. Here's the summary graphic from the SPS' news release:

Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson announced last night that the district is no longer considering closing a traditional high school during this round of school closures--and it sounds like she's not terribly interested in pushing for the relocation of Aki Kurose middle school students and/or the Center School program into Rainier Beach High School as planned either. This is either testament to the power of a vocal group of people to affect The System's machinations, or it is proof that the school closure list is more mutable than the central Puget Sound weather forecast.

We woke up to a beautiful crunchy layer of snow blanketing the neighborhood and a couple email alerts telling us that the Seattle School District has declared a second snow day. Wahoo! We hope everyone stays safe and warm today, and that everyone is fully stocked with entertaining books, movies and websites for the duration. Here's a story about a man who plans to install a video camera in his head.

Seattle Public Schools just declared a snow day--no joke--and there is a "winter weather advisory" out for our area, says the National Weather Service. Seattlest will, of course, be going to work. We're that dedicated, but we are still keeping our fingers crossed that the boss will send everyone straight back home. That has everything to do with dangerous snow and nothing to do with the Re-Bar stamp on our right wrist from last night, by the way.

Facing a $37.1 million dollar budget shortfall, the Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools announced her updated plans for school closures: Summit K-12 will shut its doors entirely, rather than moving to Rainier as had been previously discussed, and Cleveland High School and Rainier Beach High School will merge. Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson's presentation from last night's meeting can be found online here [pdf], and here's the summary [pdf] of what will probably be final recommendations for closures. Someone (or a group of someones, more likely) is bound to be unhappy about whatever solution is suggested, but we're concerned about the gap left by the Summit closure in alternative, arts-friendly education in our district.

EARLY DISMISSAL: All over the Puget Sound, schools are releasing their charges early today, in celebration of Thanksgiving so teachers can drink their way through an entire happy hour. If you have kids, make a special point to pick them up on time--letting them fend for themselves is one thing in spring, but it's cold out. Also, and we speak from personal experience, they take being forgotten at school personally.

• The Central District News covered the ribbon cutting ceremony at our newly-remodeled alma mater, Garfield High School. Seeing that the remodel was desperately needed a decade ago when we were roaming the crowded halls, we say finally. But not so fast...classes start today and the final touches still don't seem to be finished.
• Capitol Hill Seattle poses a very important question: who is the best bartender on Capitol Hill? Any nominations dear, drunk readers?
• MyBallard unmasks The Geeky Swedes. True to their name, they are an adorably Scandinavian-looking family.

Long spoken of and rarely acted upon, the renovation and remodeling of The Seattle Center was again on the docket for Monday's City Council meeting. Center officials presented a number of new design ideas for the redevelopment of the Center. Central to these are the demolishing of Memorial Stadium and The Fun Forest. Proposed uses for the space include a new outdoor amphitheatre to replace Memorial Stadium, a brand new Center House, and plans to turn the asphalt of the Fun Forest into green space.

No, Seattlest is not just a fan of alliteration and 80's slang, as the headline might suggest. Burying the beef, is the current plan of the Seattle Public School District to rid itself of 230 cases of possibly contaminated beef. The beef, provided to school districts through a USDA lunch program, came from a California slaughterhouse in the center of the largest beef recall in USDA history.

Tonight you have two options; you can either watch Super Tuesday results on the TV, or head down to Pioneer Square with Dax, T-Bone, and a handfull of beads.

Seattlest's former elementary school, Madrona, is the leading edge of a terrifying movement in Seattle Public Schools.

Turns out it's not so easy to outfox young and dedicated junk food consumers, such as students at Cleveland High School:

Chips and cookies were replaced in vending machines with granola bars and trail mix; sugary drinks are no longer sold in schools. Cleveland fell into line with other schools, offering healthier foods in its cafeteria and vending machines.

Continue reading "Schoolkids Figure Out Junk Food Available Off Campus"

Seattle Schools Superintendent Raj Manhas announced today he'll resign at the end of the year, leaving a job opening for anyone who likes getting screamed at.

Is this how it works: Seattle Public Schools has some issues with its budget, threatens a bunch of school closures and then watches parents scramble to defend their home turf? It all gets called off until next year when they again release a bunch of school names and wait for the response.

The ad in the Weekly caught our eye: Opium! Graft! Sex! Debauchery! All this printed over a picture of a moll who'd fit right in at Belltown's Whisky Bar.

Seattlest nearly spit up our tall decaf americano (not really, we’re just keeping it folksy today) when we learned via the Seattle Times that Garfield High is fielding a grand total of 44 valedictorians this year.

Last week Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Raj Manhas announced a plan to close ten schools and end busing to others in order to save money and cut into the district’s increasing deficit—they project losses of $20 million in 2006-7.

Seattlest hereby attempts to salvage Downer Friday with news that the Camp Fire Kids kick off their annual candy sale today.