During the Tacoma teachers strike, so many community members wondered “what about the kids?” We were especially concerned by the numbers that the strike highlighted: third-largest school district in the state, more than half of Tacoma public school students (about 18,000) who qualify for free breakfasts and lunches served at school. We decided to head to our nearest food bank, St. Leo’s Food Connection, to see how we could help out. more ›

Police announce arrests in July's gang-related shootout in Kent, Tacoma teachers stick to their guns, Amazon wins big, and Washington State loses bigger. All that, plus a very surly Friday Morning Jam, in today's headlines. more ›

In today's news: joblessness remains, human remains, and a mandate from a judge telling Tacoma's teachers to call off the strike. more ›

With teachers across the Sound using the threat of a strike as a collective bargaining chip, it's easy to forget that it's technically illegal for them to do so. more ›

Budget woes, medical marijuana's sad fate and oh, there goes the neighborhood. Good thing it's still SIFF and Beer Week--we need it. more ›

If you've been following the negotiations between the Seattle teachers union and the Seattle School Board over a new three-year contract, then you might be a bit confused, or totally clueless. Not to worry. The new contract, which the union voted in favor of yesterday evening, should make Seattle's teachers work a little bit harder, and we'll all be smarter for it (or Seattle's kids, at least). The new contract will implement a unique system to evaluate teacher performance and reward great teachers while flagging those who perform poorly. It's quite unprecedented actually. more ›

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.
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• The Grateful Dead came alive once again--kinda--this weekend at the Gorge.
• Thanks to the state cutting $1.5 billion from edu-ma-cation funding, more than 2,900 Washington teachers found out Friday their summer break just got extended.
• Folks in West Seattle saw something this weekend, it could have been a dolphin, could have been a group of whales. But they saw something.
• The high school kids in Mill Creek, who threw down in a mean food fight last week blew it for everyone when they lost their prom. (tear) Now it's back on. (suckas) Bring on the haunting photo decisions to wear sequins and gaudy white "pimp" tuxes. Oh the horror! more ›

What's going on with kids these days? The 14-year-old boy who spiked his teacher's coffee with vomit-inducing ipecac pleaded guilty yesterday to fourth-degree assault. The Federal Way middle school student was then sentenced to eight months of community supervision and 24 hours of community service. His partner in crime, a 13-year-old boy, will be headed for his day in court next Friday. The teacher has since sworn off middle schoolers and plans to make the switch to teach elementary school kids. more ›

Seattle Public Schools confirmed that they will have to implement an "R.I.F." (Reduction In Force), meaning lay off nearly 200 Seattle school teachers by May 15. First of all, who says "R.I.F."? That acronym is just tacky and screams tombstones. Great last impression, right? So now as the force of teachers dwindle, we're expecting more classroom congestion, chaos, and for the love of it all, who will be left to teach high schoolers math from their brand new Discovering Mathematics textbooks series? more ›