| John's profileEDENHILLPhotosBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
November 30 I Couldn't Have Said It BetterSeattle Public Schools have been under assault lately - and I'm getting tired of it.
A few years back we had a major financial crisis due to mismanagement. But the superintendent who oversaw our finances at the time is long gone and we have been financially stable and viable for 3 years now.
Recently, the current superintendent, Raj Manhas, submitted his resignation because of abuse by self-centered and racist parents over the issue of closing schools to save additional money. Manhas hoped to continue financial reform by bringing us in line with average building size in the state (we currently have fewer kids per building than most districts). The controversy surrounding the very public closure debate has drawn in the politicians.
The current Mayor, Greg Nickels, and a former mayor, Norm Rice, have been trashing the district trying to force the school board to take Rice on as the new Superintendent. They argue that Seattle Schools are horrible. The essence is Seattle City Hall is trying to make a power grab by the Mayor's office. They are trying to cause panic and blow the controversy out of proportion. It's all getting ridiculous!
Finally, someone in the media has spoken up for Seattle Public Schools. Danny Westneat, a columnist for the Seattle Times has laid out the facts. Seattle Schools, the district in which I teach, is a good district. We consistently score above average in all state tests. Even more consistently, our test scores for kids living below the poverty line (and 40% of our kids qualify for that label) are higher than the scores of poor kids in other supposedly excellent districts (like Bellevue).
It comes down to this: We have more poor students than most districts, but we do a better job of educating them. And our middle class kids are doing better than the state average as well.
Yes, we have our problems - and no one knows that better than I do. I am often sick and tired of administrative miscommunication and poor planning from the leaders down at district headquarters. We also spend too much money catering to white upper-class parents with exclusive special programs. That's why we have buildings running with half the number of students they should have to be financially viable. But whenever we talk about closing schools and consolidating in order to save money white parents scream they will leave and go to private schools while black parents scream about institutional racism - while nobody proposes alternative solutions.
As with many of the problems in education, it really isn't the teachers or the students that cause the problems. We are doing our jobs. We are teaching and we are learning. The problems lie with parents who only know how to complain. They never propose solutions.
I congratulate the Seattle School Board that has basically told the current and former mayor to fuck off. Finally, they are showing some backbone.
Thank you Danny Westneat for pointing out the obvious - Seattle Public Schools are good schools. We are a big city with many challenges, but we are doing better than most suburban and rurual school districts. And we are consistently doing a better job than the two other large and poor school districts in the state - Tacoma and Spokane.
I'm proud to teach in Seattle. Let's concentrate our time on the real problems and stop playing politics. November 28 It's Been a Long TimeIt's been more than two weeks since my last entry. I've been very busy. No...overwhelmed - perhaps that is the best term. There has been too much going on in my life lately, and that has left me feeling somewhat burried and depressed. But now I think I'm coming out of it.
Currently, I'm taking SCUBA classes at Underwater Sports here in Seattle. I'm very excited about my pending certification as an Open Water SCUBA diver. The classes have been fun, though long (4-5 hours at night). I'm amazed that I have been, by far, the most competant in the water among the eight people in my class. I was able to swim 200 meters faster than anyone in the class. And, I swam the farthest underwater holding my breath (two laps of the pool). I'm no great athlete - but it's nice to be the most physically skilled in a group for a change. All my life I've always been the most uncoordinated and the least skilled in just about every sport.
Also, I finished a big project today and that has me feeling successful. I completed the commemorative video for my brother's Italian bike racing camp. Patrick flew me to Italy last summer so I could produce a keepsake DVD for his clients, as well as create an Internet video commercial for his website - Velo Veneto. The DVD is finished and I've posted it on YouTube. Soon the commercial will be complete as well.
Furthermore, our finances are looking better. We've started to work with a personal banker and investment advisor to help us recover from our real estate fiasco. I think by spring of 2007, we will be back on our feet and back in the black. That means our Panama Canal Cruise at Christmas is a sure thing. That's just two weeks away.
Things are looking up. November 11 Keep Net NeutralityThe Internet is under seige by telecom companies. They want to control and charge for transmission of data. They argue that they own the phone lines and therefore have the right to charge for any media that travels between computers on their phone lines.
What they forget, is their phone lines are traveling through public rights of way, without charge. And courts have ruled that as a public utility using public rights of way, the government can regulate telecommuncation.
Don't let your congressional representative give the phone company giants the right to charge for specific types of data transmission. We must keep net neutrality (all data transmission is treated the same).
This affects me personally because I and many others have recently started posting creative and political speech on the Internet via music and video. The phone companies want charge to charge a toll for transporting large files like those used for streaming media. Or, they want to offer preferential speed for companies that pay for "fast lane" service (thereby relegating individuals like me to the slow lane. Fees for that kind of service would quash the democratic nature of the Internet and the World Wide Web. It would put control of streaming Internet content into the hands of large and wealthy media corporations. Average citizens would no longer be able to afford to produce their own media and distribute it on the Internet because they couldn't afford the fee for preferential service.
DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN. Anyone who pays for access to the Internet should then be able to send files with the same rights as any other individual or corporation.
Tell your representative in congress to vote for "Net Neutrality!" against H5252. Tell your senator to vote against S2686.
To learn more, watch this video: Humanity Labotomy. (while it's still free) Then contact your representative in congress. |
|
|
