Seattle Public Schools flunks civics

What does it teach kids to slaughter a grove of mature trees in a city whose urban forest is already in crisis? A city which will need a new generation to help fix serious environmental problems like cleaning up Puget Sound and dealing with cancer-causing pollution?

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Sausage Links, cats, bats, and politicians edition

Remember when everyone thought Democratic congressional candidate Darcy Burner wasn't going to get extra money from the party to beat U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn? Well, think again. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has "reserved $949,000 of air time to boost Burner's campaign." Here's the reaction from the right-wingers at Sound Politics. ...

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Sausage Links, blame-game edition

David Goldstein at Horse's Ass says everyone has missed the boat about the latest mess surrounding the "top-two" primary. The Seattle Times blamed the parties. The parties blamed the state. Others blamed the lawyers. Goldstein, however, says the person to blame for what could be the "most monumental legal fuck up in state history — one which puts the legitimacy of our entire 2008 election in jeopardy" — is state Attorney General Rob McKenna.

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Love the warrior but hate the war, and other weekend ruminations

Also: Whom to blame for gas prices, kudos for the schools supe, Sound Transit's latest audit, and polygamy's free pass.

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The budget mavens take hold at Seattle Schools

Read this interesting story about the Seattle School Board. You'll find the new language of big-company management being spoken by the new boardmembers, all of whom promised to bring that perspective to the troubled district. The four new members, Peter Maier (a consumer lawyer), Steve Sundquist (formerly with Russell Investment Group), Sherry Carr (finance manager at Boeing), and Harium Martin-Morris (also a Boeing executive), all ran on the same basic platform: it takes experience with big business to handle a huge budget like the School District's. This experienced team was cast in the role by an informal coalition of school activists, with some helpful guidance from the Mayor's office.

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In Seattle, umbrella funds are adapting to the new philanthropy

An important organization in Seattle, the Alliance for Education, has announced changes in the way it will be distributing money. There will now be more targeting and accountability, and more meshing with the district's emerging strategic focus. Similar changes are going on with other umbrella agencies, including in the arts and social services.

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Good news wrapped in a conundrum at Rainier Beach High School

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The Seattle Times on Monday's front page wanted to know if Rainier Beach High School is headed, finally, for a renaissance — or at least a rediscovery by southeast Seattle families. The school is rapidly pushing WASL scores up for its primarily African American students. And, as Emily Hefter reported, African-American students at Rainier Beach are making WASL progress faster than African Americans enrolled in any of the district's other high schools. This is truly good news. RBHS is closing the achievement gap.

But that may turn out to be a real conundrum for Seattle Public Schools and the School Board as administrators and elected officials set out to make changes in the district's outdated assignment plan.

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Olympia's feared watchdog: Brian Sonntag

He's got even more authority now, thanks to a voter-approved initiative that provides for evaluations of public-agency performance. The state auditor is effecting change inside institutions like the Port of Seattle.

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Critics cut to the core of our curriculum

When it comes to problems with our schools, there’s a lot more insight in Robert Jamieson’s Thursday column than in the school district’s curriculum audit by consultants Phi Delta Kappa International, summarized elsewhere in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s local section by Jessica Blanchard.

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Happy day of mourning, turkey!

It's an annual rite in Seattle: 'Tis the season to piss on a holiday. One year it was King County discouraging employees from using the phrase "Merry Christmas" because it was not religiously neutral. Last year it was Port of Seattle Scrooges removing Christmas trees at Sea-Tac Airport. This year, we're off to an early start. The Seattle School District sent a widely publicized note to parents about the "myth" that Thanksgiving is a "happy time." Indeed not, if you're Native American, says the district — it's a day of "mourning."

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Why voters expelled the Seattle School Board class of 2003

Riding in on overreaction to a financial crisis, these reformers were so wrapped up in their various political agendas that they lost sight of the basics of educating kids. They paid a price in this week's election.

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Let's hear it for election 'malaise'

Not everyone is glum about the outcome of Tuesday's election, but you would hardly know that from some of the analysis. John Arthur Wilson is right, I believe, that there is no sign of a large populist uprising out there, but I wouldn't, as he says, say the election reflected "disillusionment." You know, it is possible that a "no" vote on a bad ballot measure, like Prop. 1, is a positive thing.

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Don't touch that phone! It's Robo Dialer calling!

If your phone is ringing today, chances are it's a campaign calling with a pre-recorded message. In the last 10 minutes I got one from Tim Burgess, candidate for the Seattle City Council, and another from Darlene Flynn, candidate for the Seattle School Board. Burgess used his own voice to speak against mail pieces by his opponent, incumbent David Della. Flynn used a Seattle teacher to speak on her behalf.

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No, really, this is a watershed election

Beyond the pettiness of the campaign just ending lies the potential emergence of a whole new mood in Seattle-area politics. It would start with a muting of the cultural wars that have bedeviled Seattle politics ever since 9/11. Call it the revenge of the center.

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We're spending too much on fancy school buildings

Seattle is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to renovate schools — and they need renovating. But the resulting extravagance seems out of scale given the basic challenges today of simply educating kids.

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Latinas become a factor in Seattle politics

A candidate for City Council and a candidate for School Board signal emergence for a minority among minorities.

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Seattle election endorsements at a glance

For those of you who actually know there's an election on Tuesday, Aug. 21.

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A catch-your-breath election for Seattle

The Class of '03 was swept in amid scandal, hard times, and a fear of losing jobs. After an awkward record of reform by this group, are they about to be swept out by the more sensible Class of '07? Here's a look at races on the August 21 ballot for School Board, Port, City Council, and King County

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Using income, instead of race, to identify disadvantaged students

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that race cannot be used as a factor in assigning students to schools, family income is likely to play a big role in the Seattle district — in determining where students attend classes, in allocating resources to neighborhood schools serving disadvantaged kids, or both.

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The U.S. Supreme Court rejects race as a factor in school assignments

Based in part on a Seattle Public Schools case, justices ruled 5-4 that ethnicity cannot be used to determine which school a student attends.

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