October Open Thread

One full week down, and the rest of the year to go.

News: Tentative School Makeup Dates for the strike
http://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=2336052

2e Support Group Meeting: The first 2015/16 meeting is this coming Monday 10/12 in the Lincoln High School library in Wallingford from 7-9PM.

"This first meeting will be wide open for your beginning-of-the-year questions and concerns. Whether you are new to the group or an old timer, come and share your experiences with other parents going through the same things. We are one another’s experts! Share your frustrations, learn new things, and bring a sense of humor—it always helps. :-) If we have a large number of attendees we can break out into groups (by age or by area of difficulty, such as ADHD, learning disabilities, autism spectrum, etc) to compare notes."

The first HCC Advisory Committee is scheduled for 6:30-8PM Tue. 10/6 at Washington Middle School.  I'm looking for anyone who is willing to go in the future and write up a post on what occurs.

Math: I sent a mail to Anna Box the head of the Math dept. inquiring about 6th grade placement. The new policy is currently being drafted and sent around to the principals with the expectation it will be announced in a month or two. I'll try to stay on top of this and open a thread when real details come out.

Reminder: The deadline for Advanced Learning Evaluation is coming up in only a few weeks (10/8)  SPS Advanced Learning.  I'll also open a thread discussing evaluation etc. some time soon.

Middle School Curriculum Project.  I have the following page  http://discussapp.blogspot.com/p/middle-school-curriculum-project.html permanently on the top of the blog. Now that middle school is starting, if you're interesting in documenting and improving the curriculum please log what your students are doing there.

What's on your minds?

First Day of School (At Last)

We're finally starting the year tomorrow 9/17!  I'm excited enough to put this post out one day early.

Reminders:

1. Many activity signups have not changed despite the delay in the starting date. Most important for our purposes: the deadline for Advanced Learning Evaluation is coming up in only a few weeks (10/8)   SPS Advanced Learning.

2. Middle School Curriculum Project.  I have the following page  http://discussapp.blogspot.com/p/middle-school-curriculum-project.html permanently on the top of the blog. Now that middle school is starting, if you're interesting in documenting and improving the curriculum please log what your students are doing there.

3. Million Hits! This one is just for fun. But I've put the counter on the top for the next week or so because we're about to pass the 1 million mark.

So how is the first day going?

Teacher Strike

As of this morning there is still no agreed upon contract and one day left until school starts.

• The latest update from the union: http://www.seattlewea.org/index.php/bargaining

• The latest update from SPS: http://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=1880819

News Stories:

http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/seattle/2015/09/07/seattle-teachers-strike-no-deal-wednesday/71856746/

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Seattle-teachers-prep-for-strike-amid-last-minute-negotiations-325377371.html

http://mynorthwest.com/11/2807278/Seattle-school-board-preps-for-legal-action-over-teacher-strike

Just in:

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/seattle-school-board-to-consider-legal-action-if-teachers-strike/ which contains the following info:

"The district hopes to decide by the end of the day Tuesday whether to cancel school on Wednesday, said district spokeswoman Stacy Howard."

Several news outlets are now reporting that there will be a strike tomorrow via twitter.

https://twitter.com/KING5Seattle Also there are several threads on http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/


Since the teachers have announced a strike schedule through Friday it doesn't look like
any settlement is possible until at least next week.

Please share your thoughts and what backup activities you're setting up for you kids.

Garfield and Ingraham Course Scheduling

Per a parent's request this thread is for discussing the difficulties in scheduling the desired classes at the high schools. 9th grade languages seem to be particularly affected. Although this issue is not HCC specific it certainly affects the cohorts.

I have 2 general  requests:

1. Please remember to be to kind to your fellow parents.  We're all in this together.
2. If someone would  be willing to email Ted Howard and find out an official position on language classes and repost it  that would be helpful.