Look what's on the DOGE Dopey Boys list, Head Start and Pell Grants. I would bet they get rid of some of the Department of Education in a piecemeal fashion before they do away with it for good. Blaming Dems for pandemic outcomes due to closing schools and leaving them closed. I have seen this argument in several places and I think it will long be debated.  From Education Next: Just when it seemed those in power no longer cared about the nation’s K–12 education system, schools are generating earthquakes. Classrooms and playgrounds are not shaking—yet. Instead, the epicenters are l ..read more

At 1:30 pm today in King County Superior Court, Judge Michael Scott will hear arguments in the attempt to recall Seattle School Board president Liza Rankin. Info on the issues of this case here. Apparently there are hundreds of pages of pleadings.  Judge Scott may or may not issue a ruling today that the plaintiffs can go forward with their petition.  I'll put an update here after the hearing.  Rankin seems to think she just has to explain that all she does as president is set and run meetings. That's simply not so.  And, under SOFG, she has taken her power as president to ..read more

 Opening the floor for suggestions on closing the SPS budget gap.  1. Obviously, for the Legislature to truly fund public education for every child. I'm not sure I believe this will ever happen but I do also understand why there is hesitation to give money to districts that are not doing well. I think any "ask" should be accompanied by "and here's how we will use those new dollars wisely." 2. No raises for anyone for two years. Most people don't get a raise every year anyway and maybe it will stem the hiring at JSCEE. 3. Again, for those in the back, CHARGE THE CITY for pre-k classro ..read more

There was an interesting column from Seattle Times' writer Danny Westneat. It's called: School closures were another swing, miss for Seattle progressivism At last count, there were 627 comments. Clearly, he hit a nerve. I concur with much of what he puts forth. Upfront, I want to say that the Democrats allowed one subgroup of progressives to somehow say that their progressivism is what ALL Democrats want/believe. Meanwhile, on the Seattle School Board, that progressivism was used against mostly white parents as a cudgel to silence them.  To say that if you disagree with the Board o ..read more

Updates: Here's a link to the group, Recall Rankin, that filed the recall papers.  In their press release, they give this information: Under Washington State law, the King County Superior Court will review the recall petition to determine if it can proceed. If a judge allows it to proceed, petitioners will then circulate the petition for signatures.  A recall requires the valid signatures of legal voters equal to twenty-five percent of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for the office to which the officer whose recall is demanded was elected at the preceding election ..read more

 Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting.  In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to ..read more

Has it just been a week since the last Board meeting? So what has happened? Actually, let's go back further and see what President Liza Rankin said on Facebook after the recall notice but before the Board meeting. I am comfortable being dismissive of efforts to maintain the status quo and undermine effective governance in service to students and not trying to weaponize the board as customer service for the loudest voices. There is a lot of air between Moms for Liberty and "progressives" who refuse to change for those who have been consistently and historically marginalized people supported vi ..read more

Boy, Seattle School Board President Liza Rankin has a bee in her bonnet about shutting down the current school closure process. I had first noticed that Director Gina Topp was having a community meeting on Tuesday, November 26th, from 6:30-7:30 pm at the West Seattle Library.  But an alert reader let me know that there is a Board Special Meeting the same day at 5 pm. Now Rankin had said the Board needed another meeting to set their future goals in order for a new strategic plan to be crafted by Superintendent Brent Jones and staff. I thought this might be that meeting. But no. It's a moti ..read more

 Public Testimony at the Tuesday, Nov. 19th Board meeting At each Board meeting, it feels like Rankin is getting more and more annoyed at having public testimony. This meeting she spoke of civility and said, " This public testimony is one-way facing, offered to public." Well, the Board has to legally have it at meetings so there's no offering to it.  She also said that if people want to interact with the Board, the Board will talk to community in the spring. Seriously. Well, the last "community meetings" were by invitation ONLY and not advertised to the public.  That's not publi ..read more

 Then we come to President Liza Rankin. She looked pale and seemed muddled (this may have been because she needed to get on a plane right after the meeting to attend the WSSDA conference in Spokane.) What happened in that period of public testimony was that the veil of SOFG got lifted from her and out came the real Liza Rankin (or at least the one I met many years ago).  She was crying and it was not just a few tears.  She said: - We don't have a system that welcomes all kids at every school.  This might be true, especially for Special Education students. However, she knows ..read more