City School Board Wrap Up
posted by on May 3 at 15:45 PM
The Seattle School Board held one of its biweekly meetings last night. A gaggle of furious parents, student activists in Bad Brains T-shirts, and concerned citizens vented about budget overruns and problems with the principal-selection process at African American Academy.
Another hot topic: military recruiters in high schools.
During the public testimony session, Philip Locker of Socialist Alternative (I know, I know), stood at a podium and challenged the school board to “go on record… and complain about the federal government,” to take a stand against the military recruitment stipulation attached to the No Child Left Behind act. NCLB, obviously, is the flawed Bush administration program which is supposed to increase accountability and improve performance in public schools. The No Child Left Behind act also includes a provision which requires schools to give military recruiters access to student information. Schools must follow the mandate in order to receive federal funding. Forty-nine million dollars, 10 percent of the Seattle Public Schools’ budget, comes from No Child Left Behind.
Later in the evening, board member Brita Butler-Wall responded to Locker’s impassioned speech, saying, “The problem for us is, at this point, we don’t even have enough funding to do the basic things we need to do. Seattle Public Schools doesn’t have the luxury of rejecting that 10 percent of the budget.”
In a phone interview this morning, board member Darlene Flynn also responded to Locker. “The current administration has us over a barrel. The day that I can afford to send 10 percent of [the budget] back to George W. Bush, I will,” she said.
I’ll be at the next public school board yell-a-thon in two weeks to keep you folks in Slog land up to date about what’s going on in Seattle’s public schools.
Any student who submits a signed waiver can get their names taken off the military rolls. Here's a sample form from my former employer Music for America.
goddammit.
http://www.musicforamerica.org/node/101704
While I am certainly no fan of the current use of the military, the military itself is an important institution and for many offers them a chance at a good future. I have met many current and former soldiers who believe entering the military was the best thing they ever did.
While of course recruiters need to honest, calm, and non harassing they should be allowed on equal footing with colleges, employers, tech schools etc.
Uh Giffy, the whole point is that NCLB gives the military too much access to students-- creating an uneven footing that colleges, employers, tech schools, etc. do not have.
Well not the WHOLE point, but rather that in addition to opposing the war-- lack of access to students in this case is not the issue.
If these activists are that concerned, there's a really easy solution: annoy the fuck out of the recruiters. Make the recruiters meet people on campus and in a room that contains the statistics for sexual assault against women in large print on one wall, pictures of horrible wounds sustained in Iraq on another, stories about Walter Reed on the third, and pictures of shirtless grinding men at the White Party on the wall the recruiter will face.
What is it about Seattle school board meetings that attracts the city's craziest idiots? How does stupid time wasting shit like this end up on the agenda?
Thank you for being at the meeting. I wouldn't wish it on my least favorite person, but it's good that you're doing it and covering it. The lack of community oversight of the school board, in the form of nearly lax press coverage is part of the problem. By being there and reporting on the meetings you're helping solve it.
Recruiters? That's nothing. My old high school back in Iowa now has an ROTC unit. Can you imagine the heads that would explode at those meetings if THAT was introduced?
For the record, I think the ROTC is corny. And I think the recruiters shouldn't be allowed on campus during school time. If they want to have an after-school meeting, that's fine. Like it or not, for some kids, the military is the least worst option - even in Seattle.
great. send the snarky intern to cover the school board. socialist alternative's grandstanding is the only issue that gets covered or elaborated upon. why?
WF- Still. Not. Intern. Currently. Paid. To. Piss. You. Off.
Now, the reason I covered S.A.'s grandstanding is because...well,I'm working on the AAA thing which was the only other real issue covered. Military recruiters in schools are also an incredibly hot topic that people like to read about...so I write about it. Noodge.
What is it about Seattle school board meetings that attracts the city's craziest idiots? How does stupid time wasting shit like this end up on the agenda?
Three of the reasons are Darlene Flynn, Mary Bass and Brita Butler-Wall. Personally, I'm hoping that the city commandeers the district and sends these cretins on their merry way.
http://it.orge.pl/isole-greche.html isole greche
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