Monday, November 24, 2008
City Seattle School Could Be Renamed After Barack Obama
Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 1:44 PM
A North Seattle alternative school is considering renaming itself after President-elect Barack Obama as a way to draw in new students and avoid possible closure.
The school district is apparently planning to cut programs and shut schools across the city and parents at Alternative School #1 are worried the 200 student program could be on the chopping block, which has prompted talk of the name change.
“Were getting bad vibes throughout the community and enrollment centers and all over the place saying [AS#1’s] not a good school or…it’s going to be closed,” says AS#1 parent Lara Grauer. “The district has [also] been pointing to us because our enrollment is down, it feels like we need…a clean slate.”
The day after the election, Grauer says a student suggested changing the school's name to Barack Obama K-8, which has received a great deal of support from kids and parents. “When Barack Obama won the election kids were running around so excited doing the high-fives," Grauer says. "The school as a whole was excited about that."
AS#1’s students have received ballots and, next week, parents will tally votes and decide on four final choices. While not everyone is in agreement on the Obama name change—some parents want to leave the school's name intact while other have objected on the grounds that Obama, y'know, hasn't served a term yet—Grauer believes there's a chance it could have an effect on the district's closure plans. "It would not be easy to close a Barack Obama school,” she says. “The name isn’t going to save anybody but it couldn’t hurt.”
Seattle School District spokesman David Tucker says AS#1’s plan isn’t unprecedented “We’ve had schools renamed before,” Tucker says. “As long as they follow the school board’s policy that’s the community prerogative.”
The school board will meet later this week to discuss preliminary plans for school closures.
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I hope.
I went to an alternative school, and it saved my life.
Not every kid can be crammed in with 35+ oher kids and be force fed the same crap cirriculum.
Wether they be gifted, or learning disabled, or drug addicted, or whatever. The point is, the school system requires a level of flexibility and diversity so that everone can achieve an education.
Unfortunately, an act like this is an act of desparation. Playing off the narrow, populist minds of the members of the school board, by renaming the school after a new and popular figure.
Will they get re-elected???
It shows how cheap and worthless these neo-con/lib politicians view a kids education. Like they're running some kind of business. Like they "care" more about Joe Taxpayer's money than a proper education.
Seattle has the highest expenditure per kid of any school system in the state, and the worst outcomes. Yeah, yeah, Seattle has some of the harder cases -- but the very most money and the very least success? A gulf that wide is pretty damn difficult to excuse.
A gulf how wide?
Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the statistics on Washington State's educational expenditure / results. If you want to cite some, go ahead.
However, I speak from experience. And when I applied for alternative school, I did it through a counselor, on my own. And not with the assistance of my parents.
I'm certain that if any such private school existed, my parents would have been unable to afford it.
Now, I wonder how much, per capita, it costs each taxpayer in the jurisdiction to fund these students. And what the results are?
What would you rather have your precious tax dollars be funding, David Wright?
As far as I can see (as a south end public school parent) (and it's the south end that brings the test scores down), the best outcomes come from the richest neighborhoods—where the wealthy PTAs pick up the slack. The schools need the money. And keep AS#1. The families I know who go there are far from spoiled hippies.
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This woman knows Seattle and its wimpy-white-liberal-guilt ways all too well.
The connotations of the word Alternative have changed since the early 1970's when AS#1 was founded. Back then it meant choice, a different way, out of the box thinking, a progressive option. Now, the word is associated with delinquent children, a place of last resort, and sub-par education.
ah, Joykiller. Always vapid, cutting one-liners. Never a valid opinion or contribution.
And for your information, it was a school for dylexics, and the instruction was in French. English isn't my first language.
How's your French, by the way?
If you looked at our stats, you'd know that AS#1 has very few of those "upper-middle class ex-hippies".
37% students of color
40% qualifying for free and reduced lunch
17% have special needs (IEPs)
48% not living with both parents
The school is filled with vulnerable kids who need stability and security. Turning them out will not solve the SSD's problems.
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