On Violence and Education in America
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By Matt Halvorson, Jefflin Breuer and Zach Scheet
Read MoreTo my educator friends: Considering the different ways we worship can help us understand culturally-responsive instruction and equity in the classroom
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I had a revelation this week in Texas about how to think differently about culturally-responsive instruction and equity...
Read MoreWith this many good applicants to represent District VII, who will the Seattle School Board choose? And how will they decide?
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This unusual appointment process presents a quandary for the six sitting board directors, who were all in attendance at the forum. Patu announced her departure just before the elections deadline, effectively blocking District 7 voters from choosing her successor. Instead, the six school board directors, and not the Southeast Seattle community, will choose who represents the district on the school board for the remaining 2 years and 3 months of her term.
Read MoreLet’s meet the candidates for Seattle’s District VII school board position
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By Matt Halvorson
I’m thrilled with the depth of this candidate pool and impressed with every candidate’s passion and good intentions. They are standing before us volunteering their time and souls to service on the school board. And they’re opening themselves up to everything that comes along with that process, including being considered by people like me who have thoughts and opinions. But the fact also remains that we have to choose one person, and that we don’t get to just take the whole field.
So, as we seek an equity champion, a change-maker with an unshakable sense of urgency and possibility and love, a hero with an understanding of the relationship between systemic oppression and public education, here are my first impressions of the candidates — my takeaways from the District VII Candidate Forum. I look forward to seeing how tonight’s forum at RBHS shapes my thinking even further.
Read MoreBlack Male Educators: The Endgame
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Teachers as a whole are vastly underpaid, Black male educators are often in unsupportive environments, and the profession isn’t promoted (or respected) as a viable option in the canon of “careers.”
So why stay? How do we ask others to come? What are the conditions we can create, right where we are to make this seismic shift? Here are seven reasons that I’ve come up with (feel free to add more!)…
Read MoreGuest Post: "Stop feeding the school-to-prison pipeline with expulsions," by Rebeca Muñiz
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Rebeca Muñiz is a candidate for Seattle School Board District 3. She holds a Masters in Education Policy and Leadership from the University of Washington. During her time at UW, she conducted research on the Seattle Public Schools racial equity teams, which informed her understanding of systemic disparities in schools and ways we can address it. Rebeca now serves as a volunteer with One America and the Gender Justice League.
Learn more about Rebeca’s campaign at www.ElectMuniz.com.
Read MoreIn schools and on the field, equity is an investment in righting wrongs
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As a former high-level athlete...
As someone who came to the United States in 1989 with the dream of someday playing for the national soccer team (I was good but never that good)...
As someone who tried out for 2 WNBA teams in 2000 and learned that non-drafted players typically were paid $20-$30,000/year (about the same as what I made as a starting teacher)...
As someone who has known players in both the NFL and NBA...
The issue of pay for female athletes has been on my mind for a long time.
Read MoreTwelve candidates have applied to represent District 7 on the Seattle School Board. Here's what we know so far — and what to watch for.
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Over the weekend, the Seattle School Board finally released the applications of the 12 Southeast Seattle residents who filed to replace Betty Patu on the board. The District 7 seat, which Patu held for 10 years, was vacated July 1 and will be filled when the six remaining board members cast votes for their preferred applicant at the Aug. 14 board meeting.
Read MoreFrom the Seattle Times: "Demand ‘transparent, inclusive process’ for Seattle School Board appointment," by Matt Halvorson→
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I had a letter to the editor published in the Seattle Times on July 5, 2019, about the school board appointing Betty Patu’s successor.
Read MoreIf July 4 celebrates the American dream, let July 5 remind us to always seek to be better
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I didn’t post anything yesterday for a reason...
I was not trying to dampen anyone’s celebration of the 4th or offend anyone on a day that has become set aside as “holy” by some in this nation. However, that being said, independence is not something I celebrate on the 4th.
Read MoreDear Leslie Harris... I wrote you a song.→
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Leslie Harris is the president of the Seattle School Board, and she will preside over an important decision this summer as the board appoints a new representative for District 7 in southeast Seattle. Here Matt Halvorson asks for a transparent, inclusive process... in song!
Read MoreLiberating Structures: Why Black Male Educators Leave the Field (part 1)
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The structures and systems are shackles. We have to remind ourselves that we the people are the system. Our participation keeps the gears turning.
It’s time we break the shackles!
Read MoreThe portal is now open. Seattle, our time is at hand.
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The portal is now open. Our time is at hand.
It sounds like science fiction, but alas, the portal is online rather than interdimensional, and the opportunity we now face would allow us to completely revamp our school board before the end of the year.
So the machinations of the Seattle School Board might involve fewer lasers than you were hoping for, but it’s important nonetheless.
Read MoreBetty Patu is resigning from the Seattle School Board. We're just asking for a legitimate, transparent process... (that results in appointing a champion for equity)
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Betty Patu, our longtime school board director in Southeast Seattle, will resign her position at the end of the month, but the timing of her announcement has cast doubt on the integrity of the entire process.
Patu announced her resignation at the May 15 school board meeting, which wouldn’t be remarkable except that if the announcement had come three days earlier, her replacement would have been elected by voters.
As it is, the school board will take applications from the public, and the board will have the final say in appointing Patu’s replacement.
Read MoreOdds and Ends: Mandatory acceleration, land acknowledgment, step-parenthood, and more...
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Today I have a few odds and ends, so let’s just get into it.
Read MoreA quick thought about the Seattle School Board
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This is the year, if there ever was one, to really change Seattle Public Schools. In addition to the four seats up for election this fall, two additional school board members in Seattle (Betty Patu and Zachary DeWolf) have announced their desire to resign this year and vacate their seats early.
The school board only has seven members to begin with. By the end of this year, we could essentially have a completely new school board.
Read MoreAn outdated update on the Seattle School Board science curriculum debacle
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Above all, if we don't know what impact this will have on marginalized communities in the district, then we need to find out. If we're serious about wanting to close the opportunity gap, then the first and most important question we need to ask about every single decision concerning our students and our schools is what impact it will have on Black students. What impact will this have on low-income families in Seattle? What impact will this have on Seattle Public Schools’ indigenous students? What impact will this have on the kids we talk about wanting to uplift?
If our outcomes are ever going to change, then our decision-making processes have to change. Otherwise, we will continue to end up in the same places again and again and again.
Read MoreStephan Blanford: Seattle students, lagging behind other districts, deserve a new science curriculum→
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Our kids deserve better. They deserve a school board and a community that prioritizes “students furthest from educational justice.” The school board can show it is serious about its values by approving the recommended science curriculum.
Read MoreThe Seattle School Board will vote this week on a new K-5 science curriculum, and a few key players seem on a mission to get Houghton Mifflin Harcourt the contract. What is really going on here?
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Doesn’t it seem like something weird is afoot in Seattle Public Schools?
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