The 5 most popular posts of 2019 from Rise Up for Students

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Here we are, basking in the first fresh days of not only a new year, but a new decade. So, what better time than now to take a peek in the rearview mirror? Hindsight is 2020, after all.

Let’s revisit 2019 by taking a look back at the most widely read posts from the last year on the Rise Up for Students blog:

1. “A student in Garfield High School’s HCC program takes a hard look at Danny Westneat’s ‘racially insensitive editorial’”
By Dylan Blanford

Dylan originally submitted this piece to the Seattle Times as an op-ed, which the paper declined to run. It offers a biting perspective on HCC (Seattle’s version of so-called “gifted and talented” programs) straight from one of the program’s current students.

This post wasn’t just the most widely read of 2019 — this is by far the most well-traveled post the Rise Up for Students blog has ever had, accounting for 15 percent of all pageviews in the history of the blog (dating back to January 2016). If you missed it last fall, read it now.

2. “Black History Today: D’Vonne Pickett Jr., fearless dreamer at home in Seattle’s South End”
By Marcus Harden

The second installment of Marcus Harden’s Black History Today series was even more well-received than the first. Through these touching, often deeply personal essays, Marcus pays homage throughout Black History Month to folks in his community who are making Black history right now in the present moment. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll want more.

This year’s list of profiles had a number of highlights — in fact, if this were a top-10 instead of a top-5, Marcus’ tributes to Jamal Crawford (8), Jeanette Jones (9) and Bookie Gates (10) would have rounded out the back end of the list — but these heartfelt words about D’Vonne Pickett and his family resonated most.

3. “Twelve candidates have applied to represent District 7 on the Seattle School Board. Here’s what we know so far — and what to watch for.”
By Stephan Blanford

Southeast Seattle’s longtime school board rep, Betty Patu, resigned mid-term last year, resulting in an unusual process that required the remaining six board members to appoint Patu’s replacement.

One positive of the appointment process, which did not include a public vote for what is normally a publicly elected position, was that it included fewer barriers for candidates than a more traditional (and more time-consuming and expensive) campaign and election process. The school board ultimately chose Brandon Hersey from the field of 12 excellent candidates, and former board member Stephan Blanford’s insightful post served as an excellent primer for getting to know the candidates and the process.

4. “Seattle’s HCC program, designed to attract white families, is a thinly veiled form of segregation”
By Matt Halvorson

Seattle’s Highly Capable Cohort program has been hotly debated in recent months, in large part because Superintendent Denise Juneau has proposed that we do away with the cohort model altogether.

This has prompted a number of outraged and outrageous responses, mostly from parents of privilege who don’t want their “gifted” white kids back in general ed classrooms. Where were all of you in the conversations about district-wide inequity? Where were these loud voices when we were seeking to close persistently deplorable racial gaps in our public education system?

5. “Catching systemic racism in the act in Seattle Public Schools”
By Matt Halvorson

Eventually the field of 12 candidates for the District 7 school board position (see No. 3) was winnowed down to a final three: Brandon Hersey, Emijah Smith and Julie Van Arcken.

In the hours and days before the final board vote to choose Betty Patu’s successor, multiple media outlets (including KUOW most egregiously) published callous articles digging into an issue of domestic violence in Smith’s past. I particularly hoped in writing this to reach the school board members before their vote, but I’m not sure I did. Smith ultimately lost the vote to Hersey. Hard to say what might have happened with different media coverage.