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About the Author
Sable Verity is a 31 year old professional who lives in Seattle.
Mother, writer and activist, founder and Managing Editor of the SV, friends (and enemies) describe Sable Verity as a tireless advocate (or that bitch that just won’t go away), who believes in speaking (ranting) the truth (her irrational race-tinged views) 
This morning's New York TImes has a more extensive article detailing the difficulties of making sure the food gets to those who need it most. The article says that there is a large "secondary market" for the donated food supplies which bypasses the elderly, children and women with large numbers of children to feed. Relief workers stated that this a common occurrence in disasters.
We all like to think that it is our responsibility to vote for school levies, but if you look at the numbers, it quickly becomes clear that the problem with Seattle schools isn't money. The general fund expenses per student in Seattle is more than $12,000 per year. That figure is well above the $9,050 to $10,300 spent per student in neighboring Edmonds, Northshore, Bellevue, Mercer Island, Renton and Everett. The operations levy funds 23% of Seattle public schools; about the same amount that we in Seattle are paying above our neighboring districts. Perhaps the SPS superintendent should ask these neighboring school districts how they are able to provide a much better education for so much less money. I'm voting no, and I my nose will stay firmly attached to my face much like the quality of education in Seattle will not be harmed by a smaller budget.
The Tea Partyists appear to be fearful [thus highly conservative] people. It follows that they are easily led, disturbed and think in fixed attitudes.
Nothing so wrong with that as without effort I believe we are either sheep or goats.
What surprises me is the lack of evenhandedness – is "inciting a riot" not indictable under the US Constitution? Shays Rebellion led to charges in the C18th. Common decency & some [dare I say it] manliness in the HReps & Senate would rein in the rowdies. Even a smack on the hand would do for starters.
For good stuff on the TPrs see – http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/01/100...
I share your opinion on this one. It's traditional Black food…it's Black History month. It works. When people get worked up about this, then credence is given to excuses about not appreciating Blackness for fear of being racist.
Holla!
I have been thinking about this all day. I am mad at the girl who beat the young woman (and her lame ass friends who apparently were there for the show), dumbfounded that the "security guards" offered no security, and disgusted with Metro and King County who have perpetrated a fraud on the citizens.
The saddest thing to me about this video is that the girl was clearly looking for protection from the "security" guards before she was assaulted. She walked to them hoping that they would deter and protect her from her assailants. Any reasonable person would assume that security guards are there to deter and stop crime. To find out the opposite is true is appalling.
What are these security guards responsible for that video surveillance cameras don't do? What an incredible waste of taxpayer money and what an incredible fraud perpetrated by Metro on the public that it is pretending to protect.
Okay, so the "security guards" did what they were supposed to do. Now that we see how inadequate their charge is, will it change? Is there anyone in authority saying "Yeah, that sucked. We're going to change the instructions to the 'security guards' and direct them to intervene in situations like this in future." But I'm not hearing that. I'm not hearing anyone in the County say that they are in any way dissatisfied with this standard of performance. That's what concerns me.
Even under the restrictions of their contract to – not – get involved, couldn't the guard used their bodies and protected her? I know, sounds absurd, as ridiculous as having people with security vests who are paid to do nothing. What I'm waiting for is more information on why SPD refused to help in Macy's. Police are empowered to pull you over without cause, but can tell you to leave a store when you ask for help? Their statement tries to absolve them with the angle that Steward-Baker didn't make her needs known. What part about asking for help didn't they understand?
"If you’re spending more money to tell celebrate your good works- than what you spend on the actual good works- someone has their priorities out of order."
EXACTLY.
This is some BULLSHIT. But, I'm surprised we haven't been MORE vocal about this Madness. It happens for too often….and it's been going on FAR too long. What's funny is that in "African American Bourgoise" culture, it is almost sacreligious to critique Fraternities and Sororities.
We Eatin' our Babies!
I liked Leonard Pitt's column on the subject:
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leon...
I knew Tyrone's mother before Tyrone was born, but took me a few days to put it together that Tyrone was Roberta's son. What has worried me abut this case, how could some one walk up a person name Love and shot that person.How many MUDERER do we have in our MIST is a mystery to me and how have we allow our self to become so disconnected from life.
The Silence War Champagne polled Black People attitudes about violence show that most people don't believe that the issue can change, I don't accept this we can do better and I will always expect better. We must keep the pressure on our community to do the right thing.
Your points are well taken but I fear nobody @ City Hall is listening. Sound familiar?
Good thing I don't write for them
So I guess it's going to be Four Long Years.
Interesting. Though I've been following the Winter Olympics, to a degree, because my current colleagues are interested, I was unaware of these particular events. I would have to agree with the general thrust of your stance in this piece. (Your articulate pronouncement of the differences between racism and cultural insensitivity, lead me to believe you may have shared space with some ghettoGEEKS in the past.)
In any regard, I've had discussions with Koreans lately regarding why I don't typically watch Winter Olympics. (This year I've watched more than ever because most people I interact with are interested.) I've explained my ignorance regarding the Americans who are competing as either geographic or socio-economic (read: racial). I'm from Texas….Winter Olympics…'nuff said. [Props to the "Snow Leopard" from Ghana....he's doing what the Jamaican BobSled team did in the 80s/90s!]
Cont'd—
But, at a socio-economic level, African-Americans, like myself, don't typically have the money to invest in Winter Sports. We are more likely to participate (and watch) Summer Olympics because track & field and basketball don't really cost much money. Very few of us have access to ice rinks, ski slopes, and the like. Hence, you see a racial divide.
Just a thought.
I can't help but comment on this one. I guess if you live in Texas, snow sports are pretty hard to participate in. My late father was from around Texarkana, but lived most of his life around Seattle. He absolutely loved to ski and even wanted his ashes scattered in the mountains. He always said (mostly in jest) that white folks gave the impression that skiing was expensive to keep the colored away. Get you some second-hand gear and go up to Snoqualmie on a weekday (or evening) when it's cheaper. I never skied as much as he did, but I skied enough to know he was right.
I agree that it was painful to watch on a number of levels. However, you fail to address the historical appropriation of power from minorities to majorities. The performance did steal cultural symbols and artifacts without giving them the respect these symbols deserve. It might not be racism, but it sure is cultural insensitivity.
Yup. That's pretty much what I said.
When I read “Austrias justice minister Maria Berger is against a hard punishment for Josef Fritzl.” I smell some kind of secret society brotherhhod crap. Why a woman would go along with lighter charges for something done to a woman can only be explained by this. Like Joseph Menegele, the “Angel of Death” and Hitler, who was also an Austrian Catholic…neither one of those monsters were ever served severe justice and people protected and aided Mengele to escape to die of old age in South America. Mengele was 100 times worse than Fritzl in his creulty, but I put them on the same level because Elizabeth was Fritzls baby.
As for Elizabeths survival for nearly a quarter century, the first 5 years must have been the worst. It’s unknown to me what inner strength kept her alive. (watch Steve McQueen in “Papillon” to see cell isolation in silence for 5 years and how horrible it must have been) After the babies were born, at least she had something to focus on, being a mother, however horrible the circumstances around the situation and how deep the denial of surroundings had to be. Tuning out everything but the mother baby relationship with a hope to escape some day never lost. That’s my best guess how she managed to still be alive.
I see very little about her written but I hope she is given the best of care and should be relocated from Austria, since that place permitted her to go through that and now wants to give a light sentance to the perpetrator. I fear they might just study her like a lab animal instead of doing everything to rehabilitate her the best they can. Look at twhat has happened so far.
As for Fritzl, the toll he has taken on so many lives can’t be estimated. If he is a madman total psycho, he’ll just laugh at it all anyway. To do these things, you’d have to be seriously twisted.
Let him be in isolation too, only broken by visits of others who suffered in similar ways, spoken to by victims worldwide as a sort of therapy for other victims, a chance to vent their pain…yelling at the top of their lungs at him “don’t you realize what you’ve done!”. Let that be his only socializing time with his fellow humans for the remainder of his life.
As for Elizabeth and her kids, may a miracle arrive to dull the horrible memories and let them feel as free loved people.
It never ceases to amaze me how anyone with no ideas of their own gets elected. Someone's pulling his strings on light rail on 520–oh yeah, that's your point. McGinn even had prior direction against the Alaskan Way tunnel idea (from Hell) because Seattle already voted NO on that or replacement of the viaduct– which leaves REPAIR. Otherwise it's about other people submitting ideas, and how well they are rated by other people….which isn't exactly leadership as I ever understood it.
Is there no action in the bus tunnel's past which could be a basis for saying that "she got what she deserved"? None at all? Regardless of anything she had ever done?
I'm not suggesting that the accused attackers aren't fully liable. No one has to be a saint to be a victim, but neither does victimhood bestow a halo.
WOW -It should never be ok to use physical force, let alone handcuffing students. Is Kent School District the only school that does this in Washington State?
It's crazy how it can be justified to use physical force in our education system but not on our public transportation – I know it's two different stories, however this is what came to mind since we are speaking about troubled kids.
I was once myself, a trouble youth…and to be honest with you…physical force only escalates the situation at hand. If you really want kids to listen, understand or simply follow the rules, we need to learn how to effectively communicate with them, how to effectively listen to their needs.
At the end of the day, one must ask themselves; What is it exactly that I am trying to instill or teach this child/young adult?
So if a student was beating another student, maybe your own kid, you wouldnt want someone to step in? When that person does step in, they have to control the scene and make it safe for everyone!
Of course I would want them to step up and step in – That has nothing to do with HANDCUFFING a CHILD
I'm just shocked that not only can they handcuff kids, they can use mace. I can only see certain very rare circumstances where physical intervention would be necessary, I question whether the school security guards have the proper training to diagnose and intervene properly in those situations.
OC pepper spray is used not mace. When you handcuff a person, you are handcuffing them for the safety of themselves or others. If you have to use physical intervention, would you want someone wrestling with the student, use force or simply detaining them?? Handcuffs control and secure the person. They are not a use of force nor do they cause injury. You guys have to get over this handcuffing crap! Stop worrying about those protecting and maintaining a safe learning enviornment for our children!!
The article is a little vague regarding what lines have been crossed.
Children are just as capable of violence and crime as adults. I think schools should be allowed to use force, especially since we are asking them to also serve as baby-sitters for kids with serious behavioral problems. The real issue is whether the guards have been properly trained to diffuse situations and use the minimal force necessary, and whether cuffs are being used as punishment.
I have to disagree. The initial problem with the policy- or lack there of- was that it was used against one group of people disproportionately, and it was used as a punishment for behaviors that were not violent. That is clearly stated.
I think anyone would agree that it is also a problem that the district didn't have an actual policy until last school year- for something so controversial you'd think they'd jump on the ball to protect their own butts.
As for what's in the ACLU report- I really can't wait to read it. The SD is taking the position that they've done their homework and things are better. So why a report then? Is it favorable? Does the ACLU even do that? I thought they only took up "issues"? Like I said- really curious to read it. That the organization won't even get into it says, at least to me, there may be something there.
How can we teach to non-violence with violence….
To everyone who is automatically assuming you should never use force or hand cuff a student is not living in the real world!! Violence is in every school and security/police that work in schools are generally trained to deal with situations that happen. Do you read the paper!! Shootings, stabbings, assaults, etc… these are all every day things that happen in American schools and world wide. dont judge. in fact, you should make an appointment to come down to a kent school and job shadow security. then maybe you can talk!!
School security guards are general assholes. In kent, they are assholes on steriods. I'm tired of people blaming the youth. Try shadowing a kid for a day and see how they get rail roaded at every turn and have no rights. If an adult says a kid is bad, the rest of the adults treat that kid accordingly. It's systemic oppresion man, pay attention! Guards in kent perpetuated negative relationships with kids and they routinely esclelated situations when they were supposed to do the opposite. Then they slapped handcuffs on kids after stoking the fire and creating situations. Not to mention the arrogance on behalf of the district.
I just wish some of you would stop BS'ing and justifying or rationalizing these guards behavior under the general umbrella of "you never know". That's not justification enough for what security guards in kent do to kids. It never will be.
I agree some of these points are valid and take place in all schools. To automatically assume all security are aholes is just confriming your closed minded ideology or iditology in todays world! Speaking for Kent and all other school security/police staff, some of use also have a genuine heart to help america's youth. At the same time, we also have to act in situations that present a danger to the school, staff, students and public. Uneducated people about security automatically assume they are rude, disrespectful and unjust or can do nothing. Thats wrong! We are here in the school system to provide a safe and secure learning enviornment for all. Even the defiant or troubled ones that dont have the parental support system. Judgement is passed on none and equality is giving to all!
Sounds like the Mayor's office has a HUGE problem with the word "fighting." Maybe its a Seattle thing.
Maybe if you used postponing, sabotaging, punting, studying, delaying, double-talking, misleading, or bloviating, it would be both factually accurate and more pleasing to the Mayor's office.
I THOROUGHLY object! Laws making hands-free phones mandatory SUCK! I had to abide by these suck-ass laws in DC after a life full of freedom in Texas. Just another way to tax Americans, and generate revenue for hands-free phone manufacters.
To all the capable drivers out there, keep pimpin' the wheel with your left hand—phone in your right….
I have a 12 yr old in Seattle public schools, i watched his 5th yr class go from 22 kids to 38 kids simply put to me by the principal of the school, because there was not enough kids! I agree that teachers are fighting improbable odds, but at the sametime I do think they need to be evaluated on thier teaching skills! In my opinion Seattle public schools suck, from the management on down to the teachers!
Yes we need change in Seattle schools. No charters are not the answer. We can have the same success with public schools. And we can have it with transparency and no corporate control. Someone give me one reason we can’t do the things that make (a few) charters work. For every successful charters there are many failures. And there are plenty of public programs that work. With corporate controls come a corporate agenda. Our kids deserve better. Remember, for corporations the bottom line is the almighty dollar. Be careful what you ask for. They are trying to woo us now. The reality is not so pleasant.
The African American Academy failed due to lack of support from the district and restrictions that would not allow innovative measures to be implemented. Charter schools work because they do not have a prescribed program that they must adhere to and they have parent committment. In order for the children to be successful the adults in the building have to be unified. The in-fighting and the crab cliques at the African American Academy were debilitating to any progress that could have been made. The district sabotaged the Academy through multiple smoke screens and diversions. Just as a broken arm needs more than a bandaid, children struggling with more than one issue need a multidisciplinary staff to prescribe an academic program that works. .
Seattle schools has also failed to acknowledge and remedy the lack of preparation for school from the home front. Teachers can not be expected to produce grade A fruit when no seeds have been sown for them to fertilize. They must first fallow the ground and the time it takes to do that is not taken into consideration. All children can learn, each has his own inner genius, but the birthing of that genius does not follow a predetermined timeline, especially if other issues have to be conquered before learning can take place. Hold parents, teachers and the superintendent accountable for all student's academic progress. Everyone's salary should be affected if there is no progress in a school , the superintendet should not walk away unscathed when her schools perform poorly. Doesn't that mean she is failing also?? Stop blaming the teachers and ask them what they need to make the expected impact
It's alarming how we celebrate this kind of media, even encourage it. To have all of these women less than 21 really speaks to the issues going on culturally in our society. Videos such as these are the ones that will have the most impact on the youth of today because we don't discourage it. I won't knock anyone trying to attain their 15 mins of fame but at what cost?
Thanks for the post
Drapeto
(continued from above)
A charter school can expel any student that it doesn't believe fits within its standards or meets its level of expectation in terms of test scores. If the student is dropped off the rolls of the charter school, the money that was allotted for that student may or may not be returned to the district at the beginning of the next year. That is dependent upon the contract that is established by each district.
Also, according to a recent (June 15, 2009) study by Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), charter schools do not necessarily perform any better than public schools. In fact, 37 percent performed worse. Forty-six percent demonstrated "no significant difference" from public schools. Only 17 percent of charter schools performed better than public schools.
Here we go again with people casting charter schools as evil entities that have no morals, no accountability, and no compassion for kids all while bilking our tax dollars.
So with all of that taken into account- HOW IS IT ALL OF THESE KIDS ARE GOING TO COLLEGE THEN?
Sable, I guess some people just HAVE to be right- even when they are SO DAMN WRONG.
As for charters being the "answer", I didn't see that in your post- but, I guess since you're talking about big bad charter schools people are bound to put words in your mouth.
"In Seattle we have a successful system of alternative schools that provide the highest quality of education available and would rival any charter school."
That is total and utter crap. We're not talking about token programs for SOME kids.
Sable, why is it people get on your site and pretend to comment when they're really blogging in the comment section. We don't need "what I think of charters 101" in the comment section. That doesn't have a whole hell of a lot to do with the content of the article. We aren't talking about, as another commenter put it, Seattle's well known token schools, we're talking about THREE FAILING SCHOOLS who cannot successfully teach brown and black kids, while at the very same time, a program which just so happens to be a charter program is putting public edu to shame.
Stay on topic people.
It never fails. The mere mention of charter schools brings out the irrational in poeple.
This is exactly what's gunna happen when Obama takes on edu reform. People will irrationally characterize charter schools as if they're death panels, which they aren't. Fear mongering only gets you so far people.
Typically I like reading the comments on here SV, but some of these comments remind me of the comments that people put on the Times or PI; fear, half truths, blatant lies, misinformation, red herrings and rhetoric, rhetoric, rhetoric.
Can we please just bask in the glow and happiness that 107 young Black men are going to college because of this particular program? WTF is wrong with people that they can't support that? I thnk THAT says a lot. Maybe charters really ARE successful with African American kids, and that's why "some people" hate them so much- education prevents THEM from keeping US down.
OMG some charter schools get more money per pupil than public schools? Clutch the pearls! They should be drawn and quartered for investing MORE money into kids. Such a travesty!
The basic difference between a traditional public school and a privately run charter school is that with a charter school there is complete control of the school by a private enterprise within a public school district. Although taxpayer-funded, charters operate without the same degree of public and district oversight of a standard public school.
Most charter schools do not hire union teachers which means that they can demand the teacher work longer hours including weekends at the school site and pay less than union wages. Charter schools take the school district's allotment of money provided for each student within the public school system and use it to develop their programs. In many systems, they receive that allotment without having to pay for other costs such as transportation for students to and from the school. Some states, such as Minnesota, actually allocate more than what is granted to public school students.
(Continued)
In Seattle we have a successful system of alternative schools that provide the highest quality of education available and would rival any charter school. I know because my daughter attends one of these schools. The best part is that if a student is not "performing" well, they don't get expelled, they are supported and have every opportunity to succeed.
This Saturday, March 13th, there will be a Parent to Parent Option/Alternative School Fair at the Stanford Center from 10:00 AM to Noon. All are invited. There will be an activities' table for the younger siblings to create architectural wonders while their older brothers and sisters have an opportunity to see what programs are available
I dont know what the hang up is about getting all kids to go to college… face it, there are not enough jobs for all the kids going to college now, and they're graduating with debt millstones around their necks having to do one, two or three minimum wage jobs in what is now a 3rd world service economy just to pay the rent and utilities… where are they going to get the money to buy houses and raise families… this stuff isnt about education, its about raising the next generation of slave workers and consumers – Mike Milken of the Milken (education) Foundations said as much…. wake up people – we're being led like lambs to the slaughter of public education by a bunch of capitalist wolves (Eli Broad, Bill Gates et al) in sheeps clothing….
I agree. This is a health issue, not an image or acceptance issue. She is clinically morbidly obese. There is a reason it is called morbid. Being overweight is one of the top two things one can do to guarantee increased risk of disease, complications, and premature death.
It seems that all of society can unequivocally and publicly admit that smoking is unhealthy. However, the image, discrimination and acceptance issues surrounding weight prevent people from proclaiming the same about being fat.
The District's solution to Cleveland High School's chronic under-performance is to keep the principal and teachers and to replace the students. I suppose it will be good for the few hundred self-selected students who will accept the more stringent graduation requirements (at least four years of math through at least calculus, four years of science, two years of world language, etc.), but they won't be the students who have historically attended Cleveland. Right now, CHS is 46% African-American. Let's check the demographics in three years. Fewer than 10% of those at the STEM Open House have been Black.
Charlie,
Excellent points. If you'd ever like to guest-post about that, we'd love to publish it!
This is a…strange concept.
Only three? The worst schools are not getting their due here. The middle schools, Aki, Denny, Mercer are ATROCIOUS. Everyone should Volunteer at a Seattle School. Then spend a week there seeing exactly what is going on.
I can't go into detail or specifics but I can assure you that start there and really see what kind of discipline, instruction and more importantly student interaction and general behavior. You would move out of Seattle for your own safety and security.
The state needs to step up and actually take the schools and see what they can do with them. I think its a desperately needed wake up call that must happen.
Well, she did bring up charters so I would think we get to weigh in.
Look, the issue is that, overall, charters do no better than regular public schools. (You can check.) There are dazzling charters like the one referenced in the thread that do well. There are public schools that do well, too. I don't think it's by saying charters are the only answer. They don't have to take all comers nor provide special education services as public schools do. So, you have to take them with a grain of salt.
The big, overriding question is: How do we duplicate these successes? What makes them successful? And, what are parents (the third rail of public education) needing to bring to the table to help that success happen?
Charter schools are basically private schools funded with public money. Did the Chicago school do something wonderful? Absolutely! But how many Charter schools would Seattle need to accommodate all of the students? Note that the graduating class was 107—that makes for a high school of approx. 400 students. And my guess is these 400+ kids (and their parents) were more motivated than their peers who stayed back in the public system.
I agree that SPS is a total mess, and needs a major overhaul to make it successful. But I don't know if allowing/encouraging charters is the answer. I believe that charters may help the small percentage of students who can attend, but the remainder of the students in the public system will continue to suffer the results of underfunding, standardization and inequity that is SPS.
*whispers* not pushing charter schools….
Don't I know it. Used to work in the district