Last year, Garfield High students walked out of class to protest the lack of eduction funding. Now, it’s the faculty that’s taking a stand. Photo by jseattle

The faculty of Garfield High School unanimously voted not to administer a standardized test mandated by the Seattle School District, a bold move that puts pressure on the District to rethink the test’s place in Seattle classrooms. Administration of the MAP test was scheduled to begin next week.

Three teachers abstained from voting, and the rest voted to make the stand against a test they say is an ineffective distraction that neither helps students nor provides an accurate assessment of teacher performance. None voted against the idea.

“Over and over, teachers say that this is not what we’re teaching in our classrooms,” said Jesse Hagopian, a Garfield High teacher who has taken an active role in opposing the test.

“Students don’t have anything attached to this in terms of their grades,” he said. “Many get bored and just start pushing buttons.” This makes their scores on the computer-administered test go down, hurting the teachers whose performance is supposedly being assessed.

But beyond criticisms of the test itself, administering it two or three times a year consumes a lot of precious time and resources and “monopolizes computer labs for weeks at a time.” This is particularly bad for the students who do not have access to a computer and Internet at home and depend on the school lab. Continue reading →

This pegboard map of Seattle features the Central District

A unique pegboard map table is looking for a new place to reside and inspire. Boxwood [an integrated design studio] is relocating our office and won’t have space in our new suite to take this custom designed piece with us. We are hoping to donate it to a nonprofit community group in the Central District that can give it a new home and use it in community projects.

The map was part of a four table exhibit used at the Seattle Design Festival in 2011. The four tables fit together into a larger map of Seattle, with streets labeled and neighborhoods identified in big bold letters. Metal flag poles allowed visitors to identify their favorite restaurants, parks, or community spaces across the city. When the exhibit ended the four tables went their separate ways, and Boxwood received this one because one of our principals constructed it while working on the SDF committee.

Interestingly, two-thirds of the firm’s personnel live in the Central District (the author – that’s me! – included). Much of the firm’s recent work has been in Capitol Hill, which also appears on the map table. In Boxwood’s studio it was used as a fun way to identify our projects, homes, our favorite restaurants, and more. We thought the map table would work well at community meetings, allowing citizens to mark with flags some of their favorite Central District businesses, where they would like to see a new park, to highlight areas they are concerned with, or identify some hidden gems in the neighborhood. Continue reading →

Do you live, work, worship or own a business in the Central District? You are invited to attend the founding meeting of the Central Area Community Development Coalition (CACDC), where neighbors and community organizations in the Central Area will work together toward responsible development that will support the needs of the community.
To this end we will work in coalition to ensure all development in the Central Area is transparent and community–controlled. It is our goal to preserve the existing culture and economic character of the community, and support good jobs with living wages,
health care and respect for workers.
If you are concerned about the future of Judkins Park, Fire Station #6, or Promenade 23, please join us. The United Black Clergy will host the first public meeting of CACDC to discuss these issues and any other development concerns in the Central Area. All residents and workers in the Central  Area are encouraged to attend.

The Meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 16, from 4:00-5:30PM at the Greater Mt. Baker Baptist Church located at 2425 S. Jackson street.

Ja’mari Alexander-Alan Jones. Photo by Mike Siegel / The Seattle Times (used with permission)

Ja’Mari Alexander-Alan Jones—the 19-year-old man suspected of shooting and killing DeShawn Milliken at a Bellevue bar Christmas Eve—pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges in King County Superior Court.

Milliken was active in the Central District as a mentor, and his death was “a blow not only to friends and family but to the whole community,” according to a memorial fund website set up for his family. He was 30.

Jones, who already has one murder on his record, is facing up to 28 years in prison, the Seattle Times reports.

Court documents reveal some details of what happened that sad and frightening night at Munchbar in Bellevue Square. Much of the incident was captured on video. From the probable cause document: Continue reading →

Omari at a meeting about the sale of the 23rd/Yesler fire station

Omari Tahir-Garrett announced his candidacy for Seattle mayor with a one-line email in his signature all-caps style:

LIKE I PROMISED JUDGE MCBROOM  I AM BACK AND RUNNING FOR MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE THIS YEAR 2013.

He then copied and pasted the full text of a 2002 Seattle Times article about his sentencing hearing following an assault conviction for striking then-mayor Paul Schell with a bullhorn at 23rd and Union (Tahir-Garrett maintains that he used his fist, not a bullhorn).

Few CD activists are as controversial as Omari, who was a leader of the Colman School occupation in the 80s and early 90s. That effort eventually resulted in the Northwest African American Museum, which is not the cultural center Omari had hoped it would be. Just last year, Mayor McGinn cancelled a town hall at NAAM due to disruptions led in part by Omari. Continue reading →

In an effort to create a community component to help curb the proliferation of local firearms, officials will gather Tuesday morning at 19th and Madison’s Mount Zion Baptist Church to announce the start of a county gun buy-back program.

“Tomorrow’s announcement will detail a new gun buy back effort in Seattle and the surrounding region, a specific component of the GunSafety Initiative,” the media bulletin for the event reads.

Update: We are at the press conference and will post updates.

People with legal guns will also be able to get free trigger locks, Mayor McGinn said.

“By taking these measures today, we are certainly preventing tragedies,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine.

Dr. David Fleming of Seattle-King County Public Health made the case that gun violence is a public health issues that can be addressed, pointing to other similar countries like Australia or the UK that have far lower rates if gun deaths.

Guns bought back will be melted down, and the mayor said discussions were ongoing about what to do with that metal. “Maybe there’s something symbolic we could do,” he said.

Here are the details on the program from SPD:

Continue reading →

Several readers contacted us asking about a large police response this morning at Garfield High School.

@cdnews whats goin on in the cd this morn? Heard about 10 police cars racing down 23rd at 8:35am

— Mâdqâp (@madqap) January 7, 2013

According to police, a 26-year-old man was contacted by an officer stationed at the high school around 8:30 a.m. Monday morning, the first day of classes after the school’s winter break.

The man, who had a warrant out for his arrest, and the officer got into a scuffle, according to SPD media officers. The officer sent out a radio call for back-up (the reason for the big response), but was able to take the man into custody quickly.

The man’s shoulder was injured during the struggle, and SFD Medics responded to treat him. His injuries were not serious enough to require a trip to the hospital. The officer was also treated for scraped knees.

UPDATE: Here’s the police version of events from SPD: Continue reading →