Ann Dornfeld

Reporter

Ann Dornfeld is a reporter at KUOW. She should have realized radio was in her future when, growing up in Seattle, she went to KUBE 93 after school one day to interview DJ Chet Buchanan. She claimed it was for a school assignment. She was actually just curious.

Ann went on to spin hip-hop records and host a public affairs show at her college radio station. On a month-long trip to Anchorage, she volunteered at Alaska Public Radio Network. She expected to be put to work filing papers. Instead, APRN gave her a mic and told her to file stories. She stayed all summer and learned the art of radio reporting. An official internship at APRN followed, and another at KUOW. She then worked at KLCC Public Radio in Eugene, Oregon as the Morning Edition host and reporter.

Ann returned to Seattle and worked as a roving freelance reporter, focusing on environmental issues for KUOW and shows including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, The Environment Report and Marketplace. She has reported on a rare bioluminescent bay in Puerto Rico, penguin habitat loss in South Africa, mangrove destruction in the US Virgin Islands, coral reef conservation in Bonaire and invasive lionfish in the Bahamas. She covered a major earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia, for NPR News and The World.

Ann has won awards for her reporting from the Associated Press and Public Radio News Directors Incorporated. She received an Investigative Reporting award from the Education Writers Association for her 2010 KUOW story about recess inequalities for poor children in Seattle Public Schools.

In her spare time, Ann enjoys underwater photography while diving balmy Puget Sound. Her favorite marine invertebrate is a nudibranch. Her favorite nudibranch is a Cockerell's dorid (Laila cockerelli).

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Education
1:57 pm
Thu January 17, 2013

Seattle High School's Teachers Toss District's Test

Credit Ann Dornfeld for NPR
Garfield High School's academic dean and testing coordinator, Kris McBride, at a news conference announcing the teachers' boycott of the MAP test in Seattle on Jan. 10.

Originally published on Thu January 17, 2013 3:10 pm

An entire school of teachers in Seattle is refusing to give students a standardized test that's required by the district. The teachers say the test is useless and wastes valuable instructional time.

Meanwhile, individual teacher protests of standardized tests are popping up nationwide, and the Seattle case may make bigger waves.

'I Just See No Use For It'

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Standardized Testing
9:09 am
Tue January 15, 2013

Orca K-8 Teachers Join MAP Test Boycott

Credit mammal / Flickr

Teachers at Orca K-8 school in Seattle say they will boycott the same standardized test that Garfield High School teachers came out against last week.

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Standardized Testing
12:19 pm
Mon January 14, 2013

Seattle Superintendent And Testing Company Defend Standardized Test

Credit don_brubeck / Flickr
Garfield High School

Seattle Public Schools officials and the company that produces the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test are defending the school district's use of the standardized test after Garfield High School teachers refused to give it to their students this quarter.

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Standardized Testing
2:38 pm
Thu January 10, 2013

Teachers At Seattle School Refuse To Give Standardized Test

Credit COCOEN daily photos / Flickr
Fill in the bubbles.

Teachers at Garfield High School in Seattle say they have voted overwhelmingly to refuse to administer a district-wide standardized test. A statement from Garfield teachers called the test a waste of time and money.

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Gun Violence Prevention
8:30 am
Wed January 9, 2013

Seattle To Hold First Gun Buyback In 20 Years

Credit Ann Dornfeld
Seattle Police Deputy Chief Nick Metz announced the gun buyback at a news conference with former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, Mayor Mike McGinn and King County Executive Dow Constantine behind him.

Seattle and King County officials today announced the city’s first gun buyback program in 20 years. The goal is to reduce gun violence, both intentional and accidental.

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Intensive Academic Program
7:47 am
Mon January 7, 2013

Kids Find Path To College With Rainier Scholars

Every summer, five dozen mostly low-income students of color from Seattle Public Schools begin an intensive academic program designed to get them ready for college. In Rainier Scholars, middle-schoolers commit to eight-hour school days in the summer and then after-school and weekend classes during the school year. Most of these students would be the first in their families to graduate from college.

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School District Lawsuit
8:41 am
Mon December 24, 2012

Seattle Schools Settles $750,000 Employment Discrimination Case

Credit Courtesy Photo
Denise Frisino

Seattle Public Schools is paying $750,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a teacher who was fired for refusing to work in a building she says made her sick. 

Former teacher Denise Frisino says when she worked at Nathan Hale High School seven years ago, the mold was so bad that she had a hard time breathing and a terrible cough. "It was to the point where I could not be inside the building for long. It was not a minor thing. It was a severe reaction," she says. 

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Standardized Testing
5:08 pm
Thu December 13, 2012

Wash. Schools Chief Calls For Fewer High School Exit Exams

Scantron test sheet
Credit COCOEN daily photos / Flickr

Washington’s chief of K-12 education says the state’s high school students are required to take too many exit exams in order to graduate.

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Education Funding
7:20 pm
Tue December 11, 2012

Seven Seattle-Area School Districts Win $40M Race To The Top Grant

school desks
Credit Flickr/ccarlstead
Seattle-area schools, with some of the highest populations of students living in poverty, have been awarded a $40M federal grant.

Seven Seattle-area school districts have been awarded a $40 million federal Race to the Top grant. The money is aimed at improving academic achievement in high-poverty schools in the Seattle, Kent, Federal Way, Highline, Renton, Auburn and Tukwila districts.

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School District Embezzlement Case
3:33 pm
Fri December 7, 2012

33 New Charges For Former Seattle Schools Manager Silas Potter

Credit Ann Dornfeld
Silas Potter and his attorney Seth Conant in King County Superior Court Friday.

Former Seattle Public Schools manager Silas Potter faces 33 new felony theft charges for allegedly embezzling more than a quarter of a million dollars from the district.

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