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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Civil Rights Investigation
9:10 am
Tue March 5, 2013

Feds Reviewing Discipline Rates Of Black Students In Seattle Schools

Credit derekbruff / Flickr

KUOW has learned that the U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into discipline rates in Seattle Public Schools. In an email, agency spokesman Jim Bradshaw told KUOW that its Office for Civil Rights is looking into whether black students in Seattle are disciplined "more frequently and more harshly" than white students for the same infractions.

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Education Reform
6:11 pm
Mon March 4, 2013

Washington Charter School Commissioners To Be Announced This Week

The first members of Washington state’s new Charter School Commission are due to be appointed Wednesday. The commission will be able to approve some of the 40 charter schools allowed under the law voters passed last fall.

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Education Funding
5:49 pm
Fri March 1, 2013

Sequester Slashes Washington Head Start, K-12 Funding

At least 1,000 children could be kicked out of Head Start programs in Washington due to the automatic federal budget cuts that began today.

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Initiative 1240
4:40 pm
Wed February 27, 2013

Union-Led Group Calls For Challenge To Washington Charter School Law

A group that includes Washington’s largest teachers’ union has formally asked state Attorney General Bob Ferguson to challenge the constitutionality of the state’s new charter school law.

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Arena Lawsuit
7:01 am
Mon February 25, 2013

Judge Rejects Union Lawsuit Against Sodo Arena Deal

A King County Superior Court judge has rejected a lawsuit that would have stalled plans to build a new professional basketball and hockey arena in Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood. It's part of a proposal to bring an NBA team back to Seattle.

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Academic Equity
9:51 am
Wed February 20, 2013

Proposed Law Would Require Wash. Schools To Enroll Students In AP Classes

High school Advanced Placement (AP) classes have traditionally been the domain of academically strong students who want an extra challenge. Now Washington state lawmakers are considering legislation based on a policy in the Federal Way school district that puts all kids who meet basic standards into AP and other advanced classes. The goal is to make more low-income kids of color ready for college.

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Education Reform
8:55 am
Thu February 7, 2013

District Grants Policy Waivers To Allow Seattle Schools More Flexibility

The Seattle School Board has approved "Creative Approach" policy waivers at six schools. The new system lets a school apply for waivers to district policies and the union contract so the school can be more flexible in how it operates.

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Standardized Test Boycott
7:32 am
Wed February 6, 2013

MAP Test Finally Given At Garfield High, But Few Students Show Up

Seattle Public Schools Superintendent José Banda directed administrators at Garfield High School to give the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test Tuesday despite a mass boycott by the school’s teachers.

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Same-Sex Marriage
7:56 am
Thu January 31, 2013

Seattle Tourism Industry Hitched To Gay Marriage

Credit Orlando Perez / U.S. Marine Corps/Wikipedia
Actor Jim Nabors during a visit to Marine Corps Base Hawaii April 22, 2010.

The star of the 1960s TV show Gomer Pyle, USMC, married his longtime male partner at Seattle’s Fairmont Olympic Hotel this month.

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Special Election
8:53 am
Tue January 29, 2013

Seattle Voters Consider $1.25 Billion Schools Levies

For the past 17 years, Seattle voters have approved every school levy that has come before them. Seattle Public Schools officials hope voters will now approve two more levies worth $1.25 billion.

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