Education

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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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School Design
11:53 am
Fri December 21, 2012

School Safety In The Age Of Gun Violence

Credit NAC Architecture
It's counterintuitive, but transparency is the key to safety, says Architect Kevin Flanagan.

Designing safer schools doesn't mean turning them into military bunkers. That might have been an easy remodel back when schools were built like jails, filled with "cells" and controlled by bells. Today's schools are open, flexible spaces that allow students to combine and recombine into groups that learn from each other as much as they learn from the teacher.

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Education
10:34 am
Thu December 20, 2012

State Rep. Larry Seaquist On The Future Of Higher Education

Credit Wash. State Department of Transportation / Flickr
Rep. Larry Seaquist, a former US Navy warship captain, says he strongly believes in worker safety, adding he stressed safety to each and every person under his command, never losing a sailor in all of his 32-year career. (March 9, 2010)

Ross Reynolds talks about the future of higher education in Washington state with Rep. Larry Seaquist who heads the House Higher Education Committee.   Larry Seaquist is also a former US warship captain and Pentagon strategist who served for 32 years in the US Navy.

Education Budget
5:01 pm
Tue December 18, 2012

Gregoire Proposes New Fuel Tax For Education

Credit Flickr / tncountryfan
School buses parked in a parking lot.

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire proposed a new wholesale vehicle fuel tax Tuesday that you might notice at the gas pump. The governor said the move will help the state support education by helping cover the costs of getting kids to school.

Currently, school districts help pay for students' transportation needs, but a recent court ruling says state government is not doing enough to support education. That includes education-related transportation.

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RadioActive at South Park
11:04 am
Tue December 18, 2012

Shake Off That SAT Stress

Credit Jason Pagano / KUOW
RadioActive Youth Producer Evan Adams speaks at the Fall 2012 Listening Party at the South Park Community Center.

RadioActive youth producer Evan Adams is a junior at Garfield High School in Seattle. He is stressing about taking the SAT because he wants to get into the college of his dreams, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But MIT requires high SAT scores, and Evan struggles with tests. He shares his story.

Right now at school I get OK grades — I'm working to get all As. But I have pretty much failed every major test since the beginning of sixth grade despite the countless hours I have spent studying for the tests.

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School Funding
10:33 am
Tue December 18, 2012

Washington Governor Proposes Taxes For Schools

Credit Austin Jenkins

Originally published on Tue December 18, 2012 4:20 pm

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Outgoing Washington Governor Chris Gregoire is proposing to extend two temporary taxes for three-and-a-half years in order to make a $1 billion down payment on a recent Supreme Court ruling that found the state is not adequately funding public schools. Much of that new money would go to reduce K-2 class sizes, speed up the phase-in of all-day kindergarten and help districts with basic operating and maintenance costs.

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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 Funding
7:55 am
Tue December 11, 2012

New Wash. Senate Majority Will Not Promise $1B More For Schools

Credit Austin Jenkins / Northwest News Network

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 3:51 pm

OLYMPIA, Wash. – A big shake-up in the control of the Washington state senate could have major implications for how lawmakers address funding for schools next year. A coalition of Republicans and two breakaway Democrats announced Monday it has just enough votes to depose the current Democratic majority.

The chair of the Washington Democratic party calls it a “coup” and a “prescription for instability and division.” But former Republican turned Democrat Rodney Tom -- who will lead the new majority coalition -- says voters want governing from the middle.

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Information Marketplace
12:00 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

UW Robot Helps Students Register For Classes, For A Fee

On registration day at the University of Washington, alarms go off all over campus at 5:50 a.m. Thousands of students stumble out of bed, load the UW website, and hit refresh over and over. Then at 6 a.m. there is a flurry of action.

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