EmilyP

Local meteorologist and UW atmospheric sciences professor Cliff Mass has posted multiple times at his blog about a Seattle Public Schools board decision regarding math textbooks. Last night the board made a final vote, resulting in what Dr. Mass feels was an extremely poor choice. He believes, as do other advisory bodies, that the textbook curriculum is so poor that Seattle schoolkids will receive an inadequate education in math, setting them up for failure in higher education studies. He wrote on the issue better than I can, so I am posting the links here.

I wish I had done this sooner, but it seems that most of the board ignored calls and emails from the public in any case. I sent an email to them all, and I'm sure others did as well.

While the decision has been made, I believe it's important for the public to understand what has happened and judge the Board as they see fit. The next time someone comes up for election, vote with this in mind.

Math Education: Seattle School District is poised to make a big mistake (April 20; scroll down)
Seattle's Big Math Decision (May 3)
Tragedy in Seattle (May 6)

Where's The Math? blog

I've seen about eight engines and other vehicles zooming northbound with sirens blaring. The SPD 911 log says there's a "natural gas leak, major" near the Arboretum

I was sitting on my couch watching TV when I was startled by a very loud crack in the window behind me. It was such a loud, sudden sound that I was pretty certain it wasn't an accidental break of some kind. I checked the window and found a small hole in both panes of the window glass.

I called the police and a car was sent out for a report to be taken. The police found a small silver BB inside the window and retrieved it. They didn't have any information about other shootings. I didn't hear cars screeching away (other than normal road noise) so it's hard to say there was some sort of intent in hurting me or anyone else. But now this is out on the blog, so if it happens again we can see a pattern.

Over a year ago another city department (I think Water) did some work on the street almost right in front of my house, and then patched up their holes very poorly. Now SDOT is finally smoothing it all out, and it's proving to be quite the undertaking.

I use this log of 911 dispatches quite a bit to find out why there are several engines or ambulances screaming past my house at any hour. Traffic noise is expected when you live on 23rd, but sirens are something else. I really don't mind them too much because they're kind of exciting.

So since I was awake, I decided to check what all the fuss was about...and was shocked to see some recent calls were for a fire at a single-family residence at 901 20th Ave E.

Can anybody from the Aloha-end of the hill report in on this? I hope everyone's okay.