Dana Gioia Stepping Down from NEA Chair

Poet and politician, Dana Gioia announced last Friday that he plans to step down from chairman position of the National Endowment for the Arts in hopes to write more poetry. In stepping down he will be taking up a part-time position as an Arts director at the Aspen Institute.

Gioia's announcement is being closely followed by praise for the 57 year-old's triumphant work as the NEA Chairman. Under his leadership the NEA saw dramatic funding increases as well as the initiation of many well-received programs such as the Poetry Out Loud contest.

The Melon's School Board Coverage Featured in TNT

It seems The Melon has ended up in the TNT blogosphere for the second time (the first time in a article by Mark Briggs.) This time, education reporter Kris Sherman discusses our coverage of the Tacoma School Board Meetings, taking quotes from our own education activist Chris "The Wedge" Van Vechten. The TNT goes on to talk a bit about our good friend Robert "The Traveller" Hill.

School board caught on tape

You can see the TV-shy Tacoma School Board on the Internet now, thanks to Chris Van Vechten and friends at the Melon Online Web site.

He sent me an e-mail this morning, referencing a story I wrote recently on the School Board nixing the idea of televising their meetings. (The Tacoma City Council and lots of other local electeds appear on the tube when they meet.)

"After reading your article, my friends and I decided to take action," Van Vechten wrote to me today. Attached was a link to The Melon, which carries the headline "Ripe! Tacoma School Board Meeting 8/28/08.”

Read the full piece here: http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics/2008/09/09/title_649

Interview with Dick Sonntag - August 22, 2008

Dick Sonntag – brother of State Auditor Brian Sonntag – is a former Tacoma City Councilman and School Board member. I sat down with him on August 22 at Port Orchard’s Puerto Vallarta restaurant to discuss his family's pet issues like open government and the future of democracy in public education and beyond.

Tacoma School Board Meeting 08/28/08

And so begins The Melon's video coverage of the Tacoma School Board.

This week features discussions about the No Child Left Behind Act, the state of the Tacoma Education Association, a visit from Robert Hill and Rep. Troy Kelly, a generous donation of backpacks by Bank of America and more.

We apologize for cutting this video short at the end. We ran out of tape. Also, the audio is slightly off, we will try to fix this soon.

ARTS UPDATE

Last Saturday – August 9 – I had the opportunity to speak at Tacoma's Museum of Glass during the second of two free recitals Dance Theatre Northwest's (DTN) preformed that day. As many of you may know, DTN is a county-assisted dance troop dedicated to making the world of dance accessible to those traditionally marginalized by the fine arts. Specifically DTN seeks to inspire "low income and at-risk youth as well as schools, retirement/nursing homes and senior centers." The Pierce County Arts Commission has been supporting DTN for well over a decade now through a series of modest community grants, and in 1998 we awarded them the Commission's Margaret K Williams Arts Award for taking the initiative in being a leader in the community's artistic development.

Interview with Fife School Board member Daniel Pace - 9/8/2008

In November of 2007 twenty-two year-old Daniel Pace unseated longtime Fife School Board incumbent Lew Wolfrom by a 59.45% landslide. He thus became the youngest person ever elected to the Fife School Board. Daniel is not a teacher, a parent, nor a native of the district. He claims he was "an average student" in school who ran cross-country but was nothing special to be sure. The son of a police officer and a working professional - both of whom live outside his school district (and thus, did not vote for him) he lacked the family connections that generally are associated with upsets like his.

Inspired by his unlikely victory, The Melon met with Daniel at Sam's Taqueria in Puyallup to discuss the many challenges that confront the young leaders of today.

The GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY ( Higher Education)

THE GOOD

Not much, sorry ☹

THE BAD

July 24, 2008

The State Board of Education approved the Core for 24 framework, thus moving the League of Education Voters' campaign one step closer to victory while further undermining the ability of students to tailor their scholastic experience to their individual interests.

THE UGLY

July 29, 2008

McCain comes out against affirmative action in higher education while Obama calls for a system that recognizes socio/economic class as the unequivocal denominator in determining both admission and aid.

August 1, 2008

After seven years of study and strife, Congress passed the expansive (1,158 page) Higher Education Accountability Act to address issues in higher education ranging from students pirating music in their dorms to drug use to PELL grants. It goes without saying that I didn’t read this, and I doubt Congress did either.

GREGOIRE VS ROSSI (EDUCATION)

Neither Governor Gregoire, nor former State Senator Rossi can really claim to be champions of public schools or higher education. Gregoire’s base is rooted in environmental issues, while Rossi is a big-business Republican who is fond of reminding voters that taxes are too high. Nonetheless, both are aware that education is an issue, and both are doing their best to convince the public that they in fact represent the number one choice for Washington’s Schools.

STATE BOARD PROPOSES MORE ARTS CREDITS to HIGH SCHOOL CORE

The following letter was recently composed by Una McAlinden, Executive Director of ArtsEd Washington

OBAMA VS MCCAIN (EDUCATION)

The following is a brief comparative analysis of the pedagogical platforms of both Senators Barak Obama and John McCain.