“My main issue with HCC is that it offers to some kids what you could be offering to everybody,” says Matt Halvorson, the parent of a fifth grader in general ed and the publisher of Rise Up For Students, a blog commenting on equity in Seattle Schools. “We can do differentiated learning and give everyone valuable experiences that validate their genius and recognize them as special, which everybody is. HCC, as it is, exacerbates existing gaps along racial and socioeconomic lines. If some kids are benefiting but it’s also having a harmful impact, then I don’t see how it’s something we should perpetuate.”
Read MoreMatt Halvorson and Rise Up For Students in the media:
In Northwest Music Scene: "100 Bands in 100 Days Presented by Verity Credit Union — Day 58: Matt Halvorson"→
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“Matt Halvorson is a writer, musician, activist and father, and his music is an exploration of those identities and his place in the world. He founded and continues to manage the Rise Up Music Project, a daily music podcast/platform for which he has written a song a week in 2019, and he writes and manages a blog about equity in education called Rise Up for Students."
Read MoreIn The Seattle Times: "As election nears, Seattle School Board president loses support of teachers union"→
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A few called for her resignation in 2016 after she used the term “ghetto school” during a meeting where School Board members discussed plans to make Cedar Park Elementary School an option school to avoid racial imbalance at surrounding schools; the neighborhood nearby is a low-income, racially diverse pocket of North Seattle. She apologized for the comment.
‘I absolutely blew it,’ Harris said last week. ‘I’ve chewed on it and it’s made me a hell of a lot more sensitive and I think probably more effective.’
Former School Board member Stephan Blanford, the only black member of the board at the time, called the moment ‘sickening’ and ‘disrespectful of her own (diverse) constituency.’”
Read MoreIn Seattle Magazine: "Why Seattle Schools Can't Keep a Superintendent," by Alison Krupnick→
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“We’re so proud of how progressive we are,” says Matt Halvorson, a South Seattle stay-at-home father of two biracial sons, ages 3 and 9, who writes the blog Rise Up for Students. “We legalize pot and marriage equality, and we call ourselves a sanctuary city. Our leaders do bold things in the name of civil rights. But we are still talking about making more equitable schools, 70 years after we integrated them.”
Read MoreOn the Schoolinfosystem.org blog: "Are our kids being educated, or are we all just getting schooled?" by Matt Halvorson→
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John Taylor Gatto was named New York State’s Teacher of the Year three years in a row from 1988-1990. Nearly 400,000 active teachers currently belong to the union in the Empire State, so even being mentioned in a conversation about the state’s best teachers has you breathing rarified air. Winning the award outright three straight years is an astounding singular achievement. Gatto was clearly at the pinnacle of his profession…”
Read MoreOn the Detroit School Talk blog: "Better Choices…….For K12 Education"→
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“From all corners, comes the push for educational justice: ‘One Voice warrior’ Ashe Jones, parent ShaRhonda Knott-Dawson, personalized learning pioneer Phyllis Lockett, Seattle parent Matt Halvorson, businessman Jeff Bezos, Memphis education advocate Mendell Grinter, and a gathering of Delaware parents.”
Read MoreOn the Novus Group blog: Education Reform in 2018 Is Going to Need a Parent Seal of Approval→
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Rhode Island’s Erika Sanzi, San Antonio’s Inga Cotton, Seattle’s Matt Halvorson, New Jersey’s Laura Waters, New York’s Alina Adams, Nashville’s Vesia Hawkins, Fort Lauderdale’s Kerry-Ann Royes, Detroit’s Brian Love and Bernita Bradley, and Minneapolis’ Beth Hawkins are all putting parent voice at the center of education debates.
Read MoreIn Seattle's Child: "Our Holiday Traditions: Mixing up old and new customs," by Katherine Hedland Hansen→
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“Along with Christmas cheer, they also incorporate meaningful rituals around their community activism, which they point out runs throughout the year.
Matt, who writes about educational equity at Rise Up For Students, and Lindsay, a program officer who works on national education strategy and diversity at the Raikes Foundation, are committed to racial and social equity. Their family traveled to Ferguson, Missouri, to mark the one-year anniversary of the police shooting of Michael Brown, and they spent time at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota this year protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline.
They want those values to permeate their holidays — even as they take pictures with Santa.”
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