📝 Report Card 06/11/26

The kids are alright: This year’s senior spotlight project was a bit of a risk. Every year, we find a way to mark high school graduation, and for the last two years, we have facilitated discussions among graduating seniors across Whatcom and Skagit counties. But this year, we decided to organize overtly political discussions among students.

Politics and schools are not a particularly great combination these days, with constant outrage from the right about schools indoctrinating students into developing certain political beliefs. I knew when I reached out to districts, asking them to recommend students, that not all would immediately say “yes” to taking part.

But it felt like an important thing for us to do. It’s a common talking point to say we need to talk across party lines and speak to people with different perspectives and backgrounds than us. But how often are those kinds of opportunities being created in our community? And how often are those opportunities open to youth?

You can read some of what the students had to say in these conversations in a Q&A piece, online now and in last week’s print issue. But there was so much we had to cut.

A couple of months ago, I asked readers of this newsletter for some questions they’d like us to ask the students. We ended up asking a question from a reader who wondered what graduating seniors need from the adults in the community as they transition into adulthood themselves.

Here’s a selection of the responses to that question that didn’t make the final article:

Ashley, Lynden: “Giving that friendly nudge to participate in politics, local and national ... Having those adults that push you to be active, even if you're not standing on a podium, speaking your mind, having adults that are pushing you to do your small little part.”

Chloe, Nooksack Valley: “I think more people should have people who are supportive and mentoring and like, ‘Hey, here's what's going on. What do you think about it?’ I think more people should be taught to not be politically passive and to use the voice that you have, and because that's in our rights — to use the voice that we have, and to use the vote that we have.”

Isaac, Sedro-Woolley: "Being more open-minded. The world is changing, and the world they grew up in is not the same as it is now."

Isabelle, La Conner: “Being more open-minded and like that, like the world is changing, and like the world they grew up in is not the same as it is now.”

Colton, Anacortes: "Being willing to listen to youth, and not discrediting us just because we're young people."

On the post-secondary side of my beat, I spoke with dozens of people over a few months for a piece on how artificial intelligence is impacting education at Western Washington University. I thought it was interesting that Western still lacks any kind of directive or policy on the use of AI and largely leaves it up to professors to figure out how they want students to use or not use AI tools. You can read about how three professors — in marketing, energy studies and computer science — approach the issue here.

KUOW: A poll of K-12 teachers finds that most think AI will have a bigger impact on education than the internet or computers.

Seattle Times: The Edmonds School District is partnering with an affordable housing building to develop 52 units for homeless families whose children attend Edmonds schools. The superintendent said he wasn’t sure it was the district’s responsibility to build housing, but “until somebody else does, I guess we’re it.”

The Hatchet: Arshy Mann, a Canadian reporter I connected with during my student newspaper days in Vancouver, has an excellent investigative podcast about power and money in Canada. He’s launched a new series called “A Few Bad Apples,” documenting police misconduct in the country. The series starts in the Montreal area, where police last year shot and killed an unarmed teenage boy.