Joanne Jacobs, author of an inspiring book, Our School, will be visiting Seattle next week.  Here's what she wrote me about her public appearance on April 4th:

I'm speaking at 11:30 am in the Commons, third floor of Parrington Hall, University of Washington.   The Center [on Reinventing Public] Education will host the "Policymakers Exchange."  Lunch will be provided.  They've asked guests to RSVP by March 30 to bardacke@u.washington.edu or Maggie Bardacke at 206-685-2214.

Of course, I'll be pushing the paperback of "Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea and the Charter School That Beat the Odds."  But I do hope there will be a general discussion of charter schools and choice.  Paul Hill, who runs the CR[P]E, knows all there is to know (OK, not much) about charter school effectiveness.

I'll be there — with my copy of Our School.

(Incidentally, if you are at all interested in education policy, you should read her blog regularly.)

More:  Here's the invitation from CRPE with more details:

The Center on Reinventing Public Education is pleased to invite you to a special session of the UW Policymakers Exchange with author Joanne Jacobs

Wednesday, April 4, 2007
11:30 am to 1:00 pm
In the Commons, 3rd Floor of Parrington Hall, University of Washington
Lunch provided

Please RSVP by March 30th to bardacke@u.washington.edu or Maggie Bardacke at 206.685.2214

Please join us for a presentation by Joanne Jacobs, who will talk about her new book, Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the Charter School That Beat the Odds. This is the story of two idealistic high school teachers who open Downtown College Prep, a charter high school in San Jose, with the mission to prepare predominantly poor, Mexican-American students to succeed at four-year colleges. Jacobs follows the school's progress for four years, looking closely and honestly at its challenges, its lessons, and its extraordinary achievements.

Jacobs covered education and other issues as an editorial writer and op-ed columnist for more than 15 years. In 2001, she left the Mercury News to create her education blog, joannejacobs.com, to freelance, and to write Our School.

Maggie Bardacke of the CRPE thinks that Joanne Jacobs was joking when she said that there wasn't much to know about charter schools — as do I.

I've made a couple of corrections in brackets in the original part of the post.