Marni Campbell to Lead Robert Eagle Staff MS for Final Year of Planning

Put up without comment because I know many of you will have your own:

Dear Robert Eagle Staff Middle School Community,

As work continues on the new Robert Eagle Staff Middle School, we are excited to announce that Marni Campbell has been appointed as the new principal who will lead the final year of planning and the opening of the school in September 2017. Since this new school will draw students from multiple programs throughout the Seattle Public Schools northwest region, as well as a few schools in the northeast region, we are sending this announcement to families in both regions.

Throughout the coming year, Ms. Campbell will work with students, families, community and staff to build a vision for the new middle school, hire the core administrative and instructional team, meet with students and families of the schools feeding into the new middle school to ensure a smooth transition, and closely monitor all aspects of the construction and opening of the new building.

Ms. Campbell is returning to Seattle Public Schools, having served as the executive director of instruction and innovation for Highline Public Schools since 2013. During her time with Seattle Public Schools, she served as an assistant principal for Mercer Middle School, principal for Eckstein Middle School and Nathan Hale High School, and as an executive director and assistant superintendent supporting the Teaching and Learning and Special Education Departments.

A current doctoral candidate at the University of Washington, Ms. Campbell holds a master’s in teaching and learning from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, a master’s in English literature and a bachelor’s in English from Brigham Young University.

Ms. Campbell brings a constant emphasis on equity to her work. She has a clear understanding and dedicated focus on Special Education, English Language Learners (ELL) and Advanced Learning programs. Ms. Campbell’s attention is on all students, not just some students. She has a strong desire to connect the students, school and community to the legacy of Robert Eagle Staff and the lands the school will occupy.

We will set up opportunities for building staff, students and families to meet your new principal. Thank you for the high expectations you set for every student, and for all you do.

Please join me in welcoming Ms. Campbell to Seattle Public Schools and the McDonald International Elementary community.

Sincerely,
Stephen Nielsen, Deputy Superintendent
Seattle Public Schools

Comments

So it was just pointed out to me that the final line says "McDonald International Elementary community." I cannot explain that error.
Anonymous said…
Did the whole district get this message? I received it, but I'm not sure why. My child goes to an option school, so hopefully they're not planning on us switching.

Confused
Anonymous said…
"She has a clear understanding and dedicated focus on Special Education, "

Total utter nonsense!

More lies
Anonymous said…
Is this the same Campbell who failed to report a sexual assault at EMS which resulted in a $249,000 settlement. Campbell claimed the girl needed counseling.

Disgusting
Anonymous said…
I got the email too and we're not slated to attend either. Very odd.
Whitman 85th.
mirmac1 said…
Sorry Highline, no refunds or returns. Marni Campbell was quite possibly the worst leader of Sped EVER.
Elsa said…
Like a bad penny.

She won't escape her past here.
Anonymous said…
They sent out the letter announcing the new McDonald Int'l principal at the same time. It's Michelle Sushner. Looks like they were just careless when using the McDonald letter as a template.

McParent
Anonymous said…
And that carelessness is how they run the entire district. She couldn't possibly have been the worse SPED head ever, because that would be the current person Wyeth Jesse. Or they are all built from the exact same cloth. I see the job description now: Know how to save money at all cost, know how to cut corners, know how to cover the district's a**, no knowledge of SPED required.

Jaded teacher
monkeypuzzled said…
As someone whose sped kid struggled through the ICS rollout and is now likely to attend Eagle Smith if there's a geo-split, this feels like a slap in the face. There is no clearer demonstration to me of what SPS's priorities are than this appointment. FEH
Anonymous said…
No Mirmac, the worst leader for Sped EVER... is the one we have right now. But, Marni was pretty bad. Actually they are similar. Both want to kill off inclusion everywhere, undermine it every way possible - while saying they actually just love those poor little sped kids. Right. Love 'em to death. Truly. The worst SPED director of all time was Sarah Woolverton. But the competition is stiff. She took the cake when posted students' picture with Down Syndrome from TOPs in the Seattle Times - while complaining about how expensive they were. Nice thing to wake up to - your kid's mug on the front page of the Times Sunday morning with a complaint about their pricetag.

There's got to be a story here. You don't go from executive director, assistant superintendent - back down to principal, without a reason. What is the reason? Whatever the reason - this is a demotion for one who cares only about promotion, self-promotion to precise.

Sped Staffer


Jaded Teacher. No they have no clue how to save money. There is literally an army of incompetence in downtown SPED. Not a single one has a shred of competence. Check out the Transitions programs. Bridges. What the heck is that? Recycling for Everyone. All in hospitals. Do all of our students with disabilities (100%) want to do recycling and work in a hospital? Hard to imagine that they do. Not one ounce of competence anywhere. Assistant executive director, Jr. Grand-Poo-Bah, executive director of building services. All clueless. And the lies. The only good thing about the lies - is that none of the remember what the latest lie was supposed to be - so they always say something different.





Anonymous said…
She was also NW Executive Director for a few minutes. Wonder why they neglected to mention that?

Bad Penny
Anonymous said…
This is very disappointing. The opportunity to plan and open a new school doesn't come around very often, and this was a chance to appoint someone excellent, not recycle a job-hopper. I'm sad that the District didn't go with someone who has a track record of building a strong school community over time. The children set to attend the school are the ones who will lose out.
- Disappointed North Seattle mom
mirmac1 said…
I wonder how much Steve Nielsen played a role in this utterly idiotic choice.
Cabbie said…
Boy it would be hard to pick a winner (or loser) in the "worst special education director" contest. Of course there's Marni (who had no training in special ed when appointed director), Zakiyah McWilliams (fired for cronyism), Bob Howman (who bragged about killing a man in a bar fight... seriously)... but the worst of all IMHO has to be Colleen Stump (demoted to teacher but like Marni slowly working her way back up and is now an assistant principal at Stevens).
Linda C said…
Excellent choice SPS
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-schools-settles-sex-abuse-case-for-nearly-250k/
Linda C said…
Yes it is http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-schools-settles-sex-abuse-case-for-nearly-250k/
Anonymous said…
Colleen Stump was fine. At less she had a doctorate in SPed, and had a career devoted to it. MGJ didn't prefer her. Probably means she was ok.

Speddie
Anonymous said…
Well, here we are in 2018, halfway through the first REMS year. Wish I knew all this before- as if it would have helped. So far, parents are treated like invaders at the school. No admittance for assemblies, no open invitation to sit in at lunch or in classrooms, unlike every other school we have attended. Campbell speaks of community and then stifles it, except when it makes her look good. This extends beyond parents to the kids, half of whom are very familiar with advisory periods and feel like cattle in a herd without them. Instead of allowing teachers the opportunity to tune into students and employing the students in building a culture of tolerance and support, Marni tries to be superhuman, teaching all the anti-bullying workshops herself. Seems exhausting, and of limited return to me, but..... After bullying the transfer of 8th graders to meet funding needs for the entire school, it seems the entire school did not really include the 8th graders. With reluctance, they were provided foreign language courses, though I know of at least one that is being called "Spanish 2" while students and families are supposed to believe it is Spanish 3. Families are also complaining that the students are being taught at the level of learning they engaged in last year. Certain music courses were dropped, too, which was very disappointing to the students who worked so hard for years to get there. No opportunity to work as TAs, in that case, was offered. After school offerings were meager, costly, and fail to meet student needs. For the advanced 8th graders who have thrived on the ability to supplement their coursework with debate, Latin, and PE waiver acceptable after school activities, this was a huge loss. There is a very real sense that REMS doesn't care about them other than as a body count. While I am on the matter of PE Waivers, this is one of those matters where Marni goes limp, acting like she's doing us a favor by giving laity. In fact, PE is a core requirement and many of us are concerned that graduation could be compromised. Finally, I know of one situation where a student complaining of sexual harrassment by other students is not really being given the help they need to stop the behavior. Hmmm... -Disappointed Parent
Anonymous said…
The other comments here are enlightening. This must be an impossible job to fill, or maybe the district has contractual obligations to protect the unimpressive by moving them from one position to another. The word is: Micromanagement. Also, misreading our kids and their needs so that they love to hate on her. It's the kids who told me about the lawsuit at Hale, so is it fear? In one-on-one meetings it's as though she faced a serving of road kill. I can't imagine what it's like to work for her

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