School Board Meeting Last Night

I was unable to attend the School Board meeting last night. I'd love to read comments from those of you did.

The Times and the PI had short articles about the School Board meeting:
School Board elects Chow president (PI) and
Chow picked to head Seattle School Board (Times)

Chow's election as School Board President is not a surprise, but I find it depressing. From Chow's recent quotes regarding the Mayor, to her distance from and lack of responsivenss to parents she serves, to her desire to have tightly controlled behavior during School Board meetings, I feel that Chow's election as School Board President signals change in the wrong direction.

Comments

Melissa Westbrook said…
I agree. I had hoped Michael would get the nod. Also, I am surprised Darlene is Vice-President. With Irene, Darlene and Cheryl on the Executive Committee, I'm not sure what to expect but I don't think it's good.

I was talking to someone in Cheryl's district yesterday and asked him why Cheryl causes such visceral reactions from people in her district (something I have noticed from Board meetings and she just hasn't been on the Board that long to evoke that). He said she can be arrogant and imperious to people, had a screaming match with legislator Sharon Timiko after a CAC public hearing and just doesn't answer e-mails from community members. This is from when she was on the City Council on forward. I guess she brought a lot of baggage to the Board.

Also, I did get alerted to the main reason why the Board will not have Rice be interim (unless it was for just 9 months). The Mayor and his minions have pushed so hard that I believe the Board are going to hang on to the one huge power they have; namely, finding and appointing a superintendent. If Rice came in, the election would come and go before the superintendent search and there likely might be a new crop of Board members who would select the superintendent. I'm sure it's the Mayor's fondest wish that a new Board appoint the Superintendent but the old Board is going to deny that wish (in spades). If the Mayor had used his considerable political acumen and gone privately to the Board to make his suggestions, they might have listened. Instead he chose the bully pulpit and backed them into a corner. Bad move.
12/7/06, 9:51 AM
Anonymous said…
It's true - Ms. Chow doesn't answer email very often at all. And she never seems to have an open mind on issues - it's as if she's always made it up in advance. She really plays the I know Best attitude. It's very frustrating, and not what I want in my school board member. Mr. DeBell, in constrast, is a terrific listener, and if he disagrees, will very civily tell you why.
12/7/06, 10:54 AM
Anonymous said…
I'm glad they are trying to control the behavior at the school board meetings. I can't tell you how many parents I talk to who are scared to attend-- which is a shame because everyone should feel safe enough to voice their opinions.
12/10/06, 9:42 AM
Anonymous said…
I'm glad they are trying to control the behavior at the school board meetings. I can't tell you how many parents I talk to who are scared to attend-- which is a shame because everyone should feel safe enough to voice their opinions.
12/10/06, 9:43 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come fro
Read more

Seattle School Board Meeting, Wednesday, September 18,2024

Please let us know if you attend the rally before the meeting.  Seeing photos from Twitter; looks like a good crowd at the rally. The West Seattle Blog is there reporting.  I am going to attempt to live blog so you will see abbreviations, spelling/grammar errors, etc. I will clean it up but I think it is worth trying to do. I will be refreshing the page as I go.  I am sad to see that apparently President Liza Rankin is not even going to allow 10 people over the regular 20 to testify. Just five.  Also, right at the beginning, the Board has stuck in, after Board comments, a Progress Monitoring presentation. They could have put it at the end but they didn't. They think - in 45 minutes - they can do Superintendent comments, Board comments and this presentation. I doubt that public testimony will start on-time. Tone-deaf doesn't even cover it with Board leadership. To note, apparently the district scheduled the NE community meeting on closures on Rosh Hashanah which is October 2. I
Read more