Goodbye to Noel Treat

From SPS:

Dear colleagues,

I am proud of the work we've done during my time at Seattle Public Schools and hope that I have helped make a positive difference.  My time here has been some of the most rewarding of my career, but I have decided to pursue a new opportunity as Deputy City Manager for Mercer Island. 

This is an exciting opportunity for me to be part of a strong city leadership team and address new challenges.  Please know that my decision is not a result of the current Superintendent search – I was not an applicant and am pleased with the candidates who have been named as finalists.  

I know we are in the midst of a transition at SPS and I am confident the School Board will find a new leader to continue the work in a positive direction.  I will still remain a part of the SPS community and look forward to supporting the District as a parent.  My last day in the office will be May 21.

I wish you all the best.

Noel Treat
Deputy Superintendent
Seattle Public Schools

I am sad to see Noel go.  I think he was widely respected and I thought he really had good ideas and energy.

Comments

mirmac1 said…
I knew this was going to happen. I'm disappointed. Mr. Treat was a little too involved in the TFA debacle for my tastes, but in other respects I thought he was a strong asset for our district.
Charlie Mas said…
There goes the most honest and principled person in the District leadership. Crap.
mirmac1 said…
Double Crap
seattle citizen said…
Triple crap. Mr. Treat has been an asset to this district.
seattle citizen said…
Triple crap. Mr. Treat has been an asset to this district.
Po3 said…
Was Treat one of the employees who got a raise under the idea that we needed to give out raises to retain employees?
Anonymous said…
Does this mean that they finally make Ron English General Counsel (yuck) or do you think they will let the new Sup hire someone since he has been "acting" since Noel was promoted?

SWWS
Anonymous said…
Sounds like a good move (and an upward one) for Noel -- but I will sure miss him! I recall how much comfort I took (in the Lowell investigation) knowing that he had actually talked to one or both of the SLPs and knew what ridiculous hijinks were going on. Best of luck to the District finding someone else with his intelligence and decision-making skills to do that job. It isn't like there aren't others out there -- it is more that I think it was a "fluke" (maybe because of his wife's connections? -- I don't know) that they managed to get him to fill that position in the first place.

Ah me.
mirmac1 said…
I don't think it was a fluke. I think it was because:

he thought he could make a difference (and he could have, if he stayed)

his heart is more in management than lawyering (can one blame him?)

he thought Enfield was the real deal (his greatest mistake along with the whole TFA garbage)

Treat was the one guy who, when he said he thought ALL children should have an equal chance, I actually believed him. We disagreed how one went about being that to fruition, but I figured he'd see that I was right, eventually. : )
Anonymous said…
What was Treat's role in TFA?

--enough already
Unknown said…
Lets just hope McEvoy stays.
Nick Esparza said…
I am not at all sad to see mr Noel Treat leave Seattle public schools. I think that he was an overall decent person, but I judge them on thier policies. He was inafective in networking with families and the community. He was inafective in getting the district jobs done. Furthermore, he was highly unqualified for this job. He was not given a competitive interview when getting hired for this job. It is not hard to stand out and be responsible when you are surrounded by incompetence.

The other thing that stands out is he was up to his eyeballs on the Teach for America policy.

The other point that I don't understand with this blog and its people is why they don't stand up for themselves. They have a lot of things they feel don't work, but they don't offer any pushback or sugestions of thier own.

They are great on the defensive, but offer no comeback on Teach for America. They will defend themselves as individuals but not share what to do or how to solve anything wrong with the school district.

Everytime I read this blog the readers always advocate for more of the same people, recycling bad talent. Trying to pull trash out of the dump and make it seem new. Let's have new ideas, new people and new discussions. Stop following the masses and think for yourselves.

I get the idea that this is not a blog for intelligent discussion, but a blog of people in a cult. Nothing intelligent to say, they will gang up on you and attack you for thinking different or for yourself.

This is not about me, it is aout making the schools better for the kids and everyone whom works for them. Let's offer helpful rather than hurtful suggestions.
Anonymous said…
I have a lot of respect for Noel Treat. I am sorry to see him leave the district.

Quadruple it
mirmac1 said…
Treat basically ran interference for Enfield after she was exposed as Ortega's BFF. He worked closely with Holly Ferguson to pave the way for our minor-league hires. But, he was making up for that slip up with other helpful things.

And, no, McEvoy needs to go. She has singlemindedly embraced her role as soother-in-chief, can't speak in anything but jargon, and has a very hard time answering direct questions.
KG said…
Good riddance Treat. He did nothing to stop the over expenditure on the central MONSTER.
To in love with the evil that resides in the JSCEE.
Someone needs to grow a spine.
ONe Nation under a Groove said…
NO spine Noel Treat
Jan said…
KG -- I claim no inside knowledge here, and maybe you have it -- but I am always baffled by those who think that, when someone is hired, they do not have to work to advance the objectives of the person to whom they report. This is why I don't/can't tar Pegi McEvoy OR Noel with Dr. E's policies (which included a continuance of overstaffing/overpaying at JSEE, while starving the schools). It is also why I couldn't really tar Dr. E with the dreadful policies and decisions of MGJ. I think you have to give them a total pass on policies -- they are implementers, not formers. What you look for is a penchant for trying to do their OWN jobs well (answer questions directly -- including "I don't know" when appropriate, avoiding BS and "vague nonanswers" -- though even those sometimes are necessitated by what superiors tell you to do, not what you want to do), an ability to actually get something done, connect dots, run a committee or a selection process fairly, etc.

My sense of Noel is that he did his job as well as he could under the circumstances. He listened; he got back to people; he followed up. If his job was to assist Holly in seeing whether they could get the certs for TfA folks -- then that was his job and he did it. I lay that one at the feet of Dr. E and those board members who voted for it -- not Noel. I have no clue whether an outside investigator would have been asked to come in to set the Lowell issue straight if Mr. Treat hadn't been there -- it is places like that where I think his strengths show through. His new position is a step up (and further into management, and away from just being "the legal guy") -- but I think he would have been a real asset (assuming we hire a reasonable Supe) to the District if he had stayed.
mirmac1 said…
Jan,

I agree. The good everything else outweighed the bad TFA.

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