Smith-Blum Withdraws Her Nomination to Board of Education

The candidates for an interim seat on the Washington State Board of Education has narrowed by one.

President Smith-Blum who applied (and was interviewed) has withdrawn her application, saying that she did not want to leave SPS in the middle of the year. 

Critical boundary discussions, construction contracts for over $500 million, restorative discipline policies, the Green Resolution – all of these things have been key issues in my tenure and I hope to see them all through to fruition. 

She said the conversation with SBE members was great and she was glad for the opportunity.

Now it's anyone but Peter Maier.  His past inactions on the Seattle School Board should make him unwanted on any other public commission or board.

Comments

mirmac1 said…
I will contact the Gov's office and remind them of Maier's "track record"
5/8/13, 8:51 AM
Watching said…
Thanks, Mirimac. Don't forget to contact the SBOE, too.
5/8/13, 8:56 AM
David said…
While it's too bad Smith-Blum won't be on the Board of Education, it is great that she will stay on the Seattle School Board.

Of all the members of the School Board, I think she has done the most to challenge district staff and try to hold them accountable. I'd like much, much more, of course, but at least Smith-Blum seems to be one of the ones pushing in the right direction.
5/8/13, 9:01 AM
mirmac1 said…
David,

I'd add WITH the support of Peaslee, Patu and (most of the time) McLaren.
5/8/13, 9:37 AM
Anonymous said…
Good for her—I like her even more now!

SolvayGirl
5/8/13, 12:55 PM
Jan said…
Whew! It always feels presumptuous to tell someone else how to allocate scarce volunteer hours, so I didn't write her and beg for reconsideration -- but I am sure glad that she made this decision. Somehow, even though I know we have huge capacity problems, and I am troubled with what may be coming down the road in terms of AL -- it feels to me like this ship is "righting itself" just a little. The fact that they are at least dropping MAP in 9th grade (next needs to be K through 2) -- and then middle school, and that it looks like there is a timetable for new math materials, etc., and both levies passed -- so there will eventually be more (and better) space -- it just feels like maybe instead of spending all our time trying to keep stuff from falling apart and sinking -- we have the ability to try to move forward. That would have been much harder to sustain if Kay had left -- because the rest of the "old" (pre-Kay) board still has WAY too many bad habits for me to hope they can keep this moving forward.
5/8/13, 1:46 PM
Anonymous said…
This wasn't a governor appointee. The choice of finalist came from WSSDA (state school board director association). State board of education has to confirm WSSDA's preferred candidate.

The state board is made up of a mix of governor appointees and WSSDA-elected members.

(WSSDA selected Maier as top finalist)
5/9/13, 1:51 PM
Watching said…
Not sure why WSSDA would nominate Maier as top dog. It is time to speak out and write to the SBOE. This position will be determined by a vote on the SBOE.
5/9/13, 11:23 PM
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

MEETING CANCELED - Hey Kids, A Meeting with Three(!) Seattle Schools Board Directors

 Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting.  In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance.  - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
Read more