Seattle School Board Appoints Larry Nyland as Interim Super
The Board seems in agreement of the appointment of Dr. Larry Nyland, former superintendent in Marysville (and a former Superintendent of the Year) to be the interim superintendent.
More to come. Board seems enthused.
Updates:
- Carr and Martin-Morris were out-of-town but were on speaker phone. All the Board spoke highly of Dr. Nyland. The vote was 7-0.
- Nyland's motto - "Listen, learn and lead." He wants to learn more and touch base with all groups/district leadership and set priorities.
- pay and start date are still to be negotiated
- He surprised many of us when I asked about whether he would consider staying on permanently. He said it was too early to tell and he wouldn't rule it out.
- He has a huge resume, full of great achievements and has worked with Native American groups, districts and UW as a consultant. He has sat in over 100 classrooms in the last couple of years, assessing teachers/principals.
- I asked him about working with a school board. He said that everyone needs to be going in the right direction. He likes the Strategic Plan. He believes it's good to flesh out ideas from the Board and staff. He said the Board is not there to be a rubber-stamp but to add to decision-making.
Tulip tribes on closing achievement gap
- He knows he doesn't have a year to listen (like Banda) and will need to create a 90-day plan.
- I asked about charter schools. He said it was the law and he initially had reservations about them around taking the easier students to teach. He met with the Washington charter group and sees that charters should be serving at-risk students with challenges. He said "we need good ideas." This worries me but only a little.
- they will start the process of looking for a permanent superintendent in September with a hire date in April/May. There will be community engagement.
- I asked what he thought was important to get a superintendent to want to stay in a district. He said he had been in Marysville for nine years (some "rocky") but he felt it worth staying the course.
begin in September and in April or May and community processs
- He had mentioned that he was born and raised in Seattle and graduated from Roosevelt. I teasingly asked him if he, as superintendent, would be able to say anything good about Garfield. He laughed and said, of course, but he was a Rough Rider. I also pointed out that RHS has all the old yearbooks so I could go look up his high school graduation photo. He just laughed.
Experience, calm, leadership - I think Banda may have just done this district a favor.
More to come. Board seems enthused.
Updates:
- Carr and Martin-Morris were out-of-town but were on speaker phone. All the Board spoke highly of Dr. Nyland. The vote was 7-0.
- Nyland's motto - "Listen, learn and lead." He wants to learn more and touch base with all groups/district leadership and set priorities.
- pay and start date are still to be negotiated
- He surprised many of us when I asked about whether he would consider staying on permanently. He said it was too early to tell and he wouldn't rule it out.
- He has a huge resume, full of great achievements and has worked with Native American groups, districts and UW as a consultant. He has sat in over 100 classrooms in the last couple of years, assessing teachers/principals.
- I asked him about working with a school board. He said that everyone needs to be going in the right direction. He likes the Strategic Plan. He believes it's good to flesh out ideas from the Board and staff. He said the Board is not there to be a rubber-stamp but to add to decision-making.
Tulip tribes on closing achievement gap
- He knows he doesn't have a year to listen (like Banda) and will need to create a 90-day plan.
- I asked about charter schools. He said it was the law and he initially had reservations about them around taking the easier students to teach. He met with the Washington charter group and sees that charters should be serving at-risk students with challenges. He said "we need good ideas." This worries me but only a little.
- they will start the process of looking for a permanent superintendent in September with a hire date in April/May. There will be community engagement.
- I asked what he thought was important to get a superintendent to want to stay in a district. He said he had been in Marysville for nine years (some "rocky") but he felt it worth staying the course.
begin in September and in April or May and community processs
- He had mentioned that he was born and raised in Seattle and graduated from Roosevelt. I teasingly asked him if he, as superintendent, would be able to say anything good about Garfield. He laughed and said, of course, but he was a Rough Rider. I also pointed out that RHS has all the old yearbooks so I could go look up his high school graduation photo. He just laughed.
Experience, calm, leadership - I think Banda may have just done this district a favor.
Comments
Leslie
Good choice
Nyland didn't rule out charter schools!
This board does not support charter schools. He better get any thoughts about charter schools out of his mind.
reader
I'm sure the board put in many hours on this project.
-west seattle parent
HERE
Not much in the way of positive change.
So much for what someone said as far as measurable results go.
WS parent, sometimes I just don't know what to say to people who love to correct me (but never bother to acknowledge the effort). But I corrected the error.
The Board should be commended for working so quickly, confidentially, and intelligently to have Dr. Nyland in place and ready to hit the ground running for August. Thank you, Board!
Emile
If the state Charter Commission approves a Seattle charter, he has no authority to say no. So it makes sense that he won't rule out charters. I'm not a charter supporter, but I might have ducked the question too if I were in his place.
1) not offensive
2) knows WA state
That's something.
But... he hasn't led a district of our size. SSD has 52K students, and the level of complexity is exponentially magnified in our setting compared to the three other districts he spent a lot of time in. By size, he's worked in much smaller districts: 8K (Shoreline 1 year), 11K (Marysville 9 years), 16K (Pasco 10 years), 18K (Highline 6 years as CAO). Our very urban setting and very diverse demographics and heavy SpEd component (14% of total enrollment) and sheer size 52K students enrolled, is a BIG change from anything he's ever managed before.
Not a critism, just an observation.
Hope for the best. The board could have done way worse. If Dr. Nyland ditches certain folks from his Cabinet in order to right size the overhead, then I'll know he's a contender. Not in the first 30 days, but, definetly in the first 90. Banada went on a hiring / promotion spree. Time to reverse engineer those expense and unproductive, top-heavy moves.
-welcome #8 (but who's counting...)
-GG
I asked President Peaslee if Superintendent Banda would be leaving with any last-minute agreements, verbal or written, before he leaves.
She said no.
I hope that is the case because it would be poor form to sign something as he walks out the door.
HMS
She said no."
Any chance the district is holding back information from the board on a particular initiative?
When will Charles Wright discuss the district's interaction with the Gates Foundation regarding Preschool for All. Again, I didn't see Wright's work for Preschool for All at the Board Retreat.
When will the district tell the board that they have been asked to draw-up a Partnership Agreement with the City regarding Preschool for All?
Will Charles Wright take this agreement, present it to the Superintendent and Board?
When will Wright present the city's preschool plan to Nyland?
-GG