Seattle Schools Superintendent Update
Dear Seattle Public Schools community,
I am writing to update you on the Superintendent process.
As you are aware, Superintendent Jose Banda is the finalist for Superintendent at Sacramento City Unified School District. The Sacramento Board of Education plans to vote on his contract the evening of July 17. If approved, the Seattle School Board will hold a special meeting within the next few weeks to vote on an interim Superintendent, who will continue the good work Superintendent Banda has led for the past two years.
The School Board has been meeting in executive session during the past several weeks to determine next steps. We know that choosing both an interim and permanent Superintendent is of utmost importance, and we take this decision very seriously.
I want to assure our staff, families and community that there will be as little disruption as possible to the current progress of our district. We will recruit a strong interim leader who will continue to implement our new five-year Strategic Plan on behalf of our nearly 52,000 students.
I want to thank the staff for working diligently over the summer on our buildings, our technology and on student curriculum to ensure we are ready for the start of school on Sept. 3.
Finally, an enormous thank you to Superintendent Banda for his work here in Seattle. He led us through the development of our Strategic Plan, a successful BEX capital levy, complex boundary changes, the planning and start of many new capital projects and the reformation of a strong executive team. We wish him well as he looks to his future in Sacramento.
Sincerely,
Sharon Peaslee
President
Seattle School Board
I am writing to update you on the Superintendent process.
As you are aware, Superintendent Jose Banda is the finalist for Superintendent at Sacramento City Unified School District. The Sacramento Board of Education plans to vote on his contract the evening of July 17. If approved, the Seattle School Board will hold a special meeting within the next few weeks to vote on an interim Superintendent, who will continue the good work Superintendent Banda has led for the past two years.
The School Board has been meeting in executive session during the past several weeks to determine next steps. We know that choosing both an interim and permanent Superintendent is of utmost importance, and we take this decision very seriously.
I want to assure our staff, families and community that there will be as little disruption as possible to the current progress of our district. We will recruit a strong interim leader who will continue to implement our new five-year Strategic Plan on behalf of our nearly 52,000 students.
I want to thank the staff for working diligently over the summer on our buildings, our technology and on student curriculum to ensure we are ready for the start of school on Sept. 3.
Finally, an enormous thank you to Superintendent Banda for his work here in Seattle. He led us through the development of our Strategic Plan, a successful BEX capital levy, complex boundary changes, the planning and start of many new capital projects and the reformation of a strong executive team. We wish him well as he looks to his future in Sacramento.
Sincerely,
Sharon Peaslee
President
Seattle School Board
Comments
Even so, I must say I thoroughly disagree with the assessment of Jose Banda's tenure expressed in this letter. Banda, by his own description, spent the first year learning. In his second year, he was actively interviewing for a new position outside of Seattle. He accomplished almost nothing in his brief time here in Seattle, acting almost entirely as a figurehead rather than someone who ensures competence and efficiency from his organization.
I am deeply disappointed in Jose Banda. I hope we are not foolish enough to again pick someone from outside of Seattle to run Seattle Public Schools. We will just get another person with no allegiance to Seattle, no interest in helping Seattle schools, and no concern for the education of Seattle's children.
Westside
That's said, no, I don't believe outside search firms are worth it.
Of course they had no trouble finding him, they were also working with him as his coach.
I has to be some sort of breach of professional conduct, doesn't it? Doesn't the coach owe Seattle Public Schools some duty of loyalty? It feels a bit like learning that your couple's counselor was the one who set your sweetie up with a date.
mirmac posted the day the announcement was made that the Alliance paid did the coaching.
Will you please explain your statement:
"Of course they had no trouble finding him, they were also working with him as his coach."
Are you able to provide he name of Banda's coach?
Thanks.
Banda "said the search firm hired by the Sacramento school district sought him out — not the other way around — about six weeks ago."
Sacramento hired Dr. Kent Bechler and Rich Thome of Leadership Associates.
Kent Bechler has been Mr. Banda's superintendent coach. He also facilitated the Board Retreat in September of 2013.
I couldn't tell you if Mr. Bechler was paid by the District, paid by the Alliance, paid by the District with money from the Alliance, or what. Either way, I think he owed the District a duty of loyalty and I think that duty of loyalty would easily extend to not headhunting here.
Please consider writing a blog post on this issue.
I'm not sure who paid for Bechler, but there seems to be serious implications- either way.
We know that Seattle's business community and politicos like to control our district. I think we're seeing the tip of the ice cap, here.
Wasn't Banda to provide the district with 6 month notice before leaving?
http://www.seattleschools.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/1583136/File/Departmental%20Content/school%20board/13-14%20agendas/091813agenda/20130907_Minutes_Retreat.pdf
There is no question in my mind that the District should conduct an ethics investigation and debar Leadership Associates from future contracts with the District.