Seattle School Board Candidate Updates
Update: it appears that only Marty McLaren is poised to run again for her Board seat.
I'm not surprised that Martin-Morris and Carr are stepping down at the end of eight years.
This does change things considerably and frankly, probably makes it easier for anyone who wants to run. The incumbents were not a sure thing (and I believe Director McLaren has an uphill battle ahead of her).
If you know of anyone thinking of running from District 1, Sharon Peaslee's seat, (like from the Nathan Hale community where parents are fairly active), please contact me at sss.westbrook@gmail.com. I know people who would be glad to just walk someone thru the election process and Board work process so any potential candidate could gauge what that would be like.
end of update
Starting to see some action now on School Board races. To recap/update (final filing isn't until early May but these are candidates registered at the PDC):
Update: So the Times had the announcement that Martin-Morris wasn't running again in the afternoon edition and yet only had McGuire as a candidate for that district when Geary has been running for weeks.
As well, they didn't seem to know that Peaslee and McLaren are running again nor that McLaren has an opponent.
Makes you wonder who the Times might be supporting.
end of update.
District 1 - seat currently held by Sharon Peaslee
Peaslee is running to retain her seat; does not appear to have a campaign website yet and her Sharon Peaslee website's last entry is from 2013.
There is currently no one running against her (not good).
District II - seat currently held by Sherry Carr
Carr has not announced nor said if she will run. I think Carr likes this role but she has been in there for eight long years. Hard to say. Carr sent a message to constituents that she is NOT running for the Board again.
Rick Burke announced last week. Rick is a long-time SPS parent and math advocate. His campaign website.
District III - seat currently held by Harium Martin-Morris
Martin-Morris has just announced if he will NOT run.
Two candidates have announced in this race:
Jill Geary - a lawyer and active PTA parent; knows a lot about Sped (she has a twice-exceptional student) and seems to be raising money easily. She and her husband gave LEV a contribution recently. Her campaign website is here. Her Facebook page says she is raising money at a good clip.
Lauren McGuire - just announced and was former SCPTSA president and SPS parent. Not quite ed reform but nearly. Website. Close to Michael DeBell.
This is my district; I have to say it is tempting to consider running.
District VI - seat currently held by Marty McLaren
McLaren has announced she is running to retain her seat.
Leslie Harris - paralegal and long-time public ed activist and parent of a Sealth senior. One of the usual suspects at most Board meetings. Her website includes many endorsements including high level ones. (Public disclosure: I am friends with Leslie and support her campaign.)
I'm not surprised that Martin-Morris and Carr are stepping down at the end of eight years.
This does change things considerably and frankly, probably makes it easier for anyone who wants to run. The incumbents were not a sure thing (and I believe Director McLaren has an uphill battle ahead of her).
If you know of anyone thinking of running from District 1, Sharon Peaslee's seat, (like from the Nathan Hale community where parents are fairly active), please contact me at sss.westbrook@gmail.com. I know people who would be glad to just walk someone thru the election process and Board work process so any potential candidate could gauge what that would be like.
end of update
Starting to see some action now on School Board races. To recap/update (final filing isn't until early May but these are candidates registered at the PDC):
Update: So the Times had the announcement that Martin-Morris wasn't running again in the afternoon edition and yet only had McGuire as a candidate for that district when Geary has been running for weeks.
As well, they didn't seem to know that Peaslee and McLaren are running again nor that McLaren has an opponent.
Makes you wonder who the Times might be supporting.
end of update.
District 1 - seat currently held by Sharon Peaslee
Peaslee is running to retain her seat; does not appear to have a campaign website yet and her Sharon Peaslee website's last entry is from 2013.
There is currently no one running against her (not good).
District II - seat currently held by Sherry Carr
Rick Burke announced last week. Rick is a long-time SPS parent and math advocate. His campaign website.
District III - seat currently held by Harium Martin-Morris
Martin-Morris has just announced if he will NOT run.
Two candidates have announced in this race:
Jill Geary - a lawyer and active PTA parent; knows a lot about Sped (she has a twice-exceptional student) and seems to be raising money easily. She and her husband gave LEV a contribution recently. Her campaign website is here. Her Facebook page says she is raising money at a good clip.
Lauren McGuire - just announced and was former SCPTSA president and SPS parent. Not quite ed reform but nearly. Website. Close to Michael DeBell.
This is my district; I have to say it is tempting to consider running.
District VI - seat currently held by Marty McLaren
McLaren has announced she is running to retain her seat.
Leslie Harris - paralegal and long-time public ed activist and parent of a Sealth senior. One of the usual suspects at most Board meetings. Her website includes many endorsements including high level ones. (Public disclosure: I am friends with Leslie and support her campaign.)
Comments
McGuire's clearly a stealth candidate for the reformers. When she says on her website "Support creative and responsible solutions for improving academic achievement and accommodating district growth" that is code for charter schools.
pffft
open ears
For District VI, anyone but McLaren! She's been unbelievably ineffective and endlessly fawning to the district staff, at least IMO. I don't know anything about Harris, but I'll definitely support her over McLaren.
-Seattle Parent
Linh-Co, that's odd. I wonder how her name got there?
- reality check
Another crop of special interest folks. With this bunch I can see why people would want a few seats to be appointed by the mayor.
Skeleton hunter
We also confirmed Sharon Peaslee is not running.
CT
PS - Melissa, you'd be fabulous as a SB member. You, Patu, Peters...what a triptych!
It would be awesome if you ran Melissa.
Sherry Carr informed Seattle Times that she will not seek re-election.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/harium-martin-morris-wont-run-again-for-seattle-school-board/
Very odd that the Seattle Times mentions McGuire and not Geary.
She does know and understand the capacity issues, which are huge, and she's very flexible about solutions.
Don't know what she thinks about charters or anything else - but she would not do silly stuff that makes capacity worse, that's for sure.
signed: another voter
And then other districts have no one running or one person unopposed ....
Signed: another voter
The PTSA grew a spine on refusing crap district policies and a bigger reach than the interests of 65th street once a new SCPTSA president came in. We need guardians for all families not a committee climber who enjoys access to downtown more than solving the problems of us plebes.
North of 85th
The SCPTSA was vocal and did not feel K-12 funds should be used for the city's prek- especially since the city is sitting on $113M. I'm not confident the previous SCPTSA would have done this.
I was also glad when the SCPTSA spoke-out when they felt duped by Nyland's hiring.
Both candidates seem to have strengths - SPED, capacity issues, etc.
Interested in input.
NE Voter
I have great respect for the wide variety of issues that Lauren has worked on over many years. She is very thoughtful and listens to many sides of issues and works well with a wide variety of people.
At the time, there was the feeling that some members of the SCPTSA were promoting charter schools.
Most recently I worked with her in getting the JAMS PTSA up and running. JAMS is made up of kids who were reassigned from both Eckstein and Hamilton, 6th graders from APP@Lincoln and the three neighborhood feeder schools (Olympic Hills, John Rogers, and Sacajawea), as well as former Hazel Wolf K-8 families. It was a tough job to take on, leading a brand-new PTA made up of families from such different backgrounds, yet she was up for the challenge.
She is organized, thoughtful, smart, hard-working, and someone whom I have always found to be deeply committed to public education.
-North-end Mom
I am really happy he is in the race.
S parent
Leaving only The Seattle Times as a resource for covering educational issues is downright dangerous for all the reasons you and your loyal readers understand.
Additionally, I am sure many of those of us who read this blog join together in wishing you continued non-public space and time to grieve the loss of your husband. Please take good care of yourself.
EdVoter
Keep in mind that charter schools will worsen the district's capacity problems, especially if any charters wind up getting access to SPS buildings.
snark
Dear Friends,
I will not be seeking a second term as Seattle School Board Director. Although serving on the Seattle School Board has been one of the more satisfying experiences of my life, it's now time to support my two children through college.
I'm enormously proud of our accomplishments as a Board over the past three and a half years. Our schools and students have made continuous academic improvements in spite of six years of dire cutbacks in state and federal funding. This speaks to the dedication of our Board, administration and teachers to our highest priority, which is meeting the needs of our students. All the countless and sometimes very difficult decisions we've made have focused primarily on safeguarding what's in their best interest.
Our district is poised for great progress. Thankfully we've turned the corner on funding cuts and can reasonably expect the state and federal funding required to give all our students the education they need for their future success. I'm very grateful to Superintendent Larry Nyland for coming out of retirement to lead our district in a manner that has restored confidence from the public, as well as internally.
There is more than half a year before this term ends and new Board Directors step in. I'm looking forward to continuing the work that will significantly benefit Seattle Public Schools, which includes:
• Focused attention on meeting the needs of special education students and others who are negatively impacted by the opportunity gap;
• Board discussion of mandated testing issues that may change with the reauthorization of ESEA, in hopes of helping to inform decisions our legislators will be making;
• Completing analysis of shift to later start times for teens, and final Board decision;
• Fully operationalizing the Green Resolution to ensure that all new buildings are beautiful and operationally efficient learning environments with natural light and ventilation;
• Planning the Operations Levy and Capital Levy (BTA IV) for the February, 2016 ballot;
• Naming of our new schools;
• Working with the City to ensure a successful launch of the Seattle Pre-K program.
I believe the work of the next Board will be made easier by the accomplishments of this Board. Thank you very much for your ongoing support and dedication to the excellence of our schools and the success of all our students.
Sincerely,
Sharon Peaslee
Seattle School Board Vice President
HP
-flibbertigibbet
Dear Friends,
I will not be seeking a second term as Seattle School Board Director. Although serving on the Seattle School Board has been one of the more satisfying experiences of my life, it's now time to support my two children through college.
I'm enormously proud of our accomplishments as a Board over the past three and a half years. Our schools and students have made continuous academic improvements in spite of six years of dire cutbacks in state and federal funding. This speaks to the dedication of our Board, administration and teachers to our highest priority, which is meeting the needs of our students. All the countless and sometimes very difficult decisions we've made have focused primarily on safeguarding what's in their best interest.
Our district is poised for great progress. Thankfully we've turned the corner on funding cuts and can reasonably expect the state and federal funding required to give all our students the education they need for their future success. I'm very grateful to Superintendent Larry Nyland for coming out of retirement to lead our district in a manner that has restored confidence from the public, as well as internally.
There is more than half a year before this term ends and new Board Directors step in. I'm looking forward to continuing the work that will significantly benefit Seattle Public Schools, which includes:
Focused attention on meeting the needs of special education students and others who are negatively impacted by the opportunity gap;
Board discussion of mandated testing issues that may change with the reauthorization of ESEA, in hopes of helping to inform decisions our legislators will be making;
Completing analysis of shift to later start times for teens, and final Board decision;
Fully operationalizing the Green Resolution to ensure that all new buildings are beautiful and operationally efficient learning environments with natural light and ventilation;
Planning the Operations Levy and Capital Levy (BTA IV) for the February, 2016 ballot;
Naming of our new schools;
Working with the City to ensure a successful launch of the Seattle Pre-K program.
I believe the work of the next Board will be made easier by the accomplishments of this Board. Thank you very much for your ongoing support and dedication to the excellence of our schools and the success of all our students.
Sincerely,
Sharon Peaslee
Seattle School Board Vice President
I have no horse in THIS primary since Betty Patu is my rep. I voted for her from the first time she ran in the primary and have been very happy with her. But I remember that on this blog, people thought she had too much of a laerning curve and someone pointing out the source of her Master's degree as something of a joke. But she's ok now because she votes the way this blog likes.
Whoever wins these positions in the upcoming election will be either suspect before even taking office, or will become one of Charlie's "Faces of Evil" the minute they dare go against the group think here. Good luck to them.
Tired Voter
Now a new board will hopefully keep this going and improve math for middle and high school.
Oh, and a new high school for Q.A. and Magnolia would be nice....
S parent
As well, I have said good things about Sherry Carr and yet, disagreed with her on many issues. I still respect her.
I will, as usual, be vetting every candidate. That's 21st century politics and yes, it's an elected office so there are always politics (with a small p) involved.
go nuts
Curious
Hopefully, directors ask principals about their schools and triumphs and challenges. And you'd think directors would also ask Ex Directors about their viewpoint from overseeing a cluster of schools.
How much this goes on, I don't know.