Yes, You CAN Contact the Board with Your Thoughts on Sup Candidates

There seems to be a push, a meme, something out in the ether that you only have until 9 pm tonight to give input on the three finalists for Seattle Schools superintendent.

That is false.  I know this because I asked President Leslie Harris yesterday, face to face.  She said, "schoolboard@seattleschools.org" or "spsdirectors@seattleschools.org."  (The former will be sent to all top leadership including the Board, the latter will just reach Board members.)  You can certainly write to the Board until their decision on April 4th. 

The input for the SURVEYS on each candidate ends tonight at 9 pm in order for staff to coordinate the information and get that to the directors.

Denise Juneau

Andre Spencer

Jeanice Swift

From the district on tonight's event:

Public Forum for all members of the community to meet the finalists for the next Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools. It will be held from 5:00-8:15 p.m. at the John Stanford Center Auditorium. 

It will also be broadcast live on the District’s Channel 26. 

Also, there are community meetings on the levy next week; you will probably find directors there as well.

Please join us at a community meeting:
Director Harris is the only Board member having a community meeting but hers is at High Point Branch Library from 3-5 pm.  Go bend her ear on the candidates.  

Update: I got that wrong but good news - there are TWO director community meetings on Saturday, March 31st:

Director Betty Patu at Raconteur, 5041 Wilson Ave S from 9:30-11-00
Director Eden Mack at Magnolia Public Library, 2801 34th Ave W from 1:00-3:00 pm
 

(Director DeWolf failed to come thru with his promise of having a community meeting for his region during the month of March.  We are now going into month five of his term so cross your fingers.)

Comments

Anonymous said…
DeWolf just posted that he will hold his first community event on April 9 from 5pm to 6pm at The Riveter on Capitol Hill.

FNH
Leslie said…
Melissa

My mtg is April 7th not this Saturday.

Leslie

Leslie.Harris@seattleschools.org
Anonymous said…
@dewolf—spring break is a pretty safe time to hold a meeting where nobody will bother to show up.

HaHa
Anonymous said…
A one hour community event? On a Monday at 5pm? Is this a joke?

HP
Anonymous said…
WOW- HP is totally right. It seriously is a joke. DeWolf is truly starting to concern me.

DeBunked
And he texted nearly the entire time Swift was speaking, switched to a computer during Juneau ( but probably taking notes at this point?) but not looking much at her and was mostly in rapt attention during Spencer. Go figure.
Kate (Belltown) said…
Maybe Mr. DeWolf needs to consider resigning? It's a difficult, demanding, thankless job that requires a lot of uncompensated time. If he's unable to meet those demands, should he resign? With everything this district is facing, the board doesn't need to have a member who's not able to do be fully present.
Anonymous said…
DeWolf has already decided on Spencer.

HP
Anonymous said…
Either that, or he doesn't respect women.

HP
Anonymous said…
If Spencer becomes super, get ready for years of tension between SEA and SPS. I guess depending on your opinion that is horrendous or great news.

SEA-ya later
Another Name said…
We can all agree that equity and the opportunity gap are important issues. However, I felt like too many of the interview questions dealt with this issue.

There are many families that choose private school over public school. The district looses these students and the dollars exit the school district, too. It would of been nice if a candidate was given the opportunity to describe the manner in which they would try and recruit students back into the district.

Do board members need to be educated about the Broad Institute and their philosophy??
Another Name said…
We are also facing enormous issues regarding the state and the fact that the state may decrease the amount of levy funding we will be able to collect. I would like to know: Where would superintendents focus cuts?

We have capacity in south end schools. Green Dot is putting in a middle and high school-- would candidates propose closing existing schools?

Where do candidates stand in regard to corporate backed reforms?

IMO, we needed a wider range of question.
Anonymous said…
HP & Debunked -- not only one hour on a Monday evening, but during spring break.

Krab
HP, what do you base that on about DeWolf and his decision? (I have my own thoughts.)

Yes, I felt the questions were at a fairly high level and I, too, wished for a wider range of questions.

Rhonda C said…
Just thought I’d note that I’m at Raconteur. Got here at 9:35 on this, the 31st day of March. The restaurant had no idea what I was talking about when I asked about the meeting with Director Patu. There doesn’t seem to be a collection of anyone else here for the scheduled meeting, so maybe I missed a message that this isn’t happening after all... Disappointing to say the least.
I see no cancellation notice at district website. Sorry
z said…
@Rhonda

Did you look downstairs. I think Betty generally tends to have her meetings there.


ps. Melissa, it's getting harder and harder to post here on blogger. I've almost given up due to all the captcha stuff getting out of hand.
S, thanks for the feedback. I’ll look into it.
Sorry, I meant Z
Rhonda C said…
@z, yup. Looked all over. The host said there wasn't a reservation or anything in their calendar, and the bartender downstairs said he hadn't seen the usual folks who show up for it. Anyway, I'll try again next month. Of course, by then, there will already be a superintendent selected which was part of the point of showing up last weekend, but oh well.

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