Seattle School Board Candidate Updates

 Update2: I am being told that the question posed to Lisa Rivera Smith and Emijah Smith was not top three priorities but "what are the top three things you want to accomplish in your time on the Board."  

end of update

Update: I found my notes for the Youth Forum for questioning for D7 (only Emijah Smith as she was the only candidate invited and Lisa Rivera Smith who is the only candidate for Rick Burke's position in D2).

My notes only reflect the answers to a single question (I believe that was all as they needed to move onto Port Commissioners).  The question was - What will be your three priorities as a Board director? 


I do not have Rivera Smith's complete answer but she did say these three:

1) Restorative justice
2) Disproportionate discipline Opening the Maritime High School.

3) Greening our schools.  Communities of color often suffer from a disproportionate number of environmental burdens.  I think SPS can be a leader in environmental stewardship and can help promote a healthy environment for all. (They still spray cancer-causing glyphosate on our school grounds, and don't compost our bathroom paper towels.)

Smith said:

1) Eliminate over discipline and "keeping kids out of classrooms while adults get paychecks."
2) Implement Ethnic Studies, not just History and talk about the contributions of others, not just one group.
3) Violence against families and especially moms of color.  She said that some moms were not being allowed on campuses to advocate for their children.

end of update

After the Board meeting where the three finalists for the D7 position, I had the opportunity to speak with one of them, Brandon Hersey.

I first asked him about records at King County Elections not showing that he voted in the school district levy in February.  He said he didn't remember.  (To stated again, he has only lived in the region for three years.  Julie Van Arcken has a perfect voting record for voting in school levies for the last six years.  The records indicate that Emijah Smith hasn't voted in one over the last six years.)

He said he felt he could bring new perspectives to the Board from his current status as a teacher.  He has been teaching for three years in Federal Way SD.  I asked about PTA funding and he said he didn't have a policy recommendation but felt it was an "institutional" problem that needed to be addressed.

Just to note, there are three people vying to be on the Board who served on the SCPTSA over the last three years - Emijah Smith, Liza Rankin and Chandra Hampson.  There was a lot of consistent talk, here and elsewhere, about the issue of PTSA funding at schools but, to the best of my knowledge, I never saw any initiative come from the SCPTSA  about tackling this issue that seems so important to so many parents across the district.  And, during that time period, SCPTSA lost something in the range of 800 members.  Something to consider about leadership qualities.

Hersey said the PTSA funding issue would require "an open and honest conversation."  He also had another good quote that I found hopeful, "Change only happens at the speed of trust."  (Editor's note: this is a quote from Stephen Covey.)

As I previously reported, I attended the Youth Forum for candidates that was held at City Hall last Thursday.  It was a good crowd of youth who were running the show.  The overall crowd was largely POC.  I spoke with Jakai Brown, 23, one of the youth organizers who had attended a number of SPS schools.  He said for the school board candidates, the questions would center around the school to prison pipeline, school safety including mass shootings at schools, life skills and business/career management including how to start a business.

The school board candidates were first up.  All were present except for Director Leslie Harris.  Each candidate gave an opening statement.   The moderator, a young man, warned the candidates that they did not want to hear platitudes but real solutions.  (And he held firm to this later one when one Port Commissioner candidate was delivering what the moderator thought were platitudes so the moderator stopped him and asked him to start again.)  There was a table of youth to the side who had emoji signs with smiling faces, blank faces, unhappy faces and a poop emoji.  They didn't all hold up their signs in unison so it was sometimes hard to discern how they felt.
Opening Statements

District 6
Molly Mitchell, wearing a No New Youth Detention Center shirt, said that she had "boots on the ground" because of her community college work and that she did not support a new youth detention center.

District 3
Rebeca Muniz said she was the "racial equity candidate" and the daughter of a hard-working single mom who was an immigrant.  She said it was important for candidates to understand other cultures including Latinx, LGBTQ and immigrant populations.

Chandra Hampson
She said she was excited to work on racial equity issues and help make good decisions to enact the work and create a shift.

District 1
Liza Rankin said she values kids and sees their potential.  She said she wanted to support Sped families, wanted more family support workers and embraced Black Lives Matter.

Eric Blumhagen
He said he liked looking out at the crowd and seeing so many youth there and engaged.  He said he had 16 years of experience in the district and had worked against school closures as well as bringing late start to students so they can get enough rest, coming to school better prepared.

Questions (these are paraphrased)

1) How do you create safe schools where everyone feels respected and with fewer police present?

Blumhagen
We need to have staff trained in deescalation and mediation and not armed police.  He said it was unacceptable to have teachers out in portables, trying to get help via cell phone.  He said teachers needed to be trained in implicit bias.

Rankin
She said this issue was one of the main ones of her platform including identity safety.  She said that building staff need cultural competency training and all kids have gifts.

Hampson
She said this issue was a "dog whistle" for teachers who are afraid of students and don't see students as genuine human gifts.  She said the district needed to be anti-racist with teachers and students receiving bias training.

Muniz
Editor's note, I could not understand much of her answer but it was around restorative justice.

Mitchell
Hire more anti-racist teachers.  She said that "we are criminalizing kids" and not training teachers who need to understand racism.

2) On the school to prison pipeline.

Mitchell
She said she had been working on this for years and it's about closing the opportunity gap and having zero detention.  She said she had talked to many people in prison who can "pinpoint when school failed them."

Muniz
She said she had visited youth detention centers and hear stories about how teachers didn't believe in youth and kicked them out of classrooms.  She said teachers need to make students "excited to be in the classrooms" and that students need ethnic studies.  She said that kids were being suspended or expelled for little reasons and that there needs to be more teachers of color.

Chandra
She said one step is to take the focus away from high-stakes testing.  She said disproportionate punishment removes kids from the classroom.  She said students need increased access to counselors, family support workers and nurses.

Liza
She said there are no easy fixes.  She said that the system was "working as designed" and that they need to end high-stakes testing which is really "testing your ability to assimilate into the dominant culture" and that you need to give up your culture to get success.

Blumhagen
He said it tied to the last question on safe schools.  He said when outside groups are trying to help kids in school, they often get stymied by long processes when the students need services now.  He said he was troubled that the Strategic Plan didn't say anything about eliminating "education injustice."

3) How to we help students to have more ways to graduate and find opportunities after graduation?

Molly
She said creating pipelines to higher education and this is something she does in her everyday work.  She said she only hires those with a criminal background for workstudy and that there is no need for a new youth jail.

Rebeca
She said students need resources and to support organizations that support youth.

Hampson
She mentioned having a well-rounded education and getting support for careers students want.  As well, she said students should get "degree credits" for arts and CTE.

Rankin
She said that her priority would be that all students "have the amazing options for Advanced Learning" that exist.  She said that students lose electives like art if their reading and math skills are testing low and they get assigned more reading and  math time.

Blumhagen
He stated every student is different and to ask what success looks like to them.  He also referenced that some students like to work with their hands and need to experience, early on, different kinds of learning activities.  He said the trades need to be supported.

4) What about wraparound services for families?

Hampson
She stated that those are not available "for my community."  But she said that the city, county and district should come together and provide "an appropriate level of support" with scholarships for sports and more after-school care.

Rankin
She said this was another area impacted by testing.  She said there were only eight family support works in the district and that should be prioritized and funded for more.

Blumhagen
He said wraparound services needed to be started earlier and that PTA should not have to fund counselors.  He also mentioned funding sport team needs.

Mitchell
She said that the district needed to fund counselors, librarians and family support workers and that PTA should get back to its original function of advocacy.  She said it was about relationships and that parents can't come into a building and be a partner if they are uncomfortable.

Muniz
She said in a perfect world, schools would have all these resources in place.  Families experiencing trauma need help but often don't know who to turn to.

5) In May at teacher at an SPS elementary school called the police on a 5th grade boy.  What is your response?

Rankin
As an outgoing member of the SCPTSA Board, she said she felt incredible anger and frustration.  She said building leaders need to know what is going on in the classroom.  She said the district needs a policy that indicates when or when not to call police and that the district needs to track and monitor this type of incident.

Hampson
She said as the outgoing SCPTSA president she found this upsetting.  She said there needs to be more anti-racist policies in the district.  She said they failed that child and that policies had to be created that protect children.

Muniz
She said it was "a huge mistake on the teacher's part" and that "the teacher should be removed."  She said if a teacher couldn't handle a child and called the police, then teachers aren't being prepared.  She also said the district should track and investigate these incidents.

Mitchell
She said the Board job is policies and procedures.  She said it was "an act of racism" and that there should be a way for families to report these incidents.  She said policies could help school administrators to remove teachers like this one.

Blumhagen
He said it seems to be a systemic issue and this action was unacceptable.  He questioned why the teacher waited two hours to call and called after the principal said not to. He said the Board needed to be committed to "open investigations" to know how the system failed a child so it can be fixed.

My response:  I have stated the teacher should not have called the police.  I agree that the district should be tracking incidents and should investigate them.  But I don't know if the candidates are being naive or disingenuous but there's this little thing called a union that likely would never support open investigations.  Nor would the district (not if they didn't want to be sued).  There need to be examinations of what could be done better but also the frank acknowledgment of reality of employee issues.

6) Who do you want to see appointed to District 7?

Muniz
Smith and Hersey.  (She had to be prompted to say why.)  She said that Smith had been shown to be present in the community and that Hersey has valuable experience in the classroom.

Mitchell - Emijah Smith for her years of contribution.  Mitchell then acknowledged that Smith was present at the back of the room and there was applause.

Blumhagen - Julie Van Arcken for her long-time service and understanding of the district and Brandon Hersey, as an African-American male who teaches.  (Blumhagen got booed for both choices.)

Rankin - She said she was both excited and frustrated because there were so many good candidates.  She said one of them could move into her house to represent her region.  (Editor's note: I don't know if that meant she wouldn't have run.)  She said Emijah Smith because she has an excellent track record of showing up.

Hampson - Emijah Smith because "she has given her whole heart to this district."  She has "no ego" and speaks "truth to power."

My response:  I thought this question odd because why ask about District 7 and not the other districts?  And, I wondered why only Smith was there until I asked an organizer who said they couldn't find contact info for Hersey and Van Arcken.  I can only say they didn't try very hard because it is easy to find. To me, it felt like a set-up for Smith.  And allowing booing at a forum was not good to hear.

7) Jobs of the future will be automated so are the trades a good idea and all the private school kids will take the tech jobs of the future.  How do kids compete?

Hampson
She stated that "currently Advanced Learning is not accessible by low-income or ELL" and is segregated.  She said all kids are gifts and have abilities to do jobs.  She said you don't have to be good at math and reading and science to get a job or be gifted.

Mitchell
There should be pathways for students to find success.  She said her work is all about pipelines for education.

Rankin
She said the arts are undervalued and that the district needs to "think outside the box."  She said more kids should have access to Advanced Learning and the marine science available at Garfield and the IB at RBHS.  She said the district should be intentional in this.  She said she wanted "options for more students, not more options for students who already have them."

Blumhagen
He referenced his background in engineering and said that it is about teamwork and problem solving and those skills are just as important as any.  He said technology is not going to be able to create "robot plumbers" and that indeed, many trades will be important in the future, not all will be automated.

Muniz
She stated there is a stigma around trades.  She also said if students want tech, there should be options.  She said the district is tracking students by the color of their skin and they should stop doing it.

My response: I am sad to see that the district isn't doing enough to let students know 1) what Blumhagen said which is that many trades will not be automated in the future and 2) that there are new trades in tech that don't require a college degree.

I don't know if Hampson doesn't know but the AL program is open to all.  The district has tried to make sure parents know of its existence and certainly could try new things to reach out to more parents. 

As for Rankin's remarks, well, that will be some heavy lift to make the specialty programs at high schools open for all. Is she suggesting set-aside seats? The district didn't do it when they said they would.  Creating more of these programs at more high schools?  Sure, with what money? The district barely covers the costs of the current IB programs.

It's very easy to say "this should happen" to an audience but the details of how you get there? You don't often hear any candidate go the Elizabeth Warren route of "I have a plan for that." It's disappointing.

Except for the District 7 question, it was refreshing to go to a candidate forum with so much energy and focus.