Seattle School Board - A Roundup of Who is Running

The great folks at the 36th Dems invited all candidates for an endorsement interview before their Elections committee so here’s a link. Makes for interesting listening. The 36th will take a vote of their membership tonight and I’ll have an update here tomorrow.

Candidates - if one media outlet does a profile of a single candidate, you have the right to ask for an interview as well, especially if it is local media.

 District 4 - Covers south Ballard, Queen Anne and Magnolia

There is no true incumbent as Eden Mack vacated her post months ago and the Board settle on Erin Dury to fill out her term. Here’s their info as provided to King County Elections.

Candidates

All candidates in this race except Herb Camet, Jr have webpages. See the KC Elections page (link above). At this time, it appears that only Dury and Song Maritz have live pages. 

Erin Dury 

https://www.erin4seattleschools.com/

Director Dury wants to keep this job. It’s almost too soon to have much to say about her as a director. She seems fairly quiet at meetings but that may not mean much. She has several key endorsements including all the Board except Director Leslie Harris.

I have heard she has complained about the time it takes to be a director (she’s a single mom). There’s not much that can change there except that because the Board decided their oversight of district spending was too long so they raised the limit their oversight. That will take items off the agenda at committee and board meetings which should make them shorter. 

She could take Director DeWolf’s cue and just not have community meetings; that also saves time.

Herb Camet, Jr.

Mr. Camet is becoming a perennial candidate; he ran for this office back in 2017 against Mack. Here’s his background as I reported it then:

Mr. Camet has a lengthy and international background in teaching and learning that includes being a teacher, a principal and having worked in teacher training.  He went to private schools in New Orleans. He does not have children.  I believe he has lived in Seattle at least a decade.  

Education: Master of Arts (M.A.) in Education Administration; Bachelor of Arts (B.A.); Peace Corps TESL Training 

Occupation: School Principal,Teacher, ESL/ELT Manager, Curriculum Specialist in 10 countries

I did not think he was a good candidate then so it will be interesting to watch how he runs this round.

Laura Marie Rivera

Ms Rivera was in the running for the District 4 appointment but lost to Erin Dury. I can sum up what I wrote then - she’s a bright, caring person but does not have a great grasp on the issues and is not a good communicator.   

Vivian Song Maritz

http://www.vivian.school/

Now she’s an interesting candidate. I give her credit for being specific on issues and what she wants to accomplish. She is running on “inclusion, quality and good governance.” 

She is - by her own account - an Asian-American and the daughter of immigrants. She is a mom of four, a Harvard Business School graduate who has worked at Google and Goldman Sachs. She has been a PTA president as well as on the BLT at John Stanford International School. She is disabled with hearing loss.

District 5 - Covers the Central district and Capitol Hill. This seat is currently held by Zachary DeWolf who chose not to run again. 

Dan Harder

Mr. Harder does not have a website so I don’t know much about him personally (for example, does he have school-aged children). He is an engineer at Boeing

Mr. Harder is quite the anomaly for Seattle School Board - he is a registered Republican. 

Mr. Harder ran against current state senator Jamie Pedersen in 2018 and lost. Among his issues:

- Expand charter school system and education savings accounts.

- Public money should not be used to enrich private organizations, especially those with a political agenda, be it the Washington Education Association, or other unions, or environmental organizations.

Crystal S. Liston

https://www.crystalliston.com/about-crystal

Ms. Liston is a disabled, LGBTQ candidate with children in West Seattle schools. She ran in 2019 against Leslie Harris in District 6. I assume that she moved to District 5 at some point after that. She says “our values are in our budget” and wants to change the “white-controlled curriculum.” She is an avid volunteer in SPS. 

Michelle Sarju

https://sarjuforseattleschools.com/

Ms. Sarju is a former midwife and social worker who has worked in public health at King County. She has been a PTA member and has lived in the Central District for 34 years. In her public health role, she has advocated at the state level. 

She is running on:

Our children are our future and they ALL deserve a high-quality public education.

As well, one interesting stance is that she wants to get rid of standardized testing by 2022.  She alsowants mandatory ethnic studies and believes school bus drivers deserve better pay.

District 7 - Covers Southeast Seattle

I was quite surprised there were not more challengers for current director, Brandon Hersey, given how many people vied for the appointment to this seat just a couple of years back.

Brandon Hersey

https://www.herseyforschoolboard.com/

Director Hersey, appointed when Director Betty Patu left, has shown great willingness to jump right into the work. He is currently the board vice-president. 

I think Hersey is qualified to sit on the Board and is the only current teacher on the Board (but in Federal Way SD). I suspect that he will challenge Chandra Hampson for president of the board next time around.

My concern with Hersey is what it has been from the start - he seems like a guy in a hurry to get somewhere else. My spidey sense tells me that if he wins this time but something better comes up during his next term, he would go for it (as did DeWolf who tried to get appointed to the Seattle City Council during his term). 

Hersey is exceptionally careful with his words. For example, in the current situation with the homeless encampment at Broadview-Thomas K-8, he did not sign onto the statement that President Hampson and Director DeWolf sent to the Mayor, demanding she not sweep the camp. He has said that teaching kids empathy for others is a good thing. He has also missed a couple of key votes that would involve taking a firm stance. 

Genesis Williamson

Ms. Williamson currently has no website.

She appears to work at  as a Office and Special Projects Assistant, Office of the Dean, College of Arts and Sciences at Seattle University. She also states that she is a “peer mentor.” Her bio there indicates she’s a student but it’s unclear when the bio was written. She is from Baltimore, Maryland.