More News from Seattle School Board Investigation of Two Members; SPS Staff

 I have the interviews from former superintendent Denise Juneau, Mia Williams, Assistant Superintendent of African American Male Achievement for Seattle Public Schools and Clover Codd, head of HR (and now a superintendent at Moreland School District in San Jose, California.

Clover Codd

This is the most interesting and blunt interview so I'll start with her. I have known Codd professionally for years and always found her to be open and kind. 

Codd was a reluctant interviewee, saying "the conduct ought to be called out but she did not want an investigation done." As Codd read the policy she did "not feel she was required to investigate the complaint" but she did say "usually a formal complaint is required." She did ask Scarlett and Al-Ansi, repeatedly, about what they wanted to do. I'm not sure what she meant by "formal complaint." I would guess perhaps that the complaint should have been lodged with her office and not with the Board. But keep in mind, Scarlett and Al-ansi probably just wanted the conduct to stop and probably hoped the majority of the Board would help them. 

Codd used as an example two other complaints  - one from a woman of color and the other not - filed against former Ethnic Studies head Tracy Castro-Gill in September 2019.  The complainants did not want to use Policy 5207 (HIB) because "they were worried about retaliation." From personal experience with Castro-Gill, I would agree. 

She stated that Castro-Gill is "White presenting but identifies as Chicanx." She states that the two women did not want to file a complaint against Castro-Gill which meant that SPS never investigated the concerns they raised. This was Codd's example of complainants who did not want to be the subject of an investigation and so no investigation was done.

She goes on to say that some staffers do "feel like Hampson's is everyone's boss." Codd worried that if Hampson didn't like something found in the investigation, she would turn on her. In short, the investigation might do more harm than good. Codd is also an aspiring superintendent who did not want to be part of "a mess." I would agree - this IS a mess and one that no one wants to address but they should. Hampson is a bully and will continue being one. 

Then there is a compelling section of Codd's remarks:

What is gray about this area for Scarlett is what it is like to be a Black woman experiencing microaggressions. As a woman, Codd is used to gender discrimination, mansplaining, and being talked over. It feels like men are given passes for this kind of behavior. Codd is unsure whether the behavior she has witnessed reaches the bar of legal discrimination and harassment. It is an area that she struggles with and she wonders whether she has been desensitized. 

Codd does seem to see that "the obligations of an employer is not to only investigate concerns, but also to ensure that the behavior didn't occur." That's a key point because some behavior surely might not rise to HIB but even if so, it may be inappropriate behavior that may affect the work environment. 

Codd was at the key Executive Committee meeting, albeit coming in late. She said she could feel the tension when this policy was being discussed. Her perspective was that "because of the power dynamics between Board directors and staff, there could have been harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB). 

We all know that if the Board directors don't want you in a role, they will figure out how to get you out. There is a fear that if the Board directors do not think you are doing a good job that they can assure that you are not going to have your job or make your job more difficult. That is the current state of affairs. We all have graduate degrees and they act like we don't know how to do our jobs." 

Codd also notes that at a Board meeting in September 2020, DeWolf kept cutting Juneau off and she felt it was not appropriate. She also says she never heard DeWolf talk to a man that way. 

She goes on, saying DeWolf, Hampson and Juneau used to be "besties."" It was a proud moment to have a Native superintendent, and then something happened."

Hmm, I wonder what that could have been because Juneau was the one person who could stand up against Hampson's and DeWolf's bullying but look what that got her. Hampson consistently said Juneau wasn't moving "fast enough" on race and equity but now I have to wonder if that was the only reason she wanted to get rid of Juneau.

Codd thought that the Board was trying to "operationalize" policy and that isn't their role. She goes onto say that some in the senior cabinet use a lot of "educational talk" that may not be familiar to Board members but that Scarlett used plain language to make her points. She says other senior cabinet officials do not do this and "it may feel to a Board director like as cabinet members, we are elitists." 

She stated that sometimes some members of the cabinet have longer presentations that eat up time for the Board to comment or ask questions and that is a frustration to the Board. I would agree 100% with that statement and I think it is by design. The Board should have long ago stood up to this but, if they did, it was behind the scenes. The one person who did consistently call out not getting information requested on topics is Director Leslie Harris.

Denise Juneau

As you may recall, there was a phone meeting on August 28, 2020 among DeWolf, Hampson, Scarlett and Al-ansi where DeWolf hammered Scarlett and Al-ansi, left to catch a plane and then Hampson continued on. There was also at least one other person on the line - I think from the Board office or superintendent's office - who later went to Juneau because the phone call was so rough. 

Juneau said in the interview that that DeWolf and Hampson "disempower and harass staff members, believing they are superiors to staff." And, as has been stated by others, DeWolf frequently cut Juneau's remarks short at Board meetings. 

Juneau says she had a good working relationship with DeWolf and Hampson and did not know why it fell apart. She said from March 2020 to July 2020, she and the two directors went out visiting many schools together. 

Apparently Hampson and DeWolf advised Juneau to "listen for understanding to acknowledge the harm that Juneau and/or the district have caused and to figure out a pathway through." She told the interviewer that she didn't think they followed their own advice. 

Juneau noted that at the September 16, 2020 Executive Committee meeting that SCPTSA leaders spoke before staff which is not the general practice. 

Did Juneau believe that the issues were race-based? She herself - a woman of color - said she wasn't sure because it was a disagreement among people of color.  I'll have something to say on this when I do a final wrap-up but it sure is a common theme in the interviews.

She said that Carri Campbell, who was the head of district communications at the time, felt pressure from DeWolf because he wanted a press release to go out before full Board approval of the policy. This was in September 2020. 

Juneau was aware of the split on the Board between Hampson, DeWolf, Rankin on one side and Harris, Mack and Rivera Smith on the other (she did not mention Hersey but he was in the former camp). She said she thought the latter group felt marginalized because things were happening without full Board approval or even knowledge of them.

About deciding on an investigation, Juneau was advised by Narver but, in my document, that is redacted. 

However, the report does say: 

"Juneau does not recall exactly how it all played out." 

Well, someone in Juneau's command had to have authorized it.

 The document also says she states, "It is weird because how do you deny someone's request to investigate themselves." So I suspect DeWolf and Hampson demanded the investigation to clear themselves and it backfired. 

Mia Williams

Dr. Williams is the Assistant Superintendent of African American Male Achievement but, at the time of the investigation, was the Chief of the Office of African American Male Achievement. She has been in the district for 27 years, both in schools and at JSCEE. 

Interestingly, when she was the head of the Office for AAMA, she was was "charged with raising $3M from philanthropic resources" for this office. I have never heard of any staffer that had to go out and raise money for their work. 

In the interview, she said she did not work much with Hampson or DeWolf and is not at Board committee meetings regularly. 

DeWolf was unhappy when a national group, Players Coalition, gave a $10,000 donation to Williams' office and it was mentioned in the superintendent's Friday Memo. He commented it would have been nice for Juneau to let the Board know but Williams said SPS had not been formally made aware of the donation in advance of any press release. It would seem that DeWolf really worked to find things to pounce on to malign Juneau. 

Also interesting is that Williams said in the interview that she had been a principal at Aki Kurose but that both Scarlett and Al-Ansi had been as well, "so their credibility should be able the same (as hers) but it is not."