Ballard High School Will Continue Its Principal Status Quo

 From Associate Superintendent Concie Pedroza:

Dear Ballard Staff and Families,

Allow me to extend my appreciation for your dedication to the needs of students over the last several months. As you know, Ballard High School undergone a leadership shift while Principal Keven Wynkoop was on leave. Today, I am providing an update as promised.

At this time, Principal Wynkoop has returned from leave and been reassigned. He will continue to serve Seattle Public Schools as a principal on special assignment, supporting and filling in for building leaders in need of assistance at other schools.

Interim Principal Joseph Williams will continue serving the Ballard High School community as school leader until further notice.

His role as the interim building leader has been to support students, staff, and families, effectively maintain the daily operations of the school, and provide stable leadership.

I understand how sensitive this transition is for many families and staff members. Please know the totality of the issue was considered, and this resolution was made with the future success of BHS in mind.

When a decision is made regarding the next steps to determine the future leader of Ballard, the process will be shared with the community. We will work closely with the director of schools to support the next steps for our students and staff.

Again, thank you for your devotion to Ballard High School. I will share the timeline and process as soon as possible.

Respectfully,

Dr. Concie Pedroza
Associate Superintendent
Seattle Public Schools

So, Wynkoop is out at Ballard High (it would appear).  There is an opening at Roosevelt High so maybe he will get placed there. 

I wonder what "totality of the issue" means. I don't think any community was consulted, probably not even BHS staff, so what that means only the district knows. 

I also wonder if Principal Williams will become permanent and will that help the issue of a few students believing some BHS teachers are insufficiently sensitive in their assignments. 

The notice does say that they will "determine the future leader of Ballard" and that there will be "a process." My observation is that generally the district DOES include staff, parents and students in choosing high school principals but something tells me that like the "process" to appoint Superintendent Jones, it is likely that Ballard High will see that same kind of process. I'd like to be proven wrong. 

Clearly, the district needs to get this settled before the end of the school year and the clock is ticking.

Comments

Question said…
Why didn't Brent Jones sign the e-mail to BHS families?

Anonymous said…
Interesting. I'm a Ballard parent and I have not seen this communication. Reading between the lines, it would appear as I suspected and what I've heard quietly from SPS folks and others more in the know than I: Nothing was found on Wynkoop because clearly had there been something HE WOULD HAVE BEEN EXITED FROM THE DISTRICT! I think that SPS leadership and the board, looking for a scapegoat for their own lack of policy and actual support for buildings, needed to make something of this at the expense of a school, a principal and a school culture that doesn't fit with the current politics that SPS wants us all to embrace. Meanwhile, we have the current interim who I understand isn't interested in the job and for that I am glad. He is interim and thus far has not demonstrated leadership in any way at a time when leadership has been needed. Given the appalling math scores coming out of SPS overall, it would seem that academics have been trumped (ugh pains me to say that word) by appearances and academics are on the back burner for this district. Looking at the same tired district plan that focuses on African American boys at the expense of everything else gets you right where we are at. Funny, I thought public school was supposed to be education for all as in "yes, and." signed skeptical parent
I think Dr. Pedroza signed because she the associate superintendent of student supports. That said, given the high profile of this issue, you'd think Jones might have signed.

Skeptical Parent, you are halfway right. It appears that there is nothing extra to Wynkoop's departure.

My guess is that Wynkoop was too "hot" to stay at Ballard and both the district and Wynkoop would have faced protests for a long time if he were reinstated. Is Wynkoop truly on-board with this decision? We'll probably never know.

It will be interesting to see what others say (like parents and Wynkoop supporters).
Anonymous said…
The e-mail was sent yesterday afternoon. I believe Williams didn’t sign the letter because it was a personnel issue and it was not his place to inform families of the matter. I hope he sends out his own communication soon. Rumor has it that Wynkoop could end up at Franklin or Cleveland-this is the type of move that many people think was needed all along. As a parent, I have been pleased with Williams and the staff seem to be happy, as well. -FormerTeacher
Anonymous said…
Yes, the email came late yesterday afternoon. I am upset about this. If Mr Wynkoop did something very wrong he should be fired. If not he should be reinstated.

I asked my son who is a sophomore at Ballard if Dr Williams is more involved at school than he is with parents (as in, he has had NO communication with parents beyond his introductory email.)

He said no. No school announcements, nothing. There was one pep rally (My son said, "Mr Wynkoop would have been greeting kids at the door"), and when the students started booing at something, Dr Williams was not able to restore order quickly.

-Sad Ballard Mom
Question said…
It is abundantly clear that Wynkoop - an award winning principal- did not violate policy and/ or policies weren't in place to support complex situations.

The press and some loud mouth people caused harm to Wynkoop's reputation. There was nothing in the Investigative Report to indicate that the class, teacher or principal was racist. Will these same journalists correct the record?

I'm uncertain if Wynkoop wanted to return, but it seems that the bullying culture which is prevalent in Seattle Public Schools- from board VP to SCPTSA to community members- may have run a good principal out the door.

The board and district are focusing on a particular group of students. Yet, it is abundantly clear that those students are being hurt and one does not need to look beyond OSPI reports to see harm.
Question, well, the investigative report was clear on the issue. Again, the family of the student is saying that SPS HR took the report and THEY announced that Wynkoop had retaliated against the student. The family further claims that action violated district, state and federal law. And the Seattle Times reported this WITHOUT any kind of quote from HR nor follow-up to the family's statement about the violation.

I again have to wonder what is happening to journalism over at the Times. This is the second time they have printed a story WITHOUT linking the documentation.

So what did HR say? I await the report by the end of this week. I suspect it will be a split decision, meaning, HR will say he retaliated under district policy but I'm not sure if the claim of violation of state/federal law will hold up.

We just can't know until we see that HR report.
Sorry, my first question is not clear. I will try again.

Yes, the investigative report found that neither the teacher nor principal acted in a racist fashion. SPS took that report and gave it to HR who applied the actions reported in it against district policy and found that Wynkoop had retaliated against the student.
Emperor with no clothes said…
I say this not as a BHS parent but as a human being with 'common sense'; this is an outrageous incident. Kevan Wynkoop should absolutely sue the Seattle Times for defamation.

It is mind blowing that in 2022 that the most obvious explanation here is the one no one wants to say out loud; this was a targeted, performative action directed at someone guilty of absolutely nothing but doing their job at the highest level. This fact has only been obscured through the 'narrative' of racism and the byzantine, opaque SPS investigation 'process'

This was reinforced by a recent editorial in the Seattle Times where this incident was referenced in support of the narrative that 'Whiteness' must be dismantled and that the childhood friends of Kevan who were moved to take out an ad in the Times to show their support for him are referred to as violent and threatening.

Please demand the Seattle Times issue a correction, or minimally follow up and get the point of view from Kevan himself. Please consider the precedent this whole issue has set where facts, due process and reality take a back seat to false 'narratives' and professional activism
Anonymous said…
@Emperor
You could not have said it better. But I think he should start with SPS first. They willingly and knowingly allowed this to happen. There is alot of stifled parent support behind him at this point. -skeptical parent
Anonymous said…
@Former Teacher--I don't agree. I feel you have Wynkoop and how he is being painted in this situation all wrong. He and the teacher are both IMO being treated unfairly. Some seem to be manipulating our countries current political environment, to construct their own narrative and further their own political agenda. The family who had the issue a father, a white guy, who ran for school board, and a doctor (white appearing) Latina physician mom. They have stated they don't feel the assignment was racist, but they seem to have taken issue with some of the responses of students. At issue, a comment as an example from a 16 year old student in the class. When students were prompted by the teacher how people who feel oppressed may react responded " when people are oppressed they may choose to do bad things". Hmmm....so I did not gasp here with horror at what the teen just stated. Probably because I think it was a broad assignment and left up to 16 year old kids to be broadly interpretated. Perhaps the teacher could have done more to read the room and been a better facilitator. I also believe she had good intentions in even creating the dialogue and assignment. But her intentions (or Wynkoops) apparently do not matter to her "judges". I don't know, we were not in the room. I am just repeating what the father posted was so offensive to his son on the BHS Facebook page at one point. What comes to mind for me might be an absolute myriad of situations and people, such as a bullied teen who does something antisocial to others. There are all sorts of people around the world and in the US who act in various ways when they feel oppressed. Some act out in socially positive ways, others socially negative. All human beings can suffer from oppression, of all races, genders, religions etc. The student in question, brought to class his own ideas in how he understood "oppressed people", he needs to understand other kids also interpreted the question had their ideas too. This was all during the online pandemic situation. Principal Wynkoop agreed to change the kids class and tried to resolve the situation as he could. The student later decided that was not good enough. Later apparently deciding he wanted the adults to make that kid apologize for that comment and bring in a trainer to come into the class. I have heard multiple parents and students, including of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds, state the opposite of what you believe. Parents are also not happy with the interim over Wynkoop. We never hear from this new guy, who as a reminder has questionable qualifications, and was appointed over two more experienced (5-10 years) female assistant principals. One of the female assistant principals has now left. Wynkoop and teacher if either of you are reading, I truly hope you have a lawsuit. It is upsetting that you are going through this unfair situation.

Another Ballard Parent.
Anonymous said…
I would like to suggest that the student and family reflect deeply about his/their own privileges and platform for meaningful substantive positive change for all "oppressed persons or people". Another dad, an attorney, also Latino, had addressed the dad on the BHS Facebook page something akin to this being the closest thing certain people may ever witness to the kind of vicious racism and classism, and skin tone related oppression others, such as people at the border experience. I applaud efforts for deep meaningful change to address all oppressed people by class, gender, race, religion. This situation is not it.

Another Ballard Parent
Another Ballard Parent, well-stated, thanks.
Anonymous said…
Another Ballard Parent-There is a lot that we don't know about the situation, and perhaps never will. I agree that I believe this family is looking for someone to blame, but I believe that Wynkoop has some learning to do as well. Many of the Ballard staff had issues with him and while I understand that he did work well with some students who out of the mainstream, in general, he was not adept at working with those groups. I have no idea how hiring processes work, but I would not be surprised if neither of the AP's wanted the principal job (this is just my guess based on what I know of admin and the people involved). Overall, this was a really crappy situation, with no real winners. -FormerTeacher
District watcher said…
This situation reminds me so much of what happened at The Center School some years ago. The class was Courageous Conversations, taught by Jon Greenberg. Many students, including my son, got a lot out of the class. One white girl was uncomfortable by the racial content and her father (an attorney, I believe) made angry accusations about the class.

SPS capitulated to the family and sent off Greenberg to teach a watered down version of the class at a middle school. He sued the district, won and now is back at The Center School. The curricula he introduced could have been a model for other high schools.

It sounds to me like Wynkoop was a good fit for Ballard. I hope he fights these charges. SPS has no principles and fewer good principals.
Emperor with no clothes said…
To Anonymous / Former Teacher:

"There is a lot we don't know" -- really?? Is this just speculation on your part? Or do you actually "know" of what "we" don't "know"?? If you don't actually know of additional facts contributing to this then you are actually part the problem here!! You are insinuating completely baseless assertions of guilt....if the District is withholding information that can be learned through a FOIA request; or hmmm maybe it's time to get additional media outlets involved??

Melissa Westbrook does unbelievable work on this blog and deserves tons of accolades; but this demand broader coverage and investigation

"Many Ballard staff had issues with him" -- what does this mean exactly given this matter has nothing to do with Ballard staff going to the district about him? Again this is problematic and slanderous.

You are correct - there are no real winners here; only losers....a Principal who apparently did nothing wrong (except not vigorously and publicly pushing back) and my and all BHS kids who get screwed by the 'adults'. Again.
Anonymous said…
Oh please. Wynkoop is a puffed up cheese ball. He’s basically an all grown up frat boy. He has no experience outside the insular BHS community where he is a third generation BHS alum. The district had no business hiring him for the position as he lacks the breadth of experience needed in a large SPS high school, which has at least some diversity. And Former teacher is spot on. He is pretty terrible at engaging students out of the dead center mainstream. He was pretty poor at dealing with struggling students or those in special ed. BUt regardless of all that, the charges against him are patently absurd. What? We can’t have any discussion about race? Even as we are trying to educate ourselves on the nuances? Even if he did something wrong, is there no room to make corrections? If so, we’re gonna wind up with an all black district with no access to the broader community. Like it or not, Seattle is an extremely white city. White exodus from public institutions weakens them precisely because there are so many white people in Seattle. The whole thing is a sorry mess. Wynkoop should never have been the principal at BHS. But he also shouldn’t have been treated the way he was. The whole thing smacks of the utter incompetence we’ve come to expect from SPS.

Alum parent
So Alum Parent, I almost didn't allow your comment. You don't need those first two unkind sentences. There are ways to state someone is wrong for a job than insulting them. I urge you to think about that before you submit a comment.

But yes, if SPS and the SCPTSA want to get rid of parents they don't seem to like, they are doing a good job.
Seriously said…

I really need to disagree with Alum parent. 45 leagues in the state nominate a principal and King county nominated Wynkoop for the High school level. It was an honor for the BHS principal to be nominated by peers.

As well, Phil Brockman was the former principal of BHS- and he was a well respected principal. He was amongst those that supported Wynkoop.

So, I really need to disagree with Alum parent that KW lacks the breadth of experience necessary to run a high school.

Anonymous said…
Wynkoop was principal at BHS for 11 years. That's well over 100 staff each year, grade levels at or around 500 (5,500+ students/families total), in a school that was for many of those years the largest high school in the city. The annual budget for BHS has got to be over $13 mil all in. He helped start the GAINS program that has decreased the drop out rate at BHS, he runs the 9th grade transition program (Link Crew), he helped create Ballard Cares in the Spring of 2020 to help students and their families facing trauma and financial hardship due to the pandemic. He has supported staff and students following the deaths of multiple beloved staff members and students. He was in a meeting downtown a few years back when there was a serious bomb threat at BHS. He drove back to school to help ensure all students and staff got out safely and home. His car was often the last car in the lot.

The day to day operations of a large comprehensive high school were intense before COVID and everything has been amplified since. For one family to wield the power to undo ALL of his service to BHS is a shame and a blight on SPS and leadership downtown. He did not do what one family told him to do and he lost his job. To say he was not up for the job is a ridiculous conclusion to draw.

What's Next
Been There said…
It wasn't uncommon for BHS principal to be in the school for 12 hours each day. As I recall, there were days when he didn't leave the school until 10pm. He was committed to the school's Race and Equity Team. The principal worked to make sure all students felt safe. To say he was not up for the job or a committed or capable principal is absolutely false.
Anonymous said…
In my experience Principal Wynkoop was always responsive, kind, thoughtful, impactful when contacted often responding very quickly. Plus I have an outside the mainstream kind of student. O.K former teacher you disagree, that's fair. Alum parent as far as being unkind with name calling, how about the higher road. So the guy likes sports! Good for him. Welcome all diversity, people are not stereotypes. Treat others how you would like to be treated.

Another Ballard Parent

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