King County Video Voters Guide for Seattle School Board Candidates, 2023
As part of elections work, King County allows candidates a two-minute video presentation and then uploads them for the public to view. I have now watched all the videos that were made and have these highlights to offer. (All the videos are unedited. Several candidates did not have videos; I assume the other two candidates either declined to create a video or didn't show up.)
All the candidates spoke confidently and I saw no real issues in their ability to communicate to the public.
District 1 - There are videos only for Debbie Carlsen and Liza Rankin.
Both Carlsen lays out her past experience and frankly, comes out looking pretty good for someone who hasn't spent all her time in PTSA. She said she wants to be "a strong LGBTQ voice" and help all kids to feel safe in their schools.
Rankin makes many claims on what she has done and I do want to call out a couple of things.
One is "access to outdoor learning." This seems like it would be a big idea to get out there during the pandemic. It didn't happen and I haven't heard Rankin say much about it since the height of pandemic.
Another item is "gun violence prevention." I know she supports gun responsibility legislation but I couldn't tell you what she has done for prevention in Seattle Schools. I wonder what the parents at Ingraham High School would make of that statement.
One interesting statement on the pandemic - "The pandemic altered the district's relationships with families." Maybe a backdoor way of saying on reason why the district might be losing enrollment; I don't know.
She said nothing about systems or governance.
District 3 - There are videos for Evan Briggs, Christie Robertson and Ben Gitenstein.
Christie Robertson spoke thoughtfully and said that "public schools are special because of collective effort and community" but that our schools are "struggling to reach that vision." She says SPS is failing "our most vulnerable kids."
Briggs and a couple of other candidates said they wanted to "empower educators." I would love to know what each of them mean by that and how they think the Board can do that (beyond voting for curriculum).
And Briggs mentions her work in a summer program for kids, teaching "at the college level" and "everything in-between" and that "I have spend time in the classroom and understand the unique challenges our educators face. " I wonder how teachers might feel about her assertion. I would think that teaching film classes or running a summer learning program is nowhere near the same as being a teacher in a school.
She stated that there needed to be "a systems approach for meaningful change."
Gitenstein stated that "there is a real but quiet crisis in our schools." He said that after the murder at Ingraham High School, there "was little to no response from the district." He called out the fact that, using the district's own measures, students furthest from educational justice are worse off than they were in 2019.
He said the city "deserved a Board that takes gun violence seriously, that fights to keep neighborhood schools open and offers programs that draw students in."
District 6 - Only Gina Topp participated.
She said she wanted to help restore parental and community confidence in the public schools. She wants "a safe and welcoming environment" and to "empower educators."
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