The Strange Stranger Seattle School Board Endorsements

Alas and alack, I managed to overwrite my post on the Seattle Student Union endorsements on my Stranger post. 

Basically, flawed thinking, not rational in some points and The Stranger forgot about some key events (like the murder at Ingraham High School). 

They endorsed both incumbents - Liza Rankin  in D1 and Lisa Rivera Smith in D2 as well as Evan Briggs in D3 and Gina Topp in D6. 

Liza Rankin

Oddly, The Stranger didn't mention that Rankin is using endorsements from 2019 at her webpage (including The Stranger's). She even has one from MLK Labor (who endorsed her last time) when her opponent, Debbie Carlsen, is the sole endorsement for MLK Labor THIS time. Devious tactics.

On declining enrollment - If housing and birthrates are the only reason for this issue, then there is nothing she can do besides complaining to the City Council and going to PTA meetings and urging members to make more babies.

What's hilarious is she brought an iPad to show them graphs and such AND sent several follow-up emails  and they found that annoying. That is CLASSIC Rankin who cannot keep two ideas in her head at once. She does this at Board meetings all the time. 

And policy review? Why is that top of her list with SO many other issues? Hmm.

Rankin has even said she KNEW they were going into debt approving the last teachers contract. So she is part of the budget problem. 

Memo to The Stranger - Rankin was a rank amateur board member when she got elected; ALL new members start from scratch. And every incumbent always uses that line.

Comments at The Stranger

#1

Liza and Debbie aren't functionally different though there is no universe where Liza is "effective." She is likable, which is obviously enough for the vibes based SECB.

#2

What is with you endorsing Liza Rankin??! Have you not heard about the Ingraham shooting that left one student dead and another in juvenile detention? Have you not heard Friends of Ingraham beg for district to acknowledge continued fears SEVEN months after the shooting- and when another kid showed-up with a gun in the parking lot? 

And Rankin led the district off of a financial cliff with a budget deficit of $131M and another $100M next year.

In regards to Student Focused Outcome Governance, Cruickshank is spot on.

You have made a grave mistake.

Lisa Rivera Smith

The Stranger says "she likes to challenge the status quo at the Board." Name one time when she did it with force or courage? I'll wait.

The Stranger again says that the falling enrollment (which is going to cause schools to CLOSE by school year 2024-2025) just can't be because of SPS quality (or lack of). So what WILL Rivera Smith do about this?

They claim she said she wants to "shape" SOFG. She has done NOTHING to shape SOFG. Zero. And they call her "mild" and that is definitely the word to use for Rivera Smith. She never really stands up for anything. 

Evan Briggs

The Stranger's endorsement of Evan Briggs in Board district 3 is the worst of their endorsements. She's a hand-picked dilettante from director Chandra Hampson (who couldn't run because of her bullying of senior Black staffers as well as a lawsuit against SPS that Hampson is STILL carrying on today). If Hampson picks a candidate, vote the opposite.

Here's The Stranger's reasoning on Briggs' qualifications. The school she was pushing back against got too toxic so she ran off to another one? And she's in the PTA and that's a good reason to put her on the Board? Even Hampson was at least a PTA president.

"She also wants to work to find ways to more equitably distribute PTSA funds across schools and to dramatically improve community outreach."

So the $350,000 that the Green Lake Elementary PTA raised to put in speciality play equipment for kids with disabilities should have been spread out to other schools instead of using it for that project? Were those parents being selfish trying to help disabled kids who go to that school as part of a district program? I wished they had asked Briggs that question.

If The Stranger thinks - as they said in the Briggs endorsement- that the board is "a dysfunctional mess," why endorse Rankin and Rivera Smith, the incumbents? That's doesn't make for a good argument. And The Stranger complains about "low-quality community outreach?" This Board is THE poster child for that. Please.

Vote for Ben Gitenstein or Christie Robertson - much better and more thoughtful choices. 

Comment at The Stranger:

I don't really care who you vote for in district 3, but it definitely shouldn't be Evan, who has barely stood up a campaign and is the puppet of the less popular Chandra(she did all her speeches at LD endorsement meetings- typically candidates do their own), not actually Brandon, who is more popular in SECB circles. 

Gina Topp

Their endorsement of Topp - well, she is the best candidate in the bunch. 

However, this word salad is bullshit:

"She argued that if (Student Outcome Focused Governance) SOFG lets the board set policy and hold the superintendent accountable for results, which it does, and if the superintendent doesn’t deliver on implementation, which he might not, then the school board will still be able to delve into the policy work to ensure the district delivers on the board’s goals, which it could."

So even if the superintendent's actions do not deliver, blame it on the policies and not his work? Oh boy.

She's no Leslie Harris.