Song and Rivera Resign

 In a huge surprise, Director Vivian Song and Director Lisa Rivera jointly resigned on Song's Facebook page today. (Thank you to reader Julie for this early warning.)

In its entirety:

It has been a tremendous honor to serve the students, families and staff of Seattle Public Schools, as well as all the people of Seattle, who elected us to these roles in city-wide elections. So, it is with great regret that we feel compelled to submit our resignations as School Board Directors, effective Friday, Feb. 2, 2024.

We have both experienced significant changes to our family situations, which have prompted both of us to move outside the boundaries of our internal director districts. Separations happen. Divorce happens. Sometimes the rules simply don’t reflect the realities of modern family life, and should certainly never be exploited in the media while plans are made and laws interpreted to determine the right path for Seattle Public Schools and the public trust. In recent years, our board has even passed a change to the enrollment rules to ensure students can continue at their school, if there is a change in address due to family circumstances, in recognition of this all-too common reality.

 

We are in compliance with board policy and law. Legal counsel has advised Director Song that she can continue lawfully finishing her term. Nonetheless, after witnessing the manufactured distraction that others have leveraged because of Director Song’s move, we’ve decided that we will not allow this unnecessary distraction to continue, and are thus both tendering our resignations, which we are doing concurrently to streamline the appointment process for our colleagues and minimize disruption when other important district decisions are on the horizon.

 

We regret that it has to come to this, and also regret that certain members of the school board have taken advantage of what should be a private family situation, by suggesting that Director Song has acted in bad faith. It is not in anyone’s best interest to put that kind of conflict on display, least of all our students.

We urge our colleagues, who will be hand-selecting replacements, to appoint directors that fit the profiles voters overwhelmingly chose in city-wide elections when they elected us – ones who are committed to partnership with our labor unions, who favor a portfolio of schools that reflects the diversity of our students, who are able to understand the operational implications of significant changes to school programs and budget cuts, who are responsible fiscal stewards of capital funds, who champion climate justice and resiliency, and who are people of color, ideally representing the Latinx, Native and Asian communities.

 

We also hope this serves as an opportunity to re-examine the barriers to having high quality, committed leaders serve on School Boards as volunteers. We believe at this time we should be looking for every opportunity to bring people in, not exclude them.

 

We are deeply committed to Seattle Public Schools. Moving to a different address within the city for the sake of our young children does not change our commitment to high quality public education for every child in our city. Resigning will not change it either. 

 

We look forward to supporting you and all of Seattle Public Schools in any way we can. Fifty-thousand students are counting on us.

 

Sincerely,

Directors Lisa Rivera and Vivian Song

Comments welcome but snide or personal ones about these two women will not be printed. I am going to ponder this myself but I can say it is sad they are both leaving. I do not look forward to what the new Board will look like. Any thought that Director Gina Topp had on being her own person are gone from my mind.