Seattle Schools Can Call Special Election in November

Update:

 The Seattle Times has an editorial about two resignations and says that President Liza Rankin will be saying more at tonight's Board meeting about details for replacing the two directors who left. 

They give notice of the worthy Seattle Hall Pass podcast as well as this blog as places to get deep information. 

A recent episode dissected the resignation debacle, and ended with a series of perspectives, most notably that of former board director Kay Smith-Blum, who said having the current majority choose its new members — after abdicating oversight of the budget amid spiraling student performance — was a scenario that “should be of grave concern to all Seattle citizens.”

The editorial seems to be calling for MORE oversight, not less as the Board's current direction. As well, inquiring minds want to know exactly what happened and the Board and district should not be sweeping this issue under the carpet. 

Enough already. 

end of update

I checked with King County Elections on the topic of calling for a special election to fill the two empty board seats currently open on the Seattle School Board. I was referred to this RCW:

RCW 42.12.030

Term of person elected to fill vacancy.
Whenever any officer resigns his or her office before the expiration of his or her term, or the office becomes vacant from any other cause, and at a subsequent special election such vacancy is filled, the person so elected to fill such vacancy shall hold office for the remainder of the unexpired term.

I thought of a second question - can you have a special election during a general election? Bold mine

RCW 29A.04.175

Special election.
"Special election" means any election that is not a general election and may be held in conjunction with a general election or primary.

Unfortunately, this will not be soon enough for voters to weigh in on who they want to sit on the Board. 

Unfortunately, many of the decisions on school closures will be done by November 2023; the district has some legal obligations to any school they want to close so I suspect the announcement of which ones have been chosen is likely right at the start of the school year. 

Sussing out the timetable:

Feb 7th

Public announcement of resignations of Directors Song and Rivera by the Board

It's unclear if that will include any info on next steps to finding replacements. I would hope by the end of the week that info would come out. The Board has 90 days to complete the process so let's say they announce their timetable on Monday, Feb. 12th.

Ninety days later gets us to about Monday, May 29th.  

I'll remind you what has to be largely done by that time - budget for next couple of years which may include school closures as well as a renegotiation of Superintendent Brent Jones' contract (remembering he only signed a 2-year rather than the customary 3-year contract. 

All that with four new people on the Board. The learning curve on the Board is something like 2 years. 

So you will basically have three people - President Liza Rankin, VP Michelle Sarju and Director Brandon Hersey - who will run the Board including this timetable.