Upcoming Seattle School Board Candidate Forum
Via the SPS webpage:
The public is invited to attend or stream this forum for candidates for appointment to the District 2 and 4 School Board Director seats. All finalists will have the opportunity to share why they are interested in serving on the Seattle School Board and answer questions selected by the Board and Student Members.
More information about the appointment process, including a timeline and candidate webpages, can be found on the appointment process web page.
SPSTV Streaming: The meeting will be live streamed on SPSTV and broadcast on television on Comcast 26 (standard-def) and 319 (hi-def), Wave 26 (standard-def) and 695 (hi-def), and Century Link 8008 (standard-def) and 8508 (hi-def).
The agenda reflects the above wording - the meeting will be two-and-a-half hours.
The meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 27th at the Performing Arts Center at Lincoln High School, 4400 Interlake Avenue North from 6-8:30 pm.
The Board's schedule reflects announcing their picks for D2 and D4 at the April 3rd Board meeting and giving the oath of office the next day at JSCEE at 5 pm. The new directors will be allowed time for statements so that could also be informative.
What is a little odd is that at this induction, the Superintendent will end the meeting. The selection of directors is a Board function and while he will be working with them, this is not part of his work.
Given that the students and the Board don't always walk in lockstep with each other, it may be easy to spot which questions are coming from which group. A couple of student board members have, in the past, complained that the Board never seems to act on their concerns.
I would guess the Board's questions would reflect what they talked about at their Work Session:
- Do these candidates understand the governance system?
- Do the candidates understand the role of a director and that the team effort IS the work.
- Racial equity work
As for the students, I think safety is number one in their minds. However, it's not a great question because candidates aren't security experts. I'm not sure what they would add onto that discussion but it could be interesting if any one of them says, "Bring back SPD to schools." I have heard great division on that issue from parents and students.
I would love to see what the candidates would say on the topic of "well-resourced schools" and if they support school closures. I doubt that will be asked, though.
The Board eliminated one of the two candidates who truly knows SPS, Ramona Hattendorf. That leaves in D4 Laura Marie Rivera. She knows this district and would be great in the role. That said, the powers that be on the Board will pick anyone but her. It makes me sad to say that but this is quite the performative Board. The last election brought on two white women - Evan Briggs and Gina Topp - and I seriously doubt the Board will go in that direction.
It's great if these people have been out in their communities but I would look for someone who truly knows this district. But that's not of importance to the Board and, of course, it's useful to have newbies that you can lead around for at least the first year.
Given that there are 8 candidates and with, I believe, 90-seconds for answers, it's hard to know how specific anyone will get. I would look to their opening and closing statements for clue.
Comments
"For district news with more attitude — and some conspiracy-minded commenters — there’s the Seattle Schools Community Forum, a long-running blog written by former SPS parent Melissa Westbrook, who devotes considerable energy to district goings-on though she no longer lives full-time in Washington."
How come there have been far less comments- conspiracy minded or not- on your blog in recent weeks? They've always been quite informative too!
Jim Basinski
I do think they want people who will go along to get along and Rivera (and in D2, Ramona Hattendorf) are blunt, smart women.
In D4, there's one man, Joe Mizrahi, and I wonder if they feel like the Board needs another man. But Mizrahi works at a labor union and they already have that in Brandon Hersey.
Rachelle Olden also seems unlikely because I don't think she brings much to the table that isn't already there. I think she likely the weakest in her knowledge of the district.
That leaves Gabby Gonzalez. The Board lost the Latina rep, Lisa Rivera, so that would be a plus AND she's good at reading and understanding data.
Again, the Wednesday forum should allow us to glean more via both what the questions are and what the answers are. (I would love if they asked candidates basic SPS knowledge like what is the current enrollment, what is the current operations budget, and how many buildings does the district operate. I ask these questions myself and I have never had one candidate who can answer all the basics.)