Who's in Charge in Seattle Public Schools? Part One
Who's in charge in Seattle Public Schools? I ask that question because after Tuesday's Board meeting, it does not seem clear. At all.
The bottom line - to me - is that the process to close schools is broken. It didn't have to be if both sides had been open and honest.
The Superintendent and staff made a good decision initially by pulling back from their ridiculous first attempt, trying to close all the K-8 schools. Other districts, like Chicago, are doing their closures slowly and I think staff decided to follow suit. So they delivered the four school version.
But again, they made mistakes:
1) They thought that most parents whose school was not affected would breathe a sigh of relief and ignore the process. What I see happening is parents joining together across the district against closures.
2) A very SPS mistake was to think that if they wrapped the closures up in pretty paper, with words like "well-resourced" on it, parents would go along. Basically, by having some pain, things will be better for your child. Problem is, as always, is that they could not back it up.
More staff in a big building? Not really. There would be a full-time librarian but in a 500+ elementary, there would be no full-time AP or nurse? As well, one of the many wonderful speakers at the meeting said, through tears, that a shiny new building does not make a community.
Know what would have helped? "Here are challenges we see in moving students to a new building and possible solutions but we really want to hear from you on that." Did that happen in person so it would be a conversation? Nope.
3) Closing schools doesn't save that much money relative to the jam SPS is in. AND, there are many costs that TO closing schools that staff refuses to plainly state.
3) The emperor had no clothes. Meaning, what plan? The Superintendent and staff had MONTHS - given to them by the Board - to come up with a plan. That plan needed to explain things like transportation, enrollment, Special Education, transitioning, staff transfers - NONE of that was in the plan. You cannot ask parents, who are adults, to just buy into your promises. When SPS treats parents like children, they always fail.
Which brings me to the Board. They are absolutely complicit in this mess and it is deeply troubling. When they did not hold staff's feet to the fire for details way back in May, they set the stage for what has unfolded.
At Work Sessions, the questions were few from directors and the only person who was truly firm was Director Brandon Hersey and then it was only to save his region's schools. Which did happen and how nice for him.
I know that the Board is full of newbies but this issue was not something like renaming a school - staff wants to close schools. It is each director's job to get up to speed and do their homework. It is each director's job to ask hard questions. However, Board leadership, in the form of President Liza Rankin appears to have somewhat muzzled the other directors, probably because of the governance model SOFG.
I believe in using SOFG the Board made this issue worse than it had to be and know what? That got proven at the Board meeting in spades.
I read somewhere that someone said Jones was hired to be the fall guy for whatever happened when closures got brought up. Maybe but I do believe he is in over his head. Between him and Rankin, the district doesn't have good leadership. Even though I think both should step down, at this point it would only muddy the waters.
What WOULD help is when Board leadership positions are up in early December, that the Board vote Rankin out as president and elect Director Gina Topp who seems to be next Board president.
I am more than interested in what YOU think should happen next.
I will go in a linear fashion through the meeting, stopping along the way for editorial comments.
It was a nearly three hour meeting and yet little actual business got done. They had to put aside "goal setting" for the next strategic plan and Rankin said they absolutely had to have a special meeting for that. I suspect that will come before the end of the year.
Another thing I see is that Rankin does 90% of the talking. It used to be that each director would talk about committee work (but that's gone), good news in their region's schools, and community meetings. Now most Board members say nothing.
Next up, public testimony.
Comments
2. Create a committee to close the $100M funding gap. The committee should consist of people that are familiar with the process i.e. M. DeBell.
3. Create a School Closure committee.
4. SOFG limits the manner in which directors speak. Under SOFG "technical questions" are not permitted- even though "technical questions" appear to be subjective. Let the directors speak!
5. Rankin should resign. If not, she should NEVER be allowed back into the President's seat. The President sets the board agenda etc. Rankin could resign. I'd want Scot Pinkham back on the board- if that was at all possible.
6. Find a superintendent that is willing to grow the district.
7. Return to monthly board meetings.
8. Vote NO against the levy.
I don't believe the board is present enough, and they need to oversee the district. They would have had more information- if there were committee meetings and bimonthly board meetings.
- Annoyed taxpayer
~Annoyed Taxpayer
With a paid coach for board members and senior staff, the coaches have far more influence than anyone else.
Between the 2019 and 2022 school years, per-student spending increased from $17,482 to $22,114—a 26.5% jump. Instructional spending rose from $11,819 to $14,092, or 19.23%. In contrast, non-instructional spending skyrocketed from $5,663 to $8,021, a 41.64% increase.
If non-instructional spending had increased at the same 19.23% rate as instructional spending, it would currently be $6,752.09 per student—$1,268.91 less than the actual $8,021 figure. Applied to 50,968 students, this difference amounts to an additional **$64.6 million annually**.
Read that number again: $64.6 million per year wasted. It’s no surprise that these figures don’t appear on the school board’s dashboard—instead they’re on the OSPI website, only reported because federal law requires it.
### Salaries: Out of Control
Now let’s examine the salary data.
- Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones’s salary increased by 50.4% between 2018 and 2022.
- Head of HR Dr. Sarah Pritchett’s pay rose by 36%.
- Head of School Closures Dr. Marni Campbell’s salary increased by 42%.
- Former Chief Academic Officer Keisha Scarlett saw a 58% raise before being promoted to Superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools.
Scarlett lasted just one year in St. Louis before being summarily fired. Why? According to reports, the St. Louis school board hired an independent investigator to examine complaints that Scarlett hired friends from Seattle Public Schools and mishandled hiring practices. Scarlett herself justified the raises that plunged St. Louis from surplus to deficit as addressing “staff compensation disparities.”
### Black Student Outcomes: A Disaster
At every school board meeting, Seattle Public Schools reviews the performance of Black students. The numbers tell the story:
- In 2018, 38% of Black students passed Math, and 27% passed ELA. By 2023, those numbers plummeted to 30% and 19%, respectively—an absolute disaster for Black families.
- In contrast, in 2018, 77% of Black students graduated; by 2023, 84% graduated—a 7% increase.
While graduation rates are rising, test scores are collapsing. This disparity shows that the district’s new grading policies, which allow students to pass without passing a single test or turning in homework, are inflating graduation rates while masking academic decline.
### COVID Policies and Post-COVID Failure
COVID compounded the chaos, but leadership’s response made things worse.
- Students weren’t required to turn on their cameras during Zoom classes, so many didn’t show up.
- All students were given A’s "in the name of equity," leading many to stop working altogether.
- Since then, the district has implemented equity-based grading, allowing students to pass even if they fail all tests and turn in no assignments.
The result? Leadership can claim higher graduation rates, but students graduate knowing far less—a disaster for families and communities.
### School Board’s Complicity
School Board President Liza Rankin’s “Student Outcome Focused Governance (SOFG)” epitomizes the board’s failure. While the board obsessively reviews Black student outcomes, it has eliminated the finance committee and other oversight mechanisms. This enabled Superintendent Jones and his team to propose closing 21 schools to fund their budgetary incompetence—including excessive raises for senior leaders and staff.
Former Senior District Leader Keisha Scarlett’s infamous comment - I had to give them all raises because of "staff compensation disparities"—sums up the dysfunction. In St. Louis, Scarlett was fired for such nonsense after just one year. In Seattle, however, the same senior leaders—including Superintendent Jones and Head of HR Sarah Pritchett have faced no such consequences. Instead, they proposed the closing of 21 schools, with planned disruptions for thousands of learning communities across the District, to backfund their own raises and those of their colleagues and staff, while giving it the absurd name of "Well Resourced Schools."