Seattle Schools Moves Troubled Principal to Rainier Beach HS

Here's today's story in this morning's Seattle Times about the appointment of the former Rainier View Elementary principal, Anitra Jones, to Rainier Beach High School as an assistant principal. 

(It appears they already have two assistant principals per their webpage but maybe one has left? SPS Communications doesn't answer my questions any longer and it does not appear that anyone at the Times thought to check this out before they published the article. Also, there is no mention in the article of having asked PASS (Principals' Association of Seattle Schools) for a comment.

Jones was removed from Rainier View and assigned to the central administrative office in April amid complaints from parents and staff alleging that she had created a “toxic” learning and working environment at the school.

Seattle Education Association President Meesh Vecchio said the union has communicated its concerns about Jones’ placement at Rainier Beach High. The union filed unfair labor practices complaints against Jones with the state’s Public Employment Relations Commission in 2023 on behalf of several Rainier View staff members.

“We are surprised to see Ms. Jones reassigned to another school after PERC found that Ms. Jones violated state law and committed unfair labor practices by retaliating against SEA members for their union activity,” Vecchio said. 

Since the unfair labor practices ruling, Jones has taken employee evaluation training and has to complete labor-employee relations training by Feb. 28 in response to the findings, said Rocky Torres-Morales, Seattle’s associate superintendent for student and school support.

Well, tick-tock, Friday is February 28th. 

There is this statement from Director Brandon Hersey who reps that region:

School Board member Brandon Hersey, who represents District 7, where both Rainier View Elementary and Rainier Beach High are located, said the district should identify Rainier View families who may have had fraught experiences during Jones’ tenure at the elementary school and now have children enrolled at the high school to address any concerns they have.

Yeah, sure, that's going to happen. And nothing stops Director Hersey from talking to concerned parents like at a community meeting. 

From an earlier story:

Faced with mounting pressure this spring, SPS hired Puget Sound Educational Service District at the cost of $10,520 in May to review the district’s response to issues at the school. The goal, according to the contract, was to support the district’s “understanding of the process SPS implemented, and how closely it aligns with customary and best practices.”

The reviewer, Sarita Siqueiros Thornburg, PSESD’s executive director of strategy, evaluation and learning, said the district largely appeared to have done so, but there were key areas it could improve.

The report, completed in June, recommended mediation in particularly thorny cases like Rainier View; training for leaders on how to handle complaints; a “triage” system, with a designated team leader, to handle cases where there are multiple complaints against an individual principal; and an update to the district’s website to make it easier for families to file complaints. It also recommended stronger guidelines on how to respond to parents and keep them informed. 

I would LOVE to know if this kind of system has been set up in SPS. It sure makes sense to me but SPS leadership rarely listens or acts on outside suggestions. 

Lastly, I do want to point out that Ms. Jones is a seasoned principal. She was a principal at Daniel Bagley Elementary before being moved to Rainier View. She has won awards for her work. She clearly knows the job. But what happened at Rainier View ES seems something of a mystery. I have seen anger at RVES parents and teachers for standing up against her but it does seem weird that so many people would rise up against her leadership.