This and That, April 6, 2025

Seattle School Board candidates have been filing with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission and there is one big surprise. The seats up are in District 7, 5, 4, and 2. 

The District 7 seat is currently held by Brandon Hersey covers the SE part of SPS. Hersey has stated he is not running so this is an open seat. I'd have to go back in time and check but I believe this seat has been held by a person of color for at least two decades. 

The District 5 seat is currently held by Michelle Sarju and covers the Central East part of the district. Sarju has stated publicly, several times, that she's leaving but she has filed for the election. Hmmm

Others who have thrown their hats in the ring for this seat are Landon Labosky and Janis White. I'll have profiles on them soon. 

The District 4 seat is currently held by Joe Mizrahi is in the Central West part of the district. Mizrahi has not said anything publicly about staying or going and has not filed. 

The one contender in that race is Nadia Goforth. Candidate profile to come.

The District 2 seat is in the NW and is currently held by appointee director, Sarah Clark. She has indeed filed to run for the seat. There are no others who have filed yet. 

And yes, I will be asking candidates to state that they actually DO live in the district that they are running from.

 

As I previously reported, there will be two special board meetings this week to talk about the superintendent search. It will be interesting to see if Director Sarju pushes for looking for an interim, and not a permanent superintendent. Will any of the directors have read the Seattle Times' editorial and op-ed on the subject? Looks like there are those out there who want this. President Gina Topp seems in a hurry to get this done but does that serve the district well? Stay tuned. 

Wednesday, April 9th from 4:30-7:30 pm at JSCEE

Thursday, April 10th from 4:30-7:30 pm at JSCEE

 

There's an article in this morning's Seattle Times written by a Nathan Hale HS student that comex via the Times' Education Lab.  He lays out his research on school funding in Washington State. 

I’m writing this letter to our public officials to say we are watching. Our ability to thrive in public schools is in your hands! 

Washington spends 3.17% of its gross state product on education — below the national average of 3.53%. The state constitution says Washington’s paramount duty is to fund schools. But students are wondering why we continue to spend under the national average on our schools and why our schools are struggling and in a budget crisis. We should be spending alongside global leaders. This would mean investing $10 billion, or 4% of gross state product, in Washington public schools, a price tag we students think is worth it to have a world-class education.

He offers a capital gains tax - This is clearly what the people of Washington want, with over 65% voting to maintain our state’s capital gains tax in November.

He offers a tax code that would tax wealthy businesses like Boeing and Amazon -  Our tax code currently exempts big businesses like Boeing and Amazon, yet our schools are underfunded. You do the math! 

As a student member of the Nathan Hale Senate, I saw firsthand how these budget cuts have affected our school climate and hurt students’ mental health. Cuts have already affected our class sizes and class offerings. This impacted the second semester of World History called Black History; that course is now an elective with 40 students in one section. 

“It’s unbelievably challenging to ask questions and connect with teachers when they have 40 other students in their class,” said Gabe Wooley, a Nathan Hale sophomore. 

The removal of Black History as a requirement also dismantled a sophomore Humanities program that many students considered one of the best parts of high school. It provided a connective experience for all sophomores to work together on projects and learn about each other’s history; this connection made us much more likely to feel safe and secure in school. In turn, it made everyone else safe and secure in preventing an incident from occurring.

On mental health, he points out after the student murder at Ingraham HS, the City promised $20M for student mental health care but rolled that back to $12.5M. 

Other budget cuts have also affected students’ ability to feel comfortable in school. At Nathan Hale, we do not have a full-time mental health therapist, and many students have trouble finding care. Last year, a school survey asked students about their feelings and how happy they were. Students who were deemed of concern were not contacted by the school until six months later because of understaffing.  

Students at Franklin High School also experience a lack of school resources, such as therapists and wellness rooms. 

I'm not sure what a "wellness room" is but it's probably a good idea except that the schools have no funding for its oversight. You can't give students a room in a school that doesn't have an adult. Maybe the library could have an assigned area.