Seattle School Board Special Meeting for Superintendent Search 2025

This superintendent search meeting was held on Tuesday, May 13th and it was a virtual meeting. All the members of the Board were there as well as the HYA rep  (Hazard Young Atteas Associates) who will be guiding the search for a new superintendent.

The themes gained from the recent Board public engagement meetings (3 of them) on this topic were:

• build back trust (some that was lost because of the school closure attempt)
• be accountable
• vision for the district
• don't rush the process
• educate the community on what the job of superintendent really is
• don't forget the families from communities of color

Repping HYA were Nanci Perez who said she was the COO. She said she has participated in many large urban district superintendent searches. (To note, generally SPS is not considered a large urban district like LA, Chicago, or New York.)

The HYA lead for SPS is Micah Ali. 

Board members introduced themselves and talked about how long they had been on the Board. It's shocking how most have been there two years or less. You may recall that Director Michelle Sarju had even suggested months ago that the search should wait for new board members. Clearly, that's not happening.

As well, you may recall that Director Liza Rankin has consistently stated they could find an interim or a permanent superintendent. That is a pretty ridiculous statement given the money being spent. She was the only person at this meeting who mentioned an interim. My read is that, given her continuing mention of an interim, she may push for an internal one, citing Fred Podesta's already full workload. If that happens, I think the pick might be former Garfield principal and now "Accountability Officer" Ted Howard. I think that would be a terrible mistake and the district/Board cannot have one more major mistake.

It was stated that an announcement would be live the next day, the 14th, in various publications. I had seen the announcement already at the HYA site. Among those publications would education focused ones like: 

• Education Week, AASA, ALAS, NABSE. 
• They need a salary range to post with the position. 
• Ali also said they would advertise nationwide but California tends to have good candidates so they might do more outreach there. 

Ms. Perez mentioned the "HYA Signature Search Process" which is basically - Engage, Recruit, Select, Transition. The Board is in the engagement step and HYA is suggesting 20 in-person and/or virtual meetings with communities. The recruitment step would be ongoing during that process. Then, in August, selections would be announced and then, in late August, announcement of the top finalist and transition to the job. 

Mr. Ali was smart and charming and made it clear that this is the Board's search. Meaning, HYA would explain their process but, as he said, even the timeline is malleable. He said that HYA folks are the Board's "ambassadors." 

During the Engagement phase, he said he needed the Board to submit a "district leadership profile" so that HYA would be looking for those attributes.

In July, HYA would present a slate of candidates and that's when the first round of interviews would commence. Then, a narrowing of that slate to 2-3 candidates and final interviews.

He also made clear they do a VERY extensive background check. He said it is "Myers Briggs on steroids" and is about 50 pages long.

Then the selection would be announced and transition started. 

I did put in my notes - what about the contract negotiation with the finalist? I'm assume that's somewhere there in the end.

Other items

- one first item are HYA interviews with each Board member about their desires, aspirations and goals with a new superintendent

- online survey for community

- focus group(s)

- application deadline of July 31, 2025

- slated candidates visit Seattle, usually 5-10 candidates and the district usually pays for travel.

Questions

Director Michelle Sarju said that SPS has multiple languages spoken. Chief of Staff Bev Redmond said that they generally translate documents into the top five. 

President Gina Topp asked about the focus groups.

• parents, staff, administrators, business partners, civic groups, booster clubs, PTOs, 
• Diverse and inclusive - seek to reach all community members and stakeholders
• Coordinated for various languages

She told Ali that two different student advisory boards wanted to give input and Ali said, "Just tell us who you want to engage with and we will do that."

At no point did anyone mention the Mayor or any other electeds. 

With the online survey, it will be live for 2-3 weeks for students, parents, and staff. He said this is very important for the final choice. He also said it will be accessible for broader community response.  He said "People will want to be heard."

HYA also stated they would need a data brief on the district itself, with student achievement and district finances. (To which I typed, "Do they have to?")

Sarju said SPS generally doesn't do community engagement well because "we're not trained and we will get checked on this if it isn't great."

He said the goal was to elicit good responses and said he hoped that the community engagement would be more like fireside chats. 

Perez said their experience is that teachers like an online format and we can build on that. Some parents like online and others like in-person. Some community members like circle talk. The goal is to make people at the session feel like part of the process and they will guide and lead so people see their voice in it. 

On the slate of candidates, they try to keep the process as confidential as possible. My experience is that you can generally do that for the early slate but not the later slate of two-three applicants.

First Round of Interviews

For that first round of interviews, each would be about 60 minutes "for the Board and the screening committee." I am not sure what or who he is referencing there and no Board member mentioned a Board screening committee. That interview would allow the Board to see if candidates understand SPS.

• Allows board to see candidates communication, presentation, analysis and persuasive skills.
• Allows Board to ask questions of candidates throughout their presentation 

Second Round of Interviews

- a deeper data brief on SPS system

- 100 day plan from each candidate

- questions about views, practices, competencies, accomplishments, and philosophy 

- any questions arising from first interview about topics and issues of relevance to SPS to see how each candidates would address the issue

- each would be 90 minutes

- the Board would choose two finalists out of that group

Director Liza Rankin asked about a "360 evaluation" of candidates and getting a grasp on past performance. Ali said that's absolutely part of the process to look at recommendations and references.

Then Sarju made the request that they be given applications that are redacted - blind applications - so they don't know the names, cities, sex, etc. of candidates. She said that makes sure no name gets out accidentally. 

Ali said they had done that and could do that. Sarju said, "You WILL do that with me. It removes bias." Director Brandon Hersey also liked the idea but wanted to hear more on pros and cons. Director Evan Briggs agreed. 

Topp said in planning the time estimate for directors, that Board members would be encouraged to attend community engagement but not to be actively involved in the discussions. 

Rankin said it was "an ambitious process for vision and values" and that she was excited about it for an interim/permanent superintendent. 

Ali thanked them all and said he would "be your partner during this process" and that he looks to them for "advice, counsel, and criticism."

Analysis

• I think the Board chose well on this search firm. 
• I like the idea of 20 community outreach sessions; the more the better.
• As to the blind applications, you can remove some bias but, for example, if an applicant says, "In my region, I worked very hard to be the first woman superintendent in my district," you can't X that out. As well, sometimes people reveal themselves in the words they use that can sometimes indicate where they are from or other attributes. I think it's fine if the Board wants to do that for the first round but not the second. 
• Directors Joe Mizrahi and Director Sarah Clark, except for intros, were silent the entire meeting.