Seattle School Board Picking Up Speed on Superintendent Search

As I previously reported, the Board is having a "special meeting" on Tuesday, August 26th at 4:30 pm at the JSCEE (also live-streamed). This meeting is for the directors to hear from Hazard, Young and Attea (HYA) the search firm the Board is using. Agenda.

HYA will be presenting the "leadership profile" created from all the input gathered from staff, communities, students, etc. 

Also of interest (but a bit of a mystery to me) is a "Civics Update." It just says "presentation."

Plus... an "Enrollment Update." THAT should be quite interesting. 

 

Just before the regular board meeting on August 27th at 4:30 pm at the JSCEE, there will also be another "special meeting at 3:30 pm. The purpose of the meeting is to give the oath of office to the student board members. There are two new ones - Josephine Mangelsen and Isabelle Massoudi - and one returning member, Sabi Yoon. 

 

As for the regular board meeting, here's the agenda. I see some troubling items, mainly around the capital work at JSCEE.

- BEX V/BTA V/ BEX VI Approval of Concur operational support, maintenance, and licensing using vendor Genesis Consulting. Approval of this item would authorize the Superintendent to execute a three-year contract with Genesis Consulting, from September 1, 2025 to April 30, 2028, for a total not-to-exceed amount of $1,920,000 with any minor additions, deletions, and modifications deemed necessary by the Superintendent and to take any necessary actions to implement the contracts.

-   BEX V/BTA V/ BEX VI Approval of SAP Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Project Governance and Organizational Change Management (OCM) professional services contract with Plante Moran. Approval of this item would authorize the Superintendent to execute a three-year contract with Plante Moran, from September 1, 2025 to April 1, 2028, for a total not-to-exceed amount of $1,134,208 with any minor additions, deletions, and modifications deemed necessary by the Superintendent and to take any necessary actions to implement the contracts.

- BEX V/BTA V/ BEX VI Approval of Contract with EPI-USE, Lancesoft, Phoenix Business Consulting, and Vigna for SAP Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Project Backfill Professional Services. Approval of this item would authorize the Superintendent to execute three-year funding for SAP Cloud ERP project backfill professional services with EPI-USE, Lancesoft, Phoenix Business Consulting, and Vigna, from September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2028, for a total not-to-exceed amount of $10,383,175 with any minor additions, deletions, and modifications deemed necessary by the Superintendent and to take any necessary actions to implement the funding. 

- BEX V/BTA V/ BEX VI Approval of Staff Augmentation vendor contract amendments for existing on-premise SAP platform maintenance. Approval of this item would authorize the Superintendent to execute a one-year extension of the original SAP Staff Augmentation contracts with EPI-USE, from September 1, 2025, to August 31, 2026 for a total not-to-exceed amount of $1,250,000, with any minor additions, deletions, and modifications deemed necessary by the Superintendent and to take any necessary actions to implement the purchase orders. 

- BEX V: Approval of Viewlands Elementary School Replacement Project, Contract No. P5179 Settlement Agreement and Release and authorization to execute Construction Change Order No. 25 with Absher Construction Company to resolve all outstanding claims associated with the Viewlands Elementary School Replacement. Approval of this item would approve the Viewlands Elementary School Replacement Project, Contract No. P5179 Settlement Agreement and Release authorize the Superintendent to execute Construction Change Order No. 25 in the amount of $1,400,000, plus Washington State sales tax, with any minor additions, deletions, and modifications deemed necessary by the Superintendent, and to take any necessary action to implement the change order. 

Right there, that's $15M. Not all of it was in BEX V, BTA V, and BEX VI as presented to the public. I have always said there is a goodly amount of slush in BEX/BTA and here you are.

One of the items, about Viewlands Elementary, was Change Order 25 because the district and the main construction company, Absher, had major disagreements. No project should have 25 change orders. And, if Absher Construction is so difficult to work with, then the district should NEVER hire them again. 

ALL of these are on the Consent Agenda so there will be zero discussion of any of them by the Board. 

Then there is the contract with Fred Podesta to stay on as Interim Superintendent instead of his current title, Acting Superintendent. 

The attached agreement, negotiated by Board President Gina Topp and Vice President Evan Briggs with assistance from legal counsel, appoints Mr. Podesta to be Interim Superintendent from September 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, unless the Board appoints a permanent Superintendent prior to June 30, 2026. If the permanent Superintendent’s term begins before that date, Mr. Podesta’s interim term will conclude accordingly.

 

His base salary will be $320,355. The actual contract is not yet attached so no further info. 

There will also be a Safety Update, more Board self-evaluation, etc.