Not To Put Too Fine a Point on It

There was an article in The Seattle Times today about the first 100 days of Superintendent Ben Shuldiner's tenure. 

He has visited every single school which was a promise he made.

What else?

- But he said he also saw buildings that needed “serious help,” systems that aren’t best for children, inefficient use of resources, and “the sense that schools have had to work in spite of the district and not with the support of the district.” 

- He did create a cell phone policy but he hasn’t yet made much progress in reducing other screen time in classes, where he said he saw “a reliance on technology that is not instructional,” but rather for “free time or unstructured time,” but he’s said he wants to reduce schools’ use of educational technology in general.

- Shuldiner has promised to close the district’s $100 million budget deficit in the next two to three years. He’s already outlined a budget that could save about $75 million. 

He estimates $9.6 million will be saved due to staffing changes at schools, plus $9.8 million saved through changes at district headquarters. He anticipates an additional $3.5 million saved from proposed changes in the district’s transportation department. 

- Shuldiner acknowledged that winning back community trust — and the students that come with it — will require “a series” of changes “where people see that this district is turning around in a positive direction.” 

 Shuldiner inherited a district facing longstanding public criticism over a slow-moving human resources department, and allegations that it protects staff over student safety. Investigations of school staff placed on administrative leave routinely take many months to complete. 

Shuldiner has pledged to ensure district staff finish investigations in a timely manner, noting that keeping staff on extended paid leave is expensive, so speeding up investigations could lead to additional savings.

- In response, he’s proposed new ways of measuring academic goals for the district, which Shuldiner presented to the School Board last month. The board is expected to vote on those goals in July. 

- Keeping students safe is another goal he is working on, in big and small ways. 

But for this post's purposes, we are most interested in what he said about principals and their contracts. There was this about Principal Anitra Jones:

Shuldiner contends he is bound by state law, the principal’s contract and a former superintendent’s agreement to keep Jones in a principal job. “Well guess what,” he said. “I don’t make those kinds of agreements.” 

Going forward, Shuldiner said he won’t place principals via appointment. “Everybody — and I mean everybody — has to apply for their job,” he said. 

That was former superintendent Brent Jones who made that contract for Jones. It is yet another item that would be good to see. 

To my post. 

I received a comment about the posting of Anitra Jones to Adams Elementary School. Normally, I do not post anonymous comments but this one gave me pause.

Here's the comment:

I worked with Anitra for several years, and the picture being painted here doesn’t match the leader I experienced. From my perspective, she was a fair, academically focused principal who pushed for closing achievement gaps — and Rainier View earned national recognition during her tenure.

She held teachers accountable and also recognized those who stepped up. That balance is rare.

I also think it’s important to acknowledge the tension between strong instructional leadership and union politics. People can interpret that dynamic differently, but in my experience, it’s not as simple as “she targeted SEA reps.” There’s a longer history and context that deserves more nuance than what’s being presented here.

I would encourage anyone discussing this situation to look at the full picture — including the track record of the school, the outcomes for students, and the broader political dynamics at play.

At the end of the day, I believe she deserves the chance to do her job without being reduced to a single narrative.

Let's examine some facts about Rainier View Elementary School.

- The building originally held about 350 students. 

- By 2000, enrollment had declined and it led to it being closed (along with several other schools) in 2007. 

- It was reopened in 2011 after some upgrades to the building. The enrollment at that time was 169 students. That seemed a bit surprising to me for the school only being closed for four years. 

- Ms. Jones (who was Pinchback-Jones at that time) was the principal there starting in 2011 until 2023. By 2019, there were about 245 students. That's below its capacity but a climbing enrollment is a good thing.

- The make-up of the school population has been mostly steady with Black students about 36%, Asian about 27%, Hispanic about 15%, multi-racial about 9%, and White about 13%. 

- It is true that RVES won several awards (including one for teaching English Language Learners which I find impressive) and Jones herself won several awards. 

- What is really interesting is that in the 2018-2019 school year, for ELA/math/science, less than 20% of the school scored in the deficient level 1. All the other students scored Level 2 (foundational knowledge), Level 3 is proficient for grade level, and Level 4 is advanced grade-level knowledge. That's 80% in reading, 82% in math and 84% in science. 

Those are very high scores for a Title One school so something was working. 

But something changed after that because both enrollment and scores started dropping. 

By 2023-2024, enrollment had dropped to just under 200 (today it is 166). 

Students at Level One represented 37% of student in reading, 40% of students in math, and 45% of students in science. Levels 2,3, and 4 students were lower than before by a wide margin. 

I find it troubling that scores were up and down and enrollment continued to drop. 

In addition, sometime in 2022?  staff started leaving. I'm fairly certain it was not just teachers. By 2023 you had a school in crisis with staff and parents begging the Board to do something. 

So is this all about a clash with union leaders at the school? It seems like way too many unhappy teachers for that to be the case. Plus, the investigation found that she deliberately wrote poor evaluations for those union reps. If she disputes that, she'd need to explain why. 

And, what the commenter above doesn't address are the many parents who were very unhappy. Is that "political dynamics?" 

But here's the issue I continue to find most troubling. There are things Jones could have said at the Adams meeting that would keep her lawyer happy. 

For example: "When I was at RVES, there were ups and downs and I have learned from that experience."

So instead of owning even that, she appears to act as though nothing happened. Then, the commenter seems to say there is more to the story. Okay, then why not sign your name to your comment? Why did no one at the last Board meeting speak up for Jones? 

In lieu of her telling her own narrative, then what is left for parents and the public is the public record.