Seattle Schools Community Forum

A bit of a stir at the Roosevelt High graduation on Wednesday night when author David Guterson apparently gave a somewhat downbeat speech , talking about death repeatedly.  He got heckled by a few parents and students.  Story at the Times.  (Link to speech via The Stranger Slog.) (I read the speech and while I might not like some references, to me, it would be one of the more interesting and blunt commencement speeches.  I think it better to be challenging (if you can't be funny) than boring. I like this part: From these philosophical and political roots, the primacy of the individual has grown and spread to subsume nearly everything, and that, in the end, has not brought us happiness, because the you that matters so much every second of every day is in fact mortal and even ephemeral, and you know this, and isn’t it sad, even tragic, to know that in the end all of your hopes, dreams, and aspirations don’t amount to much, that they take you nowhere, and t...

My, but this was a year of change for Seattle Public Schools. Change at the top. The biggest news of the year was the sudden dismissal of the superintendent, Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson. The Board, which had dragged their feet from June to March in response to the State Auditor's report, acted expeditiously between their receipt of a report from an internal investigation of the Regional Small Business Development Program and their decision to fire the superintendent. We can make all kinds of conjecture about why the Board decided to fire her, but we need to give strong credence to their stated reason: they no longer felt that they could trust her. Dr. Goodloe-Johnson had been losing the Board's trust bit by bit in a number of other incidents over the course of the previous three years. The "Pottergate" scandal was just the last step - a big one - that took her over the line. Dr. Goodloe-Johnson was fired "without cause" and took a year's pay (over a qua...

I attended part of the Board retreat last Saturday and part of the (kind of funny) School Board meeting last night.  If you've been around this district awhile, you could definitely feel a change. 

Here's a photo of the newly-constituted School Board - the men bookend the women.  It was a nice (and nearly full) swearing-in ceremony.   All were sworn in by the person of their choice and then each gave a short speech.  There were a few oddities, though. One, if you took the names off the speeches and then handed them to me, I would have known who wrote what. Two, as Dorothy Neville pointed out elsewhere, Harium asked Principal John Miner of Thorton Creek to swear him in.  And, Principal Miner went out of his way to say what great public servant Harium is.   Almost as if Harium's victory at the polls wasn't enough.  Three, a bit of a tone set.   Michael DeBell, in his role as Board VP, was master of ceremonies and jokingly warned Sharon and Marty it was the start of many speeches to come.  Both Marty and Sharon read their speeches versus Harium and Sherry who did not.  Sharon came out the strongest and talked abou...

It looks like the Board election has poked, prodded and possibly smashed open the hornets nest that is the education establishment in Seattle.  The initial charge, before the election, was clearly the Seattle Times but they have been largely mute since the election results. Now the Alliance for Education has decided to really insert itself and frankly, if I were anyone on the Board (current or new and/or a person with a spine), I would not like it.

I had an article published in today's Crosscut about the elections and what is on the to-do list for our new Board. In it I mention the issue of deciding about whether there will be a superintendent search or not.  I have learned today that Dr. Enfield will not apply if the Board does decide to conduct a search.   I don't quite know what to make of that because it is not a ding against Dr. Enfield to have a search.   If she feels that way, then maybe she isn't the person for the job.  The Board's overriding duty is to make sure we have the best person in place for OUR district.  She was appointed interim superintendent in the midst of a crisis as the best person at the time but there were surely no guarantees made so I don't know why she would feel if they create a search it hurts her. My belief is that even as she has put on a more accessible and friendly public face for SPS and calmed the waters after the exit of MGJ, she certainly hasn't h...

As of last night, the vote count in the District 1 School Board race is as follows: Peaslee - 50.88%  (7,1373) Maier   - 49.56%  (7,0631) The difference between them is 742 votes which, at this point, would clear the election from a recount.  Of course, the issue is that there are still votes out there to be counted so nothing is done. Please, do check to make sure your ballot has been received AND signature verified.   It's surprising the number of ballots that get there and the signature gets challenged.   To check, go to this link at KC Elections. ( Update from the Stranger Slog: Kim van Ekstrom, an elections spokeswoman, says that as of last night there are approximately 13,000 ballots with signature problems that aren't being counted. Roughly half had no signature and the other half have a disputed signature. And if there's problem with the signature, elections workers can't even open up the envelope to count the vote. If...

Latest Results As of 11/15/2011 4:17:11 PM Director District No. 1 Peter Maier. . . . . . . . . . 67294. . . . . . .  49.80% Sharon Peaslee. . . . . . 67385. . . . . . .  49.87% Write-in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  452. . . . . . . . .0.33%

I was told today that Steve Sundquist called and conceded to Marty McLaren.   The counts in the two close races, as of today, are as follows (with 40.54% of the vote tallied); Maier -        50.66%  (down from the initial count of 51.47%) Peaslee -     49.00% (up from initial 48.17%) McLaren  -  52.81% (up from the initial 51.92%) Sundquist  - 46.74% (down from the initial count of 47.62%) It seems that the McLaren race is a done deal. According to KC elections, they are expecting 52% of the vote to come in.  That would leave 12% left to come in/be counted. There are 1,947 votes separating Maier and Peaslee.  I don't have my hopes up (because to my mind, if it didn't happen today, it isn't likely to happen).  But it's still a pretty close race so it's always possible the unexpected could happen.

I've been off-line a bit but have kept up a bit.  I am a bit astonished at the reception by the Times and LEV over Marty McLaren's victory over School Board President, Steve Sundquist.  The Times said that Steve got along with City Hall officials and legislators but didn't every mention that Steve received a vote of no-confidence from the teachers union.  Maybe Steve should have worked on the relationships with parents and teachers.  They state that maybe Steve lost because of the things that happened over the last year (try 3 years).  But then they go on to say but the other three got reelected "handily."  (Apparently they haven't been keeping up on the numbers in the Maier/Peasless race.)   And, they don't explain exactly why they think Sundquist lost until the end of their editorial. It was the teachers union support.  Then they go on to petulantly whine over the campaign contributions issue.  A union contribution - wh...

Looks like Sharon Peaslee has made a little headway on Peter Maier's lead but if not by Monday, then it's probably a lost cause.  On the other hand, Marty McLaren has retained her lead and, by reading the Times this morning, not a minute too late.  The Times' has this great story about how the district never intended for principals to have broad oversight over student newspapers.  (Say what?  Did they read their own policy?  Yes - they - did.)  And the reasoning?  More laugh ensues. Seattle Public Schools officials now say they never intended to give principals broad oversight of students' newspapers, saying a controversial proposal resulted from the "crazy" time frame they are working under as they revamp hundreds of district policies this year. The board is pushing district staff to work at an accelerated pace because the current policies are out of date and not universally followed, School Board President Steve Sundquist said. "It's i...

It was a hard one to call and you could have placed bets on any and all of the incumbents or challengers and still not gotten it right. It looks like incumbents Peter Maier (up 2,992 votes), Sherry Carr (up 6,910 votes) and Harium Martin-Morris (up15,158 votes) will be returned to office.   Only challenger Marty McLaren appears to have won her race against Steve Sundquist (up by 1,831 votes). To note: I am amazed at the number of people who said they hadn't gotten their votes in until yesterday or today.  What it could mean for any candidate, I don't know. If late ballots can still flip an election, would that mean Marty McLaren could still lose to Steve Sundquist BUT it flips Sharon Peaslee to beating Peter Maier?  That could be one outcome if there are still enough votes out there (although the McLaren/Sundquist race is much closer).   I did have a feeling about the McLaren/Sundquist race only because that district seemed to have the most persona...

So sorry, it slipped my mind. Now what could be on your mind?  Any predictions perhaps? There is a party at Rosita's by Green Lake from 7-9 p.m. for the challengers and all are welcome to come.

From The Stranger Slog via the Washington Secretary of State: We have become aware that about 21,000 voters/potential voters who used the Department of Licensing website may not have received ballots at their updated address or may not have been registered online. Anyone who has not received a ballot and believes himself or herself to be properly registered should go to the county elections office or voting center and will be allowed to vote a provisional ballot before close of business on Tuesday. I wonder what this might mean to the elections.   If you had a close race, you might have to go to the State and King County and ask what proportion of ballots were for your race.  In School Board elections, every vote truly counts. 

I can't reprint all of what The Stranger says (this is a respectable joint) but basically, they say they got it wrong. It seems that they cannot take Martin-Morris' leadership on rewriting the policies around student newspapers.  (Not surprising from a newspaper.)  From The Slog: He insists that the district currently doesn’t have rules prohibiting students from libel and defamation—but he’s wrong. The district already has rules in place , rules that place less ambiguous restrictions on student speech. We don’t buy his argument that we need new rules that suppress student speech , particularly from someone who doesn’t even know what the existing rules are.  I'm thinking they may have been on the fence all along, went for Martin-Morris and then remembered why they liked Buetow in the first place. They crossed out his name on their cheat sheet and put hers in red letters.  Kudos to The Stranger (and folks, no matter how you feel, give credit to a media o...

Cliff Mass has created an on-line poll about the School Board races.   It is set up so you can only vote once.  Not scientific but interesting to check out. (Okay, so I had put a link but it only shows results.  Hmm, could someone put up a link in the comments?)

Here's your chance.  Tell everyone why you are voting for the incumbents.  You can talk about one or all of the incumbents.  Here are some guiding questions: Is stability on the Board important at this time and why?  Do the incumbents have better backgrounds (not experience) than the challengers?  Is your feeling that, overall, the incumbents have done an adequate job?  A great job?  A superior job? Besides their experience on the Board, what do you think any incumbent brings to the Board that the challenger doesn't? Do you go with the "they're just volunteers" thought as to how some of the troubling issues of the district got by them?  If any or all of them are re-elected, what would you like to see them do differently?  Would you be willing to advocate to them to do something differently?  

By this time next week, we'll know the outcomes of the election.  I'm sure all the candidates are tired - it's quite a long haul of campaigning.  When the vote totals come up for City Council races versus Board races, check them out.  The vote total drops considerably.  Even though the Board is responsible to help make sure Seattle's children get educated and it's a considerable amount of public dollars, many citizens just don't make that vote.  It's quite an interesting thing that for School Board elections because every vote really counts.  I can sense this desperation in the latest in Seattle Times' editorial board writer Lynne Varner's long, long series of editorials propping up the incumbents.  Honestly, at this point, there's no other way to look at these things.  And, in this one, she throws in everything but the kitchen sink. She mentions an editorial cartoon from the Manhas era (I remember it) and references it as a reason to have ...

Mega-Concise First and foremost, every candidate should be considered on his or her own merits.  Don't vote for the incumbents because they are the incumbents or challengers just because they are stepping up to challenge them.  In short, don't vote on a slate.  However, because of several votes that most of these incumbents made and lack of oversight on their part, they are all culpable for many of the embarrassments and financial losses this district has faced over these four year.  Moreover, in their basic jobs as Directors, they have repeatedly not upheld or enforced their own Board policies.  That they could not even do that is deeply troubling.  All the incumbents had the opportunity to see red flags for months and even years before Pottergate exploded.  Steve Sundquist and Harium Martin-Morris were warned by union officials two years ago that Potter was hiring unbonded and poorly-trained contractors.  Potter did not even do back...

Got up this morning, lots to do and a huge number of stories to write about.  So errands first but tell me, dear readers, what should I write about first? Reuven Carlyle's blog thread on the incumbents/paying School Directors/limiting campaign funds for School Board races  the fairly pitiful Times' story on the SB races (no bias there) with the great headline, "School Board races hinge on whether district needs change"  last night's very interesting and insightful talk with Dr. Dina Brulles on - yes, I'll say it because she used this word repeatedly - teaching "gifted" students updates on Silas Potter case  Whatever has the most votes, that's what I'll write up first.