Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Seattle Times is reporting the following: - Silas Potter was sentenced to 3 years, 7 months in jail.   He could get credit for the eight and a half months time that he has already spent in jail. - One accomplice, David Johnson, was convicted in early November of 30 counts and will sentenced in early Jan. - Potter and Johnson "are jointly responsible for restitution of $168, 275." - The other accomplice, Lorrie Kay Sorensen, was sentenced to 60 days of home detention with electronic monitoring.   She must pay $83k in restitution. The most basic lesson is accountability. There was failure from the top down.  Dr. Goodloe-Johnson, the superintendent at the time, is the least responsible but she should have realized that Mr. Potter's direct supervisor, Fred Stephens, was distracted by the murder of his son and the subsequent trial.   Additionally, employees within JSCEE either feared or avoided Potter; that was a well-known situation and yet no o...

The candidates for school board in District I, representing North Seattle, are: Peter Maier Sharon Peaslee John Cummings Please use this space to discuss these candidates' relative qualities, their positions on the issues, and your confidence in their ability and willingness to perform the duties of the office and perform them well.

From the Stranger comes reporter Riya Bhattacharjee's look into Peter Maier and red flags that he either didn't follow-thru on or didn't wave in the faces of his colleagues.   The key one? As chair of the school board's Operations Committee, Maier acknowledges that he read warnings in a document called the Sutor report, commissioned by the district, about irregularities with a small-works contracting program, originally a component of the regional small-business development program. Peter had The Sutor Group report (given to him at an Ops Committee meeting by Stephens).  I have never heard Peter say why Stephens gave it to him (and only him) but that seems to be the case. At a March 6 school board meeting, right before the board unanimously voted to fire superintendent Goodloe-Johnson for her role in the scandal, Maier said he had been alerted to the problems and didn't tell the board. Bhattacharjee was looking for evidence that it might have made a d...

Here is the campaign web site for Director Maier . He promises "the leadership we need!" He has a long list of endorsements but little reason to vote for him. I signed up for his mailing list.

I've been critical of Director Maier in the past and I still have some doubts. But I attended a recent meeting of the Haller Lake Community where Northgate Elementary was the topic. It was a pretty good turnout for a neighborhood meeting and people seemed eager to hear about how Northgate is doing. The principal, Stan Jaskot, new to SPS from Kent this year, was on hand. Also in attendance and presenting information were Director Maier and Lisa McFarlane from LEV. Mr. Jaskot is an enthused principal who seems to know the issues confronting his community and he has really jumped in with a lot of energy. Northgate is now 247 students and they expect about 15 more next year. Before the new SAP, it was heavily Latino but now has more students from Somalia. It is 80% free/reduced lunch. (I wish there were NO schools over 40% free and reduced lunch as it just makes for a bigger challenge but this is how those boundaries shape our schools.) But he had lots to say about Northgate: s...