Seattle Schools Community Forum

In the end, the Board chooses the superintendent. This is pretty much the Board's most important duty and they are responsible for it. They have to make the choice. Not only that, but they have to determine their process for making the choice. When it comes to everyone else working in the District, the readers and writers on this blog generally support autonomy and oppose micromanagement. We want teachers to be free to do their jobs as they see fit. We oppose their micromanagement by principals and certainly by central office bureaucrats. Similarly, we oppose the micromanagement of the superintendent by the Board. The Board sets policies, priorities and goals, but then it is up to the superintendent to determine how to achieve those goals within the context of the policies. If we support autonomy for workers, to determine for themselves how to accomplish their duties, then we should support that autonomy for the Board as well. The Board has the duty of selecting the superintenden...

The Directors did their comment section, mostly about community meetings. However President DeBell did make a fairly major announcement. He read a formal statement that he would be recusing himself from any discussion or vote about certificated staff negotiations. His wife is a certificated nurse with SPS. He said as a practical matter his wife's employment would not affect his impartiality or judgment but he concluded that the statutes regarding his role would indicate that he should refrain talking to other Board members about that issue. He said he would attend Board meetings about this particular negotiation but only to listen. Steve Sundquist, in his role as Vice-President, would chair those meetings. Also as I said elsewhere, he said that they are in the processing of figuring out the non-compliance for Native American Students funding. (He also complimented Director Carr for meeting with some Native American parents.) He said now they are on a path to compliance. H...