Seattle Schools Community Forum

Directors Peters and Patu have offered a new compromise amendment to the current item that offers   the job of permanent superintendent to current interim, Larry Nyland. Amendment 1 to motion to select a permanent superintendent, to instead authorize a one year extension. I move that the School Board amend the Motion to offer Dr. Larry Nyland the position of permanent Superintendent, and replace it with the following motion to authorize the Board President:

It looks to be a busy day in Seattle Public Schools.  Banda is now officially going to Sacramento (and boy, that lack of enthusiasm from the Sacramento Bee) and we await the discussion/announcement today of an interim who is likely to be in place for the next 6-9 months.  I have found out some interesting things about one of the potential interim candidates that I will post in a separate thread.  I can only say that anyone chosen needs to devote their entire attention to this district and not other outside work.  That's the least an interim can do.  There are no Board community meetings tomorrow. I'll put in a plug for a great (and free) outing for the family, namely, the Olympic Sculpture Park.  They have summer events on Thursday evenings and Saturdays.  We went last night and it was fun to look at the huge sculptures, lots of room for kids to run and play, live music, food trucks and art projects for the kids.  (Only the food trucks cost ...

Update: The Modesto Bee reports that Jose Banda has been named that  district's new superintendent.  It was a 6-1 vote, with one trustee "dissenting."  Superintendent Banda will be making $290K per year.  He is expected to start on August 1st.  I wish him luck but am disappointed he walked away in less than two years.  Maybe the kitchen was just too hot for him.  I think a smart leader, who knows how to work with different groups, would find Seattle a good place to be. end of update. Heard from SPS Communications:  The Seattle School Board will hold a special meeting at 4:15 p.m. on Friday, July 18 to select an interim Superintendent to lead the District for the next year, as Superintendent José Banda is expected to be appointed as the next Superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District tonight.    The meeting will be televised live on Cable Channel 26 and streamed live on the Internet. Visit http://bit.ly/...

The Times' article says it all: The Bellevue School Board voted this morning to officially notify Susan Enfield that she is a “strong candidate” for their superintendent vacancy and that it will consider accelerating the search process to accommodate her. I'm a little confused at why they would accelerate the process to "accommodate her" unless she wanted to leave SPS early.  I mean, after all, if Bellevue is going to have a process, you'd think they'd want to do a through one.   Or maybe this explains it: Bellevue officials believe Enfield is being recruited to apply for superintendent vacancies in several schools districts across the country and region, said Coe, although she declined to say why they think that. Meanwhile, I hope to do a thread this weekend on Seattle's search firm - they look good to me and hey! they have a money-back guarantee if their candidate leaves in the first year.

So I have been hearing a lot of different things over the last couple of days.  We are truly in a unique and difficult situation.  But there are two things I would like input on from all of you (between now and the end of next week).  First, there seems to be some hope that Dr. Enfield wants to be wooed.  Many out there wanted her to stay and still hope that might be the case.  She has said she is firm on her decision but who knows?  Is there something that could be done to change her mind?  I know for certain the Alliance is working on it.  There may be others and that's fine.  If you feel that way, write the Board and urge them to get on it. But I am tending to take her at her word so I'm moving on. I am now wrestling with the superintendent search versus an interim superintendent. I would like to see an internal interim superintendent.   It would have to be a person who knows the district and who is trusted by many in the di...

I saw an interview that Dr. Enfield did with KING-5 news yesterday.  She was quite cheerful and said: - Might she leave the door open, if the board were to make her a good offer?  “This work is too important and I have too much respect for this community to play games like that, this was a genuine and as I said, much deliberated decision on my part that I made for reasons that are right for me and the time is right for me to move on,” Enfield says. - She " will be a superintendent " at another district.   - She also said the Board elections had nothing to do with her decision. - She declined to give her reasoning, either from the professional side or personal side. So we move on.  Speculation is moot at this point.  What's next? The Board will have to decide - in the next couple of weeks - what kind of search to launch.  Given that so many people are concerned, I wouldn't be surprised if some entity (the Alliance, donors, etc), gave them...

A group of citizens are circulating a petition to the Board asking them to skip the national search and appoint Dr. Susan Enfield as the Permanent Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools. You can find their petition here : http://www.petitiononline.com/sesuper/petition.html

As promised, the Board is having a series of meetings around the qualities for the selection of a permanent superintendent. To be absolutely clear, these meetings are NOT to decide if there will be a search.   (I'm certain you can bring that up  at the meetings and express that desire if that is how you feel).  These meetings are just to talk about traits/qualities/values that our community is seeking.  It does seem curious to have these meetings and not be asking the public if they think there should be a search or not.  There will also be a survey in mid-November. The Board can either choose to confirm Dr. Enfield as the permanent superintendent or launch a search (and Dr. Enfield can throw her hat in the ring if she so chooses).   The Board is to decide on a search by the first of the new year. From Lauren McGuire, SCPTSA President, and Michael DeBell, Vice-President, Seattle School Board The School Board will decide this winter whether to co...

The Mayor's office announced a coffee hour with Dr. Enfield in May.  Clearly, it's a PR push for the Families & Education levy because seniors vote.  This is all good and well but meanwhile, she's booked up solid to speak to parents and other community (who actually have a slightly more vested interest in schools) till the end of the year.   (Thanks to a reader for this tip.) This also makes me wonder, for the umpteenth time, what is the working schedule for people at Central Administration?  Do they work full-time during the school year and half-time during the summer (or not at all)?  I honestly don't know except that headquarters is a ghost town during the summer.  Anyone? The Mayor's Office for Senior Citizens invites older adults to attend a coffee hour with Dr. Susan Enfield, Interim Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools. Learn how Seattle's K-12 schools prepare children and youth for the future, and current opportunities and challenge...

There were a couple of new op-eds in Crosscut this week.

Dr. Enfield has re-arranged the org chart at the JSCEE. Here is the new org chart . She has also changed some of the job titles. None of this really changes anything. It appears pointless. It is, however, consistent with her stated priorities for the remainder of the year. She said that she would focus on: 3. Creating a central office that serves and supports schools • Reorganizing departments across finance, operations, and teaching and learning with a clear focus on being a results-driven organization. The only part of it that strikes me as even interesting - not necessarily significant, but interesting - are these two elements: 1. The Executive Directors of the Schools report to the Superintendent, not to the Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning. Since the principals report to the Executive Directors for Schools and the teachers report to the principals, there aren't any school-based staff who report to Dr. Thompson. She is not the boss of them. She can...

I had a half-hour meeting with Dr. Enfield on Friday. At first I had this long outlined list of topics of concern, but it simply wasn't realistic. Instead, I chose to focus the meeting on a single concern: What is the mission of the academic side of the Central Office? I'm not usually interested in Mission Statements. In fact, I freakin' hate them because they are useless and typically create unreasonable expectations. Just the same, I think people should know what they are trying to do. We know the District's mission - to educate Seattle's students. That work is done primarily in the schools. The mission of the schools - to educate students - no different from the District mission. The Central Office has two sides: Operations and Academics. The mission of the Operations side is also clear - to take on all of the non-academic work to free the schools to focus on academics. But what is the mission of the academic side of the Central Office? What academic task...

From Dr. Enfield's office: As you can imagine, Dr. Enfield’s calendar quickly filled after that letter went out. And given that ‘Open Office Hours’ are only on Thursdays, 4:00 -5:30 pm (15 minutes per guest or group), it didn’t take long.  Unfortunately at this time, I am unable to schedule any additional appointments.  With the great demand of her time following this invitation, we filled her calendar through June in a matter of days. We are currently looking for additional scheduling opportunities on her calendar to create more openings.  Once identified, I will get back to you. Thanks to Jaane for the update.

Update:   according to the Seattle Times , it looks like this is about a report that SPS and the City are working on a deal where the City's own watchdog in charge of ethics/whistleblower investigations would monitor SPS employee complaints and any retaliation complaints for whistleblowing.  This would only be for those cases, the district would still set its own ethics policy, determine outcomes for violations and handle complaints about job performance.  The district would pay the City for the services but no amount has been announced and the district hopes it will be less than hiring outside investigators.   (Maybe I should ask how much the Board's own investigation cost.)  There was one odd line in the Times article.  It was stated that Councilman Burgess is worried the scandal will hurt the Families and Education Levy.  The Times article then said: The council will decide in the next two weeks whether to put the levy on the November ba...

I checked Rep. Reuven Carlyle's b log as (1) he actually keeps it up, (2) he actually answers comments and (3) he cares about public education. Do I agree with all he likes/puts forth? Nope, but I have found him to be someone who listens to input. Here's his latest on the school district. He graciously gives a shout-out to the bloggers, parents and others who have been diligent on this story. He is suggesting an education summit. The responses seem lukewarm and who can blame them? These summits, blue-ribbon committees and reports never seem to go anywhere. My suggestion was for parents (maybe via PTA or any other group), teachers (via SEA), principals (via PASS) and any other groups convene in their groups and have three tasks. what, for your group, would do the most to restore your trust in the leadership at headquarters? what actions does your group believe would do the most to help our schools, short-term and long-term? besides lack of trust, what actions/programs/...

Here's where we stand with thinking about a different permanent superintendent (or not if the Board ends up liking Dr. Enfield's work): At its meeting this evening the School Board voted 6-1 to appoint Dr. Susan Enfield as Interim Superintendent. The appointment is effective immediately and extends through June 30, 2012. The Board anticipates considering whether to extend a longer term employment agreement to Dr. Enfield or conduct a search for a permanent Superintendent prior to January 19, 2012. Here's what Susan Enfield's statement released today said (in part): This is a very difficult time for us all. I know there are serious questions about our fiscal stewardship that we must, and will, answer for the community, our taxpayers, district staff, teachers, families and students. Our immediate priority is to restore public trust in Seattle Public Schools. We will begin with the hiring of an interim Chief Financial Officer and a Chief Operating Officer. ...

Interesting piece from Crosscut about what they would tell the Board. David Brewster has a 6-point plan. Some of it is fine, one point is a "no and hell no" and the last one just made me smile. Here would be my suggestions for a deeper surgery: 1. Continue Susan Enfield in her role as chief academic officer. She is doing a good job and is not implicated in the scandals, but she does not have the financial experience to be full superintendent, at least for now. Me: I'm not sure I agree in total but maybe it would have been better to get an outside person. If Dr. Enfield stays on permanently, she might not be as tough as an outsider interim. 2. Name as interim superintendent a highly respected figure in town, with strong management experience, to spend a year or so in rooting out incompetence, creating robust accountability and reporting structures, and finally getting to the root of all the financial flubs. This should be someone along the lines of Jim Sine...