Seattle Schools Community Forum

View Ridge Teacher Takes Plea Deal The Times is reporting the outcome of a case of a View Ridge teacher who sent "sexually-suggestive text messages" to a high school girl who had volunteered in his second-grade class.  The male teacher was sentenced to two months in jail. He also surrendered his teaching certificate as part of his plea deal but will not have to register as a sex offender.  He will also not make an attempt to get his teaching certificate back and cannot have any kind of supervision of children except his own. Lowell Loses Its Principal It was reported to me Thursday night that Lowell's principal, Marion Smith, Jr., quit Wednesday with no little notice to the school community. I have asked the district if they knew sooner than that and, of course, how the principal replacement process will be handled.  Obviously, leaving at the end of the year makes it harder for the district to easily find a replacement.

There have been and will be a number of new principal appointments made for the coming school year. In some cases the school communities have been allowed to offer input on the selection of their principal. In some cases the school community has formed a hiring committee and interviewed candidates. In other cases, however, schools have been assigned a principal with little or no community input or engagement.

The annual change of principals started a couple of months back.  What is interesting to me is the number leaving versus moving to a different school within the district. - Jo Lute-Ervin leaving Lafayette to become a "district administrator"; not sure what that means - Justin Baeder leaving Olympic View (and the district; he's moving away) - Dr. Neil Gerrans at Lawton is the interim principal at Lawton for this year - Greg King is still principal at Lowell (but may be hanging on by a thread depending on the outcome of the investigation at the school) - Christopher Kinsey, new principal for Chief Sealth International High School, has been Sealth's interim principal for this year. - Dr. Shannon McKinney, new principal for K-5 STEM at Boren, Probably others so add to the list. Also to note, Nathan Hale's principal, Jill Hudson received the Thomas B. Foster Award for Excellence in recognition for leadership.  This award is sponsored by the Alliance for Edu...