But Scarlett and Al-ansi wanted more legitimate community engagement with the Black community before passing the policy. 1 and International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local No. The Seattle Public Schools board unanimously approved the new district elections map last week. Kirby has served as Board Chair at Special Olympics of Washington, where he helped bring the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games to Seattle. Seattle School Board chooses new board member, approves plan to return to classrooms. If youre retired or getting ready to retire and looking for new ways to stay active, becoming a SHIBA volunteer could be for you! Seattle reporter Jason Rantz noted that, in leaked emails, the school district actually refused to request the mayor's office sweep the camps for illegal activity. Student members are encouraged to utilize course credit, service hour, independent study, free periods, or other opportunities, as available and appropriate for their own academic schedule, to modify their class schedule to accommodate committee meeting attendance. Embattled Seattle School Board President Chandra Hampson deleted critical comments from her Facebook page. School Board Student Member Application. The School Board has not yet voted on the policy. District 6 - Leslie S. Harris. It is widely acknowledged that the Seattle Public School district (with 53,000 students, the largest in Washington) is riddled with weak leadership, overly powerful unions, poor academics and deep structural problems. Contact the Student Members through Lets Talk. Geary did not file to run for re-election in 2019. John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence General election date. The remaining seats will open up in 2025. School board members in Washington are basically volunteers. Next year, Seattle voters may be voting for candidates in different Seattle School Board districts, the result of a monthslong redrawing of board member districts this fall. Posting comments is now limited to subscribers only. Some of the background facts for malfeasance include the U.S. Department of Educations civil rights investigation against Seattle Schools for not serving disabled children, the long-term closure of schools during COVID-19, and the districts inadequacy in providing children with at-home instruction. Hampson and DeWolf were required to review the policy, according to the motion passed by board members, and the district was to provide harassment, intimidation and bullying training to all new board members as needed.. It unnecessarily meddles in the employment practices. And its costing taxpayers thousands of dollars. For details see Revised Code of Washington 29A.56.110. The student school board positions are new positions, created by School Board Policy No. As the inaugural class of student members, students serving during the 2022-23 school year will play an integral role in designing the scope and focus of these positions, advising the board on implementation of newly adopted Board Policy No. Seattle Public Schools hired MFR Law Group PLLC (MFR) to conduct an extensive investigation into school board directors Chandra Hampson and Zachary DeWolf. Its been made available only through a public disclosure request. The employees names were redacted. 2445 3rd Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98134 By . Other indicators of failure are Seattles extraordinarily high private school attendance rate, dangerous homeless encampments adjacent to school grounds, the persistent learning gap for black, Hispanic and Native American children, and the fact that hundreds of families have left the system since March of last year. Last month, the school board voted to repeal the harassment, intimidation and bullying policy for adults (a student policy still exists) and replace it with civility procedures, citing the extraneous resources it took to go through complaints that often didnt meet the threshold of the policy and prevented more serious complaints from being addressed. The two district employees, both of whom are women still working for Seattle Schools, alleged an orchestrated campaign of harassment, intimidation, bullying based on race and gender in response to their work on the anti-racism policy, according to the investigation by the MFR Law Group PLLC, a law firm focused on employment law and human resource services in the Pacific Northwest. Her attorneys filed a brief on Friday to the appeals court. Facebook Parent Group Moderator - Kaye Smith. In July 2019, former School Board member Betty Patu's resignation triggered an appointment process that led to the selection . Seattle School Board President Chandra Hampson threatened volunteers with trespassing who were distributing leaflets on Monday regarding a homeless encampment on campus and school officials' refusal to address it. District 5 now stretches from the Central Area all the way to the Montlake Cut, and includes Madison Park, Montlake, Eastlake and all of Capitol Hill. Show more Show less But why did it take the Seattle Times months to cover? They barely got a slap on the wrist. Beginning with the 2022-23 school year, the board will annually seat School Board student members to represent student voice through board committees and regular board meetings. Its a bridge too far.Carlyle says the quality and diversity of the board would improve if members were compensated.Retiring Seattle School Board Chairwoman Kay Smith-Blum agrees that its time to start paying some kind of salary.This is a job that averages, I believe, anywhere from 20-30 hours a week, Smith-Blum said. August 3, 2021. All current board members still reside in the districts they represent under the new map. Another Washington community is having to deal with the possibility of rogue sex offenders. The Emerald asked the two finalists in the city's tightest school board race, Laura Marie Rivera and Vivian Song Maritz, nine questions collected from community members with a stake in education, and then one of our own.. Juneau spoke with students and parents of students in the district, staff, principals, and the Seattle Council PTSA, and gathered feedback from Latinx and Black community members before making the . Right now they are relying on the superintendent and staff to provide them with data. Two Seattle School Board members violated the board's harassment, intimidation and intimidation policy last year when they worked on an anti-racism policy with two black district employees, an external investigation showed. Nothing comes up. Students will also have opportunities to participate in outside training, such as through the Washington State School Directors Association. District 4 - Vivian Song Maritz. Contact the Student Members through Lets Talk. During his tenure on the Seattle School Board, he served on the Council of Great City Schools board of directors and the Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) steering committee as its vice-chair. Ironically, the complaints came out of work on a draft policy concerning anti-racism. The two women who made allegations against Hampson and DeWolf wrote a letter to the board on Sept. 18, 2020 almost a year earlier detailing their experiences, board member Lisa Rivera-Smith said during the meeting. Hampson declined to comment. School Board Special Meeting: Executive Session: Supt Eval Check-In; Work Session: Policy Diet. The Seattle Public Schools Board Office has two main areas of focus: Supporting the Board in the preparation and planning of Board meetings to ensure they run effectively and allow for public awareness and participation. Have at least a high school diploma or a certificate of high school equivalency. School board members Lisa . One of the accusers tried to tell Hampson and DeWolf twice they were disrespecting her, the report said. It's easy to be accused of fearmongering regarding crime, but Seattle residents might have good reason to be concerned for their safety. 2013 - Present10 years. Emails and meeting notes appear to back this claim. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Seattle . 206-252-0000, Distributing Information to Students and Schools, Northwest Coast Art by Andrea Wilbur-Sigo, Squaxin/Skokomish, School Board Student Member Selection Committee. I wanted it to get out afterThanksgiving, as stories printed the week before the holiday tend to get lost. Seattle school board directors Zachary DeWolf (L) and Chandra Hampson (R). The petition is accompanied by a detailed list of news reports, recorded school board votes and official school board resolutions to back up the recall petitions claims. The findings call his conduct unprofessional.. Committees meet monthly. Melissa Westbrooks local blog which I just discovered actually covered this story back in October. The company, which has offices in the Pacific Northwest and New England, created various maps based on legal requirements, community and board member input. Admissions. Last week, the Seattle School Board approved two measures involving African Americans males by a vote of 5-1, with the lone no vote on each measure cast by senior school board director Leslie Harris. 15. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a2e666278b6291a Yes, they get reimbursed a little for expenses such as gas and supplies but certainly not for their time. According to the investigation, both complainants claimed that HIB investigations are not good enough to uncover implicit bias and anti-Blackness. The only somewhat meaningful reporting on this complaint came from the Seattle Times. All rights reserved. Student board members are appointed for one year, following the academic calendar. If a superintendent or board member directed staff to get something done by a certain time and the employee refused to and claimed that was bullying, I mean thats just unworkable, said Talmadge, who served as a state senator for 16 years. Two woke Seattle Public School board directors who claim to be anti-racist progressives were found guilty of harassing, intimidating, and bullying Black staff. The Seattle school board voted unanimously Wednesday to fire Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson over a $1.8 million financial scandal involving a district business development program. School Board Policy No. Subscribe to thepodcast here. The experiences of the past year have taught parents a hard lesson just how little power they have in the current system of public education. Some kids are back at Seattle schools, but 2 homeless camps near Meany Middle and BroadviewThomson Elementary have parents worried. Raymond Delos Reyes is a first-generation Filipino American, born in Seattle and a native of the Rainier Valley neighborhood, where he continues to reside. Yet here they wont? Scarlett and Al-ansi did not appear pleased with the process. Click to reveal One witness called it worst meeting she had ever experienced., Another witness said that DeWolf began raising his voice and accused [the complainants] of being dishonest about their collaboration on the policy. She said that it seemed he felt the need to put them in their place., When one of the complainants wondered if a miscommunication could have led to the belief that they were working independent of the school board members, the witness said, DeWolf was relentless in his negative admonishing and chastising tone, which set the stage for a terrible conversation., DeWolf told MFR investigators, according to the report, that he was not scolding [the complainant], because he does not like conflict, and he was trying to be super-intentional and gentle with his language.. Hampson told MFR investigators that she was being disrespected as a school board director. Hampson had been a last-minute addition to the conference call. Some board members thought historic redlining maps should have been taken into consideration. The School Board Office will reach out to interested students with further information and meeting dates. Education. The School Board Student Member Selection Committee is a student-led committee that will recommend three (3) Student Members to the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors for selection. The attorneys representing the district, Pacific Law Group LLC, referred to the district for comment. They complained that they were being tokenized in the policys development. Their feelings about why or how they were targeted do not replace the need for evidence. And why havent local TV stations picked the story up in any meaningful way? It was clear Hampson had darts for both of them, the witness told MFR investigators. Should classroom learning time be cut down to 4 hours a day in Washington state. Board members accused both employees of inaccuracies in the policy. District 1 - Liza Rankin. And in that letter I heard from two brilliant Black women that worked within our district, Rivera-Smith said. 1st Grade Class Rep - Lauren McAlister. A list of School Board Members and Superintendents. School Board student members will be provided agendas and other materials in preparation for meetings and are also encouraged to attend board work sessions and other special meetings of the board. Hampson, meanwhile, wanted to vote on the anti-racism policy instead of waiting for more community engagement, arguing its already been done. Some of the biggest changes: District 2, which incorporates Green Lake and Phinney Ridge, has expanded west to include Ballard and Magnolia. Bier on the Pier takes place on October 7th and 8th and features local ciders, food trucks and live music - not to mention the beautiful views of the Guemes Channel and backdrop of downtown Anacortes. The board vacancy came on the heels of Director Betty Patu announcing her departure from the school board, and without enough time to [] School Board student members should reflect the impressive diversity of the district and represent a variety of interests, perspectives, and backgrounds. School Board student members are charged with engaging students and student groups for feedback and with carrying forward the diverse perspectives of Seattle Public Schools students. Students entering their junior or senior year are eligible to apply for a one-year term that will begin August 2023 and conclude at the end of the 2023-24 school year. Earlier this month, in response to the school board's proposal, Washington Senator Jamie Pedersen introduced Senate bill 6282, which would require school districts to create individualized .