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Monday, August 10, 2009

City School Board Candidate Scandal!

Posted by Eli Sanders on Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 11:42 AM

Oh, Seattle School Board candidates. Is there no end to your crazy? Apparently there is not. As KUOW reported this morning, two school board candidates have "fudged" their resumes:

The candidates are Betty Patu and Kay Smith-Blum. Patu claimed a bachelor's and a master's degree from Antioch University, Seattle, in the voters' pamphlet and on her Website. But she only has a bachelor's degree.

Patu says when she filed for election, she thought she'd have her master's degree within 10 days. She says she had to interview people for her final paper and her interviews fell through. So she missed her June 15 graduation deadline.

Patu: "When I wrote it down, in the back of my mind, I really, really thought that I would have everything finished on the 15th. You know, but, like everything we plan, everything doesn't always go the way we want it to go. I don't feel guilty about it because I know that in two weeks I'll be able to turn in my research paper in order to for me to actually receive my master's degree."

As for Blum:

Kay Smith—Blum said in the voters' pamphlet and on her Website that she double majored in marketing and statistics in college. But the University of Texas says her major was marketing.

Smith—Blum admits that's the only major the university recorded for her. But she also studied statistics and she's always called herself a double major, even though the University of Texas didn't record double majors then. She says she took more statistics classes than she had to, as electives.

Smith—Blum: "It's important to me that the public know I have always been data—driven. And I feel my decision—making processes are informed by the numbers as well as any human element of any policy question. So whether I'm making decisions in a retail business, or potentially making decisions at the board level for Seattle Schools, I feel I would be able to best address any data accumulation in a very educated way."

Smith—Blum says she has no problem saying it's not accurate to call her degree a double major in statistics.

Btw: We endorsed them both!

Comments (20) RSS

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At least they weren't CEOs. They do that all the time.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on August 10, 2009 at 11:45 AM

Maybe these gals were toking when they filled out those resumes...

Posted by Mary Jane on August 10, 2009 at 11:56 AM

God forbid any of the candidates should have a background in education or administration. It's really a shame these positions are rarely anything but kindergarten for wannabee politicians, in might benefit the district to have someone that, you know, actually gives a shit.

Posted by Dougsf on August 10, 2009 at 12:09 PM

Randomly taking more classes than you basic and elective requirements does not make a major or even a minor. I took lots of psych classes but did not receive either a double major or even a minor because I was missing a couple of hard classes. Are these same losers also pitching accountability?

Posted by wl on August 10, 2009 at 12:12 PM

The funny thing is most teachers have Masters degrees ...

Posted by Will in Seattle

on August 10, 2009 at 12:30 PM

So, do you stand by your endorsements?

I don't like their stretching of the truth. Wait, they'd make perfect politicians.

But seriously, why lie?

Posted by PTrig on August 10, 2009 at 12:35 PM

I find no problem with Betty Patu's explanation. That is understandable. But Kay is just padding her resume.

Posted by jmahlon on August 10, 2009 at 12:44 PM

Charlie and Andre!
Charlie and Andre!

Posted by Oldskool on August 10, 2009 at 12:46 PM

you laugh at this but really, you're standing by endorsements when they puffed their credentials and one of them can't make academic deadlines?
When THE issue today is raising the bar, not lowering standards ? You do realize Washington just missed out on education dollars because we couldn't even stomach the minor accountability standards OBAMA wanted?

Btw, what kind of master's degree comes from a paper for which you do interviews then write it up and get a degree in ten days. Either this is from Matchbox University, or she's fibbing about the whole thing. I've never heard of a school where you are set down for graduation before you've completed course work and gotten a passing grade, duh!

Posted by The Ghost of Darcy Burner....... on August 10, 2009 at 12:49 PM

Why did Betty change the background of that photo? What's she hiding? What was really behind her when that picture was taken?

Posted by care bear on August 10, 2009 at 1:11 PM

And we wonder why our school board is so fucked up. Really, people are totally dumbfounded how that happens.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on August 10, 2009 at 1:41 PM

Until someone at SLOG learns the difference between a hyphen and a dash this post is nonsense.

Posted by DOUG.

on August 10, 2009 at 1:49 PM

#12 - I figured Smith—Blum was just some measurement of time I didn't understand.

Posted by Dougsf on August 10, 2009 at 1:56 PM

Whoa, yikes, that was and "n" dash in the preview, I swear. Now my comment makes no sense, also... again.

Posted by Dougsf on August 10, 2009 at 1:57 PM

Whether she has that masters or not is immaterial - it's from Antioch

Posted by Reader1 on August 10, 2009 at 2:02 PM

Nice to see you did as much research here as you did in your city council endorsements. You missed exaggerations and ignored contradictions in positions and talking points there too.

Posted by Typical lack of editorial QC on August 10, 2009 at 2:46 PM

Patu also exaggerates that she was a teacher for 30 (or however many) years. From what I understand she was or is a Teacher's Aide for at least a significant part of that time. It makes a difference.

Posted by meks on August 10, 2009 at 3:21 PM

So, I have a problem with people lying in the voter's pamphlets. Shouldn't that be illegal or something?

Posted by flo on August 10, 2009 at 9:29 PM

I could overlook Patu's fudging except that she then told the Times she thought it was no big deal. What else wouldn't be a big deal to her? It's troubling.

Smith-Blum probably knows what her major is but maybe her life narrative is that she has a dual-major so that's what she wrote down.

Problem for both of them is they can't retract what they put down in the Voter's Guide which is likely where most voters get their info.

Also, for someone who is data-driven, Smith-Blum doesn't know the difference between the IB (International Baccalaureate) program and the foreign language immersion program in Seattle public schools. They are not the same thing and yet she seems to think they are even claiming that there are two IB elementary schools (there isn't).

Posted by SPS parent on August 12, 2009 at 10:45 PM

Smith-Blum got a degree thirty or so years ago and has since run a business and raised three kids. Give me a freakin break.Most of you aren't old enough to remember thirty years ago. Next time maybe you should endorse someone based on what they have done for Seattle as a private citizen. Oh wait you did. Smith-Blum has raised a couple of million For public schools because it was the right thing to do.

Posted by Sjs on August 19, 2009 at 6:26 AM