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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

City Shadow School Board Votes No Confidence in Seattle Public School Superintendant

Posted by Cienna Madrid on Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 4:48 PM

At 5:30 p.m. tonight, a group calling itself the Seattle Shadow School Board will be holding a rally outside of the John Stanford Center—where the the Board of Directors for Seattle Public Schools will be holding a regular meeting—to show their united dissatisfaction with Seattle Public School superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson. At the meeting tonight, the school board will be considering Goodloe-Johnson's annual performance evaluation and whether or not to extend the superintendent's contract for another two years. The school board will also be considering whether or not to award her with a salary increase and bonuses. Meanwhile, the shadow school board—a group made up of dissatisfied parents, teachers, and former school board members—will be presenting an official letter of no confidence in Goodloe-Johnson to the school board during its meeting. (Their online petition is here.)

Sahila Changebringer, a spokeswoman for the group, says, "We've been steadily dissatisfied with her performance, and yet for the past two years, the school board has been extending her contract. It's time they fire her, with or without cause."

The shadow school board cites the closure of seven public schools in January 2009—followed immediately by the reopening of five public schools—as just one example of the "gross mismanagement" found under Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson. The shadow school board also notes that teaching staff at eight Seattle public schools—Ballard & Franklin High Schools, Green Lake, Sanislo, Schmitz Park, Laurelhurst Elementaries, Orca K-8 and Ida B Wells—have issued votes of no confidence in the superintendent.

"The board has the power to get rid of her right now, if they like," says Changebringer. "They could fire her, buy out her contract, or choose not to extend her contract past the next two years. The bottom line is, we want her gone."

Seattle Public School spokeswoman Teresa Wippel says, "We're certainly aware of the situation but we have not been and will not be responding to the rallies or anything that they're saying. The evaluation is strictly between the superintendent and the board."

The superintendent's performance evaluation will be introduced at today's school board meeting but will not be voted on until July 7th.

Comments (17) RSS

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Shadow School Board?

Who elected them? I don't think I've heard of any of them ...

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 16, 2010 at 4:55 PM

Talk about thankless jobs...both serving on the School Board or as Superintendent. Why would anyone want those gigs?

Posted by I Got Nuthin' on June 16, 2010 at 5:11 PM

"Dissatisfied Parents" is a redundancy. They could get a mix of Jesus, Bill Gates, and Abraham Lincoln in the job and a certain subset of parents would still be bitterly opposed. It's the Seattle Way.

I note there's a whopping 340 signatures on there.

Posted by Fnarf

on June 16, 2010 at 5:12 PM

The empty drum bangs loudest.

Posted by Edmund Burke on June 16, 2010 at 5:21 PM

So its like a real school board except instead of elected nuts, its just a bunch of regular old nuts.

Posted by giffy on June 16, 2010 at 5:31 PM

I wonder how many signatures I could get for a Facebook group to create a Sarah Palin Drum Corps for the Seattle Schools - probably more than 340 ....

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 16, 2010 at 5:35 PM

MG-J is a terrible, secretive administrator with conflict-of-interest ties to various private businesses (test makers and pro-charter school outfits among them). Her leadership has killed off innovative programs at many schools (including mine - actually she took away just about everything that made my school work for our kids & teachers) for the sake of "standardization" while funneling 800 million dollars into a failed school (while something needed to be done, it may not be the right time or place for STEM).

the school board is a rubber-stamping joke. MG-J already makes more money than the state's govenor. teachers and parents alike hate her. I cannot wait 'til she's gone.

Posted by rara avis on June 16, 2010 at 5:39 PM

"Sahila Changebringer"? I can't take anyone with that name seriously.

Posted by tiktok on June 16, 2010 at 6:52 PM

David Orbit's essential report on why Seattle Schools fail to teach math to low-income students.

http://bit.ly/seattlefailingmath

MG-J has been instrumental in driving the district along an untested math curriculum path that has been failing students for years. Orbit's report goes into rigorous detail.

Posted by Rich Jensen

on June 16, 2010 at 6:55 PM

Well, this is all very easy to not understand.

Posted by gloomy gus on June 16, 2010 at 6:56 PM

"Next time you talk to my wife like that, you'll get worse! She cried for an hour! It's not enough she teaches stupid children to read and write, you had to bawl her out!"

Posted by mattro2.0 on June 16, 2010 at 7:42 PM

Hi Cienna,
I note that 343 people (impossible to tell if they are parents, or who) signed this petition, out of 500,000+ residents of Seattle. As a follow-up, honey, how many students are enrolled in Seattle Public Schools, and from that, how many parents could you extrapolate have an interest in SPS? I looked at the petition signatures, and MANY of them did not declare a school or community affiliation. How many are parents of SPS students? Do they even have a stake in this? Did you investigate whether or not they do? Are the signatories parents, or just local anti-establishment yahoos? Do they have a platform? A program for action? Have other people or organizations evaluated the superintendent favorably? If so, how many? How many parents of current SPS students are happy with the superintendent?

You do this so often, honey. You report your breathless "facts" with absolutely ZERO research, background or follow-up. You're leaving us high and dry, sweetie. We need better from you. Please try harder next time. Please? What you're doing is not "journalism". It's sham reporting of biased opinion that you formed before you even delved into the issue. We, the readers, deserve better. You, I hope, can do better.

Posted by Undern on June 16, 2010 at 7:45 PM

You neglected to mention the group that supports Goodloe-Johnson, led by spokesman Alfonso Staythecourse.

Posted by DOUG.

on June 16, 2010 at 7:58 PM

No one is every happy with change. Stop the bitching and start teaching the at risk youth to read. Now sit down and shut up, you're in MY CLASS!

Posted by Sargon Bighorn on June 16, 2010 at 9:35 PM

They had fewer than a dozen people at their "rally."

Posted by Reader/Poster on June 17, 2010 at 8:46 AM

This are folks who are angry that whitey doesn't get his assed bused down southside anymore...sorry, I'm tired of my kids being used as cannon fodder. THank goodness for Goodloe-Johnson!

Posted by Angel Rosenthal on June 17, 2010 at 1:42 PM

I haven't seen where any of the nimrods posting to this article have children in SPS. I do and I signed the petition. Indicating affiliation is optional and many rightly fear retaliation. My disabled child has much to lose under this crap Supt. She already has lost services that help her go to class with her peers. But then there are those who don't realize that she has a right to a free and appropriate education. MGJ just throws kids like her under the bus.

Posted by burb on June 18, 2010 at 8:40 AM