The school board attempted to bury the report. DeWolf did not run for re-election and will suffer no immediate political consequences as a result. Seattle Public Schools hired MFR Law Group PLLC (MFR) to conduct an extensive investigation into school board directors Chandra Hampson and Zachary DeWolf. Hampson, meanwhile, wanted to vote on the anti-racism policy instead of waiting for more community engagement, arguing its already been done. When not harassing Black, female staff, they fought to keep dangerous homeless encampments on school property, including one that housed a sex offender. Hampson did acknowledge the group phone call was terrible, the report said, but denied violating harassment, intimidation and bullying board policies. Hampson told MFR investigators that she was being disrespected as a school board director. 'Time for an intervention:' Seattle School Board member resigns, cites 'dysfunctional culture Jan 07, 2021 at 7:22 pm Geary won in the general election on November 3, 2015. If you feel you are being discriminated against, you need to prove it with the highest level of scrutiny., According to the investigation, both DeWolf and Hampson felt it important to move forward with an investigation so that it was clear they were not being held to a different standard or process than other SPS staff.. The only somewhat meaningful reporting on this complaint came from the Seattle Times. MFR investigators did, however, find that Hampson used her position and authority to the detriment of the complainants. The superintendent was in attendance. Applications for the 2023-24 student member positions will be open Monday, Feb. 27 - March 24. Hampson and DeWolf later tried to expedite the board vote on the anti-racism policy during an executive committee meeting without the staffers. The board did, however, vote to take action on the investigation. Kirby has served as Board Chair at Special Olympics of Washington, where he helped bring the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games to Seattle. Population and demographic changes in Seattle cause district boundaries to fluctuate. In order to be compensated, students will be considered district hourly employees subject to standard onboarding and criminal background check requirements with parent/guardian consent. Elise Takahama. I have been doing this for 30+ years, and I dont need to hear your qualifications. But the authority over direct policy lies in the hands of the governing directors, not staff. Work. Selection Committee members will review applications for the Student Member positions and collaborate to make final recommendations. She is passionate about high-quality education for all Washington students and for an equitable education system to help fully equip achievers for tomorrow. "For the fiscal year 2024-25, the subsequent year, I forecasted a shortfall of $139.4 million," Gannon told Seattle school board members on Wednesday night. The Seattle Public Schools board unanimously approved the new district elections map last week. The findings note that four of the 13 witnesses they interviewed opined that Dir. But why did it take the Seattle Times months to cover? Since 2013, evolved legal intern program at the Allen Institute into a law school class to teach the practical aspects and soft skills . Consequently, media coverage has been scant and inadequate. Performance & security by Cloudflare. Each district needs to meet certain criteria set by state law: having nearly the same population size, being as compact as possible and not favoring or disfavoring a political party or racial group. Email the Board of Trustees . City officials and school board members have declined to meet with the group of neighbors, parents and employees who are . The second instance that was investigated was an executive committee meeting on Sept. 16, 2020, according to the report. His complaint appears to come from her wanting to work more independently from him. Tensions began to mount beginning in July 2020 between Hampson, DeWolf and district staffers. Applications for the 2023-24 student member positions will be open soon please continue to check this webpage and district social media for updates. School Board 1971 (PH 007-25) Archives. Gross: Residents step up to hold government leaders accountable, Tacoma councilmember vows to not support departing local business, Rantz: AG pushing most dangerous bill in legislative history, Rantz: Union-backed bill gets friendly, misleading media support, Rantz: Washington Democrats to force businesses to hire potheads, Franklin HS teacher charged on multiple counts for having sex with student. 206-252-0000, Distributing Information to Students and Schools, Northwest Coast Art by Andrea Wilbur-Sigo, Squaxin/Skokomish, Posting documents for regular Board meetings at least 3 days in advance of the meeting to allow for public review, Maintaining accurate and timely information on the School Board?s website, Noticing all Board meetings on the District?s website in a timely manner, Responding to and tracking constituent communication, Complying with requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), Providing administrative support to Board members (e.g., travel arrangements, expense reimbursements, and document preparation). MFR investigators said DeWolf repeatedly and persistently mistreated the two complainants, violating the HIB policy. And in a district like Seattle, a $1 billion annual enterprise, its a big job for someone who isnt getting paid.Dont we deserve a higher quality education system for our 50,000 kids, asked Carlyle.Carlyle argues that many of Seattles problems, and many problems in other districts, including the achievement gap, low graduation rates, and high turnover, can be tied to the fact that board members are volunteers, arent up to the job, and dont have much time for it.Carlyles plan would pay board members, starting in the biggest, most complex district in Seattle, a salary in-line with state legislators, which is $42,000 per year.It is unreasonable to expect people to have all of that knowledge and then be full-time volunteers on top, said Carlyle. District 2 - Lisa Rivera Smith. March 7 @ 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm. 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. 2400 11th Avenue East Seattle WA 98102. And District 6 in West Seattle now stretches to the other side of the Duwamish Waterway and includes Georgetown and South Park. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. DeWolf engaged more harshly, disrespectfully, and/or rudely with women, regardless of race. But others note hes rude to everyone regardless of gender. In other words, they are far-left activists who dont practice what they preach on anti-racism, nor do they serve the kids they are supposed to protect. Seattle Times staff reporter. Newsletter & Website Content - OPEN. A primary was scheduled for August 3, 2021. But on Sept. 9, 2021, a month after the report was submitted, the board voted to waive the requirement that it be posted online. SPS board members wrestled with the district boundary lines over the course of various public and community meetings, and debated how race played a role in the redistricting process. Your IP: The findings call his conduct unprofessional.. 11% of the management team is Black or African American. Two Seattle School Board members violated a board policy against harassing, intimidating and bullying staff members last year when they were working on an anti-racism policy with two Black district employees, an outside investigation has found. Student board members will not be voting members but will serve as advisors to the Seattle School Board. It only requested Hampson and DeWolf review the policy the investigation said they violated. Posting documents for regular Board meetings at least 3 days in advance of the meeting to allow for public review. Seattle school officials declined to comment on the case, although spokesperson Beverley Redmond said the replacement of the harassment, intimidation and bullying policy does not impact the superior courts decision. Mason Trinca for The New York Times. Indeed, they seem upset that an investigation would occur and that their claims arent believed at face value. PO Class Reps. Preschool Class Rep - Rojine Rudio. 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. He made these comments several times. In a series of emails, DeWolf and Hampson accused staffers of inaccuracies in district meeting minutes and claimed the district staffers didnt do the work they said they did, the report said. 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 . Nothing comes up. 11% of Seattle Public Schools management is Hispanic or Latino. Theyre not against racism; they want to favor one racial group over others. I wanted it to get out afterThanksgiving, as stories printed the week before the holiday tend to get lost. District 4 - Vivian Song Maritz. Specifically, the recall petition itself reports that Seattle school board members have: Delayed reopening Seattle schools to full-time, in-person instruction, compared to the great majority of other districts; Violated their legal duty to provide special needs students with access to in-person instruction; Given away school property in West Seattle in violation of legal standards; Failed to correct a 2015 school board decision to take $2.7 million in private money while keeping the donors name secret; Approved contracts on planned Rainier Beach High School and Northgate Elementary construction projects which involve conflicts of interest and violations of environmental review laws; Failed to protect student privacy online; Failed to consult the Duwamish Tribe regarding environmental review of the Northgate Elementary project; Failed to provide adequate school-day recreational areas for students; Sold school property to a favored buyer without holding a public hearing; Discriminated against students by canceling the Highly Capable Program at Washington Middle School; Violated the rights of Kimball Elementary School students by improperly changing the attendance area. All current board members still reside in the districts they represent under the new map. 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. District 1 - Liza Rankin. General election date. Its unfortunate that another story like this has surfaced. If youre retired or getting ready to retire and looking for new ways to stay active, becoming a SHIBA volunteer could be for you! Ironically, the complaints came out of work on a draft policy concerning anti-racism. Both Hampson and DeWolf, according to the complainants, were upset that they lost control over the anti-racism policy to two Black women. The report found Hampson worked with DeWolf to limit the impacts and remarks of the district employee. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. March 8 @ 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm. According to district policy, the investigation was compulsory since they did not successfully mediate their dispute. Emails and meeting notes appear to back this claim. (function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "https://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })(). School Board student members will participate in committee discussions and are encouraged to question and communicate their opinions, suggestions, and concerns. Each School Board student member will be assigned to one of three board committees: the Audit & Finance Committee; Operations Committee; or Student Services Curriculum & Instruction Committee. She is the Seattle School Board president. 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. The new geographical boundaries do not affect student attendance boundaries; their purpose is to make sure each region within the city is represented by a board member who lives in that region. The Seattle School Board recognizes the organizational structure of the district can create a wall between decision makers and the students the district serves. There was also confusion among board members and staff about the timeline of the anti-racist policy, the emails show. But the district is doing what it can to keep the report from public view. Two woke Seattle Public School board directors who claim to be anti-racist progressives were found guilty of harassing, intimidating, and bullying Black staff. Not be a current employee of the district and/or be related to a current employee in that district. Seattle School Board chooses new board member, approves plan to return to classrooms . School Board Special Meeting: Executive Session: Supt Eval Check-In; Work Session: Policy Diet. The Stranger, normally interested in amplifying claims of racism, offered the bare minimum in covering the story, only to link to the Seattle Times. By. This year's inaugural class was nominated by a student-led committee in May, and was approved by the board in June. Northwest for Underrepresented Regions (NUR) seeks to improve access to educational opportunities in . "It is unreasonable to . It was an attempt to limit Scarletts contributions to the meeting. A school board candidate must: Be a registered voter. Student board members are appointed for one year, following the academic calendar. Paralegal. The student-led Selection Committee will support the Boards selection of three (3) students for the 2023-24 school year who will serve as Student Members. November 2, 2021. They say it's not safe. The remaining seats will open up in 2025. They barely got a slap on the wrist. They were accused of waging sexist and anti-Black harassment, intimidation, and bullying (HIB) campaigns against two Black female SPS staff. Board member Zachary DeWolf will not be running for re-election to the seat representing District 5, which covers the bulk of Capitol Hill, the Central District, downtown and the area near the stadiums.. It's a tumultuous time for Seattle and the city's . A Seattle school board member has gone to court to fight the outcome of a district investigation that concluded she harassed, intimidated and bullied two Seattle Public Schools employees. John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence The recall petition must be reviewed and approved by Superior Court Judge Patrick Oishi. But they are also fringe partisans who set up their complaint to fail when they claimed concern over the process not being able to weed out implicit bias. But the Seattle Times has an entire education section of their paper. Normally, this investigation would be posted online three days ahead of a school board meeting. SEATTLE, WA- Massive homeless encampments have taken over several school grounds in Seattle.Instead of demanding that the growing tent communities be removed, the Seattle School Board president and one of its directors have reportedly urged Mayor Jenny Durkan to not clear them out.. Best believe anywhere else, there would be zero homeless camps outside a school. Theres been an issue on whether the staff of Seattle Public Schools runs the district or if the superintendent and board do, said Hampsons attorney, Philip Talmadge, a former Washington State Supreme Court justice. The student positions were created under the recently adopted School Board Policy No. The judge does not rule on the truth of the charges, only their legal sufficiency under state law. Board members were under pressure to bring the resolution to the board quickly because many other board policies that were in the works hinged on this document, and district staff was pushing back on the urgency. When Al-ansi attempted to explain why her ties to the local Black communities would help tweak the policy, Hampson interrupted to scoff at the womans bona fides.