I dont know what youre getting at by sharing yours, Hampson added, according to the witness. District staff thought they knew better and felt sidelined. DeWolf totally disagreed with the allegations and described himself as conflict averse and being careful in this situation.. Follow@JasonRantz onTwitter,Instagram, andParler,and like me onFacebook. SPS contracted FLO Analytics, a consulting company with expertise in data analysis and redistricting, to draw new district election maps. District 1 - Liza Rankin. Posting comments is now limited to subscribers only. Scarlett and Al-ansi outlined the complaints in a memo titled Bullying, Intimidation, and Anti-Black Racism, which was sent to the full board and then-SPS Superintendent Denise Juneau. For example, in one email, DeWolf called out Scarletts dishonesty in claiming she was working with him on the anti-racism policy. Its unfortunate that another story like this has surfaced. "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. Seattle School Board chooses new board member, approves plan to return Goodloe-Johnson ousted as Seattle schools chief The districts decades-long record of failure helps explain why three Seattle mothers, Emily Bramwell Cherkin, Jennifer Rebecca Olson Crow, and Beverely Diann Goodman are leading a broad coalition of concerned parents asking voters to recall six out of seven Seattle school board members. Maja Larson - Adjunct Professor - Seattle University School of Law Education. Student board member terms run . Carlyle's 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. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. 11% of the management team is Black or African American. Two Black women staffers who still currently work at SPS were working with Hampson and DeWolf on developing an anti-racism policy, but as disagreements started, contentious conversations followed. Board of Directors and District Map. However, DeWolf cut her off before the 10 minutes were up, telling her twice to wrap up her comments, the report said. How can Seattle build climate resilience? Look to its schools MFR investigators interviewed 20 witnesses and reviewed over 5,600 documents. Director Harris has every right to vote yes or no on any measure that presents itself to the board. I dont want to rehash our own private conversations.. Three seats on the Seattle Public Schools school board in Washington were up for general election on November 2, 2021. Seattle school board members demand city not remove homeless It only requested Hampson and DeWolf review the policy the investigation said they violated. They inexplicably chose not to embed the actual investigation, nor did they examine who made the complaints. Be a resident of the district she is running in. Show more Show less The report noted that it seemed [DeWolf] felt the need to put them in their place. One of the accusers tried to raise that there must have been a misunderstanding, but DeWolf was relentless in his negative admonishing and chastising tone, which set the stage for a terrible conversation., Hampson berated staffers, the investigation said, and the conversation became very heated and spiraled out of control.. During a group phone call in August 2020, the situation took a turn for the worse. 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. Subscribe to thepodcast here. The events that took place between the Seattle Public Schools employees and board members Chandra Hampson and Zachary DeWolf happened in August and September 2020 during meetings and discussions about a draft of the districts anti-racism policy. The findings note that four of the 13 witnesses they interviewed opined that Dir. 1250, School Board Student Members. It was public during the September school board hearing. However, the investigation did not conclude Hampson and DeWolf discriminated against staffers based on their race or gender. 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.. District 5 - Michelle Sarju. Washington Democrats are trying to force employers to hire or retain potheads with new legislation. The superintendent was in attendance. A district that I know ardently strives to be a safe, welcoming and anti-racist institution. This behavior is always done to Black folks and holds up anti-Blackness. Hampsons attorneys are seeking to overturn the finding that their client violated the districts harassment, intimidation and bullying policy and say the district has not explained how events that led to the investigation meet the threshold of causing substantial harm to staffers under the policy. But you wont find the report on the districts website. The Seattle School Board believes students possess valuable insight and should have a paramount voice in the education received from the district and in the decisions made by the board. And District 6 in West Seattle now stretches to the other side of the Duwamish Waterway and includes Georgetown and South Park. Contact the Student Members through Lets Talk. The report found Hampson worked with DeWolf to limit the impacts and remarks of the district employee. Before she was first elected to the District 6 seat in 2015, she worked on the Schools First campaign in support of district levies. Nothing comes up. (One recently-appointed member is not eligible for recall.). Board members raised their voices at staff and the conversation has been described as terrible, heated, and berating, according to interviews conducted by investigators. Seattle Public Schools Leadership: Executives and Demographics - Zippia 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. Yet here they wont? School board members in Washington are basically volunteers. 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. March 24, 2021 at 5:12 pm Updated March 24, 2021 at 9:35 pm . Another Washington community is having to deal with the possibility of rogue sex offenders. They were targets because the school board directors are rabid left-wing activists who want to play savior to the citys minority communities. 2 Seattle Student Councilors Violate Harassment & Intimidation Policy Currently the owner of Delos Reyes Law . School Board and Superintendents - Seattle Public Schools The SHIBA program part of the Office of the Insurance Commissioner is ready to help with your Medicare open enrollment decisions. Then Hampson started to berate the staff members and [one of] the complainants with accusations. The witness said that Hampson was lying about some of the allegations made against the complainant. Did you like this opinion piece? 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. 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. It still has not been posted on the boards website. Thats quite clearly the opposite of being an anti-racist. School Board Special Meeting: Ad Hoc Community Engagement Meeting. The estimated total hours of board meetings that student board members will attend in a month is six (6) hours. And it . 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. Self-interested unions, insider political interests and entrenched school officials decide what happens in public schools, not parents. Indeed, they seem upset that an investigation would occur and that their claims arent believed at face value. But given the events of a recent school board meeting, this shouldnt come as a shock. Part of the reason that I personally chose not to run is that it is such a huge commitment, particularly for someone who has a full-time job, and we have three board members who have full-time jobs.Smith-Blum said that there are good quality candidates who dont ever run because of the fact that its so overwhelming, with no compensation.But others doubt that board pay is a panacea.I dont think we are going to get a better corps of board candidates for that level of pay, and I dont think anybody who is doing it is doing it for the pay, said Charlie Mas who writes for the Save Seattle Schools website. 15. Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers claim Jeffrey Epstein's 15-year-old Florida plea deal should undo her sex-trafficking conviction. Posting documents for regular Board meetings at least 3 days in advance of the meeting to allow for public review. The attorneys representing the district, Pacific Law Group LLC, referred to the district for comment. Applicants must be a Seattle Public Schools student entering their junior or senior year of high school at the time of selection, on track to graduate, and continue to be enrolled in Seattle Public Schools through the school year of their term. Seattle, Washington, United States. But attorneys representing SPS are arguing a thorough investigation was conducted, and that the outcome is supported by 20 witness interviews and thousands of documents. One year appointment. 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. The district's decades-long record of failure helps explain why three Seattle mothers, Emily Bramwell Cherkin, Jennifer Rebecca Olson Crow, and Beverely Diann Goodman are leading a broad coalition of concerned parents asking voters to recall six out of seven Seattle school board members. School Board Members Face Rising Threats Across the U.S. - The New York Come one, come all! School Board Member Chandra Hampson appealed the outcome of the investigation in September. Food, Drink, and Coastal Christmas Anacortes has it all. 2023 Washington Policy Center All Rights Reserved Terms of Use, Closer look at Superintendent Reykdal's dig at WPC has me missing "Better call Saul", Washington state students to get less classroom time under new Dem-backed plan, Proposed WA bill would cut student's classtime by 4 hours a week, Tutoring bill to help students with school-shutdown learning loss blocked in Senate Ways and Means Committee, Bill reducing WA classroom learning by four hours a week working its way through Senate. (One recently-appointed member is not eligible for recall.) John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence School Board Student Member Selection Committee - Seattle Public Schools Seattle School Board approves new district boundaries for board members Talk with Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors member Leslie Harris, who represents West Seattle and most of South Park, at 2 pm at Delridge Library. Email the Records and Archives Center archives@seattleschools.org for finding aids for paper records: school board and superintendents working files, correspondence and meeting materials. Jonathan Choe Journalist (Seattle) on Twitter: "RT @mrandystevens: We Monica Velez. West Seattle Blog | Community meeting with School Board director Seattle media deserves to be called out on this. Hampson did not respond to requests for comment. 2023 Bonneville International. She is passionate about high-quality education for all Washington students and for an equitable education system to help fully equip achievers for tomorrow. WA to end masking requirement in health care, correctional facilities, Fire on Lake City Way in Seattle raises smoke, flooding concerns, One Seattle business is taking a stand against tipping mania, Chef Ethan Stowell buys a historic Seattle dive bar, Amazon shutters some convenience stores, including 2 in Seattle. The Board of Directors is self-perpetuating; new members are elected each year, serving up to two, 3-year terms. Paralegal. 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 . In July 2019, former School Board member Betty Patu's resignation triggered an appointment process that led to the selection . District 2 - Lisa Rivera Smith. Its been made available only through a public disclosure request. Students will also have opportunities to participate in outside training, such as through the Washington State School Directors Association. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Seattle Public Schools hired MFR Law Group PLLC (MFR) to conduct an extensive investigation into school board directors Chandra Hampson and Zachary DeWolf. City officials and school board members have declined to meet with the group of neighbors, parents and employees who are . and . The conduct violated SPSs policy against harassment, intimidation, and bullying (HIB). Other government bodies, like the City Council, also have to redistrict every decade per the Washington Voting Rights Act, which requires redistricting after each new census count. How will Seattle Public Schools pay for the new teacher contract? It's easy to be accused of fearmongering regarding crime, but Seattle residents might have good reason to be concerned for their safety. They complained that they were being tokenized in the policys development. July 6, 2022 at 6:00 am Updated Aug. 2, 2022 at 4:46 pm. Theres also a federal law, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, with similar requirements that prohibit discriminatory practices when redistricting. Scarlett and Al-ansi, who have escaped media scrutiny, should also be called out. A list of School Board Members and Superintendents. Board members accused both employees of inaccuracies in the policy. 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. District 3 - Chandra N. Hampson. By clicking Sign Up, I confirmthat I have read and agreeto the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. According to the investigation, Hampson and DeWolf both denied engaging in anti-Black racism or treating the two district staffers any differently from other employees. Consequently, media coverage has been scant and inadequate. 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. Student board members are appointed for one year, following the academic calendar. This case highlights that particular problem and ultimately can bring affirmation to the board and the superintendent they hire.. These meetings are held Wednesdays at 4:15 p.m. at John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence. Seattle Public Schools faces nearly $190 million budget shortfall March 8 @ 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm. The controversy began about two years ago, when SPS hired a law firm focused on employment law and human-resource services in the Pacific Northwest to investigate claims that Hampson and DeWolf violated a board policy during meetings that took place in August and September 2020. Board of Trustees - Seattle Preparatory School. Jill Geary - Ballotpedia 1250, School Board Student Members. 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. 2445 3rd Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98134 AMDG; For the Greater Glory of God; Seattle Preparatory School. The district elections map only affects who can run for school board (candidates must live in the district they run for) and which board members people vote for. The second instance that was investigated was an executive committee meeting on Sept. 16, 2020, according to the report. During a board meeting Sept. 9, the board voted to take action based on the findings of the investigation. Enrollment ('17-'18) 54,573 students. November 2, 2021. Rantz: Online tantrum by Seattle School Board's Chandra Hampson 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. The judge does not rule on the truth of the charges, only their legal sufficiency under state law. Tel 206-324-0400 . Sami Al-Abdrabbuh, the chairman of a school board in northwest Oregon, has received death threats. . The student positions were created under the recently adopted School Board Policy No. Kirby Winfield - Founding General Partner - Ascend.vc | LinkedIn The School Board Office will reach out to interested students with further information and meeting dates. Seattle Public Schools suspends partnership with Seattle police for one She is the second School Board director in recent memory to resign. Since 2013, evolved legal intern program at the Allen Institute into a law school class to teach the practical aspects and soft skills . 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. 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.. Raymond Delos Reyes - Owner - Delos Reyes Law, LLC | LinkedIn