Today's Seattle Times asks the question "Will anyone run for Seattle School Board?"
As of today, two of the three open board seats are uncontested ... Does the dearth of candidates mean voters are generally satisfied with the district's leadership? Or does no one want to work 20-plus hours a week for free while enduring public criticism?I suspect that another reason is that a lot of people have given up on the Seattle School District as a hopelessly lost cause. That's too bad.
The quality of some of the announced candidates inspires little confidence. One candidate who is so far running unopposed is Michael DeBell. I ran into him a few weeks ago and asked him why he was running and what he planned to do. His answer was even more rambling and meaningless than this statement from his website:
These are the skills and experiences I would like to take to the School Board. I plan to make broad academic achievement - not just WASL scores- but including the arts, music, multiple cultures and critical thinking, my highest priority for school district policy and our district budget (which will be balanced!) I will work with our many great community, business and education organizations, with the Seattle Education Association and our great Principal Corps and especially with parents to move forward toward our goals.And check out his endorsements page. I get the feeling he's not running for School Board as much as he's running to be the Seattle Education Association's representative. Seattle's parents deserve a better representative on the School Board. I suggest: Scott Cummins. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 25, 2005 09:04 AM | Email This
"...but including the arts, music, multiple cultures and critical thinking, my highest priority for school district policy and our district budget (which will be balanced!)"
So, more arts and music funding? That sounds like a good idea, but historically those areas are the first to see shortfalls.
Multiple cultures?! Multiculti lives and breathes! Just what does this candidate mean by this, though? Is this going to include ALL cultures, or just the "best" ones, or just the PC cultures? How complete is this multiculti education going to be, or are we going to run out of time to teach the basics before learning about other cultures? Feh... This emphasis on multiculturalism is a robotic response required of *everybody* who seeks a job in education, yet the methods or value of such education on the primary/secondary school level is not clear. Is this just a left-wing talking point, or what?
And he can promise in advance that the budget will be balanced, eh? He's got the political game down pat--left hand promises arts and music, but then *zip!* the right hand takes them away to balance the budget. I didn't see sports or physical education anywhere in his platform either. Why not?
" I will work with our many great community, business and education organizations, with the Seattle Education Association and our great Principal Corps and especially with parents to move forward toward our goals."
A nice sound bite. By doing...what, exactly?
Decades of relying on tests and assessments done by individual teachers led to the realization that some sort of standardized test is needed to provide a measurement of the schools' and districts' performance.
Perhaps he is trying to straddle the fence by his "not just WASL scores" phrase. He doesn't actually criticize it. He just states that other things not measured by it are also important.
Posted by: Micajah on July 25, 2005 11:37 AM"He served on the Architectural Review Board for Seattle Monorail Station designs for the Ballard portion of the system."
This is probably not something he should include on his resume' right now, is it?
Posted by: Gary on July 25, 2005 12:11 PMAnother question is: Will anyone decent run for Mayor?
Posted by: BananaLand(aka Iguana) on July 25, 2005 12:21 PMHere's what I believe in: The three R's + discipline. Everything else is window dressing.
I believe in holding kids and parents to a set of standards. If they don't meet them, the kids fail. If we don't give them the tools to meet those standards, we fail.
My background: I'm a program manager, first line manager and senior researcher in a high tech company (a big one). I have a doctorate in engineering from a Big Ten school (2000).
I have no formal teaching experience, only some tutoring in grad school. I have experience in holding groups accountable, 'cause at my company it's produce or die.
So should I do it sometime in the future? Or would I get fried?
Posted by: steve_dog on July 25, 2005 12:55 PMYou would have my vote, but I don't live in Seattle. I pity the sad people who have inherited
the liberal socialist school system in place in Seattle, but they get what their "parents" cultivate and vote for.
It appears that you make too much sense to win in that field, but I may be wrong. You would either need to
water down your (very admirable) principles, or press into play a serious stock of intestinal fortitude, a flak jacket, and a
personal body guard. Being black would be important as well.
Whatever you do, I sincerely wish you good luck. This system urgently needs reform.
Another problem is they see the district as a way to spend money in a budget. What they need to be doing is thinking of the district as a business. The business is educating students and how they can best do that WITH THE MONEY THEY ARE GIVEN. I think they should have closed some schools and closed them based on the student population in those schools with the most empty seats.
Posted by: Jason Morrison on July 25, 2005 05:43 PMAs for steve_dog, great intentions but I can tell you have never been on the "inside" of a public school system. You would soon be a dead doggie. Too bad, because it would be nice to have a voice that emphsized fixing the real problems of lack of discipline and poor curriculum. However, it wouldn't be too long before you were branded as insentive, racist, and hard hearted.
The proposed school closings caused a huge uproar because once again the administration tried to be politically correct. If you looked at a map of the proposed closings, half were in North Seattle and half were in South Seattle so feelings wouldn't get hurt. Poor performance was not part of the thought process (North Beach saw the math scores zoom up after switching to Saxon math). Not once have the administrators or the school board grown a spine to address the real problems. Instead they wring their hands and watch the private school enrollment skyrocket and insist more money is the answer.
No one in their right mind will get elected to the school board because it would just be tilting at windmills. (Hmmm...just for laughs, should we call up the current school board members and see if they know what literary work that phrase came from?)
Posted by: burdabee on July 25, 2005 10:19 PMFrom "burn baby burn" to "learn baby learn." He can educate the illegal aliens he so loves to have vote and teach them about history--esp. the 60's, wear his little beret and hold that fist up high--remember? Now he's solemnly passing laws & joining 'the establishment' he once fought to disrupt. Ain't history grand? People soon forget it and one can benefit by playing both sides of the law & win! Especially in a liberal town that repulses at any hint of not being tolerant to a fault.
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on July 26, 2005 10:27 AMYeah, you guys are right, but maybe in a few years, though...
Posted by: steve_dog on July 26, 2005 01:03 PMNot saying it would be a cake walk, but everyone can't be blind to common sense & results--they certainly are effective in their private lives. But--who wants to be an activist and a pariah on their job team--it's hard to buck the system, I agree. Why stress out as an outcast at work & then come home for more normal family daily life stress?
I can understand not making waves, but I don't think it's best--like a fat-loaded diet for your heart--no immediate pain, but pay the piper later big time! It's a tough call.
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on July 26, 2005 03:01 PMIf he runs with it, I see my next few months getting verrrryyy busy..
Posted by: bmvaughn on July 26, 2005 09:03 PM