Frequently Asked Questions

1. How will you ensure academic excellence for every student?

I will start by focusing on three immediate changes.

  1. Set academic goals that reflect all students and disaggregate by subpopulations. Every family should be able to see their student in the district’s goals and know the district is committed to providing the programs that challenge and support them, no matter where they are - geographically and academically. 

  2. Align resources to goals using data and research. That the district is prioritizing academic excellence should be visible in its decisions - from staffing to enrollment to the budget. And these decisions must be based on data of what works - like employing intensive 1:1 tutoring to close academic performance gaps. 

  3. Revisit district policies that are not serving students well. Grading and attendance policies changed temporarily during COVID, but attendance and academic performance still have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The district should work with schools and teachers to address both issues. And the district should reassert its commitment to providing services to highly capable students.

2. What are the most important steps SPS can take to improve student and staff physical safety—both on campus and during travel to and from school?

Our schools sit in a city that still struggles with gun violence. Lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders are too common in many schools and are incredibly damaging to learning environments. The safety of our students must be a shared responsibility with the district, the City, and community partners. Together they must focus on three initial areas: 

  1. Track Data - Use city crime data and school-level lock-down and shelter in place data to identify where students are most at-risk, and ask the City to improve protective measures in those areas especially during school transit times. 

  2. Use alternative interventions - Evaluate which alternative interventions have a track record of success using both involvement and incident data, and reinvest in those that work. 

  3. Support school-level decisions - Help school communities look at the data and options for creating safe schools and surrounding communities, and support a range of different partnerships and track outcomes. 

3. How would you ensure that the rights of every student in Seattle Public Schools are protected?

Every student and staff member deserves to feel welcome and safe in Seattle schools, regardless of their gender, origin, religion, race, or any other factor. To ensure this, the district must:

  1. Safeguard student privacy so that every student knows that their personal records will not be shared

  2. Train every staff member to combat racism, bullying, anti-semitism, and other unwelcoming behavior

  3. Create accountability mechanisms, starting with using the annual student and staff surveys to ensure that students feel protected and welcome

  4. Share information - within the confines of all laws, Seattle should work with community groups to provide Know Your Rights training to students and staff concerned about their immigration status.

4. What will you do to fix Seattle’s budget deficit?

There are at least three elements that need to be addressed to create fiscal stability for Seattle Public Schools. 

  1. Advocate for state revenue - The state continues to underfund key elements of public education, including special education services, transportation, adjustments for inflation, regional equalization concerns, etc. Seattle should continue to join with other districts around the state to advocate for addressing these shortfalls.

  2. Grow enrollment - Every student enrolled in the district carries an average funding allotment of ~$20K. If the district attracted enough families to return to its most recent enrollment peak of 53K (2018-19), that would bring in an additional ~$80M. But families are opting out - and it started before COVID. In the 2012-13 school year, 72% of the city’s 5 year olds enrolled in SPS kindergarten. In the Fall of 2019, only 54% of eligible kindergartners chose SPS (and that catchment rate remains ~53%). To attract families to SPS, the school board first must commit to creating the schools and programs they are asking for. (Source)

  3. Be transparent about cost-cutting options and trade-offs - State revenue and enrollment growth will take time, but any cost-cutting decisions need to be presented as a list of options that union partners and parents can weigh in on. And the district must be transparent about any disproportionate impact of each option.

5. Do you support charter schools?

No. I also do not support vouchers that allow families to use resources intended for public schools in private or parochial settings.