Big Ideas VS Big Money: Support Sue Peters for School Board!
I first met Sue Peters at a gathering of the newly formed ESP Vision—Educators, Students, and Parents for a Better Vision of the Seattle Schools. When the investment banks and insurance companies sabotaged the global economy in 2008, we were told there wasn’t enough money to keep our schools open. Sue Peters didn’t believe it, and she was one of the lead activists who helped organize all of the schools slated for closure in a united effort to stop the school closures. Sue Peters argued then that the school closures were folly as the projections showed increases in school aged population in the very neighborhoods with schools slated for closure. She pointed out that the schools slated for closures served a population that was a majority students of color. And she pointed out that closing schools and then reopening them later will drain millions of dollars from the school district budget. While we were able to remove several schools from the list, in the end they went through with closing 5 schools.Sue Peters’ opposition to the closures has since been vindicated. The District is scrambling to deal with over-enrollment, the Department of Education is investigating the Seattle Public Schools for disproportionate discipline and the 2008 school closures that targeted schools serving predominantly students of color, and it is now widely acknowledged that school closings were disruptive and a disastrous policy in Seattle.
Since that time, I have seen Sue become one of the most articulate and inspiring spokespeople for public education in the city of Seattle. Her article, “15 Reasons Why the Seattle School District Should Shelve the MAP® Test—ASAP” provided teachers at Garfield the research they needed to organize and refuse to give the test. Her co-founding of the Parents Across America chapter in Seattle has