Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle School Board Elections 2017 - District IV

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle School Board Elections 2017 - District IV:

Seattle School Board Elections 2017 - District IV

Editor's Note: in writing up my thoughts, opinions and reflections on candidates for the Seattle School Board, I used interviews (my own and the 36th Dems recorded interviews), Google, Facebook and Twitter searches.

The questions I asked were these:

1.  What was your own K-12 experience?
2.  How many years have you been in Seattle?
3.  How many students are in Seattle Schools and what is the name of the superintendent?
4.  Why are you running?
5.  What are your priorities or what do you think the priorities should be for SPS?
6.  What are your thoughts about closing the opportunity gap?
7.  The next Board will likely be choosing a new superintendent.  What qualities would you look for and does the next superintendent need to be an educator?
8.  What are your thoughts on charter schools?
9.  What are your thoughts on Special Education?
10. What are your thoughts on gifted education?
11. What are your thoughts on CTE?
12. What do you think the role of the City should be in public education?
13. What would you do to support homeless students in SPS?
14.  What are your thoughts on the need for downtown schools?

I'm not going put forth all the answers that every single candidate gave me.  But I will tease out key answers to give you an idea of the thoughts of each candidate.

For each race, I may or may not have a personal endorsement.

For District IV, far and away the best candidate is Eden Mack and I endorse her for this position.  Overall, she is the candidate who knows the district best.  As well, her legislative background would be an asset for a district to struggles to be known in Olympia.  

I found Lisa Melenyzer bright and thoughtful.  Her legal background as well as her work in data systems would be an asset on the Board.  As well, Sean Champagne was sincere and had clearly done his homework in speaking fairly knowledgeably on SPS issues.

I cannot recommend any of the other candidates, because they either do not know enough about the district in specific or education issues within the district and city. 

District IV
I finished interviews for the Board position for District IV which is being Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle School Board Elections 2017 - District IV: