Charter School Commission appointees include 2 with local ties

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Since voters approved an initiative allowing charter schools in our state, a Charter School Commission had to be set up to oversee them, and appointees were announced this week. Among them: West Seattle resident Steve Sundquist, who served one term on the Seattle School Board before losing his re-election bid in 2011, and Technology Access Foundation head Trish Millines Dziko, a Vashon resident whose organization is headquartered at the new Bethaday Learning Space in White Center’s Lakewood Park. The official announcement of the appointments is here.

B March 8, 2013 (11:55 am)

Great, so Steve Sundquist, who was responsible for numerous fiascos at SPS (including the Discovery Math debacle, which he never did own up to), now gets to be one who decides how charter schools happen.

Great job governor – we the voters KICKED OUT Steve Sundquist, and you go and put him back in.

Happiness March 8, 2013 (12:37 pm)

I don’t have anything against Mr Sundquist. I did vote for him to be re-elected.
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But it does seem surprising that someone – anyone – who was voted out off of the school board would then be appointed to an official government commission to basically circumvent that school board. It doesn’t seem like how a democracy should operate in principle.

Happiness March 8, 2013 (12:41 pm)

At the very least, it seems he should recluse himself from any decisions involving Seattle. But I’m not sure that is possible if the commission is working up statewide policies and procedures.

WSB March 8, 2013 (12:50 pm)

It may well have just been a harried writer’s mistake but the always-thorough Seattle Schools Community Forum folks, which noticed this long before we did, pointed out that the governor’s office originally claimed he had spent a decade on the board, then amended to “several years” – http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2013/03/charter-commission-members.html

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