It was about 15 minutes before the end of tonight’s school-board candidates forum on the lawn at Pathfinder K-8 when our internet-attuned ears really perked up.
First, Dan Dempsey (photo left), one of 4 contenders for the West Seattle-centered District 6 seat that Irene Stewart is giving up, declared he has multiple blogs on his campaign website, but isn’t getting much feedback yet. (Reviewing his site, it appears he’s put up more discussion boards than blogs, but nice gesture anyway!)
Then, answering the same audience question about ways the board could improve communication with the public, District 1 candidate Peter Maier (photo right) offered his observation that the official Seattle Public Schools website just isn’t particularly easy to use — tough to access documents, etc.
Understatement of the night, from our quarters (and not just us; a fair amount of those in attendance laughed knowingly). But as she rose next to answer the same communication question, District 2 incumbent Darlene Flynn (photo left) was clearly not amused, retorting sharply, “That website didn’t even HAVE documents on it four years ago.”
Not surprisingly, given the rocky year the school board has had, Flynn and the other incumbent in attendance, Sally Soriano (photo right), spent a lot of their time defending and detailing what they believe to be their key first-term accomplishments. But that was really a small part of a fascinating evening that probably helped clarify a lot of August 21 (and beyond) decisions … much more after the click:
Kudos to the PTSAs of host school Pathfinder K-8, plus their co-sponsoring counterparts from Alki Elementary, Arbor Heights Elementary, Sanislo Elementary, and West Seattle High School, for putting on a nicely coordinated event. Even the sound system rocked. But we digress. Back to who was there and what was said …
To backtrack into a little context, we will only be voting on District 6 candidates in the primary, but then the entire city votes on every Seattle School Board race in the fall. This is why, along with the four candidates for District 6 — who will be winnowed to two after the 8/21 results are in — candidates from the other districts were invited too.
Besides Danaher, the WS contenders are Edwin Fruit, Maria Ramirez, and Steve Sundquist. All four are earnest and well-spoken, and so different that voters have truly clear choices.
After an hour of mingling, each candidate got to make a 3-minute (or so) speech; after those were all done, each got to answer both pre-submitted audience questions read by the moderator. We’re not going to go into a lot of biography or background here, since you can read that on the candidates’ websites and in the voter guides.
Ramirez (photo left), a community activist, was up first. The main point of her speech: Parents need to get more involved in schools. This was also her theme in answering the first audience question (“how will we close the ‘achievement gap’?”) — she admitted, “I don’t know how we’re going to do it … but we’re going to do it by parents coming together.”
Second to speak: Fruit (photo right), a packing-plant worker who makes no bones about being the “Socialist Workers candidate” in what’s supposed to be a nonpartisan election. Given that, if you are familiar with socialist politics, you can probably guess at the gist of his speech, and his later answers, which included a side anecdote about how literacy blossomed in Cuba after the 1959 revolution. Notable point: The need to “reorganize” society so that “education becomes a priority.”
Third up, Dempsey, a retired math teacher. He exhibited the most passion of anyone who spoke, and offered the most specifics. Example: He advocated the most forcefully for smaller class sizes, and offered some suggestions for where the money might be found — he takes issue with what he says is the district’s allocation of more than $4 million for a certain teacher-development program. Regarding the audience Q about closing the “achievement gap,” he suggested the district has a stack of recommendations on what to do, but just doesn’t follow them.
Fourth and final of the WS candidates, retired investment expert Steve Sundquist (photo left), first to pepper campaign signs around WS this year, and not surprisingly, the candidate exhibiting the most polished politician-like presence at tonight’s event. He says he is focused on “trying to increase the public’s confidence in the school board,” and he hopes to do that by setting a personal example as a confidence-inspiring board member. He was the only one, later, to answer the “achievement gap” question with suggestions including looking for philanthropic $ to help meet that goal. by suggesting (among other things) looking for philanthropic $.
Since we won’t be voting on any of the other candidates here in WS till November, we’ll just touch quickly on their noteworthy points:
First, District 2 (North Seattle), which has five contenders: incumbent Flynn and challengers Sherry Carr, Patrick Kelley, Lisa Stuebing, and Courtney Hill. Only Flynn and Stuebing spoke at tonight’s forum; Carr apparently was on hand for the mingling but left before the speeches (her campaign manager read a statement). Flynn says it’s vital to fight for “adequate” education funding; Stuebing says she’s analyzed successful school districts and found they share three traits — focus on relationships with families, focus on relationships with the communities outside school grounds, treat teachers like professionals.
District 1 and District 3 have only two candidates each, so they all go directly to the November general election. Both contenders from District 1 attended — incumbent Soriano and challenger Maier. She echoed the call for smaller class sizes; he suggested that the district focus on the schools that are working the best (he listed two examples from outside WS, Maple and Van Asselt) and work to replicate their successes in other facilities.
From District 3, where Brita Butler-Wall is not re-running, candidate David Blomstrom didn’t show up, 
but Harium Martin-Morris (photo right) did, displaying a calm but intense, persuasive, dryly humorous style as he talked about his career as a teacher turned consultant, noting, “I know what works, and I know the people who know what works.” He also drew wry chuckles by commenting on Seattle’s alleged abundance of smart people, saying, “You can’t sling a dead cat without hitting a Ph.D. in this town — (so with all those smart people) we should be able to solve our problems.”
Hard to argue with that.
Besides following the links we’ve included, you can find out more about the school-board candidates in the online voters’ pamphlet.
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