Four Candidates Vie for District 5 School Board Seat
By Lynn Schnaiberg
Despite Monday’s textbook-perfect weather, scores of parents and concerned residents traded the outdoor temptations of midsummer on July 20 for a chance to hear the four candidates vying for the District 5 seat on the Seattle School Board.
In the fast-approaching Aug. 18 mail-in primary, voters in Districts 5 and 7 will advance the top two vote getters to the Nov. 3 general election. (Current school board president Michael DeBell, of District 4, is running unopposed and therefore will not appear on primary ballots.) Voters citywide will have a chance to cast school board votes in the Nov. 3 general election.
Three of the seven board positions are up for election this year: District 4, covering Magnolia and Queen Anne and parts of NW Seattle; District 5, encompassing the Central District, downtown, the International District, and parts of Capitol Hill; and District 7, covering South Seattle (see below for information on which seats represent which schools and a link to District maps).
At the July 20 candidate forum, issues of stability and predictability – and the lack of both in the school system – surfaced numerous times. Of the 11 schools represented by the District 5 seat, seven were either closed or saw programs discontinued or relocated for the coming fall. Two-term school board member Mary Bass, who is running to keep her seat and whose re-election signs were the only ones visible outside the forum, was one of two board members to vote in January against the closures.
Other issues discussed included the new student assignment plan and the move toward neighborhood schools, equitable program access, authentic community engagement and teacher effectiveness and retention.
Bass, a lifelong Central District resident and product of Seattle schools, is known as an advocate for equity, improving academic achievement and maintaining strong oversight and accountability in District finances. She holds a masters’ in public administration and works in the King County Department of transportation traffic engineering.
Bass emphasized her outreach efforts, noting that she launched regular community meetings in District 5, a practice several other board members have since adopted. Her endorsements to date include the King County Women’s Political Caucus, the 37th District Democrats, 11th Legislative District Democrats and King County Councilmember Larry Gossett. She said she has worked to find common ground with other board members, but has often been a voice of dissent in board votes, calling her “no” votes “votes of conscience.”
Candidate Andre Helmstetter expressed the need to “move the board along” to being more responsive to District 5 concerns. The only candidate with children currently in the Seattle public schools, Helmstetter emphasized the need to redirect resources into classrooms to support students and quality teachers. He said the lack of predictability and stability in the Seattle schools was what led him initially to private schools and homeschooling before enrolling his daughter in public school (he has a fourth grader at T.T. Minor Elementary and a four-year-old).
Helmstetter said school board members need to “get your feet on the street” to find out what communities want from their schools. He has worked in the technology industry managing quality assurance teams, owns a local restaurant, and has served on the Squire Park Community Council and T.T. Minor PTSA. His endorsements include Barbara Kelley, Seattle Council PTSA Central Area Director and Amy Hagopian, a former Seattle school board member.
Challenger Joanna Cullen emphasized the need to hold all elected officials – city council, the mayor, and state lawmakers – accountable so that schools are “thriving, not surviving.” Cullen said she would mobilize political will among elected officials to influence the school board. The mother of two Garfield High School graduates, Cullen said she wants to empower parents as advocates and ensure the move toward neighborhood schools is done well and doesn’t “force people to go to schools they don’t buy into.” She has served on the board of Schools First, a grassroots, citizen-based group that seeks to pass school levies, served two terms as Seattle Council PTSA President, worked in leadership positions on school-level PTSAs and committees, and is a member of the Squire Park Community Council board.
Candidate Kay Smith-Blum, co-owner and CEO of European apparel store Butch Blum and mother of three sons, two of whom graduated from Garfield High, sees students as her “clients” and calls herself “data-driven.” She said she has long weighed running for school board, but that the school District’s “knee-jerk” process in crafting a new student assignment plan was one of the main reasons she jumped into the race. Smith-Blum, who has been active in philanthropy for area schools and children’s causes and served on several schools’ PTSA boards, called for relying on best practices from Seattle and beyond, creating more public/private partnerships, moving toward a K-8 system, and beginning foreign language instruction in pre-K or kindergarten. Endorsements include James Kelly, president of Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle; State Reps. Mary Lou Dickerson, 36th District; Jamie Pederson, 43rd District; Skip Priest, 30th District; Dan McGrady, board member of Communities and Parents for Public Schools of Seattle (CPPS).
Meantime, three candidates are running for the District 7 South Seattle seat; the incumbent, Cheryl Chow, is not seeking re-election. School board positions are nonpartisan and unpaid (other than a maximum $4,800-a-year stipend for attending meetings)and members are elected to four-year terms.
To participate in the Aug. 18 primary, new Washington state voters have until Aug. 10 to register to vote in person at the King County elections office in Renton.
Upcoming Seattle Election Forum:
Candidates for the District 5 School Board position, as well as the candidates for City Council and Mayor will answer questions from the audience on Monday, July 27, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Mount Zion Baptist Church, 1634 19th Ave.
District 4: Current school board president Michael DeBell is running unopposed. Adams Elementary Ballard High School Catharine Blaine K-8 The Center School Coe Elementary Hay Elementary Lawton Elementary McClure Middle School Salmon Bay K-8 Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center West Woodland Elementary
Two-term incumbent Mary Bass seeks re-election in District 5, which includes: Garfield High School Gatzert Elementary Leschi Elementary Lowell Elementary Madrona K-8 Meany Middle School Nova High School Stevens Elementary Thurgood Marshall T.T. Minor Elementary Washington Middle School
District 7 schools – with three candidates seeking the seat being vacated by incumbent Cheryl Chow – include: African American Academy K-8 Aki Kurose Middle School Beacon Hill Elementary Brighton Elementary Cleveland High School Dearborn Park Elementary Dunlap Elementary Emerson Elementary Franklin High School Graham Hill Elementary Hawthorne Elementary Kimball Elementary Maple Elementary Mercer Middle School John Muir Elementary Orca Elementary South Shore (formerly The New School) Rainier Beach High School Van Asselt Elementary Wing Luke Elementary
