Martha McLaren
Running for Seattle School Board District 6
What have you done or what would you do to ensure that adequate financial controls are in place at the district? How do you plan to ensure that the information you receive about financial issues and other SPS issues from SPS staff is accurate?
Refuse to rubber stamp – make a stink when staff insists on presenting recommendations which have failed to meet legal and policy guidelines.
In the past, I have challenged the district's spending on expensive, mathematically unsound textbooks. As a challenger, I'm educating myself on the various causes of financial mismanagement. I plan to ask questions and to hold the line against proceeding with approval of financial decisions until the questions have been answered and problems have been resolved. The present Board regularly approves expenditures which go over budget and which have not met the requirements of transparency to the public. I intend to strongly resist this practice by voting "No," and challenging the district staff to fulfill the legal obligation of full transparency.
How will you shield children in the classroom from the impact of district budget cuts?
This can best be done at the building level; expensive "top-down" initiatives must be curtailed; resources should be directed towards the buildings with more control by principals and staffs. Parents need to have a voice in the building level conversations about best use of resources to minimize the impact of budget shortages on students.
Do you support keeping Susan Enfield on as Superintendent? Should Seattle conduct a national search for a superintendent? Why or why not on both questions.
I'm reserving judgment about the interim Superintendent. She comes from a flawed administration, made a hugely mistaken decision about the principal at Ingraham, and has been a strong supporter of Teach for America's presence in Seattle, which is unnecessary and a disservice to students. She seems to be attempting to listen to the community – however, I'm not certain that she is interested in true community engagement, or that she believes that the community, through the board, should provide leadership for schools.
If we have a search, I would hope that we would seek local talent first; the Puget Sound and Western Washington region has numerous talented education professionals.
How do you plan to reach out to parents who feel frustrated or unheard with the school board or SPS administration? What new ideas do you have about public engagement, particular with SPS parents?
It's necessary to go to various communities, establish connections, and work with each group to find good venues for communication. We must go into this process WITHOUT preconceived agendas, and to be willing to hear what community members want and what their ideas are.
What is your opinion on the Teach for America teachers coming into SPS? Are there enough qualified teachers applying for SPS positions?
Please see my answer to #3, above. Seattle has a talented and extraordinarily committed corps of teachers; TfA is not needed here and it serves students poorly to replace seasoned teachers with novices trained for 5 weeks.
Many of our schools have needed re-building, retrofitting and repair. What can be done to ensure that capital funds are used appropriately in the future to this end?
The board needs to stand up against the practice of letting buildings decay and promoting new construction – seen as "good" for certain business interests. This does not make good use of our assets and our capital. We need to put much more of our capital into maintenance, re-building, retrofitting and repair. Levies can now be re-purposed after approval by voters; this has allowed funds to be diverted away from maintenance. This needs to be curtailed.
What changes (if any) do you think are needed in the district's new student assignment plan?
A complicated question; authentic, meaningful community input would be essential to inform a more reasonable plan that works for all families. Underlying the topic is the issue of funding; appealing as is the idea that money should follow students, this destabilizes schools and undermines their integrity. Instead of being cooperative, collaborative communities, schools become competitors – competing for students. This is uncivilized and destructive, and has resulted in overcrowded schools on the one hand, and under-supported schools on the other.
We need to support all existing programs, but also commit to meeting the demand for schools by adding portables on a year-to-year basis. Good programs may see their populations ebb and flow, but without having to compete, they will be strengthened as a result of being stable; the demand for less overcrowded conditions will naturally draw students to the smaller schools and there will be a healthy equilibrium.
What do you think is the district's number one problem and how would you try to solve it?
I think the number one problem is the set of obstacles to clear communication within school communities, between schools and the district and between the district and the Board and wider community. The lack of authentic community engagement can be traced to a failure of good faith effort by the district; the culture of intimidation among the district's employees has existed and intensified over recent years. As a result, a vast array of problems cannot be addressed because people are afraid to point to them, for fear of losing their jobs or possibly inviting subtle retribution against their children. These things need to be talked about in real dialogue, not district-orchestrated events.
