Seattle School Board Candidate Sherry Carr

Sherry Carr
Running for Seattle School Board District 2

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?

I have made significant efforts to improve the SPS financial controls during my term on the Board. Working with my colleagues, consultants and other resources, I have led a response to the State Auditor's Office (SAO) finding that the Board lacks a governance structure necessary to hold the organization accountable for results and that financial controls are weak.

Establishing and maintaining a more effective governance structure will strengthen our financial controls and allow the district to avoid any problems or issues that have surfaced in the past. Here are the steps we are taking to ensure that a robust governance structure and strong financial controls are in place, and that the information the Board receives leads to informed, thoughtful decisions about our financial situation:

1. Define and implement a governance structure – This work included a structured annual calendar to ensure subjects are in front of the Board as required; implementation of an Audit committee (based on best practice); addition of 3-4 Oversight Work Sessions each year to review major systems; implementation of an Internal Audit function (based on best practice); addition of two public members to our Audit & Finance Committee to bring expertise in financial controls and accounting matters.
2. Restructure and update policies – We conducted two board retreats with a facilitator to develop our governance policies, ensuring they support the academic work that must be done in our district; we have contracted with WSSDA to hire a policy consultant. We are making progress with restructuring our policies to align with the standard among Washington State school districts; we have developed and passed a 1000 (governance), 4000 (Community Engagement) and 5000 (Human Resources) series of policies that defines and codifies our governance structure including roles and responsibilities, charters of committees, etc., and how we will conduct our governance work.
3. Establish robust supporting procedures – This work will follow and overlap the policy work. Some examples of work where staff has been asked to prove that procedures are in development or completed are Construction Management and Pay for K.
4. Improve Board's staff support to improve accountability – We reconstituted our School Board office and hired a staff person focused on policy and effective governance; we have hired a Director of Internal Audit that reports directly to the Chair of Audit & Finance; we have clarified that the General Counsel serves the Board ultimately and not the Superintendent; we have budgeted and contracted with an independent communications person to provide independent voice for the Board.
5. Improve Ethics policy and program – We have contracted with Seattle Ethics & Elections Commission and have designated their Executive Director as the Chief Ethics Officer as well as to provide outside support for Ethics investigations and guidance to the Board; we have conducted employee training regarding expectations of ethical behavior in SPS; we have implemented an Ethics hot-line; we are implementing a whistle-blower program. When put in place, these steps will allow us to make more efficient policy decisions and effectively tighten our financial controls.

How will you shield children in the classroom from the impact of district budget cuts?

Cuts to our district budget are extremely painful for everyone involved with the Seattle Public Schools – including the board members who have to decide where to allocate our remaining resources. We must continue working hard to utilize the money we do have in the most effective way possible to support our children. SPS has experienced four consecutive years of budget shortfalls totaling in excess of $100M. Ultimately the answer is to work closely with our state legislature to amply fund public education and I'm committed to that set of actions. Additionally, we must begin to look at structural changes that will enable us to continue to deliver services to students at a lower cost.

As Chair of Audit & Finance, I led the Board work in establishing a set of ‘guiding principles' to guide staff in their work on the budget and allocation of resources in these challenging economic times. Like anything, a balance must be struck and we cannot simply work a single issue. The first five (in bold) are in priority order, with the others included to note importance:

• Student achievement and academic instruction is the core of our work – a sustainable level of funding for our schools is essential to success and to allow innovation
• Ensure lean, healthy infrastructure exists to support instruction, employees and organization decision making
• Remain committed to our strategic plan; continually evaluate, modify and prioritize as results and resource limitations require
• Support the work required to respond to the State Auditor's findings
• Ensure supports are in place for employees impacted by job losses
• Identify and prioritize opportunities to improve operational efficiency
• Continue planned investment to reduce chronic maintenance backlog
• Remain a legally compliant organization
• Use future budget year projections to inform current year decisions
• Keep in mind the long-term consequences of any budget decision

These principles have served us well and we have been mostly successful shielding classrooms from cuts through the past four years – though the deep level of shortfall has resulted in some impacts. Our focus has been on efficiency and process improvements in support functions (Transportation, Nutrition Services) as well as right-sizing where we showed excess relative to other school districts (an example was a one-third reduction in Central Administration).

Reductions from the state have been predicted to continue. Moving forward we need to look for innovative ideas and structural change to address future cuts. As the Chair of Audit & Finance, I am working with staff to develop an approach where we engage a broad network of stakeholders to develop creative ideas. Examples might include leveraging on-line learning as a way of not having to add brick and mortar school facilities and overhead staff, considering a competency based progression system vs. the current ‘seat time' approach, etc.

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.

The Seattle Public Schools is an organization so large and of such extreme social importance to our city that it deserves nothing less than the best leader we can find. Dr. Enfield has done an exceptional job stepping into the role of Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools under particularly challenging circumstances. I greatly appreciate her inspiring leadership, her willingness to reach out to teachers and families, and to address the challenging issues our district faces. More important to me than what I think is that the Board hears from families, teachers and the public about the qualities they are looking for in the next Superintendent. As Seattle Council PTSA President, I hosted these meetings during the last Superintendent search. The process generates valuable information for consideration as the Board faces the decision whether to conduct a national search. The guidance resulting from outreach to teachers, families, and the public must drive the decision in question.

I can share my thinking about the qualities and attributes the next Superintendent should possess (not order significant):

• Be a highly qualified and trained educator that can chart the course. The individual must know and understand what strategies and tactics are best practice and supported by research. They must be knowledgeable and open to emerging approaches that are demonstrating results. He or she must be willing to lay out a plan that incorporates these practices and propose adjustments to the existing Strategic Plan to achieve the intended outcomes. They must be willing to adjust when the feedback and evidence indicates the need.
• Hold high expectations of every employee in Seattle Public Schools. Expectations of employees, regardless of what department they are in, must align with the vision and the desired results for students. Expectations must be supported with a system of accountability that provides data/evidence that employees are meeting the expectations.
• Be a strong leader that creates alignment and inspires the employees and the community. Organizations move forward when the people working in the organization are working in the same direction i.e., aligned and pursuing the same path. While SPS has had a solid Strategic Plan and roadmap, the team has not been aligned on that plan. The ability to create alignment and make the necessary plan adjustments to achieve the desired outcomes is pivotal to inspiring the behavior required to deliver results. Success will require the hearts, minds and passion of every employee in SPS and the support of the community.
• Must possess a strong sense of urgency that will drive employees to ‘find a way'. While recognizing that real and sustainable results will take persistence and time, for a sense of urgency must permeate the organization. That urgency must drive employees to find a way every day to meet the needs of students to achieve the desired academic outcomes. Complacency must be a thing of the past.
• Understand the community's values. The next Superintendent must be willing to listen to the community and look for ways to weave in their values and address their concerns.
• Have a demonstrated track record of successful management of the support areas (HR, Finance, Operations, etc.). The individual must be willing to hire strong talent in these areas and set high expectations for those employees. He/she must demonstrate engagement in the issues and accountability of the department leaders. This includes a management system for regularly collecting information and evidence of performance to goals by these individuals.
• I would look at the track record of the individual in terms of demonstrated evidence and results in determining their commitment to innovation and data-driven decision making. I would look for evidence that the individual values benchmarking and collaboration with their professional colleagues at both the local and national level.

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?

Meaningful community engagement is the creation of genuine partnerships with parents that are leveraged to advance outcomes for students. Ensuring parents feel connected to their school and our district is vital. Specifically:

• Ensure we have a Superintendent that values engagement with families and lives that value every day. Ensure his/her performance evaluation includes robust family engagement as a measure.
• Use more consistently our Community Engagement framework which defines the levels of engagement that can be applied for any decision facing the Board.
• Ensure we are clear with families when to engage on issues. Issues are often in work for months before being introduced for a vote. Input is needed from families all along the way. The process followed to create school boundaries was a good example of parent engagement that was used to shape the ultimate outcome.
• Leverage use of parent advisory committees when considering topics that have high impact to families. An example of this is the Capacity Management committee that was established recently to consider overcrowding and issues of enrollment.
• Consider best practices currently in place in Boston Public Schools and elsewhere that have resulted in genuine community engagement.
• Develop a set of ‘working together' principles that outline how we will conduct ourselves in order to create an environment of respect. The principles should honor and celebrate racial and cultural differences, and use these differences as a source of strength upon which we can build.
• Continue our work on the Community Schools model that will leverage the relationships with community volunteers, social service and youth service organizations to drive improved academic outcomes for students. This strategy in particular is focused on engagement with low-income families and communities of color.
• Implement a 360-degree performance evaluation process that enables families to score the Board, the Superintendent, and their principal on how effectively they engaged their families.
• Work with philanthropic organizations for funding or obtain pro-bono services from companies that are experts in the area of public engagement.

What is your opinion on the Teach for America teachers coming into SPS? Are there enough qualified teachers applying for SPS positions?

Teach for America (TFA) teachers have demonstrated compelling results in classrooms, particularly with low income, disadvantaged students. Further, TFA has attracted qualified talent from demographic groups that are not well represented in our existing teaching core. TFA teachers are not unqualified but rather qualified via alternate means. Many bring much-needed backgrounds in science and math, and they come from demographic groups underrepresented in our existing teaching core.

It was remarkable to learn how many of our existing SPS teachers came forward and shared that they started with TFA. Currently there is a large pool of qualified candidates given the severe budget reductions across the country, and I see the TFA recruits as part of that pool. As with any hiring decision, it comes down to the individual and how they stack up against the others in consideration for the position.

Our Board worked with staff to create a proposal that empowered the principal and their building leadership team to make the decision to hire TFA teachers based on the needs of their students. I support empowering principals to hire teachers from all the available qualified candidates (whether traditionally or alternatively certified) that best meet the needs of their students in their classrooms. I don't see hiring of TFA teachers as a major strategy for driving change but rather another available tactic for principals to consider as they strive for improved results for their students.

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?

Seattle Public Schools, like most public institutions, has an aging infrastructure and faces challenges funding the necessary maintenance, repair, and rebuilding. We have had a robust capital program with our Building Excellence (BEX) levies for several decades and the result has been many new and modernized school buildings for our students. The current economic climate makes ample funding a greater challenge, but does not leave us without potential solutions:

• With the 2011-12 budget, we moved several maintenance functions to the capital budget. This will ensure the work does not get eliminated as a result of deep general fund budget shortfalls.
• The silver lining of our current economic situation is that there are more bidders on each project and jobs are completing under the budgeted or planned costs. This means great value to our taxpayers. Improvements to by-project performance reporting will enable tighter controls and a greater ability to capture under-runs to invest in new/other projects.
• We have hired a Director of Internal Audit to test our financial controls and make recommendations for improvement. In addition, there will be a .5 auditor who will be tasked to focus specifically on capital project financial controls. This will result in improvements and potential drive additional available dollars.
• Staff has recently (past few months) implemented changes to the construction contracting and construction management procedures. These changes will improve how staff manages construction projects and result in tighter controls.

What changes (if any) do you think are needed in the district's new student assignment plan?

Our new student assignment plan has been broadly popular with families and increased enrollment has been the result. The plan responded to decades of feedback requesting neighborhood schools while still maintaining some choice options. Our process ensures that each year we have the opportunity to address changes to the plan.

With only one complete year of experience, it has been a challenge to understand which issues are a result of the transition from the old plan to the new plan, and which are structural. I believe the following items should be considered for change or at least for review (not order significant):

• The early data for year two indicates that some schools will require boundary adjustments. Those must be addressed.
• We must continue to accommodate out of attendance area siblings to every extent possible.
• We must continue the improvements to capacity planning and provision for potential/anticipated growth in enrollment.
• Newly reopened schools and under-enrolled existing schools must have programmatic investments to draw enrollment. McDonald School is a good example of this. Year one drew relatively few students but with the implementation of language immersion, year two drew four kindergarten classes. Similarly, the addition of AP/IB at Ingraham High School is another example.
• We must continue to invest and focus on improvement at our southeast Seattle schools to ensure the same high-quality opportunities for families in that area of the city.
• We must develop a sustainable plan for supporting APP growth in Seattle Public Schools.
• A review of the choice offerings across the city is necessary to ensure equitable opportunities for students. Ensuring that language immersion, Montessori, expeditionary learning or other alternative learning formats, and STEM are available to all students is a priority. Today those options are limited by where the student lives.

What do you think is the district's number one problem and how would you try to solve it?

I believe the number one issue facing SPS is closing the achievement/opportunity gap. To that end, I see the following as tactics to employ:

• Implement the ‘Community Schools' policy and model. Provide the wrap around services on site to students; ensure that volunteer efforts are coordinated and focused on the central mission of the building and on the students in order to maximize the results of the volunteer hours.
• Implement the SPS/SEA collective bargaining agreement negotiated teacher performance evaluations that tie improvements in student outcomes to teacher performance.
• Complete curriculum alignment. Ensure that the required content is included in coursework based on learning standards so that all students are offered equitable access to a high quality education.
• Conduct focused professional development for teachers to improve instructional quality.
• Conduct focused professional development for principals to improve quality of instructional leadership
• Increase use of and emphasis on data and evidence of actual student outcomes.
• Increase investment in Early Learning in order to close the gap that currently exists as soon as students enter school.
• Offer extended day/extended year opportunities for students to increase learning contact time and reduce knowledge loss during out of school time.
• Employ structured and tiered interventions for struggling students
• Increase the emphasis on high expectations. Set the bar high and challenge each student to achieve high levels of performance; increase access to rigorous APP, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Honors courses.
• Apply targeted reduction to student/teacher ratios. Research shows that results can be demonstrated where student/teacher ratios are at 15:1. Given the financial impact, efforts in this area will have to be targeted.