South Seattle School Board Race

10/28/2009

Four candidates are running for two seats on the Seattle School Board. The winner of one race will represent south Seattle.

Wilson Chin had a full morning ahead of him on a recent rainy Saturday. He had a fundraiser at a restaurant in Columbia City. Then he was supposed to run over to someone's house to put together campaign signs. Former Seattle City Council candidate Venus Velazquez introduced Chin at the fundraiser. She was impressed at his ability to dissect numbers.

Velazquez: "And he sort of blew me away with that analysis. And I thought, 'I'd like somebody like that on the school board, who's gonna ask those tough questions.'"

Velazquez admits she really wanted Chin to just say he would fix her problem. She met with him because she had concerns about her kids' education in south Seattle. Chin is an HIV researcher for the University of Washington. His criticisms of the school district and the school board tend to be reluctant and polite; except for this one.

Chin: "I've been looking at some of the data that the district has been generating, and it's just, I mean, if they were in the sciences, they'd be drummed out."

Chin says his background as a scientist makes him question the sources of data, and how they're used. For example, this summer the district announced it performed better than the state average on the WASL standardized test.

Chin: "On the surface, yes, it looks good. You know. We should celebrate our successes. But what does the data really say? And the data says, OK, we're comparing an apple to an orange."

Because, he says, the Seattle School District is so much bigger than any other district in Washington state. It is. A big district with a big budget problem, and a dropout rate around 30 percent.

Patu: "If we just talk about it, and look at data and continue to do research, we'll never be able to move those things."

Betty Patu worked in Seattle Public Schools for over 32 years. She coordinated dropout prevention and other intervention programs at all grade levels. Most recently she worked at Rainier Beach High School as an intervention specialist. One of her techniques was to observe a misbehaving student for weeks, take notes, then talk to the student and the parent to figure out what to do. Patu observed a macho basketball player for weeks, and told his mom what he was up to. And his mom said,

Patu: "'I'll come in and I'll hold his hand for a whole week.'"

And Patu said, "OK."

Patu: "She was with him for a whole week and held his hand whether he wanted her to or not. You know, after that week, he was the best kid. He never misbehaved."

Patu says the kid didn't talk to her for months. But she thinks there's a good chance he'll come back to thank her. Because it's happened before. She says she achieved results with that kid, and others, through collaboration with parents and school staff. And she would want to bring that approach to the school board. But Patu stays mum on what kinds of motions she would write as a board member. Like Chin, she says she would want to develop details with parents and fellow board members.

The wife of former SuperSonic Gary Payton threw a fundraiser for Patu last week at a Belltown bar. The crowd included two school principals, a magazine publisher, the board chair of the Alliance for Education and Dan Jurdy, Counselor and athletic director at Rainier Beach. He said he asked Patu why the intervention program she started for South Pacific Islanders at Rainier Beach had so many white kids and kids from other schools.

Jurdy: "She puts her hand on her hip, and she says to me, 'Jurdy, this is Seattle. Every one of those kids are our kids. So, I'm not gonna let any kid fail.' You know what? I don't see that commitment from a lot of people."

Patu got a plaque that night from Monique Payton to commend her for years of service to children in Seattle.

Patu's biggest campaign donor is an NBA player. Jamal Crawford went to Rainier Beach and gave $5,000. But the Public Disclosure Commission says Chin is winning the money race. He's raised about $45,000 cash and has about $10,000 left. Patu has raised over $10,000 cash and has about $2,300 left. It's all small potatoes compared to a couple years ago. Back then, most of the successful candidates for school board raised six figures each. State law puts no limit on contributions for school board races.

All voters who live in the Seattle School District get to vote on school board members. The seat that represents central Seattle is also on the ballot, as is the seat in Ballard. That candidate runs unopposed.

Phyllis Fletcher, KUOW News.

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