When I interviewed Susan Enfield after her first week as the Seattle School District’s interim superintendent, I pointed out that an important test for her would be to do something that shows how she’s different from former superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who was fired for her lack of oversight over $1.8 million in questionable expenses in a district program.
Today, four weeks into her new job, Enfield announced her priorities for the remainder of the school year, the bulk of which consist of continuing with programs and strategies that already exist. Given that it’s already April, and school ends in June, it sort of makes sense not to suddenly disrupt ongoing programs, but, as Enfield mentions, report back to her staff in early May about what she’s “learned and heard” and how that might be incorporated into the district’s future plans.
At that time it will be important to see what, if any, new ideas surface.
Enfield plans to continue with Goodloe-Johnson’s five-year strategic plan, “with an eye to making adjustments in light of budget constraints.” Enfield also says she wants to keep the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests which many people, including the teachers union, wants to see replaced with something better.
She says she wants teachers to use the MAP as a tool to tailor their instruction to meet the needs of individual students. She also plans to reorganize departments across finance, operation, and teaching and build partnerships between the central office and school staff to “better meet the needs of students.”
Enfied has made communication one of her top priorities (one of the biggest complaints against Goodloe-Johnson was her lack of communication skills), holding “office hours” from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. every Thursday. She’s already booked until June. There’s also the first “coffee with the superintendent” next Tuesday, March 29, from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Central Library, 1000 Fourth Avenue. More opportunities to meet with the superintendent—including a chance for teachers to have soup with her—can be found in the announcement.
She’s the right person for this job despite how she arrived there. I also believe she’ll be an asset when it comes to passing the mayor’s school’s levy.
Hey Riya, sorry to burst your bubble, but MGJ wasn’t fired because the union didn’t like her. She wasn’t fired for MAP testing or push for accountability or popular new score cards for schools. She wasn’t fired for the very popular new assignment plan.
What she WAS fired for was failing to control a runaway social justice program, a race pimping waste of money and the type of program you and other loony leftists happily champion.
So no, Enfield will continue these popular policies and you can stick to race pimping and social justice.
Wow. #2, with an outright lie about what the post clearly states in the first paragraph. So teabaggers really do operate that way.
Nope dope. Riya says Enfield has to show ‘how she’s different’ and then goes on to mention MAP testing, union disapproval, and all the other straw men the left throw up. She never mentions once what the issue was: unaccountable social justice programs. She’s been doing this since day one of this scandal, ignoring the real problem, failed race based policies of the far left.
Learn to read better.
#4.
Thank you. I stand corrected. Clearly, when Riya states MGJ “was fired for her lack of oversight over $1.8 million in questionable expenses in a district program,” she isn’t saying substantively the same thing as what you say, which is this: “What she WAS fired for was failing to control a runaway social justice program,” which you go on to describe further in colorful terms that aren’t necessary to the point being made. Well, not unless you say it is, anyway. Thanks again. I wish I had the chance to develop sharp thinking skills like yours when I was in school, but it’s too late now, and alas, I must remain the dope you identify me as and bow to your superior intelligence.
Then why, smart one, does Riya never talk about what this rogue program was all about, i.e. ‘racial justice’?
You leftists and social justice warriors are all into context except when your entire believe system is exposed for what it is: a racist, guilt driven, shake down.
Nope, let’s talk about the evils of testing and accountability.
Look squirrel!
There are three elements of Dr. Enfield’s statement that bear notice.
One is her focus on supporting struggling students. Under Dr. Goodloe-Johnson the focus was all on schools instead of students. Dr. Enfield is putting it where it belongs. That’s a positive difference.
Another is that Dr. Enfield’s focus regarding the MAP is to make it useful to teachers for guiding individualized instruction for students. When Dr. Goodloe-Johnson was in charge the focus on MAP was to generate data for the District for performance management purposes.
Finally, there is, of course, the focus on communication, collaboration, openness, honesty, and trust. In this case Dr. Enfield is no more credible than Dr. Goodloe-Johnson. Despite the talk about culture change, the actions are likely to be anemic and insincere.
By the way, the troll with comments 2, 4, and 6, you’re an un-informed idiot.
Dr. Goodloe-Johnson was fired because the Board got sick of her lies. She wasn’t fired for the fraud in the RSBDP – in which she had no role – but for the cover-up, which she led. And that was just the final brick in the load, the last in a chain of lies. She lied to the Board about sending a certified letter to every teacher, about the college-ready statistic, about her position with the NWEA, about the progress on the Strategic Plan, about the budget, about the negotiations with the teachers’ union, about nearly every single thing. They were also sick of her arrogance, her nasty disposition, and her insufferable hubris.
And lest we make the mistake of presuming to know the motivations of others, you could always review what the Board members said before they voted to fire her lying ass. They each said that they had to dismiss her because they could not rely on her to tell them the truth about anything.
Despite your contention, “Unaccountable social justice programs” were not a problem for the Board. Silas Potter reported to the Board on the RSBDP and the Board applauded him for his work.
The belief that Dr. Goodloe-Johnson was fired for the stuff that Silas Potter was doing is simplistic and wrong. It’s like believing that the Civil War was fought to free the slaves. Dr. Goodloe-Johnson was fired for the stuff that Dr. Goodloe-Johnson was doing.