Chris Reykdal, the current Superintendent of Public Education, needs to keep his job. In the face of COVID-19, Reykdal has been responsibly closing schools, navigating remote learning when 735,000 Washingtonians don’t have internet access, providing meals for the kids who relied on school for getting fed, and much more.
Reykdal does not have an easy job ahead of him this year, especially as it becomes clearer and clearer that opening schools might be a big fucking mess. Despite what Trump has said around opening schools completely, Reykdal has acknowledged that school won’t happen this year without some form of remote learning. Reykdal told the SECB he’d love to see the internet as a public utility, and that universal connectivity is “fundamental” to learning.
Aside from excelling at the job in the last few months, he’s running against some absolute bozos. The only other candidate who responded to our endorsement Zoom call (the event of the season, ask anyone) was David Spring, a so-called “Progressive” who only showed up to tell us that the coronavirus was fake, to yell about the comprehensive sexual health education bill that passed in the legislature last session, and to pitch his book. Spring doesn’t want kindergartners learning the kama sutra, which is all well and good since the sex ed bill that Reykdal spearheaded doesn’t do that! Reykdal said that it’s not okay that some people “want to live in the dark” on sex ed, and he’s right.
Reykdal is also fully aware of the racial inequities within the Washington school system. He and his staff are committed to anti-racist work, and they’re looking into fixing policies that create equity gaps. We’ll be watching. Vote Reykdal.
