Platform and Accomplishments

Overall, our schools in Spokane are working well and educational achievement for most students is improving. Teachers and staff are committed and working hard for our kids. Many innovative school choice programs are in place. Disparities in educational outcomes and discipline are decreasing. Therefore, I am happy to stand on my record as a board member these last seven years. Below are some highlights related to action taken by the school board and reasoning for my support. 

SPS Accomplishments since 2017:

• New middle school model
  • In 2017, the district was faced with a challenge: Meet new state standards for lower class sizes in early grades (K-3) while physically accommodating all students. SPS conducted an extensive process to engage our community and get input from students, parents, and staff. The result was a recommendation to the school board to move from a K-6 Elementary model with 7-8 Middle School to K-5 and 6-8. This change has now been made in north Spokane and South will follow this fall. Because the community supported new middle schools in the 2018 bond, sixth graders will have their own distinct “neighborhoods” in the new buildings, giving them the community and support needed to transition successfully. As a graduate of SPS, the two-year middle school model felt uncomfortable to me. Three years in middle will allow families, students, and teacher to get to know their school and each other. Education is all about relationships and community, so I’m very hopeful that these changes will lead to significant improvements in learning and mental health for our middle schoolers.
• School safety and discipline reforms
  • When I started my board term, SPS allowed for the arrest of elementary school students by its own staff. SPS also employed outdated forms of discipline like locking students in padded rooms. These practices were not the fault of the staff members trying to ensure safety but rather were natural choices based on the system in place. Today, our district no longer operates under this system because we can supportand help our kids overcome hardships while creating safe schools for all. We have more staff whose jobs are focused on school safety and fewer students who are affected by punishments not befitting a school environment of young people.
• Equity resolution and investment
  • For me, equity in education means that each and every unique student gets what they need to be successful. If schools offered the same education to every student, that would be equality, but it would not lead to equal outcomes. In 2020, the SPS board passed an impactful Equity Resolution in a major step forward to address historically based disparities in educational outcomes. One key result was further investment in a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) that uses data and relationships to proactively identify students who need additional support. This may be through an MTSS specialist, small group instruction, or differentiated instruction from their teacher. All are needed to support students.
  • For far too long, we have seen recurring disparities in how we discipline students and in the academic success of certain groups of students based on things like family income, zip code, and race. There is no single solution for these disparities but we know that students do better when they have had a teacher and role models who look like them. Therefore, it has been a priority of the board to be intentional about reaching out to future educators of color and do our best to offer school environments that welcome and support a diverse workforce. We are not there yet, but the last couple years, SPS has been able to recruit and retain a more diverse workforce and this is already paying dividends for students.
• COVID response
  • SPS was known as a leader in open communications with families and a rapid implementation of hybrid learning and return to school. SPS was faster to offer in-person education than other districts of our size in the state. We followed guidance from health professionals and got students back to classrooms as soon as we were allowed. Our technology investments were already underway prior to COVID, making for a better experience for students and a smoother transition to digital learning.
• Historic bond investment
  • The 2018 bond was created based on a new partnership between SPS, the City of Spokane, and its Library and Parks departments. We exchanged property owned by taxpayers to make the most efficient use of resources already available. We collocated a library at Shaw Middle School so that students could benefit from the additional resources of a public library and vice versa. The innovative Hive library houses SPS staff who support virtual learning programs. New middle schools have been built or will open soon at better locations for students and families due to the partnership.
• Boundaries
  • Adding new middle schools meant changing school boundaries, the first significant change in the last generation. It was a process that created mixed feelings for many communities used to boundaries that had not changed in decades. Public input led to a board decision to allow for a high level of “legacy” accommodation to help students maintain continuity with their classmates and expectations. Overall, the new boundaries are much closer to what one might draw to maximize community continuity and minimize distances from schools than previously. What can be an extremely contentious process went relatively smoothly at SPS and is setting up our schools, old and new, for success.
• Bussing partnership
  • The pandemic-induced challenges in hiring and keeping enough school bus drivers hit the entire country. An unexpected mitigation to the driver shortage for SPS was a rethinking of how city bus lines could support high school student transportation. The city and Spokane Transit Authority created a great new partnership to give high school students bus passes when their route could be served by an STA bus instead of a school bus. This led to a greatly reduced number of school bus routes, easing the strain on drivers. It also gave SPS students a bus pass that they could use to get to other place outside the school day as well.
• Stadium relocation
  • Decisions on the future of the stadium were gut wrenching for all board members. First, a 4-1 vote not to seek a stadium downtown following an advisory vote (early 2019) and later, with many more details available, a 4-1 vote to approve. I voted with the majority both times. To make those decisions, I carefully weighed community input combined with my understanding of the implications for SPS students and finances. In the end, the picture became very clear – voting against a downtown stadium location would have been a waste. The savings to our school district from not paying for ongoing operations were too much to ignore. And while a secondary factor in my decision, the economic impact to our community will be powerfully positive.
• New strategic plan
  • Through about third grade, kids are mostly learning to read. But fourth grade on, kids must read well to learn. That’s why elementary literacy is such a top priority for SPS. We are investing in teacher training, curriculum, and small group support to close the gap for more students. The plan also prioritizes connecting students with real life work experiences so that each student has a better understanding of opportunities that connect with their interests. Priorities also include building relationships, engaging the community and elevating student voices. I think our schools are more accessible to families and community organizations than ever before, but we have more work to do together to help prepare our youth for their futures.
• Healthcare options for students
  • Since my “day job” is in healthcare, I care a lot about health and know that healthy students learn better. I’ve been able to help facilitate connections and find funding that enabled SPS to open its first school-based health center at Rogers High School in 2019. It offers primary care and behavioral health services. SPS has been a leader in the state in that it has its own mental health program, but the school-based services fill a critical gap by providing support for students with less persistent needs or situational struggles. Based on the success of that clinic, SPS is planning more through a partnership with WSU and Providence to support Logan Elementary and more high-school SBHCs.
• Superintendent of Year for Washington State in 2022
  • I can’t take credit for Dr. Swinyard’s achievements, but the board did decide to hire him, promoting him from within. Were it not for the past superintendent leaving the district at the start of COVID, we likely would have conducted a more typical search process. But we didn’t have time and weren’t interested in choosing a new leader by video meetings. As it has happened, we couldn’t have made a better choice than Adam.
• More choices
  • During my time on the board, choice options for students and families have expanded. The Spanish Immersion elementary school option program was founded, the Odyssey Program for gifted students added a grade level, the alternative high school On Track Academy expanded and got a new building, Montessori added middle school, and the Pratt Academy for students needing personalized support was successfully reimaged. The board also approved a new public charter school for teen parents, Lumen High School, that now fills a critically important need.

Not shown are things I am proud of but weren’t part of specific board-level decisions, such as improved graduation rates (now over 90%), better school climate surveys, and rapid academic growth post-pandemic. Those improvements happened while the district maintained low spending on administration compared to the overall budget (under 5% on central administration). These improvements take a committed board of directors of course, but more importantly, a visionary superintendent, strong district leaders and principals, and most critically, committed teachers and education professionals working for and with students and their families.