Seattle Public Schools State of the District 2022 

School Board President Hersey 

Thank you for joining us this evening. Welcome to the 2022 State of the District Address for Seattle Public Schools. 

Before we begin, Seattle Public Schools acknowledge that we are on the ancestral lands and traditional territories of the Puget Sound Coast Salish People. It is also particularly important to acknowledge the souls and lives of black and brown people, who have contributed to the founding, wealth, and development of our country.  

These acknowledgments are the start and not a replacement for authentic relationships and engagement with the diverse voices of our beloved community. Thank you for constantly challenging the status quo and pushing each of us to be better.  

SPS is committed to dismantling systemic racism and discrimination in spaces of our work, particularly for those who are furthest from educational justice. I invite you to work with us to create change. 

At this time, it’s my great honor to introduce the Mayor of the City of Seattle. We could not ask for a better friend and champion for our schools and our community than our current mayor – a son of Seattle, who reflects Seattle’s history, and who sees the promise of Seattle’s future. Please join me in welcoming Seattle’s 57th mayor – the Honorable Bruce Harrell.  

Mayor Harrell 

Dr. Brent Jones is dedicated to making sure all students thrive by transforming organizational culture and redesigning PreK-12 systems and supports. With extensive public sector expertise in strategic planning, community engagement, change management, and human resources, Dr. Jones has demonstrated experience creating the right conditions and systems for advancing educational justice. 

As the former Seattle Public Schools chief equity, partnerships, and engagement officer he developed the district’s strategy for Eliminating Opportunity Gaps and roadmap for realizing racial equity for students and families. He has served in executive roles with MLK King County, Seattle Public Schools, Kent School District, Seattle Colleges, and Green River College. 

As superintendent, Dr. Jones’ vision is to ensure every student experiences: 

• high quality instructional time and intellectually ambitious curriculum; 
• ample opportunities to develop their self-identity; 
• highly favorable and welcoming conditions; 
• exceeding standards and completion of college prep and rigorous courses. 

Dr. Jones has deep community roots and is a proud product of Seattle Public Schools and the University of Washington. He has earned master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Education Administration from the University of Texas at Austin. He enjoys spending time with family, working out, making creative projects, and doing random acts of kindness. 

Superintendent Jones  

Thank you, Mayor Harrell, for such a generous introduction as well as your staunch support and partnership. 

I want to acknowledge the entire Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors for your continued leadership and support of students.  

Before we begin, please allow me to thank my wife, Janine, for her support and presence tonight.  

Several special guests have joined us as well:  

• Mayor Harrell 
• Dr. Chappelle of Seattle Dept of Education and Early Learning 
• SPD’s Chief Diaz 
• Senator Saldana 
• friends from Representative Jayapal and Governor Inslee’s offices,  
• Representatives from Senator Patty Murray’s office,  
• Rachel Smith CEO of Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Ms. Lisa Chick, Executive Director of the Alliance of Education,  
• and our valued comrades from SCPTSA; just to name a few.  

I also want to invite our valuable students, families, educators, building and administrative leaders, civic dignitaries, business, community-based partners, and Seattle/King County residents into this shared space this evening. You have been beside us every step of the way, making this school year a reality. 

Tonight is dedicated to your hard work, collaboration, and helpful feedback.  

Seattle Schools’ success – is deeply personal to me.  

This evening, I am humbled but excited to stand before you as the newly appointed superintendent of Seattle Public Schools.  Thank you for your faith in me. I am honored. And I promise to serve this district and our community with the best interest of our students leading my words and my actions. 

As many of you know, SPS is part of my legacy. I am from Seattle, where my mother taught in SPS. I also went to school here during desegregation and am a proud graduate of Franklin High School. Go Quakers! I have worked for SPS leading human resources and again in equity and partnerships prior to answering the call to lead our great public schools in May 2021. Last spring, I also had the honor of watching my daughter graduate from Cleveland High School. This journey – and Seattle Schools’ success – is deeply personal to me.  

Let me be clear, the last several months have not been easy for our students, families, and educators. Like you, I hoped to start the school year with the pandemic in our rearview mirror. Our focus was to be solely on 180 days of excellence with our students of color furthest from educational justice at the core of our efforts. Our commitment to Seattle Excellence was once again tested as we moved through Delta and into the Omicron variant of COVID-19.  

However, the continued resilience of our school leaders, educators, students, and families has made this school year possible and extremely rewarding. On September 1, with joy & excitement, we welcomed students back to school, where they learn best.  We have kept schools open by operating as both educational and public health agencies; educators have continuously adapted to remote, hybrid teaching, and concurrent instruction.  

Together, we have:  

• Invested $50m+ on COVID mitigation 
• Served more than 13,500 students with our vaccination clinics  
• Established that 79% of SPS students are fully vaccinated  
• Administered more than 35K COVID tests in our schools  

Since the start of the school year, SPS has supported students and schools to readjust. Educators and school leaders continue to be innovative in how they overcome new challenges to classroom engagement with students for whom the last two years have been extremely challenging.  

Despite the herculean hurdles, we must remind ourselves that great things continue to be accomplished in Seattle Public Schools. We are excited about the prognosis of a healthier future for the Seattle area and poised to turn the page into brighter days.  

As we step into our long-awaited future, Seattle Public Schools sits at a crossroads. We must leverage this momentum and lessons learned while emerging from a pandemic shutdown, racial reckoning, and ongoing uncertainty to reimagine and revolutionize education in Seattle to remain an innovative progressive city. 

First, let me tell you where Seattle Public Schools is strong. At SPS, we do teaching and learning well.   

• Our 9th grade students are on-track for graduation, with completion rates increasing from 85% to 92% over 3 years 
• We have seen a 19% increase between 2020 and 2021 in SPS graduates taking advantage of Seattle’s Promise program.   
• SPS now welcomes 1300 preschoolers, in 66 classrooms, including 100 preschoolers with disabilities  
• Seattle Public Schools students are at or above the state average in advanced coursework, including STEM, IB, and AP courses.  
• Our graduation rates for students including African American students and students of color furthest from educational justice continue to improve.   

Let me show you what the joy of learning looks like at Rainier View Elementary School. 

We also have openly committed to stand strongly in the gap for those with the least power and have suffered the worst of injustices. We have a strategic plan to build a system that works for our Black boys and teens. We have established goals and guardrails that compel us to cultivate systems, structures and behaviors that yield justice and promote community. Seattle Public Schools has vowed to prepare students of color furthest from educational justice, as well as every student, until they are college, career, and life ready. 

Our strategic plan lays out three academic goals. The first builds literacy skills by third grade. Students at Wing Luke Elementary recently shared their reading journey with us. 

Reading skills in 3rd grade set students up for success in middle school, where increasingly complicated math requires strong literacy. Our strategic plan calls for strengthening math skills by 7th grade as demonstrated at Aki Kurose Middle School. 

The third academic goal is ensuring SPS graduates are college and career ready. And those strong math skills in middle school that Ms. Wendy Miller was talking about prepare students for rigorous coursework in high school. And with a strong high school career, our students, like those at Rainier Beach High School, are Seattle-ready for what lays ahead.  

Our mission is compelling. Our strategy is clear. We are building an anti-racist educational system that will move Black boys and teens to proficiency in 3rd grade reading, in 7th grade math, and graduating ready for Seattle, or Howard or Harvard. To speak personally about this, I was that young man many years ago and today, many of your students are those young men we are fighting for every day.  

Here’s how we are going to do that. We have promised to:  

• Provide safe & welcoming learning environments for students and staff.   
• Hire, retain, and develop teachers of color and educational allies  
• Provide professional development that cultivates educators’ belief in every child’s capacity to succeed    
• Train educators in effective, research-based literacy and numeracy teaching models  
• Expand the time we invest in teaching math and support for African American males entering 7th grade.  
• Foster inclusive, authentic engagement with families because research tells us repeatedly that the strongest indicator of academic success is family engagement in a student’s education.  

We also have invested in school-based efforts to support our students’ cultural identity and challenge our students with academic rigor – cultivating their competence and confidence. In addition, we have re-galvanized critical conversations with our elected, business, organizational, and civic leaders. We have pledged to wrap our arms around our students, families, and staff in tangible ways that reinforce their value, safety, and worth in our schools and in our neighborhoods.  

We believe that if we intentionally target our support to reach all the way to those who need it most, it will result in universal success — in literacy, math, and college and career readiness for all SPS students.  

The leadership at Nathan Hale High School understands the value of targeted universalism.  

Now is the time to move from planning into actions that are steeped in justice, love, and progress. I want to challenge our school community and supporters  to join SPS at the partnership table:   

1. As a community, let us take on the challenge of improving systems inside the District AND supporting our students outside the school walls.    

2. Create a holistic environment with highly favorable conditions for our students to thrive.  

3. Align the systems inside and outside of Seattle Public Schools to really support the success of Seattle’s students  

Seattle Public Schools is not only my legacy, but yours as well. The continued success of our schools is inextricably tied to the success of our mayor’s goal for achieving One Seattle. In the coming months, you will find SPS leaders and staff hard at work in the following ways:  

• Working alongside our Seattle Schools Board to implement governance that puts students and student outcomes at the center of every conversation and every decision   
• Investing our time, talent, and treasure in 3rd grade reading, 7th grade math & college & career readiness. We are graduating students who are going to show the world what “Seattle Ready” really means.    
• Renewing our partnerships with the City of Seattle, including the:  
  • Mayor’s office, Department of Education & Early Learning, Seattle Police Department, and the Seattle business community like our partners at the Chamber of Commerce, and higher education partners at Seattle Colleges, University of Washington, Seattle University, and others.    
• Exhibiting fiscal responsibility and fulfilling the work of our newly passed levies. Nearly 80% of our community – Seattle voters – said yes to school levies for our long-term sustainability. Your faith and confidence in our schools was resounding and we will fulfil our promises.  

Mayor Harrell is working with us to take students from preschool to Seattle Promise  

Let us do what is best for our young people. Let us become even more of a devoted public-school town. A sacred place where the business and civic community and SPS are in covenant together to surround our students with cultural support, physical and emotional safety, high expectations and endless opportunity.    

Thank you for always believing in Seattle Public Schools and our students. Because of your support, we are poised to finish this year strong, to better serve a new generation of SPS students, who will graduate college, career, and life ready. We must make each school day and each school year count. Our students, particularly students of color furthest from educational justice, need us now more than ever before. I believe that together we can ensure that they succeed.  

Thank you for your time this evening. Be well!