A new day for Seattle schools

How many superintendents does it take to run Seattle Public Schools?

Eight. Seven School Board members to make decisions and one executive to take the blame.

But next month's election may usher in four new members of the Seattle School Board, cutting into my joke supply but offering a fresh chance for the superintendent and board to work in concert.

Cue strains of the Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder duet, "Ebony and Ivory": "Working together in perfect harmony ... oh why can't weeeeee?"

We couldn't work in harmony before because we didn't have a professional board clear on the limitations of its oversight role. The two incumbents running for re-election, Sally Soriano and Darlene Flynn, say that would have turned them into predictable rubber stamps. They've spent much of the campaign season contrasting their years of disjointed stewardship with their version of a frightening alternative: a board of pushovers.

For pushing a message steeped in fear, condemn those two to watching continuous loops of their own rhetoric.

The rest of us ought to vote Nov. 6 for four new board members who can, whether wielding a rubber stamp or simply a rational brain, work together in and out of the spotlight.

The city schools are on a roll and there should be no stopping them now. Superintendent Maria Good-loe-Johnson arrived this summer and is already far down the track. The best thing the incoming board can do is roll up its sleeves and start in beside her. And try to keep up.

Absent drinking fountains spewing root beer or vending machines jammed with doughnuts, pet issues such as calorie counts and water cleaner than the federal government's ought to be shelved for another day. Let the bus drivers make their own case; let parents sue over school closures without the help of a board member.

We deserve a new day.

The last superintendent, when not tangling with the board, mapped out a fiscal path that brought the district from deep debt to $26 million in the black.

Resources are flowing to struggling schools, including extra staff at Aki Kurose Middle School and Cleveland and Rainier Beach high schools, and more attention on the Flight Schools' effort to improve learning and family involvement at nearly a dozen South End schools.

Literacy is the doorway leading to all other academic progress and the district only now has had the luxury to create 500-book libraries in every classroom, from kindergarten to second grade.

Chief Academic Officer Carla Santorno is working on expanding dual-language programs districtwide. Here is an example of doing what has been shown to work. The foreign-language trend is modeled on the very popular John Stanford International School, where classes are taught in Spanish and Japanese. Seattle is a polyglot of cultures; Santorno and her team are smartly looking at Vietnamese and other languages as well, making for a strong linguistic bridge for English-language learners.

The schools chief speaks approvingly of gifted programs such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate, but her plan for a base level of knowledge that all students must have before graduation is compelling. The board should cease its nattering about the achievement gap and listen to Goodloe-Johnson's plans.

A decade ago, the district handed the reins of power to individual schools, letting principals run their shops as CEOs responsible for all successes and failures. The concept led to uneven school quality. A pendulum shift to a centralized system is bound to reenergize unions. A strong, supportive board will help the district navigate this minefield.

A final tip: The next board shouldn't threaten to fire the superintendent, either covertly or overtly, unless a replacement is waiting in the wings. Corporate and philanthropic partners shouldn't be treated like bad-smelling missionaries. Watching this board collectively cut off its nose to spite its face time and again has grown painful.

By all means, watch the superintendent closely. Be the liaison between constituents and the district. Don't hesitate to remind everyone that the only interests that count are those belonging to 46,000 schoolchildren.

Then step back. Let the superintendent captain the ship. Public schools are on a roll but challenging times lie ahead. The best way to meet them is with a schools chief confident that an experienced, thoughtful policymaking body has her back.

Lynne K. Varner's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is seattletimes.com">lvarner@seattletimes.com; for a podcast Q&A with the author, go to Opinion at seattletimes.com