Schools superintendent gets thumbs-up from board

The Seattle School Board gave Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson another largely positive annual evaluation Wednesday but also said she needs to improve her communication skills and raise math achievement.

Overall, the board said the district has made progress under Goodloe-Johnson's leadership. It gave her the highest marks for managing the district's new student-assignment plan — a rating of 3.86 on a scale of 4. But two of the 17 ratings by the board slipped into the "needs improvement" category — math achievement and how she works with the community.

Last year, none of the ratings fell below "meets expectations."

The board's review, and a recommendation from its executive committee to extend her contract until June 2013, are signals of support amid growing criticism of Goodloe-Johnson from several parent organizations and some teachers.

In a survey done by the nonprofit Community and Parents for Public Schools (CPPS), 79 percent of 662 respondents said they weren't satisfied with the superintendent's performance, and at a handful of schools, teachers recently took votes of no confidence in her leadership.

Critics have attacked Goodloe-Johnson on a variety of fronts, from her decision to close five schools, to the district's new high-school math curriculum, to her association with a foundation they say advocates the privatization of public schools.

Before Wednesday's meeting, roughly two dozen people protested outside district headquarters saying it's time for her to go.

During the meeting, several parents said she doesn't listen to the community.

Parents "feel trampled by the rush to get things done," said Eric Blumhagen, who has children at Loyal Heights Elementary and Whitman Middle School.

To her supporters, though, Goodloe-Johnson is someone who's willing to make the hard calls that have strengthened the district since her arrival three years ago.

"For the first time in many years, Seattle has a strong direction and a cohesive plan," said one respondent to the CPPS survey. "Things are not always perfect, but they are moving in the right direction."

Sara Morris, executive director of the Alliance for Education, a nonprofit group of business and civic leaders, said Goodloe-Johnson has made "a number of really tough, but important decisions that are strengthening the system."

Along with the new student-assignment plan, the board also praised Goodloe-Johnson for hiring strong staff at the district's top levels, and adding more college-prep courses to high schools.

Board President Michael DeBell said much of what the superintendent has accomplished is hidden from public view, such as making improvements in information technology and human resources.

At the same time, the board highlighted her arms-length relations with the public as her biggest challenge."We need to bring our parents and teachers along within this reform effort," DeBell said.

What Goodloe-Johnson probably won't receive this year is more money.

Given the district's financial challenges, the board's executive committee recommended Wednesday that Goodloe-Johnson receive neither a raise nor an incentive bonus. Last year, she received both, although she donated the bonus to charity.

The board won't vote on those recommendations, or the contract extension, until its July 7 meeting.

For her part, Goodloe-Johnson says she agrees she can improve when it comes to interacting with the public and says she'll hold more informal sessions next year where community members can talk to her and other staff members.

But she says she's proud of the job she's doing.

"We're changing the culture of a system in which everybody did their own thing, but that system didn't work for all kids," she said.

She also said she expects test scores will go up this year.

In its review, the board didn't bring up one area of concern for many community members — the fact that test scores aren't improving quickly, and the achievement gap is growing between Asian-American and white students, and black, Latino and Native American students.

James Kelly, president and chief executive officer of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, says while he's impressed with some of Goodloe-Johnson's decisions, he wants to put the superintendent on notice that the achievement gap needs to close.

"We just need to see better outcomes than what we've seen," he said.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com