Superintendent roulette

Berit Anderson

Berit Anderson Jul 5, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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          <article>
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                <h1>Superintendent roulette</h1>
                <h2><p>Why can’t Seattle Public Schools keep a superintendent? With the recent departure of Superintendent Jose Banda for a job in Sacramento, a Seattle Times article today suggests the district’s high turnover rate (five superintendents in the last ten years) is due at least in part to a fractious</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/berit-anderson-crosscut-com/">Berit Anderson</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Why can’t Seattle Public Schools keep a superintendent? With the recent departure of Superintendent Jose Banda for a job in Sacramento, <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024186992_superintendentfrictionxml.html?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">a Seattle Times article today</a> suggests the district’s high turnover rate (five superintendents in the last ten years) is due at least in part to a fractious school board engaging in “strident advocacy. “The Times dug up an email from Banda himself scolding the board for bullying his staff over the selection of a new math textbook for the district. Though board president Sharon Peaslee denied the bullying charge, a range of other board members, lawmakers and other education advocates backed up the Times’ findings and said they go way beyond the math book incident.So what did Banda have to say about all this? Asked whether the board’s dysfunction played a role in his decision to go, he said, “It does in a way influence that decision. Yeah, I’ll leave it at that.” — B.A.</p>
          </article>

Why can’t Seattle Public Schools keep a superintendent? With the recent departure of Superintendent Jose Banda for a job in Sacramento, a Seattle Times article today suggests the district’s high turnover rate (five superintendents in the last ten years) is due at least in part to a fractious school board engaging in “strident advocacy. “The Times dug up an email from Banda himself scolding the board for bullying his staff over the selection of a new math textbook for the district. Though board president Sharon Peaslee denied the bullying charge, a range of other board members, lawmakers and other education advocates backed up the Times’ findings and said they go way beyond the math book incident.So what did Banda have to say about all this? Asked whether the board’s dysfunction played a role in his decision to go, he said, “It does in a way influence that decision. Yeah, I’ll leave it at that.” — B.A.

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By Berit Anderson

Berit Anderson was Managing Editor at Crosscut, following tech, culture, media and politics. She founded Crosscut's Community Idea Lab.   Previously community manager of the Tribune Company’