Any leader trying to change a troubled organization will make waves, and Ben Shuldiner, who took the helm of Seattle Public Schools in February, is no exception.
From the start, he warned families and district staff that some of his decisions would be unpopular. He also knew his blunt style — which might sound merely direct in other locales — would come across like a bull in a china shop here. Like last week, when he called out a group of white parents for shouting down a Black educator in a public meeting.
“Maybe it wasn’t intentional, maybe it didn’t mean to come off that way,” he said a few days later. “But, man, did it feel wrong.”
The occasion for this ugly display was the appointment of controversial principal Anitra Jones to head Adams Elementary in Ballard. But that was only the “presenting problem,” as therapists say. The real issue is a culture of administrative dysfunction and school board passivity that for years has undermined the education of students in Seattle.
One place it shows up, over and over, is in the district’s human resources office. Principal Jones had been removed from her previous elementary school after a litany of parent and teacher complaints. And though a labor relations mediator found Jones had improperly retaliated against teachers for union activities, no disciplinary action is noted in her personnel file — news that shocked the teachers union and parents when they found out last week.
Legally, the lack of any documented cause for Jones’ removal entitles her to a new principal’s position, Shuldiner said, citing an analysis by SPS lawyers. Also, former Superintendent Brent Jones (no relation to Anitra Jones) put it in writing, promising her in January 2025 that she’d get a principal’s post again.
Shuldiner was hired to tackle precisely this kind of protectionism and lack of accountability. But it won’t be pretty. In the mirror he is holding up to Seattle, no one looks great. He described the parents meeting at Adams Elementary as “brutal.” To him, it reeked of righteous entitlement.
“If that’s the ‘Seattle way,’ ” he said, “we really do need a new ‘Seattle way.’”
When Shuldiner got the job, none of his superintendent colleagues around the country offered congratulations. They sent warnings: Being direct and speaking the truth won’t fly in Seattle, they said. That’s a lesson everyone needs to hear.
But there are lessons for SPS’ new boss as well: Shuldiner should have anticipated the firestorm Jones’ appointment has caused. He could have mitigated it by acknowledging the district’s lack of transparency around hiring and telling worried parents at Adams how he plans to fix this problem. Going forward, he intends all principal assignments to come after an open search — no more closed-door appointments.
In the meantime, the school board’s Liza Rankin has called for a top-to-bottom audit of human resources. Thank goodness and high time! If the board had done that kind of deep dive a year ago, SPS might not be in this position today.
Here’s the message Shuldiner must heed now: To begin restoring parents’ trust and attracting families back to Seattle Public Schools, this district needs action. You can practically hear school board members drumming their fingers with impatience.
