Rantz: Retreating from closures, Seattle Public Schools superintendent, board revealed as completely inept

Seattle Public Schools (SPS) Superintendent Brent Jones, Ph.D., and school board members, led by President Liza Rankin, have proven themselves utterly incapable of effective leadership. Parents have every reason to distrust their ability to address the district’s whopping $94 million budget deficit, and their bumbling approach to school closures leaves no doubt.

In May, Jones and the board announced plans to close and consolidate schools, shocking parents and students. The reaction was predictably furious — why upend children’s lives for savings that barely chip away at the budget shortfall? By August, instead of forging ahead with a clear plan, Jones and the board delayed the process. By September, they proposed closing between 17 and 21 schools, triggering yet another wave of backlash. True to form, they retreated again, reducing the list to just five schools in October. Now, in November, Jones is backtracking entirely, suggesting they may not close any schools.

It’s chaos disguised as decision-making, and it signals a complete lack of direction. They’re rudderless and incompetent.

The board’s indecisiveness is either a result of cowardice — an inability to make hard but necessary decisions — or evidence that the closures were never warranted in the first place, meaning they stirred up unnecessary panic. Either scenario is unacceptable.

This crisis exists because of their years of mismanagement, and they’ve made a bad situation worse. Jones, Rankin and the board have failed Seattle’s families, and they have no business making decisions that impact the lives and futures of children.

Seattle Public Schools is in a crisis of its own making

Seattle Public Schools faces a massive budget deficit, largely fueled by declining student enrollment — a problem of its own making.

Instead of focusing on core subjects like math, English, history, and science, SPS adopted a curriculum steeped in progressive ideology. This was thanks to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, and other activists pushing gender extremism. Students were told the nation was founded on white supremacy, that police target black people, that gender is a spectrum with endless possibilities, and even that math is inherently racist. These distractions from real education alienated families who wanted their children to succeed academically, not be indoctrinated. Though, to be clear, many parents encouraged this nonsense (and many still do).

Making matters worse, Seattle schools remained closed for months longer than necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite a mountain of evidence that in-person learning was safe. The teachers union exploited the crisis to demand higher salaries and reduced responsibilities, dragging out remote learning to an absurd degree. Parents saw their children falling behind academically and emotionally, and many reached a breaking point.

There was no leadership

Amid the activist curriculum and prolonged COVID lockdowns, there was an obvious and painful absence of real leadership to direct Seattle Public Schools back on course. Instead, woke school board members doubled down, pushing schools to teach through the divisive lenses of critical race theory and gender extremism.

And then, in the midst of a massive budget crisis, Dr. Brent Jones somehow managed to secure a raise. An incompetent school board rewarded an equally incompetent superintendent by extending his contract and inflating his salary.

In return, SPS parents are suffering the fallout: chaotic budget mismanagement, unnecessary and poorly thought-out school closure proposals, and a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the district’s future. SPS is a rudderless ship barely staying afloat on choppy waters with someone who merely identifies as a captain, yet holds none of the skills necessary to sail.

Hoping for Jones, Rankin, or other board members to step down is wishful thinking. SPS is in this predicament precisely because they consistently fail to make the right decisions. But parents have an opportunity to make their voices heard when the next school board elections roll around. If there’s any chance of turning this district around, it starts with voting out the activists and replacing them with leaders who actually prioritize education over ideology.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on X, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jasonrantz