Seattle Sup Evaluation

Seattle School Board gives leader good review

By Sanjay Bhatt
Seattle Times staff reporter

Seattle Schools Superintendent Raj Manhas received a good performance review yesterday from a majority of the School Board, but he didn't get a merit raise.

A year ago, the board voted 4-3 to extend Manhas' contract through Aug. 31, 2007, but gave him no raise. Last night, the same four board members cast votes to continue that contract — Brita Butler-Wall, Jan Kumasaka, Dick Lilly and Irene Stewart — while the same three dissenters — Mary Bass, Sally Soriano and Darlene Flynn — softened their tone by abstaining from the vote.

Technically, a board vote would be needed only if it planned to dismiss Manhas, which wasn't a topic of the board's closed-door discussion, Bass said.

Lilly said he supported the essentially symbolic vote "so the public knows what our thinking is about our superintendent." Stewart said the board's attorney also recommended a vote.

Flynn said the board hadn't set "clear performance expectations" of Manhas for the coming school year just as it didn't last year when it extended his contract. "I still feel as a board we're behind the curve," she said.

Still, the 15-page evaluation of Manhas, released last night, shows the board has made progress in defining its expectations of him and his staff. The evaluation reflects the majority's opinion on whether Manhas made progress toward 25 general goals and 45 specific ones. Though the board didn't give him a merit raise, it did give him a 1.2 percent cost-of-living raise that all district employees have received. That puts his salary at $177,100.

The board generally gave him positive marks for leadership and management and an unsatisfactory rating for the district's academic performance. Soriano disagreed, suggesting in a statement that the board dismiss Manhas for condoning "a culture of intimidation and retribution." She did not cite examples.

Soriano also said the past year had been "a lost year in some ways because we focused so much on school closures rather than academics."

Manhas proposed closing 10 schools in April as part of a sweeping restructuring plan designed to head off a budget crisis in 2006-07. He withdrew the plan weeks later because of a lack of support from the board and the public.

The board's evaluation shows that Manhas wasn't acting on his own: Last year, the board asked for a "building closure and consolidation plan and revised facility, transportation and student assignment plans for 2006-07. ... "

Manhas issued a statement praising his staff and his accomplishments. "I am particularly proud of our closing the achievement gap in reading, stabilizing school leadership, implementing cultural competency training and increasing outreach efforts to families and bilingual communities," he wrote.

When the 2004-05 school year began, more than 30 schools received new principals. "Almost all schools now have strong effective leadership," Manhas told the board in his annual report.

The board didn't agree with him on all those points: He didn't reduce the achievement gap enough, the board cited as an example, and didn't tie performance evaluations of employees to "meaningful academic improvement."

In other news, the board directed the superintendent to file an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit brought against the state by other districts that says the state isn't meeting its constitutional obligation to fully fund special education. The board also unanimously tabled until at least Nov. 2 a proposal to limit public testimony at board meetings.

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103

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