Kathleen Smith - D2 Seattle School Board Candidate

[00:00:10] Christie Robertson: Welcome to Rainy Day Recess, where we study and discuss Seattle Public Schools. This is our 2025 Seattle School Board candidate series ahead of the August 5 primary.  Each conversation is short and focused. We start with a lightning round, then ask the same two minute questions to each candidate. 

 We know the candidates are doing lots of forums and interviews. At Rainy Day Recess, we decided to focus on the how of the school board. How do these candidates think about the role of the school board in leadership and governance, and what is the real impact they believe the school board can have on Seattle Public Schools?

Today we're releasing all of the interviews with District 2 candidates, which is roughly NW Seattle. Later this week, we'll release the interviews with D4 and D5 school board candidates, and we'll cover D7 after the primary, since there's no primary race in that district.

Transcripts are at rainydayrecess.org 

This episode is our interview with Kathleen Smith. Be sure to listen to our interviews with Eric Feeny and Sarah Clark as well, which are also in your feed.

We’ll give a quick preview of these interviews at the end of this episode. 

Hello listeners. I'm Christie Robertson.

[00:01:24] Cherylynne Crowther: And I'm Cherylynne Crowther . 

[00:01:26] Christie Robertson: And today we are here with Kathleen Smith. Kathleen, thank you for running for School Board and welcome to Rainy Day Recess.

[00:01:33] Kathleen Smith: Hi. I'm happy to be here.

LIGHTNING ROUND

[00:01:35] Christie Robertson: Awesome. So we are gonna start with some lightning round questions. This section is meant to help listeners get to know you quickly. We will ask a mix of quick-answer and yes/no questions. Keep your answers brief. 

First of all, what are your name and pronouns?

[00:01:53] Kathleen Smith: Kathleen Smith, and she, or they, or really any pronouns are fine.

[00:01:59] Christie Robertson: And how do you describe, “what you do”?

[00:02:02] Kathleen Smith: I am a data scientist at Microsoft.

[00:02:05] Christie Robertson: Which director district are you running for, and what neighborhoods does it encompass?

[00:02:10] Kathleen Smith: I'm running for District 2, which covers from Magnolia, north to Ballard and North Beach, and then east all the way to Green Lake, including the east side of Green Lake.

[00:02:21] Cherylynne Crowther: This is Cherylynne. Next we're gonna do some background questions. Answer yes or no where possible. Add a short explanation if something needs context. 

Have you attended a school board meeting?

[00:02:33] Kathleen Smith: Yes.

[00:02:34] Cherylynne Crowther: Have you testified at a board meeting?

[00:02:37] Kathleen Smith: Yes.

[00:02:39] Cherylynne Crowther: Have you testified in the state legislature? 

[00:02:42] Kathleen Smith: No.

[00:02:43] Cherylynne Crowther: Where did you go to school as a child?

[00:02:46] Kathleen Smith: I attended a variety of public schools across the country. My parents had moved a bit; they were working in academia. And then in middle school, my mom got a job as a teacher at Annie Wright School in Tacoma, and I attended that school for middle school and high school. 

[00:03:02] Cherylynne Crowther: Do you have or have you had kids in Seattle Public Schools?

[00:03:07] Kathleen Smith: I have a 5-year-old who is entering kindergarten in Seattle Public Schools. I technically have a one and a half year old that's not enrolled in Seattle Public Schools, but intend to have him attend once he's old enough.

[00:03:19] Cherylynne Crowther: Have you worked in education?

[00:03:22] Kathleen Smith: Yes.

[00:03:23] Cherylynne Crowther: Have you been in a union? 

[00:03:25] Kathleen Smith: No. 

[00:03:26] Cherylynne Crowther: Have you been on a board?

[00:03:29] Kathleen Smith: No, but I have done work with a nonprofit arts organization in Tacoma working on some of their committees.

[00:03:36] Cherylynne Crowther: And have you ever worked with a large budget?

[00:03:38] Kathleen Smith: No.

[00:03:39] Christie Robertson: Now we have some quick-take questions, so keep your answers short and to the point. Who is an educational leader you admire?

[00:03:48] Kathleen Smith: My mom. She was a teacher at the school I attended for middle school. I'd say I come from a family of educators; both of my parents worked in education, as well as other relatives. But my mom is a really good teacher and a very good leader.

[00:04:03] Christie Robertson: Who is a school board director you're looking forward to working with?

[00:04:07] Kathleen Smith: I think this might be a little controversial, but I am looking forward to working with Liza Rankin. I've heard that she was a proponent of the school closures last year. Which, that plan is part of why I'm running, because I disagreed with a lot about how that was done. But I've also seen that in board meetings she asks a lot of questions about data, and as a data scientist, that's something that I'm interested in finding out what I have in common and where I disagree with her.

[00:04:34] Christie Robertson: What's one education policy you strongly support?

[00:04:37] Kathleen Smith: The Individuals with the Disabilities Education Act, which was enacted in 1975, but still very clearly needed, not fully funded, and necessary in order to get the compliance to provide the services that students deserve.

[00:04:53] Christie Robertson: Do you see the school board role more as a trustee, with a duty to the institution? Or as an elected representative role that's accountable to voters?

[00:05:04] Kathleen Smith: More accountable to voters, because the purpose of the institution of public education is to serve the voters.

[00:05:12] Christie Robertson: What's one thing that you'd change about the school board immediately?

[00:05:16] Kathleen Smith: I would add more ways for the student school board directors to have both more power and more opportunities to contribute.

[00:05:25] Cherylynne Crowther: Lastly, what is one lightning round question you would add for other candidates?

[00:05:31] Kathleen Smith: Have you run for other offices?

[00:05:34] Cherylynne Crowther: What's your answer to that question?

[00:05:37] Kathleen Smith: No.

MAIN QUESTIONS

[00:05:38] Christie Robertson: Okay, great. Let's move onto the main interview questions. These questions focus on institutional change and the role of the school board, and you'll have up to two minutes to answer each one, but don't feel like you need to use all the time.

[00:05:53] Cherylynne Crowther: Okay. What does a school board director actually do?

[00:05:57] Kathleen Smith: The board sets policy for the district. And, through supervision of the superintendent, the board is tasked with holding the district accountable for following the policies. 

The board is responsible for setting the goals and guardrails for all of the superintendent's decisions, which ultimately impacts district employees downstream from the leadership. For example, the board set policy for ensuring decisions are made through an equity framework, which influences how the district shapes their proposals and whether or not we approve them. 

Unfortunately, there's currently a disconnect between the board and the district, and our current system isn't working how it should. So we need to find the balance between micromanaging and providing useful and clear guardrails. I think you can look at policies and see where the actions of the district don't really follow the intent of the policy, but I don't believe that changing the policies to be micromanaging to be so specific that the district has no choice to follow them.

I think that an important aspect of working as a board director is building strong working relationships so that the district can be aligned to the board's vision and follow the policies because there is agreement between the board and the district and not leaving us open for malicious compliance where we are just diverging in different directions.

The school board also helps facilitate community connection, doing public engagement over sustained periods of time.

[00:07:21] Christie Robertson: What should the board focus on most when it comes to finding the next superintendent? 

[00:07:26] Kathleen Smith: I first want to address whether we should be hiring an interim superintendent. That approach is a recommended practice for organizational transitions and would allow for a long-term and foolproof search for a more permanent superintendent. 

I participated in a community engagement meeting on Monday, and the parents in that meeting had a lot of great suggestions ranging from intangible soft skills, like looking for someone with integrity who truly cares about students. And then one of the things that I was focusing on was someone who will listen to the community. That's something that I think is really lacking in the district right now, is having the true listening and hearing what the community wants and responding to that. 

And then some other suggestions included balancing that listening with leading with confidence. So taking in the inputs, choosing a direction, and then having the confidence to lead in that direction. 

So I think that's in essence, I think the most important thing in a search. How you measure somebody who will be able to do that is a lot more difficult. 

And I think that Seattle is a diverse district with increasing needs. So we do need to find somebody who can understand the geographic and demographic diversity. And somebody who has a depth of knowledge and experience and possibly lived experience with different types of diversity where we need to be serving our students better than we currently are.

[00:08:46] Cherylynne Crowther: What do you think is the right balance between centralized control versus school-based decision making?

[00:08:52] Kathleen Smith: So first off, the current balance is the worst of both worlds. I think John Stanford, when he was originally giving more site-based control, he was giving both the accountability of how much funding and enrollment schools would get, matched with the schools having a lot of control over how they were going to use their funding and how they were going to be run.

And now we're kind of stuck where the schools have accountability, because their funding is tied to enrollment but they don't have the control over how to run. And families don't have the control over truly choosing which schools to attend. So there's a limitation on the school of choice. And so I think that that's causing a lot of harm to the district. 

That we need to kind of switch that and have the district be more accountable for the quality of education overall, but allowing for local differentiation, so giving more of the control back to the schools and having more accountability for the district.

[00:09:55] Christie Robertson: What should the board do if the district isn't meeting its goals for students?

[00:09:59] Kathleen Smith: I think what we're doing right now, where we're getting a new superintendent, is one of the biggest levers we have to use to change the direction. I think beyond that ongoing conversations and working with the district to make sure that we are in agreement on how we're measuring success. 

But I think that what's been happening lately is that the board will ask for things and the district keeps coming back with the same response and without effective change. And I don't think the board has the power to force the district to change. I think that their power is in finding a new superintendent that will take on the challenge of guiding the district to the changes that need to happen.

[00:10:45] Cherylynne Crowther: Okay. And what should the board do when the district isn't meeting community expectations?

[00:10:51] Kathleen Smith: So there's some of the same answer there that, like, the ultimate power of the board is in finding the superintendent. I think that when the district isn't meeting community expectations, there is more work that the board can do to help engage with the community, just to make sure we can really clearly define what those community expectations are, because there could be a mismatch between what the community wants and what the district is pursuing. And so making sure that those lines of communication are open and that the district is getting the message of where we want to be going with our school system. 

But again if the district doesn't want to listen, we can't make them listen. And so that, ultimately the power is in replacing the superintendent.

[00:11:42] Christie Robertson: And this is the wrap up question. What's something that you want voters to take away about your approach to being a school board director?

[00:11:50] Kathleen Smith: When it comes to what I will contribute to this board, I will start with what I am not. I'm not a policy wonk, and I'm looking forward to being a partner to my colleagues on the board with more policy experience while providing a missing perspective with my data analysis and data science skills. I want to be able to provide clearer metrics for measuring equity instead of having lofty goals that sound good, but don't get implemented.

As a board director, I want to be known for being able to talk to everyone and I am constantly looking for different perspectives to help challenge my understanding on issues. So I want to be known for being able to listen and problem solve. 

I know there will be a learning curve to onboard as a board director, but I believe I am a fast learner and will be able to grow into that role and make the issues more accessible to everyday families and educators.

And finally, I come from a family of educators and have been endorsed by the Seattle Education Association. So I hope to be considered somebody who is on the side of our educators, fighting to help them earn a living wage, to be able to afford the city of Seattle that has high cost of living.

[00:12:59] Christie Robertson: Thank you so much for being here today on Rainy Day Recess, Kathleen Smith. We really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us and with Seattle voters, and good luck with your campaign. 

Be sure to listen to our other D2 candidates, Eric Feeny: 

[00:13:21] Eric Feeny: One easy thing to change is that I will personally track with permission anybody who cares enough to get involved, people who come testify, who show up. And I will help them become part of an action group with a passionate leader, or they could be that leader. And then connect them with the district personnel who are actually working on the problems. No more of this “Thanks for your testimony. Have a nice day.” model. 

[00:13:44] Christie Robertson: And Sarah Clark: 

[00:13:46] Sarah Clark: I am really seeking to collaborate. I grew up playing sports and, like, being on teams, and going to camps. And it really shaped the way that I lead. I feel like I'm only as good as the people that I'm working with. And that the more people that are at the table, the better the ideas. 

[00:14:16] Christie Robertson: Ballots will be mailed Friday, July 18th, and the primary election is Tuesday, August 5. 

And as always, stay curious, stay cozy, and thanks for listening to Rainy Day Recess.