A retired Edmonds-Woodway High School principal with a record of complaints against him is attempting to unseat a member of the Edmonds School Board in the general election that ends on Tuesday.
Alan Weiss is challenging incumbent Pat Shields for the District 5 post.
In a second race on the school board, Gary Noble, another incumbent, faces off against Jon Howeiler, a program officer in the Education Program at the University of Washington’s Bothell campus. They are running for the District 3 seat.
A public records request by The Enterprise newspaper for documents from Weiss’ 12 years in the district includes numerous complaints and reprimands for verbal abuse, intimidation, profanity, sexual innuendo, usurping decision-making and other issues.
District officials declined to speak about Weiss, but in November 2004, he was suspended for three days without pay for an e-mail to an employee. Superintendent Nick Brossoit wrote at the time that the message was “inappropriately hostile and disrespectful and had an intimidating effect.”
“This is not a first or second time for Alan,” he wrote.
Other records show staff members defending Weiss, calling the investigation a “witch hunt” and praising him for raising the academic bar at the school.
“There are several reasons why Alan makes enemies,” one staff member wrote. “His mission was to move (the school) to a higher level. He does not tolerate poor teaching. Many teachers were threatened by this.”
Shields, who has three children in Edmonds School District schools, said he has the advantage of seeing how things really play out at schools, in addition to his five years of experience on the board. Shields said it’s important to be collaborative within the board in order to make decisions.
“There are times when the board comes to a decision, and it’s not what the district wants to hear,” he said.
Weiss said his 42 years of experience in education is an advantage and that he has worked to transform Edmonds-Woodway into the successful school it is today. Weiss said he favored a “hands-on” approach to addressing issues.
“You have to talk to employees who are working with kids,” he said. “Education is no different than business and industry — you need to have goals, expectations of implementation and performance.”
This year, the district is looking at ways to be more efficient, following on the heels of the budget cuts of last spring. District officials are looking at changes for next year that could save money.
When it comes to any possible future cuts, Weiss suggests looking at buildings and how many classrooms are used. Some schools are small, he said. Transportation is another source for cuts, he said.
Shields said the key is to find the “low-hanging fruit” in a budget, or the extras. The do-not-touch list in terms of cuts should be the classroom, Shields said.
In the second race, Howeiler said the number of students on free and reduced lunch, and the issues families are dealing with, play a role in WASL scores. The diversity within schools also is growing, and there’s a gap between minority and nonminority students, he said.
“I want to take a look at what we’re doing with the achievement gap,” he said. “There needs to be a vision — a plan. We need someone pushing that agenda.”
Different schools have different needs in terms of staff allocations, and that should be looked at, he said.
Noble said that what the district does and has done is look at individual schools and their needs.
“When we find a discrepancy between needs and allocation, you adjust it,” he said.
For example, Cedar Valley Community School and Scriber Lake High School have more staffing to offer lower class sizes, he said.
Sarah Koenig covers education for The Enterprise newspaper.
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