A message from the Superintendent
Feb. 26, 2013
Dear Seattle Public Schools staff, families and community:
I am pleased to announce that after a strong national search, Michael Tolley has been named Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, where he will oversee all aspects of students’ academic growth at Seattle Public Schools.
Mr. Tolley stepped into this role as the Interim Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning in September and has demonstrated his strong leadership. He plans to have the District’s Teaching and Learning team continue development of a comprehensive professional development plan to implement the Common Core State Standards and provide students with increased academic and social/emotional supports. In addition, he will focus on working with school and Central Office staff to address opportunity gaps across the District and to ensure that the needs of each and every student are appropriately met.
Mr. Tolley joined Seattle Public Schools in 2007 as SPS’ High School Director. Starting in 2010, he has been the Executive Director of Schools for the Southeast Region, overseeing and supporting the region’s principals.
Prior to coming to Seattle Public Schools, Mr. Tolley was a principal and senior leader in the Charleston County School District in South Carolina. He began his education career teaching biology, marine biology and advanced placement biology for 15 years. He has a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from the College of Charleston, and a Master of Arts in Education and an Education Specialist (Ed.S) degree from The Citadel.
While serving as Interim Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, Mr. Tolley has also continued as Executive Director of Schools for the Southeast Region. Now that he has been appointed to Assistant Superintendent, we are developing a plan to fill this executive director role.
I also wanted to provide an update on other leadership appointments:
- I am appointing Clover Codd to the position of Executive Director of Strategic Planning and Partnerships.
Ms. Codd, who now oversees our Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant, will manage implementation of major strategic efforts across the system – including both operational and academic areas. These include TIF, the Race To The Top grant and the Seattle Teacher Residency Program. She will also lead the implementation and cross-departmental coordination of our strategic plan, and will work closely with both internal and external stakeholders to ensure a strategic culture and the implementation of policy from both the state and federal level.
Ms. Codd brings a wealth of experience to this position, having spent time as a teacher and seven years as a principal in Seattle Public Schools. She is also earning her doctorate degree and superintendent credential at Columbia Teachers College in New York.
- We are moving forward on filling the Executive Director of Special Education. We had a successful national search and we should announce a finalist in the next two weeks. Also, we are looking at an interim plan to fill the position of Director for Early Learning PreK-5, after Kimberly Kinzer announced her departure from the position, effective March 8. She accepted a position as Washington State P-3 Leadership Project Director at the University of Washington’s College of Education.
I want to thank the Assistant Superintendent interview team for their work and congratulate both Michael and Clover on their new appointments. I also want to thank Kimberly for her commitment to Seattle Public Schools, and I wish her the best on her new endeavor.
Sincerely,
José Banda
Superintendent
Seattle Public Schools
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