District 2 and 4 Director Appointment
Seattle School Board Director Appointments
The Seattle School Board is appointing new directors to fill District 2 and District 4 director vacancies. Applications for appointment were due by Feb. 25.
District 2 includes Sunset Hill, Ballard, Loyal Heights, Whittier Heights, West Woodland, Phinney Ridge, southern Greenwood, Green Lake, Magnolia, Interbay, and adjoining areas. District 2 map
District 4 includes Fremont, Queen Anne, Westlake, South Lake Union, Belltown, Denny Triangle, Pike–Market, Central Business District, and adjoining areas. District 4 map
Clark and Mizrahi Appointed
Sarah Clark was selected for the District 2 seat, which covers Ballard, Magnolia, Phinney Ridge and Green Lake. Joe Mizrahi was chosen for District 4, which includes Fremont, Queen Anne, South Lake Union and parts of downtown.
District 2
District 4
The Seattle School Board made the selection for the appointments for the District 2 and 4 positions during the April 3, 2024 School Board Meeting. View April 3, 2024 School Board meeting agenda.
District 2 and 4 Director Finalists
During the March 13 School Board Special Meeting, the board selected the following candidates as finalists for the District 2 position. The four applicants for District 4 position continue as finalists.
The eight candidates continuing as finalists participated in a candidate forum the evening of March 27, at Lincoln High School. SPSTV Streaming: The meeting was live streamed on SPSTV
District 2
District 2 and 4 Director Candidates
District 2
- Sarah Clark
- Eric Feeny
- Danielle Gahl
- Jayne Garcia
- Gina Griffiths
- Ramona Hattendorf
- Jonathan Hendrix
- Kelly Lusnia
- Janai Ray
- Shawn Sullivan
- Carol Thompson
- Jillian Bentley (Application withdrawn 2/27)
- Kelly Germann (Application withdrawn 2/27)
- Katherine (Katie) Hughes (Application withdrawn 2/27)
- Marissa Mierow (Application withdrawn 2/28)
- Sonja Mitchell (Application withdrawn 2/28)
About the School Board
The School Board of Directors for Seattle Public Schools is an elected body of seven citizens who serve four-year terms and represent geographical regions within the City of Seattle.
Responsibilities
The role of School Board members is defined by Washington state law, RCW 28A.150.230, and Chapter 28A.330 RCW.
Responsibilities of the Seattle School Board include hiring and evaluating the superintendent, establishing policies for governing the school district, adopting a balanced budget each year, having legal and fiduciary authority for the school district, adopting instructional materials, and serving as community representatives to the district and on behalf of the district.
The Seattle School Board holds one or two Regular Board Meetings per month and meets for additional special meetings throughout the year. Many meetings are held Wednesdays, but additional dates are scheduled as needed for committees and to accomplish additional Board business. See the Board Calendar.
School Board Directors cannot receive a salary for board service under state law. Directors do receive per diem payments of $50 per day, up to $4,800 per year, for conducting district business.
Learn more about school board service from the Washington State School Directors’ Association.
Ethics, Financial Disclosures, and Conflicts of Interest
(Information added 2/16/24)
School Board Directors file annual statements of financial interest and potential conflicts of interest with the District Ethics Officer. Directors are also individually responsible for adhering to state financial disclosure requirements and adhering to district and state requirements for the disclosure and avoidance of conflicts of interest during their service.
Chapter 42.23 RCW prohibits municipal officers (including school board directors) from engaging in certain conflicts of interest, including having a financial interest in certain district contracts and employment relationships.
Board Policy No. 1610, Conflicts of Interests, provides additional restrictions and states in part that “No Director shall be beneficially interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract made by, through or under the supervision of such Director, in whole or in part, except to the extent allowed by state law.”
Directors are also subject to the requirements of Board Policy No. 5251, Ethics, as district officers.
Applicants for school board positions are strongly encouraged to carefully review the provisions of Chapter 42.23 RCW and Board Policy Nos. 1610 and 5251. Learn more about Avoiding Conflicts of Interest from the Washington State School Directors’ Association.
About the Appointment Process
The District 2 and District 4 director positions were vacated through resignations effective February 2, 2024.
Under state law these vacancies are filled by the School Board through appointment.
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible, candidates for appointment must be a United States citizen and a registered voter of School Board Director District 2 or District 4 as required by state law (RCW 28A.343.340 and 28A.343.370(2)).
To check your eligibility, visit My Voter Information on the King County Elections website.
Eligibility is confirmed by King County Elections upon receipt of application materials. Candidates determined to be ineligible due to voter registration status/residency will not be considered for appointment.
Terms for Appointment
Both appointment terms will run until November 2025.
Subsequent terms will differ because school board elections are staggered, and the positions were last on the ballot in different years.
District 2
Because the District 2 position was most recently on the November 2023 ballot and has nearly a full 4-year term remaining, the seat will be placed on the November 2025 general election ballot for election to the remaining two years of the unexpired term. Following that, the office will be up for election in 2027 for a 4-year regular term.
District 4
The District 4 position was on the 2021 ballot and has roughly 2 years remaining, so the appointment will run through the remainder of the present term. District 4 will be up for election in 2025 for a 4-year regular term.
Process and Timeline for District 2 and 4 Appointments
Planning for the appointment process is ongoing and dates and other process steps may change.
Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their contact information as soon as possible to receive updates throughout the process.
February 12, 2024: District 2 and 4 School Board Director appointment process opens with online application form due by February 25.
February 25, 2024: Deadline for interested candidates to apply for the District 2 or 4 School Board Director position.
Week of February 26, 2024: Individual candidate webpages published with candidates’ photos and letters of interest, work experience/resume, and questionnaire responses as submitted through the application form. Candidates’ video statements will be added once finalized for all candidates.
Week of February 26, 2024: Candidates record video statements with SPSTV for posting to candidate webpages. Candidates who have applied and/or submitted their contact information will be contacted to schedule.
- Video Statement Requirements:
- Statements will be recorded the week of February 26 in the SPSTV Studio at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence.
- Each candidate will have an approximately 30-minute appointment.
- Prepare for your appointment by writing a statement in support of your candidacy that is 2 minutes or less that covers who you are, why you’re interested in serving on the School Board, and why you should be selected.
- You can record three takes of your 2-minute video statement and can select the one that you prefer.
- SPSTV will caption your statement and will cut the statement to be 2 minutes (with extra time cut from the end of the recording) if your recorded statement exceeds 2 minutes.
- Other than shortening and captioning videos, SPSTV will not be editing your video statement or combining takes—you will need to select one take to use.
- Your recorded video statement will be linked to on your candidate webpage and available online (e.g. Vimeo, YouTube).
- All video statements must be recorded with SPSTV. Previously recorded statements will not be accepted.
Week of February 26 or March 4, 2024: Video statements finalized and added to candidate webpages.
March 6, 2024 Regular Board Meeting: Appointment process discussed during the Regular Board Meeting. See the agenda. View SPSTV recording.
March 13, 2024 Board Special Meeting: Board selects four finalist candidates for District 2. All four applicants for District 4 continue as finalists. See the agenda. View SPSTV recording.
March 20, 2024 Regular Board Meeting: Appointment process discussed during the Regular Board Meeting. View SPSTV recording of update.
March 27, 2024: Candidate Forum for finalists. See the agenda.
April 3, 2024 Regular Board Meeting: Anticipated date for Board Action on appointments to District 2 and 4 positions. See the agenda.
April 4, 2024 Board Special Meeting: Anticipated date for Oath of Office for District 2 and 4 Directors. See the agenda.
May 2, 2024: Legal deadline for appointments (90 days after resignation effective date).