Briefs

Washington State University appointed Elizabeth Cantwell as its 12th president on Thursday, Feb. 6. Her term will begin on April 1. Kirk Schulz, president since 2016, will step down on March 30, but stay on through June as a senior advisor to support the transition. 

The WSU Board of Regents unanimously selected Cantwell out of 260 candidates, according to the campus news release. She will be the school’s first woman President.

Cantwell currently serves as president of Utah State University, a post she’s held since August 2023. According to the WSU press release, during her brief tenure, sponsored research expenditures at the school reached a high $495 million, student scholarships increased by 10%, and she oversaw numerous campus infrastructure improvements. But The Salt Lake Tribune describes her tenure as “embattled,” as she navigated the school through numerous high-profile incidents.

Before that, Cantwell was the chief executive officer of Arizona State University Research Enterprise, where she grew the organization from $425 million to $680 million in three years. At the University of Arizona, she oversaw an $825 million annual research portfolio. 

“I am deeply honored by the trust the Board of Regents has placed in me to lead this incredible institution,” Cantwell said in the news release. “To be selected to lead this esteemed institution as its 12th president is a profound privilege. I’ve long admired Washington State University, and a couple of years ago my family’s connection to the university deepened when my daughter became a Coug, enrolling in one of WSU’s graduate programs. This opportunity to serve WSU as president is truly a dream come true!”

Robert J. Jones
Robert J. Jones (Courtesy photo)

The University of Washington Board of Regents announced Monday that Robert J. Jones will become the 34th President of the University of Washington. Jones, ending a nine-year tenure as Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will begin his five-year contract on August 1. 

Jones will become the first African American to serve in the role, according to the UW. 

“I look forward to working with the UW’s talented and dedicated faculty and staff to support and accelerate their work, and to partnering with the UW’s supporters to advance students’ success, economic opportunity and discovery for the public good,” Jones wrote in the announcement. 

President Ana Mari Cauce announced last year that she would step down from the role she held for a decade.

“His inspiring and barrier- breaking personal journey, highly regarded scholarship and decades of transformative leadership convinced us that Chancellor Jones is the ideal person to build upon President Ana Mari Cauce’s legacy,” Board of Regents Chair Blaine Tamaki said in the announcement. 

Jones, who has served at the University of Illinois since 2016, said his priorities include focusing on affordability for students and making education accessible. 

He also served as the President of the University at Albany from 2013-2016, which will make his UW presidency his third post leading a public research university. At Albany, he added academic units and degree-granting programs and expanded faculty research opportunities and student learning. 

The Seattle Public Schools board withdrew its plan Tuesday to close four elementary schools to help address a projected $94 million budget shortfall in the 2025-26 school year.

Earlier this year, the district had proposed closing North Beach, Sacajawea, Sanislo, and Stevens elementary schools starting next year for a potential $5.5 million in savings. Gaps in federal and state funding have been a major reason for the district’s budget shortfall. Seattle and other districts have also seen declining enrollment in recent years. Twenty-nine Seattle elementary schools served fewer than 300 students each last school year.

In a statement released this week, district officials said that the potential savings in closing the four schools “would not solely resolve SPS’s $94 million budget shortfall and has been a source of community division.”

The district will focus instead on “legislative and levy renewal advocacy, as well as pursuing operational efficiencies aligned with our shared values and priorities,” Superintendent Brent Jones wrote in a letter to the community this week.

District officials had warned as far back as 2023 that the district would have to consider closing schools to address its projected budget gap for the 2025-26 school year.

Free school lunches increased by 32% in the 2024-2025 school year, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. That means at least 70% – 775,000 of Washington’s 1.1 million students – have access to free school lunches.

In the 2023-2024 school year, 1,269 schools offered free meals funded by the federal government, also known as the Community Eligibility Provision, to students, and that number increased to 1,523 schools the following year. Schools get community eligibility to provide free lunches to all students regardless of income if they can document high numbers of students from low-income families.

OSPI worked with the state Legislature to increase the number of students eligible for free lunches by supplementing the funding of federal programs to cover the full or partial cost of school meals for eligible students.

To be eligible, students’ family income must be at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty line. A family of four that makes a monthly income of $3,380 or less is eligible for free student lunch.

However, the federal dollars aren’t enough to cover the increased demand for these lunches, leaving the burden for schools to pay for it in their budgets or make up the difference in their paid school lunch programs.

OSPI is requesting additional funding to make up these differences due to increased school participation, requesting $108 million a year for the program, a budget increase of $17.5 million annually.

During the pandemic, many families and students received universal free breakfast and lunch, but that ended in 2022. In 2023, a bill was passed requiring districts to pursue community eligibility to continue providing meals, falling short of its original goal to provide free meals for all students, as California and Maine do.

 At schools with universal free meals, staff are freed from tracking and collecting meal debt from students and can instead focus on quality meals, OSPI said. OSPI said these universal meal programs are an economic boost to families in need.

“When students participate in universal meal programs, their participation can save their families up to $1,200 per year that they might otherwise be spending on meals during the school day,” said State Superintendent Chris Reykdal in the press release email. “Especially as we all battle rising inflation and our budgets getting tighter, these programs provide much needed financial relief to families statewide.”

Highline Public Schools will resume on Thursday after being out since Monday due to a cyberattack.

According to the district, technology staff detected the breach and disconnected its network from the internet, disrupting phone systems and limiting access to applications required for the safe operations of schools.

In a statement on the district website, school officials expressed regrets about the disruption and noted that it delayed the first day of kindergarten. 

“We recognize the burden this decision places on both families and staff, but student safety is our top priority, and we cannot have school without these critical systems in place,” the district said in its statement.

UW President Ana Mari Cauce announces plans to step down in 2025

University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce

University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce. (Photo: University of Washington)

University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce announced Wednesday that she will step down from her position in June 2025 and return to the faculty after 10 years at the helm.

Cauce has been president of the state’s largest public university since 2015 and a faculty member or administrator there since 1986. Immediately before serving as president, Cauce was the provost of the school. She also has served as the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and headed the departments of American Ethnic Studies and Psychology.

Cauce was the first woman to be named permanently to be UW president, as well as the first Latina and the first openly gay person to serve in the role. 

Cauce, who immigrated as a child from Cuba to Miami with her family, first came to UW as an assistant professor of psychology. She became interim president in 2015 after the departure of Michael K. Young. Cauce was given the top spot permanently later that year.

Cauce will step down at the end of her second five-year contract with the University of Washington. Her departure will come at the same time as Washington State University President Kirk Schulz also plans to step down. Schulz, who has headed WSU since 2016, announced his plans to depart earlier this year.

Sarah Clark and Joe Mizrahi are the new directors on the Seattle Public Schools Board, replacing two who resigned earlier this year.

Sarah Clark
Sarah Clark (Seattle Public Schools)

Clark, director of policy for the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, will represent District 2, which includes the area from Magnolia Interbay to Loyal Heights to Green Lake. A graduate of Garfield High School and the University of Washington, Clark lives in Crown Hill and mentors students at Ballard High School. Board members said Clark would be the only graduate of the Seattle Public Schools system on the Board, and also cited her lived experience as a student of color and her work experience with policy as factors in her selection. Clark was selected from a field of 11 candidates.

Mizrahi, secretary/treasurer of UFCW 3000, will represent District 4, which includes the area from

Joe Mizrahi
Joe Mizrahi (Seattle Public Schools)

Downtown up through Queen Anne to Fremont. Mizrahi has three children in Seattle Public Schools and his wife is principal of an elementary school in Bellevue. He said his parents taught special education in San Diego and created programs around student inclusion and access. Board members cited his understanding of the Board’s role and his involvement in his neighborhood schools as factors in his selection. Mizrahi was selected from a field of four candidates.

Clark and Mizrahi both will be up for election in November 2025. 

Former school directors Vivian Song and Lisa Rivera, who moved out of their districts, vacated their positions in January. The resignations came after The Seattle Times raised questions about Song living outside her school board district. 

The Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors is scheduled to appoint new members on Wednesday to replace two who resigned earlier this year after moving out of the districts that they represented.

The school district held a forum with the finalists from director districts 2 and 4 last week. The forum was posted to the district’s YouTube channel for board meetings. District 2 includes the area from Magnolia Interbay to Loyal Heights to Green Lake. District 4 includes the area from Downtown up through Queen Anne to Fremont.

Both seats will be up for election in November 2025. 

Former school directors Vivian Song and Lisa Rivera vacated their positions in January after The Seattle Times raised questions about Song’s residency in her school board district. Song and Rivera said they were in compliance with state law, but both resigned to avoid “unnecessary distraction,” according to their joint statement.

The Seattle Public Schools Board is scheduled to evaluate the finalists in an executive session scheduled before the regular public board meeting on Wednesday. The regular board meeting starts at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence, 2445 Third Avenue South in Seattle. The newly appointed directors are expected to take the oath of office at 5 p.m, Thursday. 

Correction: This article originally had an incorrect date for the oath of office. The article was corrected on April 4, 2024.

A school district admnistration building
Seattle Public Schools’ SoDo headquarters, in an undated file photo. (Matt M. McKnight/Cascade PBS File)

Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal now has two challengers for the 2024 race to run Washington’s education department.

Reid Saaris, who started national education nonprofit Equal Opportunity Schools, announced his run on Wednesday, joining former state Rep. Brad Klippert, a Republican from Kennewick, who registered with the PDC and launched a campaign website earlier this year.  They both challenge Reykdal, who announced a bid for a third term earlier this year.

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction oversees state school budgets and statewide education policies. It is a nonpartisan position.

Reykdal, Klippert and Saaris are so far the only people who have registered with the state Public Disclosure Commission, which enforces state campaign finance laws, including reporting contributions and expenditures. The official candidate declaration period for the 2024 election starts next May.

Saaris, who grew up in Bellevue, was a teacher in South Carolina before spending 10 years heading the nonprofit that helped students of color and low-income students enroll in advanced high school courses. On his website, Saaris said his priorities include focusing on tutoring opportunities, student mental health, post-high school education and career development.

Reykdal, who had served on the Tumwater School Board and in the state Legislature before being elected state superintendent in 2016, said his priorities in his third term include increasing support for student mental health, expanding technical education, providing universal access to school meals and fully funding education.

Klippert, who left the state Legislature in 2022 for an unsuccessful bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, said he would focus on providing more school choices, including some charter schools and online schools; re-examining the state school funding formula; and increasing transparency in school curricula and budgets.

Correction: Feb. 20, 2024. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the date of the filing period of the 2024 election.

The Cashmere School District has committed to bystander intervention training for faculty and students, as well as to other anti-harassment programs, after an independent investigation found students at Cashmere High School harassed a Black classmate using racial slurs at school and in a group Snapchat.

In a Crosscut story that ran last month, the student who made the complaint talked about a pattern of harassment and racist language over many months both at school and in a group chat with multiple classmates.

Four students had been disciplined for discriminatory harassment, including the use of racial slurs, according to the school district. An allegation that a staff member failed to respond or address the behavior was “not substantiated.”

District administrators outlined the results of the investigation and its plans for the future in a letter to the community.

The two-page letter read in part “We have committed to making this unfortunate incident a learning opportunity where we can all elevate our awareness, grow and be better,” and was signed by Superintendent Glenn Johnson, Cashmere High School Principal Craig McKenzie, and other district and school administrators.

Separately from the student’s individual complaint, Cashmere community members also told Crosscut they had ongoing concerns about the school atmosphere, citing one student who wore a Confederate flag as a cape at the annual Senior Parade and students who tore down the high school’s Equity Club posters, which bore a rainbow Pride symbol and messages of inclusion and acceptance.

The student, who graduated in June, said he filed the complaint because he hoped the school would do more for future students about combating bullying and racist and bigoted language.

In its letter to the community, the district’s action items included providing professional development around inclusion and diversity; focusing a student-produced public service video on anti-bullying on language and bystander intervention; and developing a school improvement plan in August around well-being, belonging, and safety with student leaders and staff members.