Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Wants Feedback From Families

SEATTLE, WA —Dr. Brent Jones, who had the interim tag removed from his title of superintendent of Seattle Public Schools in March, has announced that he is hosting a series of online community engagement events in the coming weeks to get feedback from families in the district.

In a release, the district said the discussions will focus on how schools can be safe and welcoming spaces where students can learn and thrive.

Different Zoom sessions will be held for Native American families (April 19), multilingual families (April 21), Black families (April 25), students with IEPs or 504s, special education services and student accommodation (May 2), students (May 5), families with a student receiving special education services (May 9) and all families and the community (May 16).

All sessions last from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and registration is available online. ASL and closed captioning will be available, as will interpretation in Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Amharic. For the session for Black families, interpretation also will be available in Oromo and Tigrinya.

On March 11, the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors officially selected Jones to be the new superintendent of SPS. He had served in that capacity on an interim basis since May 2021.

Jones has spent more than 20 years working in education and government agencies, including six years at SPS.

According to the district, Jones' expertise is in areas of strategic planning, community engagement, change management and human resources.

"My mission is to create the conditions for students to thrive," Jones said on March 4, after the board of directors had voted to approve authorization to negotiate an employment contract with him. "We are going to do that together and I'm appreciative of what we've done so far.

"It's only been 10 months, it seems like a long time, but we've come through some real heavy, heavy times and we're still standing. Our students are strong, our staff is strong."

On Monday, Jones received the Thelma Dewitty Education Award from the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Committee (MLKCC). The award was presented on the 54th anniversary of King's death for "demonstrating exceptional leadership and advocacy to improve education in the lives of students and their families."

Jones received the award at a "Day of Remembrance & Awards Ceremony" at Seattle's Holgate Street Church of Christ.