Portland school board candidates on accountability

A new superintendent will lead Portland Public Schools next year. The new leader will be expected to rebuild the district by making critical hires and putting systems in place that have been absent. Portland Public Schools has long been plagued by a lack of accountability in its culture, with outside auditors in 2005, 2013 and again in 2016 warning of chaos in central office. It's the superintendent's job to hold district staff accountable and, in turn, it is the school board's job to hold the superintendent accountable. The Oregonian/OregonLive sent a questionnaire to each candidate who will be on May's ballot. Here are some of their answers — more to come in the following days. (See what we've run so far here and here.)

Portland Public Schools will have a new superintendent next school year. What kind of relationship would you hope to have with him and how will you develop this?

Julia Brim-Edwards: On behalf of the community, the board's most important role is to hire, oversee, and hold the superintendent accountable for leading the district and its performance. Over the past decade, the board sometimes lost sight of this key role and did not address serious management and leadership issues.

I hope to partner with the superintendent and other board members in creating a vision and strategic plan and will be candid in my communications. The board also should informally advise and open doors in the community for the superintendent, and back up his/her leadership in managing the implementation of the plan.

Ed Bos: I will work to maintain trust and open lines of

communication with the superintendent, by sharing my thoughts and concerns, and inviting their professional and expert opinion.

Joseph L. Simonis: I would like to develop a collegial and productive working relationship with Donyall Dickey as he becomes the new PPS superintendent. I will begin to foster this relationship by having one-on-one meetings with him so that we can learn more about each other and what drives us to support public education. Throughout these meetings and in other spaces, I will work to actively listen and find common ground that we can work from to make PPS the best for all students.

Zach Babb: I am a firm believer that people will deliver results if they're given an environment

where they can be successful. For the superintendent and school board relationship this means agreeing on a common vision, common measures of success, and establishing the resources necessary to execute. I hope to cultivate a relationship where we are building something truly special together, delivering on our individual responsibilities, and holding ourselves accountable to the highest results.

David Morrison: I would hope, of course to have a good relationship leading to respect and mutual consideration of each other's ideas on education policy and priorities. I think he would consider many of my ideas rational and verifiable.

Again, not knowing the superintendent and his personality or communication style, it is difficult to give anything other than a superficial answer to this question. However, from what I know of the incoming superintendent I think he will be a positive influence to Portland's troubled schools and school board.

Candidate Trisha Parks has stopped campaigning and did not fill out the questionnaire.

Rita Moore: I look forward to having a great relationship with our new Superintendent. Dr. Dickey brings the right talent, experience, and skills to the district. As an academic specialist, he will be able to establish a coherent vision of the kind of education our students need to thrive and rebuild our capacity to deliver it efficiently and effectively. Since he will be arriving in July in the midst of a budget crisis, it will be particularly important for the board and the superintendent to take advantage of the summer months to listen to each other, share perspectives, and establish strong working relationships and a common vision for moving forward.

Jamila Singleton Munson: A new superintendent is an

opportunity for us to reset the relationships within the district and build closer collaboration between the board, administration, and our schools. We need to have an honest, constructive relationship between the board and the superintendent so that we can build a shared vision and also address challenges as they arise. Too often the approach of some of those on the board has created conflict with the superintendent, leaving parents and others in the community with less confidence in the leadership of the district.

Scott Bailey: I want to be able to inspire and be inspired by our superintendent, so that we begin to reach our potential in this district. I want to help them be incredibly successful. That means helping them build strong ties with staff and the community, orienting them to our values and expectations, avoiding pitfalls, helping them assess their strengths and weaknesses (no superintendent has the complete tool kit), and supporting them in addressing those weaknesses. It also means clearly communicating board priorities and expectations and how the board will hold them accountable.

Virginia La Forte: If elected, I expect to have a very positive

working relationship with the new superintendent. The district has many challenges to address and it will take collaboration, compromise and an open mind to address district policy and financial issues as quickly as possible. We need to value the superintendent's perspective and skills but also hold this person accountable to goals and policies to ensure that every PPS student reaches his or her full potential. I expect the superintendent to have excellent management skills so that every staff member is valued and contributes to educational vision of the district.

Candidate Traci Flitcraft did not respond to two emails from The Oregonian/OregonLive.

How will you hold the superintendent accountable?

Julia Brim-Edwards:

With the board:

—   set clear expectations from day one;

—   co-create or re-affirm student success, operational, and community health metrics;

—   ensure that the superintendent's performance metrics include responsibility for his direct report's performance and that accountability cascades through the Central Office;

—   quarterly informal reviews and annual on-time formal evaluation;

—   provide timely, qualitative feedback; offer external coaching and mentoring if serious issues or deficiencies arise and require course correction. The superintendent needs to hold his team accountable for their performance, and the board must hold the superintendent accountable.

Ed Bos: As part of a supervisory body, I will hold the superintendent accountable by asking for factual reports on progress toward objectives set by the board, and a focus on not accepting an abdication of our responsibility to pursue and achieve success.

Joseph L. Simonis: The same way I hold anyone else accountable, which is to [1] make sure he is clear in his words, [2] allow him time to translate words to actions, and then [3] follow up to determine how his words have been translated into actions that affect the real lives of students.

Zach Babb: I never expect anyone to do anything that I haven't told them I expect of them. To this end, the school board must establish concrete goals and metrics for the superintendent, and then use those to measure success. Once we have established a common vision, accountability should be a corollary of the successful execution of that vision.

David Morrison: This is an important question, considering the lead scandal. Safety administrators, teachers, contractors and all potential hires need to be thoroughly vetted. I am not yet informed of what kinds of materials or methods are available to follow the superintendent's decisions and actions.

Candidate Trisha Parks has stopped campaigning and did not fill out the questionnaire.

Rita Moore: In past years, the school board has established a long list of priorities and criteria for evaluating the Superintendent's performance. In my view, these efforts have not been particularly useful as evaluative tools and contributed to the kind of prolonged and pervasive mismanagement that produced last year's crises.

The district needs to have a short list of priorities – 2 to 3 – that could be genuinely actionable within a 12-month period, along with goals and appropriate metrics to permit a comprehensive evaluation of performance toward meeting the goal. Increasing the graduation rate is, obviously, a critical goal for the district, but is not appropriate as an annual criterion for evaluation, since it is the product of 12 years' worth of district efforts.

Jamila Singleton Munson: The board must establish a clear vision for the work of the district, as well as clear expectations about how to achieve that vision. Working together, we can have transparency about progress towards that vision and accountability for where we are not meeting expectations. I would specifically like to see a higher level of school level transparency and build a community based-school report card system citywide.

Scott Bailey: The board needs to develop clear, shared priorities, and then work with the superintendent to see that there are plans to carry out those priorities, including objectives, action steps, staff assigned, budgeted resources, a timeline, how different stakeholders will be involved, and how the project will be evaluated. These documents should all be publicly accessible. There should be regular check-ins with the board to chart progress. This is basic management, which PPS does with the bond, but doesn't seem to with education.

Virginia La Forte: As a member of the board, we will have to determine collectively how to hold the superintendent accountable to the success of an education vision that we create together. We have an opportunity for a fresh start and I believe that metrics like individual student growth, literacy rates, closing the achievement gap and high school graduation rates are very important. It's also important that district employees have a supportive work environment built on transparency. Thus, I would like to see a review process that allows and values honest employee input and feedback.

Candidate Traci Flitcraft did not respond to two emails from The Oregonian/OregonLive.

— Bethany Barnes

Got a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email Bethany: bbarnes@oregonian.com