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Seattle schools superintendent, CFO fired unanimously by board

by KING 5 News

KING5.com

Posted on March 2, 2011 at 6:14 PM

Updated Friday, Apr 1 at 10:20 AM

SEATTLE – Seattle Public Schools' board members voted unanimously Wednesday to fire Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson and Chief Financial and Operating Officer Don Kennedy.

School board members voted after two hours of public comment, calling for the termination of Goodloe-Johnson and Kennedy's contracts.

The board also voted to make Susan Enfield, current Chief Academic Officer, the Interim Superintendent.

At issue is a district program to help minorities get school contracts. An audit revealed $1.8 million in spending that can't be explained, and questions about the man who directed the program, Silas Potter. 

The board said “a lack of management oversight and accountability” may have allowed “potentially fraudulent activity to persist for years without intervention.”

Parents said Goodloe-Johnson and Kennedy are in the hot seat because they didn't act when red flags were first raised about Potter and the program.

"She's at the top. She's supposed to be aware and she's not," said one parent.

But supporters of the superintendent believed the good things she did for the district should count in her favor.

"She's a wonderful person, she is so committed to kids and education," said Sara Morris, Alliance for Education President and CEO. "She started as a teacher, then became principal and then administrator."

Seattle Public Schools will pay Goodloe-Johnson some $300,000 in severance, which would include her base pay of $264,000 and benefits. Kennedy will receive six months salary.
 
Goodloe-Johnson remains in South Carolina, tending to her mother who is ill. Potter is now in Florida, where he resides.

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Comments: Displaying 1 - 15 of 22

lsmith5870400119 said on March 4, 2011 at 2:00 PM

Why pay her severance?She was fire for wrong doing or neglect of her job. Throw the ball in her court.

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tomma206 said on March 4, 2011 at 2:53 AM

@SOURDOUGHJOEDUMMY.Pugetropolis? Your a child in the worst way.

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tomma206 said on March 4, 2011 at 2:49 AM

Cronyism cares about nothing but friends.Some say the glass is half empty, I say, you gonna drink that?

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wikblom said on March 3, 2011 at 5:38 PM

It happens with every affirmative action program. Corruption and waste with no outside supervision. Look what happened in Africa after all the whites left town. All of those countries are basket cases that can't even feed themselves. Of course, it's always racist to tell the truth.

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3porte8742496002 said on March 3, 2011 at 1:23 PM

Oh no.... I can already hear Al Sharpton and Rev. Jackson heading out west to address the cries of Racism!!! And $300K in severance? Good Gosh, no wonder the public schools are in such a mess.

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banditrider said on March 3, 2011 at 1:16 PM

The political correctness in Seattle is out of hand. The have remembrance days for criminals, let gov't leaders run amok (but hey, they're all minorities so its okay-its not their fault). Thumb their nose at authority if it doesn't suit them, and they have the media in their back pocket.

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kbbcoop said on March 3, 2011 at 12:30 PM

I dont live in Seattle either thank God, and I dont ever intend to. I dont shop there either. Im about 20 miles north, lol.

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sourdoughjoe said on March 3, 2011 at 12:04 PM

"kbbcoop said on March 3, 2011 at 9:56 AM $300,000 in severance!!! Gotta love them government workers. Where is the missing $1.8 million, in her freezer??" It most probably had to do with the generous contract that the school district gave her, as well as her cohort's contract. I don't live anywhere near Pugetropolis (thank God), but you folks there deserve all you get by electing people to oversee things they are not qualified to oversee. If you want to see what future corruption in Pugetropolis may have in store for you, check out any of the websites featuring/deriding Detroit, MI. I was born and raised there. Seattle and Portland are about a decade away if said cities do not change their ways.

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kbbcoop said on March 3, 2011 at 11:55 AM

@yessir, No its fine being Kbbcoop..you should be more concerned where your tax money is going, and the fact they keep appointing incompetent people to run public administrations...(See Roberta Palm Bradley and Seattle City Light for another fine example)

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yessir said on March 3, 2011 at 11:37 AM

I'm pretty certain it must utterly suck being kbbcoop

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dega77 said on March 3, 2011 at 11:34 AM

I beg to differ that Goodloe-Johnson is "at the top." The school board is at the top and ultimately responsible. What this amounts to is a school board that has no clue how to read a budget or budget report; a school board that has gone along to get along. Along with firing Goodloe-Johnson, the school board should be recalled to the last board member!

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craigphillips said on March 3, 2011 at 11:18 AM

The board should research all pertinent evidence and come up with their own logical conclusion. It sounds to me like they bowed to popular opinion. The CFO should go. Not the Superintendent. Groupthink is not the democratic way i.e. My Lai Massacre. Stick to the truth.

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kbbcoop said on March 3, 2011 at 10:56 AM

$300,000 in severance!!! Gotta love them government workers. Where is the missing $1.8 million, in her freezer??

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minority said on March 3, 2011 at 10:53 AM

The consequence of responsibility! The overall responsibility belongs to Superintendant position for everything within the district of their responsibility.

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1beachperson said on March 3, 2011 at 9:57 AM

They should make both of them use their severance pay to reimburse at least a portion of the money lost. Pilot93 - I'm sure you're very qualified to fill the position, considering you can't even spell incompetent! You'll fit right in.

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banditrider said on March 3, 2011 at 9:39 AM

Exactly, this is what happens when political correctness takes over. Race isn't the issue, hiring to fill a quota or make special interest groups feel good, opposed to hiring on merit, is trouble. They need to prosecute these people, nice golden parachute they gave them. Seattle will probably be having a Maria Goodloe-Johnson day.

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telman said on March 3, 2011 at 9:16 AM

I would say to digiwave you are truly ignorant.This has nothing to do with race it has to do with total incompetence and corruption. What would it mean if I said they were all white would you make a comment like this guy is a racist. If you are going to post please think your thought through.

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pilot93 said on March 2, 2011 at 7:27 PM

I sure wish I had a job that would pay me $264,000 to go sit at home because I was totally incompotent. Oh wait, I can just go to work for the city of Seattle!

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skippythedog said on March 2, 2011 at 7:22 PM

Nothing racist about inquiring about equality in hiring for public positions.

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bazwest said on March 2, 2011 at 7:19 PM

Its nice to see accountability happening quickly. The $1.8 million dollars in wasted money surely could have been better used within the school system rather than to line the pockets of friends of various administrators.

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digiwave said on March 2, 2011 at 7:11 PM

@skippythedog: Yet another RACIST rears their ugly head. You make me sick.

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skippythedog said on March 2, 2011 at 6:24 PM

Why are all of these top level administrators non-white? It just seems like a much higher percentage than is represented in the population here in Seattle. Why is that exactly? Maybe it's time to be a bit more color blind in the hiring process.

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