Seattle Schools Chief Who Closed ‘Racist’ Gifted Schools Had Issues

Seattle Public Schools decided to shut down 11 schools dedicated to highly capable learners because there weren’t enough black and Hispanic children in them, or you could say there were too many white and Asian children in them.

The superintendent who shut the schools down is herself accused of racism against black teachers.

The schools closing include three elementary, five middle schools, and three high schools.

The “cohorts” at these schools keep the students together so teachers can focus on their advanced needs.

According to Seattle Public School data, of the highly capable students in the 2022-23 school year, 52 percent were white, 16 percent were Asian, and 3.4 percent were black, reports Daily Mail.

She Has a Past

School board chief Chandra Hampson was previously accused of racism.

Along with another board member, in 2021, Chandra Hampson was found to have violated the policy against harassing, intimidating, and bullying over their treatment of two black employees who were working on an anti-racism plan.

The anonymous complainants accused Hampson of launching ‘an orchestrated campaign of bullying, escalating intimidation, gaslighting and retaliation’ against them, according to the investigation report.

Although investigators did not find “clear evidence” that Hampson and her board colleague Zachary DeWolf discriminated against the staffers because of their race, it did conclude that they “used their positions and authority to their detriment.”

It is ironic that the alleged abuse took place during anti-racism training.

As For the Students

Black parents tried to keep the schools open and Hampson said they were “tokenizing.” What the school should do is look at what is causing the minority children from not making it into these classes and address that specifically.

The gifted and talented students will all go back to their neighborhood schools.

The teachers were told to take care of them.

Under the new program, dubbed the Highly Capable Neighborhood School Model, teachers will be required to come up with individualized learning programs for all 20 to 30 of their students — a task for which, they argue, they do not have the time or resources as the district faces a $104 million budget deficit, according to the Seattle Times.

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