Our Recall Petition

We seek Director Rankin’s recall because we care deeply about the education of Seattle’s children, so they can reach their full human potential and become well educated citizens, and because we believe fervently in the critical importance of public schools.

We allege several distinct ways in which Director Rankin demonstrated malfeasance, misfeasance, and violation of her oath of office. Director Rankin has not met her responsibilities to the citizens of the School District, or, most critically, to the children who she is charged with educating. 

We seek the recall of Director Rankin for: 

1. Adopting a rushed and improper process for closing schools, 

2. Repeatedly failing to provide transparency and community engagement on decisions critical to the well-being of the District, 

3. Failing to perform the basic oversight of the District expected of any Board Director, 

4. Failing to uphold the responsibilities of the School Board to ensure the District delivers student educational outcomes.

5. Closing the Interagency Academy without following proper procedure

Each of these repeated failures not only rise to the level of misfeasance, malfeasance, and/or violation of oath of office, they endanger the future of Seattle Public Schools, they hinder and undermine the education of Seattle’s children, and they do damage to the public’s trust in a foundational civic institution. 

1. Director Rankin has adopted an improper and rushed school closure process. 

On May 8, 2024, Director Rankin voted to approve the Superintendent’s “Plan for a System of Well Resourced Schools” which formally began the process by which schools across the District would be selected for closure. The school closure process has been conducted in a manner which violated school board policy and demonstrated misconduct on the part of Director Rankin. 

Director Rankin violated School Board Policy in the very vote to commence the school closure process on May 8th, 2024. Board Director Mizrahi was not physically present at the May 8th meeting, and therefore was ineligible to vote. But Director Rankin solicited and counted Director Mizrahi’s vote to approve the measure via text message (from his place in the security line at SeaTac Airport). Conducting a vote in this manner was in direct violation of Seattle School Board Policy 1400 (Meeting Conduct) which notes that “All votes on motions and resolutions shall be by oral roll-call vote.” Furthermore, School Board Policy 1400 goes on to say “State law requires that the business of the Board be conducted in public. Therefore, during Board meetings, Board members shall exercise principles of good governance and refrain from communicating electronically (e.g., by e-mail, text, or social media) with their fellow Board members regarding Board business (i.e., any matter that may come before the Board for action).” Accepting and counting a vote via text message violates that policy. 

Furthermore, Director Rankin acted arbitrarily and capriciously by advancing a knowingly flawed school closure process, without regard to the attending facts and circumstances. 

First, the motion to begin the school closure process was introduced and acted on in the same Board meeting, and the full materials supporting the motion were not provided to the public in advance. This is inconsistent with School Board Policy 1430 which states “The Board recognizes the importance of involving members of the public in its meetings and the value of public comment to support Board oversight, decision making, and policy development.” By introducing and acting on the motion in the same meeting, ignoring the Board’s own policy, Director Rankin attempted to garner support for the school closure process motion at the expense of the required public consideration of the measure. 

Second, this process is based on misleading and questionable cost saving assumptions which Director Rankin has failed to examine, as any reasonable Director would be expected to do in regards to a decision of this magnitude. The District asserted that closing elementary schools will save “up to $75 million” and regularly describes school closures as critical to closing a budget gap. In its own FAQ, the District calculates the cost savings per school at $2.5 million. If the District were to close its original stated goal of 20 schools, this would save only $50 million, well below the $75 million cost saving rationale offered to start the process. In fact, throughout the process, the District’s rationale for closing schools has shifted repeatedly, from cost savings to influencing legislators in Olympia. Public testimony, editorials, and comments from the community asking School Board Directors to “show their work” made Director Rankin aware of the flaws in these assumptions. By voting to begin the process of selecting schools for closure without more carefully examining this frequently shifting rationale, Director Rankin acted capriciously and failed to perform her duty as a Director. 

Third, closing schools is known to cause harm to neighborhoods, communities, and students, and yet Director Rankin negligently ignored those potential harms in advancing the school closure process. In 2013 Chicago Public Schools closed 50 schools in order to reduce costs. Follow-up analysis showed these closures hurt education outcomes, displaced neighborhoods, and disproportionately harmed kids with special needs. Director Rankin was made aware of this in public testimony and via several op-eds.

Fourth, the process itself was repeatedly changed while in-flight, reducing public trust and families’ confidence in their neighborhood school. The original process, approved on May 8, 2024 called for a list of schools to be announced at the June 12, 2024 meeting. However, at the June 12 meeting that date was then pushed to June 26. Then at the June 26 meeting the timeline was revised again to “sometime in September 2024.” A vote was finally taken on October 9. This repeated change in process and timeline has created a climate of fear at schools across the city and harmed those communities. Director Rankin was made aware of this in repeated public testimony from concerned community members and public outcry. 

In October 2024 it became clear that the Well Resourced Schools Plan which Director Rankin approved in May was deeply flawed. In a guest editorial in the Seattle Times, School Board Director Clark wrote “Originally, board members were told that the well-resourced schools plan was about solving our budget deficit as well as improving student outcomes and promoting equity for students of color. [Superintendent Dr. Brent] Jones was directed to include this information in his well-resourced schools proposal. I’ve looked, and there is no data to show any link between closing schools and increasing student outcomes where equity is the outcome of consolidation.” Notwithstanding the flawed process and policy, Director Rankin convened a successful vote for the most recent school closure plan at the October 9 School Board meeting (with Director Sarah Clark dissenting). A list of four schools was finally announced for closure on October 24, 2024.

2. Director Rankin has undermined community engagement and failed to provide transparency on decisions critical to the well-being of the District, in violation of the Open Public Meetings Act and other standards. 

Director Rankin acted negligently by adopting a Board meeting calendar and making the process for public comment more difficult, which was inconsistent with Board Policy 1430.  On June 26, 2024, Director Rankin voted to approve a revised calendar of meetings for 2024 and 2025. This new calendar reduces the total number of official Board meetings, each of which includes opportunities for public testimony, by half. This new calendar was adopted despite broad concern by parents across the district about the future of their school. As the Seattle Times wrote “After years of feeling ignored by Seattle Public Schools’ governing body, many see this move as a cynical effort to narrow the primary channel for public response at a crucial moment of community concern.” Exacerbating the Board’s failure to engage with the public, the Board has made it more difficult for community members to testify at meetings. For decades the Board had provided a sign-up process for public speakers at Board meetings that allowed the public to sign up to leave comment by leaving a voicemail message on a phone line with their name and topic for comment. In 2024 the Board ended this practice with no notice or justification and now only accepts testimony sign-up via a web-based form. The Board has also posted minutes and public records on a website that visitors and citizens have been restricted from accessing unless they are affiliated with the school district and have a login. The Board has been repeatedly made aware of the disadvantage this creates for community members without easy access to the internet. These actions are inconsistent with Board policy 1430 (as quoted above). 

Second, Director Rankin violated the Open Public Meetings Act, RCW 42.30.010. On June 10, 2024 the School Board held a closed executive session “To review the performance of a public employee.” The minutes of the June 10, 2024 session state “All Directors, Superintendent Jones, and Council of Great City Schools Governance Coach AJ Crabill participated in the Executive session.” The Washington State Open Public Meetings Act allows for closed Executive Session, specifically for the evaluation of a public employee. However, the inclusion of an outside “governance coach” who is not a personnel evaluator, expanded the scope of that meeting beyond the agenda as publicly declared. We therefore conclude that the School Board used its executive session to obstruct the public from observing and commenting on its proceedings. 

3. Director Rankin failed to perform her duty to provide basic oversight of the District, resulting in repeated budget shortfalls, operational failures, cost overruns, falling educational outcomes, violation of student constitutional rights, and eroding of public trust.

Director Rankin has repeatedly acted in a manifestly unreasonable manner, on untenable grounds or for untenable reasons, including failing to act when policy, law, and student constitutional rights were violated. Directors must ensure proper operation of their District. Each Director affirms in their oath of office to “faithfully discharge the duties of his/her office.” RCW 28A.150.230 states the intent that the law shall guarantee that a School Board Director, “whether or not acting through its respective administrative staff, be held accountable for the proper operation of their district to the local community and its electorate.” Moreover, Seattle School Board policy 1005 defines accountability and oversight of the District as a central responsibility of the School Board (“It is the duty and responsibility of the Board to set policy for, and provide governance and oversight of, the Seattle School District.”).

Notwithstanding these duties, on June 7, 2023 the School Board voted to approve the elimination of the majority of standing oversight committees, including the Audit & Finance, and Operations committees. These committees were the primary means by which Directors received in-depth reporting on District operations and financial performance. These changes were made as part of the Director Rankin-led commitment to a philosophy known as Student Outcomes Focused Governance (“SOFG”). Director Rankin has led an effort to require all Directors to pledge that they will adhere to SOFG principles, and attend SOFG trainings. A core principle of SOFG is that an elected school board will refrain from certain oversight activities and defer to school district management. Director Rankin’s abolishment of these oversight mechanisms is a violation of Director Rankin’s oath of office and her fiduciary duties as a Director, and inhibits the School Board’s ability to engage in its critical oversight functions. 

Director Rankin’s failure to provide basic oversight, led to painful operational failures and cost overruns. We detail several examples of those oversight failures below.

In October of 2023 more than 50 schools were impacted by teacher reassignments 5 weeks after the beginning of school. While some teacher reassignment is routine, as Seattle Education Association President Jennifer Matter said, we have “never seen so many schools impacted by a reshuffle in the fall.” Director Rankin did not request an investigation into the reshuffle, even after seeing repeated news reports and hearing testimony from frustrated parents. This represents a failure of Director Rankin’s responsibility under Seattle School Board Policy 1005 to “suggest corrective actions where appropriate.” 

On October 25, 2023, Director Rankin voted to “approve a budget increase of $5,050,000 for the Montlake Elementary School Modernization and Addition project” knowing that these new plans will provide zero on-site ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) parking spaces and will drastically shrink the Montlake school playground space in violation of WAC 110-301-0145 (titled “Outdoor school-age program space”). The Board was requested by the public to remedy these issues on June 26, 2024 and October 25, 2023, however Director Rankin took no action to investigate or remedy the issue. 

Director Rankin has failed to provide basic financial oversight of construction projects leading to cost overruns, most notably at Rainier Beach High School. On April 25, 2024 Director Rankin voted to approve a $1.3 million change order (i.e. cost overrun) to the Rainier Beach High School construction project. This overrun is in addition to the $10 million in already approved cost overruns. While some of these overruns were due to inflation, much of the cost overrun is due to “the interior buildout of the Performing Arts Center, construction of the stadium concession stands, and the potential build out of concrete tennis courts not anticipated when the school was under design.” Director Rankin did not instruct the District to investigate the planning failure that led to these overruns.

On July 2, 2024 Director Rankin voted to approve a 2024-2025 budget which closed a $105 million shortfall based on risky assumptions. The District borrowed $27.5 million from its Capital Fund with a requirement to repay the loan by July 2026.  With enrollment continuing to decline and the savings from school closures only speculative, the District has no credible path to restore those funds to the Capital Fund. Approving a budget built on these faulty assumptions is a failure to perform basic management oversight required of a Director. 

Finally, on March 29, 2024, the District implemented new digital surveillance technologies such as GoGuardian Teacher, which violates student constitutional rights, and Director Rankin took no action to protect those students. The ACLU identified GoGuardian as a risk to student privacy and noted that other districts have removed GoGuardian after “swift backlash from parents who were rightly concerned about how the tracking impacted their children’s privacy.” (ACLU, Digital Dystopia: The Danger in Buying What the EdTech Surveillance Industry is Selling). This surveillance constitutes an invasion of privacy and harms children in several ways. First, students cannot reasonably be asked to consent to this surveillance when they are compelled to use District issued laptops and are under the age of 18. Second, such surveillance infringes on children’s Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and First Amendment rights against restriction of free speech. Director Rankin has been repeatedly made aware of these risks via public testimony but has taken no action to investigate or remedy them. The Board was notified of the risks of GoGuardian on April 2, 2024 by members of the community and took no action to investigate the risks of this new technology. Director Rankin swore to “uphold the constitution” as part of their oath of office. Adopting GoGuardian violates that oath.

These failures to perform basic oversight, as demonstrated by the above examples, constitute misfeasance and a violation of Director Rankin’s oath of office to “promote the interests of education” and to “faithfully discharge the duties of his/her office.”

4. Director Rankin has failed to meet the responsibilities of the Seattle School Board to ensure Seattle Public Schools delivers high quality learning environments and student educational outcomes. 

Director Rankin failed to intervene when the school District repeatedly failed to deliver acceptable educational outcomes for the students of Seattle. This was a violation of  Director Rankin’s oath of office, which directs her to  “promote the interests of education” and to “faithfully discharge the duties of his/her office.”

The Seattle School Board established the following specific goals for educational outcomes:

The percentage of Black boys who achieve English Language Arts proficiency or higher on the 3rd grade Smarter Balanced Assessment will increase from 28% in June 2019, to 70% in June 2024.

The percentage of Black boys and teens in 7th grade who achieve proficiency or higher on the 7th grade Smarter Balanced Assessment in math will increase from 23% in June 2019, to 45% in June 2024 and to 70% in June 2026 – essentially doubling over 3 years and reaching the targeted 70% in 5 years.

However, the District has not achieved those goals. In fact, as of 2024, according to the District’s progress monitoring data 29% of African-American male students achieved proficiency in 3rd grade English Language Arts and only 20% of African American male students achieved proficiency in 7th grade math. Director Rankin has been aware of these failures but has failed to act to reverse them.

Director Rankin affirmed on October 26, 2022 that “The Seattle School Board is responsible for ensuring that the district is achieving the community’s vision for Seattle students while adhering to the community’s values of safe, anti-racist, high-quality learning environments.” Further, School Board Policy 1005 makes it clear that it is the responsibility of a Director to “suggest corrective actions where appropriate.” By negligently failing to intervene when educational outcomes fell below the District’s goals, Director Rankin “acted wrongfully….or negligently in the performance of his or her duties.” (King County Prosecutor's Brief  in re: Recall of School Board Directors 2021, P.6). 

5. Director Rankin voted to close Interagency Academy School in a manner that violated RCW 28A.335.020 and School Board Policy 6883

On April 6, 2022, Director Rankin voted for “Approval of closure of three instructional program sites for Interagency Academy School.” This item was introduced and acted on in the same meeting. Closing the Interagency Academy School represented the closure of a “site for instructional purposes.” The District did not conduct required hearings. Critically, not following this process was in direct violation of RCW 28A.335.020 and Board Policy 6883. 

RCW 28A.335.020 requires that when a school district closes a site for instructional purposes, “that during the ninety days before a school district’s final decision upon any school closure, the school board of directors shall conduct hearings to receive testimony from the public on any issues related to the closure of any school for instructional purposes. The policy shall require separate hearings for each school which is proposed to be closed.” In addition, Seattle School Board Policy No. 6883 clearly states that any closure of an instructional site must be preceded by” site-specific hearings, publication of analysis, and discussion by the Board of Directors.” The District knows about these requirements, because then they closed the Genesee School in 2009, that was found to be a closure of a site for educational purposes. See Jan. 2010 King County Superior Court Case 09-2-10804-8. The same requirement should have applied to the closure of the Interagency Academy. 

Director Rankin’s actions and performance rise to the level of misfeasance, malfeasance, and a violation of her oath of office.