Could have just used #FAFO (which can also mean Fool Around and Find Out)

"They could have AT LEAST gone through the trouble of actually finding one or two people who actually live in Seattle and actually follow Hersey on Instagram or Facebook, saw the 24-hour story, and felt offended by his hashtag just to cover their asses, but that would have required actual work :/ "

Rich, this applies to you as well. Your op-ed here would be a lot more compelling if you'd engaged in a little journalism and interviewed sources to determine how the public responded to this post.

@4 that's a bingo

Considering The Stranger’s full throated support of a truly meaningless City Council resolution on the Gaza conflict and trying to paint everyone running against their preferred Council candidates as MAGA-ites, going after the Times for “yelling at clouds” takes some epic chutzpah.

Ah, The Stranger. The three major incidents of the day in Seattle according to their editorial choices.

Sawant's performative theater on Palestine.
"Don't put a playground by the nude gay beach"
Don't civility police the guy running SPS into the ground.

And people wonder why the left isn;t taken seriously.

Observation: The Stranger spends far more writerly energy/copy space on the Seattle Times than vice versa.

And yes yes, City races didn’t go so well but The Stranger hasn’t lost its electoral touch for the School Board. I don’t think that will age well though, once those elected officials are compelled to cede control under inevitable state receivership.

Hahahaha. Sigh.

Seattle Public Schools faces a $105 million deficit, staff layoffs are imminent, and school closures are being planned for 2024-2025, but The Stranger is focusing on old people objecting to cuss words, which (spoiler alert) old people tend to object to and is therefore NOT NEWS, unlike all this other stuff. Oh, and test scores in reading and math have never been lower than they are right now.

Hahahaha. Sigh.

Seriously, Rich — this is the best use of your time and (presumed) journalistic skills?

Remember when Frank Blethen emailed "Fuck you to death" to Journal-American publisher Peter Horvitz for printing the Guild's strike paper? Always classy, that one.

Such a pathetic rebuttal.

Doubling down on inappropriate behavior displayed by a school board president. Gross.

Nothing really of substance, here, on the board president's language and behavior...just an attack on the Seattle Times. Ew.

Melissa Westbrook here, moderator and writer of the Seattle Schools Community Forum blog.

Let me just say that Rich DID reach out to me about this story but, unfortunately, used an email I rarely use. I just saw his query late last night while looking for something else.

No, I did not see the photo when it was published. I got a heads-up from a couple of parents on school community Facebook pages and they were not happy.

No, I didn't contact the Times; I did tweet out my post on the photo and that may be how they got wind of this.

President Hersey has a decidedly casual manner at official meetings that I find off-putting. Answering "yo!" for roll call seems odd. He frequently calls out how young he is compared to the other board members (although now they have student board members so he loses that title) so perhaps that's why he interprets this as a "generational" issue.

Last week, on her last night at a Board meeting as a director, Leslie Harris, explaining her vote on an item, glanced over at Hersey and told him not to roll his eyes at her. He sputtered, "Whoa, yo, yo." Harris is a paralegal and in 8 years on the Board, I hardly ever saw her call anyone out. And so I believe Hersey did do something. It might have behooved him to be the leader and tell her that if she saw something in his face that bothered her, he was sorry. But he didn't. I bring this up just as another instance of how he is quite loose in how he runs school board meetings. You just don't always have faith that he takes the work seriously.

I have no problem with swearing; ride shotgun with me in my car and you'll hear plenty. No, it was that phrasing and the putting forth the idea that if you don't vote how Hersey thinks you should, you were messing around with his Board and had no business doing that.

I find it delightful that Rich said that the phrase means "actions have consequences" because, in this case, it is true.

And the Times is right; things are NOT going well at SPS and it's important that the public believes in how members of the board are going to work together and will conduct themselves in a manner that gives that belief weight.

Also, it's Evan Briggs, not Erin Briggs.

Lastly, a heads-up from the last Board meeting. Remember that the district wants to close some schools but said not until next school year (2024-2025)? The claim was made by Director Liza Rankin that some schools' principals WANT to volunteer to consolidate with another school. Art Jarvis, a senior staff, said yes, that the district was trying to be "invitational" to any interested principals. And, if that's true, the discussion sounded like that would be by the end of THIS school year.

Jarvis also said "There is also the side that is very loaded in a sense of principals not wanting to be the one that says, 'I volunteered my school to be closed and then have their own parents say 'whoa, when did this get, how did we get here?'"

That's why we need serious people running the Seattle School Board. This is a very serious time in SPS history. And, as someone who served on the last Closure and Consolidation Committee, I can also say how very hard it is for school communities to see their school closed and community scattered.

@20
Oh westello, your racism is showing. Not even your abuela can save you from it.
You cannot keep your racist thoughts to yourself and spew your tone policing of a Black man - an educator, community leader and president of the school board. And not only with this story, but for a longtime now. Policing the way he talks. It can’t get any more bigoted than that.
You left out that Michelle Sarju - a Black woman - immediately said what she witnessed on the dais “that is not what happened here” she said. But you are a racist and dismissed what a Black woman - with a masters degree, with a leadership role in Public Health, a certified midwife AND school board director, mind you - had to say. She was there, you were not.
It must be mind blowing to you that the most powerful people in the district and those who support and believe in them are people of color.
Go away and clutch your pearls somewhere else.

@22
You do realize that Melissa Westbrook was the person who broke the story about Chandra Hampson and Zack DeWolfe (now Pullin) we’re questioning the qualifications of two Black SPS administrators. Chandra has since wasted $150,000 of district money trying (and failing) to prove that the phone call wasnt bullying and intimidation.
If you want to call out racism on the board, look no further than Chandra Hampson.

Meh, Hersey and Blethen deserve each other.

@25 that’s the truth. They are the opposite side of the political spectrum but the same side of the douchebag spectrum. I couldn’t believe that Hersey charged the school district $2k for business class plane tix to a conference, while he’s overseeing a massive budget shortfall.

@22
“If MW says so, it must be true “ is not how I roll. She has a personal issue with Hampson - so middle school.
@ Rich Smith: my only complain about your article is you posted a link to the trashy MW blog. Waste of everyone’s time.

Melissa's nearly quarter - century involvement with the district surpasses the tenures of many board members, reflecting a deep -rooted commitment to fostering transparency and accountability. Her unwavering dedication shines a light on critical matters within the district. Having served on closure committees, Melissa possesses a unique perspective on the challenges faced by by the community. Weathering through two significant scandals, one involving a staggering $35M. Melissa stood resilient, providing a stabilizing force during tumultous times and always brings a sense of history and perspective. Journalists, recognizing her as a beacon of reliable information, frequently turn to Melissa for insights, thoughts, and valuable information given her wealth of experience and commitment to the district's well being.

In this case, there was a serious issue of the president of the Seattle School Board making a cringy comment ( as noted by The Stranger) which appeared to threaten anyone that campaigned against his preferred candidate. Elected individuals are held to a higher standard; especially when they represent nearly 50,000 students, 5000 employees etc.

Hampson's lawsuit and appeals against the district are well documented.

You left out that Michelle Sarju - a Black woman - immediately said what she witnessed on the dais “that is not what happened here” she said."

No, I did include that line at my blog but I did not know who said it. I was not there live; I was watching on YouTube. And funny how it was Hampson who tried to force the issue and not Sarju if she indeed knew so much.

I would have said the same thing about ANY other director who is as casual as Hersey is in his behavior as school board president.

He is being ageist by telling the Times that "Anyone offended by it had misunderstood, laboring under “generational and cultural differences.”

Oh, that's it. We are all just old people.

Puh-lease. It’s pretty simple. Model the behavior you want to see. I am going to assume Mr Hersey does not want the district’s 50k kids parroting “FAFO” on the playground. “But her blog” is a lame retort for district apologists.