Seattle School Board president faces recall effort over handling of school closures

As Seattle Public Schools faces continued public backlash over proposed school closures, a group of parents is attempting to recall board President Liza Rankin.

The recall effort comes as Washington’s largest public school system moves ahead with plans to close four schools — a scaled down version of a previous plan that called for up to 21 schools to be shuttered next year.

In court documents filed with King County, the group argues Rankin adopted a “rushed and improper” school closure process and repeatedly failed to “provide transparency and community engagement on decisions critical to the well-being of the district.”

The parents also contend Rankin failed to uphold her duties as a school board member to adequately oversee the district and “ensure the district delivers student educational outcomes.”

"As Board President, Liza Rankin must uphold the highest standards in public office, especially in a time of urgent crisis like that which Seattle Public Schools now faces,” Ben Gitenstein, one of the petitioners, said in a statement. “Instead, Rankin has committed violations that have worsened our district’s crisis.”

“Now more than ever, it is necessary to recall Rankin in order to save our students and Seattle Public Schools from her leadership,” added Gitenstein, the parent of two SPS students and a former school board candidate.

Janai Ray, Nancy Bacon, Annie Becker, and Rebekah Binns are also named as petitioners on the recall paperwork.

Rankin, who’s represented the northernmost parts of Seattle, including the Crown Hill, Broadview, Northgate, and Lake City neighborhoods since 2019, said she stands by her actions as school board president and denied any accusations of malfeasance or wrongdoing.

“I have actually been taking it very seriously that my duty as board president is to help ensure that we are abiding by laws and rules around compliance,” she said in an interview with KUOW on Tuesday.

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Rankin also argued the closure process hasn’t been rushed, pointing out that she was among several board members to push back on the mass closure plan first proposed in September.

“What we received didn't justify that level of change, and so we said, ‘No thank you, please try again,’” Rankin said. “I think rushing would have been to accept it anyway, knowing that it didn’t have all the information we needed. And we definitely didn’t do that.”

Rankin has supported school consolidation since her reelection last year. And even as the district downsized its plan from 21 to four schools, she's continued to say the district will need to close more schools down the road.

This is the second attempted recall Rankin has faced. She and the entire board were targeted for recall in 2021, amid accusations they failed to prepare for schools to reopen during Covid. A judge later dismissed the petition.

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A King County Superior Court judge must approve the current recall effort before the petition can be circulated to voters. The petition would then need to get over 48,000 valid signatures from legal voters before getting on a ballot.

Gitenstein said the group isn’t planning to recall other board members “at this time.”

The board is expected to vote on a final closure plan by the end of January.