Assume good intentions: I am glad that Lynne Varner assumes good intentions all around. When she re-states Dr. Caprice Hollins' statement about Summer Vacation, it comes out clearer, more meaningful, and less objectionable. When she provides a sympathetic re-telling of the experience of affluent families at Madrona, their helpful intent doesn't appear hostile.

That said, there is no sympathetic re-telling to improve statements about how one group's discrimination is worse than another's. And there is absolutely no positive or sympathetic translation for a public school principal saying that White people in and around the school make her uncomfortable. There is no context in which this is okay, but the context of that statement does not help it.

On the whole, most of these issues could be resolved with a translator, an appropriate dose of multicultural awareness, and a call for investments to provide boosts for students who don't have those boosts at home.

Unfortunately, Seattle Public Schools has chosen a different direction. Instead of positive steps forward, they have chosen a path of negativity. They point out what is wrong without offering anything right. They choose to be confrontational instead of collegial. They accuse instead of educating. They promote a Soviet-era vision of equity that harms everyone by insisting that no students learn any faster than the slowest students, without helping the slowest students learn any faster.

The only saving grace of all of this is the disconnect between what happens and is said in the headquarters building and what happens and is said in the school buildings. The headquarters is almost completely dysfunctional and their work product is atrocious. Out in the schools, however, things generally work pretty well. They could go better, but not all of the determinants of success are in the schools' control.

Lynne Varner got it wrong!: This is what was actually said:

"In a recent interview, Hollins said she found no specific district program that was institutionally racist, but she pointed to summer break as an example of systemic problems. Initially devised to allow school-age children to help with farm labor, summer break serves no educational purpose, Hollins said, and the disruption puts struggling students further behind."

As the parent of a student who attended Garfield High School, I can attest to this. Our child failed Algebra I in the Fall. But it wasn't offered again in the Spring - only Algebra II. So, our son had to wait a full nine months to repeat a class. I'm sure you can imagine how much of what he learned the year before he retained.

I think if you look at what was said, and what was purported to be said, you'd see that Lynne Varner needs the translator at worst and at best needs to do her own research and not depend on someone else's characterization.