Vivian Song

Introduce Yourself

Why do you want to serve as a Seattle Public School Board Director?

Even after stepping off the board, I never stopped working for our students. I've continued meeting with parents and stakeholders, testified at board meetings and in Olympia, and helped current directors navigate complex policy and budget issues.

Our students deserve a stable, well-functioning school district—and they're not getting it. Superintendent Jones's resignation brings additional upheaval. I'm running to bring my expertise in finance and governance as the district addresses critical challenges—particularly unmet student needs and budget constraints.

I seek this role to fight for ample funding, safe and equitable learning environments, and programs that prepare students for college, careers, and civic life. I'm committed to moving our district forward by working collaboratively with board directors, staff, and community.

Board Skills
What skills or perspectives do you bring that are currently missing or underrepresented on the
school board?

I bring critical financial expertise and large-scale organizational experience our board needs to address our budget challenges—analyzing complex budgets, managing organizational change, and optimizing resources for student outcomes.

My lived experience represents underserved communities: as a former ESL student and Asian American, I understand challenges facing multilingual learners and immigrant families. As someone with a hearing disability and a parent to a child with a hearing disability, I know special education and accessibility needs firsthand.

My 25+ years volunteering with organizations serving low-income families and immigrant communities demonstrates sustained commitment to equity and brings authentic community voice to boardroom decisions.

Top Challenge
What is SPS’s biggest challenge, and what specific action would you take to help solve it?

SPS's biggest challenge is making major decisions—school closures, budget cuts, program changeswithout meaningfully engaging affected communities. This destroys trust, fuels enrollment decline, and creates implementation resistance.

My specific actions:

- Restructure engagement: Establish community advisory committees with real decision-making power, ensuring translation services and accessibility for all families. Build authentic community input time into board timelines, even under urgent deadlines.

- Transparency first: Publish clear, accessible information about budget decisions and trade-offs before votes. Families deserve to understand the " why" behind choices.

- Equity-centered process: Prioritize voices from communities of color, immigrants, and special education families who are most affected but often excluded.

Community Partnership and Board Operations
What will you do to improve relationships with the community, specifically with parents and
educators?

I'll rebuild trust through consistent, transparent communication—and I have a proven record of showing up. I've earned endorsements from SEA (educators' union) and parent leaders in my district because I've consistently supported these constituencies.

With Parents: Continue to hold regular office hours, ensure translated materials and accessible meetings, create advisory councils with real policy influence.

With Educators: Continue to meet regularly with union leadership and visit schools (I've been to 40+), support fair compensation, include educator voices in policy decisions.

Explain " why" before making decisions, admit mistakes openly, use multiple communication channels, show up consistently beyond crises. My 25+ years of community organizing demonstrates trust is earned through actions. These endorsements reflect my commitment to listening and following through on commitments made.

School Closures
Did you support or oppose the recent school closure proposals? Do you think that school
closures/consolidations should be considered in the coming 5 years?

I opposed the closure proposals because they harm students academically and social-emotionally. The cost savings analysis was flawed and moreover, you can't solve a revenue problem by shrinking your way through it.

When I was a director, I did my homework. I interviewed district leaders who implemented closures. They characterized them as a last resort. SPS failed to do its homework. Closures disrupt learning communities, force longer commutes, and rarely deliver promised savings.

We lose neighborhood schools that serve as community anchors.

For the next 5 years, closures should only be considered after exhausting other options: right-sizing central administration, improving operations, growing enrollment through better programming, and securing adequate state funding. We should expand opportunity, not contract it.

Socioeconomic Equity
What policies or budget actions would you support that would reduce socioeconomic and racial
disparities among Seattle Public Schools students?

Develop a hybrid student and staffing formula to increase resource allocation to schools serving low-income students, English learners, and students with disabilities

Invest in strategies that work to improve student outcomes like a Science of Reading curriculum and highdosage tutoring

Work with City to strengthen wraparound services – child care, food and housing assistance, family navigators, mental health counselors, and community partnerships

Expand early learning classrooms with City into underserved neighborhoods, particularly in North and West Seattle

End discipline disparities by deepening investments in restorative justice and professional development, monitor discipline data and hold district accountable

Expand multilingual education programming; closing the Newcomer program without a better solution leaves students behind

Ensure equitable access to opportunities for advanced learning, language immersion, CTE, etc.

Academic Rigor and Highly Capable Services

What should SPS do to improve academic rigor? Do you believe SPS should provide advanced learning opportunities such as Walk to Math and Highly Capable Services? How do you envision delivering Highly Capable Services within SPS?

SPS can improve academic rigor by setting high expectations for all students and providing needed support to meet those expectations. We can support teachers in differentiated instruction, formative feedback, and small group instruction by investing in professional development, tools (and time!) for feedback, and additional staffing. Grading for Equity is being implemented in a way that reportedly frustrates teachers and has compromised academic rigor. SPS needs to revisit.

SPS serves a wide range of students, which must include highly capable students but start with the premise that all children should have access to challenge. Walk to Math in all elementary schools is one example. SPS should renew math pathways, particularly in middle school.

Until we have programs that truly serve student needs, SPS should maintain the cohort program while expanding reach to underserved populations. The district has made improvements but needs to stop changing criteria every year.

Special Education and English Language Learners

How will you improve the delivery of special education services to students in SPS? How will you improve the delivery of education to English language learners?

Special Education: I'll advocate for inclusive practices, adequate staffing of qualified teachers and therapists, timely IEP evaluations, meaningful parent partnership in IEP meetings, and compliance monitoring to ensure services are delivered as written. Interpretation must be made available. I will also pursue a special education audit that would bring a comprehensive view into needs and move beyond identifying gaps to developing a systematic approach.

English Language Learners: SPS should not have shut down the Newcomer program without a plan to better serve those students. SPS should empower ELL teachers with access to curriculum (currently do not have consistent access), expand dual-language programs valuing home languages, ensure translation/interpretation services for family engagement at school and district levels, and enable academic acceleration with grade-level content while building English proficiency.

Enrollment Decline More than 20% of Seattle children are enrolled in private school (second-highest in the country). Do you believe SPS should try to attract and enroll more families? If so, what would you do to achieve that goal? What degree of enrollment choice should be allowed?

Robust public school enrollment is financially and democratically healthy. SPS needs an enrollment growth strategy to become a district of choice. SPS is stuck in a vicious cycle: lost confidence leads to declining enrollment, budget cuts, driving more families away. The district hasn't done a proper enrollment study to understand why parents choose private school.

To attract families:

- Rebuild trust: Stop making major decisions without meaningful community engagement

- Academic excellence: Ensure rigorous curriculum and advanced learning opportunities

- Student safety: Address physical safety and learning environment concerns

- Communication: Share positive stories, address misconceptions, host school tours, outreach to preschools

We need a diverse portfolio of programs to meet diverse student needs. The district must study why parents participate in school choice and ensure access to choice is equitable.

School Diversity

Should SPS offer a variety of schools with different building sizes, curriculum formats (e.g., STEM, DLI, expeditionary) and grade bands (e.g., K-8)? Why or why not?

Yes, a diverse community and diverse student needs necessitate a diverse portfolio of programs and schools. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn't serve our students well. Different students thrive in different environments—some need smaller, intimate settings while others flourish in larger schools with extensive resources.

- Meeting learning styles: Some excel in project-based learning, others in traditional academics or STEMfocused environments

- Cultural responsiveness: Dual-language immersion honors our multilingual community and prepares students for global citizenship

- Grade configuration flexibility: K-8 schools provide stability; traditional elementary-middle-high works better for other families

- School size options: Smaller schools offer personalized attention; larger schools provide extensive programming

Options must be equitably distributed across the district. Every family, regardless of zip code, should have access to diverse, high-quality educational choices.

Budget & Efficiency

Beyond advocating for more state funding, what specific steps should SPS take to improve its operational efficiency and fiscal health?

Currently, SPS only uses school budgets as its primary lever for balancing the budget. Roughly 47% of the total budget goes unexamined. There are opportunities to improve service while improving cost efficiency in this 47%.

Possibilities:

- Buses: Runs at a deficit but a 2018 audit had ideas for improving service while saving money. Better partner with Metro for middle/high school transportation

- Central Office: Audit positions and eliminate redundancies. Every dollar saved flows to schools

- Procurement: Streamline purchasing and leverage bulk buying power.

- Technology: Consolidate duplicative software and negotiate better contracts

- Budget Transparency: Implement clear reporting so families understand spending priorities

The district needs audits for special education and substitutes—two " deficit" areas where we spend more than state funding. Efficiency isn't about cuts—it's maximizing every dollar's impact on student learning.

Student Safety
What should SPS do to improve physical safety for students at school and in getting to and from
school?

Safety requires both immediate security measures and long-term investments in student support systems that prevent problems before they escalate.

At School Safety:

- Mental health support: Expand counseling services and social-emotional learning programs addressing root causes of behavioral issues

- Restorative practices: Implement alternatives to suspension that address harmful behavior

- Adequate staffing: Ensure sufficient security personnel, office staff, and administrators who can respond quickly to incidents

- Clear protocols: Train staff on consistent discipline policies and emergency procedures

- Building security: Improve visitor check-in systems, secure entry points, and communication systems

Transportation Safety:

- Safe routes and community safety: Partner with the city to improve crosswalks, lighting, traffic calming, and community safety measures near schools

- Bus safety: Ensure proper driver training, vehicle maintenance, and clear behavior expectations

Role of the School Board (SOFG) Since 2021 the board has followed a way of operating called Student Outcomes Focused Governance (SOFG) that has been the subject of recent media questioning. Do you believe SOFG has been a successful model for the board to date and do you support continuing to implement it?

SOFG has not been successful as implemented. While focusing on student outcomes is sound, the execution has created significant problems:

- Reduced community engagement: The board uses SOFG to justify limiting public input and avoiding difficult conversations

- Lack of accountability: Important decisions get made without proper board oversight under the guise of " staying focused on outcomes"

- Disconnect from schools: Board members became too removed from day-to-day realities facing students and families

- Process over substance: SOFG became bureaucratic ritual rather than meaningful governance

My approach: Focus relentlessly on student outcomes while ensuring transparent, accessible governance that includes meaningful community input. The board must be both outcome-focused and communityconnected—these aren't mutually exclusive. Governance models should serve students and families, not shield boards from community engagement.