By Chris B. Bennett, Publisher/CEO, The Seattle Medium
Mark one victory for gentrifiers who look to take over neighborhoods and schools, as they have, with the behind the scenes help of a few squirrels in our community, successfully tarnished the name and reputation of a highly acclaimed Black woman.
Many people in our community were shocked, but not surprised, that Seattle Public Schools, under pressure from “parents and teachers” at Rainier View Elementary School, “temporarily re-assigned” Rainer View’s Principal Anitra Pinchback-Jones to SPS’ Central Office.
The reason behind the move was related to “years of complaints” against Pinchback-Jones, who had allegedly created a “toxic” and “unsafe” environment for staff and parents at the school. In addition, they alleged that there was disproportionate discipline of Black and Brown students at the school, and former teachers claimed that they received low evaluations if they disagreed with or questioned Pinchback-Jones. The allegations caught traction after a recently orchestrated barrage of testimonials from parents at a recent Seattle School Board meeting, that prompted local media story that highlighted these allegations.
All of the allegations and the way this situation has played out to date don’t make much sense when you look at Pinchback-Jones’ track record with Seattle Public Schools.
During her career as a teacher, Pinchback-Jones was a highly-regarded and award-winning teacher. She was named Assistant Principal of the Year by the Association of Washington Principals (AWSP). As a principal, she was a Washington Achievement Award winner in 2013 and 2015. Under her leadership, the school was recognized as a School of Distinction in 2015 and 2016. She also received the Thomas B. Foster Award For Excellence in 2018 from the Alliance for Education, which recognizes and honors outstanding Seattle Public Schools principals who have demonstrated success in promoting educational justice and racial equity at their school.
In receiving the Thomas B. Foster Award, the Alliance for Education stated, “[Rainier View is] one of the most diverse schools in Washington State. Rainier View Elementary leads in school attendance and has placed in the top 5% in raising academic achievement in reading and math over the last five years. The school has excelled in college and career readiness under the leadership of Pinchback-Jones and Rainier View staff.”
Furthermore, her school is recognized as a demonstration school, she is a Seattle Public Schools’ principal mentor, and the school was recognized as the Top 1% in the nation for urban schools serving students in poverty by the Council of Great City Schools.
Pinchback-Jones is also a 2018 Milken Education Award recipient, which honors top early-to-mid career education professionals across the country for their already impressive achievements and, more significantly, for the promise of what they will accomplish in the future.
An excerpt of the bio for Pinchback-Jones on the Milken Educator award reads as follows:
“Every morning, Principal Anitra Pinchback-Jones gathers students and staff at Rainier View Elementary School in Seattle, Washington, for an all-school meeting. She welcomes students, letting them know that their teachers are excited to see them and have prepared outstanding lessons for the day ahead. Pinchback-Jones reminds young people to work hard and try their best. The principal intentionally reinforces a culture of excellence and high standards. When new students arrive at the school, they spend several days visiting classrooms from kindergarten through fifth grade to illustrate the high expectations consistent among grade levels and teachers. Rainier View’s students deliver some of the highest achievement and growth scores in the state.”
“A strong leader in Seattle Public Schools, Pinchback-Jones serves on the Principal Professional Development Team, planning and delivering ongoing education to help all the district’s principals improve their practices. As a literacy lead principal, she showcases excellence in literacy instruction, rolls out new literacy curriculum, and has designed professional development with teachers to support innovative literacy practices.”
Her most recent award was bestowed upon her in 2020, which brings us back to the current situation as it relates to Pinchback-Jones. With all of her accomplishments as an educator, why is she being targeted and publicly shamed? Two things: the demographics at the school have shifted, and what was a former minority group of parents , in terms of numbers, who were attempting to shift the culture of the school to benefit their kids and not the greater good of all students at the school have increased in numbers and have organized an attempt to get a principal who will be more sympathetic to the things that they want to do at the school to benefit their kids, while the other kids could possibly get left behind.
One doesn’t have to look much further than the number of students receiving free/reduced lunch at the school to see what is taking place. In 2021, the school had 67% of its students receiving free/reduced lunch, a measure that school districts use to determine the poverty level of students in a particular school and usually allow them to seek additional funding from the state. Fast forward to today, the 2023-24 school year, and the school now has only 39% of its students receiving free/reduced lunch.
Many minorities, and specifically Black principals, in SPS will not admit it publicly, but they are engaged in constant effort to protect their livelihood, as they battle daily with PTAs and parents who are organizing in the same manner to get rid of them as they have done with Pinchback-Jones. These unwarranted attacks are not new and will continue, especially as the demographics in SPS continue to change.
Unfortunately, SPS, in my opinion, is sending the wrong message as it relates to the Pinchback-Jones situation. In a letter sent to parents about Pinchback-Jones’ re-assignment, SPS said the following:
“This temporary change does not indicate that SPS has confirmed any wrongdoing by Principal Jones. The change is meant to foster peace in the school community. Our aim is to ensure that any concerns at Rainier View can be reviewed objectively without distractions.”
There are many questions related to this decision, and hopefully, SPS will provide us with more insight into the decision to do this with only 2 – 3 months remaining in the school year.
The headlines and narrative related to Pinchback-Jones related to this issue is an attempt by many media outlets to paint her as an angry and uncompromising Black woman that has led her school down a path of toxicity and chaos, which is a narrative that many of us are not familiar with as it relates to Mrs. Pinchback-Jones until these recently orchestrated attacks. The people involved in creating this narrative have no regard for who they hurt and how. Pinchback-Jones deserves better, and she deserves the support of the community, as she and her family have to deal with the unfortunate attacks on her professionalism and integrity by local media outlets who fail to provide both sides of the story.
Through the eyes of an ink barrel, may peace be unto you.