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Another Seattle Public Schools board member weighs in on Manhas

• Published June 30, 2009

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This didn't quite make my deadline for today's profile of new North Thurston superintendent Raj Manhas, but Seattle Public Schools board member Cheryl Chow and I spoke Tuesday morning about her experience working with him in Seattle. Manhas was Seattle school superintendent during a tumultuous time in Seattle (2003-2007), as the Seattle district corrected a $35 million budget deficit and planned for school closures in response to declining enrollment.

"He was the one quite steady force in all this turmoil,'" said Chow, who has been on the Seattle school board since 2005, and does not plan to run for re-election this year.

She said that Manhas was the right choice for the Seattle district in 2003, after the resignation of superintendent Joseph Olchefske, whose tenure, Chow said, "was a total disaster."

After Olchefske, Manhas "saved the dsitrict when he was here," Chow said. "He raised the morale of the teaching staff and won the confidence back with the business people" of the community.

She said that North Thurston has a new top administrator who is tactful and respectful of people, even when he disagrees with them.

Chow said that Manhas will also be an asset for the district when voters will be asked to pass a levy in February.

"He's tireless and he doesn't B.S.," she said. "He knows his finance numbers. He's not like a salesman. He's very honest and sincere."

--- Venice Buhain, Olympian education reporter