Bellevue School District is losing its leader
Bellevue Superintendent Mike Riley is leaving the school district he helped turn into a statewide model for academic rigor and quality to pursue a job with a national reach.
Riley, who announced his resignation Wednesday, has accepted a job with the College Board as senior vice president responsible for the organization’s “college readiness system.” He will work with urban districts across the country to develop and implement a comprehensive approach to prepare all students for college.
Riley, 57, who has overseen the district for nearly a dozen years, has built a statewide reputation for setting high expectations of teachers and students.
Working in partnership with the Bellevue School Board, he brought national attention to the district for making the honors track the standard track for all students, and working to standardize what’s taught from class to class and school to school.
“We’ve lost one of our key innovators and leaders,” said Paul Rosier, executive director of the Washington Association of School Administrators, “but the whole country gets him in the job he’s going to be working in - and that’s great for everybody.”
Riley didn’t return multiple phone calls and an e-mail seeking comment Wednesday. In a letter Riley e-mailed to the Bellevue community Wednesday morning, he said he’d been having conversations with the College Board since about mid-August, and that he will begin transitioning to the new job in early December.
“The opportunity to play a leadership role in an effort like this both excites and humbles me,” he wrote.
Riley will work with College Board Schools and EXCELerator Schools that serve predominantly low-income and minority students in grades 6 through 12.
The College Board administers the SAT and Advanced Placement tests.
During Riley’s tenure, the district has drastically increased the number of students taking Advanced Placement and international baccalaureate classes - from 10 percent of high school students when he started, to 85 percent of high school students now, said Judy Bushnell, president of the Bellevue School Board.
The district consistently posts high scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, the state’s high-stakes test.
The commitment to academic challenges was cited as one reason Bellevue made Newsweek’s list of top high schools in the United States three times in recent years.
Bellevue also has the highest number of teachers who are National Board Certified of any district in the state, Bushnell said.
Under Riley, the district adopted standardized curriculum across all grades and all schools. The district developed the Curriculum Web, which puts lesson plans, teacher guides and other resources online.
The goal of the program is to ensure all students get a consistently high level of instruction. It has been touted as a new model that allows teachers to share lesson plans, and allows parents to logon and see what their children are learning. The program received $1.9 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In previous interviews, Riley has asserted that the lack of a consistent curriculum is “at the heart of what’s wrong with education in America.”
But some teachers and parents have criticized these efforts, saying standardized curriculum and the Curriculum Web constrict teachers and limit their ability to be creative and tailor lessons to individual classrooms.
The district has the highest turnover rate of teachers of any other district in the state, said Stephen Miller, president of the Bellevue Education Association, which represents the district’s 1,200 teachers.
An anonymous survey of hundreds of Bellevue teachers last June showed a high level of dissatisfaction with their jobs. Miller attributes the discontent to the Curriculum Web.
“I think he [Riley] has been a good leader, but I think he’s made a big mistake by having mandated, daily lessons,” Miller said. “We definitely need some fresh perspective in top leadership roles in Bellevue School District.”
Some parents have also been critical of Riley’s focus on getting all students to take Advanced Placement classes.
Marianne Jones, a parent of six whose children attend Bellevue schools, said she is hopeful that the next superintendent will have a more balanced approach, and will listen more to parent concerns.
“He [Riley] did establish an incredible curriculum program, but it went too far with daily curriculum,” Jones said. “I hope someone can take over and fine-tune this great start.”
Riley’s many supporters say the district was lucky to get him, and now it will be difficult to replace him. Many of Riley’s visions are still in their infancy, and need someone to shepherd them into place.
“We’re going to have to try and find a new superintendent who shares our vision, and can get all these things into place and continue the community partnerships and working on National Board Certifications,” said John Stokes, executive vice president for Bellevue PTSA council. “It’s unusual that a major district would have been so stable for as long as we have been.”
Riley has recommended that Karen Clark, deputy superintendent, take over as interim superintendent until the school board appoints someone permanently.
The board will likely hire a search firm to help recruit candidates, and it would also be open to applicants within the school district, Bushnell said. Riley’s salary and other compensation, including a tax-deferred annuity and automobile expenses, is more than $213,850 annually.
Riley was an English teacher for 12 years at the Catholic high school he once attended in Chicago. In 1984, he was principal of Middletown High School in Frederick, Md. He came to Bellevue from Baltimore, where he had served as deputy superintendent.
Initially, Riley didn’t want to work in Bellevue, recalled Steve Miller, who served on the Bellevue School Board from 1993 to 2004. He told the board he’d give the district four years.
What he really wanted to do was work for a large, urban school district, Bushnell said.
And the board has always known that a job like this - which offers him a chance to impact education nationally - would likely lure him away, Bushnell said.
“I think this job is a vehicle for him to take inner-city schools and transform them,” she said. “And that has been his heart and soul.”
Seattle Times staff reporter Linda Shaw contributed to this story . Material from the Times archives were used in this story.
Rachel Tuinstra: 206-515-5637 or rtuinstra@seattletimes.com