About The Bulletin

The Bulletin is an independent publication covering Seattle Public Schools launched in November 2025 by Robert Cruickshank and other progressive SPS parents.

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What's this newsletter about?

This newsletter is written by a group of Seattle activists committed to covering public education issues in our city. We bring diverse perspectives and experiences, but share a common goal: keeping our community informed about what's really happening in our schools.

Here’s why we launched this newsletter:

Seattle loves its public schools. We regularly vote to tax ourselves to fund them, and by large margins. We’ve rejected initiatives to privatize our schools, from charters to vouchers. Our schools have great teachers, strong community backing, and wonderful students.

Unfortunately, our schools are also in crisis. Years of underfunding by the state, the presidency of Donald Trump, and the mismanagement at the district office all combine to undermine our students’ ability to learn, to be safe, and to thrive.

Seattle Public Schools leaders in the district office have an unrelenting hostility toward the public, particularly parents and students. They make decisions that harm students and their learning. When the public pushes back, the leaders double down on bad decisions, turning issues of educational policy into a power struggle.

Seattle parents are well aware of this. All across the city, families and students regularly share information about the latest outrage committed by district leaders, and discuss how to mobilize and fight back. Some of the largest protests targeting local government in recent years have come at the SPS offices. Hundreds of parents showed up in fall 2024 to oppose a mass school closure plan. Nearly a thousand students walked out and rallied at the SPS office in fall 2025 to oppose a plan to split their lunch periods.

Even so, nobody in the mainstream media is covering the unfolding crisis that is engulfing public education in Seattle and in Washington State as a whole. Sure, there are reporters who cover public education, in print and on TV, on the radio and online — and we’re grateful to them for their work. But they haven’t peeled back the layers to show the wider public how dire the crisis has become or what’s really happening inside district offices. Scandals go uncovered. Sweeping changes go unreported. Key nuances and details are missed.

SPS is at a major turning point. With new school board members just elected and a new superintendent about to be hired (see below), Seattle has an opportunity to finally build a great public school system for the next generation and end the mismanagement at SPS. Or we could squander the moment and see the system fall apart as families flee, schools close, and privatization takes wider hold.

A newsletter alone won’t change the outcome, but maybe we can help. We’re launching The Bulletin, a regular newsletter that will keep you updated on what’s really going on in SPS. This is an all-volunteer production. We all have kids in SPS and full-time jobs. And we’re committed to making public education succeed in Seattle.

The Bulletin has one fundamental point of view: that Seattle deserves to have a great public school system in which every single child can thrive. Where students of all backgrounds come together, to learn to work and live together, to build a healthy, thriving society. And where SPS’s leaders see families and students as partners, not enemies, with a district administration that embraces a culture of public service, not top-down command and control. 

We hope you’ll subscribe. While this is a volunteer production, this newsletter isn’t free to produce. There are some small monthly hosting costs that you can help cover by clicking here to subscribe. We hope you’ll forward it to other members of your school community.

Thanks for reading, and for being a strong supporter of public education in Seattle.

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