Age: 64
Current position: Interim superintendent, Tacoma School District
Experience: Chief financial officer, Seattle School District (January 2007 through July 2007), superintendent in Enumclaw (11 years), superintendent of South Whidbey Island School District (11 years), assistant superintendent in Enumclaw (12 years), special-education consultant for Seattle Schools (two years), teacher in Waitsburg (Walla Walla County) and Enumclaw (five years)
Education: Bachelor of Arts in economics, University of Washington; master’s in education, UW; doctorate in education, UW
About the candidate: Jarvis won the interim job last summer over then-deputy superintendent Ethelda Burke and a handful of other candidates. Last fall, Jarvis told School Board members that he’d fallen in love with Tacoma, believed he’d begun to tackle difficult issues and wanted to continue.
He describes himself as “a people person” who can put together teams, is passionate about education and highly competitive, wants to get things right and doesn’t flinch from making hard decisions. Many credit Jarvis with helping to heal painful wounds following the troubled one-year superintendency of Charlie Milligan.
Some in the community, however, have questioned whether the former leader of the 4,700-student Enumclaw district can rectify long-standing achievement issues in a complex urban district. Jarvis believes he can. He led a group of school administrators and community leaders to a Harvard seminar on closing the achievement gap last fall. He created a director of district improvement position to emphasize the district’s commitment to boosting sagging test scores.
He didn’t give himself full credit for expanding the district’s kindergarten program, but he pointed out that plans for free full-day classes for all kindergartners will happen next fall under his watch.
On the high dropout rate, specifically among black males: “We can’t hide from it. We can’t kid anybody. … We can’t fix it all by ourselves,” he told board members, adding that raising achievement among all kids will take help from the community.
On why he wants the job: “I don’t believe our work is done. I don’t believe my work is done.”
Kris Sherman, The News Tribune
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