Mayoral candidate says ‘minor things’ led to teaching ban in four Seattle schools
The recently announced Gig Harbor mayoral candidate John Skansi, 61, is prohibited from substitute teaching in at least four Seattle schools over a variety of concerns regarding his conduct.
Records obtained by The Gateway show these range from complaints that Skansi was singling out Black students to allowing a teacher’s aide to conduct his classes. In one case, he was reprimanded for failing to properly wear a mask in the classroom.
Responding after this article was published online, Skansi said, “There is no story here at all, because nothing at all happened.”
“I truly enjoy teaching and I love all my students and I treat all my students fairly,” Skansi said.
In an incident January 17 of last year at Leschi Elementary School, Skansi was reported by another staff member and students over his conduct.
A district report on the incident said Skansi was “threatening to send kids to the office” and had a “loud, raised voice.” The report also said that students “felt they were treated differently; specifically Black boys.”
In a conversation with a staff member, the report said Skansi “kept asking if this was going to stay within the building” and “refused to write a statement.”
Skansi was later informed in a letter from an investigator that he was “blocked from accepting any additional substitute assignment at Leschi Elementary School.”
One of a series
The incident wasn’t the first for Skansi.
In September of 2019, he was serving as a substitute teacher for a physical education class at McClure Middle School. A report shows that he asked an instructional assistant to run the class, something he was later told was “not acceptable.”
In a letter from the same investigator in October of 2019, Skansi was informed he was “blocked from accepting future substitute assignments at McClure Middle School.”
“Our schools expect substitutes to be dependable, competent and professional,” the letter said. “As a certificated substitute, you are expected to be the teacher in the classroom, not hand over teaching responsibilities to a non-certificated employee. You are expected to maintain behavior that is positive and appropriate when teaching, supervising and interacting with students. Your decision is considered inappropriate, not conducive to a positive learning environment and constitutes just and sufficient cause for discipline.”
Seattle Public Schools spokesman Tim Robinson told The Gateway that Skansi was also banned from working as a substitute at South Shore Pre-K-8 and Catharine Blaine K-8.
Flap over mask
The most recent incident occurred at Catharine Blaine in April.
“It was just a couple weeks ago. It was a matter of him not wearing a mask in class properly, so the principal talked to him about it and had to say ‘you need to make sure you wear your mask,’” Robinson said. “The principal ended up requesting that he not substitute at that school anymore.”
The background behind Skansi’s prohibition from teaching at South Shore remains unclear; the district said it could not locate the records.
Skansi denies wrongdoing
Skansi received a notice that his records had been requested and reached out to The Gateway over email on May 4 to ask if there were any questions he could answer.
Subsequent attempts to reach Skansi by email, phone, and text went unanswered. As of Friday, after multiple days of attempting to reach him, Skansi’s voicemail had been changed to say “the person you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time.”
On Monday, after the story had been published, Skansi responded, downplaying the district’s reports.
The incident that got him barred from teaching at Chief Leschi “was one student, it was a year ago and it was clearly in a disciplinary context,” he said.
Skansi said his handling of the situation was “normal teaching procedure” and that his comments about it “staying within the building” was not an attempt to cover the issue up.
“It’s all frivolous, very minor things,” Skansi said. “There’s nothing to cover up.”
Asked about the report saying Black boys felt they were treated differently, Skansi said there were no racist motivations in his actions.
“I love all students, I love all students of color,” Skansi said. “There is no story here at all, because nothing at all happened.”
Skansi also responded to concerns he passed off responsibility to an instructional assistant (I.A.).
“It was a class of 70 students; it was very big,” Skansi said. “I asked for assistance from the I.A. because the class size was double. That is a perfectly normal and sensible thing to do.”
On the most recent incident regarding mask wearing, Skansi said he had improved since it was brought to his attention.
“I wear my mask very discliplined and, yes, it was a little bit below, you know, below my nose there,” Skansi said. “Anybody can improve and I definitely have since that day and that was a pretty minor violation.”
Skansi can still teach
The Seattle district said it would not allow staff to discuss the incidents beyond what was in the reports.
“We have no comment about Mr. Skansi, just as we would not have a comment about anybody’s personnel matters. It has nothing to do with Mr. Skansi, it is just a routine procedure.”
Robinson also clarified that “with the exception of Leschi Elementary, South Shore Pre-K-8, Worth McClure Middle, and Catharine Blaine K-8, Mr. Skansi can still work as a substitute at Seattle Public Schools.”
Skansi had also taught in the Peninsula school district when he was hired in 2008 as a certificated substitute teacher. He also worked as a middle school basketball coach in 2012 and 2013. The district said that “no disciplinary records exist for this individual,” and added that his employment ended in 2013.
Skansi is running to succeed current mayor Kit Kuhn, who announced in March that he would not be seeking a second term. Skansi’s opponent in the race is current city council member Tracie Markley.
Markley expressed concern about what the records revealed, saying it calls into question Skansi’s ability to lead the city.
“If you’re going to lead a city, but you’re prohibited to teach children, that’s a problem in my eyes,” Markley said. “Even as a citizen, that would be a problem for me, even if I wasn’t running for mayor.”
Skansi disputed that the incidents could reflect negatively on his leadership, saying he has “good leadership skills” and that he would make a “good mayor.”
This story was originally published May 10, 2021 at 5:30 AM.
