On March 2 Seattle Public Schools Interim Superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield replaced Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson and the School Board released a statement that read, in part, "At its meeting this evening the School Board voted 6-1 to appoint Dr. Susan Enfield as Interim Superintendent. The appointment is effective immediately and extends through June 30, 2012. The Board anticipates considering whether to extend a longer term employment agreement to Dr. Enfield or conduct a search for a permanent Superintendent prior to January 19, 2012."

The Board voted unanimously to let Goodloe-Johnson go as a result from a $1.8 million financial scandal involving a district business development program. Also fired was Don Kennedy, the district's Chief Financial and Operations Officer. The scandal involved the district's Regional Small Business Development Program, created following complaints from the African-American community that minority contractors were being cut out of the small-dollar contracts issued for school-district projects.

The program's mission was to educate small-business owners and prepare them to bid on such jobs. State auditors found that the program, run by Silas Potter, provided little benefit to the district and seemed to operate without proper oversight. Contracts and jobs were given to Potter's friends and prominent members of Seattle's black community.

Dr. Enfield's salary is $225,000. Dr. Goodloe-Johnson is entitled under her contract to severance pay of $264,000, equal to her annual salary.

Dr. Enfield is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and earned master’s degrees in education from Stanford University and Harvard University. She also earned a doctorate in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University with a concentration in the Urban Superintendents Program. She served as Chief Academic Officer of the district since July 2009. Dr. Enfield came to Seattle from Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver, WA where she served as the Deputy Superintendent from 2006-2009.

District VI school board member Steve Sundquist, who represents West Seattle schools, spoke to the West Seattle Herald about the ordeal.

"There isn't any evidence in the investigation to suggest that Dr. Goodloe-Johnson or Mr. Kennedy had direct involvement in the scheme itself," Sundquist said. "The board criticized her and her management team for insufficiant management oversight and not fixing problems that emerged. I think that's a very legitimate concern and that's why the board took the decision that it did. We felt like this was a significant problem and there were ample warning signs that should have been acted upon and were not. There was some suggestion in the investigatory material that perhaps she and the CFO (Kennedy) were not as forthcoming with the board as they should have been about the problems in this program and how they were going to fix it and so the board felt somewhat deceived. Those were the major contributors to our decision to terminate her.

"We think we lost up to $1.8 million over a period of several years," he said. "This was money that should have been in the operating budget and should have gone to pay teachers, principals, fund counselors and buy books and supplies. It's a very hard time here in Seattle with the economy, as well as the state and country. Everybody is worried about their jobs. We have state-driven cuts coming and that makes people anxious. We are in a continuing conversation on a national basis on how to improve education and some of those conversations are quite contentious and controversial. School closures are also terribly tough to go through.

"I don't believe this 'culture of fear and intimidation' exists everywhere in the district but was reported to exist in this part of the operation," Sundquist said, referring to the Small Business Development Program. "People felt they could not safely express their concerns to their bosses without worries about some sort of punishment as a byproduct, potentially losing their job or whatever. There were certainly rumors that somebody complained about this program then lost their job, but I am not sure that was documented. In general, I think people felt fearful of their jobs if they were to raise a complaint. Again, I have never seen anything (on paper) organization-wide. You could probably find teachers out there who were concerned about going to the principal with issues. But to make a broad statement to condemn an entire organization isn't fair.

"We have to get at some of these issues of fear," he said. "I think first of all the need to make personell changes was part of it," he said. "We need additional financial oversight and to strengthen the internal audit function which is one of the ways the board and organization is moderated for risks, and that failed in this particular circumstance. We need in general to instill a high degree of ethical behavior of setting high standards and insuring they are met and kept. And we need whistle-blower protection. If someone has a legitimate concern but feels they can't bring it to their manager, they should be able to log it in anonimously and have it looked into by an independent third party.

"I think this (scandal) has been damaging to the public's trust of the school system and we understand we need to re-earn the public's trust, and that's why we decided we needed to move quickly and bring in a new leader who I feel is capable of doing this job well. Over time we're going to help the conversation get back to public education and how to do a good job with our students as we hope it would normally be.

"I think Dr. Goodloe-Johnson will be remembered for a number of accomplishments here in Seattle and that it's important for us to note this as she departs the scene," he said. "She has helped push the implamentation of the New Assignment Plan, a return to a more neighborhood approach to where kids go to school. Also, the new performance management system to publish a scorecard every year how each school is doing. And we signed a new and innovative teachers contract last year."

On a side note, Sundquist's four-year term is up this January, and he said he will decide soon whether or not he will announce a re-election bid. Primaries are in August.