
Rainy Day Recess
A podcast about Seattle Public Schools. Support our work at http://patreon.com/RainyDayRecess
Episodes
53 episodes
Vivian Van Gelder - D5 Seattle School Board Candidate
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, hosts Christie Robertson and Cherylynne Crowther interview Vivian Van Gelder, a candidate for the District 5 seat on the Seattle School Board. Note: Vivian has since stopped campaigning and is endorsing Jani...
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Season 1
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Episode 52
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17:50

Vivian Song - D5 Seattle School Board Candidate
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, host Christie Robertson interviews Vivian Song, a candidate for the District 5 seat on the Seattle School Board. As a former school board director making a comeback run, Vivian brings insider knowledge of Se...
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Season 1
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Episode 51
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21:25

Landon Labosky - D5 Seattle School Board Candidate
In this re-released episode of Rainy Day Recess (originally episode 26 from March 2025), host Christie Robertson interviews Landon Labosky, a candidate for the District 5 seat on the Seattle School Board. With a Masters in Public Administration...
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Season 1
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Episode 50
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27:17

Julissa Sanchez - D5 Seattle School Board Candidate
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, hosts Christie Robertson and Cherylynne Crowther interview Julissa Sanchez, a candidate for the District 5 seat on the Seattle School Board. As a Director of Advocacy who grew up in the Central District befo...
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Season 1
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Episode 49
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20:26

Janis White - D5 Seattle School Board Candidate
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, hosts Christie Robertson and Cherylynne Crowther interview Janis White, a candidate for the District 5 seat on the Seattle School Board. As a lawyer who put three children through Seattle Public Schools K-12...
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Season 1
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Episode 48
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22:13

Allycea Weil - D5 Seattle School Board Candidate
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, hosts Christie Robertson and Cherylynne Crowther interview Allycea Weil, a candidate for the District 5 seat on the Seattle School Board. Allycea brings a perspective as a gig worker and single parent who mo...
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Season 1
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Episode 47
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22:31

Laura Marie Rivera - D4 Seattle School Board Candidate
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, hosts Christie Robertson and Cherylynne Crowther interview Laura Marie Rivera, a candidate for the Seattle School Board District 4. Rivera discusses her extensive background in education and nonprofit work, ...
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Season 1
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Episode 46
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19:12

Joe Mizrahi - D4 Seattle School Board Candidate (incumbent)
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, hosted by Christie Robertson, Joe Mizrahi, the current school board director for District 4, discusses his candidacy for the 2025 Seattle School Board. The discussion covers Mizrahi's background, including h...
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Season 1
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Episode 45
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17:40

Bill Campbell - D4 Seattle School Board Candidate
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, hosts Christie Robertson and Cherylynne Crowther interview Bill Campbell, a candidate for Seattle School Board District 4. The interview, part of the 2025 Seattle School Board candidate series, includes a li...
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Season 1
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Episode 44
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19:06

Sarah Clark - D2 Seattle School Board Candidate (incumbent)
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, hosts Christie Robertson and Jasmine Pulido interview Sarah Clark, a current Seattle School Board member running to retain her seat in District 2, which encompasses northwest Seattle. Sarah discu...
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Season 1
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Episode 43
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20:50

Eric Feeny - D2 Seattle School Board Candidate
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, hosts Christie Robertson and Colin Meyer interview 2025 Seattle School Board candidate Eric Feeny from District 2. The discussion begins with a lightning round of quick questions covering Feeny's background,...
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Season 1
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Episode 41
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18:01

Kathleen Smith - D2 Seattle School Board Candidate
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, hosts Christie Robertson and Cherylynne Crowther interview Kathleen Smith, a candidate for the Seattle School Board District 2 seat. The conversation begins with lightning-round questions to quic...
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Season 1
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Episode 42
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14:36

Bilingual Orientation Centers Slated for Closure This Fall
Seattle Public Schools is quietly eliminating specialized programs for newcomer students - recent immigrants with limited English skills who need intensive support. Teachers at Dunlap Elementary brought this story to our attention because they'...
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Season 1
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Episode 40
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23:42

School Board - Budget Work Session + Guardrails
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, we dive into the Seattle Public Schools board’s May 21 special meeting. Hear the latest on the district’s 2025–26 budget proposal, which balances through one-time fixes and new state funding, but le...
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Season 1
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Episode 39
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27:52

Deaf and Hard of Hearing families push for access
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, Cherylynne Crowther takes the reins to discuss the ongoing exclusion of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) families in Seattle Public Schools. After a group of Deaf parents testified about enrollment barriers a...
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Season 1
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Episode 38
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27:34

Student Stories: Quincy Jones Theatre Disrepair
In this student-reported episode, Garfield High School sophomore Rafael Brewer takes us inside the Quincy Jones Performing Arts Center, a space used for theater, music, assemblies, and community events. He shares the importance of the theater, ...
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Season 1
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Episode 37
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18:37

Big 3 Final Briefing - Paramount Duty, Deferred
In this final Big 3 Briefing of the 2025 legislative session, we walk through where things landed for education funding in Washington state. We cover what passed around special education, MSOC, and transportation, break down key budget numbers,...
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Season 1
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Episode 36
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40:55

Explaining the Enrollment Enigma
In this episode of Rainy Day Recess, we take a closer look at the Seattle Public Schools April 23 school board meeting, with the major focus on the Enrollment Planning presentation given at the end of the 6-hour meeting. Here is the re...
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Season 1
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Episode 35
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50:22

Waitlists in Seattle Public Schools
This is a VIDEO.This episode explores the questions surrounding school waitlists in Seattle Public Schools — particularly for option schools — including how they’re handled, why they often don’t...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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40:15

Hiring a Headhunter
Podcast Co-hosts Christie and Jasmine discuss the April 9th, 2025 school board meeting where the board reviewed proposals from executive search firms and started the process of choosing who will help them hire the next superintendent. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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27:58

Big 3 Briefing, Week 13 - Rung by Rung
As budget negotiations reach their final phase, we recap where the Big 3 bills—special education, transportation, and MSOC—stand and what’s still on the table. We also reflect on the highs, lows, and hard lessons of the past 12 weeks, and talk ...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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42:16

The SESSFA Move-a-Thon!
We shine the community spotlight on the Southeast Seattle Schools Fundraising Alliance (SESSFA) and their annual Move-a-Thon — a creative fundraising event that supports 17 public schools in Southeast Seattle. Guest Heather Hart explains how th...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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16:13

Community Spotlight: Champions for Educational Empowerment's school board training series
Debbie Carlsen introduces "Learning Together," a free training series for prospective school board director candidates. Debbie shares her experience as a former candidate and explains how Champions for Educational Empowerment created this progr...
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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14:49

Big 3 Briefing, Week 12 - The man behind the curtain
Budget LandLast week was action-packed with House and Senate budgets dropping last Monday as we were preparing our Week 11 episode. Since then, both budgets have been heard and exec’d out of their fiscal committees, and the Senate budget...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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42:43

"The next step is the next step" - SPS superintendent search begins
Seattle's school board kicked off the superintendent search process on March 25th following Dr. Brent Jones' announced departure, authorizing President Gina Topp to begin seeking proposals from search firms under an ambitious timeline targeting...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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18:54
