Oct. 24--Of all the candidates running for Seattle School Board this year, Kay Smith-Blum has the most ambitious agenda.

A partial list of her proposals includes teaching a foreign language in all elementary schools, providing free preschool for low-income children, and extending the school day to 5 p.m. so students can study the arts, wellness and money management.

She has so many ideas -- and wants them to happen so fast -- that some say she is unrealistic.

But Smith-Blum's supporters say she may think big but she follows through.

"Kay doesn't delve in fantasy," said Lester Gray, a friend whose children went to the same elementary school as Smith-Blum's. "I've never seen anybody able to realize their vision to the extent that Kay has."

She's running against incumbent Mary Bass, who says she seeks a third term to continue to be a voice for students and families who don't always speak up for themselves, and to see some of the initiatives she's supported put in place.

"Mary understands the community and she knows how the district works," said parent Barbara Kelley.

Bass, who has represented District 5, which includes the Central Area and Capitol Hill, is praised for being the first board member to hold community meetings, which nearly all the other board members now do.

Some also admire her because she's voted against the majority of the board on a number of issues. Last year, for example, Bass was one of two board members to vote against closing any schools.

"She's bringing a voice that, if it isn't there ... would be sorely missed," said fellow board member Harium Martin-Morris.

Critics says Bass may listen well but hasn't accomplished enough.

"At some point, you're going to have to make something happen," said Gayle Johnson, president of the Greater Seattle Chapter of The Links, an African-American women's service organization.

Former School Board member Dick Lilly said Bass is "a very weak board member who never understood the full scope of a board member's responsibility and really how the school district works."

For her part, Bass says she thinks she has done a lot, including pushing the district to be more responsive to the public. Effectiveness shouldn't be measured in votes won or lost, she said, adding that even when she opposes a district proposal, she's often vindicated.

One example: She opposed the practice of assigning some students to schools based on their race, a practice later found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

If re-elected, Bass says her main goals are to make sure recommendations from audits of the district's special-education and English-as-a-second-language programs are carried out.

Smith-Blum bills herself as a "doer," pointing to the many fundraisers she's held on behalf of schools and other nonprofit organizations. She estimates she's helped raise more than $2 million for schools alone.

She's also raised money for other nonprofits, including a successful event in a hangar at Boeing Field that was the talk of the town for years, said Patty Shepherd-Barnes, who worked with Smith-Blum in that effort, which benefited the Arthritis Foundation.

When Smith-Blum first called about it, Shepherd-Barnes said she just shook her head, wondering if Smith-Blum was for real.

"Everyone shakes their head when they meet Kay," she said.

Smith-Blum says major changes are needed in the city's schools.

"We have a 30 percent dropout rate," she said. "It's time to draw a line in the sand."

She's running an eco-campaign with nine billboards, Facebook and other online ads, and lots of house parties -- but no campaign signs, no mailers, no fliers.

Smith-Blum has apologized for saying she holds a double major in statistics and marketing when she had only a marketing major. She says she took a lot of statistics courses and considered herself a double major, but the school lists only one.

She's raised more money than Bass -- about $51,000 to Bass's $10,000. She also outpolled Bass in the primary with 42 percent of the vote to Bass' 36 percent -- the first time that's happened to Bass.

She says her ideas are not as far-fetched -- or expensive -- as they might seem.

Many organizations, she said, already offer after-school programs, so the main challenge is just to coordinate them. At first, she said, the school day could be extended in just one part of the city. And in the case of foreign-language instruction, it could start with kindergartners and grow from there.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com

Kay Smith-Blum

Age: 49

Neighborhood: Capitol Hill

Occupation: Co-owner and CEO of Butch Blum, a downtown clothing store

Schools experience: Raised nearly $200,000 for instrumental-music programs in Seattle public elementary schools. Created annual funds in several Seattle schools, including the first in the district at Montlake Elementary. University of Washington Graduate School of Business Advisory Board in '83 and '84. PTSA boards at Montlake and Lowell elementary schools, Washington Middle and Garfield High.

Education: Bachelor's degree in business administration, University of Texas, with major in marketing

Three key endorsements: Alki Foundation, Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell, state Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle

Campaign Web site: www.electksb.org

To see more of The Seattle Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.seattletimes.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, Seattle Times

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

<< -- 10/26/2009>>