Seattle Schools demotes Cleveland principal after she told families district would limit contact tracing, attorney says

Update: On Friday morning, Superintendent Brent Jones posted an update to Cleveland families saying Marni Campbell had withdrawn from the position of principal at Cleveland High School because she “did not want to be a distraction or hamper the future success of Cleveland students.”

Principal Catherine Brown’s 18-year run working at Cleveland High School is coming to an end this summer. The reason, her attorney says: She informed families of a plan to scale back COVID-19 contact tracing in Seattle schools, something district officials ordered her not to do.

After an investigation, district officials decided to end Brown’s principal contract, effective June 30. They have also demoted her to a lower role, sought her reassignment to a different school, and are recommending a five-day suspension, according to Shannon McMinimee, Brown’s attorney.

“This is the most severe discipline I’ve seen imposed on an 18-year” employee, a “principal, with no past record, for insubordination or failing to follow a directive,” said McMinimee, an education attorney who once served as counsel for the district.

On Thursday evening, the district would not confirm any part of Brown’s account, or answer questions about contact tracing.

“It is our standard practice to not discuss personnel matters, out of respect for all involved,” Seattle Public Schools spokesperson Bev Redmond wrote in an email.

Brown became the principal this school year after serving as the school’s assistant principal for several years.

Superintendent Brent Jones announced this week that Marni Campbell, the principal at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School, would serve as Brown’s replacement, stirring uproar from students and families. But on Thursday, Rainey Hartford Swan, the director of an organization representing Seattle principals, told Cleveland students in a filmed interview that Campbell declined the appointment. Campbell did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

It’s not clear what will happen if Campbell declines the job; the principal at Greenwood Elementary School was tapped to serve in Campbell’s stead at Robert Eagle Staff.

The events that led to Brown’s dismissal began around winter break, when Brown learned from district officials that contact tracing would be limited, McMinimee said. District staff asked principals, and Brown specifically, not to share the changes with families, said McMinimee. Brown, feeling uncomfortable with the lack of transparency, shared more with families in a letter on Jan. 9. 

“It is most likely that the only notification you will receive is the general notice that your child was in a classroom with someone who later tested positive for COVID,” Brown wrote in the letter. “The interviewing of individuals, including staff, to determine if a close contact occurred will only occur in a limited number of cases with this change.” 

Brown, who has been on medical leave since February, can seek reconsideration and respond to the district’s discipline in front of a hearing officer and in a separate process through the School Board. Even if those efforts are successful, McMinimee said, they likely won’t result in Brown being reinstated as principal of Cleveland. The district has the right to reassign principals to different schools.

“The whole experience has been incredibly difficult for Catherine and hard on her health. Being the principal of Cleveland was a dream job,” McMinimee said. “Catherine believed she was receiving a directive to … essentially be untruthful with her school community and she believed her duty to her student, staff, and community” safety “was more paramount than following the directive.” 

Cleveland students plan to walk out of school on Friday to protest Brown’s departure from the school.