As our city continues to draw people from all around the country and world, the School Board’s appointment of Dr. Damien Pattenaude is step in the wrong direction.

While he has found success locally, Dr. Pattenaude has spent almost his entire career teaching in the Renton or Kent School District with no real time living and teaching in school systems outside Washington State or even South King County. Would not our students have been better served by at least opening the search to candidates with the diversity of perspectives that a career in education outside your hometown brings?

I understand the reasoning of hiring a local son who knows the school system, but the time for assuming that we here in Renton hold all the answers to the challenges faced by our growingly diverse city and school district has long passed. The School Board should have looked beyond the relatives of its actively sitting members and opened up a search.

If Dr. Pattenaude had indeed turned out to the best candidate following that process, at least we would know that he was competitively picked from top administrators around the country. I wish Dr. Pattenaude success in the position, but the school board once again did a disservice to the students in their charge in the way they went about his appointment.

Sean Mobley,
Renton