Four years ago, I wrote a weird essay about Seattle’s choice to hire Denise Juneau as superintendent of schools.

“I like this decision,” I wrote, “but it’s more of a long-term play than an immediate game-changer. And since our long-term plays have literally never worked, well, is this going to be different?”

Unfortunately, no.

Juneau has already been squeezed back out of Seattle’s schools, and we already have a new superintendent who will, you know, definitely maybe be the one to lead us into the new world.

A few months before I wrote that essay about Juneau, I wrote about meeting Washington’s current attorney general Bob Ferguson.

“We know what bold leadership looks like in Seattle, and we know what kind of impact it can have. If we don't find someone to lead our schools who's as brave as Ferguson has shown himself to be, who's as willing to put themselves on the line for the sake of true change, then we're just going to be asking ourselves the same questions again several years down the line, and we'll have several more years worth of kids who have been failed by the system.”

As we get comfortable with Brent Jones as Juneau’s “long-term” successor (aka superintendent for the next couple years), I really have the same questions. And we really do have several more years worth of kids who have been failed by the system.

Luckily, now we’re right back where we were four years ago… hoping for the best with a new superintendent. Why do I get the feeling we’re going to end up back where we started?