Last month, eight top administrators with Tacoma Public Schools went on a $4,608 overnight retreat to Suncadia, a resort in Cle Elum boasting “ more than 6,000 acres of forested mountain landscape , sun-dappled meadows and rushing rivers,” per its website.
District spokesperson Tanisha Jumper said the June 26-27 retreat gave the leadership team a chance to reflect on the past school year. The trip also included activities like a “bike ride scavenger hunt” and an “equestrian adventure,” according to an agenda obtained by The News Tribune.
Jumper, who went on the excursion, said the leadership team needed time to prepare and plan for 2024-25.
“It was not a lavish trip,” Jumper said. “We have to find time to remove ourselves and have time [with] our group.”
She also clarified that the “equestrian adventure” was “a team building activity that highlighted how we worked together.”
Three teachers upset about the overnight retreat contacted The News Tribune. Penny Cramer, former president of the Tacoma Education Association (TEA), said it came at a time when the district is “making cuts to positions and budgets .”
The News Tribune asked Rosalind Medina, the district’s chief financial officer, during a June 25 interview to compare TPS’s recently adopted budget with last year’s. She called it “worse.” Still, Medina said, the district has tried to be strategic about building the new budget. To keep costs down, budget-cutting efforts have been focused on “what happens furthest from the classroom,” like cuts to “a number of administrative staff ... and administrative functions.”
In late May, The News Tribune reported on the elimination of career-guidance specialist roles , a move that attracted widespread condemnation from students, parents and teachers.
“It’s unacceptable that TPS would spend taxpayers’ money on frivolous things like an expensive retreat for overpaid admin when we have filthy classrooms , para educators working multiple jobs to make ends meet and reductions to our office and professional staff ,” Cramer wrote in an email to The News Tribune.
The district insists that the Suncadia stay was necessary for its leadership team. Critics see it differently, noting that Tacoma teachers aren’t going on such trips.
Who went on the Suncadia retreat?
The cabinet goes on three off-site planning retreats each year, Jumper said.
Eight people joined last month’s Suncadia trip. They were:
Josh Garcia, superintendent
Lisa Nolan, deputy superintendent
Zeek Edmond, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning
Malik Gbenro, general counsel
Tanisha Jumper, chief communications officer
Rosalind Medina, chief financial officer
Renee Trueblood, assistant superintendent: human resources
Chris Williams, chief operating officer
During retreats, the cabinet discusses items like the budget, KPIs [key performance indicators] and other district business, Jumper said. The summer trip typically lasts overnight, but the others are only one day.
The cabinet lost teammates because of budget cuts like other teams in the district lost people, Jumper said. That meant the remaining executives took on additional responsibilities last year, and they needed the space to analyze what did and did not work well.
It was a tough year for everyone, she added.
“It’s not lost on me how many people had to make sacrifices, how many people had to really endure some difficult adjustments,” she said. “I think the part that is kind of missed sometimes is that some of the people making those decisions also have had to deal with that.”
Jeremy Cragin, who taught at First Creek Middle School for the past three school years, said the folks who are in the schools each day are the ones “getting stiffed” in resources. Budget cuts are affecting classrooms and student-facing services, he said, such as losing the career-guidance specialists.
Cragin told The News Tribune everyone he has talked to about Suncadia — parents, students and teachers — is not exactly “jazzed.”
“They know what it’s like in our schools,” said Cragin, who’s with Tacoma Educators for the Common Good (a caucus of rank-and-file teachers within TEA). “They know we need more money directly going to student services. And to know that money is being spent on ‘equestrian excursions’ or whatever the exact activity was called, that’s horrifying.”
How much did the retreat cost?
Jumper said the Suncadia trip cost $4,608 in all, or $576 per person. She added that it wasn’t an extravagant stay, and that cabinet members paid for their own dinners.
“As part of each individual’s compensation package, we get professional-development dollars,” she said. “We used those professional-development dollars to pay for this trip.”
An icebreaker and strategic-planning conversations for 2025-2030 were on the agenda for the first day at Suncadia, according to a copy of the schedule obtained by The News Tribune. Leaders were set to participate in the “Annual Cabinet Cornhole Tournament™” and “The Joy of Painting with [CFO] Rosalind Medina.”
On the docket after dinner, per the agenda: “Amphitheater Fire Pit/Team Building/Guesstures/Karaoke.”
Jumper said via text that the “fire pit was after dinner and was not part of ‘work.’”
The second day featured more team-building, reflection on lessons learned and an outdoor excursion — the bike-ride scavenger hunt, according to the agenda.
The breakfast menu included options like fresh-baked croissants, thick-cut applewood smoked bacon, a Zoi Greek yogurt parfait bar and Bob’s Red Mill steel-cut oatmeal, the agenda said. Chicken teriyaki “on a bed of sauteed leeks,” bulgogi beef with “confetti vegetables” and other meals were available for lunch. Snacks included brownies, macarons and popcorn.
Why did the district not cancel the Suncadia retreat?
Tacoma Public Schools signed the Suncadia contract in August 2023, Jumper said. Booking that far in advance is how the district can get the best possible deal. Canceling at the last minute would have meant losing more than half the money, she added, which is “also not smart business.”
The way Cragin sees it, the retreat was totally unnecessary.
“All the district members hopefully live and reside in Tacoma, where they work, and could just meet at the Central Administration Building for a reflection,” he said. “I don’t know of any teachers who have ever been to Suncadia, let alone gone to a retreat at Suncadia.”
TPS board president Lisa Keating bolstered Jumper’s point about how the trip had been planned a year in advance, and that the professional-development funding that covered the trip is “built in.” They also both emphasized the importance of mulling confidential district matters in private.
Keating likened the retreat to the board of trustees getting to call for an executive session. Having key discussions in a public setting, or in a building with other employees, could lead to information being taken out of context or misconstrued, she said.
All teams and staff enjoy professional-development opportunities, Keating said. Teachers have late-start Wednesdays, time they can use to collaborate and learn from each other.
The cabinet is a team, too, she added.
“I guess I am confused about why the executive cabinet is not allowed to do professional development, or why there are some folks that believe that they don’t also need professional development,” Keating said. “Because, frankly, we need all staff members — all of our leaders in our district — to have opportunities to learn and grow and develop best practices and evaluate best practices.”
Regardless of the district’s reasoning for the retreat, Cragin doesn’t think there’s any justification for Suncadia.
“If you’re making over $300,000 a year , you’re not living in the same reality as students, educators and working families of Tacoma,” Cragin said, referencing the superintendent’s salary. “If we have to tighten our belts and go through with a fine-tooth comb all the expenditures in the district, the best place to start would be these enormous salaries of the highly paid cabinet members.”
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