Seattle School Board Meeting January 17, 2018 Part 1

Okay.

The party has.

2018 would you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Ms. Shek roll call please.

Director Burke.

Here.

Director DeWolf.

Present.

Director Geary.

Here.

Director Mack.

Here.

Director Patu.

Here.

Director Pinkham.

Present.

Director Harris.

I'd like to turn the meeting over to Superintendent Nyland for tonight's recognition.

Thank you.

Tonight we want to recognize the College Success Foundation one of our premier partners and thank you for joining us this evening.

They have been a supporter for Seattle Public Schools and our students for 17 years and serve about a thousand of our students across several of our high schools and middle schools.

And they've been instrumental in helping support our college bound scholarship students and somewhere down farther on my comments tonight we'll talk about getting recognized by Governor Inslee for signing up I think it's 80 percent of our students who are eligible for college bound scholarships.

And so just really pleased with all of the support that we get from so many different places.

College Success Foundation the state college bound scholarships the Seattle College's 13th year and now the mayor's 14th year.

Efforts basically letting our students that each and every one of them is important and have can have that aspiration for college career opportunities.

So with that I'd like to invite James Bush to come and welcome College Success Foundation tonight.

All right that was a test.

Thank you directors and Dr. Nyland for the opportunity to recognize another one of our key district partners.

The College Success Foundation or CSF partnering has been partnering with Seattle schools since 2007. First serving 100 low income students annually at Cleveland High School.

Now 17 years later CSF serves over a thousand students annually at three high schools and two middle schools in Central and South Seattle.

CSF now has seven full time staff.

Many of them are here today and one program manager working in five school sites to support students and strengthen college aging going cultures through the hero and CSF achiever programs.

Please join me in welcoming CSF Seattle program director Keith Steer Van Nessen and the Seattle team to share how they partner with us and support our shared students.

Thank you.

Thank you James and thank you board of directors for taking the time at your meetings to recognize community partners who play a role in in achieving the mission of Seattle Public Schools.

So thank you so much.

My name is Keith and I am the director of programs for College Access Foundation Seattle.

Which is only one one region of many that we serve in Washington state.

The rest of our team is here and I'll introduce them just briefly in just a little bit.

But I wanted to talk about just briefly that our unique program model that we've that we have going on here that I think is really aligned with what you all are what Seattle Public Schools is attempting to do to provide every student a college and career a future and an amazing college and career pathway.

So.

We have the unique model in that we allow we started in middle school and particularly here in Mercer and Washington Middle School where we are college and career coaches support college bound sign ups and do lesson plans in schools and promote the college going cultures across the entire school and it's particularly around eighth grade and prepping them for the transition to college or to high school.

And those students then transition many of them into our hero program in the ninth and tenth grade at Garfield High School and at Rainier Beach High School.

And there we prep them for we do a lot of college and current activities get them ready for the The early high school transition we're helping settle them into ninth grade and support their their development of academic mindsets and and behaviors and then transition them on to our later high school programs the Achiever program where we really help with support them in college fit and through campus tours as well as more career exploration and then helping with financial aid and supporting FAFSA signups and WASFA signups and and helping students really get ready for that transition to college.

And then in college we support them at navigators programs at various colleges throughout the state.

So you see we embrace this pipeline model really helping our students transition through the entire way.

So without further ado I want to recognize the staff and have them just stand up and say where they are from their names or what school they're at and serving at because this is where the magic really happens.

These are the staff that are doing the work every day.

So they have CSF Seattle staff stand up real quick.

And feel free to grab the microphone so that we can hear them.

OK.

Good evening.

My name is Christine Torres Clara and I'm the program manager that serves the staff at the Seattle schools.

Hi I'm Dawn Cunanan and I'm the college prep advisor at Cleveland High School.

Hi I'm Michelle.

I'm the program associate that serves all schools here in Seattle.

Hi I'm Maylani Lozano and I'm a college and career coach at Washington Middle School.

Good evening Catherine DeMauwen and I'm the program manager for AmeriCorps which is our middle school support services team.

Salaam my name is Kosar Upsher and I serve as a hero advisor at Rainier Beach High School.

Hello my name is Andy Sandman and I serve as the college prep advisor at Rainier Beach High School.

My name is Midas Hampton I serve as the hero advisor at Garfield High School.

All right and so we wanted to invite a student who's been in our programs particularly our middle school and our early high school programs to come join us today.

And Midas is going to introduce him since he's in his program at Garfield High School.

So.

I'll put this back.

So like I said my name is Midas Hampton.

I run the program at Garfield High School and Keith alluded to the things that we really focused on in the ninth and tenth grade program which is academic mindsets academic behaviors and college and career knowledge.

And one of my students who's standing beside me Gustavo Garcia has exemplified what it means to be a person who is focused dedicated and is willing to put in the hard work To see the results of that hard work move forward in their life.

So without further ado I give the mic over.

Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to come to talk to you guys today.

So first of all I wanted to just say my name again so I am Gustavo Garcia and I am a sophomore at Garfield and throughout all my life I have really been interested or one of my dreams has always been to help people and that could be to any capacity that I wanted to.

And recently I have been part of a summer program where I really got into suicide prevention and mental health and every like different things around public health.

And luckily even though I wasn't necessarily adept in how exactly I will be able to transition my passions in order to be able to go to like a right fit college or be able to Do all of these different things and achieve all of my dreams.

I have this incredible staff behind me who has supported me throughout my way especially Mr. Midas.

He has always been a great resource and as well as Ms. Inciso who was unfortunately wasn't able to be here today.

She has been a great resource in my middle school years and I want to say a great thank you to them for allowing me the opportunity to be part of their program as well as just giving me all of the tools not only tools but as well as the support in order to be able to achieve my dreams.

And without their support I would honestly be probably very lost in how exactly I can do all those things like get you know like financial support and all of these different things.

I would not be able to understand how to do that without their help.

So I want to say a great thank you to them and thank you for making this program a possible thing because without it there are many populations that would not be able to achieve their dreams.

Thank you so much.

Thanks so much for sharing like to invite all of our presenters from the College Success Foundation to come down front and invite the board down to take a picture.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, board directors, you can go to the seats here so you can hear a fabulous performance by students from Robert Eagle South Middle School Orchestra.

Too fast.

Good evening.

My name is Lindsay Dustin.

I teach orchestra at Eagle Staff Middle School.

This is our senior orchestra.

We are very excited to play for you.

So thank you so much for having us.

We have two pieces.

Our first piece is called North Star to Freedom and this was written by Soonhee Newbold in honor of the Underground Railroad.

And then we will follow that up with Gymnopede number one by Eric Satie.

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As is customary we ask you how long you've been teaching and then we pass around the microphone for you to introduce with first names in your grade and maybe how long you've been studying your instrument.

Thank you.

My name is Lindsay Dustin.

This is my first year at Eagle Staff.

As you all know this is my 10th year teaching instrumental music in the district.

I'm Zoe I'm in eighth grade and I've been practicing the harp for about six years.

My name is Kyle I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing the violin for five years.

Hi I'm Estella I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing violin for about four years.

Hi I'm Yoshi I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing for about five years.

I'm Zaria.

I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing for about five years.

Hi I'm Kesa.

I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing since sixth grade.

I'm Vivian.

I play the viola and I've been playing for about three years.

I'm Amelia.

I play the cello and I've been playing for almost five years.

I'm Katherine.

I play the cello and I've been playing for nine years.

I'm Laina.

I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing for five years.

I'm Charlotte.

I'm in seventh grade and I've been playing the cello for about four and a half years.

I'm Sophia.

I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing the cello for a little over five years.

I'm Emma.

I'm in eighth grade.

I've been playing the cello for five years.

I'm Oliver.

I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing for about five years.

I'm Emily.

I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing for five months.

I'm Ella.

I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing for five months.

I'm Louise.

I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing for nine years.

My name is Charlie.

I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing for about five years.

I'm Katie.

I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing for four or five years.

I'm Lynn and I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing for about four years.

I'm Aaliyah I'm in seventh grade and I've been playing since I was six.

I'm Claire I'm in eighth grade and I've been playing for about 10 years.

Props to you all props for bringing on new folks and props for doing this in a brand new school.

Thank you.

Right?

Between those two groups.

And we'll turn the floor over to Superintendent Nyland for his comments.

Thank you again to our students.

That was awesome.

Well the other recognition that we want to make tonight is recognition for our school board members.

Our school board members put in incredible amounts of time each week and very appreciative for the effort and the passion and the perspective that they bring to their work.

So I want to read the governor's proclamation and we have for the board members a tiny replica of the WASDA certificate.

And the governor's proclamation maybe one that you can put on your desk or make a little bit more use of than the bigger.

Versions of those.

Whereas the mission of Washington's public school system is to assure students achieve at high levels and possess the knowledge and skills to be responsible citizens of a democratic society and enjoy productive and satisfying lives.

Whereas Washington's 295 locally elected school boards and nine elected educational service district boards are the core of public education.

Whereas the districts and regions they lead serve more than 1 million students and have a combined annual budget of approximately 15 billion dollars and employ close to 120,000 people.

Whereas school directors play a crucial role in promoting student learning and achievement by creating a vision establishing policies and budgets and setting clear standards of accountability.

Whereas school directors are directly accountable to the citizens in their districts and regions serving as a vital link between members of the community and their schools.

Whereas school directors and educational service districts provide a passionate voice of advocacy for public schools and the welfare of schoolchildren.

Whereas it's appropriate to recognize school directors as outstanding volunteers and champions of public education.

Therefore Jay Inslee governor of the state of Washington hereby proclaims January as school board recognition month and encourages all of us to join him in this special observation.

So again thank you to our board and for your commitment and dedication to our students.

Next we'd like to hear a little bit about Seattle Unified Sports and the exciting history that comes back to a beginning in Seattle and coming events over the summer.

And I'd like to ask Director Geary to introduce our presenter and tell us a little bit more about Unified Sports and Director Geary.

Thank you.

It is my pleasure to talk about unified sports tonight.

This is a passion for me by background in special education.

I had the honor to attend the unified robotics kickoff this year and was enchanted with the partnership of our athletes with developmental disabilities and our typically developing partners who are there to support them.

It seems to be to me one of the best ways To demonstrate an inclusive community.

Tara Davis with our athletics department is currently our point person for Unified and so she's going to say a few words but I want to make it clear that we will need lots of point people to make this happen.

We will need point people from each of our high schools And each of our middle schools in order to be the hosts at the special Olympics Olympics that Seattle is hosting this summer.

I think it is incumbent upon us as the biggest school district in the state as the school district for the host city to make sure that we as a city are unified around this program and that we show up for our kids in many different ways.

So Tara is going to talk a little bit about that.

And how why this is such a great program and how it is that we can all help.

Thank you director Gary and excuse me here let's put this up.

And I just want to give you a little bit of background information about our unified program and how the idea and concept behind why we got started.

It happened in 2011 and it happened with our executive director here Eric McCurdy but also the support of our board as well and also With a partnership with Special Olympics and we recognize at that time and what he recognized at that time is that the idea of providing students an opportunity to participate in school based team programs that could help unite the entire student body and bring a greater understanding and acceptance for all students.

So that was really the general concept behind that.

Seattle Public Schools we were the pilot program so the first ever here in the state.

Can you guys hear me?

First ever here in the state.

And we had at that time in 2011 in partnership with the Seattle Sounders with Special Olympics with the school board you guys and then also all of our schools We were able to get about 500 over 500 students participating and we're talking about students with intellectual disabilities and students without intellectual disabilities combined together in a unified way to create a team.

And something similar.

I love what happened at Eagle Staff.

I love the orchestra here because what you saw here it provided students an opportunity to participate.

Right.

And you heard the number of years.

That's what we created.

And now here in 2018 our programs have grown.

We had at that time we had participation in 10 of our high schools and five of our middle schools four of our elementary schools.

We expanded from a unified soccer league to also basketball.

And then also we had the expansion into more of our middle schools.

The challenge now is that as we've expanded so has Special Olympics and their partnerships across the state of Washington.

Sorry I keep messing with this.

OK here we go.

Across the state of Washington and this means that our resources from Special Olympics has diminished.

Our volunteers they're overextended and some of our volunteers are even providing their monetary resources along with volunteering their time to make sure our programs are going.

Another challenge of ours is now because of that lost support from Special Olympics some of our teams or our school programs they've diminished.

And the challenge there is that our students have aged out.

We started in 2011 our students have graduated.

So has some of that support and advocacy.

And we need to continue this effort in this movement to make sure that every student in every classroom and every day is being supported.

Make sure I cover everything.

Another challenge of ours too is just information sharing.

As our students and our families are aging out the programs are there.

Our students don't know.

And we need a point person in our schools to make sure that this information is getting out.

Lastly I'd like to give a special thanks to our past board supporters.

Miss Betty Patu.

Thank you.

We also have Steve Sundquist who is a supporter of the initial program.

Also.

Assistant Superintendent Peggy McAvoy back there.

I see you Peggy.

Thank you.

And Flip Herndon.

Big supporters.

And then also our lovely Miss Director Jill Gary.

She's a great supporter.

She actually and I'm going to brag about you just a little bit.

But we sat in the office.

We talked about it and she gave to this effort a $25,000 donation and we need more of that to come.

Thank you.

Thank you Ms. Davis and I did I gave that money because in talking to you it was something that I really believe in and I believe that it's it's really important for our district to do this work.

And so I'm going to challenge every family to figure out a way to participate in this effort.

Be it going on to the athletics department website and getting more information about Unified.

There's a booklet there.

There's background information talking to your principals about making sure that these programs exist in your schools.

And then of course Joining me in supporting this effort in talking to the athletics department.

We want to make sure that we're able to support our coaches.

Anybody who who donates their time especially in schools that don't have their own resources to readily provide don't have the PTA's that can put this money forward.

That we need to make sure that we're supporting the coaches who are donating their time and effort to do this work.

And so in partnering with the Alliance for Education in order to make a donation you just need to go in and under the school donation section if you start typing in unified there will be a line that will come up unified athletics and at that point you can make your donation to the effort and it will go straight to our efforts to build this program.

And I would like to see Seattle match my donation and exceed it so that we can show Our families what this means to us.

And then Tara is there any other information online that we can provide to families to get get people started if there are people out there that think that this is something that they want to spearhead.

How would they go about doing that?

Well and we understand that the coaches is somewhat the glue that holds it all together.

And so our coaches now they're They're exhausted to say the least.

But they're still out there.

And so Special Olympics what they do is provide coaches training.

They provide us with additional resources.

They get volunteers to come in and help.

But we need to sustain this.

OK.

And I believe that we need to take this on as a district and sustain these efforts because we have students who benefit from this.

We have school communities that actually rally around and benefit from this.

I believe that we have in 2018 Special Olympics is deemed Seattle the city of inclusion.

I think we should be Seattle public schools schools of inclusion.

I really do.

And I have another note here that was just given to me and it's with our unified PE physical education program.

It's piloted a few excuse me a few schools in cooperation with physical education and athletics to focus on the foundational knowledge beyond the school day which in turn will help eliminate opportunity gaps.

So in the schools is happening and we just take over to after school.

Also this correlates with the physical activity program which is part of the district policy 2185. Thank you.

Thank you Tara.

As I always do I want to give a few highlights in terms of our strategic planning goals which focus on excellence and equity systems improvement and family and community engagement.

Educational excellence and equity is goal number one and actually thank the board for keeping our focus on these three goal areas for actually the last four years.

It certainly helps build the momentum and understanding around what we're trying to do.

So goal one focuses on excellence and on eliminating opportunity gaps.

We have lots of opportunities coming up in the next few weeks.

Weeks to promote various aspects of this work as I shared I think starting at the EOG Institute and then at the state of the district.

It's been pointed out to us that eliminating opportunity gaps is essential and we remain committed to doing that.

And at the same time we want to focus on what we do as adults to create better systems for students and not fall into a place where we blame students for the gaps.

So ensuring opportunities for greatness is my way to remember that we're talking about opportunities for students and not just seeing them as part of a deficit or part of a gap.

And so there's kind of three big ideas that we've been talking about in our monthly professional development with principals and assistant principals and some of the other work that we do.

First one is believing in every student no matter what no exceptions.

Second one is recognizing that relationships matter.

Our try days and our partnership work with SEA and PASS.

And the third one is that commitment to knowing each student's story strength And in need and then building the interventions to support students in closing those gaps.

We've had Martin Luther King Day on Monday and lots of activities throughout the community appreciate city year and others having a day on working in our schools at John Muir and Van Esselt.

African American History Month is coming in February.

Black Lives Matter at schools is an engagement week scheduled for February 5 through 9 and something that will now have a national focus as well as focus in Seattle and African American Parent Involvement Day on February 12th and more and more of our schools are asking parents to come and welcome students to school on that day.

And then actually this Saturday the Seattle Alliance of Black School Educators will be holding their summit at Aki Kurose Middle School from 8 to 3 on Saturday.

So a lot of opportunities and I want to thank SEA our curriculum department the ethnic studies group our partnership team and others for helping put together materials that are available on the web.

So We're trying to do I guess both.

We're trying to recognize these special events but we're also trying to tie that back to the EOG work and tie it back to the sense of welcoming and belonging and identity safety for each and every student in the district.

I also want to mention that although we still have a long way to go in terms of eliminating opportunity gaps we do have some particular areas that we do want to celebrate.

The I've already mentioned that the school board has kept the focus on this goal and the others for the last four years.

But our graduation gap is narrowing virtually all of our ethnic groups are making gains in graduation and beginning to close that gap.

The work that the board has supported in terms of a moratorium on suspensions continues to be trending in the right direction.

Again still lots of work to go.

And then the Stanford study buried after the three page front page story on Sunday and inside of the Ed labs piece at the very end of that piece it did talk about the fact that our African-American students did make 5.7 years of growth for five years of learning.

So we still have a long way to go to close gaps.

But again proud of the work that our teachers and principals and partners are helping us with as we continue to work on that goal.

Goal 2 is improving systems and this year our goal is around budget.

The news for the kind of the budget building that we're doing right now for the coming year.

Is more positive than we once feared.

I'm not quite sure whether that translates into a little bit of breathing room in the budget or whether that translates into not quite so drastic reductions.

But much better than we had feared at one point in time and some good news in there.

We recently talked with principals and with the board in the work session last week.

About 23 million dollars in new staffing.

And so HR is gearing up to get busy and that translates into about 200 additional teachers for next year which we're delighted to have.

And at the same time that adds to our capacity.

So kind of just do the math.

200 classrooms is a lot of the equivalent of several schools.

So we'll continue to figure out how to deal with that issue.

Thanks very much to the work of our delegation for trying to figure out how to make all of this work.

Director Geary and Director Mack joined us today early early this morning in Olympia meeting with our delegation and letting them know that the McCleary work thank you very much is not yet complete and we still need work in the area of special education and compensation.

And then JoLynn and I had the opportunity last week to testify before the Senate Education Committee.

So the good news is that our delegation is keeping the focus.

Jerry Paulette and Senator Peterson have helped champion that issue of special education and saying the work's not done yet and we need to keep working on that.

Third goal is family and community engagement and several board members asked about texting.

I've asked about texting.

The communications department has worked on it and actually they went out and they did a survey and I think it was 60 percent of our parents who responded said that they wanted texting and virtually 100 percent of our ELL parents said that texting would be awesome.

So tomorrow I'm told we're getting ready to launch a campaign in regard to texting.

It does mean that we have to we need help from a lot of sources to help families opt in to that service.

So yet yet another way that we can find to communicate with our with our families.

We did have I guess a parallel to our last board meeting we did have a community engagement opportunity at Hamilton and we had I think Director Burke was there and then City Councilman Rob Johnson and some of our legislators were there and the principal took time to send us a note and say what we know.

JoLynn did an awesome job and we heard the same thing in Olympia today that the staff in Olympia as well as our legislative delegations and certainly those of us here at home rely on her clear crisp succinct way to cut through a lot of details and provide good clear information.

So appreciation for JoLynn and the work that she does.

Good news college bound scholarships is a state program that says for eligible eighth graders that if you sign up and if you keep your grades up you have a college scholarship coming and that That is more difficult than it looks trying to convince eighth graders that college is coming.

So sometimes necessarily you know grades and credits and school and all of that stuff is out there in the future quite a ways.

But we've been notified that once again we'll get a gold star award from the governor for having 80 percent of our eligible students sign up.

And then we heard earlier tonight how we use that information to continue to support and encourage students toward that hope and dream of college.

Nationally board certified teachers.

We were just announced nationally the ones who have gone through the process and been successful brings our total to 382 nationally board certified teachers.

And it's a very rigorous ruling process where a lot of learning takes place and then they do videos of their classroom instruction and do a lot of process to show how they're growing.

And part of it has to do with actually showing and demonstrating how they've made growth happen for students in their classroom.

So Congratulations to our teachers and we'll find a way to bring our recent honorees here and provide a little bit more information about the program.

For nutrition services breakfast participation some what is that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

So the breakfast before the bell program had been in seven of our schools.

It's now expanded to five more schools and that means that we've increased participation by 25 percent in those schools.

And so really a good partnership between the school 609 United Way and a whole host of others.

I think transportation figures into that and we have to figure out how do we squeeze time in for that breakfast.

So congratulations on that.

Topics of community and board interest.

The contract discussions between first student and the Teamsters continues and it kind of depends from day to day whether it sounds like good news or whether it sounds like we've got a long ways to go.

So we continue to be hopeful that we'll they will be able to find a way through that process.

And yeah so we remain hopeful on that and thank you to Peggy McAvoy on the daily updates on where we are and how how we're doing on making sure that the yellow bus services continue to run and we continue to get students to school.

Sad news.

Mona Humphries Bailey died January 12th and she served in Seattle Public Schools for 32 years as junior high and high school science teacher high school counselor middle school principal personnel administrator assistant superintendent and then deputy superintendent in Seattle Public Schools.

She also served as assistant superintendent and I have had opportunities to work with her both in that role and in her role as deputy in Seattle and actually saw her not all that long ago.

So.

Condolences to the family and the information is here in terms of funeral mass to be held at 1130 a.m.

on January 19th at St. Monica Catholic Church.

New science standards.

Actually I don't know how long we can say that they're new.

I think 2013 is when the new standards went into play.

However there's been a time lag I guess.

So it's now real.

We've moved from 21 to 24 credits and science credits have moved from two to three and the kind of the rigor of the standards has gone up.

So thanks to our C&I staff there's been a lot of work across our schools to say OK what do we have to do to the course sequence and how do we help support students to meet those standards because they now in addition to what I just said they are now going to have to actually pass the science exam in order to graduate.

So.

High stakes is being expanded to science and appreciate a lot of good work that's being done to prepare students for that standard.

The options school admissions fair is January 20th.

Lots of things to go to on January 20th from 10 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

at Mercer International Middle School and open enrollment for school choice begins February 5th.

And registration is open as we start to enroll students for next year.

So lots more information is on the back table and here in this copy for board members.

Lots of things that I've been at recently staff have been at recently and lots of upcoming community engagement opportunities.

But I'll stop.

Thank you very much.

We do not have a student joining us this evening from the dais for comment.

So we move to number five business action items.

We've now reached the consent portion of tonight's agenda.

May I have a motion for the consent agenda.

Seconded.

OK.

Approval of the consent agenda has been moved and seconded.

Do directors have any items they would like to remove from the consent agenda.

Director Pinkham.

Yes I would like to remove item number five approval of the 2018 19 growth boundary plan for Genesee Elementary Hill School and Lafayette Elementary School from the consent agenda.

OK.

Do we have any other items to remove from the consent agenda.

Do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended.

I move approval of the consent agenda as amended.

I second.

All those in favor of passing the consent agenda as amended please signify by saying aye.

OK.

Director Pinkham would you like to address the item removed from the consent agenda sir.

Yes.

The reason I saw that it was actually gone through the ops committee for consideration and would like hopefully to get some discussion on it since the operations committee did not move it for approval.

And I was conferring with Director Mack here trying to get the idea why did we move it just for consideration.

And I think part of it was that the transportation wasn't in the item yet.

And just talking briefly here we're also get some clarification on the scenario F.

Did you wish to speak to that director Mack chair of ops.

And I see associate superintendent.

Yes.

Flip Hernan coming to the dais.

Thank you Dr. Hernan for coming up.

I appreciate director Pinkham's questions.

I do think that the change that was made before was added to the consent agenda is the agreement to grandfather the students and the agreement to fund the transportation for the grandfathered students.

And that's one change that's made.

But I noticed also that the motion.

It doesn't include the recommended scenario.

It doesn't say specifically scenario F which I think might be confusing in the future if it doesn't specifically call that out.

It says it in the later down in the document.

But I think that might be clearer for everyone to know which of the maps was actually recommended and selected to have it in the motion.

Could you please address her questions associate superintendent Dr. Flip Herndon.

Yes Flip Herndon associate superintendent operations and facilities.

Both of those statements are true.

We did include the cost of transportation which was not originally included in the bar that when it went through operations committee and I can understand including all the other maps but we've included those just for the background information so.

As we've gone through and and discussed it was the scenario F which is the one that we're moving forward for the recommendation.

Does that meet the operations chairs concern.

Yes it does.

I think we can just put scenario F into the motion when we asked to move this to move to action.

And the other reason why we had it for consideration was to check in with the community.

And I just wanted to reiterate that we heard testimony from the community last week that the process for deciding this was really well run from their perspective and they're really happy with the scenario F.

So I just want to celebrate that.

Do you have any other questions?

Well I would like to add my two bits being the director from District 6. Genesee Hill opened well above capacity.

We get a lot of cranes in West Seattle.

I'm sure we'll have a lot many more.

I met personally with a number of the staff from Genesee Hill and from their vigorous PTSA as did Dr. Herndon and Ashley Davies and you received really good props and we all know that that's not always the case.

So I say thank you very much on that.

Other directors comments questions or concerns.

Mr. Vice President do you want to officially move this.

Number 5. I move that the school board approve the 2018 19 growth boundaries plan for Genesee Hill Elementary School and Lafayette Elementary School and direct the superintendent to take any appropriate actions to implement this decision to help alleviate overcrowding at Genesee Hill.

Scenario F. In accordance with scenario F.

I second it.

Any other comments questions or concerns regarding this resolution.

Seeing none Ms. Shek the roll call please.

Director Burke.

Aye.

Director DeWolf.

Aye.

Director Geary.

Aye.

Director Mack.

Aye.

Director Patu.

Aye.

Director Pinkham.

Aye.

Director Harris.

Aye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

Okay.

It is 518 from here.

That means we have A few moments for director comments.

I'd like to try and do something a little newer And different after having spoken to a number of my colleagues.

If the committee chairs can give us a thumbnail of what has transpired in their committee meetings to share with our colleagues and folks at home on television land it would be very much appreciated.

Keeping in mind however that if we all think the same list of folks we're going to burn up 10 15 minutes of time.

So we're going to have to discipline ourselves with peer pressure.

Mr. Vice President Mr. Chair of CNI are you ready to go sir.

A resounding no but I will I'm partway there.

I'm not fully prepared to report out on everything that happened but I have a couple of notes.

I also want to embrace the idea that our committees are working committees and that work actually happens there so that we don't end up doing it as a full board if the entire board is doing all the work of the district all the time.

It's guaranteed to not be a path to efficiency.

So recognizing though that we have the most public transparency and visibility at our board meetings we're trying to ease into this.

So I want to be really candid that about how we're trying to do this and how we're trying to get The work of the committees to happen in the committees.

So rather than reporting on what happened previously because you're seeing much of it before you today.

I'd like to report on what's coming and emphasize that each committee has a work plan.

And they are working documents but that essentially guides our work for the year.

And so for people who are interested in particular things around curriculum it would be good to look at the curriculum instruction work plan and similarly for operations and similarly for audit and finance.

And we'll work on getting right now those are attached to some of the board materials or some of the committee materials.

So we're going to work on getting those more public facing in the next month or two.

So that said I want to start by by obviously thanking the Eagle Staff Orchestra for an amazing piece and put a couple words in for Director Geary and Tara Davis to elevate the importance of that work and also the call to action.

So the College Success Foundation I have to tie into that both to thank them but to really emphasize that what they have is a very intentional set of pathways with support to each stage for our students.

And one of the things that I talk about regularly to the point where folks are tired of it.

Is career aligned learning and career readiness of our students.

So whether that's college whether that's career it's a model that we should embrace where there's middle school level supports high school level supports transition supports and that you know we need to create that for all of our students.

So I want to call that out and thank them for their work and their commitment.

So moving to the CNI meeting.

The for those who haven't attended there's a set of standing agenda items.

These are things that come up at every meeting.

We touch on them.

Sometimes it's only 5 10 minutes.

Sometimes we have deeper discussions in the CNI committee.

Those are formula for success.

This year we have made high schools primarily 24 credit work a standing agenda item and instruction materials is also a standing agenda item.

And so when I say formula for success you probably hear us talk about our MTSS and EOG whether it's eliminating opportunity gaps or embracing opportunities for greatness.

We have to work on that one a little bit and internalize it.

But.

The formula for success is our way to embody those things in our main work stream because we don't want them to be goals and initiatives every year.

We want them to be what we do.

Basically our standard practices.

So when you think about MTSS think of that as the structure.

When you think about EOG think of that as the mindset.

And when you think about the other component of the formula for success par peer assistance review think about that as the people.

So if we've got the structure the mindset and the people it's a great formula.

So we talk about that every month talking about which elements are being worked on.

And that's a great transition.

This one actually is looking backward.

I'm going to call out our own Dr. Brent Jones who gave the report at our last meeting on the EOG work.

And in addition to the report and talking about a lot of the details that were happening One of the things that he said went to a detailed report and we asked OK Dr. Jones what is what's at the end of the year what's the one thing that you'd feel like this was a huge success if we all achieved.

And his his reply which I want to share to everybody here and everybody out there was for the board and the staff to have an understood and clearly articulated North Star around the EOG work.

Clearly articulated understood for the EOG work.

I think that's brilliant and I thank you Dr. Jones.

Other things that are coming in the C&I committee next month we're going to see a board action resolution for the middle school math adoption.

That work is converging on a conclusion and then we're going to be bringing that to the board in the next month or two.

We're getting an update on Seattle preschool program and then we are also going to be focusing on the highly capable program in terms of implementation.

What that looks like around.

We've made it a goal for the year to look at identification program delivery model.

We hear regularly about that and the committee is taking that on this year.

One other thing so moving off of CNI I want to talk about one other committee.

This is a report on the BEX oversight committee.

And I think that that's come before the board for a couple of different things for to have the charter renewed and emphasizing the work that they do.

This is a volunteer committee that provides oversight into our capital projects.

Which previously was our BEX our building excellence levy projects but it's expanding to include our high dollar value or our high complexity BTA projects as well.

So the expertise on this panel helps us around architecture budgeting construction management and it's really in my mind been influential in helping us get our Numerous schools every year that we get open on time on budget and be effective stewards of our company money.

So last week on Friday there was a panel discussion around priority hire and the premise of priority hire is wow we do all these projects.

Can we employ our own residents?

Can we employ our own students to work on their schools?

How cool would that be?

And is there a structure in place where we can build some of that into our contracts?

And so there was a panel that had a really lively conversation.

And while that conversation is still going to be ongoing the take home for me was that there's a huge number of unfulfilled jobs in the trades.

Across all sectors.

And so putting a system in place that adds another another step To for those kids to be placed for anybody to be placed in those jobs is adding an extra barrier.

And so the place where we need to work on that is not on mandating who works on our jobs but actually actually building out the educational pipelines for our kids.

So there's just not enough people.

And if we make it a requirement for certain people to work on certain projects We limit the ability for us to deliver on those projects.

So there's a lot of details that still need to be worked out.

And I'm not completely convinced that there aren't places where we as an employer and somebody that does a lot of work in construction in the trades can use our our Our footprint in the community to get our kids better placed and make sure that our students have opportunities and encourage them.

The conversation really turned towards how do we connect kids to careers.

And I just want to reemphasize that every single person on the panel and folks that were there as well from the labor perspective.

There's a huge amount of enthusiasm around how do we get our kids Into high paying high demand jobs in the trades and so much of it is about messaging that the trades of the past are not the trades of the future.

And so every chance you're going to hear me say the trades of the past are not the trades of the future.

Trades are they're capturing a lot of technology a lot of innovation.

You know there are 3D printers that print buildings now.

There's actually prototypes that can print concrete and with a 3D printer so.

I think the idea of the stereotype of what the trades were in the past is something that I'm asking families and community to to to put behind and encourage your students to to expose themselves to the trades and manufacturing and some of the places that are in my belief underrepresented by today's students.

Thank you.

I took more than my share of time.

And you will have an opportunity to speak again after public comments and I'm sure you'll take advantage of that opportunity.

So we have reached 5 30 public testimony time.

We will.

Readdress the rules.

They should be on the big screen.

Our television set up here is not turned on which would be helpful to us.

Thank you.

And I would ask that the speakers are respectful of these rules.

The board does not take public comments on items related to personnel or individually named staff.

I'd also like to note that each speaker has a two minute speaking time and you have a 30 second caution heads up on the dais there.

It gives you that fair warning.

And when that two minutes have ended please conclude your remarks.

Ms. Scheck please read the first three folks on the testimony list.

Thank you.

First up for public testimony we have Hayden Wagar followed by Kyra Blumenhagen and Campbell McVickers.

Hello my name is Hayden Weyer.

I'm a sixth grader at Katherine Blain.

I have to go to Ballard High School starting in 2020 with my brother Avery who will be a senior.

If the FV 4.3 boundary map passes I will.

So I hope you vote for it.

I'm worried about the resolution that would end HC pathways and the impact it might have on the new boundary map.

I'm concerned that after I start at Ballard High School I might have to leave.

I'm also worried that my younger sister Ella won't get to go there at all.

Some really smart people say that ending HCPathways could create a boundary map that goes right up to the doors of Ballard and Roosevelt.

Some other really smart people say that this won't happen and any changes would be minor.

It doesn't seem like you know for sure either.

When I read your resolution the actual resolution part is so short just through paragraphs that it seems like these changes will happen for sure whether or not they actually work.

I'm also concerned that if HC is all spread out it won't be as good as it is now for the kids who need it.

I know it's not your job to come up with the plan but if you are going to vote for it I think you need to say in the resolution what all the pieces of the plan should look like.

If you do this kids like me will know it'll be a good plan that will work and we won't have to worry.

Please do this before you vote on our resolution.

Thank you.

Hello my name is Kira Blumhagen and I'm here to speak about the student assignment plan and its effect on the highly capable pathways.

I'm a freshman at Garfield.

I went to Hamilton and that changed my life.

In elementary school I was the weird kid who no one really understood.

When I went to Hamilton I found my people.

I know that not every kid who doesn't fit in is HC qualified but we are a group of students who the district has identified as unique.

Not better but different.

Right now, I spend three hours a day on the bus to get to and from Garfield.

I could walk 15 or 20 minutes to Ballard, but I choose to follow the community I've found in the HC program.

HC has been criticized for offering honors classes to a predominantly white population, but Garfield's honors for all program addresses that concern.

Honors for all is imperfect, but one thing it does really well is diversity.

Every one of my classes draws from the entire grade or the entire school, making them match the school demographics.

I suggest that you take a middle pathway between the current arrangement and full decentralization by using interim sites as semi-permanent locations for HC students.

So HC services can be delivered in a racially equitable way in four to five high schools.

This allows for community to form while still minimizing transportation out of neighborhood.

With HC programs in place at current and interim sites the district can identify more highly capable students of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds so that equitable HC programs can flourish throughout the district.

Thank you for your time and have a great night.

Next up we have Campbell McVickers and after that we will have Chris Jackins followed by Michelle Weinstein and Richard Thro.

Hello my name is Campbell McVickers.

I'm in middle school at Catherine Blaine K through 8 in Magnolia.

I have three points to share with you before you make a decision that will affect our high school boundaries.

Number one.

I've talked with a lot of my classmates and everyone wants to go to Ballard where their older sisters and brothers have go to high school.

We already feel like we are part of Ballard High School and we don't want to be moved.

Please vote for map FV 4.3.

Number two.

We don't think it's fair that we have to go on a bus for two hours just to get to and from Wallingford.

Our time should be just as important as all the other students.

It would mean less sleep less time to do our homework and more stress.

Also if we want to do after school activities it could add two hours more which could be three to four hours in one day.

Please vote for map FV 4.3.

Number three.

Why are the highly capable pathways for high school being discussed now when all the when we are talking about boundary changes that will affect more kids.

Maybe you don't consider me highly capable but I do and I don't and I know I'm not more capable when I don't get enough sleep.

Don't have enough time to do my homework and when I when my compute doesn't take hours.

Please don't wreck my capabilities with unfair travel times less sleep and more stress.

Please vote for map FV 4.3.

Thank you for caring and thank you for all of your hard work.

My name is Chris Jackins box 8 4 0 6 3 Seattle 9 8 1 2 4. On the boundaries for Genesee Hill and Lafayette this decision leaves out Schmitz Park which the district illegally closed.

On the ed specs for the Ingram classroom addition a 1700 seat school seems at odds with recent board discussions on school size.

On the Wing Luke racial imbalance resolution the board has not yet done its due diligence.

No data has been provided.

Please vote no.

On the proposed four million dollar purchase of an 18 acre parcel for school bus parking and a new district warehouse.

Six points.

Number one.

The report states that the district will save six hundred and eighty seven thousand dollars a year which would pay for the property in six years.

Number two the report does not address opportunity costs or lost interest costs or if BEX for projects might be put in jeopardy.

The report does not count the costs of building a warehouse.

Number three are there costs from having to drive buses from outside Seattle.

Number four some of the relocations to the proposed site were already counted as savings for the district headquarters.

Number five the price of the property has fallen from twelve million dollars to four million dollars.

The property is in receivership and is behind on property taxes and yet the seller is expected to remove concrete waste from the site.

Number six the site has sloping topography that reduces usable space but it has views for a bus parking lot.

I do not believe the current numbers.

Please vote no.

Thank you.

Thank you for this opportunity.

I'm a Seattle native and a product of public school.

My mom worked for SPS for 25 years.

I have deep respect and high expectations for public education in the city.

I represent many neighbors and we urge you to keep the area between 3rd and Finney at Ballard High.

Seattle is expected to continue its explosive growth and 80 kids here there is a band aid for a problem that needs large scale solutions.

All our North End schools will be over enrolled in a few short years.

Please send us to the over enrolled school that at least is our genuine neighborhood school.

We know the benefits of walkability and conversely the individual and societal costs of the commuting culture especially north of 56th Avenue the 44 is not easily accessible and kids will take a two bus transfer route.

Please don't train our kids to commute when there is an easy alternative.

You recognize that Magnolia should have the least disruptive commute and stay at the school with which they identify.

You recognize that North Ballard should also attend the school they can easily walk to and with which they identify.

Please grant the same recognition to our community as well.

You reminded us that the guiding principles are not ranked and that you are committed to balancing what can even be conflicting principles.

So as you consider a relatively small potential increase increase at Ballard on the one hand we ask you please to carefully consider on the other hand the value to our community of proximity to school walkability transportation time cost effective transportation minimizing disruption and responsiveness to family input.

To average parents like us the first seven months of this process appeared reasoned but the past three weeks have felt like a frantic game of hot potato.

Please do not leave us to burn when the music stops.

Please do not throw us under or onto the bus.

Please do what is right by this group of kids and leave them in the Ballard boundary.

Thank you.

After Richard we will have Rishi Merchandani followed by Andrea Toll and Colette Blangley.

Hi I'm Richard Truax.

I'm coming to you to speak about HCC boundary issues.

I am a parent of a Seattle Public School student and also the department chair of the social studies department at Garfield High School.

You have a really unique opportunity in front of you.

I don't know the exact year we started HCC but at least 30 plus years to A program that was designed to be K-8 to take a chance and disseminate this program across every I would say comprehensive high school of the district.

Every one of our comprehensive high schools has an advanced learning program from Rainier Beach down in the southeast all the way up to Ingraham in the north.

Every one of those programs would benefit from these students who live in their neighborhoods rather than busing them to magnet schools.

Whether they be two magnet schools as we currently have now or four.

I most importantly want to stress that our single biggest challenge right now as a district is reducing our opportunity gap.

And you know HCC and I should really just say advanced learning nationally self identifies as a special ed program.

We do not concentrate special ed kids in schools so we can provide more services.

If you look at IEPs, it's a rare IEP that does not have a provision in it to try and get a student into the mainstream classroom as often as possible.

Yet when we come to advanced learning, the goal seems to be to segregate them out as much and whenever possible.

The opportunities that these students would provide for these schools where we go back to that point is that these other schools have programs that are really could benefit from that by as an example at Garfield the argument is we could not teach calculus BC because we don't have enough students or a school like Rainier Beach because they don't have enough students.

So we concentrate these kids in.

Well there are students at Rainier Beach.

There are students at Chief Self who could be taking BC.

We're not concentrating them into other schools just simply because they want to take Calc BC.

We don't let them we don't bus them across the city and concentrate them in there.

So it's really really important that we're trying to offer the same opportunities to all kids.

The other point I wanted to make is that the diversity in these schools would benefit also again from having these students spread out to the different parts.

And I come back to that main point that it's an opportunity issue for all students so we can diversify programs and offer all of our students The same benefits and opportunities.

And finally it's really also beneficial for the kids in the HCC program for a whole variety of reasons that I could not begin to go into right now that I wish the board would begin to look into.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Rishi Merchandani.

My oldest daughter is a third grader at Cascadia Elementary.

Resolution 2017 18-10 purports to address racial inequity in advanced coursework by delivering highly capable services through a localized model.

This resolution conflates three issues capacity constraints racially disproportionate HCC enrollment and how best to structure the HCC program in high school whether through pathways or a localized model.

While I agree with the equity goal I have not seen analysis to support the conclusion that the plan will lead to the desired equity outcome.

Further it is not clear if localization is even viable as the board has not put together a plan to answer some fundamental questions.

What are the costs of administering the HCC program via a localized model for separate pathways.

What is the impact on teacher training and recruiting.

What are the unintended consequences that would result from this change.

How would it impact the current goals of the HCC program as described in policy 2190. As a parent of an HCC student I'm concerned the resolution says nothing about the impact on these current students beyond resolving to provide sufficient services to meet the statutory requirements of highly capable students.

Frankly this reason these requirements are a burden and the district will do as little as possible to meet the legal bar.

We owe our highly capable students regardless of race better than the bare minimum.

At least we should aspire to that.

This resolution does not address the underlying enrollment challenges with HCC through identified best practices.

To improve equity.

A number of these are outlined in the handout I distributed and include things like universal screening that takes place during the school day and creating multiple ways to demonstrate need for HCC services.

These important efforts should be explored and we should look for ways to do more.

But this plan jumps to a nuclear option.

One that has an unknown impact on equity.

It clearly presents an existential threat to the program itself given the unanswered questions.

I therefore strongly urge the board to not approve this resolution and to complete a detailed analysis so that an informed decision can be made with sufficient community engagement.

This analysis should include a feasibility study and assessment of how the change will impact all all aspects of delivery of HD services in high school.

Thank you for your time.

Hi.

Thank you for having me here.

I'm Andrea Atoll.

I spoke before.

I'm kind of winging it tonight because I wasn't prepared to speak.

I was going to cede my time to someone else.

But I think it's important that I do speak.

I met with my my son has an IEP.

He's been with counselors and speech therapists You name it since he was three years old.

We my husband and I have been actively participating with him in his education and making sure that he has the accommodations he continuously needs.

He's had a neuropsych eval that we spent a lot of money on and this I was looking at his grades about a week ago and we had a Holy moly moment where the whole family was in tears because we weren't used to seeing C's and D's.

We were used to seeing A's and B's and I was you know I was completely Blown away and contacted his counselor right away.

And until I said to her that I wasn't used to seeing D's and C's and D's because he was an IEP student.

She just assumed that it was OK and it wasn't OK.

And she got that.

And right then we had a breakthrough moment.

And what I loved about having this conversation with this counselor was that I'm hoping and I'm urging you that he's a freshman at Ballard right now that he gets to stay with this counselor until he graduates from Ballard High School and that he gets to be grandfathered in and stays with that counselor and that core group Of teachers that care about him and care about his education and that he is not.

He doesn't get special care but he he has people that are looking out for him because he's a really hard worker and he wants to be a really hard worker.

Where is that.

Thank you.

After Collette we will have Kelsey Fatlin followed by Nicole Merchandani and James Wagger.

Hi my name is Cohen Stewart.

I'm a 12 year old seventh grader at Whitman.

I'm one of the reasons you are sitting up there.

I hope that you ran for school board because you wanted to do what was best for kids like me.

Right now you have the opportunity to do that.

I have lived in Ballard my whole life.

I play Ballard Little League.

I play Ballard youth soccer.

I'm in Ballard Boy Scouts troop 100 and I swim at the Ballard pool.

I've walked to and from my Ballard elementary middle schools for the past eight years.

If you count preschool I've been with most of my friends since I was two and a half years old.

Unfortunately both of the boundary scenarios you're looking at tonight send me to a different high school than 98 percent of my lifelong friends because a straight line was drawn instead of the line that mirrors the boundary line for Loyal Heights.

This is not what's best for me and it doesn't do what you are trying to do keeping elementary schools together.

Keeping kids together makes us feel safe comfortable and confident.

It also lets us focus on learning instead of on the pressure of fitting in or making friends.

It makes life easier at a time when we really need that.

In fifth grade I was diagnosed with ADHD.

Focus is hard enough for me already.

I'm afraid that the added pressure of riding a bus going to a school out of my neighborhood and having no friends is going to be too much for me.

I know I can make new friends but it will take a while to know people I can count on.

It makes me feel lost and helpless.

Additionally I'm going to have to sit on a bus for two hours a day when what really helps with my ADHD is activity.

I need to burn off my energy by walking or riding to school like I do now but I can't walk or ride to Ingram.

It's almost five miles away.

It's almost five miles away and it's not safe.

Ballard High is only a safe 12 minute bike ride for me.

If you choose one of the current scenarios that separates Loyal Heights you are failing me and all of the kids at Ballard like me who are putting these elementary boundaries by the school district.

You should keep Loyal Heights boundary line consistent for elementary middle and high school.

Please we deserve to stay together like everybody else.

Choose the scenario that keeps all Loyal Heights kids in Ballard.

Please look on the back of this to see the boundary I'm describing.

Thank you.

My name is Kelsey Fatlin and I'm not only a magnolia parent of a ninth grader class of 2021 and a sixth grader class of 2024 but I'm also a third grade national board certified teacher at Lawton Elementary.

First regarding the opening of Lincoln and high school boundaries I urge you to approve the map labeled FB 4.3 which ensures safe walk zones and accessible public transportation to and from school.

In addition it maintains the most feeder school pathways of all the options.

I witnessed the first hand the enthusiasm of Magnolia students who can't wait to be Ballard Beavers due to the collaboration of our K-12 music drama PE teachers and athletic coaches who have created opportunities for them to participate in athletic camps choir music festivals and my own daughter proudly performed in Ballard High School's production of the Children of Eden as a fourth grader.

She would be devastated not to be a Ballard Beaver.

Please approve map FV 4.3.

Second I urge you to approve the HC pathway to Lincoln for the north end for 2019 2021 in addition to the amendment of moving the dual immersion program to Lincoln.

This honors the current Hamilton and John Stanford international students who deserve the opportunity to continue these programs in their neighborhood.

Third I want all highly capable students to have equitable access to advanced learning programs.

However is it feasible to not only have equitable access but high quality instruction in the short amount of time proposed.

2021 will be here before we know it and unfortunately I am all too familiar with the inadequate level of professional development and resources provided by the district.

Lawton is a spectrum designated school where I have taught spectrum and highly capable students for five years now.

I have never received district provided professional development for advanced learners and the only resources we've been given is the next grade level up in math curriculum.

These students need deeper richer curriculum not simply the next grade level up.

We teachers arrive at school every day wanting to meet the needs of each child but we need the proper support and professional development to do this.

I know there is an urgency to decentralize the high school HC program in the name of equity but I encourage you to be deliberate and thoughtful in your decision making.

Don't rush it.

Take the time to research successful dance learning models around the nation.

Involve the teachers and principals and experts around the nation to see what works.

Hi I'm Nicole Martindani.

I'm the mother of two SPS students and I'm the PTA legislative chair for Cascadia.

I'm testifying today to ask that you please develop an implementation plan for HCC in high schools before deciding to localize it into neighborhood schools per resolution number 2017 1810. Well I appreciate the intent of the resolution and believe fundamentally in equity for all students.

I'm just not convinced it will accomplish that goal.

It seems completely premature to vote on this highly disruptive plan to both Gen Ed and HTC families without adequate due diligence.

I think it would be prudent to analyze at a minimum the following elements before decision can be made.

A cost analysis.

Does SPS have the funding to create and support HCC at each school on an ongoing basis to ensure the course progression that is necessary.

Projections for future growth and capacity at high schools.

What happens to all the students in two years.

Do we have boundary redraws and HCC shifts.

How much disruption will this cause all the families.

An equity study.

Have you done best practice advanced learning equity analysis looking at other districts within the state and throughout the United States to understand if this will have the desired impact and what are those correlated costs to do that.

We have a great case study for example in North Shore.

To see how a cohort model can still be supported while increasing racial equity.

They are actually expanding their program with a keen focus on access including testing that is more language agnostic and cultural neutral.

They are not blowing up their program.

Principal support.

Do you have principal support which would absolutely be critical in ensuring the localized programs are successful.

And as importantly how do you ensure consistency across each of these schools if you don't have universal support and implementation.

I'm also concerned about the lack of engagement with HCC community on this critical decision before dismantling the cohort.

There's an equity issue with HCC kids who have distinct needs particularly social emotional needs that frequently haven't been met at their local neighborhood school.

Please vote no on this resolution until the two diligence can be completed and shared with the public.

We need a thoughtful and comprehensive plan that will be in the best interest of all students in the district.

Thank you for your consideration.

I really appreciate your public service and your dedication to all of our children.

James.

After James we will have Brad Halverson followed by Julie Gregg and David Shepherd.

I'm James Wagger I plan to cede to Prince Montgomery and sit this out but she got a spot.

The FV 4.3 boundary map as amended addresses the concerns of our Magnolia community and I hope you vote for it.

I'm here to talk about decentralizing HC.

We emailed all seven principals from the boundary task force and seven more we were surprised weren't on it seeking their thoughts on decentralization.

Many responded some poured their hearts out and one principal Howard from Garfield offered a Skype call.

My neighbor David Shepard and I spoke with him this morning.

I was surprised to learn that since Mike Riley died and Bob Bond retired the leader of the largest HC program in the district hasn't really heard from anyone in the advanced learning office in years.

If you want to fix HC in Seattle it would be wise to encourage a conversation with people like Principal Howard.

He showed that the district has strived for equity before by relaxing testing standards and the students with newfound access might have had the raw intellect but they lacked the foundational learning needed to succeed.

To fix HC in the city we must start at elementary and middle school.

So by the time HC caliber students reach high school they have what it takes to succeed.

The opportunity gap will persist so long as the focus remains on high school alone which this resolution is targeted at.

With just three paragraphs this resolution tears down one foundation that determines where all our children spend a majority of their time impacting where all students attend school and what those schools offer.

None of these three paragraphs obligate the district to ensure that the plan to build it back up will work.

Allowing this resolution to move forward without amendments defining that plan is fraught with peril.

Changes to HC aren't on the radar of most families and students.

If they're tuned in at all they're focused on high school boundaries.

It seems unnecessary and wrong to do this now without more engagement with all students and families and people like Principal Howard.

Everyone needs a moment to catch their breath.

I imagine a similarly scant number of paragraphs sold Queen Anne High School without a contingency plan and that albatross still hangs around the neck of this district years later.

Please don't let this resolution become something like the sale of Queen Anne High School.

I urge you to amend it and make sure it works.

We agree with the intent but please make sure it works.

Thank you.

I'm Brad Halverson and I cede my time to Brad Sand.

Good evening directors.

My name is Brad Sand.

I'm a SPS parent of three.

I live right across from the almost renovated Loyal Heights Elementary School on 80th.

Give you a progress report.

It looks great.

It's much larger.

It'll be interesting to see what happens when that building opens.

My time in this process hasn't been as extensive as some but I have taken the time to come to some of the work sessions both the task force boundary task force that was created as well as the board work session that happened most recently.

And what I've learned in that process is that this is not an easy decision with the boundaries and we're in a period of hyper growth in Seattle.

And as you look especially in the North Seattle areas you see challenges really across the board.

And as I sit and I look at it and I look at our communities as they exist today.

We're really north south oriented when it comes to the north schools.

I think that the boundary map that staff has worked so hard of hard on Director Herndon Ashley Davies some of the people who I've seen putting out a ton of time and obviously you as directors.

I think it's getting as close as it's getting much closer to where we want to be and need to be.

I would say though and you're hearing testimony I think from people in the Loyal Heights neighborhood tonight that when you are north oriented It does make a real big challenge to get to school not only for high school level but if the way they are situated now they're situated in a cohort where all of Ballard is going to Whitman from Adams all the way up through Loyal Heights and that group in that community is very strong.

I see it every day.

So I would urge you to consider 4.3 with a minor edit and that is keeping the north the northern group together if you can.

I tried to walk the Lincoln path from my friends in Greenwood and Finney and while I understand their challenges it is walkable.

It is doable and it's a much safer commute for them to get to high school.

Thank you.

Next up after Julie we will have David Shepherd followed by Emily Cosette and Renee Remlin.

Hello I am Julie Gregg.

I'm here tonight to ask that you keep West Phinney families at Ballard High School.

I was born and raised in Seattle.

I spent my professional life working in and around the bicycle industry and advocating for bicycle infrastructure like safe routes to school.

I sat on the board of Washington Bikes and have supported interests in Olympia and D.C.

to make Washington the most bicycle friendly state in the nation for many years running.

I have discussed with our governor the importance of and his strong support for safe routes to school.

Biking and walking is not simply a convenience.

It is an ideal that is valued at our highest levels of state government.

The board will vote tonight to approve additional cycling and pedestrian programming in our schools increasing the district's investment from 240,000 per year to nearly 340,000 per year.

This program is a partnership with the politically powerful Cascade Bicycle Club which is the largest bicycle club in the country.

The program teaches kids how to identify and utilize safe routes for walking and biking.

Why would you choose to educate educate and equip kids to navigate safe routes to school only to put them on buses instead of optimizing your and our investment.

The West Finney neighborhood has always mapped to Ballard High School.

My family lives on the same street as Ballard High making it a quick 10 minute walk or five minute bike ride to school.

Conversely Lincoln High School is one or two buses away depending on where you live.

Lincoln is not reasonably walkable and it is a dangerous bike ride from our neighborhood with geographical and arterial barriers.

The bus commute can take up to an hour depending on connections and capacity.

Even worse kids with afterschool commitments may be forced to drive.

The Lincoln neighborhood has already loudly objected to increase vehicle traffic and parking pressure.

Trading walking and biking kids for kids and cars is not a sound environmental choice and does not align with district goals.

I strongly urge you to keep our kids at Ballard High School thereby maintaining safe walk and bike zones decreased transportation time and aligning programs with goals all while minimizing the negative impact to our families and communities.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Our group Magnolia for BHS has reached out to principals throughout the Seattle Public Schools and asked for their thoughts on the proposal to decentralize HC services.

Excuse me could you state your name for the record please.

Thank you so much.

So the principals that we reached out to have raised critical critical concerns and noted that there has been almost no outreach to them regarding this proposal.

Principal Howard of Garfield shared with us some of the many lessons they have learned at Garfield about how to design a successful curriculum for HC students.

He shared his thoughts on how to improve racial equity in the program and on failed attempts in the past to address this issue.

Principal Howard is perhaps our city's leading expert on HC services.

How can it be that he has not been included in this critical decision on whether to dismantle and localize the program.

The current proposal is extremely short on details and will likely set us on a path to a very limited version of HC services at each individual school.

As a result this proposal is tantamount to the dismantling of the HC program.

The proposal will not be cost effective because some schools lack the critical mass needed to best serve our students.

Note that there are two high schools with fewer than 45 HC eligible students in their attendance areas.

This proposal will not improve diversity in our high schools.

It will lock students into their neighborhood schools resulting in less diversity.

Improving diversity in advanced learning requires early identification of kids with advanced learning potential and a commitment to prepare them for success in AP classes in high school.

Our high school leaders are already facing dramatic changes with the revised attendance areas the 24 credit requirement and science realignments.

This HC proposal will introduce another huge challenge requiring each principal to build up HC services at his or her school.

Additionally it will send hundreds of kids back to their neighborhood schools forcing another redrawing of the high school boundaries.

In conclusion I would encourage the board to ease your foot off the gas.

Slow down and adopt a collaborative approach.

Engage with the community.

Engage with HC parents and students and engage with your principals.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Emily Cassette and I'm a senior at West Seattle High School.

I want to give my testimony on HC pathways and high school boundaries.

I'm taking three AP classes this year and one observation that I've noticed is the racial imbalance in my classes.

I'm not an HC student but I understand that those classrooms are facing the same imbalance.

There's a handful of possible solutions to increase diversity in this cohort.

I agree with the racial equity and HCC group and their solution to advocate for increasing the number of schools that serve HCC students.

Localizing highly capable services in high school will help to grow and encourage diversity in this advanced learning program for a few reasons.

One it will increase access for the families that can't reach Garfield and two it will help develop community awareness of HCC.

The lack of awareness is especially apparent in lower income neighborhoods.

I wasn't aware of HCC until this past year.

The proposition to define the boundaries while serving HC students at their local high schools will surely help to grow that exposure.

Making the services less elite and allowing for a larger group of students to be accepted will help with the diversity as well.

And finally another influence on the racial divide is that a lot of families don't know about the appeal process.

Private appeals can cost upwards of 300 to 600 dollars and that can create a financial barrier for people of lower and middle income.

Making families of all backgrounds more aware of the option to appeal will help increase equity.

And expanding options and access for AP classes benefits all students like me not just those identified as HC eligible.

So on a closing note my goal here wasn't wasn't to influence the board into thinking there's one definitive answer to this complex situation but rather to drill in the racial equity aspect of this conversation and remind the board that increasing the voices from underrepresented communities should be at the forefront of any new decisions made in the next few weeks.

Thank you.

After Renee we have Natalie Ward followed by Eric Blumhagen and Lisa Melozyer.

Hello.

Sorry.

My name is Renee Remlinger-T.

Thank you for hearing us today.

I'm here to talk about the disbanding of highly capable pathways and providing advanced learning to more students across the district.

While I support the intention of the resolution to create more equity and advanced classes in high school I'm testifying because I haven't seen evidence showing that this plan will achieve your goal to actually increase equity.

Most people support and want kids to have access to advanced learning.

However the resolution lacks a plan for funding and logistics.

I'm here to ask you to come up with an alternative plan that is responsible and realistic and based on due diligence not emotions.

I think all of us and families across the district have the emotions covered and we really look to you as our representatives to make fact based decisions.

Many of us out here are wondering where's the data to support the resolution.

How do you know that undoing HC pathways is the way to lead to increased equity.

Who has done the due diligence.

Who's determined that the cost to decentralize and advance classes is is feasible and that it's logistically feasible for capacity in class schedules to accommodate all the kids who deserve access to the advanced classes.

When the highly capable kids are returning to their already crowded high schools.

Have you seen evidence that this resolution is based on data not only good intentions and emotions around this lightning rod topic of equity.

In addition there are some severe unintended consequences to dissolving the pathways the board needs to consider.

One is ensuring that Lincoln's opening is successful and the students you expect to go there actually show up.

I'm a future Ballard High School parent with two kids in HCC and wherever my kids go to school we are fully in and committed.

But if they're only going there for a year or a couple of years we're going to make another choice where we have continuity and we know our investments going to pay off.

Thank you.

Hi I'm Natalie Ward a parent a former Seattle Public Educator and a Loyal Heights PTA president.

I'm here to encourage the board to follow and maintain elementary feeder patterns when drawing high school boundaries in this case specifically allowing Loyal Heights Elementary students to all attend Ballard High School.

At the last board meeting I cited educational research supporting the impact of neighborhood schools on academic success.

Today I want to reemphasize this point.

Research citing in part from the Brookings Institute indicates public schools are one of the most important shared institutions of a neighborhood.

It indicates that attending a neighborhood school improves learning outcomes.

In part this is the result of the depth of community that is built when kids go to school where they live.

That community makes kids feel known and safe.

Two things which can impact far more than just learning.

As a personal anecdote of this two decades ago I graduated from a high school that followed feeder patterns.

By the time we graduated many many of us had gone to school together our entire lives.

Last year one of our classmates fell to his death from the Bronco Stadium in Denver.

His death left another classmate widowed and all five of their children fatherless.

Despite being spread across the nation and despite a 20 year time lapse the community of our school came back together in the wake of the tragedy to support that family.

Physically financially emotionally and spiritually.

I tell you this as an example of the lifelong community that can be built inside of neighborhood schools when feeder patterns are respected.

And I urge you to maintain feeder patterns into Ballard High School as well.

Both empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that this is what is best for kids their learning and their lifelong communities.

And in addition I believe that this is possible if the board does not fully decentralize HCC at this time but follows a slower plan has been as others have so eloquently stated.

Thank you for your time.

Hello my name is Eric Blumhagen and I appreciate this opportunity to speak with you.

I admit I have an agenda for HC students at every grade level.

I want for them for what I want for my own children.

A progression of college prep coursework through high school school administrations that are flexible enough to meet students needs and diverse classrooms.

Funny thing that list I want for HC students is exactly what I want for every student in the district.

This shouldn't be that controversial.

In principle I like the decentralization plan.

In the long run I think it will serve most students well.

However we also have to think about the transition and implementation.

I worry about that when I've heard a principal say I don't want HC students in my school.

I would like you to amend the resolution to commit to a few basic principles.

Number one every student at every school receives a full schedule of classes that prepare them for college career and life.

Number two flexibility at every school so that students do not have to repeat classes they've passed.

Number three if these commitments are not met then HC students will not be decentralized into that school.

You'll notice that number one and number two apply to all students not just HC.

I'm not asking for special favors.

I think every student needs those services.

I ask for number three because if a student can't if school can't meet the first two challenges they don't have the bandwidth to add more complexity.

I'm sure every one of you believes that those first two requests will be fulfilled.

After all that would just be the school district doing its job to educate students.

In theory there is no need to write it down.

As one of my friends said the difference between theory and practice is that there's no difference in theory.

In practice verbal promises are the first things to go when times are hard.

A written commitment allows the community to hold the staff and board accountable.

Thank you for your time and service.

Hey I'm Lisa Melanizer.

Nice to see you all.

I am I have a kid at Ingram and I have a kid in eighth grader at Robert Eagle Staff this year and I work at Hamilton as a fiscal specialist.

So I'm a longtime district watcher.

I have two concerns with Proposition 10 and that is I'm going to say first I am concerned that it's not going to achieve our racial equity goal.

That's not going to be.

There and number two I am concerned that passing this proposition guarantees us disruption and stress and lack of predictability all over the school district in a couple of years but especially in the north end.

So number one I feel like the resolution is so vague about how this equitable localized distribution of services will be achieved because it's really an invitation to make a plan.

You know looking at I was looking at the allocations for this year for all the schools the high schools and we know the district does not provide funding for the IB programs at Chief South or at Ingram if I'm correct.

And I know there was an issue with Rainier Beach that I'm not sure what the deal is this year but I know last year it was a the district was only funding maybe a third of it.

So and I'm looking at it the way provide one teaching position at Garfield in support of the advanced learning program.

And the reason that we can do that is because we have a critical mass of kids at Garfield who want to take those AP courses and the AP courses fit in their schedule and therefore you don't have to do a lot of mitigation.

Once you dissolve that critical mass and send those kids to all the different schools now you've got a problem because you're funding on the basis.

Well you all know you're funding on the basis of the Per student and you don't have you know are we going to be able to afford a seminar size classes in AP calculus AB and so forth at the different schools.

I guess what I'd like to see is we have not done a great job as a district in putting our money where our mouth is in terms of supporting advanced learning.

And if you're going to pass this resolution tonight I really hope that you are ready to commit right now to significant and continuing mitigation funding In support of equitable advanced learning offerings at all the schools so that the schools that are in the south end don't get stiff to basically with and not have an equitable offering.

Second thing I want to say is that I live in Ballard.

I think people are not aware that the potential for this passage of this resolution is going to create boundary waves and that they are going to be in to back to talking about where is the boundary for Ballard High School in two years.

And I think people would be very upset if they realized that we're just putting this issue to bed right now and we'll be back right at it in two years.

You have looking at the heat maps you have huge numbers of kids that would be rejoining those neighborhood schools and it's going to cause a lot of stress.

So.

What I'd like you to do is not commit us the whole district to another redraw right now in two years until you have data that justifies the need and until we know that this can be done equitably and well.

I think sometimes in this district we let our aspirational goals lead the way.

Please conclude your remarks.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up the public testimony we have Paula Montgomery followed by Lynn Anderson and Joshua Moore.

Hello.

I'm Paula Montgomery.

I'm joined here with Phyllis Campano of SEA as well as Jeff Clark of Denny Middle School.

We are going to split our time.

I'm here today as the president of the Principal's Association of Seattle Public Schools.

I want to just encourage the board to read my letter that I sent you this afternoon regarding the Principal's Association's position On our superintendent search process and timelines.

We are greatly concerned as principals and teachers in Seattle Public Schools about authentic engagement in this process.

Increasingly we are also concerned about the recent survey that listed up to 30 qualities that we're looking for in a new superintendent for Seattle Public Schools and only one of them made partial reference to the core work of our time which is eliminating opportunity gaps.

And there was no mention of instructional leadership.

We encouraged the board to take a hard look at continuing the stability of our district leadership and allow us to continue with our current progress.

Good evening Jeff Clark principal Denny International Middle School.

I also have a comment for you based on feedback from the entire principal core related to highly capable pathways for high school.

For many reasons linked to the core values of our district that North Star facing equity and gap elimination is an imperative that all attendance area high schools provide HC access.

If there is a transition time of two years before this is fully actualized why are Chief Sealth and Rainier Beach Both accredited IB schools and both serving a vast majority of students of color not included on the pathway list now.

There is an obvious racial injustice in leaving these two schools off the list ready to be guaranteed pathways now.

They are accredited by IB International.

The staff has worked incredibly hard to have robust offerings there.

Not including them would be unacceptable to us.

Thank you for your time.

Good evening.

My name is Lynn Anderson and my daughter is a freshman at Ballard High School.

I originally became involved in a neighborhood group in Magnolia to ensure our students who will be juniors at the time of Lincoln's opening that they would be grandfathered at their current school.

We've made great strides these last few weeks and we appreciate both the work of the high school boundary task force And the thoroughness of the school board in requiring staff to fine tune the proposed boundaries for 2019. Map F version 4.3 is an acceptable compromise.

I do however have concerns regarding this resolution number 10. During the fall of 2017 we have been collectively focused on the redrawing of the high school boundaries and I respectfully disagree that extensive community engagement about advanced coursework programming at the high school level has been conducted to the extent necessary to eliminate the HC pathways in 2021. I acknowledge the concerns around equity but trying to address the inequity at the high school level is not getting to the root of the problem and a holistic review of the entire HC program beginning with student initial identification is required.

A particular concern is the language in the resolution regarding adjustments to high school boundaries to implement the localized assignment model for school year 2021. After all this recent work it would be a disservice to the students and families in our district to discard the 2019 boundaries after just two years.

Yes we are in a state of growth and change but some stability and consistency is also required to help high school students create their body of work and to prepare for college and careers beyond.

At this time I ask the board reject this resolution 10 until an in-depth analysis of HC and other specialized learning programs can be completed.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Thank you for having me.

My name is Joshua Moore.

I'm a parent of two children in the Seattle school system.

I'm also an educator with 20 years of experience and a member of the Seattle Public Schools HCC advisory board though I'm speaking as an individual tonight.

While I share frustration and anger at the current inequity of the HCC program it seems short sighted to me to end it at the high school at this time.

It also doesn't address the problem of ensuring quality education for each and every child who goes through Seattle schools which I know is our goal here.

Instead it simply removes one way that SPS already does that.

Every group of students comes with unique challenges especially in social and emotional learning as well as unique academic needs.

HC students are no different.

As a parent of a child who has been identified as both highly capable and is in need of special services due to concurrent learning disabilities.

Sometimes referred to as twice exceptional.

I can testify to the important role educators with a background in and training in teaching highly capable children has made in his learning.

For the last four years he attended his pathway school and while he received special services through localized advanced learning opportunities he struggled with schooling.

Especially in the realm of his social and emotional learning needs.

His unique needs were sometimes construed as behavioral problems and he struggled with his identity as a learner.

Each year I could see the creeping dread and his growing belief that he simply was not a good student or learner.

However after transferring to Cascadia this year and being placed in a setting that was designed to support him and encourage his unique needs he is thriving and I am seeing the fire of learning lit in him again.

I believe that being taught by and surrounded by professionals who understand the unique needs of highly capable students has made all of the difference.

I urge you to vote no on 2017 dash 10 resolution or table it until further investigation has been done.

Thank you for your time.

And next up we have Brian Terry followed by Sean Riddiger.

Brian.

Sean followed by Sean we'll have Jennifer Rose.

Good evening.

My name is Sean Rediger and I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight.

I have two daughters who have attended Seattle Public Schools over the last nine years.

They are currently enrolled at Catherine Blaine and Magnolia in both eighth and sixth grades.

I want to thank you for your efforts on the boundary issues.

I know it's been a really difficult and long process.

Previously my husband Mike and I emailed the board with concerns about various versions of the maps being considered and the version F 4.3 boundary map addresses our concerns and I hope you vote for it.

Tonight I want to address the issue of decentralizing HC pathways.

Surprisingly such a major change is being brought forth by a short resolution short in length short in detail and short in the consultation and community involvement on which it claims to be based.

A careful review of the community engagement summary shows there was no consultation or involvement with respect to the specific issue of HC pathways and the possible decentralization.

What is discussed is advanced coursework.

Both my daughters are smart strong students who have chosen not to pursue the HC pathway route for various reasons.

We still however expect they will have access to advanced coursework in whatever high school they attend.

Many concerns have been raised by various speakers with the current resolution and I echo a lot of these concerns.

How will this resolution cause the school boundaries to shift for all students in two years.

Does the current map consider the implications of moving to a decentralized HC pathway.

I believe there will be serious unintended consequences for all students both HC and non HC designated if the district moves to a decentralized model.

Has the district studied cost projections and is there funding to implement a decentralized program.

Are there new funds or will schools be expected to divert funds away from all students to support the program.

This raises different concerns about student equity.

Bottom line I think there's more work for the board to do.

And the district needs a plan before you can make such a major change.

So I suggest the district engage the entire community including HC families to study decentralization.

Why rush the process.

Thanks again for all your hard work on the issue.

Jennifer.

Kyrsta English.

Hello my name is Kirsta English and I am a parent of two children attending Seattle Public Schools.

My son Leith is a third grader at Cascadia Elementary.

My daughter Annika is a first grader at Coe.

They're both bright and intelligent children and I've personally watched my child Leith go from advanced learning at Coe to HCC at Cascadia with great success.

I've heard people talking tonight about analysis and numbers and I just want to tell you a little bit about his personal experience in the classroom.

He's gone from saying mom I know it all except for when I'm in advanced math and advanced reading and the other four hours.

What do I do?

I help other children.

Now he's pushing himself.

He made the choice to switch schools and he's every day saying I learned this.

I learned that we went really deep with this science topic.

He's so excited.

And to see that excitement and realize that part of that is from critical mass.

He is sharing these really exciting topics with other children who are learning at his level and he's going deeper.

Over Christmas break we went to the flight museum because he's doing a report of his own choosing On supersonic flight.

So he's really driving himself to go further and he's a third grader.

What is he going to do at the high school level if this program is dismantled and and placed among all the schools.

I want to make sure that he's going to be supported to pursue his learning goals at that time.

And so I'd like to see more research and information about if you guys can actually Financially support the program if there's going to be that critical mass and if he can achieve his learning goals that he's he's a nine year old.

I mean when he's 18 he's going to have goals that are much larger.

So I really just want to see that information and that analysis done before this resolution is passed.

So thank you for your service.

I appreciate your effort on behalf of our children.

This concludes the signup list for public testimony this evening.

Thank you.

Okay.

We will continue with board comments.

Who's up next.

Director DeWolf please.

Thank you.

Thank you director Harris.

I think this is kind of low if we turn that up a little bit.

Thank you.

I just wanted to again elevate because I don't know if a lot of folks were here but I'm really grateful for the.

College Success Foundation really grateful for the work that they've done here in the district.

But I also want to draw special attention to the orchestra from Robert Eagle Staff Middle School that was here and I'm not sure again if a lot of folks were here in the room.

But I was actually crying because it was really beautiful and I think a real testament to the hard work of those students.

I remember being in fourth grade and starting violin myself and I wanted to quit after two weeks and my mom said you have to you can't quit.

So I really appreciate their dedication and it was incredible to be able to watch them for two songs particularly given we are bookended by Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday and we're about to head into Black History Month and Black Lives Matter week of action here in February.

Really was grateful for them to draw attention to the Underground Railroad and obviously the trap the travesty and injustice there.

Want to give a special shout out to the parents from Meany Middle School was really really grateful to attend last night's PTSA meeting.

Really had some tough questions.

Certainly got a grilling but was grateful that at the end they still gave me high fives and also my very first So really grateful to the meeting middle school and the mountain lions there.

Try to keep that as much as I can.

And then I'm going to be starting community meetings beginning in March.

I've been dedicating the next just couple of months.

I just we just started on November 28th.

So I've been just dedicating time right now to meeting with our executive directors and leadership at schools and then we'll begin community meetings in March.

So keep a look out on those.

And that's all I have.

Thank you.

Next up volunteers.

Director Mack.

Good evening.

I echo Director DeWolf's comments around the orchestra.

It was amazing.

Amazing.

And it's particularly amazing that the school just started up and I know how much effort the parents and the teachers did to to support that amazing music talent and amazing.

I want to say I'm really grateful for all of the engagement.

There's a lot of emails.

I am reading them.

There's a lot of them.

There's a lot of them and there's really a lot of them.

But I must say that there's a lot of really great comments that folks are making.

They're bringing up points that oh I hadn't thought of that and I just I really appreciate the engagement and keep it up even if you don't hear back from me.

I'm trying to figure out my strategy for how I'm going to respond which hopefully I can figure out soon as soon as I figure out how to deal with all the paperwork I've got coming in too.

I had my first community meeting this week.

I was really grateful for all the folks that turned out ask great questions.

I will be scheduling the next one soon but I don't have it scheduled.

As Dr. Nyland already mentioned Director Geary myself and some cabinet level staff were down at Olympia early this morning up at five.

Drove to Olympia had a great meeting with the Seattle delegation.

I'm really grateful for the work that they're putting in this year.

I can't remember the exact number of who was there but we have seven legislative districts that Seattle Public Schools crosses over.

And I think we had well over 70 percent of the legislators in the room with us this morning.

So I'm excited about that that they're supporting Seattle Public Schools particularly around capital funding.

We didn't pass a capital budget last year and hopefully we can get that done soon.

And.

Let's see what else.

We'll be talking about boundaries and pathways and so forth when those items come up.

So I'm going to leave those conversations till later.

And Director Harris asked for committee reports which I wasn't aware of before we got up here.

I'm the new chair of operations.

I can report that something like 80 percent of what's on the agenda tonight has gone through ops.

So operations has a lot of work happening.

Dr Herndon and I are meeting this coming week to actually set the work plan.

We have a really packed year with the partnership agreement between the city and the district around future planning.

For school facilities we have a facilities master plan to create.

We have VEX 5. We have more new buildings opening which is absolutely amazing that our facility staff bring these buildings on time on budget and they're gorgeous.

If you aren't in one of the newer buildings So we have a lot coming up and I'm excited about it.

And I am grateful for your engagement.

And that's my committee report.

Thank you.

Director Pinkham.

Thank you and good evening.

First just want to give a shout out to the Robert Eagle Staff Middle School Orchestra.

The fantastic performance and for me I was just just amazed.

These are just not just these are middle school students.

Some said they've been playing for up to 10 years some five months and they all sounded great and I appreciate just being able to hear each instrument.

Because I tried out in band in my years and all I did I played the trumpet I just moved my fingers.

I didn't even blow the trumpet.

So but again shout out to the instructor and Marnie Campbell was here earlier and just want to say appreciation to the school that they've done for just opening this year and the accomplishments they made.

Also College Success Foundation thank you for all the work that you do for our students and the student from Garfield that shared his experience of how that had supported him through the years.

And to my fellow board members congratulations.

Hopefully you'll go home and put this on your desk or something and have the resolution on the back to look at.

Thank you Superintendent Eindlin for that.

Unified sports their presentation earlier and for bringing them forward and let them share their story and also hopefully to remind people that the Special Olympics is coming to Seattle this summer and please sign up to volunteer and it's online you can go there Special Olympics it's at the University of Washington campus but it's actually a That's kind of where the main festivities is being held but then throughout the area from federal way I think all the way it's efforts holding some events.

So please sign up to volunteer and help them out.

Maple Leaf families they reached out to the board and asked for a meeting and myself and Director Burke were able to meet with them.

I want to thank them for the input and discussion about the boundaries and thank all the speakers tonight.

Boundaries HCC coming up and sharing your stories.

You know we see the emails and we go through the emails you know Director Mack read each and every email but coming here and presenting and sharing the stories.

And particularly I appreciate the students coming and sharing their stories and perspectives about what they see because that's who we're here to serve our students and make sure that they get through our schools college ready and career ready when they're done that they can see themselves as future contributors to our society and not just as a pawn that we're moving around back and forth but we are meeting their needs and Hopefully I'm being able to help accomplish that as a board director that listen to the student and community voice.

And also thank you to principal Montgomery and the SCA Phyllis.

Blanket on the name.

Sorry for coming here and sharing their views and perspectives as well getting really appreciated.

Also want to give a shout out I don't know if he's going to be watching tonight but to Adrian I saw him at Hazel Wolf K through 8 the other day when I was there to meet with the principal.

He was a student there he just dropped by he heard that a Board member was at their school and so he had to stop by and say hi despite the principal saying OK I got a board member back there.

Don't go back there.

It's the first thing he did.

I got to go back and see the board member.

So it was a pleasure to meet you Andrew.

Sorry got his name wrong.

I'll say my comments as we go through the agenda as far as HCC and the high school boundaries.

And see last but not least I will have a community meeting this Saturday at Lake City library and I'll be from 10 30 to noon so hopefully you can make it.

And I guess I am the chair of audit and finance so you're looking for an update for me as well.

Audit and finance.

This is actually a new venture for me.

I was on C&I and operations previous years and actually my two newbies are also here.

Zachary and Director DeWolf and Director Mack are two newbies to Audit and finance as well.

So I think we're bringing a new perspective to hopefully work with Audit and finance.

Right now really concentrate on the finance portion because we've got to come up with our budget for next year get that approved and we've had a couple of work sessions on that.

And as I'm getting more familiar with the process that goes goes on with audit and finance I still have to yet have my regular meetings with Joellen Berge and Andrew Medina on getting things going here.

So again as a new beyond it it's just been a few of them so I'm still getting my feel of how to go here.

But when I first joined the board one of the things I actually mentioned that audit and finance would be a good thing that I felt I can be on because some of the issues that I went through as a community member I want to see if I can help direct as far as how quickly we're able to respond to community concerns that are going on and that gets brought up with the audit portion of the office here.

And so hopefully working forward we can expedite some of these things that our public are feeling.

Hey how come I haven't heard anything.

What's going on.

And as I'm learning there's some things that we can share some things that we cannot share and it's all in the interest of our students in our communities.

So that's my update.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Patu please.

First I would like to say thank you to everyone who actually have come tonight and share with us your thoughts and sometime your ideas.

I appreciate it because it always help us or help me to actually to realize whether I'm going in the right direction or not.

And if I'm not using your you know when you come and tell us certain things and help us to realize oh wait a minute we need to go this direction.

So thank you for your comments tonight.

Also I would like to.

Say thank you to the College Success Foundation for all your work that you continue on to do for our students.

Your work has been recognized because of the many students that have graduated from college with their degrees and actually continue on with their professional life.

So I want to say thank you to that amazing orchestra from Eagle Staff Middle School They did an amazing job.

It sounded like they were professionals already and it's amazing to hear middle school students actually playing so professionally as this group did tonight.

And also I would like to say to as I Continue on to make my visit this next couple of weeks.

It's actually wonderful to know that each schools are actually doing a great job and really doing very many having many success with a lot of our students in the various schools.

And I think as a board director it's important that we visit our schools And actually to see what kind of support that we can actually give to our teachers and our staff and our principal in terms as board directors.

I feel like that's my job is to actually to be able to go down to the schools and just see what is it I can do to help make things better.

So I just want to say to all the principals and staff in the southeast continue the good work that you're doing seeing great success and continue to provide support hopefully to extend the great work that you continue to do.

And also wanted to to also to say to the all the board directors here that Keep going on and hopefully to continue to see success within our kids.

I know sometimes is as a longtime board director is it's hard to see that from far distant.

You know when you're trying to make progress in areas that you really want to see progress take place.

But at the same time it's just a matter of continuing on to see the positive and continue to give support where it's needed.

And thank you for coming tonight.

Director Geary please.

Hello everybody.

Thank you for coming already.

I noticed that the crowd is diminishing because of course people need to get back to their families.

So well we are going to have a more in depth discussion and maybe people will be watching that.

I do want to just say a couple of things because one of the big things I hear is the plan the plan.

And yes this district does not have a good record of making plans.

And so I'm going to circle back to us having our committee heads At Dr. Harris's President Harris's instruction to talk about our plans.

What are the committee plans?

What are those calendars?

Our executive committee is going to be looking at those plans and seeing where the intersectionality is and seeing if we can start giving people more notice in advance on these topics that come up.

So we can plan because we are asked to make decisions all the time that are critical that feel rushed and emergent.

We spend millions of dollars on technology.

Where's the plan?

We've got to figure that out.

And so here's a resolution to make.

We're giving ourselves a big runway.

And we're going to do the work and it focuses us.

It makes us focus on making a plan and making sure that the engagement happens because yes the boundaries are going to continue to be pushed upon.

And yes it's probably not going to be set now for two years out.

They tried that in 2013 and what have we done every single year since.

We've been here about boundaries.

We can we can remediate that through things like grandfathering not to disrupt a student's education.

Can't promise it always for families.

And let's face it if what we have to do is open schools in order to adjust and relieve pressure.

There's no way to do that without adjusting boundaries.

It's just impossible.

We feel it and you've heard you've heard how one three blocks here affects the neighborhood here affects a walkway a pathway.

These are your neighbors.

So let's move back to the question about HCC.

These are these are your neighbors.

They live around your neighborhood school.

They're you know to the extent that they should have a place in their neighborhood school.

I believe that to be you look at the heat maps at least in our transition plan there will be robust cohorts.

There are lots of these kids over these schools.

And they're the neighbors.

So it's not like they're a group of kids that doesn't belong.

If anything by funneling into schools we've diminished the cohorts that should and could exist in the neighborhood schools by opening to cater.

We reduce the cohorts.

In Bryant and View Ridge and Sandpoint and Laurelhurst and those schools historically have been very able to address the needs of the HCC populations.

I have one.

I have a twice exceptional HCC student who didn't go in till middle school went to Washington went to Lincoln went to Hamilton and was the initiating initiating class of IBX.

Was there a plan?

No.

Is he doing really well?

Yes he is.

So remember that you play a role in making sure that your kids do really well through all these transitions and remind them that they have a great future that you're supporting and they're getting the fundamentals to get there.

So the other big problem about the plan is that we all recognize that there's great underrepresentation of groups of people.

And so to make a plan on a reality of now with a huge unknown without taking some drastic steps to reduce that unknown is impossible.

That's all theoretical.

And we heard about theories and how how perfect they are.

And so what we have to do is we have to get in there and we have to really start talking with the people who live around the schools where the underrepresented people live.

And we need to hear from them what a highly capable education looks like because there are cultural boundaries in the way we have structured HCC.

And if you look at Bellevue's program they have disproportionate representation with different races.

And so we have to be careful that we are making sure that we are creating highly capable programs to serve our gifted colors in all different kinds of demographics.

And we do that work carefully and we're giving ourselves a runway.

But I don't think maintaining the status quo without a big shakeup is going to get us anywhere different.

So I hear you and I hear that it's hard and it's scary and I want us to be careful about that.

And I'm going to go back then to Robert Eagle Staff and the band.

And I'm sure all sorts of people who've been investing in music were very concerned about being moved out of traditional music pathways and what was going to happen.

What would they get.

And you can see and we got to see tonight.

What do you get when you have a group of people who are dedicated around making sure that their children are well served and the children have the passion to do the work you will get in a brand new school a band that plays beautiful music together.

So have faith come to the table.

We have a few years to work on this.

Be part of the plan.

When are you going to be part of the plan if we don't have a real dedication to make this plan.

This is the equivalent of making this a SMART goal which I brought up I think last year and said the only way we're going to do this work is with the SMART goal.

So now we have really what appears to be a SMART goal around this and we have to plan it out and we have to make it accessible and we have to make it serve the needs of your students.

And all the students there's lots of really bright students that will benefit from the presence of your students even though they for whatever reason didn't test into the program.

So welcome their perspective their energy and their gifts into your children's lives.

And we will do everything we can to make this a smooth transition if this passes.

But it's going to be a transition no matter what because we have to change it.

It has to change.

So thank you again for coming.

Oh and community meetings I continue to hold my Tuesday morning community meetings at Zoka cafe just very informal getting together from 8 to 9 30 check Facebook to make sure I'm there in case you know the flu has popped up and then I will have a February meeting but I can't find the date in place right now but it'll be posted online.

Thank you.

Director Burke you had additional comments after public testimony sir.

Yeah I just want to put a couple of quick points out.

First of all thank you to everyone who has emailed us who came and provided testimony.

It does provide an amazing level of insight.

So many of our decisions are broad decisions that have really individualized impact and I think this conversation around boundaries and pathways is truly a Shining example of that so community engagement is really hard.

If you know we we have to be cognizant of we putting out a general request or we putting out a specific request because the feedback looks different when we put something out general like the thought exchange survey versus something specific like this resolution.

There's a different expectation from the board and the staff and there's a different response from the public and so we have to be really deliberate about that.

When we put out something specific and we get feedback and we we apply it.

What looks like feedback and improvement to one group is a left turn for another group.

So I think it's really you know we have to all come together as a community and recognize that we are trying to put the best foot forward.

And apologize profusely to those that feel like we're pulling the rug out from under them with things that seem last minute but they are part of systemic improvement.

Around the I'm going to make a couple of comments on boundaries and pathways because I have an event That's going on this week.

Unfortunately that's in Boston.

And so I'm traveling there tonight and my flight is actually at nine.

I thought it was later.

So I apologize on that.

So I'm going to I'm going to cover a couple of things here real quick.

No no no no no walk on it's all walk on.

So I'm hearing broad agreement with the aspirational goal of localizing and being able to serve students there.

I mean there's there's there's nuances around it.

So it's almost not a question of if it's a question of how and that brings us to the goal.

Do we do a goal?

Do we do a plan?

Do we do them together?

And I mentioned before the CNI committee we're committed this year to working on that plan.

Clarity of outcomes clarity of plan budget implications specificity around what that looks like at high school level.

The I also want to be really clear that the model for for highly capable can be different at K-8 versus high school.

Recognize that high school is driven by the master schedule and what courses students take in.

So an eighth grade cohort that looks like a cohort when they go to high school depending on the class selection and individual student choices can can no longer be a cohort in some cases.

So that's part of the analysis is understanding how we really optimize the flexibility that comes with high school to allow any student To take any challenge in class that they're willing to and capable of doing and encouraging them to do so regardless of what their you know what sort of identification they might have.

And then finally this is a personal belief and I put this out there so that people can can correct me if they feel I'm misstating.

But I don't believe that this resolution although it does have a very fairly intensive equity component I don't believe that this is going to impact our racial imbalance in our high school highly capable.

Yet.

I believe that what's driving that is our identification and our services in the earlier years.

So from my point of view I'm not looking to say wow we're going to do this and we're going to see a shift in our our imbalance at high school.

I'm seeing this as an opportunity to provide those services to all kids in all schools and then separately we need to take on identification services in K-8.

So that's where my brain is going and I'd love feedback on that particular theme.

On feedback I have a meeting Sunday January 21st 2 to 4 p.m.

at Fremont library.

So in between introduction and action hint hint if folks would like to talk about this Sunday January 21st is great.

Thank you so much.

OK last up.

I ditto all the comments.

For our community partners for those extraordinarily talented young people at Robert Eagle staff and props to their teacher and their principal that that was a beautiful thing and folks know my fantasy music every day for every kid and your math scores will go through the roof.

So any rich people out there.

Big check lots of commas.

Director DeWolf I want to put you on the spot and ask whether or not you all have enough folks for the homeless count and if not where do folks go to sign up and how many folks on the wall and on the dais plan on participating.

Well first of all President Harris profoundly grateful for you reminding me but also for bringing this up.

And the one area particularly for Seattle that we actually need a lot more help with are identifying guides.

So folks that are currently or formerly experienced homelessness are kind of really our priority here in Seattle.

Outside of that outside of Seattle where we get a Large preponderance of people that want to support us and volunteer with the all homes annual one night count.

Unfortunately outside of Seattle in the broader King County that's where we need a lot of support.

So if you live outside of King County excuse me outside of Seattle or if you have an interest and you're from Seattle and you'd like to support the count more broadly throughout the county that's actually where we need the most support.

And where you can go.

And where do you go.

Great questions.

This takes place next Friday morning.

I will be arriving at Renton where my deployment site is at about 1245 a.m.

But 1 a.m.

we start setting up for check in about 1 30 we'll start seeing folks and 2 a.m.

is when we.

Actually deploy out to Renton and it usually ends around 5 to 6 a.m.

We have two to three people on each team and particularly we if you'd like more information you can you can learn more at all home KC dot org.

We love volunteers.

So even like I said if you feel like you maybe aren't as excited about doing this just remember that this is a critical opportunity for us to count the number of unsheltered neighbors in our city.

And frankly one night from 1 a.m.

to 5 a.m.

in the cold is dwarfed by the fact that many of these folks live outside for years and years and years.

And so I urge you and thank you for bringing this up to please help support us by volunteering for the all home one night count next Friday.

Thank you President Harris.

Director Geary.

This does come with some initial training.

Director DeWolf probably doesn't need this training but tomorrow night is an opportunity at the university congressional church congregational church congressional church and that's at 7 p.m.

So if you are interested in participating in the count they ask that you go to a training and again tomorrow night at university congregational church at 7 p.m.

And those are also available online if you can't make it.

We make it as easy as we can for you to volunteer.

So allhomekc.org and thank you profoundly again.

I'm looking forward to it.

I feel like I read about it the next week and say ah I missed it again.

So OK.

For those of you all that need something to do with your evening tomorrow night.

Please consider attending the superintendent search town hall from 6 30 to 8 30 at Nova High School in the central district.

Ray and associates will be leading it.

Some of us are coming to listen and learn.

My community meeting is at 3 p.m.

on Saturday at West Seattle High School and you now have a 50 percent chance of getting lasagna depending on how much time I have on Friday.

West Seattle library downstairs large meeting room.

We do a good job of debate and discussion and pushing each other's assumptions.

And we still have a good time and you don't have to be from West Seattle to come see us.

And in fact Director DeWolf if you haven't done a community meeting you're more than welcome to come across the bridge if you're free.

I would love to.

Okay so there's that.

I heard a comment during public testimony that talked about the lack of private appeals for HCC for low income folks.

I don't believe that that's correct.

And I want to correct the record and ask them to go to the website that if someone is turned down on HCC eligibility And they are low income.

The district pays for the subsequent testing.

So that's an equity issue and we have made some progress.

Have we made enough?

Have we made it quickly enough?

I would not subscribe to that.

I think we have a long way to go.

Email email email engagement engagement engagement.

I think I broke the 400. Count on my emails and I do read every word.

I respond to some and I have extraordinarily rich conversations and I learn a great deal from folks that reach out.

So I cannot encourage you enough to do so.

Or to call me up for my seven o'clock in the morning office hours here.

You can do that through the board office.

And that makes it easier for those of us that are holding more than one job this one and the others.

And we'll make it work.

But again I want to emphasize what I did from my comments at the last board meeting.

Let's use a little grace here.

We've gotten yet another anonymous letter that with all due respect is libel and slander to hard working staff and it is unacceptable.

And whoever is pulling this kind of crap have the guts to come in from behind the shadows and work on a solution.

We're good smart people.

We can do that.

But please quit abusing our staff anonymously.

It is unacceptable and not appreciated.

We have way too much work to do and that helps none of the 40 excuse me 54,000 children entrusted in our care.

And if I sound upset it's because I am.

I will hold my comments back to boundaries and HCC for when we engage on that.

But a couple of things have happened recently that I think are pretty exciting.

Your executive committee myself Rick Burke Jill Geary deputy superintendent Nielsen superintendent Nyland.

We had the opportunity to spend Thursday evening together with a whole lot of big pieces of white paper.

And calendars and goal and backward mapping.

I don't want to be sitting here next year at this time and place talking about 24 credits and scheduling.

We're going to set deadlines.

We're going to backward map.

We're going to have the committees working together.

We're doing a good job of talking to each other.

We're doing a good job of respecting each other and that's what you hired us for.

Just don't throw rocks at our head when you disagree with us because we're doing the best we can with the tools that are available to us.

Again I hope I see a Saturday that would be after the option school fair at Asa Mercer.

That would be after the Women's March and that would be after the black educators.

So you can make your Saturday an education Saturday.

We're going to take a 15 minute break.

Thank you all for coming.

We see you.

We hear you.

We are listening and it's hugely appreciated.