Good morning everyone.
I would like to thank Councilmember Rink for introducing these amendments that are very grounded in this political moment which has very high stakes.
My name is Catherine Inchinose.
I am an organizer with Seattle Student Union and a member of the Keep Your Promise Coalition, which includes over 10 organizations.
Many of them are youth led.
This coalition was created because we recognized the urgent need to resource our schools with the supports that they will need to keep youth and families safe from the overreach of the federal government.
A federal government that has already begun attempts to force their way into schools to kidnap children.
And these are attempts that will not stop unless we put protections in place to stop them.
The students who I organize cannot be here this morning, nor at the other times for public input to the council on these amendments to the FEP levy, which all have been scheduled at the beginning of the school day when they are learning in schools.
But students are not silent on the need for restorative, non-punitive safety practices in schools, legal defense for migrant and refugee families, and far more accountability and transparent communications with students who, after all, have the most at stake in this.
I am speaking on behalf of these students in strong support of Amendments 1, 5, 7, and 8. In particular, Amendment 1, which provides guidance that schools should not use punitive practices that contribute to the school to prison pipeline, and by extension, the school to deportation pipeline that the Trump administration is trying to manufacture.
This amendment does not limit police officers from playing a role in keeping our schools safe, and it actually goes a long way to make their security job easier.
making sure that student discipline is firmly in the hands of school administrators and in families.
As we continue to envision a safety and security approach that serves every student, The school board will be taking input in the next month to inform their vote on the moratorium of SEOs stationed in schools.
And given the lack of input from youth in this body, we should look to that school board's engagement to get a better picture of the full safety and security setups that will work best for students.
And I'm grateful that this amendment is a strong first step to make sure that whatever those specifics are, it is ensured that they will not criminalize our students.
I am happy to hand it off to Tim Warden-Hertz with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, who are doing absolutely essential work right now.
Thank you.
Thank you, Catherine.
Good morning.
It's nice to be here with so many impressive leaders in our community.
I'm going to start by thanking Council Member Rink for introducing these amendments.
You know, as I think everyone knows, immigrant communities are under attack.
We see families separated while attending their court hearings just down the hill from here at the immigration court.
We see workers not coming home to their loved ones because of raids on their workplaces.
We see children who fled dangerous situations to find safety here face harassment at home by armed immigration officers under the guise of welfare checks.
These amendments offer the chance to offer support to Seattle students and their families in the face of these attacks.
Recently, the city council unanimously approved a resolution reconfirming Seattle's status as a welcoming city.
That was an important step.
And I'm confident that the council will again step up in the face of this moment and approve these amendments, recognizing that Seattle students and their families deserve the support so they can thrive as all of our students should thrive.
You know, a few months ago, I gave a Know Your Rights presentation at my son's school to immigrant parents.
and had to give the advice that they should make plans and create legal documents for what to do if they were detained and they couldn't come home, who would take care of their children.
And that reality, right, that people are planning who's taking care of their kids if they don't come home.
That's where our city needs to step up as a city that is welcoming and ensure that the support exists for families so that they can create the safety that they deserve so they can thrive in school and in their lives.
Thank you.
And with that, I hand it off to Lena Nguyen.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Lina, and I'm a restorative justice practitioner at the community organization WABLOC, which stands for Washington Building Leaders of Change.
I'm here to urge the council members to vote yes on the Amendment 7, investing in restorative practices.
Restorative practices is violence prevention.
In my four years of working in Seattle Public Schools, I have had the privilege of supporting young students in harnessing their anger, their frustration, their dreams and joys into powerful relationships with their peers at school using restorative practices.
This year has been a specific year of growth and student-led work, which has proactively shifted school cultures to be places of belonging and places with peer-to-peer accountability.
We have facilitated four cohorts of junior circle keepers in our partner elementary schools, which have equipped our fourth and fifth graders with the skills and opportunities to facilitate community building spaces for younger grade levels and have increased their emotional intelligence and emotional regulation skills.
Just this past Monday, I witnessed two student leaders keep circle spaces in a first grade classroom and saw the incredible joy that little students felt being held in space with their older students.
Even more so, it was more powerful to witness the empathy, patience, and the support first graders could hold for each other.
I saw students gently lean into each other, support students who struggled accessing circle, accessing verbal cues, and waited so patiently as others found words to do so.
All of this because their teachers believed in restorative practices and worked with us together to implement it.
Now imagine this across eight classrooms in one school and multiply this across three to four school partnerships.
This is just a snippet of the impact of one restorative practitioner's impact in our public school.
It is necessary for the foundation of safety and well-being for our young folks, and it demands this levy's continuous support and investment.
So I urge you all to please support us and to fund and believe in student safety through restorative practices.
Thank you all for centering the voices of young people into the narrative and an intentional thank you to Councilmember Rank for prioritizing the young people and community by calling for this conversation.
My name is Yuna and I'm a youth organizer for FEAST.
FEAST is a youth-led organization that trains students of color and working class youth to build collective power and organize for change in their schools.
We work in schools in the South End, and our students represent communities that are historically under-resourced and unsupported.
My role is to echo the unified voices of young people, their schools, and communities who have experienced the impact of this levy firsthand.
We believe the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy and Amendments 1, 5, 7, and 8 are a reflection of the values and priorities young people, especially youth of color, have been demanding for years.
FEAST's work and impact has been strengthened by these resources and so has the work and impact of many of our partner schools and organizations who share our values and priorities.
These dollars build stronger schools and stronger communities.
In 2020, we listened and we were led by students in Seattle Public Schools when they said that police presence in the halls was causing more harm than good.
We joined Wablock and Black Minds Matter to call for the removal of police officers, often called school resource officers from Seattle Public Schools, collecting over 20,000 signatures.
And we won.
This campaign wasn't just about removing harm, it was about building something better, real safety, community care, and healing.
And it is working.
These equity-driven investments are already improving outcomes for young people.
DIAL's 2022 FEP report highlights gains in academic achievement, lower dropout rates, greater safety and belonging, and families feeling more centered in the education system.
I've heard powerful firsthand accounts of what these investments mean to our city's youth.
One student shared, I understand that students can make a change with their voices and I am now more confident in myself and about the impact I have on my community.
Amendments 1, 5, 7, and 8 fund fresh food, restorative justice, and tangible support for youth and families navigating systemic barriers.
They make it clear public dollars should be used to support, not criminalize young people.
We urge the council and the school board to prevent the return of officers in our school and to pass these community developed amendments and this levy.
Let's keep investing in what works.
Thank you council members and special thanks to council member Rink.
Thanks to the community for bringing this vision to life and let's keep listening to our youth.
Hello, my name is Chaitan.
I'm the executive director of the Washington Youth Alliance and a proud graduate of Seattle Public Schools.
I'm here today not only in support of amendments 1, 5, 7, and 8, but to state unequivocally that the renewal of the FEP levy is essential.
This levy has funded the programs that made a difference in my life and in the lives of thousands of other students.
It helped protect opportunity, expand access, and create pathways to success for young people across the city.
It must be renewed.
But I also want to call attention to how this process is being handled.
Holding this hearing on a weekday morning during final exams makes it nearly impossible for young people and students to attend.
It sends a clear message that student participation is not a priority in this process.
We hear a lot about young people shaping the future, but how is that possible when decisions about their lives are being made without them?
But don't just take it from me.
Here's a quote from Fatra, who is a junior at Franklin High School.
Students want a counselor first model that prioritizes early intervention and care.
Amendment 7 helps make that possible by investing in restorative practices that are focused on healing, accountability, and community building.
Students also see many opportunities to strengthen physical safety in schools through sustainable infrastructure investments.
Key card access systems, intercoms, and staff training can include and improve emergency response and daily safety and systems needed dedicated staffing to approve overburdening school personnel.
Amendments 1, 5, 7, and 8 reflect priorities that young people have consistently called for.
Respect.
support, nourishment, and approaches to safety that are restorative rather than punitive.
And yet this is about more than Seattle.
Across the country, public education is being dismantled by authoritarian forces.
Racial justice is under attack.
Queer, trans, and immigrant youth are being criminalized.
Youth leadership is being silenced.
We are working to build schools in Seattle that can withstand that pressure.
That means protecting mental health services, investing in students, and listening to the communities most impacted.
That also means doing things differently.
Excluding students from public decision-making, even unintentionally, undermines every commitment to make equity in our schools.
If Seattle wants to live up to its values, this is the moment to show it.
Thank you, and I'll now pass it to Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rink.
Thank you, Chayton.
And before I get started, I know we have some folks who have joined us.
If you want to come on over and join us over here, join our coalition, please come on over.
It's amazing to see everybody this morning turning out for young people and safety in our communities.
Well, good morning, Seattle, and good morning to the future we are building together in just 13 minutes, we will vote on amendments to the Families Education and Preschool Promise Levy that will define what kind of city Seattle chooses to be, not just today, but for generations to come.
And while the Trump administration deploys the National Guard in California and threatens to do the same here, while ICE raids terrorize our neighbors, and while they try to slash SNAP benefits by a third, leaving families hungry, Seattle has a choice.
We can cower or we can lead.
Yesterday I walked into the federal building to accompany four immigrant families facing deportation.
Four families.
Four sets of parents who came to America seeking safety and seeking opportunity.
Not one had an attorney to defend them.
We had legal observers and advocates, but not attorneys.
Not one had adequate representation against a system designed to tear families apart.
And I watched a mother hold her daughter, knowing that Trump's machinery of cruelty could separate them forever.
And at that moment, I understood with perfect clarity what these FEPP amendments really are.
They are Seattle's answer to federal abandonment.
These amendments weren't written in ivory towers, they were forged in partnership with the Keep Your Promise Coalition, a movement of organizations, some of which you've heard from this morning.
These organizations who know our communities from the inside out.
From Seattle's Student Union organizing in our hallways, Washington NAACP Youth Council lifting up young voices that demand to be heard.
Community passageways, creating connections where others build walls.
Washington Youth Alliance Action Fund, investing in the leaders we need.
People Power Washington organizing block by block.
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, standing in those federal courtrooms every single day.
Tech for Housing, fighting for homes people can actually afford.
Seattle caucus rank and file educators advocating for students in every classroom.
Puget Sound Sage, connecting environmental and economic justice.
Washington Building Leaders of Change, developing tomorrow's advocates.
Washington Bus, mobilizing the voters who change elections.
And Washington Ethnic Studies now, ensuring our schools reflect our communities.
This is what democracy looks like when it works.
And through these amendments, let's protect students through proven approaches that actually create safety, not the illusion of safety through punishment, but real safety through support and community investment.
Let's feed families through fresh bucks that put healthy food directly into people's hands, because when Trump cuts snap by a third, Seattle steps up to fill the gap.
Let's build safer schools through restorative justice that creates genuine security, the kind that comes from students feeling heard, conflicts being resolved through understanding, and communities healing together.
And let's defend our neighbors by expanding legal services that will put lawyers in federal courtrooms, ensuring families have the representation they deserve while their lives hang in the balance.
Every city council meeting is a choice between two Americas.
Trump's vision of division, fear, and scarcity, or our vision of abundance, community, and justice.
When they send in the National Guard, we send in teachers and social workers.
When they cut food assistance, we expand it.
And when they tear families apart, we fight to keep them together.
This is how we build power.
This is how we build the future, amendment by amendment, vote by vote, community by community.
To my colleagues on council, join us.
We can be remembered as the leaders who stepped up when our communities needed it most.
We can unite as a community who looked at an unjust system and said, not on our watch, not in our city, not to our kids.
The choice is yours, but the movement doesn't depend on your choice.
We will build the Seattle our children deserve with or without you.
Seattle, we are not just passing policy today, we are proving that another world is possible.
We are showing that when communities organize, when young people lead, when we choose each other over fear, we can build cities that work for everyone.
They want us to believe that we have to choose between safety and justice.
We reject that false choice.
Real safety comes from investment, not incarceration.
Real security comes from community, not criminalization.
They want us to believe that resources are scarce.
We know better.
In the richest country in human history, scarcity is a political choice, not an economic reality.
And they want us to believe that change is impossible, and we are the proof that they are wrong.
To every student watching, we see you, we believe in you, and we refuse to give up on you.
To every family facing uncertainty, Seattle stands with you, and we will not let you fall.
And to every community that has been told, you do not matter.
You are the heart of this city.
You are why we fight.
This is Seattle's promise, this is our moment, and this is how we win.
Thank you.