SPEAKER_20

afternoon we will be calling the board meeting to order in a moment and SPS TV will begin broadcasting for those joining by phone please remain muted until we reach the testimony portion and your name is called All right.

This is President Hersey.

I'm now calling the June 7th 2023 regular board meeting to order at 417 p.m.

This meeting is being recorded.

We would like to acknowledge that we are in the ancestral lands and traditional territories of the Puget Sound Coast Salish people.

Miss Wilson-Jones the roll call please.

SPEAKER_21

Director Hampson.

Here.

Director Harris.

Present.

Vice President Rankin.

Here.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Present.

Director Sarju.

Present.

Director Song-Moritz.

Present.

President Hersey.

Here.

Student member Nguyen.

SPEAKER_01

Here.

SPEAKER_20

All right.

Thank you very much.

I will now turn it over to Superintendent Jones for his comments.

SPEAKER_19

Thank you, President Hersey.

Good evening, everyone.

To open, I'd like to wish everyone a happy Pride Month and to commemorate the beginning of Pride Month 2023. Last Friday, we raised the pride and transgender flags at John Stanford Center.

This month and every month we celebrate and affirm the identities voices and rights of our LGBTQIA2 plus individuals who make up our community.

Not not only that we remain committed to making sure that in every space across the district that our LGBTQ plus staff students and families feel the freedom and safety to show up authentically and thrive.

Another recognition that we are having is in addition to the pride celebrations, the district will be observing Juneteenth, the Monday after next.

And that's Monday, June 19th.

The district, central office, and schools will be closed.

As you may know, Juneteenth marks the day when federal troops finally reach Galveston, Texas to deliver the news that enslaved people were freed.

two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

As such, Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of all who were once enslaved in our country.

On this day, we also honor the enormity of Black Americans' contributions to this country in the face of ongoing injustice.

It is a reminder that black history is American history and that the fight continues to continue to dismantle systemic racism and barriers to justice regarding youth mental health and safety.

This week staff and I sent out an email to district families outlining our three part safety initiative to decrease gun violence and violence in our schools around our schools.

This will entail conducting safety reviews of SPS high school campuses, convening with safety leaders to create community action teams, and establish a council, a collective of mental health and wellness leaders in our community.

We are also updating building locks, increasing communications, emergency safety training for staff, upgrading security camera systems.

There's a lot underway in terms of increasing our safety.

I also want to recognize the efforts of our school leaders in addressing school safety, including Principal Hart at Garfield High School for his responsiveness to a community in holding a community meeting regarding violence in the surrounding neighborhood and threats made to the school.

We are trying to generate a community-based solutions and bring everybody into the fold on understanding what they need to do in terms of increasing community safety and ultimately well-being in our community.

Finally as a part of our strategy to build safe and welcoming schools we are joining Mayor Bruce Harrell and the city of Seattle along with other 12 other sectors to deliver a new youth mental health initiative called Reach Out Seattle.

This is important partnership that will increase the safety net for student mental health and wellness and it aims to de-stigmatize conversations around mental health in our communities.

We will be equipping parents, caregivers, community members to recognize psychological distress in youth and have the tools, excuse me, to support them.

We're hoping that this will help address the youth mental health crisis that we are seeing now.

And part of this is a concept called psychological first aid.

And when we are able to recognize when a student's in distress, similar to how we've had Medic One how people can respond to someone in CPR or first aid.

There's a psychological first aid that we can administer ultimately and be able to be responsive to a young person in mental distress.

So those are some things that we're doing.

I'm really happy about the progress that's being made on many fronts.

And I'm appreciative of the community for coming on board to help us to resolve some of these longstanding difficult complex issues so that we can get on to our main business our bottom line of teaching and learning.

With that I'll turn it back to you President Hersey.

SPEAKER_20

Thank you Superintendent Jones.

I will now turn it over to Director Yuen for student member comments.

Take it away.

SPEAKER_37

Hi everyone I'm student board member Jenna Yuan.

I'd like to begin by apologizing because I will have to leave during public testimony at around 530 to go support my little sister's concert.

But I do wish I could stay longer.

Moving on I'd like to share briefly on what's happening just in my high school life right now.

Franklin's prom was this past Sunday and although it was honestly kind of underwhelming, it was nevertheless an incredible opportunity to come together as a graduating class to bond and just create lasting memories.

I'm finishing up some final projects in my class and I'm checking out on the 22nd, which is followed by graduation on the 30th.

These final two weeks of high school for me and many other seniors will be pretty bittersweet because although I'm really excited for summer it's really sad to say goodbye to a place where I've grown so much where I've met so many wonderful people and where I have made so many amazing memories.

Moving on I would like to express my appreciation for the spring 2023 safe and welcoming schools update that was posted on June 2nd.

It's really reassuring to see some of the safety updates are being implemented like the lock replacement project and especially the safety reporting app.

However it has come to my attention that not many students are actually aware of these efforts and that this app even exists.

So it's imperative that we promote it quickly so that students can start utilizing its benefits.

It's also imperative that we stay committed to continuously creating a more safe and welcoming environment in our schools.

Last but not least I want to again welcome Pride Month which is a time to honor and embrace the LGBTQ plus community acknowledge the struggles that they have faced and stand in solidarity with them.

Pride Month serves as a reminder to continually strive for a more inclusive society where everyone can live authentically proudly and with pride.

Happy Pride Month everyone.

SPEAKER_20

Thank you again to our student board member and best of luck to your sister at her concert.

So we have now come to the board comment section of the agenda.

First as a reminder we will take public testimony from those posted to the list beginning no sooner than 5 p.m.

to allow for our exit conference with the state auditor's office after comments.

During our next regular board meeting on June 21, we will have a full agenda that includes the introduction of the proposed 23-24 budget and budget public hearing.

The process to sign up for a public hearing will be communicated on that agenda.

We will also celebrate our 2022 24 school board student members next meeting as they close out their school year with us and we'll take on and we'll take actions on appointments for the next coming school year.

I met with student led I met with the student led selection committee on Monday as they completed their work and selection of the three finalists for the 2023 24 school board student members.

The board action has been moved to June 21 to hopefully allow for the finalists to attend the meeting and meet the directors.

All right, we will now move on to the other reports for tonight.

Do we have an update from the Ad Hoc Policy Manual Review Committee?

Go for it.

SPEAKER_09

Oh excuse me.

We do.

And I have just a couple other general updates that relate to WSSDA and excuse me legislative stuff.

Since our last board meeting.

Director Hampson and I had the opportunity to go to Toppenish and attend a tribal convening between WSSDA and the Yakima tribe.

And that is part of an ongoing series or ongoing work that WASDA is doing to government-to-government work that WASDA is doing in setting up a more formal relationship and process with tribes.

Well, so there's that was the convening and then tomorrow we're participating in a tribal consultation training that is a new requirement of the state for board directors and principals actually.

And so there's one in Tulalip tomorrow that we will be attending.

And so the one that we did attend was a was a convening on tribal consultation and then or governance governance government to government excuse me and then tomorrow is a part of a required new training for board directors and principals and actually according to by state law past this past session participating in that training on tribal consultation is now a requirement for principals to renew their certification in Washington state.

That's something that all principals will need to participate in every three years and board directors as well.

And there are several opportunities.

Yes several opportunities around the state will be provided on an ongoing basis.

So it's it's exciting.

And let's see.

I had the opportunity to attend with Director Stardew the community meeting at Garfield.

Oh and Director Song-Rhodes was there also.

the community meeting at Garfield in response to gun violence in the area and I will echo the superintendent's commendations of Principal Hart.

Principal Hart and PTSA President Kayla Epting did a really great job leading their community bringing people together bringing in partners and and also laying out what tools we have and how you know gun violence is a societal issue that is pervasive and impacts all of us way too much.

And it comes into our schools and we have to as we know all too well we have to.

find ways to respond and support one another.

So I'm sure there will be more conversations on that ongoing.

I also had the opportunity to meet with some counselors from SEA and I think we'll be hearing from a number of them during public testimony.

But I was interested to know how we could use our policy to you know look at our look at our policy to make sure that we're directing what what students need and what that means for counseling support.

So for the policy committee we are going to be meeting next week.

We have met a couple of times.

Our overall charge is to review the entire policy manual or to create tools to evaluate the entire policy manual because Policy adopting and amending policy is one of the primary responsibilities of the school board and The clearer we can be in policy about what our community wants and expects from the public school system to the superintendent the more clear he can be in his operations and the more clear tools of accountability we have.

And so the policy review committee will be evaluating, will be creating a tool through which to evaluate all the policies And we're not removing policies or changing what is in policy, but we're going to evaluate the current policies and help better organize them into what is board policy that governs the work of the board and what is board policy that governs the work of the district.

and make those clearer and provide in, you know, complement to what the Community Engagement Committee is doing, provide better opportunity for public community engagement around the around the policies that are where communities should see their vision and values documented in our direction to the superintendent and we have a lot of policies a lot and it can be very overwhelming and challenging to figure out how to use them for members of the public and also for us as the board you know there are some policies that maybe conflict with each other or provide confusing direction to the superintendent.

And so the more clear we can be about our direction based on what the vision and values of community are the more the stronger our direction is and the more we have in terms of holding the district accountable to making good on those on those commitments.

So we're going to develop a tool to evaluate what kind of what goes where.

break it up into a little more user friendly sections.

And then we're going to bring we'll bring our tool to the full board to consider for approval.

And then once it's approved then our committee will use that tool to evaluate.

If you right now the policies are broken up into series of there's the zero series there's the 1000 series 2000 3000 so on.

We will use the tool to evaluate.

The the zero and the 1000 series first and then we'll make recommendations about the rest of it and we will also be recommending a process for regular review of those policies so that every time the board changes and as Vision and values changes and adjust as time goes on.

There's a continuous scheduled feedback opportunity to ensure that the direction of the board in policy is as accurate and up to date as possible based on what the community and the board at that time.

Feels is important rather than you know something from 15 years ago.

So that'll be part of that too is kind of Reorganizing reevaluating the existing policy book and then we will also provide recommendations for how to maintain regular reviews by the board engagement with community on those policies and how new policy should should and can come forward to the full board for consideration.

So if you're a nerd join us in.

And I say that with a lot of love nerds.

I love nerds.

I am a nerd.

Join us in the policy ad hoc committee or look for those votes recommendations to come to the full board.

SPEAKER_20

Thank you Vice President Rankin.

Very exciting.

Do we have a report from.

Well we already got legislative liaison.

Do we have any additional reports from our liaisons.

And as a reminder I will be calling for engagement after this.

So do we have any reports from any other liaisons at this time.

Go for it.

SPEAKER_11

So just first the brief report out on the quarterly audit meeting which was yesterday from 4 to 7 24 I think.

Much gratitude and apologies to staff and board members for that lengthy meeting much of which was to do with the initial presentation review of the teaching and learning.

Audit, which we learned a bit more about from our consultants in terms of everything that went into that had an opportunity to hear from As a an initial response to those findings from Superintendent Jones and President Hersey because there were levels of recommendations from the board level and superintendent's office's enterprise on down to strategic and tactical recommendations.

So there was a lot of engagement and robust conversation about that.

Those materials are actually available on the website.

If often in the past they haven't been but those are there lengthy but they are there.

And then heard updates on a very complex internal audit on substitute reimbursements.

And and then our usual a review of internal audit work plan and ethics update if you have if you want to look at the packet there was a review of risk assessment from throughout the country a number a small sample of other schools.

Other I'm sorry other school districts and their assessment of top level risks and how they compare to the risks that were determined to be our highest level risks by leadership in Seattle Public Schools and our risk management team.

and working with our internal auditor.

And so we did had some discussion and comparison of those risks and whether or not we're missing anything.

And there's still opportunity as always for folks that are concerned about any major audit areas that we may be missing whether performance or fiscal or otherwise.

To connect with our director of internal audit Andrew Medina and let him know what your interests and specific concerns are so that he can review those and then we can talk about it at the next meeting which is in September.

And then we had audit response reports from the transportation audit.

A lot of progress in that work a lot of progress still to come but some pretty deep digging there in terms of improvements to that that department and those operations as well as the Ingraham High School classroom addition.

Audit closeout and then presentation on enterprise risk management implementation which it sounds like there's been some internal work groups set up to elevate that work enterprise wide and that's that's extremely exciting.

And the director of internal audit is part of that.

The two items that were not presented one that should have been which has been moved to September is the communications audit.

And then another one that wasn't planned isn't planned until December which is the nutrition services.

And then we're still waiting to hear on the students on the building safety audit from Superintendent Jones.

And that's it.

And I like I said the next meeting is September I don't have the date on here so maybe we don't have it set yet.

I think it's around September 1st but the next internal audit meeting will be in September and we'll also be working in between now and then the director of internal audit and I on.

a prospective framework getting some support from Moss Adams as well who supported us through our internal audit restructuring as to what is the most effective effective structure for us for internal audit as a committee.

whether it's a committee who sits on the committee how it serves as an important check and balance to the president and the rest of the board and any ad hoc committees.

So anyone has interest in that letting let me know as well.

Director Rankin kind of gave a update on the tribal liaison finished up our last it's it's actually the.

convening of tribal leaders not just Yakima but other tribal leaders as well.

Yakima just happened to be there in force because it was on their reservation and that was the annual discussion between tribal leaders and school board directors and superintendents about this concept of tribal consultation what it means and what folks need from it and then the official trainings that are required of board members as director director Rankin said you should have.

I've talked about it on multiple occasions before and you should have in your inbox from this week a reminder of upcoming trainings to sign up for The most easiest one is this one on Thursday.

That's up at up at Tulalip and once we all get that training under our belts the Tribal consultation policy and other aspects of that will will start to make a lot more sense.

So That's it from this side

SPEAKER_20

Thank you Director Hampson.

Any other additional liaison reports.

Go for it.

SPEAKER_24

I have two reports.

The first one is from the BEX BTA levy oversight committee.

Our last meeting was on May 12th.

We did a regular review of the budget and update on our projects.

There was nothing of note.

Our next meeting is on June 9th and this room is tomorrow at 830. One change to that meeting will be that the committee will be at my request reviewing the board action reports for upcoming capital projects.

This is a really nice opportunity to leverage the expertise of the committee members to inform the board's work in approving those board action reports.

The next update is from the city.

The Families Education Preschool and Promise Levy Oversight Committee last met on May 23rd.

The committee is currently considering ways to spend $3.4 million in underspend.

the recommendation from the department is to invest 2.4 million dollars in extending the Seattle preschool program through the summer months.

There's also a discussion around investing in culturally specific and responsive mental health supports in our K-12 schools.

So I thank the committee for their consideration and reinvesting in our SPP and our k-12 programs and I just would like to also reiterate Gratitude to the city for their support and the safety and mental health well-being of our young people as dr. Jones mentioned I'm really excited about this reach out Seattle initiative a coalition of community leaders and health partners and encouraging young people to participate in supporting mental health of their peers and themselves.

And I also would like to thank Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell, Director of Education Dwayne Chappell, and the Mayor's Policy Team for attending that community meeting of Garfield High School.

Their attendance and support is hugely important because gun violence prevention is really a community safety and community work.

So, thank you.

SPEAKER_20

Thank you Director Salma Ritz.

Any other liaison reports.

Go for it Director Rivera-Smith.

SPEAKER_16

Hi thank you.

I don't normally give it because it doesn't match up with our meeting dates but I am the Head Start liaison for our board and I have done that for three amazing years so far.

And what it means is I get to meet monthly with our Head Start admins.

Each month we get to get an update from them.

And I will take a moment that that includes the incomparable Heather Brown who I'm really sad to see is on our personnel report as will no longer be with us in a few months.

I want to thank Heather for her amazing work for our district and I wish her success in the future.

So that being said, yes, I have met with her every month for three years now and with the other admins to get the updates on Head Start.

This includes enrollment, enrollment, student wellness updates, hiring, all this really fascinating information.

It also includes some things I'll share today just because I think it's nice to know what kind of PD our Head Start staff is receiving, which is actually great.

They recently had gender inclusive classrooms training where teachers were given direction and guidance regarding gender inclusive practices for the classroom.

They had an all staff gathering where teachers were given guidance for wrapping up the school year.

A lot of them do home visits in June and they're going to have conferences and New Year celebrations.

They're learning about the pyramid model which is a social emotional learning framework that focuses on building adult skills that they can support children's social emotional health.

They also talk about the summer planning.

There will be teacher interviews taking place in June and July.

There are family educator one and two, that's teacher and assistant teacher positions.

We have vacancies right now in the Northwest and South regions.

Head Start classrooms will be moving.

Some of them, we approved this recently, if you guys remember.

Some of the new classrooms that will be opening up.

Cascadia will move to a classroom in the new James Baldwin Elementary School.

and to a classroom at the New Orleans.

So we're going to be moving those to more appropriate rooms and spaces for them.

Dunlap will move a classroom to Kimball Elementary and a classroom to Wing Luke.

So in all these new projects we're doing we often do have Head Start and preschool spaces created there which is great opening up more availability and it's really awesome to see.

So again I have loved meeting with them every month.

I will miss Heather but the work continues.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_20

Any other liaison reports before Director Harris.

SPEAKER_14

I attended a community meeting at Alki elementary school.

Richard Best of the district was there as well as Malum architects and our parking consultants.

There was probably 20 folks there.

First hour was a sit and get the second hour was questions and concerns and disappointment.

There is a very thoughtful write up in the West Seattle blog and I suggest you take a look at it.

But this is one of those places where we have one ADA parking space and extraordinarily a compacted neighborhood.

We have no parking.

We have the city's largest park just down the street.

We have safety issues with respect to the park and Whaled Hill Park which you all may know there was a murder.

Not too long ago.

It's a wonderfully expensive beautifully designed school.

The question is placement and whether or not we gave we SPS gave enough notice to the community.

It was pretty obvious by the end of the meeting that nothing differently would be done.

And I think that's going to harm us in terms of public trust, but That's what it's about at least We met with the folks and we listened whether or not anything will come of it To be determined, but I am not holding my breath.

It was painful at best.

Thank you

SPEAKER_20

me.

Thank you Director Harris.

Any additional liaison reports.

OK.

Finally any additional board engagement for us to discuss tonight.

OK.

Thank you very much for the updates.

All right.

So directors we will now move to the tables for our next conference with the state auditor's office.

We are joined today by representatives from the state auditor's office and staff for the exit conference for our annual audit by the state.

Once we move to the tables I will pass it immediately over to the superintendent and his staff to open the session and introduce our guests.

So if you could so kindly move to the tables.

Directors it is critical that you speak into your microphones especially this evening.

So please if you are saying anything that you would like to hear recorded and so that folks can engage make sure that you're speaking directly into your mic.

SPEAKER_19

Yep.

I'm going to turn this over to Deputy Superintendent Podesta and introduce our guest and give us kind of a run of show, please.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_18

Thank you, Directors, for your time.

Thank you to our guests from the State Auditor's Office.

I'll just tee this up.

On an annual basis, the district works with the Washington State Auditor's Office on three audits, audit of our financial statement, an accountability audit that gets into performance and accountability issues with regard to management of the district, and a single audit of federal grants.

The district is extremely fortunate to have this interaction with state auditor and coordination across our organization, led by Director of Accounting, Amy Fleming.

So I'll turn it over to Amy to introduce the audit team and the lead of the audit team, and we'll walk through it.

SPEAKER_06

Good afternoon Amy Fleming accounting director.

So with me at the table today I will introduce Joe Simmons who is the audit manager of the team responsible for auditing and overseeing the audit of Seattle School District.

SPEAKER_03

Good afternoon.

Thank you Amy.

Thank you board members.

Thank you for the opportunity this afternoon to present the results of our audit.

My name is Joe Simmons.

I'm the audit manager for the state auditor's office here in Seattle and I'm here with Eileen Du who was the supervisor on the audit and Jonathan Smith who was the lead on the audit and also Carmen Law who was one of the staff auditors on the audit.

So again thank you for your time today.

And briefly on the next slide, I just want to say that as a state auditor's office, we look at it as our role to help increase trust in government through our independent audits, that we look at our role as providing a window into government to the citizens of the state through our independent agency.

And providing those independent transparent examinations, also looking for ways that we can show where local governments are performing well.

And also, we do have occasions where we have recommendations for areas of improvement.

But overall, we look ourselves in partnership with local government to help increase efficiency and effectiveness of government.

And we did provide a packet with information, including the audit reports themselves, our recommendations.

So this is a summary that we're providing with a PowerPoint.

But please feel free to ask us any questions.

Our overall goal is to be able to explain the results of our audits and answer any questions you may have.

So with that, I'll turn it over to Jonathan, who will walk through the details of your audit results.

SPEAKER_04

All right, thank you, Joe.

And it's nice to see everyone in person for once.

OK, so first slide here.

So first, I'm going to discuss the results of the accountability audit.

So for your district, we conducted an accountability audit that covered the period of September 1st, 2021 through August 31st, 2022. The purpose of an accountability audit is to ascertain whether the district complied with state laws, regulations, contracts, grant agreements, and its own policies and procedures.

In addition, these audits also look at whether in general the district has adequate controls to safeguard public funds.

So under the heading results and brief, you will see that our audit found the district's operations complied in all material respects with applicable state laws, regulations, its own policies, and provided adequate controls over the safeguarding of public resources.

So on the next slide, I'll actually go over all of the areas that we included within the accountability audit.

Of course, we take a risk-based approach.

And during this current audit, we looked at a number of areas.

Okay, the first area we looked at was use of restricted funds, professional learning, and local revenue for enrichment activities.

So just a little bit of background on that.

So for professional learning, beginning in the 2018-2019 school year, school districts received funding for professional learning days provided to certificated instructional staff.

The amount of funding received by each district is established in state law and calculated by OSPI.

RCW 4309-2856 requires SAO to audit the use of the state allocation as part of our regular audits.

And then the restricted funds for enrichment activities.

So we also performed work to ensure the district has one, developed a plan and methodology for differentiating between expenditures of state and local revenues.

Two, documented specific enrichment activities included in the district's plan.

And lastly, verified the district allocated expenditures as described in their plan.

The next area we looked at was compliance with supplemental contracts for enrichment activities.

So within the RCW, again, part of the RCW also requires our office to review supplemental contracts as part of our regular audits of school districts.

We reviewed and performed testing to ensure the supplemental contracts are only for enrichment activities.

Next, we looked at a few different areas within ASB, the Associated Student Body, specifically expenditures, cash receding, and minutes.

So as the district returned to in-person learning during the audit period, we identified large increases in ASB expenditures and revenues.

So because of that, we tested ASB expenditures, we performed some surprise cash counts at schools, and we reviewed ASB minutes to ensure that the schools were following applicable district policies as well as state law.

Okay, next page for me.

Okay, and then next we looked at compliance with House Bill 1660 on equitable access to extracurricular activities.

So House Bill 1660 was passed in June 2020 with goals to increase participation in extracurricular activities for low-income students.

The bill's intent is to reduce barriers for participation in extracurricular activities and to collect data on student participation.

So under the new law, districts who charge a fee for attendance at or participation in any optional non-credit extracurricular event or activity must adopt a policy for waiving all fees for students who are eligible.

So we reviewed for compliance with this new legislation.

Okay and then also lastly on this slide we did a review of school sponsored events at Wedgwood Elementary School.

So there was an ethics investigation that concluded in November of 2022 that found there was a violation of the district's ethics policy at Wedgwood.

So we reviewed the investigation and then followed up regarding the finances for the annual musicals at the elementary school.

Okay, next slide please.

The last few areas here that we looked at within the accountability audit was review of capital levy funds.

So we reviewed the expenditures from the capital levy to ensure that there was no violations on any restrictions on that funding.

Next, these couple last areas will definitely look familiar.

First is open public meetings, compliance with minutes, meetings, and executive session requirements.

So we just reviewed board minutes during the audit period to ensure the district complied with all OPMA requirements.

And then lastly here, financial condition, reviewing for indications of financial distress.

So performed an analysis of the district's financials essentially to look for any signs of financial distress within the district.

So I guess before we move on to the financial audit, were there any questions related to the accountability audit?

Okay, moving on.

Next slide please.

Okay, so we also conducted a financial statement audit for the period of September 1st, 2021 through August 31, 2022. The objective of the financial statement audit is to issue an opinion as to whether the information included in the financial statements can be relied upon to make decisions.

We are pleased to report that we are issuing an unmodified clean audit opinion on the district's financial statements.

This is the opinion you want to receive and provides assurance that the financial statements are stated fairly and are materially correct.

It's also important to note that the district has elected to prepare its financial statements using the modified accrual method of reporting, issuing an F-196.

authorized under the state of Washington through the school district's accounting manual.

This method of reporting is utilized by a majority of districts across the state due to its simplified reporting requirements and is allowable for use.

However, national standards issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants require the auditor, us, to disclose in their report whether the local government chose to report their financial statements under any reporting method other than US GAAP.

Which is a more comprehensive reporting model.

So as a result we are required to issue a second or dual adverse opinion noting the district has chosen not to report under US GAAP and instead of instead issuing the F-196.

Additionally, it's important to note that our audits are conducted in accordance with government auditing standards.

Those standards also require that we gain an understanding of the district's internal controls or processes that it goes through when to prepare the financial statements for audit.

Should we identify a weakness or concern with that process that could or did result in significant errors in the financial statements, we would be required to bring those to your attention and include that information in our report.

So we'd like to note here that we reported no significant deficiencies in internal controls.

We identify no deficiencies that we consider to be a material weakness and noted no instances of noncompliance that were material to the financial statements of the district.

Next slide, please.

So there were a couple things, though, that are required to be communicated to the district.

So within the management representation letter provided, we included any uncorrected misstatements for your review.

There was only one related to a new accounting standard for lease accounting, GASB 87, just related to the calculation of present value and interest calculation for leases, but nowhere near material.

Any questions on this before we go to the next slide?

SPEAKER_09

Yes.

A question on the previous slide about the reporting.

Yeah, so Just to clarify what you are repeat back to you for my understanding what I believe you said is that we use reporting accounting reporting based on what Washington state has established and what Washington state has established is actually not national best practice.

SPEAKER_06

So Amy Fleming accounting director I think it's easier if I answer that the answer is yes.

So we have elected as a district and as the state of Washington to adopt procedures from the school district accounting manual that's dictated by OSPI the Washington State Auditor's Office and members of districts surrounding.

We found that the value add of doing U.S.

GAAP and the work And the cost involved of doing US GAAP is not worth the benefit of issuing GAAP statements.

It's expensive, it takes a lot of time, and the value add for users that don't even understand financial statements is not worth the effort.

And most districts in the state of Washington have elected to utilize this other reporting requirement.

SPEAKER_09

If OSPI changed their structures of reporting and would that, I mean, well, I guess if OSPI required it, it wouldn't matter.

We would have to do it.

But if OSPI, I mean, so what I'm hearing is We could elect as an individual district to adopt those other practices.

It would be a significant cost and labor to.

To do that.

But if OSPI were to implement that across the state.

I guess I'm.

SPEAKER_06

So if OSPI chose to and the committee chose to change and pivot on this, there would definitely be an implementation portion that would have to be done because there's extra requirements that are embedded that I could go into super nerdy accounting detail that I'm sure you guys don't even want to listen to right now.

So that would take a really long time for implementation and they would have to have a go live date if that's the way they opted to go.

It's also in consideration with members of the committee.

So the committee is representation of not only large districts, but we take into consideration the small and medium districts that they're also trying to serve.

And so that makes it a little bit more difficult because their knowledge and accounting standards may not be to the level of maybe a larger district.

And so they're trying to take all of that into consideration as they're building these accounting standards that we need to follow.

SPEAKER_09

OK thanks.

I have questions now for OSPI.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_11

I was actually going to bring this up a bit later but since Director Rankin decided to bring it up now.

So this has always been a question I've asked every year about GAAP and this year I did a little more research and found out that about two thirds of states require their school districts either their districts overall to comply with GAAP reporting standards or at least their largest districts.

And the benefits that I see stated in the audit as you from SAO State Auditor's Office have noted what you get from from GAAP as well as looking at the some other national standards for education financial reporting as well as The direction we're trying to get to in terms of aligning the true cost of the cost of providing good outcomes for kids.

My question to you is and kind of back to you Director Flumming is.

Whether or not there isn't possibly a greater benefit to doing our statements according to gap for one thing because then we have More apples to apples for other like-sized districts, which is actually very difficult for us to compare apples, I mean apples to apples in terms of Because we don't have gap statements, right and we just don't have the same statement of activities But also In terms of the level of analysis that we would like to see our district get to and aligning our through our budgeting process our resources with the outcomes we seek that that might give our better alignment more detail more data.

So I would be curious to hear your response to that given that it is called out so clearly in the audit.

I mean not just here but on the other you know in the in the notes.

SPEAKER_03

If that was addressed to Amy, I was going to just follow up to what Jonathan was saying before that.

One thing definitely that's all definitely considerations that the district would be in position to to make regarding that.

But one thing I was going to add as far as our report we actually get peer reviewed ourselves so basically audited over the years so about I think about seven or eight years ago that was pointed out to us in one of our reviews that in the past we had an opinion that We audit and determine that school districts follow that regulatory basis which is again you know all that's required under state requirements but we were missing that piece to call out the fact that the district doesn't follow GAP but basically nothing has changed over many years as far as most districts do.

prepare up to that modified accrual basis it's just more that we were required to report that out.

But again as far as the decision to go to GAAP or not that's obviously you know up to management up to the district to determine that.

SPEAKER_06

So there are several factors that we have to take into place and the budgeting process would not align to the GASB statements that we would have to prepare.

I think the big districts in the state of Washington struggle in that area now that do, I mean, there's only, I think, three or four districts that do GASB statements in the state of Washington.

And so lining that up with the outcomes that we're seeking is really difficult, and I don't think it gets to the answer that we're seeking.

So, I mean, I can take this further offline.

We can have a lot more discussion about this if you would like, you know, to hear your thoughts and what you're thinking on that.

I'm definitely willing to have that conversation with you.

SPEAKER_11

That sounds good.

Thank you.

I just want to make sure to broach it publicly particularly since it's it is made clear and it's something that I think you sort of take for granted when you're looking at governmental accounting statements more broadly.

That's what you learn to expect.

And so then you get something like our statements which are.

then suddenly appear much harder to understand, even for us as directors, right?

Because even if you've tried to train yourself, it's just an entirely different animal, and it doesn't have some of the cleanliness of the accrual statements that you would get under GAP.

But yeah, I would like to learn more about the misalignment with the the budgeting process and then kind of on the other side of it what are the benefits internally from a managerial standpoint that we might that we might gain.

So thank you.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

Let's see.

Can we go ahead and jump forward?

Okay.

And I think we're done with the previous slide.

So the next required communication we wanted to discuss is next we want to walk through our management letter over CIFAR reporting.

Before we begin, please note that management letters are not included in our audit reports, but are referenced.

While still a public document, this item will not be published on our website.

A copy of this letter has also been provided to district management.

So you'll see that the topic of our management letter is CIFA reporting.

And as we previously shared, the district received a clean, unmodified opinion on its financial statements.

This result means that overall, the district's financial statements are fairly presented and are materially correct.

However, we also discussed that we're required to bring your attention to any instances where we become aware of weaknesses with the district's internal controls or processes.

It goes through to prepare the financial statements.

So, in this case, our audit found that the district's internal controls oversee for reporting, which is the schedule of expenditures of federal awards.

In particular, we found that while the district's accounting department has a process in place to report federal program expenditures, the internal controls were not robust enough to identify if other departments' grants were federally funded, and therefore, whether all federal expenditures were being reported on the SEFA.

So as a result, the district did not report $4,912,946 of program expenditures for the Emergency Connectivity Fund program on the SEFA.

And then once included in the SEFA, this program was selected for audit based on its size and risk as a major program.

So as a result, we just recommend the district dedicate the necessary time and resources to ensure the SEFA is accurate and complete before submitting it for audit.

Any questions regarding this management letter before we proceed to the single audit.

SPEAKER_14

Can you give us a sense.

Four million dollars.

Can you give us a sense of how much federal money We've run through the district to put that four million dollars in context.

Please.

SPEAKER_04

Absolutely.

So prior to COVID, my first year leading this audit, I think federal expenditures are around like 40, 50 million maybe total on a big year.

You know, COVID obviously pushed that number to north of 100 million in the last couple of years.

So this year with the addition of this program, I think the SEFA landed around like 107, 108 million.

And this is all just one specific program, which Admittedly, there was some confusion on whether or not this was federal funding You know, which led to why it was not initially reported.

However, once identified The district responded, you know, very timely and you know edited the CFA added it to the CFA but due to its size And the fact it's a new program there was kovat funding and it was over three million dollars.

It was just required to be included in in this audit so

SPEAKER_14

And hasn't there been a great deal of reporting nationally that the federal funding mandates and how we account for those have been confusing as all get out.

Is that is that a fair statement.

I'm nobody's apologist for the district but I want to put this in context please.

SPEAKER_04

It could be a fair statement.

I guess I'll let my audit manager Joe maybe speak more broadly to that regard.

SPEAKER_03

Well for this I can actually turn to our state auditor Pat McCarthy.

She actually wrote an op ed in the Seattle Times a few days ago that basically expresses just that related to this program in particular that so far around the state there has been many districts who have had.

had issues with this and in her op ed she talks about how we as an office have talked about with all this COVID funding and with grants in general that we definitely have preached document document document but we also acknowledge that there's been definitely a very fluid situation with the fact that there's been a large amount of federal funding coming through COVID related programs and we're just acknowledging that we're doing what we need to do as auditors and auditing the requirements in place but also understanding that Again even in that op ed if you take a look at that Pat McCarthy acknowledges that it has been a little difficult to keep up with all those changes.

So I guess the long way of saying yes definitely.

SPEAKER_14

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04

Any other questions regarding the management letter or the financial audit before we move on to single audit.

OK.

Next slide please.

Okay.

And lastly here, so also conducted a federal grant compliance or single audit for the same time period, September 1st, 2021 through August 31st, 2022. So the objective of this audit is to ascertain whether the district materially complied with the requirements of receiving federal funding.

So we're pleased to report that we are issuing an unmodified clean audit opinion on the district's compliance with federal grant requirements with the exception of the previously mentioned emergency connectivity fund program in which we will issue an adverse opinion.

Additionally, it's important to note that our audits are conducted in accordance with uniform guidance.

Those standards also require that we gain an understanding of the district's internal controls or processes that goes through to ensure federal grant requirements are being followed.

Should we identify a weakness or concern with that process that could or did result in significant noncompliance, we would be required to bring those to your attention.

So we reported no significant deficiencies internal controls.

However we did identify deficiencies that we consider to be a material weakness and we did know instances of noncompliance that are required to be reported.

And essentially those issues are summed up in the next slide.

But before I move to the next slide were there any immediate questions.

OK.

Next slide please.

Okay, so our audit identified concerns during our federal grant compliance audit that will be included in our report as an audit finding.

We would like to walk you through this item with you today and answer any questions that you may have.

So as we previously discussed, our federal grant compliance audits are performed to ascertain whether the district complied with the requirements of receiving federal funding.

While our audit found that the district complied with most requirements examined, we did identify noncompliance for the emergency connectivity fund program where the district did not have adequate internal controls for ensuring compliance with allowable activities and costs and restricted purpose requirements.

So just a little bit of background on the program in general.

So the Emergency Connectivity Fund, ECF program, was established via the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to provide funding to meet the remote learning needs of students, school staff, and library patrons who would otherwise lack access to connected devices and broadband connections sufficient to engage in remote learning during the COVID-19 emergency period.

And that's referred to as unmet need.

So the and a little bit of background then on the areas where we identified issues.

So first within allowable activities and costs.

So those compliance requirements state that the ECF program recipients may only seek reimbursement for eligible devices and services provided to students and staff with an unmet need.

Recipients are prohibited from seeking reimbursement for eligible equipment and services purchased for use solely at the school or held for future use such as warehousing.

Essentially anything that was sought for reimbursement had to fulfill an unmet need.

And then.

background on the restricted purpose compliance.

So that actually had two areas within it.

So unmet need and per location per user limitations.

So for unmet need compliance same as above the district can only seek reimbursement for eligible equipment and services to provide to students and staff with an actual unmet need and be able to provide documentation to support the actual cost of all assigned equipment.

And then for the per location per user limitations requirements recipients could only be reimbursed for one connected device and a Wi-Fi hotspot per student or school employee with an unmet need and no more than one fixed broadband connection per location.

So within our audit we found that the district did not document its determination of actual unmet need for the equipment provided to students and school staff.

Specifically the district purchased laptops and tablets iPads based on its estimate of unmet need and requested reimbursement based on that estimate totaling the entire program $4,912,946.

The district did not maintain documentation showing that provided each laptop or tablet paid for with program funds to a student or employee with an unmet need.

And because of this we have questioned all costs for the program.

Our audit also found the district's internal controls were ineffective for demonstrating it complied with the FCC's per location and per user limitations requirements.

Specifically, the district did not maintain documentation showing it monitored or had a tracking process in place to ensure it only provided one device per user and location.

So some you know summed up we consider these Deficiencies and internal controls to be a material weakness that led to a material non-compliance in the program We recommend that the district work with its granting agency to determine an audit resolution And we further recommend the district establish and follow internal controls to ensure staff fully understand the requirements for the ECF awards Specifically the district should request reimbursement only for eligible equipment and services provided to students and staff with an unmet need and maintain documentation demonstrating compliance.

And secondly monitor to confirm it provides no more than one device per student and employee and no more than one broadband connection per location in compliance with the ECF programs requirements.

And we do understand that the district does not concur with the audit finding or with the question costs.

However, it does agree that internal controls and processes could be improved.

Any questions on related to the finding?

SPEAKER_09

So this is really this is about like down to the very individual specific hotspot or device.

basically saying that I'm just because remembering all of this I don't think anybody was taking home five laptops you know what I mean or two hotspots like it was actually a tremendous effort to find and connect families who needed to be connected with those resources and the demonstrated need was that there was no other way to connect with them.

So does this really come down to like Just and I know that every device has a sticker and a number and so we're just kind of saying that it didn't every single thing didn't get adequately.

I don't know.

I'm just like I don't think the problem here is that the district was asking the federal government to pay for devices for families that didn't need them.

But that's what this sounds like it's saying.

SPEAKER_06

So I'll interject.

So throughout the pandemic, we all know that we were scrambling for devices.

We all know that.

We don't have one-to-one laptop ratio.

We didn't have elementary ratios for student.

And even our staff members did not, some staff members did not have laptops.

They were using desktops.

So when the pandemic first hit, technology was scrambling, trying to find any device that even worked.

Very problematic because you cannot run multiple platforms on those devices.

They were constantly failing on us That was the unmet need and it was happening throughout the district.

It did not matter if you were a student member I had I had staff I had several staff members in the accounting department that fell under that realm in the staffing so obviously a very huge problem, that was our unmet need.

We had also identified through the pandemic students that met low income status, that did not have hotspot devices, that didn't even have those connections.

There is data all over the place where we had documented that throughout the pandemic.

So we believe as a district that we have identified that unmet need.

Now, internal controls, we do have inventory.

We kept inventory of all of our laptops.

We kept inventory of who we gave those devices to.

So we believe that we have met the requirements of this grant.

The issue is that we documented unmet need at the time of application and not at the time of reimbursement.

And the compliance supplement that they're auditing to Indicates it's at the time of reimbursement and that is where I think a lot of the big rub is coming in for the Many districts in the state that are receiving the same audit finding You will see that there are some districts whose reports have not yet been issued because of this audit finding That are also receiving the same audit finding Thank you.

SPEAKER_09

That's really helpful

SPEAKER_11

So I know that it's been said that we need to work with the granting agency.

At the same time I'm wondering what the expectation is on the at reimbursement stage what this looks like because I mean again we all have very distinct memories of all hands on deck handing out these laptops making sure that we knew what you know what the inventory was.

We were all involved every board member every staff person.

And and it's not just low income status because we had I mean there just weren't laptops available and then their families whose kids they weren't going to have a laptop for their child that wasn't something that they had planned for or would buy or would even want them to have except for needing which was also a problem except for needing them to access their education.

So I guess I'm I'm just trying to imagine what would that have even looked like.

On the reimbursement side as different, you know, are you just talking about a slightly different set of numbers because instead of the estimate it's the actual distribution or is it how The you're saying every student has to be a low-income student who can't afford to buy a laptop Is that that's what I'm trying to figure out.

SPEAKER_04

So yeah, I can I can definitely speak to that So as far as unmet need You know, every recipient kind of makes their own definition of unmet need.

It doesn't have to specifically be low income.

You know, if you determine what the need is and look at your population, like, okay, these students or staff have, you know, do not meet this.

They have an unmet need.

It needs to be met.

So the example that it gives within the compliance supplement, which is available on the White House's website, which spells out all the guidance and what we audit to for this program, it does give an example in this section where it says if a district estimates at the time of application we need 100 devices for students, and then you know, between the time of application, you know, once it's approved and before they file for reimbursement, they conduct a survey, realize, oh, we only need, you know, we don't need 100, we actually only needed 92 because there's only 92 students that, you know, have an unmet need that, you know, don't, don't fit our definition of unmet need, so then they only seek reimbursement for those 92 laptops instead of the original estimate of 100. So that's just an example that it gives within the compliance supplement.

From my conversations with other audit leads for other school districts around the state, Yeah that was you know really what was coming up was just surveys however obviously the scale of the Seattle School District.

I know there were some surveys you know conducted that were forwarded to us that we did take a look at.

You know a survey specifically I think on the McKinney-Vento students.

However all of that was done at the time of the application and there was no further you know I guess drill down when it came time for reimbursement.

So essentially in you specifically for all of the laptops that were sought for reimbursement, all of those tied directly back to the number that was listed on the application.

So if there's an estimate of 4,000 or 4,300 teacher laptops, that was also requested for reimbursement.

And there was no, I guess, support to back up that number, essentially to show, okay, these are the 4,300 staff that had this unmet need that we supplied laptops to.

SPEAKER_10

OK.

SPEAKER_16

Hi thank you.

I'm wondering now what.

So this is the findings.

What does that mean for us and what happens now.

SPEAKER_03

So part of what we have in our finding is our remarks and there's also a corrective action plan that's included in the report.

And as I said earlier.

Just due to the nature of this finding and knowing that we have seen it at many districts and.

Definitely understanding you know.

Issues regarding the communications of the final rule versus what the initial information was coming out through I guess.

But to answer your question the next step would be working with the funding agency and they would be the one to determine whether or not they would actually request repayment of the question costs.

So basically ultimately it's up to the FCC as a federal agency to determine whether they would.

what action they would take.

We are the reporting agency based on the requirements, but the federal agency is the one to make the evaluation as to whether or not they will actually request any repayment of the question costs, and they would be the ones to work you know as far as what the next actions would be.

So I don't know if Amy wants to add anything.

SPEAKER_16

And I know there's been communications with Superintendent Reykdal and I'm asking more people who aren't going to be reading all this because we have a lot of viewers who are not going to read it.

I haven't seen the letters so Superintendent Jones or someone else want to talk about that.

SPEAKER_18

You know, we'll follow the recommendation and the finding that we work with the granting agency.

We have talked, there are, besides the communications from Superintendent Reykdal to the state auditor and others, there's Advocacy at the federal level but we've heard from Our representative and and Senate offices, you know working as this is not just a problem for us.

So you know, I think there is acknowledgement that there are challenges with the guidance that was given and We appreciate the auditor You know, recognizing that, and they have a standard they need to audit to, the real question was, you know, if any of these expenses are disallowed, that, you know, that'll be a discussion with the granting agency, the Federal Communications Commission.

SPEAKER_99

Yeah.

SPEAKER_16

Thanks.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_14

So the FCC is the same agency that didn't have a board of governors for how many years and is still trying to figure out what Fox News is about.

Those are the people that are going to figure this out.

SPEAKER_03

Ultimately I mean I'm not familiar with.

That had information as far as the board, but yes, as the deputy said, that would be ultimately, as with other findings, it's up to the grantor agency to be the one to work out whether there'll be repayment, and ultimately, we are auditing to the federal requirements, and as a reporting agency, we do audit to those requirements, but definitely this, I will say again, it's been a rather unusual type of situation that I've, In many years of auditing it's rare that you have this many requirements have the same type of issue with the program.

So that's back to you know acknowledging that Pat McCarthy has been aware that this is a situation where we are doing our responsibility as far as auditing requirements but also you know communicating with the various agencies as to definitely understanding that again I don't want to go too far.

The communications possibly could have been improved as best I can say.

SPEAKER_18

Guess it it's worth noting.

I mean we've been Reimbursed for this and so they would take you know an action on the part of the granting agency To try to restore this funds, you know, there's a lot of confusion around it.

I'm sure there'll be a negotiation, but It's not like we're waiting for this money.

We're waiting for somebody to ask for it back and I Think we I The district made sound decisions and did what needed to be done.

And I think everyone has acknowledged that.

SPEAKER_04

Any other questions related to the finding?

Okay.

Move to the next slide, please.

So this next slide, I just wanted to note everyone, just all the programs that were selected and included in our single audit.

So first, as we previously mentioned, the COVID-19 Emergency Connectivity Fund.

We also audited the Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, COVID-19 Education Stabilization Fund, and COVID-19 Head Start Program.

And the reason why I see COVID-19, because Either some or all of the funding was related to COVID-19, so that's why that is also noted there.

And all of those cost for those programs total about 63% reported on the CFA for 2022. Okay, next slide please.

So just something we wanted to note, we also identified some minor issues that we reported as exit items during the audit.

So these are seen as housekeeping issues that are insignificant or have an immaterial effect and are not referenced in the audit report.

We've communicated these to district management and do not plan on going into detail on these items during the meeting, but did want to include this slide to just note that we did identify some relatively minor issues in the course of the audit as well.

Any questions before we move forward?

Okay.

And then with the next slide, I will turn it over to Eileen Du.

SPEAKER_22

Thanks, Johnny.

Good afternoon, everyone.

So now that we have shared the results of our audit, we do have a few closing remarks that we would like to bring to your attention to conclude the presentation.

First, we're pleased to report the cost of our engagement is expected to be within the estimate that was previously provided to you.

We thank the district for your timely response to audit requests, which really allowed our audits to progress efficiently and remain within budget.

Next, we provided Information on your next audit and your next audit will cover accountability financial statement and federal programs or single audit In addition we have provided information a cost estimate for your budgetary needs in your exit packet and I believe on page 3 and So the next slide talks about report publication.

Your audit reports were already published on our website, and we've also included copies of your audit reports in the exit packet for your reference.

We also send out customer service survey.

We encourage you to complete the survey as all feedbacks are helpful in improving our services.

I believe Director Amy Fleming was the one who received the survey.

Please feel free to forward it on to anybody who might like to share their feedback.

Next slide, please.

So beyond the regular scheduled audits, please know that we also have support services that's available to you at no additional cost all year round.

First is the local government support team, and they're available to assist with annual financial reporting and accounting services.

This team provide one-on-one technical assistance and they also offer several trainings around the state and virtually to help you keep you updated on the latest county and reporting topics.

The Center for Government Innovation is another great resource for local governments to work better and be more efficient and effective.

So they provide expert advice in areas like lean, peer-to-peer networking, and culture building, and et cetera.

They also offer a financial intelligence tool, better known as FIT tool.

So this helps monitor your government's financial health and compare it with other local governments like yours.

Next slide please.

So this center also provide best practice guidance on a number of areas such as payroll and bidding.

There's also resource to help local governments to respond to cyber security threats.

So if you have not already we encourage you to learn more about how the center might be able to assist with your district.

Any questions before I pass it back to Johnny.

Yes please.

SPEAKER_16

Can we go back a few slides to next next year's audit.

Right there.

So accountability for public resources financial statements and federal.

That looks very similar to this year's.

Is it different.

And if so what is it the same every year.

And I'm just not.

It is the same every year.

OK.

Just checking.

That was my question.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_19

I have a question about the Center for Government Innovation.

We could give them work all day long.

How available are they to help us with some of our systems, some of our challenges?

I mean, these things that we're talking about, process improvement, team building, financial intelligence tools, these are things that we need to support with.

How available are they?

I mean, again, we will wear them out.

SPEAKER_03

I will say they're available within just the limits of the number of people we have on staff but definitely happy to have the district contact them and definitely the very least get on the calendar and you know yeah definitely as we said they're available at no cost it's just that there are limit number of staff and all that so it's but yeah definitely happy to have the district contact them and you know want to talk with someone at the center and you know talk about some of the needs or information that you would like and just you know start getting on their radar and calendar as to what they might be able to help you with.

SPEAKER_19

Yeah it seems like a tremendous resource so thank you.

SPEAKER_04

OK and next slide please.

Okay, so here, right before we wrap up, just there's a few thank yous, a few highlights that we just wanted to note here during this meeting.

So first, I just want to thank Amy Fleming for communication assistance throughout the audit.

You know, Amy's always instrumental in our ability to conduct an efficient audit and really helpful in this last month to ensure we were able to meet the deadline for further reports.

So thank you, Amy.

I also want to thank Barry and Kenny for their communication and timely responses throughout the audit process in regards to audit requests, questions, anything related to the financial statements and federal program expenditures.

Next to Amy, we communicate with Barry and Kenny throughout the entire audit process from planning all the way to conclusion.

They've always been excellent to work with.

And then lastly, just wanted to make a note here, we really appreciate Steve, John's, and Victoria's prompt assistance with the request related to the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program audit.

We definitely did it in a pretty constrained timeline.

I know Steve and John had never been part of an audit process before.

Victoria had already been working with us within some accountability areas.

All three of them just really made themselves immediately available to me for questions, meetings, requests, you know, throughout the month of May.

So just really wanted to note them here as I appreciated their help with everything related to that challenging audit.

Next slide, please.

And all right.

And that pretty much concludes our presentation.

Were there any other questions that anyone had on really anything?

OK thank you very much.

Pleasure to work with you again.

SPEAKER_20

All right directors let's take a very quick five minute recess do what you need to do and then we're going to go right into public comment I believe after this.

So thank you very much.

What a nice bright spot going into our next opportunity.

We will be taking public testimony by phone and in person as stated on the agenda.

Board procedure 1430BP provides the rules for testimony and I ask that speakers are respectful of these rules.

I will summarize some important parts of this procedure.

First testimony will be taken today from those individuals called from our public testimony list and if applicable the waiting list which are included on today's agenda posting on the school board website.

Only those who are called by name should unmute their phones or step forward to the podium and only one person should speak at a time.

Speakers from the list may cede their time to another person when the listed speaker's name is called.

The total amount of time allowed will not exceed two minutes for the combined number of speakers.

Time will not be restarted after the new speaker begins and the new speaker will not be called again later.

if they are on the testimony list or waiting list.

Those who do not wish to have their time ceded to them may decline and retain their place on the testimony list.

The majority of the speaker's time should be spent on the topic they have indicated they wish to speak about.

The board expects the same standard of civility for those participating in public comment as the board expects of itself.

As board president, I have the right and will interrupt any speaker who fails to observe the standard of civility required by Board Procedure 1430BP.

A speaker who refuses or fails to comply with these guidelines or who otherwise substantially disrupts the orally operation of this meeting may be asked to leave the meeting.

Ms. Koo will read off the testimony speakers.

SPEAKER_17

Thank you President Hersey.

Some housekeeping before we begin.

Speakers joining us via phone please remain muted until your name is called to provide testimony.

When your name is called please be sure you have unmuted on the device you are calling from and also press star 6 to unmute yourself on the conference call line.

Each speaker will have a two minute speaking time.

You'll hear a beep when your time is exhausted and the next speaker will be called.

We're joined today by two interpreters for some of our community members to allow for interpretation.

We may extend that time period provided.

I'd like to take a moment to allow the ASL interpreters to introduce themselves.

If I could pass it to Elizabeth or Marcy.

SPEAKER_26

Hi, I'm Marcy, nice to see you all, thank you.

And Elizabeth's working, so this is Elizabeth, my team interpreter, and I'll let her keep working, yeah.

Thank you all.

SPEAKER_17

Thank you.

For the interpreters, I will ask you to help support me in calling the constituent names when the time comes.

The first speaker on the list is Chris Jackins,

SPEAKER_23

My name is Chris Jackins.

Box 8 4 0 6 3 Seattle 9 8 1 2 4. On the one point two five million dollar Rainier Beach property acquisition page one of the report states the property is located at the southwest corner of the site.

And it also states the property is located at the southeast corner of the site.

On the termination of the joint operating agreement between Seattle Public Schools and Technology Access Foundation TAF.

Seven points.

Number one thank you for being poised to do today what I asked you to do three years ago.

Number two on January 22nd 2020 the board voted to approve the agreement.

At the meeting I asked the board to instead vote No.

Number three my comments to the board at that time noted that Washington Middle School would be co-managed by the district and TAF.

Number four and that what was being proposed was to have a private company operate a public school.

Number five I included a list of seven areas in which the TAF proposal appeared to violate state law.

Number six and I asked that instead of TAF the board should reopen the African-American Academy and Indian Heritage High School.

Number seven please amend the action today to reopen the African-American Academy and Indian Heritage High School on the district budget.

Three points.

Number one enrollment is dropping free up capital funds by downsizing the oversized capacity expansion projects at Alki Montlake and Rogers and thereby also retain more playground space.

Number two at the previous board meeting I proposed a plan that would use this money to reduce budget gaps in future years.

Number three please do not close schools.

Also wish to extend my welcome to the Gramer's.

I see three of them on the agenda to be speaking tonight.

Nice to have somebody from the deaf and hard of hearing community on the agenda.

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker on the list is Elizabeth Sworney.

SPEAKER_32

OK.

SPEAKER_17

Go ahead Elizabeth.

SPEAKER_15

OK.

Hello.

Good evening.

My name is Elizabeth Sworney and I'm the counselor at Beacon Hill International School.

I'm here to speak to the district's decision to default all elementary school counselor positions to social work positions.

Many elementary school counselors are losing their jobs at a pivotal moment for students.

School counselors and social workers are complementary, not interchangeable.

Both are critical in a well-resourced school, each focused on different levels of service with some overlap.

School counselors build foundations, reaching every child in every grade, teaching invaluable life skills like emotional regulation, problem solving, healthy coping, and more.

Only school counselors provide school-wide teaching and prevention.

With counselors tending to the needs of the whole school, social workers are able to focus on students with higher needs, By replacing elementary counselors with a different role, FTS has ensured that our youngest learners will receive no systematic SEL instruction and mental health education, not to mention college and career preparation.

Neither role can do it all, nor should they, although counselors have been doing exactly that for years, only to be told it's not enough to keep their jobs.

Additionally, school counselors are the only professionals trained to implement the comprehensive school counseling program model that was mandated last year by the legislature and is now being rolled out by OSPI.

For that reason alone, the timing of this decision is awful.

The pre-COVID formulas for determining critical needs fall so far short of our current reality, it's hard to overstate.

This decision solves nothing just passes the problem down the road putting more pressure on students families and staff and putting schools in a dangerous position of being reactive rather than proactive.

Focusing on one role at the expense of the other is mistaken and short-sighted.

We must take the long view and provide both or we fail in our own paramount duty to students.

As we prepare to invest millions of dollars in outside agencies and partnerships I ask Can't we also support the people who are already doing this work in our schools and hold deep trusting relationships with students.

I invite you to consider what a true culture of care looks like outside of the scarcity model of white supremacy.

Thank you.

I see my time.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker is Saeeda Ahmed.

SPEAKER_01

Good afternoon.

My name is Saeeda Ahmed and I stand before you as a senior in high school eagerly preparing to embark on my journey as a university student.

This was only made possible by the capable and invaluable counselors at my school.

Throughout my time in the Running Start program I often found myself questioning if I was on the right path.

Moments of doubt and uncertainty would creep in making me feel isolated and alone.

Yet it was during these moments that I turned to my counselors seeking guidance and reassurance.

They became beacons of hope in my life showing me that I was capable of achieving greatness.

However the truth is that the majority of running start students often feel this sense of isolation.

Over the past two years I have witnessed firsthand of the disconnect from our high school community as well as the struggles my classmates have faced with learning how to apply for classes what to do when failing a course or even navigating the college community.

It is in times like these that counselors that counselors become a critical role in our community.

They are the bridge that connect us to the resource knowledge and support we need to thrive.

Unfortunately the recent actions of our school board have shown negligence and insensitivity towards the importance of counselors.

By jeopardizing their funding you are not just impacting their livelihoods but also undermining the success of students under your care.

As leaders tasked with the guidance and supporting us, you have shown intentions of setting us up for failure.

The toll that Running Start takes on our minds and bodies is immense.

The academic and personal challenges we face require a strong support system without the unwavering dedication and assistance of our counselors.

Students in the program will struggle to reach their full potential without it.

It is a fact that cannot be ignored or brushed aside.

Today I implore you to take immediate action to restore and fully support our our counselors recognizing the indispensable role they play in shaping the lives of low income students children of color and all those who have been historically marginalized.

By investing in their strenuous and much-needed services, you will be empowering students to overcome obstacles and achieve their dreams.

Let us not forget that education is a powerful catalyst for a change in opportunity by ensuring that every student has access to the guidance and support they need.

We are creating we are creating a brighter future for all.

Together we can dismantle the barriers that prevent students from realizing their full potential.

I want to leave one more note before closing.

I want to express my gratitude and appreciation to the counselors who have made a lasting impact on my life.

Your dedication and unwavering belief in our abilities have propelled us closer to success to the members of the school board.

Please step back and reflect on your actions.

You're not just affecting the counselors you're affecting all the students that you are here to support and guide.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_17

Next speaker is Chloe Kimiai.

SPEAKER_08

All right.

Good evening Superintendent Jones and members of the school board.

My name is Chloe Kimiai.

I'm a proud counselor at Cleveland High School and I'm here today to discuss concerns related to school counseling student mental health and the removal of running start funding.

I feel so lucky to be at a school that has historically valued counseling and social workers and put money into funding support staff to help students with their mental health.

At Cleveland we have three full time counselors and one full time social worker.

Yet still we have caseloads of over 300 students.

Running Start funding has been instrumental in supporting those counseling roles.

With the reduction and cut of funding we were at risk of losing that amount of support.

Support that is not enough as is.

Student mental health concerns are at an all time high.

Since COVID these concerns have been exacerbated.

We have seen more trauma more school and community violence.

More suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety, fear, and avoidance, just to name a few.

Students and families' well-being and safety has been impacted as well, and so has staff.

Staff across the district have been experiencing distress as well, and burnout is a real issue.

How can we support students when we don't feel supported as staff.

How can we support students when the needs are so high that there is already not enough mental health support people in the building as is.

Students came down to John Stanford Center to ask for more support and more counselors.

I understand things are tough and we're in a deficit but I do not believe that cutting funding that many buildings use to help provide that support is the answer.

Please reissue the running start funds so that school buildings can continue to support our students.

and eliminate the use of AAFTE to determine counseling caseloads.

Running start students are not counted in counselor caseloads when using that calculation thus increasing actual student count.

School counselors social workers are the first people students come to in distress.

We know our students and we are trusted supports.

We need more funding for school based staff to continue to do this work and build strong relationships.

I understand the district is receiving DEL funding and it's imperative that that go to staff in schools.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_17

Next speaker is Claire Oppie.

SPEAKER_36

Hello my name is Claire Abe and I'm a school counselor at Cleveland.

I've also worked as a school counselor at Rising Star Elementary and social work roles at Rainier Beach High School and Aki Kurose and Mercer Middle Schools in Southeast Seattle.

I'm here today to share with you my concerns about the lack of support for student mental health in the district despite an unprecedented rise of mental health needs since the pandemic.

With all of the concerns for safety due to the recent violence in schools and around school campuses.

The district needs to be more proactive in fully funding mental health and social emotional learning support for students in every school.

Providing extra security or services to schools impacted by violence only after the fact is not enough.

We can't expect anything to change unless we invest in our students mental health and well-being by providing full time counselors and social workers in every building K through 12. In my 15 years working within SPS schools there's always been a shortage of funding for mental health supports and the pendulum swings back and forth between funding that favors either school counselors or social workers.

As a person with a master's in social work and a master's in school counseling that has worked in both positions I want to emphasize that both school counselors and social workers are well trained and able to provide mental health supports to students While our roles may seem similar there are clear differences in the different tiers of implementation and the types of critical supports that we provide without overlap and both are needed.

With so many concerns there are some solutions that the district could implement.

The easiest of solutions is to restore 100 percent of the Running Start funding to buildings moving forward to help fund counselor FTE.

The state already gives this funding to the district and its school counselors who do the work to support Running Start students.

The second solution is to use funding sources in the district such as a new D.E.E.L. grant or usher funds for mental health to support more or more both school counselors and social worker positions.

Finally we need more transparency in the budget process and feedback loop so that people making the budget decisions make informed decisions about what schools need.

I also want to thank Director Rankin for taking the time to meet and listen to count to the concerns of school counselors and invite the superintendent and other board directors to visit Cleveland to learn more about school counselors and why social worker roles and school counseling roles sorry about the school counselor and social worker roles and the important work that we do and why we should prioritize school mental health supports.

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker is Napsia Salih.

SPEAKER_05

Hello.

My name is Napsia Salih and I wear many hats.

I am a proud parent to children and SPS a South Seattle resident and a school counselor at Cleveland STEM high school.

As you can see we brought many folks in support of elementary middle and high school counselors.

I have been a part of Seattle Public Schools for almost 10 years and care deeply for my community and feel strongly about our strategic plan of Seattle excellence and continuing to work on academic and life outcomes for students of color and adhering to policy 0 0 3 0 ensuring educational and racial equity to students.

After counselor led advocacy the district restored half of the running start funds back to the high schools for next year.

We are requesting all funds back to the schools.

Look.

Let me tell you, when a student is dual enrolled, they are utilizing high school resources, sports, ASB, activities, and especially school counselors for support.

Most of my students are students of color, and they are the first in their families to attend college, and therefore need guidance.

I have heard, well, if they want to become a college student, they need to self-advocate and use a website with minimal support.

The college system has legacies of racism and part of my role as a school counselor is to disrupt that system and provide assistance to students with care and consideration.

To do that we need school counselors to be fully funded to meet the demands.

Elected community members, Please join the support of restoring running start funds to schools and be committed to funding school counselors appropriately and K to 12 using the city DEL funding for mental health and aligning to equitable access per policy 0 0 3 0. Thank you.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker is Helen Tuskison.

SPEAKER_33

Hi my name is Halin Tashkisan.

I'm a full time running start student and a 11th grader at Cleveland STEM high school.

So today I wanted to come talk about funding that has been removed from our council or is going to be removed from our counselors and social workers that should stay permanently with the schools.

As a running start student I've experienced a lot of issues that we've already started talking about.

And counselors are the backbone to making sure that these Running Start students continue and you know don't just give up.

Before starting Running Start in ninth grade during the COVID pandemic counselors were also there to support.

So I had a lot of questions like what is high school what's going on you know.

And counselors were the people who were there for us even when teachers didn't know you know what to tell us or no one knew what was going to happen next.

I actually started a club during ninth grade in the COVID pandemic and my counselor was there to support me and be the advisor and has continued to be our advisor for the last three years.

Counselors are very important, even like in any scenario, but especially during the Running Start process.

So they run the Running Start orientations.

They provide that support.

They're the people who you go to while filling out the paperwork.

and that's not a limited amount of people, there's so many students who are pursuing Running Start.

And taking a difficult course load, it makes it harder and having those teachers, those counselors to go to is super important to continue building our foundations.

You might say, you know, you're not cutting out all of our funding for counselors, but the workload is already super hectic that if you remove one counselor, it seems like it's a small amount, but That workload is being shared to the other counselors and that will ruin the experience of how having that time to meet with them and actually you know learn what's going on and create that bond with that one teacher.

OK.

Thank you for your time and please consider.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker is Hawa Ismail.

SPEAKER_38

Hello my name is Hawa Ismail.

I'm a running start student from Cleveland High School.

I'm also graduating this year and I can't imagine a world without the full counseling staff at Cleveland High School.

In my year at Running Start I've only I've only been to the Seattle Central Running Start office like two times but the quality of counseling cannot compare to the ones I've met at Cleveland.

I find it hard to contact my Running Start advisors because they only have three advisors and thousands of students.

They don't know who I am what my goals are what I need from them.

Whereas in my years at Cleveland High School I found the quality of counselors to be exceptional.

And in my me and my peers experience the counselors at Cleveland are flexible with my running start schedule responsive and they actually remember who I am.

And to them I'm not just a number another number on the spreadsheet.

They know what I want to achieve in life and they always work hard to send me internships, scholarships that match my skills and interests.

The counseling office is a comfortable place for me when I'm feeling stressed out.

At Cleveland, I know my counselors are there for me.

The bond that we created during my first two years in high school were not wasted.

I'm sure in SPS there are a multitude of counseling offices like this to reduce funding which would be reducing the quality of care for all students including the BIPOC students that make up a majority of Seattle Public Schools.

I'd also like to add that I'm the first person from my family to go to to go to a four year college and I honestly don't think I would have gotten the support I needed if the funding would be would be reduced.

I bid my time.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker is Joe Donahoe.

SPEAKER_12

Hello my name is Joe Donahoe.

I use he him pronouns and I'm a teacher at Cleveland High School where I teach 11th and 12th grade students in applied molecular biology and UW Bio 100 neurobiology of addiction.

I also serve on our school's teacher leader cadre professional development committee advise the African Student Association and HOSA clubs assistant coach the baseball team and serve as the PLC leader for the biotechnology CTE pathway.

I list those titles not to brag but to illustrate how the tightening of our school budgets has forced so many educators to do so much more than our job descriptions.

Many of my colleagues serve on more teams than I do.

I have two asks for you today.

The first is to fully restore the running start budget for counselors instead of just the 50 percent that has been returned so far.

At our school this would be the difference between having two or three of the counselors that you've heard from today.

I also ask that you increase the FTE allocated to counselors and social workers to have them fully funded in every building.

If we want to offer our students the best possible chance of success in concurrent enrollment classes, we need to keep providing them support at the high school level too.

Our counselors are already overworked and cutting their running start budget would make their work situation untenable and the people who would ultimately pay that price would be running start students and other students left to hang in the balance.

Removing these funds would make it less of a running start to college and more akin to pushing baby birds out of the nest to either fly or fall to their deaths.

Every student that I spoke with in preparation for today who is a Running Start student told me that our school counselors are 100 percent necessary to be successful in Running Start.

A quote from one student is that my Cleveland counselor is so much more helpful than my Seattle Central counselor.

I can't even get an email back from people at Seattle Central most of the time.

As a teacher, our counselors and social workers are the professionals I turn to when I become aware of a student in need of support that I can't or don't know how to provide.

For example, they helped one student get emancipated from a difficult home situation in her ninth grade year, and she is now flourishing.

Our school social worker also helped a student get all of his paperwork filed for the McKinney-Vento program, which enabled him to receive a full-ride scholarship to college next year.

These incredible people are working disproportionately with students furthest from educational justice and I think they are some of the most important people in our schools.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker is John Taylor.

SPEAKER_29

Hello.

SPEAKER_17

Hi we can hear you John.

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_29

I am John Taylor and I'm the school counselor for BF Day Elementary.

I am speaking tonight to advocate for Seattle Public Schools to increase funding for school counselors in our schools and especially in our K-5 settings.

Our mission statement as a district infers that we support students' social and emotional development and we provide the teaching of life skills.

That's our mission.

Most kids yes will will will at some point receive some of this naturally either by their genetic disposition or by their environment.

But many kids do not.

We need to be intentional about supporting these life skills.

We cannot expect our students just to receive these just naturally.

As a school counselor we will provide a comprehensive school counseling program that works with all stakeholders.

We support students social emotional career and and academic skills.

And this looks like addressing opportunity gaps providing intentional classroom and small group lessons working one-on-one with students.

And in and in many cases these students are going through intense crises.

We and also we support teachers to meet the child's needs in the classroom so they can thrive academically.

Additionally school counselors are supporting families essential needs by connecting them with resources.

School counselors have a very unique perspective.

We have a touchpoint with all stakeholders.

There's not there's not one other position in the school building that is similar to that.

And lastly I want to share how my fellow staff members at BFA perceive the need for a full-time school counselor.

For the past seven years I've been funded 0.5 by the district.

and then 0.5 by our generous PTSA.

At the end of each year, the staff determines how to best use this PTSA funding.

This may include funding for our librarians, reading help, assistant principal, but each of those seven years, they have all voted over 90% to fund a full-time school counselor.

I am advocating not just for our kids but I'm advocating for the teachers as well as we are supporting them to be their best selves.

So lastly thank you for your time and I'm just advocating for a full-time school counselor in every K-5 setting.

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker is Brett Gramer.

SPEAKER_00

Hi, my name is Brett Gramer and I am a sixth grader at TOPS K-8.

I am deaf.

My whole family is deaf and we are bilingual because we use ASL and English.

I can code splits between the two languages.

At TOPS, I have deaf and hard of hearing peers and hearing peers.

I'm able to talk to my hearing peers using spoken English.

I do wish they do know more ASL to take the communication burden off me because I have to do more work to be able to communicate and connect with my hearing peers.

The ASL teacher would teach my classmates, teachers, and friends ASL to be more Deaf-friendly and better communicator in general.

Not with me, no wait, not with just me, but everyone else because they would know more how to be inclusive.

My younger brother Lucas is Deaf, but he needs ASL to be able to communicate with others.

He works hard in speech therapy to lip read and say some spoken English words.

She is doing his part.

However his peers want to learn sign and connect with Lucas.

We need to we need the ASL teacher to help with teaching peers so they can connect with and be friends.

Where are Lucas classmates supposed to learn sign language.

I am busy in my own grade.

Lucas is not going to want to have an interpreter follow him around so he can talk to his peers.

I know this work because one of Lucas's coaches for soccer took ASL classes at Roosevelt years ago and he communicates with my brother Lucas.

He trains Lucas to be a better player and helps Lucas Lucas's team play together.

We need more people who can sign.

We need an ASL teacher to make our school more inclusive and that we can connect more with our hearing peers.

Please fund the ASL teacher position.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker is Lucas Gramer.

SPEAKER_13

Hello.

My name is Lucas Gramer.

Sorry.

He's giving it to his friend who's also a deaf classmate and his friend his time and his friend will speak.

SPEAKER_35

My name is Megan Whitney Miller.

I'm speaking on behalf of Lucas's friend my son Julian.

I'm a parent of three kids at TOPS K-8.

TOPS is the only elementary middle school in the district with a deaf and hard of hearing classroom.

An accessible environment for deaf students to learn alongside other deaf peers.

My youngest has been in the DHH program at TOPS for four years.

Last year we moved our other two children from a school they loved into TOPS.

We made this decision based on assurances from administrators and community members that attending TOPS would give them the opportunity to learn more ASL and have more exposure to deaf culture.

These assurances probably well-meaning were untrue.

What my children have learned is how marginalized the DHH community school is.

Outside of the DHH classrooms there is almost no ASL being used to communicate.

They have learned that their deaf peers have to continually advocate for themselves in a general learning environment.

We're hearing teachers and staff have no idea how to anticipate their needs support them understand or empathize how they're being treated as other on a daily basis.

I have repeatedly advocated for an ASL teacher in the school to provide access to language and culture in hopes of building a bridge between the deaf and hearing world at TOPS.

An overwhelming majority of TOPS students want to learn ASL to communicate with their peers without having to rely on an interpreter.

DHH students are excited by the possibility of signing with their hearing friends.

Last year the BLT at TOPS was able to scrape together sufficient funds from the building budget to cover an ASL teacher for this school year.

The victory was short-lived as the newly hired ASL teacher was moved into a teacher of the deaf position mid-year to fill a vacancy.

This year's school budget review meeting dealt another blow.

There are not sufficient building funds to cover an ASL teacher for the upcoming school year.

No one I've spoken to at the district really understands the magnitude of social and emotional damage being done to the entire TOPS community.

The current environment sends a message that marginalization is acceptable.

The district has a responsibility to the TOPS community to correct this and stop validating discrimination in our school.

I'm asking the school board to support this cause.

SPEAKER_17

Thank you.

The next speaker is Allison Augstin.

Allison, if you're on the line, please press star six to unmute.

The next speaker on the list is Laura.

Allison.

The next speaker on the list is Laura Gramer.

SPEAKER_13

OK.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Laura Gramer, and I'm the parent of two deaf boys.

You just met them.

You met Lucas and Brett just now.

And they both go to top school, as they said.

I want my boys to go there because of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program there gives them access to school.

in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program, and that they have peers that are also with them, the same as them.

And it's a Deaf-friendly school.

And I have been advocating for the entire time that my kids have been identified as being eligible for services.

And so it's been almost a decade, 10 years.

And I will continue advocating, not only for my boys, but for other kids at TOPS, at Roosevelt High School, at Bridges, and Deaf, a part of and hard of hearing children who are mainstreamed all over the district.

They are supposed to have access to free and appropriate public education without any oppression because of being deaf or hard of hearing.

There are so many things that they need to face during the day.

I just want to give one example.

There are many things that I want to address and I'm going to talk about one because of the time limitation.

We need an ASL teacher at top school.

That position is different than a teacher of the deaf.

It's a separate position that has to be extremely clear.

While my boys have both come up through the grades at TOPS, I have connected with other parents of deaf kids and parents of hearing kids, both.

And we want to see a bilingual program where all of the students have an opportunity to learn together, that they can witness They are witnessing the separation and inequity segregation and inequity around the learning situation and among the staff among the staff and the parents like me.

I hope you all have read the letter.

and the artwork that the students and parents sent to the board.

The hearing kids want to learn sign and they recognize that they can't connect without it.

And the deaf kids want the hearing kids to learn to connect with them as well.

In some of the letters we sent, when I saw them, my heart broke when I saw what the kids had seen with their deaf and hard of hearing friends not having the access they should have.

My heart hurts because my young son can't connect with his peers in third grade at school.

His relationships are very superficial.

Hearing parents know that it's not enough to just show movies with captions or with the birthday party events at school.

With me, I know that I need to interpret for School events.

I need a quiet environment for clear communication.

Those are my needs.

And it's terrible that the school is forcing each that the school district is forcing each building to prioritize their money to make a decision about inclusion.

It's a basic need of what we need to provide in schools.

All the talk about inclusion and this this lack of inclusion is what makes this situation happen.

Please do read the letters and the artwork that we sent to you.

And please provide district funding for an ASL teaching position at TOPS school because it is going to benefit everyone at TOPS.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker on the list is Tim Sullivan.

SPEAKER_27

Hi, Alison's here and Tim said I could use his time.

SPEAKER_17

Can you hear me?

Yeah, we can hear you.

SPEAKER_27

Go ahead.

Okay, thanks very much.

So hi, I'm addressing my comments here to the school board and the district, including Dr. Jones, Dr. Pedroza, Dr. Starowski, Dr. Campbell and Dr. McCarthy.

My name is Allison Augustine and my child attends Stevens Elementary on Capitol Hill.

I'm advocacy chair of the PTA and I'm also a middle-aged white lady.

You may have ideas about what all of that means but please believe that Stevens itself is a diverse community that meets some real student needs including a food bank special education and dual-language learners.

And this community has questions about consolidation.

And because we want to help all students not just even we request the district provide meaningful ways for everyone to engage in this process and transparency of information and processes in the following areas.

Who is making consolidation decisions and what is the criteria.

The definition of a well-resourced school.

How will you engage community meaningfully before making recommendations in October.

Could the capital gains tax surplus literally buy us time to make inclusive plans that strengthen communities And Representative Jamie Peterson has noted boundaries from 10 years ago still impact school enrollment and resources and we're wondering why there are no plans to examine those boundaries at this time.

It's a huge disservice to our children and undermines our community's trust in SPS if the district is not meaningful engaged.

One example is Kids Club provides before and after child care for working parents of all demographics.

They're a partner in the district in the launch program and they're headquartered at Stevens Have you considered that you're putting child care at risk which is very much an equity issue.

I spoke with the Executive Director of Kids Club and I know so far that you have not.

Just one example.

We're engaging with many people working to support Seattle children including our senior teaching staff and union reps state representatives Seattle PTA SESPA CANSA integrated schools Southeast Seattle Education Coalition and more.

We look forward to engaging with the district too and we'll follow up with an email to provide you with an address for responses.

Thank you very much and sorry about the mute.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker is Francis Lin.

SPEAKER_30

Hear me.

SPEAKER_17

Yeah I can hear you.

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_30

Hello.

Can you hear me.

SPEAKER_17

Yes we can hear you.

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_31

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Francis Lin and I am a teacher at Cleveland STEM High School.

I want to speak today over my concern about the funding cuts to mental health supports at Cleveland High School and across the district.

During the start of the pandemic in 2020 the district made the point to prioritize the mental health of our students knowing that more than just students the well-being of these young people we educate was at stake.

While some of the impacts of COVID have been mitigated the need for mental health supports have not.

We continue to live through unprecedented times year after year, and through it all, our counselors and social workers tirelessly work to help our students navigate these turbulent conditions.

That is why I was quite frightened at the prospect of cutting funding for our counselors, using the underpinning that students who are at running start would not count towards their caseload.

Our counselors wear many hats to go well beyond the job description, as we've heard earlier today.

Their day can go from walking a first-generation college student through the application and financial aid process, to developing a curriculum for social emotional learning, to holding the emotions of a student who had a difficult day.

They provide an anchoring calm to the maelstrom that is being a young person today.

Already stretched so thin, cutting funding to mental health professionals over something as asinine as disregarding Rennick Start students on their caseload, as if they are not being served by our team, would cause irreparable harm to staff and students alike.

I can't count the number of times I've heard from my students telling me that Ms. Abe was essential to getting them to graduation, or Ms. Lee helped them get through a tough year, or Ms. Chloe just helped them get through the day.

I don't want to think within deficits, so I want you to imagine a scenario instead where mental health is fully supported, fully funded, where our counselors and social workers have the capacity to reach every student so they can all reach, get to graduation and beyond, so they can thrive through each year or just make it through each day.

Sit in that reality and take that first step.

fully restore the running start funding to our counselors and fully resource mental health support throughout the district.

Thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker on the list is Laura Marie Rivera.

Laura Marie Rivera.

If you're on the line please press star 6 to unmute.

The next speaker on the list is Sherilyn Crowther.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you.

I'm Sherilyn Crowther.

I'm president of the Seattle Special Education PTSA.

Our organization was one of many working this year to get lawmakers to cover the costs of basic education and together we achieved progress.

Some.

We had a shared goal.

We have another one in the successful implementation of our new special education service pathway extended resource.

Implementation needs information.

Families have questions.

What's happening with access.

Can you do a presentation on extended resource.

When is the district going to share information.

Is the district going to share information.

Dr. Torres made clear why this change is needed in talking about the anonymous IEPs that were reviewed were the difference between students in SEL the social emotional learning service pathway and students in access.

The only difference was race.

The services were the same.

That has to change.

Making that change successful requires a lot more communication.

One page on the district website and speaking at our monthly meetings appreciated is not enough.

And on top of the lack of information there's also concerns about what's happening in classrooms filled with students receiving special education a.k.a. segregated classrooms.

Fewer adults because jobs are open but aren't filled and without a June staff adjustment it gets worse next year.

Overage doesn't work.

More money doesn't make it easier to meet an increased IEP workload when staff is at or beyond capacity.

It's wrong that our state has failed its paramount duty to educate, even with a little bit more money, but it's what we're all dealing with.

Make this change easier for everyone and increase the communication around extended resource.

Reach out in the multiple languages, the texts, calls, drop videos, and please set up community meetings this month and next with full interpretation.

Tell us what to expect with extended resources for its success.

And I'm going to take a little extra and also say that every time I come here and I hear my other the other people who are testifying and I hear what they say I realize the challenges that this board is facing and the superintendent is facing.

Tell the story.

Tell the big broad story.

Those running start students.

Those are powerful stories.

Laura and her brave kids.

Great stories.

We can do better.

SPEAKER_17

Thank you.

The next speaker is Kara Gagne.

SPEAKER_26

Interpreter just waiting for her team one second.

Hi, I'm Kara Gagner, and I'm a deaf mother of my daughter who is hearing at Gatewood Elementary School in West South.

West Seattle.

West Seattle.

On May 5th, I got an email from a teacher that there was gonna be a musical performance on June 5th.

So I was so excited, I was so looking forward to it, and I requested an interpreter, and they said that was absolutely, that was fine, they would take care of that, no problem.

So two weeks later, I had not heard anything.

So I just checked in again just to make sure that everything was fine.

And they said, OK, we're going to check that again and told me the teacher would check that again.

On June 50, that was Monday, I went early to make sure that there was an interpreter and that everything was all set, which I always do.

I like to meet the interpreter before any kind of event just to make sure.

This was the last musical performance for their elementary school experience, so right before they graduate.

So it's a very important event.

So it was 7 o'clock, and I had already arrived there.

And there was a paper on a seat that said, reserved for interpreter.

But there was no person actually sitting in the chair.

That was very upsetting to me, as you can imagine.

This is the 504 coordinator who had not responded to my teacher's email about this interpreter.

This 504 coordinator needs to make this request and really broke my heart seriously.

This person clearly does not understand how this feels to not have access like this to get there to be in my shoes to have no access to my child's my child's performance.

And these access issues are so important at our school.

We need we need.

to be equivalent with everybody else, not subpar with anybody else, not almost equivalent with everybody else.

I was so excited.

And I feel like I had to lie to my daughter to say, good job in the performance, because I did not actually have the access to tell her the truth about what I couldn't hear in their performance.

So I really think if you could reconsider your 504 coordinator review and look at that carefully about ASL interpreter requests.

And this is across the board expectations.

At our school especially it's been year after year I mean, 40 or 50 years, it's been decades.

Oh, come on, please, we need this to be taken seriously.

Really reconsider and take a look at the situation so that we can take some action, please.

And thank you so much for your time.

SPEAKER_17

The next speaker is Brooke Gagner.

SPEAKER_26

Oh, that's my daughter.

And I'm not sure if she wants to speak for herself.

Let me see.

Oh, she's afraid.

She's afraid to testify, actually.

I'm checking.

One second.

Let me see.

One second, please.

Thank you.

Oh, apparently not.

No.

SPEAKER_25

OK.

No.

Thank you.

OK.

Thank you.

Oh, wait, wait, wait, sorry.

Wait, here she comes.

Do you want to testify?

Okay, coming in.

SPEAKER_17

Okay, go ahead, Brooke.

SPEAKER_26

Okay, great, thank you.

She's afraid, she's feeling fear, yeah.

Thank you anyway, thank you all.

SPEAKER_17

That's OK.

Before.

Before we conclude.

SPEAKER_28

I'm sorry this is Tim Sullivan.

I was number 15 on the list and I think you may have skipped me accidentally.

Can I read my statement please.

SPEAKER_17

Tim I I think that Allison Augustine mentioned that you.

SPEAKER_28

She was supposed to be number 13 on the list and just had a problem with her mute button.

SPEAKER_17

Okay.

Okay thank you so much.

Go ahead and make your comments.

SPEAKER_28

Thank you so much.

Hi I'm Tim Sullivan a parent of a kindergartner at Stevens Elementary and co-president of the Stevens PTA.

I'm addressing my comments and questions about the school board and of the school district including Superintendent Jones, Concie Pedroza, Mike Starosky, Marnie Campbell and Mike McCarthy.

As a parent of a kindergartner and a 3-year-old I'm personally invested in the long-term health of SPS in our schools.

What little I've been able to learn about SPS's school consolidation plans leaves me deeply concerned that the school district has not taken the time to learn what is most important to our families and communities.

If school consolidation decisions are simply math on a budget spreadsheet, I'm worried it will destroy communities and undermine long-term value.

I have a few key questions.

One, are school boundary changes in consideration as part of the consolidation effort?

If so, what is the criteria?

And how will you avoid some of the problems in the boundary changes in the fall of 2014 which reduced Stevens' enrollment from over 400 to under 200. Two, are student transportation options part of the criteria?

Is there waiting for eco- and community-friendly options like walking and biking?

Three, is the health and viability of the community around schools part of the criteria?

If so, how is that measured?

And four, how will you learn what is most important to our families and communities?

At Stevens, in a recent survey of the community, 72 percent of responders brought their child to school via walking or biking.

Sixty-nine percent of written comments in that survey referenced the community around Stevens as being their favorite thing about the school.

Those stats are connected because a large school with street-side drop-off for private cars simply cannot develop the same level of community as one with daily face-to-face connections between parents.

If you aren't measuring these critical factors and accounting for them in your plans you will destroy some of the greatest value your schools bring to Seattle and you will drive even more students away to private education.

Members of the community are standing by to help with the difficult process of balancing the budget and consolidating and rezoning schools.

All you have to do is ask and engage.

If you wait to meaningfully engage until after your decisions are already announced in October, it will be too late.

You will undermine trust and drive away some of your greatest supporters.

Thank you for your consideration.

SPEAKER_17

Before we conclude today's testimony I want to go back and check on those who may have missed their turn.

Laura Marie Rivera.

Laura if you're on the line please press star 6 to unmute.

Thank you to the interpreters for offering your services today.

This concludes today's testimony.

SPEAKER_20

Thank you very much and thank you to all those who spent some time with us this evening and sharing your insight.

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

May I have a motion for the consent agenda.

SPEAKER_09

I move approval of the consent agenda.

SPEAKER_10

Sarju seconds.

SPEAKER_20

Approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Director Rankin and seconded by Director Sarju.

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

Director Samuels.

SPEAKER_24

I'd like to remove item number six please.

SPEAKER_20

Noted.

Any other items that we'd like to remove from the consent agenda this evening.

OK.

Seeing none.

May I have a motion for the consent agenda as amended.

SPEAKER_09

I move approval of the consent agenda as amended.

SPEAKER_20

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

SPEAKER_16

Aye.

SPEAKER_20

Aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

Any abstentions.

All right.

Consent agenda passes unanimously as amended.

OK.

So.

The agenda item number six has been removed and I would like to entertain a motion for agenda item number six.

We're working on it.

One second.

It's right here.

SPEAKER_09

I move approval of agenda a consent agenda item number six removed from the consent agenda amendment to board policy numbers 12 20 board officers and duties of the board 12 40 committees 12 50 student schools school board student members 13 10 policy adoption suspension manuals and superintendent procedures.

1400 meeting conduct in order of business and quorum, 1420 proposed agendas and consent agenda, 1620 board superintendent relationship, 2015 selection adoption of instructional materials, 6550 internal audit policy and board procedures, 1620 BP board superintendent relationship procedure, 1630 BP evaluation of the superintendent, and 6550 BP internal audit procedure.

Approval item approval of this item would amend board policy numbers 1220 1240 1250 1310 1400 1420 1620 2015 and 6550 and board procedures 1620 BP 1630 BP and 6550 BP as attached to the board action report Stardew seconds

SPEAKER_20

All right.

Thank you.

So this has been moved by Vice President Rankin seconded by Director Sardieu.

Given that Director Samaritz has pulled it from the agenda if you have any questions or discussions now would be the time.

SPEAKER_24

Anything further to add to the discussion or comments.

I think I covered my points and when it was introduced.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_20

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Director Harris.

SPEAKER_14

It will come as no surprise that I won't be voting for this.

I'm consistent.

My concern is that I believe we have given away some of our limited power under accountability and transparency.

I am distressed that we do not have committees.

I think committees are critically important and the committees have not been replaced by the work sessions as was promised some months ago.

I am distressed that we don't have board comments from this dais.

So that folks that elected us folks that pass our levies on a regular basis can hear from us.

I think that it's critically important that we stand up get counted right here from the dais.

I appreciate that I'm in the minority and I hope that I have delivered my comments with a sense of respect and collegiality.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_20

Director Hampson.

SPEAKER_11

I just want to offer a couple of points of clarity that the this particular amendment though it covers a large number of policies.

The amendments themselves are relatively small and yes they do eliminate our standing committees with the exception of the audit committee.

However.

That doesn't mean that we don't have the option to reinstate additional standing committees or ad hoc committees.

We are trying to the intent is to align with best practices in terms of the types of committees that boards use the best practice being that they are generally standing or ad hoc committees that are created when.

work needs to be done and that there are instances however where you do have standing standing committees and we may as a board choose to do that.

However the ultimate practice that is. not considered in alignment with any kind of understood best practice is to have alignment of committees with the departments of the district because then that becomes a control and check on the work of the superintendent and our relationships end up being with staff members as opposed to us working together as a board to set policy that is.

Directing the superintendent specifically to do work and that governs how we work together and our relationships.

And so I just want to be clear that we're not.

There's no no limitations to other committees that may come forward because that's what we decide is appropriate for this particular policy governance structure.

And there's a whole lot of variation out there that whether it's a governance committee or a budgeting slash finance committee those are definitely possibilities that we could see in our future as potentially permanent committees.

If it makes sense for the work that we need to do to support the superintendent in creating the conditions to achieve outcomes for students.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_20

Any other directors.

Go ahead Director Rivera-Smith.

SPEAKER_16

Thank you.

At our last meeting when this was introduced I expressed my my my support of the idea of making this job more sustainable I guess for lack of a better word for everybody.

And at the same time my worry that there's a lot of information that is being removed with those committees.

And whether or not it's information we can argue all day about how important it is for us to have it versus not have it.

But I'm of the opinion that the more information the better.

So I just say I'm going to vote.

Yes on this but I will make it very clear that I and we had a little you know I think Superintendent Jones understands that we're still working on our communications from his office to us.

And as we lose a lot of the meat of the committees the information that came in those committees.

I just want to make it very clear that I I hope we can build that in somewhere in that communication that he establishes with us.

because we don't have it yet and I know you're working on it but that is part of what I don't want us to miss out on and especially future board members to miss out on because we've been through there, we've seen it, we kind of have an idea of what is out there that we're not quite seeing updates on and we can ask about it because we've heard of it before.

Ongoing wise future directors aren't going to understand what they're not seeing so if there's just I just again I want to emphasize how much I am looking forward to seeing that come through your communications to us in whatever form that is going to be created for that like online dashboard or weekly memo or however that is because it is important for us to have that holistic view of our district beyond just the goals and guardrails.

I know we're really focusing on those but our district is not just the goals and guardrails.

It's so much other beautiful wonderful things that we're not seeing or hearing about with those updates of the goals and guardrails and monitoring of those.

So again I support this enough that I'm going to vote yes but I do expect and hope to see whatever parts of those committee informations we can see come forward through your ongoing communications with us and updates.

So thank you.

SPEAKER_20

Thank you.

And let me just be super clear on record.

I am committing for anybody who might be watching this to solving that problem with y'all.

I have no issue looking at how can we fit much of that information as you know directors request into our current structure.

So 100 percent agree.

Looking forward to working on it.

Director Rankin.

SPEAKER_09

Yeah kind of echoing what Director Rivera-Smith said and thank you for those those comments.

I think it's our part of this vote to me is like the mutual commitment to.

building a better structure because the real root of the problem was inconsistent or inequitable access to information that the board needs and that the public needs and wants.

And so why I'm also supporting this this this vote is because committees became I feel kind of an excuse of you know the district in big quotes to say well that's publicly available because it went to the board through a committee and committees are public.

And when a when a lot of times some of that information should actually just go directly to the public and be much more available and accessible in a consistent and a consistent way without needing it to come through the board in order to be made public.

And some of what Director Rivera-Smith was saying and you know my point in this is that that direction to the superintendent is 100 percent up to us.

This this deciding to to make make final or approve approve these changes that have been temporary to be Permanent and I say permanent because also future boards can always change it.

Anything is up to a vote of the board.

It's our policy That part of doing that is also a commitment to Providing really clear direction to the superintendent and making sure that like the superintendent board relationship policy has direction in it for the kinds of communication and information that we expect.

And if we find that we're not getting that then we can relook at our policies or we can look at how we evaluate the superintendent or whatever that may be to direct that better transparency of information in a way that is meaningful and useful to the public and to us as the board as we as we do our work on behalf of our community.

SPEAKER_20

Thank you Director Rankin.

Any other comments before we move to the vote.

Director Samuels.

SPEAKER_24

I somewhat disagree that.

the standing committees were organized in a way to match the department.

I just think that's a little bit of a cynical way of looking at it.

I think that it is a really constructive way of reviewing material.

So on the operations committee, for example, I think it makes sense to review capital projects together so that you are weighing them against each other.

curriculum adoptions things that are related to student services.

It would make sense that we are reviewing them in the context of each other as well.

My primary concern and I just will reiterate again I review the agendas of our standing committees when we had them and I looked at the kind of information that we were getting and we haven't been getting them this year.

And I understand that we are all committed to trying to create a structure so that we can get that content.

But I'm really reluctant at this point to take that leap.

And so I will be voting no.

SPEAKER_11

Just a quick response.

I mean that wasn't that's not something that I made up in terms of the alignment with district departments.

That's something that's been stated and noted about an inappropriate use of our authority and our committees.

that is considered to have to result in not the best dynamics in districts.

So it's based on research it's not based on something that that I made up or that I even you know an opinion that I have.

You're indicating doubt relative to that.

I don't know if you want to speak to that but.

One of the things that I'm concerned about in terms of the information that you're you're talking about and getting access to that is that we as a district have for a very very long time.

And this is one of the reasons for the recommendation from Moss Adams to go to a policy governance model is that we've been focused on creating policy and asking for information about the behavior of adults in the system.

At the expense.

of holding the superintendent accountable for the outcomes of children.

And so I think to acknowledge where Director Rivera-Smith is coming from there is a painful intermediate period where we switch to.

information about children that frankly we're having to push the superintendent and his staff to begin to gather more regularly or to at least make transparent because it hasn't been available or accessible.

And if in the meantime we are then have less information than we're used to having.

That's a painful growth point but is necessary so that our focus because it's not appropriate for us as a governing body to be providing control and decision making about the inputs right about what the adults do.

There are certain things we're mandated to approve and we will always be mandated to approve large dollar amounts large contracts large projects large structures large frameworks that are connected to.

the policies that are connected to the vision and values.

I do think it all goes back to vision and values.

You can tie everything back to the vision, the values, the goals and the guardrails and that's how you create alignment in an organization.

That is by definition the nature of creating focus and alignment and not distracting and pulling the superintendent off into 3,000 different directions because we want to nitpick every last thing.

I'm not saying you shouldn't have access to that information or that you personally want to nitpick.

Unfortunately the focus on that because there are limited uses units of time takes us away from our focus on kids.

And until we can demonstrate that we have a focus on kids I don't believe we have any business making extraordinary comments about the practice of the adults in the system and the and the inputs.

SPEAKER_20

Oh Director Somers to respond because Director Hampson offered it and then we're going to go to Director Sargee and then we're going to move on.

SPEAKER_24

I will give the example of the capital projects bars.

That is a legal responsibility we have.

And yet over the course of this year we've done we've put it all on the consent agenda.

We haven't in my opinion really had robust conversation about them.

And I think that was one of the functions of the operations committee.

Could we have done that work in a different structure?

Possibly, but we've suspended these committees for, I don't know, like nine months now, six months now, but we haven't chosen to prioritize putting the structure into place during this time of the suspension.

And so at this point, while I totally respect the fact that we have a verbal commitment to put structures in place, I haven't seen it yet.

So I'm really reluctant to commit to a permanent change at this point.

I have tried to introduce other ways for us to give the oversight that I think we should be doing to the capital projects which is for example I've asked the levy oversight committee to review the bars on our behalf.

But I'm really concerned about the volume of capital project bars we're putting on consent agenda without having any conversation about them.

SPEAKER_20

Though before we move on to Director Sargeant those can always be pulled.

We pulled an agenda.

You pulled an agenda item tonight Director Sommer it's so like if you want to talk about it pull it like I'm down.

I've never not supported somebody pulling something from the consent agenda.

SPEAKER_24

Go ahead.

Yeah.

The issue is that the staff members are not always here.

Right.

So that was the benefit of the committee.

We could predict that the staff members would be there on hand to answer the questions.

I know we I'm really confident we will sort this out but I'm just trying to explain my thought process.

SPEAKER_20

Understood.

Thank you for the context.

Director Sardieu.

SPEAKER_10

So for people who might still be watching I'd just like to encapsulate what you're witnessing.

It is that it is possible for two people or three people to disagree and I'll be right.

That is a truth.

It's an objective fact.

That's not really my comment.

I mean, I wanted to make that comment because I think it's important for people to understand that we can have healthy dialogue and disagreement on the dais and at the end of the day, get stuff done for kids, period.

That's where I'm always gonna go back to.

And I will say that many of you know, I was asked to run for school board.

I did not independently make the decision.

And I was asked by my community, which is the black community, and I have had several black families ask, why do you spend so much time on things that are not improving outcomes for black boys?

Are we ready to answer that for those families who are parents of black boys when we're talking about capital projects?

I'm not saying let's not talk about capital projects, but if we are willing to spend an hour talking about capital projects, are we willing to spend an hour talking about the fact that this district historically has consistently not paid attention to outcomes for specifically black boys.

We're now seeing it for black girls.

We have not stopped the school to prison pipeline in this district.

And I'm talking about Seattle Public Schools.

I'm talking about the state.

I'm not talking about the country.

So we can have we and yes we still need to do the work of approving of engaging in dialogue about capital projects.

But are we willing to publicly state we're gonna do so at the expense of our black boys?

Because let's do it right now.

Let's just say that to the public and be authentic.

Because that's what my constituents who asked me to run That's what my constituents have asked me to focus on.

That's what I'm doing.

I will do the business of the things that I have to do legally, but I cannot stand by and watch this district continue to fail my black and brown community.

kids in this district and I'm getting ready to be the grandmother of a black child in this district and I'm going to tell you things better be different in five years because they will be at Seattle Public Schools.

So let's figure out how we can do a both and but really We've got to focus on improving outcomes, and I don't use furthest from educational justice.

My board members know that.

The most marginalized kids in our district, because that's what we're doing.

That's what people understand.

They don't understand the fancy language.

I am so desperate for us to promise the all the children in this district that we're going to do right by them.

But I'm desperate for us to address those we have not done right by and continue to not do right by.

SPEAKER_20

Have you gone yet.

Go ahead.

Have you already spoken.

SPEAKER_09

I have a question about specifically capital projects that the suggestion to have the BEX oversight committee review them I think is a great one because they actually have the content knowledge much more than we as a body do and I'm I guess my question is if the suggestion to have those go through that way should be part of a like I don't I don't I think it's a great suggestion and I don't necessarily think it's appropriate that one director has made a request and that because we govern as a body.

So is there a way for us to kind of codify that recommendation or is that something that would be necessary in terms of how we make the pathways.

But then also in the context of that is the understanding of the purpose of reviewing those bars for us is to ensure that.

that they are compliant with the policies that we have laid out.

We don't have the like the the committee.

It was interesting but we're really being asked to vote on that and I think why they're put on the consent agenda is because we're being asked to provide oversight in terms of approving the expenditure not analyzing what is the content of the project.

That's not our role or our area of expertise.

And so so it's it's so we our responsibility is making sure that our policies are directing those projects in a way that meets with the expectations vision and values of our community.

And then our vote is to say we see that expenditure and that is being spent on it being spent in the way in which we expected and in alignment with our with our with our values but not to evaluate the merits of the individual project.

That's not we don't know how to do that.

SPEAKER_20

Thank you Director Rankin.

Mr. Podesta has some insight.

SPEAKER_18

This won't be an entirely satisfactory answer but I will note that the BEX BTA Oversight Committee is chartered by the board.

So my recommendation would be for the board to review that charter and make sure if there is going to be assignments to the BEX BTA Oversight Committee that you agree that it's consistent with the charter and that you know be a formal assignment.

SPEAKER_20

Awesome.

So.

Yeah for sure.

I mean the big thing here is like a this was a really healthy discussion.

A lot of the discussions that we've had over the past few months have been incredibly healthy.

Nor do I think.

Well I haven't even gotten to that part yet.

But what I think Director Sardieu said cannot be understated is the fact that we don't always have to agree.

There have definitely been some votes on this board that have gone through that I have not supported in my in my short three years here.

But.

The district still stands and we still are educating children.

But I would like to say to Director Summers this point is like that's exactly it.

Us having the opportunity to have conversations and figure out where these things can fit is a big part of this.

I didn't know that that was a concern of yours until like now.

Right.

In terms of staff not being here to present.

But we have had conversations about this right.

So it's like I can't help.

solve what I don't know about.

Right.

So that's where it's like the trust capacity and our relationship as a board becomes incredibly critical because for you you also have to be able to trust that I'm going to actually do something about it.

Right.

And that all goes in a cycle of how we operate.

But this type of conversation and us being able to build that trust amongst one another and be able to model that for the system is exactly what we want to happen in classrooms just like this framework.

It was incredibly helpful for me as a teacher to be able to walk into my classroom on day one and have a framework, especially as a new teacher, in how we did business and how do I educate children.

By having a framework, I'm worrying less about the content and more about building relationships with my students, which is what I desperately want to do with y'all, right?

And continue to do, and what we have been working toward over the past two years at this point.

No every question that we may have is not going to be accounted for under this framework or any framework and I know that y'all appreciate that.

But all that we can all that I can say in this moment is that like this is a good thing.

We need to figure out these really big problems.

Many things can be true at the same time.

And so with that I'm going to stop talking and just appreciate everybody who is up here serving.

This is incredibly hard and difficult work and you are not only accountable and I want to like lift up the fact that like yes we are primarily accountable to our students and that is our North Star.

You're also accountable to the people that run into you at the grocery store.

You're also accountable to the people that you see on the street.

You're also accountable to the people who we all perceive put us in office.

And it is not an easy thing to be in a position to where when you were receiving that feedback and you don't feel like you have a good answer to give them, that's a really scary place to be.

I'm not diminishing that in any way shape or form.

I experience it on the daily and so does everybody else on the board.

But what I can say is that with the work that we have put in to this process I believe strongly that it's going to be less about being accountable to the folks that you run into in the grocery store more about giving those folks coming up to you and giving you a high five because for once we are actually putting children first.

And so with that again.

Public commitment.

We will solve these problems.

Do I have the answers tonight.

No don't get paid enough to neither do y'all.

But we will figure it out.

That being said if there are no further comments Miss Wilson-Jones the vote please.

SPEAKER_21

Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Sarju aye Director Song-Moritz Director.

Oh it didn't get me.

No.

Director Hampson.

Aye.

Director Harris.

Vice President Rankin.

Aye.

President Hersey.

SPEAKER_20

Aye.

SPEAKER_21

This vote has passed with a vote of 5 to 2.

SPEAKER_20

Awesome.

Thanks appreciate it.

OK thank you very much.

The next thing that we are moving to will be our introduction item of which we have one and that item is approval of the annual highly capable program plan for 22 23. Do we have a staff member to present on this item.

Yo come on up.

Thank you Dr. Torres.

SPEAKER_34

Good evening board directors.

I'm here this evening to present the approval of the annual highly capable program plan.

So this board action approves the district's highly capable program plan which must be approved every year per Washington administrative code.

I move that the board approve the highly capable program for submission to OSPI for school year 2022 2023. Per Washington administrative code, the district's plan for students who are highly capable shall be annually approved by formal action of the district's board of directors.

The plan follows a format presented by OSPI.

Not approving the highly capable plan is not recommended as failure to approve and submit the plan would result in no state funding support for SPS highly capable services.

The revenue source and fiscal impact from this motion comes from Washington state highly capable funding and the fiscal impact to this action will be 1.7 million dollars in state highly capable funding.

Community engagement from the winter of 2020 to 2021 to the present has been focused on actualizing the advanced learning task force recommendations in collaboration with the highly capable racial equity services advisory and the practitioners work group in addition to development of deeper engagement with families furthest from educational justice.

This family engagement as well as staff engagement has been central to the advanced learning department's work.

Decisions made by the advanced learning department are considered through an equity lens per policy number 0 0 3 0. The approval of this plan will allow the district to receive state funding to support students qualifying for highly capable services.

Thank you and open for any questions you all may have.

SPEAKER_20

Thank you Dr. Torres.

Do we have any questions.

Go ahead Director Summers.

SPEAKER_24

I have some comments and requests for more information.

I I actually do disagree that we should just be approving expenditures and accepting funding without.

like a rigorous understanding that the money is being used to the maximum benefit of our students.

So it feels weird to question acceptance of money in this regard, but I do have some concerns.

So I want to preface this by saying I do not consider myself a so-called HCC advocate, but what I am an advocate for is accessible, predictable, high-quality experience for our students, families, and staff.

I just don't think this is the experience that we have been getting in the last couple of years.

I have the privilege of being a mom to four elementary age kids, which means that I've gone through at least three iterations of this identification process.

And it feels really weird that we are constantly changing it.

What was interesting to me yesterday in our Audit and Finance Committee meeting is that we looked at this Moss Adams teaching and learning report, you know, the first recommendations that the school board should be adopting a governance structure.

But actually one of the recommendations was that the, we spend way too much time talking and developing the identification process versus actually talking about what is the service or program look like.

And so I'm wondering, These are funds to ID students, but because we haven't had committee meetings, I have very little information in terms of what has actually happened in terms of what is the service model for the students that we have spent so much time identifying.

you know the information I think that would be helpful to have is to know how many students have been identified and the various permutations of the process of what has changed.

I would be interested in knowing how many families have appealed and what were the How many of the outcomes were accepted not accepted.

And ideally that information would be disaggregated.

But I'm you know speaking as somebody who is a parent who has experienced this I don't know all these changes.

This has been incredibly frustrating and.

That's it.

SPEAKER_14

I'll tag on to that.

We have come a long way.

and so-called highly capable.

I hate the language that we use.

I hate the language that we use.

I appreciate that it's in statutes and administrative code etc.

My big concern with voting for this.

And I have voted no in the past because this board hasn't been given the information that I feel I need to be able to vote yes.

Do I appreciate that advanced learning has been working really hard and trying to work with a system that has been defective and racist for decades.

Oh absolutely.

I do.

Are we there yet.

No.

We are absolutely not there yet.

And if I hear the word differentiation one more time I'm going to lose what's little left of my mind.

And now we're going to work with inclusion as well we should.

And we're asking our teachers then to teach up to five grade bands.

Meanwhile we put more kids in their classrooms.

And I don't know that that works.

And I don't think that we have addressed the twice exceptional students as well.

And frankly again we get back to the word communication.

And if I as elected board member who actually reads pretty much everything that's sent my way and do deep dives on the web I don't have the confidence.

I can't do that with a straight face and look at myself in the mirror tomorrow.

It's not clear.

It hasn't been clear from year to year to year.

And there is no there there.

There is no special curriculum.

It's just push them on through.

So then do we lose the foundational issues that those kids need.

We've gotten rid of walk to math.

We're in one of the richest.

fastest growing cities in the country with some of the most educated families that are out there.

And we wonder why folks are leaving us.

I don't think we're doing a good job in addressing the spectrum of folks.

No pun intended because we used to call it the spectrum program and just slapping new names on stuff.

I'm sorry.

Done with that.

But but as a board member I haven't seen what y'all have been doing.

I haven't seen the report I haven't seen where we are focusing on African-American boys and girls and that furthers from educational justice.

People laugh at us now with that bullshit.

Excuse my French.

I'm sorry.

I apologize.

People laugh at us because.

because we use these terms on a regular basis and we don't back it up.

SPEAKER_16

I wanted to say thank you for I asked in my questions for specificity around what is this funding going towards.

The only thing that could have been better than this was dollars next to these but I appreciate at least seeing the categories.

Can you explain to me for PD support it says AP course summer training registration costs.

Is that AP as advanced placement is AP like assistant principal with.

Can you explain that what that means right there.

SPEAKER_34

I do have program manager Dini Berry with me here to help with some of the questions so if you could.

SPEAKER_07

That's the advanced placement training for teachers every summer.

SPEAKER_16

Advanced placement course training for teacher.

OK.

And how many take that.

SPEAKER_07

I don't have this year's numbers yet but it's usually about 30 I believe.

They get a new course or an update in the course.

SPEAKER_16

Great thank you.

And so this is a snapshot into what this money is a specific funding buckets going towards and that's great.

I agree that.

I don't know much more about the program than what I see here because I don't know this is the kind of updates that would usually come to SSC and I or CNI and we don't have it anymore and I understand this we just covered that but it would be great I would personally love to get an update on the program as a whole because I know over the over my tenure we've you know we've redefined that we've changed policy updated the program we've done a lot of movement and things have happened since that time that honestly I haven't been updated on I don't and maybe I missed it so I'm I'll give that but I don't think I've missed any large update because it hasn't come through the committee at least because we have a committee.

That's all being said I would love an update on the program at some point here.

I mean that's my personal ask I know for what that's worth.

I understand that I'm not the board but it would be great I think to get an update on it just so that we all are on the same page of what is going on with it.

SPEAKER_20

Send me an email to Ellie and I.

Director Rankin did.

We have a scheduled work session for something that director Rankin requested.

It takes a minute to stand up a system as you all know.

So send me an email.

I'm happy to schedule it.

Director Rankin take it away.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

Yeah I I feel like this is regardless of committees or not this is the same conversation that happens on this item every year.

Yeah.

So.

Yeah and also that we do have it's it's publicly available for anybody listening.

It's at the bottom of the agenda but publicly available are questions that directors can submit in advance and get get responses to.

So we have we have opportunity to ask questions if we don't have the information that we think we need to vote on any item and.

totally agree that as we move towards a structure of how the board gets informed, I think it would be very appropriate to explore certain, you know, a cycle of different divisions, including, like, advanced learning, highly capable, whatever it is, as ongoing sort of professional development for the board.

We're actually not the fastest growing.

We have more tech workers in Seattle than we have elementary school age kids and our population our school age population is expected to continue to decline for the next 10 years.

So I wouldn't say we're fastest growing.

And also the decline is also happening at private schools.

So it's not a there's no.

I mean they're 7 percent decline over a population in Seattle public schools 4 percent decline in enrollment and private schools according to state data since 2018. So there's just no kids here.

Anyway my question about this is I understand that this is an annually required approval by the board to accept or to verify to the state that money that is allocated for highly capable services is being spent on those services.

I am wondering how we might make this a more meaningful document instead of OK yeah we do the thing because it's annually required so we're going to do it annually.

How we can connect it more to some things in our CSIPs about access to like who has access to advanced and highly capable opportunities because as we've been discussing in terms of service to students and in terms of students furthest from educational justice.

We are actually monitoring how black boys are or are not accessing advanced learning opportunities.

That's not a made up thing.

We have goals and guardrails that we regularly monitor progress on in public about different category of students.

So that's not a made up thing.

That is what we are doing up here.

And so I'm wondering how we can connect this required thing to the CSIPs or implementation of the goals or somehow make it less of a thing that we have to check off and help make this thing that we are required to do something that's also useful to us.

SPEAKER_34

I'll just start real quick because I've heard a couple of comments.

I'm thinking back to what Director Stardew was saying about our black our black students essentially hearing Director Someret's hearing hearing you on.

So I just want to share one quick data point and then I'm going to give it over to Dini to quickly talk about the CSIP portion of this because that is part of the work that's in process.

But if we think about.

the universal screening process.

And we think about the movement on how we're going to objective measures.

If you specifically look at the number of black students in our system who have now been identified as advanced learners or highly capable, from the years of 2021 to 2022, there was a 5% increase in that just by us taking those equity moves and aligning ourselves to the state law.

So I just want to call that out in the space for the public record that it's not just about talking about these things, we're doing these things, and we're getting movement on these things as well.

So just wanted to point that out for everybody.

SPEAKER_07

I think what I'm hearing maybe is that we need to have an annual work session, information sharing, and we'd be so happy to do that.

SPEAKER_34

And to your question Director Rankin this is part of the work that we've been doing with Sarah Mirabuen and her team around as we're working through the CSIP so how do these topics such as advanced learning live within them so that it becomes part of the actualization of what the schools are doing.

SPEAKER_09

And I know that previously the bulk of this funding was in identification and paying for weekend testing sites that people had to take their kids to and and all of that.

And so I hope too that we will see that this money can actually be spent in providing greater access to services for those students rather than this kind of outside testing thing which I know is what you all have been developing and working on.

And I imagine that.

Having different pieces that provide information for identification is both a better picture of what students know and can do, but also doesn't require that we set up this whole outside thing that really doesn't have anything to do with providing services and increased access to the actual education for students.

SPEAKER_20

Any other questions on this item?

I thank you very much.

I sincerely appreciate it.

All right.

So the next piece is our board time use evaluation.

This is on my plate and I am now taking April and May.

Long story short I don't have it yet.

Like it just takes a long time to do two months.

I'm going to be working to get this at our next meeting.

So I owe all of you a penny for not having it done on time.

That is my responsibility and I sincerely apologize for not keeping my commitment to the board.

So with that being said there being no further business to come before the board this board meeting the meeting now stands adjourned at seven twenty nine p.m..