Seattle Schools Board Meeting July 6, 2022

Good afternoon.

We call the board meeting to order at the moment and SPS TV will begin broadcasting.

For those joining us by phone please remain muted until we reach the testimony period and your name is called.

This is President Hersey I am now calling for July 6th 2022 regular board meeting to order at 4 17 p.m.

This meeting is being recorded.

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

Ms. Wilson-Jones for roll call please.

Vice President Hampson.

Here.

Director Harris.

Present.

Director Rankin.

Here.

Director Rivera-Smith.

say thank you.

I also want to take the opportunity to acknowledge a celebration we have with our Kingmakers and Student Leadership Council.

They were crowned this month, and it's a joy to watch the Kings and their leadership journey and their brotherhood.

Special thanks to the Office of African American Male Achievement for the time and care that they continue to invest in the youth, really amplifying their brilliance and elevating the narrative of Black student excellence.

Our next regularly scheduled board meeting isn't until eight weeks.

There should be a round of applause for that.

But during the next eight weeks the work continues.

We had a great conversation two weeks ago where we clarified some of the board's goals and guardrails in the language Staff are working on revising these interim guardrails and clarifying the goals and guardrails to bring forward to the board in the fall.

President Hersey has appointed an ad hoc board governance committee to develop the plan for further implementation of the student outcomes focused governance work.

That committee is meeting throughout the summer preparing recommendations for the board to adopt in September.

Today the district opened summer school and we're welcoming 3,300 students ranging from preschool through high school skill center.

I want to acknowledge the work of our educators, transportation, custodial and nutrition workers and the central office staff who are standing up this extended learning opportunity.

And my staff is working diligently with our labor partners in education to bargain our next agreement.

We're also planning a four-day training for school building leaders in early August and an all-day training for educators and building leaders to kick off the 22-23 school year.

Now we start in earnest planning for September 7th.

In the meantime, it's my expectation that we rest and get ready for next school year.

I remain humbled but undaunted by our shared mission and to see us welcome every student and provide each student with a high quality education.

With that said I'm going to turn it back to you President Hersey.

Thank you.

Thank you Superintendent Jones.

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

May I have a motion for the consent agenda.

I move approval of the consent agenda.

Second.

Approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Vice President Hampson and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

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

I see Director Harris also.

Wait one second.

One second.

We're going to get started.

Yep.

No worries.

One more time.

Just saying I have something to pull yes.

Okay fantastic.

I will I will call on you in a moment.

Director Harris what would you like to pull from the consent agenda.

I'd like to pull the 1.6 billion dollar budget please.

Thank you.

Director Rivera-Smith.

I'd like to pull number 6 and number 14. I'm not going to pull 17 even though it has been updated since June show.

I just want to make a mention that I appreciate applicable WAC was added to that one.

So I'm not going to have to pull it but I would appreciate that.

And I do want to pull number 6 and 14.

Okay.

So 6 and 14 and Director Rankin.

Thank you.

I would like to pull I can't see what number it is but the policy 0 0 1 0 and the other.

Great.

I believe it's number 13. All right.

Director Harris can you clarify what number the budget was.

Director Hersey this is Director Hampson.

Yes ma'am.

I'd like to pull 7. All right.

So as it stands just for clarity I know that there was a little bit of a roundabout.

As it stands for clarity I think we are pulling number 6 7 13 and 14 is that correct.

All right.

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

I move approval of the consent agenda as amended.

Second.

All right.

Approval of the consent agenda has been as amended has been moved by Vice President Hampson and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

All those in favor please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Those opposed.

The consent agenda has passed unanimously.

All right.

We will now turn to items removed from the consent agenda and I believe we will begin with item number 6. May have a motion for this item.

I move that the school board adopt resolution 2021-22 sorry slash 22-23 as attached to the board action report to fix and adopt the 2022-2023 budget the 4-year budget plan summary and the 4-year enrollment projections.

Director Harris take it away.

Thank you.

Several comments if I might please.

We've heard on our emails that it's somehow irresponsible for us to pass a 1.6 billion dollar budget via consent.

I would suggest.

that we have had probably 12 to 15 work sessions with the information uploaded to our website with the gold and the purple book I believe uploaded to our website.

Now I'm one of those people that has voted against the budget in the past.

I believe I've abstained with respect to the budget in the past.

I will be voting for it tonight.

I would ask and this is not new news coming from me that we do a more transparent job of the weighted staffing standard formula and that we take I believe it was our research and evaluation gentleman Dr. Eric Anderson who was talking about doing more community engagement on that process this next year.

It has far-reaching consequences and This time a year from now I would like to be very proud of our engagement in that process.

And I think it would go a long way towards trust with our extraordinarily talented staff that have to make Hobson's choices because as we all know McCleary is in fact fake news and we don't have enough money.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Harris.

Any other questions comments on item number 6. All right seeing none Miss Wilson-Jones roll call please.

Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Sargeau point of clarification.

What is the vote.

To approve the budget.

Yes.

Director Sargeau that was a yes correct.

Director Song-Moretz aye Vice President Hampson aye Director Harris aye Director Rankin aye President Hersey aye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

Thank you very much and thank you for that context Director Harris greatly appreciate it.

Moving on to item number 7. May I have a motion for this item please.

I move the school board approve the 2022-2023 Students Rights and Responsibilities document as attached to the school board action report.

Second.

This item has been moved and properly seconded by or moved by Vice President Hampson and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

If I'm not mistaken Director Hampson you pulled this item correct.

I did.

Just one quick question.

Superintendent Jones has this changed since introduction.

Not that I'm aware of.

Okay.

So per my comments at introduction I am want I pulled this because I plan to abstain because I don't as much as I believe that this serves its purpose as an administrative document I don't think that it serves the I think there's conflation with the purpose to provide students with a pathway to understand their rights and responsibilities.

So I believe we can do better.

And I want to go on the record with an abstention.

That's it.

Thank you.

Director Hampson.

Any other questions comments for item number 7. All right.

Seeing none Ms. Wilson-Jones roll call please.

Director Sargeu.

Director Song-Moretz.

Director Harris Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye President Hersey aye.

This vote has passed by a vote of 6 yes with one abstention.

Thank you and thank you as well for the context Director Hampson.

Moving on to item number 13. What perfect timing Director Rankin.

It's almost as if you planned it.

We have a motion for item number 13.

I move that the school board amend Board Policy Number 0010 Instructional Philosophy 2126 Special Education and 2162 Education of Students with Disabilities under Sections 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as attached to the Board Action Report.

Oh I'm sorry.

Oh that's the.

I need to read the original motion and then there's an amendment.

Okay.

So I have read the motion.

Thank you.

Second.

Okay.

Do any directors have amendments to this item.

I do.

Please take it away Director Rankin.

I move that the school board approve Amendment 1 to the Board Action Report titled Approvement of Approval of amendment to Board Policy 0010 Instructional Philosophy 2161 Special Education and 2162 Education of Students with Disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and substitute Board Policy Number 0010 and Board Policy Number 2162 as attached to the amendment.

To the extent the attached substitute policy conflicts with the information presented in the underlying board action report the substitute policy shall control.

Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.

Do we need a second.

I don't think we do yet.

Yes we do need a second.

I'll second.

Second.

Sorry.

That's fine.

All right.

Go with Lisa.

Works for me.

Second.

Thank you.

Okay.

This has been moved and seconded.

Director Rankin would you like to speak to your amendment.

I would.

So I this item was presented for introduction at the last board meeting and I had committed at that time to based on feedback that was given to the dais Look at strengthening the language in terms of excuse me our this board's values.

And so I'm well appreciate that you did not receive these changes very much in advance.

Between last board meeting and this board meeting I have had and recovered from COVID.

And so that interfered with my ability to get that to you in a more timely fashion but I wanted to make sure that I followed up on that commitment.

The important thing to me and and staff and Superintendent Jones and in the work that led to this is the very clear very clear documentation in this philosophy about inclusive and culturally responsive practices.

I think this is what reflects the priorities of the community the values of this board and is is critical.

The actual language itself I'm fully open to amendments to the amendment in this moment in time if that's appropriate because you know I understand that the So you have not had a very much amount of time to look over the actual language.

The intent behind between introduction to now hasn't changed.

I was looking to more clearly solidify our values in the introductory paragraph and so that is the purpose of this amendment.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

Questions.

Thank you Director Rankin for the amendment.

I I'm so sorry you had COVID.

That couldn't have been fun and.

I commend continuing to avoid it.

I did not get anyone else in my family.

And I just acknowledge we haven't really we just came in like right as meeting was started I think.

So if we could possibly take a little break to read it.

If that's okay with President Hersey.

Otherwise I would just have to abstain because I haven't read it and I'm sure I mean I hope I assume it's great but it would be irresponsible to like vote on something I haven't read yet.

So what do you think.

That is perfectly fine with me.

You may take how long do you think you need.

Five minutes.

Five minutes you think.

Maybe less.

You wrote it.

How long do you think it takes to read it.

Yeah the changes are the substantially to the introductory paragraph there was some condensing of the bullet points but those remains largely the same to what you saw in introduction.

Thank you for that context.

So take five minutes read the amendment so that everybody feels comfortable with what they're voting on and then we will proceed.

And for anyone joining us remotely the amendment materials are posted online with the meeting materials.

All right directors do we need more time.

Have we read the amendment to our liking.

It appears as though we need a few more moments.

Okay we will just implement second grade classroom rules when you are done if you could just signify by putting one hand on your head.

That way I know that we are ready to move on.

Let's go.

So any directors with questions comments edits to the amendment.

Director Rivera-Smith go ahead and then I see Director Hampson on the phone.

Okay.

Thank you for giving us opportunity to do that.

Yep.

I was I want to I guess my things are more questions why something was removed and you can just explain it to me.

So in the first one policy 0010 It was removed the paragraph about basic education designed to provide a broad-based culturally responsive education in areas not measured by state or federally mandated standardized tests such as music visual and performing arts physical education and technical education experiential learning.

So that whole paragraph was was removed and I don't see where those elements were replaced.

So am I reading wrong.

Dr. Pedroza do you want to.

Maybe I downloaded it and it looks different.

So hold on.

No that was taken out.

So yeah.

And I. I thought that was a little bit redundant with.

I just don't see how those elements are reflected in the amendment after taking out.

I can see how you're trying to condense things.

Awesome.

But again those specific elements were not unless you can point it out to me because maybe I missed it.

Again this was kind of speed reading here.

Hello everybody.

This is I am Dr. Concie Pedroza for the record Associate Superintendent.

So some of the pieces so the feedback we received last time we were here if you recall was that there was a repeat of some some language.

So we worked on condensing language and specifically to your request is we took out things that were already part of state law.

things that were redundant as part of state law.

So we're trying to streamline the language make it and as Director Hampson said really embody the vision of Seattle Public Schools and make sure that we were really clear about what our intent was in the instructional vision for our district.

But removing all of the redundancies about things that were already in state law And then also if you look at even when I'm dealing with the policy 504 later on making sure that all of our things are in alliance with the state law that's already been passed as well.

So there was a lot of editing legal wise and then values wise around this document.

So did I answer your question specifically.

I think so but at the same time I guess I guess I'm going to say like I understand how like our policy doesn't necessarily need to be reflective of our policies reflect our vision and values not necessarily state law because state law doesn't always align perfectly and and we're not here to just regurgitate state law right right um but i feel like that part is in line with our vision our values about music and performing arts and all so and i and so while it's maybe insane i haven't read again this i mean i don't have it right here like side by side but we still do mention lots of other things that are probably in state law also because they are part of our vision and values I wonder if that one should be saved because again like I'm trying to figure out how it's even touched on in every other part that's left and it's really not.

So that concerns me.

I will also add.

So I would also add sorry to interrupt you.

Just the piece about programmatic right versus content and then also the issue of proc procedures.

So where are things that should be living in procedure and what are things that should be living in policy.

And as we're trying to be more disciplined in that, I think it's important that we take that eagle eye approach in thinking.

And because I know this because having done many, many policy revisions in the past and even having to take items out from the last several years and in every group I go in front of, it's always we we actually have to have almost a mini lesson with everybody in community about what are actually policy language versus procedural language.

And so those are some of the other pieces that we really paid attention to in this.

And so we felt some of that language was more in procedure.

Okay.

And I and I hear you again.

I still feel like I still feel that.

Somehow I'm trying to figure out how maybe it's even a shorter paragraph maybe.

And I'm going to say are you are you implying that the saying specifically music visual performing arts physical education that those are too prescriptive for policies.

Well some we could make a whole litmus of list for example somebody included outdoor education like all of these other pieces.

And I just think many of us believe that those the arts are basic education.

OK.

And I think that I agree and that's why I think it's important to say it because some people don't.

You know some people say that's reading and writing arithmetic right.

And like no it's actually there.

So maybe I don't know if we can get the arts in there somewhere.

If it's a shorter bullet as opposed to what I read because that was a long bullet.

That's just my if no one else is concerned then no one's concerned but that's that's my concern.

So and that's that's one.

The other question I was going to have Director Rankin was in we talked about this one first the other one was in the other policy.

You want to finish this conversation on this one or there's two policies at play here so.

Also be happy if you want to make an amendment to the amendment to include that paragraph.

You could do that at this point as well.

I'll probably do that.

Yeah.

Again I just I hear you that we think it's our basic education but not everyone does and I want to be very explicit that we hold that as.

as as part of our idea of whatever students should be getting in Seattle Public Schools.

So I guess I'll make an amendment to and to retain.

There's no numbers to the bullets.

The bullet I have to count them down.

Does that we have.

Can we finish discussion first before we start.

Sure yeah.

That makes sense.

Go ahead.

So but please continue to draft your amendment.

Director Hampson.

Yeah I thought it was a significant improvement.

So and I appreciate the more concise language quite a bit.

It really you know I think there's one bullet that I think still is I struggle with in terms of how much is packed into it.

I think it's the fourth bullet.

But I do think it it I'm a lot more comfortable with where it is in terms of the meaninglessness that comes with the kitchen sink approach of feeling like you have to restate.

I feel really weird that I can't see your face Concie.

But I'm feeling like you or Liza's face feeling like you have we have to restate everything.

This is instructional philosophy which is a specific thing.

And I believe that we will have more work to do on this in the coming years particularly I think it'll be key to and foundational as Superintendent Jones said during our last introduction to the next strategic plan which will be coming down the wire.

And so I would just note I don't think it's it's worth trying to deal with that fourth paragraph.

And I you know so I would I'm comfortable with it where it is and really appreciate the effort that went into trying to pare some of that stuff down because we know it's represented elsewhere.

And then also there I believe we want to say we say an curriculum which is appropriate because curriculum is singular.

But I believe we want to use curricula plural.

That would just be a grammatical change so we don't have to make an amendment here.

But I just wanted to point that out that when we're talking about it we're we're talking about curricula or curriculums.

Are you talking about in the second bullet an engaging rewarding challenging relevant and identity affirming Oh and engaging.

So you would just say engaging rewarding.

Yeah.

Curricula.

And I would say curricula because we have more than one curriculum right.

I don't know.

I'm just pointing it out in case somebody missed it.

So enough said.

And yeah I mean I certainly think in terms of like the state has adequately defined basic education and I agree with the state's definition of basic education.

I think Seattle has made it very clear that we agree with the state's definition of basic education.

And in terms of what it means to I think that first paragraph really flows much better now and I don't need I actually don't agree that we need to then spell out everything that that means because then that just becomes a laundry list of all the different parts of a whole child of curricula that support the whole-child education of a student within our system.

which is their intellectual social emotional and physical health.

So you know I would be more interested in something like that rather than listing arts and all those other things because I think that that's probably a different area or different policy.

And unless for some reason the state the state doesn't fund all those things but they've certainly made very clear that that's where they stand.

That's it for me.

Thanks for the work on this.

And then of course just a reminder that this is about inclusionary.

I mean the whole point of this even coming before us is about inclusionary practices.

And so I don't want us to to look at this as if we're we are not doing a full engagement on instructional philosophy and we shouldn't pretend that we are.

Thank you Director Hampson.

Director Harris.

Thank you.

I'm Switzerland as to whether or not we put the paragraph back in.

However I am adamant that we need to have that we need to have procedures come alongside with policy changes.

Devil is in the details.

The second thing is the accountability.

If Unfortunately we have staff that does not abide by the inclusionary practices that has to be enforced to bring back trust in this school district.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Harris.

Was your hand up.

Go ahead.

I don't think I'm Switzerland.

I love that.

Anyway, I had to use that word.

I think it's good practice.

So, for example, there are things that are not called out in this that I would like to see called out.

And once we call out one thing, I feel like we need to call out all of them.

And I recognize that The history has been to have the laundry list, and I think we need to be careful of that because in creating a laundry list, we always risk excluding something that may be important to others, but not necessarily important to me, for example, as an individual.

And so I feel like the removal of that paragraph doesn't change our philosophy.

But from my perspective of reading the document when I see it X'd out it does make it cleaner.

Can I add or respond to that or just add some context that when we say meet or exceed state standard state and district learning standards that does include music art even though it's not explicitly stated here.

It's not absent because it is contained within state learning standards.

So there are state learning standards for music.

Yep.

And I've got manual physical education definitely.

I'm going to try and go back to the list here.

Yeah they're not they're not funded but they exist.

Yeah.

Sorry I think I got big on me.

Social emotional learning.

No.

I mean well I don't know.

What would the state standard be for that.

Like what does that fall under social emotional learning.

our standards on the OSPI website that come from the state.

Well so I will not make an amendment.

Did you say not.

Yeah not.

Okay.

But I have another question about the other policy if we're ready to go on to the next one.

By all means.

If that's the whole.

For the second one which is the number.

Policy 2162. Why was the one that well the only one that was taken out.

Can you explain the thinking behind that.

Sorry I'll just go ahead and explain.

Sorry that was loud.

Just to share that WSSDA made updates.

And so we had not made those updates in terms of when we did a policy review on all of our policies that connected to students furthest from educational justice.

We did a you know trying to be lean and really look at that.

So we actually decided to align this policy in particular.

Those weren't updated.

So when WASDA made those updates to 504 we decided to make and align those updates to that as well for our policy for this 20 excuse me 21-62.

So it was taken out because.

There was a technical there was technical fixes that we needed to make so we pulled it out as separately because it needed a revise revision.

So it's going to be coming back.

I believe it is.

We submitted it.

Looking at Julia.

Yeah.

Oh yeah this is the WASDA.

So this is.

Okay so.

It's in alignment with WSSDA language.

Gotcha.

Okay.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I'm sorry I wasn't clear.

I just wanted to I wanted to be clear.

So yeah.

All right.

That was my question.

Okay.

Define WSSDA please for the audience.

Washington Association of State School Directors.

Directors Association.

Can somebody give it cleanly for me.

Washington State School Directors Association.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Okay.

Any other questions comments concerns about this particular amendment.

All right.

If I'm not mistaken we now move to a vote on the amendment.

Is that correct.

All right.

Miss Wilson-Jones would you please call the roll for the vote on the amendment.

Calling the roll on Amendment 1 to Consent Agenda Item 13. Director Song — Moritz.

Aye.

Vice President Hampson.

Aye.

Director Harris aye Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Sargeant aye President Hersey aye.

This motion is passed unanimously.

Do I need another motion for 13 as amended.

You will need another motion on 13 and Vice President Hampson you should have that teed up right under the motion for the amendment.

Okay.

Just pulling that up.

Okay.

Wait.

I move approval of the underlying board action report titled Approval of Amendment to Board Policy 0010 Instructional Philosophy 2161 Special Education and 6 2162 Education of Students with Disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended by Amendment 1.

This will be moved by Vice President Hampson and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

Are there any questions on Item Number 13. All right seeing none Miss Wilson-Jones the roll call please.

Vice President Hampson aye Director Harris Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Sarju aye Director Song-Moretz aye President Hersey aye.

This motion is passed unanimously.

Thank you very much for the riveting discussion.

We will now move on to item number 14.

Can I just say thank you for all your patience and support.

And this is really exciting and yay.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Right on.

Number 14. May I have a motion.

I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to execute a contract with Recology King County covering the period from August 1st 2022 to July 31st 2025 in the amount of $894,879.23 annually or $2,684,637.69 during the 3-year term of contract for refuse disposal and mixed waste recycling collection with any minor additions deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to take any necessary actions to implement the contract.

Second.

All right.

This item has been moved and seconded.

Director Harris I believe you.

Oh sorry Director Rivera-Smith by all means.

Thank you.

So last time when this was when this was introduced there was blanks for basically all the important stuff like the vendor and the dollar amount.

So if Assistant Superintendent Podesta can fill in those blanks for us on the record I would be appreciated.

Good evening Fred Podesta Assistant Superintendent of Operations.

This board action was introduced at your last meeting prior to the opening of the bids which were open on June 10th I believe and we're proposing to award the contract to Recology King County our current solid waste vendor that provides solid waste and recycling services.

in the amount of $894,879.23.

It's a 3-year contract and provides similar services as as we have now with a few operational modifications.

Does that adequately address your question Director Rivera-Smith.

Hello.

There we go.

No feedback sorry.

So I see we can we read them into the record the dollars.

I'm I'm even confused by this so it's because I'm looking at it.

And the amount of eight hundred ninety four million maybe am I right.

Eight hundred ninety four thousand.

Eight hundred seventy nine dollars and twenty three cents annually and it's a 3-year contract.

3-year term of the contract.

So how does this compare to the last contract we had with them.

The last contract was amended to a bit more than one million dollars a year.

Sorry I can barely hear you.

The the current contract was amended to the amount of about a million dollars a year just slightly over a million dollars a year.

So this is a bit of a reduction.

Okay.

Sorry.

Go ahead.

That is actually my question.

So I noticed the reduction.

Is there do we have a strong expectation that the services will be improved despite the reduction.

We did negotiate some operational changes and also there were certain charges that were allowed to be included in the billing under the current contract and the procurement process eliminated that ability.

We expect it to be more efficient.

Does that satisfy your question.

Fantastic.

Director Rivera-Smith I see your hand is on the mic.

Do you have another question.

By all means.

Just going to say thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Podesta.

Any other questions comments concerns on item number 14. All right.

Seeing none Ms. Wilson-Jones roll call please.

Director Harris.

Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Sarju aye Director Song-Moretz aye Vice President Hampson aye.

That was Vice President Hampson.

But I'll take that as an aye for you President Hersey and Vice President Hampson.

Hi.

And Director Harris's Response was an audible just FYI.

Thanks.

Bye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

Me as I.

Even though I am nowhere near as good looking as President Hampson or Vice President Hampson.

We will go ahead and move on to Item B. Excuse me public testimony.

Thank you very much.

Do we have committee reports?

Do you have a committee report?

I mean it's on the agenda so if you have a report for the Committee of the Whole now would be the time by all means.

As all of you know because I think you were all there we had a Operations Committee of the Whole meeting last Monday not this one but the one before to discuss the bus contract which we'll be discussing again tonight.

That's all there is.

I mean we we met the committee voted to move forward with a recommendation for approval I believe but we're all there.

I think again we'll talk about it more in a few here but I think we're all prioritizing safety of our students efficiency of service and we have versus this year right because we have some more than one vendor and it's exciting that we can offer that to our families.

Thank you all for coming out last Monday to be there for the Committee of the Whole meeting.

And well our next meeting isn't until August.

Thanks.

Thank you Director Rivera-Smith.

We have now reached the public testimony portion of the agenda but it it is actually about 5 o'clock so we will be taking public testimony by phone and in person as stated on the agenda.

Board Procedure 1430BP provides the rules for public 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 list 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 time ceded to them may decline and retain their place on the testimony or wait list.

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

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

I've also noticed that we have a number of representatives from our bus companies here this evening.

I ask, though it is not required, for clarity's sake, as board directors are taking note, if you could please share with us what company you are affiliated with.

That being said, at this time, Ms. Wilson-Jones.

Good afternoon.

For those who are joining remotely to provide testimony today we do take our testimony by phone.

I noticed that we do have additional people who have joined us via Teams.

So if you are intending to provide testimony please note that we generally take our testimony via phone or in-person.

However if you have joined the Teams meeting today and you are intending to provide testimony you may unmute when your name is called.

We will not be utilizing cameras just because that is not our Teams is not our standard method for providing testimony.

For those who are in the room when you hear your name called you can simply step to the mic.

If you are joining by phone you'll need to press star-6 to unmute when you hear your name called.

The first speaker on today's testimony list is Ritu Narayan.

Hello.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to participate in today's important discussion about the future of student transportation in Seattle Public Schools.

My name is Ritu Narayan and I'm the CEO and founder of Zoom Services.

I'm also a first-generation immigrant and working mother of two children one middle schooler and one high schooler.

I started Zoom in 2014 to solve a problem I face personally as a working parent.

how to transport your children safely and reliably to meet their educational and development needs without actually having to leave my career or other responsibilities at home.

This is the same problem that I saw my mother face in past and thousands of other hardworking parents and families around me face every day.

I share this because I want you to know this work is deeply personal to me.

I started Zoom to ensure that every child has easy and equal access to the educational opportunities and services they deserve.

We at Zoom are thrilled to be expanding our partnership with Seattle Public Schools to bring the student and school bus driver-centric transportation service to Seattle families starting September 2022. It is indeed a bold decision by the district leaders to recommend a change to the status quo and split the school bus contract to invite Zoom This is the first time in decades when the district has opted for a change and we highly commend the decision.

I would also like to thank the parent community who highly advocated for a change and asked for a safe reliable and modern transportation system.

It's one thing to recommend for the contract but another to execute on it.

As a mother and CEO I know we would be transporting the most precious cargo in the world your children.

Hence I want to tell you what you can expect from Zoom.

The first is robust transport operations where we keep safety and reliability at the forefront of everything.

A team that is proactive and responsive to the need of our students and customers.

And finally a company that is transparent and accountable.

We measure we measure ourselves rigorously and openly and are always hearing and acting on feedback.

As an employer Zoom is hiring 200 school bus drivers in Seattle.

You will see that Zoom goes above and beyond to make it make it a great place to work.

We are not a large corporation but more like a tight-knit family.

You will find in us as an employer we are labor friendly respectful inclusive and fair.

We compensate our employees competitively and look after them with our heart and soul.

Also before I end I must say that I've been to so many boardrooms and it is indeed Both rare and inspiring to see so many women leaders here today.

They cannot be more deserving example of equity and possibilities for the future generation being educated at the district.

Thank you and we look forward to serving the SPS community and our employees in Seattle for many years to come here.

Okay thank you very much.

I just want to clarify.

Please try your best to stick to the two minutes for equity purposes because I know that there are a lot more folks who are going to be speaking on behalf of Zoom today.

Please try your best to stick to the two minutes.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Vivek Garg.

Good afternoon.

Am I audible.

We can hear you.

Good afternoon.

I'm Vivek Gurk from Zoom.

Myself along with the next two speaker Sarah Skinner and Liz Sanchez both from Zoom.

We cede our time to Victoria Plummer of Zoom who will be speaking next.

Thank you.

Victoria the time is running so if you'd like to provide your testimony.

Good evening.

My name is Victoria Plummer.

I'm the Northwest Regional Director of Operations for Zoom Transportation and I am a local King County resident since 2005. With me today is Paul Ahn.

He is our general manager for our new Seattle Yard location.

We are here today to talk about the school transportation contract.

We commend district leadership on their decision to make a much needed change in the status quo and invite Zoom to provide school transportation to SPS families.

While any change is hard we believe a regular update to the community on our progress will go a long way.

Collectively Paul and I have over 60 years of service experience.

Paul comes to the student transportation industry having worked previously as a senior manager in logistics and transportation with FedEx.

My past experience includes 30 years working in hospitality overseeing various operations teams in addition to having been a successful small business owner.

Coupled with Paul's extensive experience we've hit the ground running and are quickly scaling Zoom's operations locally in Seattle.

We are ready for the start of school on September 7th.

Last week we received keys for our new four and a half acre yard location in South Seattle.

We're working closely with the Teamsters Local 174 and we've had the members of leadership team out to tour the facility.

We've been working collectively to ensure that we design the bus yard with driver's input and provide drivers plenty of space to relax during their downtime.

Union leadership has been very complimentary about the facility and what's been built out for the drivers.

The yard is conveniently located only two blocks from the Rainier Beach light rail and less than half a mile from I-5 which provides accessibility and access points for our drivers.

We have ordered a brand new fleet of buses.

These will start arriving in a matter of weeks.

We are aggressively rounding out our management team and have been filling each position with high caliber professional team members.

We are hiring 200 bus drivers.

Please conclude your comments.

We take pride in working for a district and city that is labor friendly.

As we are working with the district on finalizing the contract Zoom is advocating for wage parity for all Seattle school bus drivers.

Drivers whether affiliated to Zoom or First Student are all driving Seattle Public School students and should be paid both both competitively and similarly.

And there should not be a two-class system of drivers within our school bus community.

Our hope is that we will work to with the district to make progress on the contract terms and ensure that school bus drivers who are the backbone of safe and reliable school transportation for SPS families are celebrated and paid equitably across the contract.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

I'll simply close by adding.

We can't wait to expand our partnership with Seattle Public Schools and provide safe reliable transportation for the students and families of Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Another reminder.

I know that the seating process can be tricky at times.

Two minutes.

Ms. Wilson-Jones.

The next speaker is Sarah Skinner.

We ceded our time to Victoria.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Liz Sanchez.

Hi.

We ceded our time to Victoria as well.

The next speaker is Jonathan DeMella.

Thank you.

I'd like to cede my time to Kim Worcester on behalf of First Student.

Hello everyone.

I am Kim Worcester Senior Vice President at First Student and I want to thank the board for this opportunity to speak to you this evening.

I want to provide a bit of an overview of our company but first I would like to thank you Seattle Public Schools for your partnership.

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to continue our 30-year relationship and want you to know that your continued confidence in us is not misplaced.

We have a long and rich history of providing student transportation that can be traced back over 100 years and we have more industry experience than any other provider.

Presently we service over 1100 school districts across the nation representing tens of thousands of schools and we operate 5 million passenger journeys every day.

We care about our people.

Our drivers are the foundation of our business and we appreciate our partnership with our union Teamsters 174. We are committed to safety diversity equity and inclusion and are the leader in electrification for the school bus industry.

We support our respective missions to work towards zero emissions in Seattle.

This past two and a half years with COVID has certainly created some challenges for all of us.

However we work together with our district partners Ashley Davies and Fred Podesta and others to navigate these unprecedented times and the resulting labor shortages that we have all been struggling through.

We have made great strides in recruiting and retention this year and are prepared to provide any additional support over and above our awarded routes as required.

Speaking of staffing we are presently staffed above the RFP requirements and despite being overstaffed for this upcoming school year we continue to actively recruit and train.

Last week alone we received 95 new applicants in Seattle.

In the Pacific Northwest we have more buses drivers and management than all of our competitors combined.

and we stand ready to service you.

We want you to know how much we appreciate your business and thank you again for this opportunity to speak to you about First Student.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Samantha Fogg.

Hello.

Hello.

My name is Samantha Fogg and I am a parent of three Seattle Public School students.

And I am on the testimony list to talk about inclusion and I want to start out by saying thank you.

Thank you to Director Rankin and Dr. Pedroza and thank you to the board for passing this important policy as we are heading into CBA and as our superintendent and our staff is looking forward to developing the procedures and the processes that will make sure that every student in Seattle Public Schools is given the education and the access to education that they deserve that is best practice.

This policy change that you have done is really important.

And I also want to acknowledge that July is Disability Pride Month and so it feels particularly important that you started off your your month with with a vote on inclusion.

So I wanted to just say thank you and to say that we I look forward to working with our district with all of you to make sure that this is fully realized in every classroom across our district and that we support all of our students.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Michael Hamill.

Thank you Board President Hersey board members and Superintendent Jones for allowing me to speak today.

My name is Mike Hamill.

I am the Area General Manager for First Student with oversight of our Seattle operations.

I would like to give you a quick overview on safety and our drivers.

I would like to begin with our strong safety culture at First Student.

First Student is the only student transportation provider to receive the National Safety Council's Green Cross for Safety and Occupational Excellence Award.

We believe that safety culture begins with effective safety training.

You may recall hearing about programs like PDDP, which is our Professional Driver Development Program.

Our program meets and exceeds any state and federal requirements, which sets us apart from others.

Our Be Safe Leadership Program focuses on leading with a safety and service mindset.

This program is centered around five key principles, which are knowledge, recognition, openness, learning, and courage.

We also have a driver scoring program called Mobile Manager which promotes safe driving habits and behaviors.

Our Mobile Manager program focus on positive recognition and coaching versus negativity and discipline.

We have seen a lot of success with this program.

We believe that these programs along with others help ensure that our employees are set up for success.

I would also like to take the time to speak about our drivers because I know that there have been some mischaracterizations said about them which are not true.

Bus drivers are some of the greatest people you're going to meet.

On average it takes about three to five weeks to become a professional school bus driver.

There is a lot of training and requirements that each person must meet in order to become a professional school bus driver.

I would like to think that each board member today ran for their position because they are passionate about making Seattle Public Schools the best that it can be.

Our drivers also do that and do their job because of passion.

I assure you that.

They're not working as a school bus driver to pay off a vacation home somewhere else.

Our drivers do the job because they have they care.

Some of our drivers are not only driving today's students but they're driving their parents and grandparents.

Our drivers don't only serve the Seattle community but they're part of the Seattle community.

We at First Student are proud to have our drivers as part of our First Student family and thank them for all that they do.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Alex Zimmerman.

see how it might do it it did not see first it's not going to be the insight about i want to speak about fifty two zero seven harassment humiliation you see it took director will out every time but as i come what this is to direct their show to this fifty thousand children is being part of the policy yes exactly sick harassment in bullet this exact book intimidation to me.

This is exactly what's happened.

They show 250,000 children in 250,000 Seattle.

So when I have different opinion, they don't want to listen to me.

We elect them.

for doing business here.

You have $1 billion business.

Why this happen?

Why they doing this?

Please speak to the policy.

I spoke to the policy.

I told you.

Why you interrupt me?

Don't interrupt them so we talk for five minute and you don't give me chance speak about this.

This exactly what is I told you.

Why they moving?

I have only different opinion.

That's it.

Exactly what has happened right now.

And Seattle Council give me 12 trust passes for 1,200 day only because I have different opinion.

So when you show to us children, so Seattle is number one fascist city in America.

So somebody who have a different opinion.

Please speak to the policy.

I love you.

And guys, you make me totally sick.

Why you speak with mask?

Look, when you can speak, can you take mask out?

Because this look to me like you all freaking clown.

You understand what I mean?

You interrupt me one more time.

Yeah, it's your business.

This exactly what is you show to us children for the last 30 years.

So Seattle is number one fascist city in school right now.

Nobody want go to the school right now because you, by definition, are Nazi.

Thank you very much.

The next speaker is Chris Jackins.

My name is Chris Jackins.

Box 84063 Seattle 98124. On the personnel report under separations the report lists Noel Treat and Annie Patu.

I wish to express my appreciation for their service to the district.

On two contracts for transportation services.

Five points.

Number one a previous discussion suggested that having two contracts could increase costs.

that in any case in the fall the district was likely to not be able to transport all eligible students and that the problem was not a funding shortage but rather a shortage of drivers.

Number two to get more drivers by simply having two companies recruiting from the same pool seems problematic.

Number three so it seems good that the contracts are offering bonuses.

However this might not work if the bonuses are not significantly greater than previous bonuses.

How do the bonuses compare to previous bonuses.

Number four the district had earlier proposed reusing drivers between three rather than two tiers but this was rejected.

This was at least a direct approach to the problem.

Number five is the district prepared to do something such as including a special fund for further bonuses.

On the general fund the district should move away from its formulistic budget approach.

The slogan of money follows the students cemented competition rather than cooperation between schools and has led to annual disruption at individual schools.

On the capital fund the district is destroying the history of our school buildings shrinking playgrounds and converting natural grass to artificial turf.

Please vote no.

Thank you very much.

Nice to see you today.

The next speaker is Janice White.

Janice White.

Good afternoon.

I'm the immediate past president of the Seattle Special Education PTSA and want to add my thanks to the board for passing the policies regarding inclusion today.

This is the third summer in a row that I've come before you to report on significant issues with the delivery of recovery services and summer school programs to students with disabilities.

We've heard from families who've been asking for summer recovery services for student behavioral needs for months but were given no information about their students enrollment in a summer social skills camp until they received a letter from transportation at the end of last week.

Because of the lack of information and communication many families set up other summer programs for their children which they're paying for and it's too late for them to withdraw without losing their money.

They should be reimbursed for those costs.

Also the district may be paying for programs that now turn out to be under-enrolled.

We've seen an email from staff at one of the outside agencies the district contracted with to provide a social skills camp.

The email was dated last Thursday in the late afternoon.

They reported that they had not received a final roster of students for a camp starting today and had no contact information for families.

Some families had reached out to them and shared that they had not been told of the camp's location dates or times.

The agency representative said they were writing from a place of desperation to try to find out the names and contact information of the students enrolled in their summer camp.

We continue to see a huge disconnect between the upbeat reports to the school board and the dysfunction that disabled children in our schools experience.

Separately our PTSA will be writing to you about the staffing crises that we have heard about in many schools this past year.

The failure of students who are among the hardest hit by the pandemic to have their needs met and our grave concerns about experienced special education staff who are leaving the district.

Our disabled students are not okay.

Please listen to families and teachers regarding these reporting these issues.

There needs to be accountability starting with significant communication improvements and additional actions to fix the problems.

Thank you very much.

The next speaker is Greg Newman.

Good afternoon.

My name is Greg Newman.

I am the Regional Vice President for First Student here in the Pacific Northwest and it's a pleasure to be here today speaking to you.

I want to highlight some of our technology that's included in our proposal due to the working committee meeting that we watched two Mondays ago.

First Student has notoriously been the leader in student transportation innovation.

Our proprietary state-of-the-art technology seamlessly connects the bus the route and the student which facilitates a higher level of safety encourages open and transparent operations and continues to enhance communication between schools and parents.

Some of our recent additions to technology that we will be introducing over the summer say on SmartReach which is a remote download system as our buses cross the geofence at our bus yards video footage will be automatically downloaded giving us the ability to get videos to the district faster.

We are upgrading our entire radio system to digital radios, which will give us expanded coverage and better reception.

We are introducing our first view parent app.

This will give parents direct access to the status of their child's bus by cell phone or computer.

Additionally, I want to highlight some technology that we've introduced over the past couple of years.

District dashboard.

The district is using this in the district's Dispatch Control Center.

This technology provides the district a complete transparent view into our operations.

Driver Workflow Hub.

Seattle was one of the first locations to receive this technology.

The tablet ensures child check verification efficient start to daily routes dynamic navigation for stronger performance safer bus rides and streamlined ridership reporting.

Finally FOCUS our first on-board component utilization system.

Our FOCUS system is a dispatch dispatch system that focuses on three primary purposes.

Schedule management tool.

It ensures route coverage and route performance.

We're excited about this next school year and we're looking forward to continuing continuing our partnership with you.

Thank you.

That was today's final speaker.

Sure.

Before we move on to voting on today's action items.

Thank you to all our speakers.

We really appreciate you sharing your time with us tonight.

I believe I made a mistake.

We have one more.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thought you knew something I didn't.

The final speaker will be Scott Goldbrinson.

Thank you for your patience Scott.

Thank you to the board for the time today.

My name is Scott Kobratz.

I'm a senior director with First Student and want to talk today too about a very important issue and I know it is for this board too which is the future of the bus fleet and electrification.

As you know First Student is the leader in student transportation at the forefront of the industry's transition to electric.

We are well positioned to support the sustainability goals of the Seattle Public Schools and through our partnership we work closely with SPS and the Clean Energy Task Force to collectively develop a timeline that allows us to systematically transition from fossil fuel by replacing the existing diesel buses with electric throughout our time together.

We'll collaborate with your needs and develop a plan to design the infrastructure and apply for grant funding and execute a goal of having an all electric fleet within 10 years or sooner.

As long as a long term partner we will collectively be improving the student health and supporting a more sustainable and equitable community.

We'll provide the resources, the operational expertise and the infrastructure to support that.

Currently, we have electric bus projects of various sizes underway in the following areas.

That includes 121 buses in service, a number of 300 currently on order.

Given the supply chain constraints, we are averaging about 15 buses per month, which is more than anyone in the industry.

We've reserved and prioritized a number of EVs with the manufacturer.

We're on schedule to continue as the leader.

We have more electric buses in North America than anyone else.

and an unmatched team to support the SPS in what you're doing.

That includes some of the leadership that I'll share with you, which is Kevin Matthews, who's our head of electrification, served as the director of the Clinton Global Initiative Electric School Bus Project, as well as serving 30 years in the EPA as well.

He's at the forefront of not only implementing, but of policy.

And also Alex Cook, who was recently awarded the Innovator of the Year for his work in electrification infrastructure.

So we're very excited about this.

We support that and we're here to help you and to develop the plan.

Thank you.

Now that concludes our testimony list.

Thank you Miss Wilson-Jones.

And again thank you to all our speakers.

We appreciate you spending your time with us this evening.

Board Directors we are going to take a brief five minute recess.

Repeat a brief.

Five in a recess if we could please try to be back by 5 43 That would be ideal.

Thank you very much And on that note so that we can start saying things again and it's time to return.

Director Saunders-Moritz if you will float your social butterfly self right back up here so we can wrap up.

So that'd be great.

Thank you.

All right.

We have now come to the action items portion of today's agenda.

May I have a motion for action item number one.

You may.

Just a moment.

No rush.

Take your time.

I move that the school board repeal current board policy number 5207 Prohibition of Harassment Intimidation and Bullying.

Second.

All right.

This has been moved by Vice President Hampson and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

Do we have a staff member who will be speaking to this item.

I'll wait.

Thank you Dr. Pritchett.

Good evening.

Assistant Superintendent Sarah Pritchett for HR.

There are no changes and there were no questions to be answered.

All right.

Any new questions from directors at this time.

Okay so there you go.

Director Harris follow me.

I'm troubled by this policy in that we have a history of not doing a great job in asking for accountability.

when it comes to adult behaviors harassment intimidation and bullying.

And we could sit here and talk about a litany of things and I choose not to because I'd like to believe that we're better.

A little distress that our former assistant superintendent of HR Mr. Noel Treat is not here to present it and he left town to go fishing in Montana which he absolutely earned.

But I I'm having trouble with an HR policy superseding policy.

Now do I think that the policy has been enforced as well as it could or should be or was written as well as it could or should be.

No I'm not going to claim that.

And again we have history to prove that.

But again I go back to the whole concept of Devils in the details.

And I go back to the concept of enforcement and accountability and I'll be abstaining on this one.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Harris.

Any other comments questions.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Thanks.

Actually upon abstaining also because I remember at introduction I expressed my concern with repealing this not having anything really in its place to address the adults especially the ones on this board because we don't really have anything that covers us.

And I and I don't and but I but again like I get the argument about how this is used.

inappropriately I guess a lot of times.

So it's it you guys have done the research to show how it's problematic in many instances.

I don't know what that is.

Anyhow I just anyhow I just wanted to reiterate so you understand why I will be going the way I am because I did mention that at introduction.

Thank you.

Any other comments or concerns for this item.

I also want to take a moment to explain why I plan to be voting in abstention.

I was in favor of the civility policy that was drafted by our previous Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Noel Treat.

You know I think the parallel I would draw is that earlier today I had a conversation with Samantha Fogg a parent who came and gave public testimony and she had explained to me the importance of having a board policy to kind of guide the direction of the work that the adults in our district do.

And so I am concerned that you know we just don't have an overarching policy that outlines our expectations around civility as a governing board.

Thank you.

Director Rankin.

I just I want to respond to the concerns Sorry with the reminder that this is really not about addressing all adult behavior in every scenario.

We've identified areas that we we need to have stronger policy around adults.

But this is specifically about the way that well.

So for one thing Moss Adams who has done audits and reviews of a lot of things for for our district and others is has strongly recommended a repeal as have other lawyers and entities because this is such an unusual policy for a district to have as it applies to adults.

It increases the risk of unnecessary liability.

And also the bigger problem than that for me and the reason I'm bringing this forward is because It actually sort of allows people to allows adults to absolve themselves of navigating conflict and lets it fester until it reaches the level of harassment intimidation and bullying.

And it's really toxic and unhealthy to to expect people to operate in that way to have this either very kind of emergency response or nothing.

That being said there are still this doesn't affect mechanisms about you know reporting as a whistleblower student issues discrimination sexual harassment a whole host of other behaviors.

And as we discussed at introduction there are in bringing this forward I worked with Noel Treat and other staff to identify places in our policy that are missing in terms of addressing certain adult behaviors.

So I would say that I don't expect this to be able to be applied to everything that I am trying to address the specific problem of the the way that the board policy 5207 is not serving our system and the adults in it.

as it exists and it's much more appropriate to me for this to be an administrative policy as is as you know dictates and responds to behavior of district employees.

Director Harris.

May I have leave to ask Director Rankin what pieces she believes are missing that we need to follow up on so that I understand the context of her comments please.

Director Rankin are you in a position to answer that question.

Yes.

So let me find here we go.

If I can find it because I don't want to leave anything out.

I apologize.

Could we move to the next item and come back while I'm looking for that.

Would that be more efficient.

Yeah absolutely.

I just want to be sure I'm getting complete information.

For sure.

Okay.

So.

Any other questions, comments, concerns on this particular item?

All right.

Y'all can have that conversation offline.

With that being said.

No, we still need to vote on it, but I just want I don't want you all to have to sit here while I'm digging around in my email.

I was literally.

Oh, sorry.

Okay.

that you said offline I was confused.

Y'all can have the conversation about Director Harris's question offline because we have we have an agenda that we need to get to.

So we can come back to it but we still need to take a vote and there are many other items that we need to get to so.

Okay I just was under the understanding that I was going to be sharing that right now.

Or when we go back to it.

I thought you said you needed more time and to move on to another item.

Yes but rather than offline I was going to answer the question.

Oh you got you're ready to go right now.

You said offline.

I'm asking for you to move on so that I can find it so that when we return to this item I can share it right here.

The motion has been called for this particular item.

So we have to address it before we move on to another item.

So if you want if we want to take if I'm not mistaken correct me if I'm wrong but we would need to move it again.

Right.

If we leave it and then come back.

President Hersey I believe we can take a break in the discussion.

I don't know if Greg is available to answer too and then come back to this item.

Great.

Yeah.

Good evening.

This is Greg Narver General Counsel.

That's correct.

This can be set aside for the time being would not need to be put back on the table with a motion as long as it's clear as to what we're taking back up and there's been no change to what the board's going to be voting on.

Okay, solid.

Thank you for that clarification.

Apologies for my misunderstanding of procedure.

So we're going to we're going to go ahead and move on to item number two, amend board policy number 2140 guidance and counseling.

May I have a motion for this item?

Yes.

Let's see.

I move that the school board amend and retitle board policy number 2140 guidance counseling as attached to the board action report.

And I believe we have an amendment.

Second.

This has been moved by Vice President Hampson seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

We also have an amendment.

Do any directors have amendments that they would like to share at this time?

So whose amendment is amendment on number two?

Is it just staff's amendment?

And I did find my my other thing.

Yes this is let's see do I need to make the motion for it.

Is that.

I'm sorry.

I move that the school board approve Amendment 1 to the School Board Action Report titled Amend Board Policy Number 2140 Guidance and Counseling and Substitute Board Policy Number 2140 as attached to the amendment.

To the extent the attached substitute policy conflicts with the information presented in the underlying board action report the substitute policy shall control.

Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.

Second.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Dr. Scarlett.

Thank you Director Rankin for Rankin for proposing the amendment to this BAR policy.

I'd like to also introduce Dr. Kayla Perkins my colleague on this We agree that the reasons you stated for making this amendment specifically would like to reiterate a few of them.

We amend the policy significantly so that there's much more high-level and directs the superintendent to develop procedures for the details of the state requirements related to counseling and advising.

This is consistent with the guidance from the Council of Great City Schools and the approach to student outcomes focused governance.

We've engaged with counselors who expressed concern at the introduction of this item and shared the basic plan to amend the policy to be higher level and to develop procedures in the coming fall.

They expressed support for this approach particularly since we plan to engage counselors in the development of the procedures that the amended policy directs the superintendent to develop.

We ask the board to take action on this item tonight so that we can stay on track toward implementing the requirements related to Senate Bill 5030 which requires all districts to begin transitioning in the 22-23 school year to have a comprehensive school counseling program in all schools.

We need to complete this transition by the start of the 23-24 school year.

The CAI and College and Career Readiness Team looks forward to bringing additional items related to this implementation of Senate Bill 5030 to the board particularly at the SSC&I committee committee in the fall.

Also in response to the question on whether it required to have this whether we're required to have this policy.

The policy itself is not required but it is encouraged by WSSDA that we have this policy.

It provides necessary guidance and sets the broad mandate to develop procedures that we want and need related to counseling and advising.

And at the same time there will be a transition plan introduced to the board in the fall that flows from this policy that does legally require approval.

And with that I'll take your questions.

Okay, given that this amendment was also presented today, I want to give directors the same opportunity to take a few moments and read if you feel so inclined to do so.

That being said, let's take three minutes.

Would that be enough time?

Five minutes and we will come back together promptly at 6.03.

You good.

Okay.

All right.

Go ahead Director Rankin.

Thank you.

I just wanted to refresh our memories that when this item was introduced two meetings ago I had indicated that I still thought it was too long and we were working on it and asked you all for some some time to continue to work on it with staff and get it more to our scope of governance.

And so there haven't been any changes in the content or the intent I mean the what this is trying to address.

It's just been and thank you very much for the patience and collaboration of our staff.

There was a lot of.

Trying to really look at the language through the lens of our role as a board versus what is the staff role.

And so just thank you all for allowing us to take a moment.

And I think I mentioned at that meeting that I wasn't sure exactly what form it would be in when it came back since we had more work to do.

And I think it's this is version is is much cleaner and puts the appropriate level of governance in the policy as opposed to management which is in procedures.

So just as a reminder that we I had signaled that.

So yeah.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you Director Rankin.

Do directors have any comments questions concerns on the amendment.

Okay.

So.

With that being said seeing none Miss Wilson-Jones will you please call the roll.

Calling the roll now on Amendment 1 to Action Item 2. Director Song-Moretz aye Vice President Hampson aye Director Harris aye Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith Director Hersey aye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

And now we will move to the vote on the actual item.

Correct.

Does that count.

You ready.

I move approval of the underlying board action report titled Amend Board Policy Number 2140 Guidance and Counseling as amended by Amendment 1.

Second.

Okay this has been moved and properly seconded.

Do directors have any questions on the item before we move to the vote.

Okay seeing none Ms. Wilson-Jones roll call please.

Vice President Hampson aye Director Harris aye Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Sargeant aye Director Song-Moritz aye President Hersey aye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

Thank you very much.

Returning to action item number one for the opportunity for Director Rankin to answer Director Harris's question.

Yes.

Thank you.

So.

Again the item for consideration is explicitly about employees people who are covered by HR who who are employed by the district from the superintendent on down.

But it's it's staff.

This is to address interactions between staff.

So the other areas of adult behavior in looking at our policies is I think that we need a whether it's a policy or I don't know what legal form it would be but I think we're missing a school board member code of conduct or norms agreement which could include communication with each other.

Expectations for how we treat each other.

Just kind of some some standard agreements as a board since we're not employees of the district we're elected officials and so I mean in some ways We're accountable to voters but we also are a body of seven who have to work together on a lot of things and I think it would be really helpful for us all to have just some sort of baseline foundational standards of agreement.

You know board directors come from so many different levels of work experience expectation and I think that would just be really helpful as both sort of a pledge of how we want to behave but also an agreement with one another that we can hold ourselves and each other accountable to I think is something that's missing that would be great to have.

In terms of other adult relationships we have policy 16-20 and a procedure which is the board superintendent relationship that also includes board and staff.

And that is something I think needs a refresh a look over that would address interactions between board board and staff and and also the relationship between the board and the superintendent.

And then there's other so this repeal and replacement would address Staff adult-to-adult interaction.

We have a non-discrimination policy 5 — 5010 sexual harassment of district staff prohibited which is 5011. There's also an unprofessional conduct of staff policy which is 5006. There's an anti-retaliation policy 5245 and there's a staff disciplinary action and discharge policy 5281. I'm guessing that a lot of those have not or could use also a refresh but those are existing documents.

And then we will still have a policy 3207 which is the prohibition of harassment intimidation or bullying of students which is the whole which is a state requirement and is why a HIB policy was created to protect students because they are children that do not have other rights as employees do for workplace protections and whatnot.

There's also policy 3208 prohibition of sexual harassment of students.

Policy 3210 prohibits discrimination acts of hostility and defamation of students.

And then there is policy 5006 unprofessional conduct of staff.

And then policy 5253 maintaining professional staff and student boundaries.

So there's several different places where adult behavior are addressed.

I you know this may be a discussion for another time but if we see this as a body of work that really needs to be focused together I would be happy to participate in or lead a work group or something that's that's specifically addressing these.

You know some of these I think belong to staff and but a lot of them do belong to the board.

So I hope that is helpful about context and that this action item is very specific about adult-to-adult interactions among staff.

I appreciate the clarification and the context.

Thank you ever so much.

All right.

Are all questions and concerns satisfied on this item.

Okay.

Miss Wilson-Jones a roll call please.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Same.

Director Sargeu.

Director Rankin aye Director Song-Moretz abstain Vice President Hampson please come back to me Director Harris abstain Director Rivera-Smith oh sorry Director Rankin aye Vice President Hampson are you ready.

Did you go through everyone.

Is that for me.

Do you want me to vote.

Yes please.

Aye.

And Vice President Hampson.

Abstain.

This motion is passed with a vote of 3 yes and 4 abstentions.

All right.

Moving on to item number three.

Approval of the OSPI school waiver applications and resolution number 2021-22-24 requesting a waiver from the past 180 day school year requirement for emergency school closures and for parent guardian teacher conferences.

I move that the school board approve the Superintendent's School Emergency Closure Applications to OSPI which requests permission for Seattle Public Schools to not make up a missed school day at West Woodland Elementary on May 23rd 2022 and at Aki Kurose Middle School on June 6th 2022. I additionally move that the school board approve Resolution Number 2021-22-24 as attached to this board action report.

Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.

Thank you.

Fred Podesta Assistant Superintendent of Operations.

This action approves a resolution and an application to request three waivers from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction from the 180-day school year requirement.

Two of the waivers relate to emergency closures of schools.

And the third is to support parent-guardian teacher conferences.

On May 23rd Seattle City Light the city's public electric utility suffered a region neighborhood outage in the vicinity of West Woodland Elementary School and was not able to restore power prior to the start of the school day.

Given our COVID protocols with various Strong supports for ventilation and air quality in school buildings.

We do not operate school buildings if power is needed to support those ventilation requirements.

On June 5th The Seattle Police Department received a very specific threat of violence against students at Aki Kurose Middle School.

We conferred with the police department and school leaders and an interdepartmental team recommended to Superintendent Jones that we cancel classes on June 6th at Aki Kurose.

So those are the two emergency closures.

And then we're asking for three days of waivers to support parent guardian teacher conferences at elementary schools and then one day for secondary schools to also have those conferences.

I'm happy to take any questions.

All right.

Board Directors any questions on this item.

Okay.

Thank you Mr. Podesta.

Seeing none Ms. Wilson-Jones roll call please.

Director Harris.

Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Sargeau aye Director Song-Morez aye Vice President Hampson aye President Hersey aye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

All right.

Moving on to our last action item for the evening, Approval of Contracts RFP 0222-428 and RFP 0222-42B Student Transportation Services for the 2022 through 25 and succeeding years.

I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to execute contracts for student transportation services for 2022 through 25 and succeeding years with First Student Inc. and Zoom Services Inc. and amounts not to exceed $45,200,000 and in the form of the contract agreements attached to the school board action report with any minor additions deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent to implement the contracts.

Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.

Second.

All right.

Mr. Podesta.

Great.

And again this action authorizes two transportation contracts that provide yellow bus transportation for students across the district.

I want to thank directors for the special Committee of the Whole Operations Committee meeting that was held on June 27th.

And we had very detailed discussions about these contracts so I'll try to recap quickly here for those that didn't spend the two hours in that meeting.

We have had a competitive process and again there's been a lot of attention to the competitive process itself but we have are in a position of choice for the first time in many years in Seattle Public Schools.

It's good to have choice.

We also talked in other contexts of the changes that we need to our transportation program.

We've talked about looking at eligibility standards from the lens of equity.

We have a task force that is encouraging us to have clean energy drive our transportation program.

And so we know we face changes.

So being in a position to have multiple vendors providing us services so we can see alternatives to how we're going to meet those changes is is a good problem to have even though Deciding how to pick vendors and how how to conduct a competitive process is a lot of work.

This has been really good analysis and really have dived deeply into the capabilities of the vendors and we've are fortunate to have two very qualified vendors that are working in districts across the country be interested in providing services to Seattle Public Schools.

What this Board Action Report gives the superintendent authority to finalize and execute these contracts.

Since we met in the Operations Committee of the Whole there have been some revisions.

Director Harris had asked us to put it to look at the dispute resolution process that was built in the contract and those the general conditions of our contract was amended to include that.

We've revised the BAR per your request to have better language describing students who receive special education services and require specialized transportation.

And we've adjusted the total amount of the board action report the total contract amount and this is I'm sorry it's a little bit confusing but that amount represents the potential total value across both contracts.

It's not the amount for any individual contract.

We are still.

in very good faith productive conversations with our two I hope future business partners who have come to those discussions very constructively in good faith.

And I really would urge moving ahead with these contracts as both our partners are making investments already to get started because they need to given the time of year we are and getting ready for school.

We have a lot of confidence in both of them.

Appreciate the approach they've brought to the district and I think are really ready to get going to be able to be in a position to assess new new approaches and hopefully to be able to provide more complete service that was a challenge to us in the past school year given the needing to restore a transportation program that was effectively shut down when our school buildings were not open and dealing with many dislocations in the labor market as many industries are.

So with that I'd be happy to take any questions you may have.

Okay.

Director Rankin.

My well I'm going to take this moment to say how much I love bus drivers.

That for a lot of kids they're the start and end of the school day.

They're not they're not extra invisible.

They are in a lot of ways.

I had a child that was picked up door to door and James our driver was a part of our lives that year.

Really important part of our lives.

So the my my only question is that this item It's titled approval of contracts but we're actually authorizing the superintendent to execute those contracts.

So my wonder is as negotiations continue or finish up what will there be any more board approval needed as numbers fluctuate or or what kind of I guess what updates or or subsequent information should we be expecting as as a board.

We will certainly advise the board again.

We're authorized as with all contracts to make minor additions and modifications to execute the contract.

The discussions we're having now really relate to the fact that we have two will potentially will have two contractors working at scale.

It's not been uncommon in recent years for Seattle Public Schools to have a second yellow bus provider but usually only as a backup at a very small scale.

What we're envisioning is both contractors working at scale and that presents a few valid concerns on the part of both vendors about how is that going to work in terms of managing that relationship.

So we're really down to fairly short strokes on you know some specific Aspects of the contract that have always been there is just really some final touches about how exactly that's going to work on a daily basis.

So unless there is a major change in these contract terms we'll advise the board but we really expect it to be pretty much in the details.

Okay.

Thank you.

Director Harris and then Director Rivera-Smith.

First let me say thank you.

Let me say thank you to you Fred to Ashley Davies to Greg Narver to our outside counsel and to both contractors for coming to the table.

This is really exciting for some of us who have been most distressed for more than a few years.

Hugely appreciate your negotiating and the alternative dispute resolution.

Let's let's cut these lawyer fees.

out of here and and and put that money into students and student safety.

And I have a challenge for both contractors.

Can we look forward to a time in the future That we embed our bus drivers in our schools as instructional assistants and work over labor partners and get together so that our bus drivers are part and parcel of our school communities.

We need the help.

First and last folks like Director Rankin said in the day that folks see.

I'm so tired of being told no and we can't.

And I challenge us to blow the box open.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Harris.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Thank you.

I was I think Director Rankin's question kind of was what I was going to ask about what was still coming and how much that would have changed what we're approving today.

You addressed that so thank you.

I'm...

Really looking forward to a lot of the technology solutions that were outlined especially for first student considering those are a lot of the challenges we've had in the past.

So really excited to see those come online.

I have a question regarding page 346 of the document.

It's on delivery commitment for school bus fleet with Bus West.

It's under Zoom's section there.

I don't know if it's a type or what but.

It says the bus West is committed to Zoom services Inc for confirmed delivery of following equipment staggered one-third per month between August to June 2022. Do they mean is that June 2023 and if so does that mean we get a third other can have a third of their buses between now and next June?

That's kind of concerning.

I do believe that was probably a typographical error with regard to the way the calendar lays out.

So in the case of Zoom services, we're asking to stand up a new business.

They have orders placed for a supply chain to own buses and they're making arrangement to lease buses in the interim.

So we're working with them on on how they'll be able to ramp up services.

Okay so they'll have them leased at least but they'll have They'll at least have leased buses.

I'm sorry one.

But their entire fleet of ownership may not be complete until next June.

Yes.

And again we given that we're allocating the contract to two contractors the fleet size is a bit different.

During the process and that's why these negotiations take a little bit of detailed work.

You know each contractor was certainly preparing a proposal that they were competing for 100 percent of the services and so how their supply chain how they're hiring some of their other logistical steps they need to adjust given what we've decided to do to award two contracts.

Yeah no and I definitely again also as Director Harris I'm very appreciative of all the work that was done to get this to get this worked out so that we can have two competitive vendors working for us.

And I especially appreciate our ability to allocate routes as best serves our students.

How that lays out.

So I don't know if that's anything that's still being worked on but I would I would hate to lose that ability.

I know we'll be followed up with a part as far as what does still develop.

But just what I guess I'll just go on record that that is to me paramount to retain is the ability our ability to allocate or distribute routes As again, best of our students.

Understood.

It's an important issue.

Yeah.

Given other questions.

Thank you.

Any other questions on the side.

All right, so now I just want to extend my thanks again.

This is. obviously been a very challenging endeavor to say the least.

And just Fred, Ashley, everybody on the team who worked on this, a huge thank you.

Very excited to get this done.

Very excited to get our students to school on time safely.

So with that being said.

And President Hersley, one thing I'd like to say is we do have Existing relationships with both proposers.

We're really thankful they proposed.

We really appreciate those relationships.

And a few mentioned Ashley I cannot praise the efforts of the incomparable Ashley Davies.

And Brady.

We do not have literal flowers but please accept these figurative ones because you have certainly earned them.

So, any more thank yous that we need to get out of the way before we move to the vote?

751. Oh, yes.

Thank you to Unit 751. We really appreciate all of our labor partners and especially those representing Everybody was impacted by this contract.

So appreciate that reminder Director Harris.

And thank you also to the bus drivers.

I know a lot of folks didn't get to see them but there were a host of bus drivers out there who were not able to join us in the room because of our COVID restrictions.

There are about 15 or 20 of them.

So I'm not sure if they're still out there.

I see a few folks who are still in the room.

But if you haven't got a chance to shake hands say thank you.

Make sure that you do so.

Okay.

I believe that's everyone.

That being said Ms. Wilson-Jones roll call please.

Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Sargeau happily aye.

There we go.

Director Song-Red aye.

Vice President Hampson aye Director Harris aye and President Hersey.

You already know.

Aye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

Okay.

Indeed.

We have now reached the board comments section.

Tonight's agenda.

Director Rankin you're looking at me with skepticism.

Did I miss something.

Oh no.

I was just getting ready to say I don't have any comments.

Oh sick.

Right on.

Okay.

Well let me stop talking so that we can get to the meat.

Director Hampson.

Oh I'm sorry.

Hang on one second.

Hang on one second.

Sorry do I have talking points for this.

Announcement for the superintendent evaluation narrative.

So Director Hampson take it away.

Oh well we may need to give folks time to read it.

I don't have any.

This was once again just my attempt to capture the overall sentiment relative to the evaluation in a narrative form.

So but like many things on this last board meeting of our quote unquote session before a short break we folks just got it so I don't I think maybe giving folks 10 5 minutes to not 10 5 minutes to read it might be helpful.

And then I think if we have to vote on it or what or it's just part of the record in the materials of this meeting or.

Right.

We didn't know there is no expected vote.

Yeah.

No and I think I don't necessarily I don't know if the expectation is that I would take the edits or you would take the edits President Hersey or somebody on staff would take the edits.

Yeah so we can figure that out.

Just like the audit announcements this just needs to be publicly noted.

But if directors obviously read through and have edits feel free to send them to me and I will make sure that they are incorporated.

Thank you Director Hampson for your diligence in getting that initial draft done.

So appreciate that immensely.

President Hersey may I make a suggestion.

Yes indeed.

Thank you.

Can we upload that to the website and can we also have a deadline to get those comments or proposed edits back to you or forever hold our peace.

Yes.

You know how I love deadlines.

As long as we follow them.

Of course.

So let's do I mean take a week if you could get them back to me by next Wednesday which I believe is the 13th.

That would be ideal.

And then.

It is on the it is already it's in the agenda for today.

The link is there.

So.

Yep.

So it exists on the website.

Is that satisfactory.

Okay cool.

So if you have any edits please get them to me by Wednesday of next week and I will make sure that they are incorporated and that the online posting is updated.

Right on.

Okay.

Board comments.

Who's got comments.

Go ahead Director Somritz.

Thank you.

I'm going to use this opportunity to provide some comments on the budget that we approved earlier in this meeting.

I want to commend the finance department for a very clearly written budget.

I did read the entire document.

It was very easy to follow.

And I believe oh sorry.

I thank you to the budget office for creating a budget that is easy to follow and helps us allocate our limited resources in the way that we best see fit.

And yet I think there are three areas of improvement that I would like for my colleagues and I to and the district staff to ponder for the next time we need to do this work.

One observation is that we do not do enrollment planning in conjunction with our capital projects.

So within my director district I have observed three schools where we have done significant capacity building because of capity capital projects and yet we didn't give the school time to fill those seats.

And I find it problematic.

The schools in my director district are Licton Springs West Woodland and Magnolia Elementary which is adjacent to the Adams Catherine Blaine and Lawton schools.

And what that has led is that we have projected enrollment declines in those individual schools and then we have to make staffing changes that creates a lot of instability.

And I think that we could do a concerted effort to give schools who are impacted by capital projects because they have to be moved to a new location, they need to go to an interim site, a chance to catch up and address their enrollment.

Number two, I think we are headed in a good direction around this, but I would really love for us to see a budget that is tied directly to academic strategies and programs so that we can make a measure on the return of investment.

We're intentionally putting dollars behind these strategies to improve our reading math college readiness goals and that we can examine the results of that and in the subsequent years adjust our financial investment behind the strategies that work.

I really firmly believe that this is the direction that we will be moving towards and I'm excited about that.

And we'll continue to support that work as a school board director.

The third thing that I have observed is that while we have a legal duty to balance our budget I think there is ways that we could approach cost savings in a way that doesn't drive instability in individual schools.

One suggestion I have here is that we develop our central office budgets and our individual school budgets at the same time.

And from the board perspective we are not really presented options for what changes we could make in the name of creating greater stability because the full budget is presented at the same time.

I think it would be helpful for my colleagues and I to be presented some options.

I have a bias towards maintaining schools close the money within schools.

So I would like to see if that is our priority.

What are other things that would be cut and then we can have a robust conversation on how we would shift money to achieve our community's visions for 50,000 students.

But thank you and I hope everybody has a good rest of their summer.

Any other comments?

All right.

So with that being said, I hope everybody has a wonderful summer.

Like whether you're a student, a parent, a staff person, especially an educator, this year has been wild and I hope that your summer is restful and peaceful and you get to recharge and spend time with your family.

With that being said, this meeting stands adjourned at 6.39 p.m.

Don't come here next week.

We will not be here.

But if you want to come hang out at the John Stanford Center, y'all pay taxes.

So that's your right.

That being said, thank you all very much.

Be safe getting home and we will see you in eight weeks.