Seattle Schools Board Meeting Aug 26, 2026

Good afternoon.

We will call the meeting to order momentarily and SPS TV will begin broadcasting.

All right.

I've waited the obligatory minutes.

The August 26, 2026 regular board meeting is now called to order at 4.33 p.m.

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

I'll ask for the roll call please.

Vice President Briggs.

Here.

Director Lavallee.

Here.

Director Mizrahi.

Here.

Director Rankin.

Here.

Director Smith.

Here.

Director Song.

Here.

President Topp.

Here.

Thank you.

All right.

Well, we're going to get right into it.

I'm going to turn it over to our superintendent, Superintendent Shoulder, for his comments.

All right, well, good afternoon, everyone.

It's a pleasure to be here.

We have kind of a fun and packed agenda, so I will probably speak more on agenda items later on.

But I wanted to say a couple of things.

It's about to be the start of the school year.

There have been a lot of changes.

I've been here now for six months and 26 days, but who's counting?

The thing that I've been trying to say as much as I can is this district really is a wonderful district.

You've got incredible educators, you've got incredible families, incredible kids, wonderful board members, a mediocre superintendent.

But what you got is a structure that doesn't really serve kids in the best way possible.

And one of the things that I'm really proud of is that over the last couple of months we are starting to reshape the way we serve schools and the way we serve students.

And one of the biggest changes that we've done is by creating seven executive directors for our schools.

When I became the superintendent the district was structured in a way that was regional based.

but it also didn't have the kind of direct support of our principals and schools and so over the last couple of months we've hired seven really incredible, really great educators to be the executive directors of our schools and the thought process of course was that we were gonna do it by level and we're gonna be able to have folks that are education experts at the different levels.

So a head of high schools, a head of middle schools, a head of K-8, a head of alternative ed, a head of elementary schools.

All of those things are gonna help us better serve the families and as the executive directors will tell you, they're already in the thick of it.

They're responding to teachers, they're responding to parents, they're responding to principals in a way that I've already gotten emails be like, wow, people are just so much more responsive now.

And so that's really, really terrific.

So that is the preamble to introducing our incredible executive directors of schools.

So I don't know exactly how we want to do this, but I see these amazing, wonderful educators in the audience.

I defer to anybody.

If you want to come up to the mic, I'd like you to say hi to the board.

I'd like you to say hi to the community.

Amazingly enough, many, many people do watch this show.

And so I, you know, because I see him first.

He's closest to the mic.

I would love Justin to come up and present.

But I'm going to embarrass every single one of them.

So the first thing I want to say is I've gotten to know Justin through the work that he's done through being a principal coach, being the former principal of South Shore.

And now as the head of K-8s, he comes to us from a wide range of time and experience with that population.

And when he applied for the job, he just blew it out of the water with his presentations and his really deep understanding of K-8.

So with that, Take it away.

Thank you.

And that wasn't too embarrassing.

But really nice to see the board.

Thank you for your kind words, Superintendent Scholdiner.

I couldn't be more pleased to be a part of this amazing team.

Really excited to really think about how we support our schools and our school leaders differently.

And that also will then absolutely have impact on how our teachers feel.

supported as well as our families feel supported.

And I know that's been a big charge in just being more responsive in general to families and students and the needs that pop up.

I love K-8s.

Both of my daughters went through South Shore with me for 10 years.

We've known one school in Seattle Public Schools, South Shore, pre-K-8 because they started in pre-K and many of our K-8s actually hold on to preschool as well.

So we don't forget that.

But just the opportunity of the K-8 leaders to collaborate together to talk shop together to share strategies to problem solve I think is a really unique opportunity for us to really lift up what I believe many families have found to be just a really sweet spot for their kids before they head off to high school.

So couldn't be more pleased to be here and thank you Seattle Public Schools look forward to serving in this role for as long as I can be here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So next to you, yes, exactly.

We have Lynn.

One of the things that you've noticed probably is that almost all of the executive directors were kind of current SPS employees, which really speaks to the fact that they have a deep understanding about SPS schools.

Lynn comes to us from Federal Way, which is a place I just learned about.

And she was so good of understanding alternative education that there was no question that she was going to get this job, even though she wasn't in SPS.

Her career at Federal Way, working with alternative ed, understanding the rules and regulations that are very complicated around alternative ed, these things called 1418 schools, all this kind of stuff, really was really impressive.

And so Lynn, if you want to take the mic and introduce yourself and say some things, that'd be great.

Thank you.

Well, good afternoon.

Thank you, Superintendent Schilder.

Nice to meet all of you, members of the board and community.

I'm really thrilled to have been able to join Seattle Public Schools.

It is a district with so many excellent things already happening, but we're also poised for even more innovation and possibility as we think about where alternative education can take us in ways that can help spark true engagement and deeper learning for older students in high school.

And we know alternative education serves such a wide range of both desires and needs for our young people.

And I think that's only going to continue to grow as our world continues to change.

And it's really an honor to help lead that creative and innovative work.

I really love the work of education and I deeply believe and know how important public schools are for the health of, yes, individuals, our young people, but also for their families and for our communities.

And I'm honored to be a public educator and I want to continue to help public educations be strong, viable, wonderful opportunities where kids feel excitement and they want to be there to learn and to grow.

So thank you for having me.

I'm really happy to have joined Seattle.

and look forward to meeting you more personally sometime in the future.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

So who's easiest?

Dr. Mercer, are you able to, is it?

Okay, great.

So let me, I'm gonna bring up James Mercer, Dr. Mercer.

You'll notice that many of them have doctorates.

I do not.

And you know, James has been just a consummate professional around the Seattle School District.

I think you're in your sixth year?

Seventh year?

Six?

Yeah, seven?

The work that he's done supporting our schools, jumping just headfirst into supporting our elementary schools in these last couple of weeks, I've been just so impressed with him really ingratiating himself within the city for these last seven years.

And he can tell you all the different roles he's had here.

But Dr. Mercer has been really terrific.

James has been really an incredible educator.

He's been able to deal with some of our hiring that has been a little bit difficult.

And he has been just so good at working with our families and our communities so that their voice is heard while we're going through some difficult processes.

So with that, Jim, James, Dr. Mercer, take it away.

Sure.

Thank you.

Good evening, board and community.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak before you this evening.

I think you said mostly everything.

So I don't have too much to add, but really thrilled to be back year seven in this iteration of the role.

focused on elementary specifically this year so I supervise service support 21 of our elementaries across the city and I'm looking forward to just learning and growing and continuing to help lead our leaders learn and grow to be better you know leaders for all of Seattle Public Schools children so thank you I look forward to working with you thank you so much James this is wonderful

Dr. Katrina Hunt, are you able to?

I can't tell the lanes here.

Katrina has been a part of the Seattle Public School District, really, as a bedrock of this place.

Her deep knowledge of our schools, her deep knowledge of our children, her deep knowledge of the system has been so helpful to me as a outsider, as somebody who needs to understand how things work, seeing her with families, seeing her with children, seeing her within the community.

Dr. Hunt has been terrific.

And really, I want to just thank her for her just deep understanding and really hard work in trying to move the needle for our children.

So Katrina, please take it away.

Good evening school board.

Good to see you all again.

Community.

I'm looking so forward to working with middle school.

That's where I started.

I figure that's where I'm going to end.

I love that age group and it's just a real honor to just get back to work with that that that level of student and that age group where those three years aren't enough and it's the toughest three years for them.

But being able to work with the principals and the parents and the students and the teachers to make sure that they are getting what they need is something that I'm looking forward to.

So I appreciate being back.

in this role even though it's at levels.

Middle school is what I wanted to do as principal of course of middle school and I just think being able to get in dig in and do the work that needs to be done to make sure that those three years three years are the most impactful three years is what I'm ready to do.

All right thank you.

Thank you Dr. Hunt.

I will say, as a superintendent, clearly you have to love all your children equally, but middle school is probably the hardest, and so I really appreciate the work.

Dr. Jessica Conte is next.

I see her.

Again, I've gotten to know her over these last couple of weeks.

Previously, she, too, was a principal coach.

but I will tell you just her breadth of understanding of education, especially around pedagogy, her organization, we have our meetings, and just the way that she's presented herself to us, to all of us, her deep understanding of this district, and really just being able to learn from her has been great.

So Jessica, take it away.

Also elementary, which is a really important part for us.

please take it away.

Yeah thank you.

I'm really excited to be a part of the elementary team and the executive directors.

I started as a kindergarten teacher and so I'm super passionate about our little ones and how important it is for our system that we start and ensure that they have success from the start.

We all know how important it is those early years to ensure academic excellence throughout their career.

I'm also really excited to partner with the dual language schools.

We have five dual language elementary schools.

I come from a dual language background.

I'm really excited about creating clarity and coherence within the system to support dual language education.

Multilingual education should be an important focus in our community and ensure that we are providing multilingual opportunities for all students.

So I'm really excited to be a part of the team that will help support that as well.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Last, and certainly not least, is Chris Carter.

Now, Chris has a dual role, which is head of high schools, which of course, incredibly important, but he's also the head of athletics.

Now, I'm always pretty blunt about things.

People might know that we have had some concerns around how we've run athletics over the years.

Some of that has to do with a lack of structure, a lack of understanding, and really just a lack of accountability.

But one of the real reasons why the athletics issues happened was that athletics was kind of devoid and moved away from the academic structure.

wonderful people love everybody that's been part of athletics but when you're the head of athletics and you don't have any say over the high school principals who are the ones that are in charge of all the stuff that's happening it's really hard to do the job so as part of this restructuring one of the things we've done is that the head of high schools is now also the head of athletics and that's really important because now Chris has been able to sit with the high school principals and the athletic directors and say look we're all in this together and we're gonna hold each other accountable rather than see these as two separate things and you know I've gotten to know Chris really since the moment I've been here because he had a leadership role before this and the thing that really struck me the most other than his understanding about education but this kind of deep sense of morality not that nobody else is deeply moral but like there's just this kind of pervasive sense of we have to do the right thing for our children in a kind of deep ethical way.

And I could think of no better person to run athletics after the history of this place than Chris.

But then, of course, understanding high school the way that he does and being able to support our comprehensive high schools, I think, is really great.

So with that, Chris, take it away.

All right, good afternoon.

It's great to be here to introduce myself.

Thank you, board.

Thank you, community.

I won't speak too much more to what the superintendent spoke to, what a colleague spoke to.

I will say maybe three things.

One, just my personal passion for the work.

I think Superintendent Shoulder is speaking to that in terms of servant leadership and what we do for our community to support our students.

100% in, 100% in with the team, so just a personal passion.

This is my 30th year in Seattle Public Schools.

Left a couple of times for a short stance, but I've been a teacher, a basketball coach in the middle schools.

I know our pre-K-12 systems well.

And I'm just super excited for the opportunity to work with our community to make sure our high schools not just continue to provide outstanding opportunities for kids but really are just beacons of opportunity for all our students across our entire system so just really excited to work with this team and excited to be here and although athletics is a second kind of full-time job I'm super excited about that as well I have an athletic background and I understand how those systems work.

And so there's no better two things to lead than the high schools and athletics.

So excited for this opportunity.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chris.

And we have a seventh, a magnificent seventh who is not here right now, Dr. Reena Deese, another wonderful educator who has been with us for many years and I just want to thank her for her great work.

She's going to be one of the triad for elementary schools and she is terrific too.

I mean I guess you're going to have to take my word for it.

but really just to have the kind of magnificent seven here to help move our district, I think you're gonna see a lot of great movement because of what they're doing.

So with that, I know there's a lot of stuff I'll comment on that are action items but I just wanna thank the seven of them, thank the whole district and we'll return to your regularly scheduled programming.

So thank you.

Thank you Superintendent Schuldner and welcome.

We are all excited for your new roles here in Seattle Public Schools.

Next on our agenda is the student representative comments.

We don't have any student representatives here but we did swear in our new student representatives earlier this afternoon.

We have four new student reps who will be joining us at the dais here moving forward.

So that is very exciting.

but to keep us rolling we'll move into board comments and liaison board board committee and liaison reports.

I'll get it right maybe by the end of my term here.

So just real fast I had the chance along with Superintendent Schuldner this morning to attend the ribbon cutting at the new Alki Elementary in West Seattle.

It was just this wonderful reminder of place matters.

Schools are more than just the buildings but the places where kids discover what they care about build relationships create memories maybe learn something hopefully learn something.

So excited for all of the Alki students staff and families for their new school building.

And then I know this Saturday we have a ribbon cutting at Rainier Beach High School for not their school.

They've been in their school for about a year but for the Performing Arts Center and this field and all the accoutrements that go along with it.

So please join Director Lavallee and I there this Saturday.

I think Director Smith will also be in attendance.

Maybe.

TBD.

But with that do other board committee chairs or liaisons have reports.

Director Lavallee.

Yeah I'll do a quick one from the operations committee.

We had a presentation on how capital planning of our levies ends up happening so that we could get a better understanding of that going forward and as we move into it and as we do some longer term planning we know kind of what the structure currently is at this point in time.

We also did a we've ongoing talked about a potential policy that governs when the student assignment transition plans and the student assignment plans come in front of the board.

And so we had a discussion with the committee as well as the superintendent and staff and really deeply discussed kind of what the goals were with that.

and are going to be taking some advice and looking at the entire 3000 series as there's a bunch of policy wrapped up that really intertwines on each other and becomes very convoluted, is hard to maintain, is hard for staff and doesn't get the board the work that we need done done.

So I have talked to Director Mizrahi and we're looking at when that is ready doing a potentially joint session of the two committees so that we can review that and both committees can have some say into it.

Scheduling of that will still be determined and staff is currently working on some suggestions for how to based on our feedback and discussion on how to move forward with revamping kind of the entire 3000 series to make it a lot cleaner and more accessible.

Other directors.

Vice President Briggs.

Yeah, this is my first update as the tribal nations liaison.

And I just wanted to let everyone know that we've been working really hard to rebuild our relationship with our two treaty tribes, the Muckleshoot and Suquamish.

and to that end both the superintendent and myself along with some cabinet members were able to go to the Muckleshoot canoe journey landing at Alki this summer where we met among other people the tribal chair Donnie Stevenson of Muckleshoot and they were very happy to see us there and it was a wonderful celebration.

I then was unable to attend but the superintendent went and met with the Suquamish Executive Council I believe, yeah.

and had dinner even with the tribal chair.

So yeah, so we're moving forward with building back the relationship with our two treaty tribes so that we can work with them to update our policies.

around Native Ed.

Oh and the other big thing that happened is that our Native Ed Department, Georgina Bedoni and Shanna Brown were able to present for the first time ever to all of SLI, which meant all of the principals all at once about implementing the since time immemorial curriculum.

that was also a first time event and hopefully the beginning of us being able to roll that curriculum out and actually implementing it throughout the district.

So that's that's all I got for right now but but stay tuned more to come.

Those are huge updates.

Thank you Vice President Briggs.

Director Mizrahi.

Yeah I'll just give a quick policy committee update.

We've been very productive in the policy committee or POCO as we like to call it.

We.

were assigned by this board the task of finding where the goals and guardrails fit into the overall policy framework and that sort of took on a little bit of a life of its own.

It was a little bit more complicated than just finding a location for it actually getting nailing down the language despite it being something that we had talked about as a full board many many times.

So that took two meetings but we got there and have something for the board tonight and we will next be looking at guardrails and making sure that we can similarly take the conversations we've been having now for two years about our guardrails and have that adequately expressed in in official policy.

We also had a presentation from the superintendent about our building usage policy and some updates that may be needed to that and also Director Smith and Director Song worked on a grants and gifts policy which we discussed and will be I think taking it more formally at our next policy committee meeting.

Director Song.

I have a positive update on the two WASDA position updates that we approved.

Liza very helpfully submitted them for me while I didn't have internet access.

They were approved by the committee and they are going to go to General Assembly for consideration.

General Assembly is scheduled for September 19th.

Finance and Audit Committee we met last Tuesday, August 18th.

In this committee we are trying to answer four questions for the largest categories of deficit spending.

Why we spend in that category, how we budget for that category, how we track against that budget, our spending, and then what are possible board actions that we could take and what are possible ways that we can improve the budgeting process.

And the presentation that we got at that committee meeting was focused on special education.

A big thank you to Devin and Kurt and his team.

I think it was a really robust presentation.

I encourage all board members to go back and look at the recording or the presentation materials.

It really will help you understand how the deficit spending happens but kind of the way that we need to serve our students.

But we have significant financial challenges in that category.

Our next meeting is September 1st.

Thank you.

All right.

Then we will move into public testimony.

Public testimony will start at 5 p.m.

but we will I will read through the rules and have staff read through the process.

So we are now going to be moving into public testimony at 5 p.m.

Board policy one four zero zero provides our rules for testimony.

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

I have the right to and I will interrupt any speaker who fails to observe the standard of civility required by our procedure.

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

I'm now going to pass it over to staff to summarize a few additional points about the process.

Okay there we go.

Thank you President Topp.

The board will take testimony from those on the testimony list and will go to the waiting list if we are missing speakers.

Please wait until call to approach the podium or unmute and only one person may speak at a time.

The board's procedure provides that most of your time should be spent on the topic you signed up to speak to.

Speakers may cede their time to another person, but this must be done when the listed speaker is called.

Time isn't restarted and the total time remains two minutes.

The timer at the podium will indicate the time remaining for speakers here in person.

When the light is red and a beep sounds, it means that your time has been exhausted and the next speaker will be called.

For those joining by phone, the beep will be the indication that time has been exhausted.

Moving into our list now for those joining by phone please press star six to unmute on the conference line and for everyone please do reintroduce yourself when called as I may miss some pronunciations as we move through today's list.

The first speaker is Richard.

Hang on just a second.

So just a quick reminder there is a two minute timeline when we hit that two minutes I will give a warning that I will just say please conclude your remarks that's your opportunity to just wrap up real quick.

and if you don't I will ask staff to mute your microphone.

Thank you.

The first speaker is Richard Furr.

Okay, the purpose of my testimony is to go over some of the objections that we have to the proposed to install lights at the Eckstein Middle School play field.

And number one, light pollution, which would affect both neighbors and birds, number two noise pollution which would certainly affect neighbors number three would be a problem which now exists more speeding traffic late at night number four more parking problems on my street, 33rd Avenue and also other adjacent streets.

Number five, stray lacrosse balls and maybe other balls can hit windows and people and this has already been the case.

Also number six, as I recall, no lights were promised when the artificial turf was installed years ago at Eckstein.

Number seven, the night sports will mainly be played by adults, not by the students.

Number eight, given the present budget issues, I believe the money would be much better used for other things.

And finally, I am concerned that there will be lack of adequate security during these night events.

So thank you.

The next speaker is Michelle Campbell.

Please press star six to unmute.

Michelle, I can see you're unmuted.

Michelle we cannot hear you but we are working on this right now.

Hang on just a second as we work on some tech issues or we may need to come back continue our process and come back to online.

Barry are you in the room?

Michelle we will come back to you.

We're going to figure out our tech issue and come back to you.

The next speaker is Chris Jackins.

My name is Chris Jackins, Box 84063, Seattle 98124. On the 2026-2027 budget, three points.

Number one, I appreciate the use of interest earnings on capital funds for operating expenses.

Number two just getting currently enrolled students to attend school will balance budgets.

Number three don't close schools.

On ed specs for the John Marshall project two points.

Number one big chunks of the 1926 historic school would be demolished.

Number two the district has refused to cooperate with the city landmarks board despite the school being landmark eligible.

The proposed ed specs tend to lock in the loss of landmark-eligible features.

Please vote no.

On the Eckstein Field Lighting Project, five points.

Number one, the project would install 80-foot tall light poles for nighttime noisy use on fields directly next to residents' homes.

number two this seems to be a bit of gravy train largesse that snuck into the district's levy it is not for public school use number three the district checklist states quote the primary use of the lighted fields is likely to be private school and non-SPS recreational athletics unquote number four please cancel this project Number five also if the levy contains private free trips to Disneyland please cancel those too.

Thank you very much.

Michelle we have tech support here.

Will you try to unmute again.

We can hear you online but we can't hear you in the auditorium.

Hold on.

Michelle, can you leave the meeting and come back in?

Okay, we're going to move, continue on our list here.

The next speaker is Manuel Lesley, who may also be online.

No, she's not.

Okay, we will come back to her as well.

The next speaker is Ala Ibrahim.

Good evening Superintendent and board members.

Our names are Ola Ibrahim and Dr. Tyson Marsh.

We come before you today day 260 of waiting on SPS to act on behalf of students and their safety.

Our son was harmed under the direct care of special education teacher now SEA President Idowu.

He was a joyful child and he had no I'm sorry.

He was a joyful child and his disabilities never stopped him from challenges.

Instead, the physical and emotional harm he endured literally at Edo'o's hand left a gaping hole in our family that we must now navigate.

Rather than enjoy our summer, we had to help our child heal from the third grade.

Our trust in the district is shattered.

We have poured countless hours into simply trying to understand and navigate the process that we have been trapped in.

Please act on your policies to protect him, his classmates and future students.

We raised three points.

First, mandatory reporting.

Transform this culture so reporting is understood as a positive effort to uphold district policy.

You must create ironclad protections for mandatory reporters, especially instructional assistants who carry the weight of the work and the least power.

educators should come forward without fear.

This district must treat them as allies in safety.

Second, investigations and timeframes.

We acknowledge your recent HR audit.

Our case is a prime example of why strict timelines are necessary.

Ido was strategically delayed her investigator's interview until after securing her union presidency, weaponizing your broken timeline to make adjudication harder.

While we waited in agony, she wasn't reflecting.

She was campaigning outside our schools with SEA officials.

Superintendent Schuldner, you admitted this district lacks solid systems and structures to handle inquiries effectively.

I ask you to please conclude your remarks.

Yes.

This 260 day exploitation proves it.

We need enforceable deadlines and mandated parental updates.

Third and finally, DoeWu must be terminated and her license must be revoked.

Thank you.

Okay, we're going to try Michelle Campbell again.

Michelle Campbell, please press star six to unmute.

I can see you're unmuted.

We still cannot hear you in the auditorium.

We can read the subtitles, but unfortunately cannot hear you in the auditorium.

So we'll continue on and we'll continue to work with tech support here.

Our apologies, we'll move on.

Good afternoon.

My name is Manuela Slay and I'm here today in my capacity as a Latino community leader.

First, I want to thank you for your service and for the work you're doing on behalf of our students.

I'm here to express concern from my community and respectfully ask you to postpone tonight's vote on the proposed goals and guardrails because we believe they could significantly impact our Latino students and other historically underserved student groups.

If we're serious about becoming the best school district in the country, we have to be willing to look honestly at the data and at the disparities within our system.

In the 2024-2025 school year, the graduation rate for Latino students was 70.5% compared to 86.1% for SPS overall.

If our goals are designed primarily around overall district performance without explicitly addressing the students who are furthest from success, we risk continuing to perpetuate the very disparities that we say we want to eliminate.

Student groups experience our system differently.

Our goals must reflect that reality.

We need goals that identify who's being left behind, understand why, and establish measurable strategies to close those gaps.

and particularly concerned about the intersection of disability and language.

There are 1,474 students receiving both special education services and multilingual learning services.

These students face unique and compounded barriers, yet the proposed goals do not appear to adequately recognize this population or establish clear measures for their success.

We cannot talk about closing opportunity gaps without looking at the students who experience multiple barriers at the same time.

I firmly believe we're entering a new era in Seattle Public Schools where decisions are grounded in real data, transparency and accountability.

So tonight I respectfully ask you to postpone this vote.

I need 10 more seconds.

Go back to the drawing table, bring the data forward, engage the communities whose voices need to be included, and develop goals that do not simply measure how the district is doing overall, but measure whether the students who have historically been underserved are actually making progress.

Let's build the best urban district in the nation together for all our children.

Thank you.

We're still having difficulty connecting to our online callers, so we're going to call everybody in person first and then hopefully we can get this fixed by the end of the list.

So Samantha Fogg, I'm going to skip over you and go to Robert Femiano.

My name is Robert Famiano.

I'm a retired K-3 teacher from this district.

If a child can speak, they can learn to read, no excuse.

Your own test scores show that when I was teaching in a high poverty multilingual school, my average class growth in reading out doubled the district's average four years in a row until I retired.

Yet when I offered for free to explain how I did it, You refused.

That's illogical from a district with such high needs.

Reading difficulties can be prevented, and learning disabled and dyslexic children can be put back on track, as I did, year after year.

I sent you a link to my website, Teaching to All.

Did you see that the University of Washington says my program has all the components necessary, including for special education and English language learners?

And did you see that the University of Florida also strongly agrees with my program?

Did you watch my two and a half hour cram course on how to teach all students to read?

If you did, you can answer this question.

What is the most important step in teaching a non-reader or in correcting one with reading difficulties?

It's the very first task and it has nothing to do with reading per se or the alphabet.

Yet, without mastering it, reading will not make sense to many children.

They'll be off track before they even begin.

Try this.

Substitute the ah sound in cat with the uh sound.

What's the new word?

This ability to swap vowel sounds is the most critical step in reading, yet most teachers in reading adoptions don't stress it up front, if at all.

We'll ask you to please conclude your remarks.

My free reading training offer, still stands.

Meanwhile, any parent or teacher who wants to help a struggling student, reader, or to teach a non-reader, go to www.teachingtoall4.com and give them the proper start yourself.

Remember, if a child can speak, they can be taught to read, no excuses.

The next speaker is Spencer Bonner.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the board.

I'd like to respectfully request that Seattle Public Schools prepare a more complete study of the likely neighborhood impacts associated with the installation of athletic field lighting at Eckstein Middle School.

These impacts include the added noise and light levels extending well into the night in a completely residential neighborhood.

I don't believe that the lighting study adequately recognized the area terrain and residences along 33rd Avenue Northeast will be looking up into the field lighting since they are 10 to 15 feet below the level of the field.

This effectively makes the light standards 90 to 95 feet in height rather than simply 80 feet.

I'm also concerned about the traffic impact on the main thoroughfare, Northeast 75th Street, which is a two-lane street rather than the four-lane arterial it once was.

33rd Avenue, where I live, is effectively a single-lane street.

These small streets make any traffic impacts much more significant.

There will also likely be radio frequency interference from lighting systems to licensed amateur or ham radio operators.

Ham radio operators directly support the emergency communication needs of the City of Seattle.

There are at least two ham radio stations immediately next to the field.

Radio interference harming these operations impairs citywide preparedness for emergencies.

The report also says there are no wildlife impacts from the proposed lighting, yet the area around the field has a transient coyote population.

Why weren't these noted?

I'd also like to ask, is there a better use for the million dollars allocated for this project?

I'd ask that the board consider if this is the best investment of SPS capital funds relative to other district capital needs.

Finally, it's the recollection of multiple residents in the area that there was a firm commitment from SPS to not light the field when artificial turf was installed.

What about this commitment?

Thank you for allowing me to offer this testimony.

The next speaker is Elaine Bonner.

Hi there my name is Elaine I have Elaine Bonner a lot of what I'm going to say is say ditto to what Spencer just said but I will say that I have lived at this address next to Eckstein Middle School for 32 years and I've never felt the need to come to this meeting before we've I would say enjoy and sometimes tolerate a lot of noise from Eckstein including lots of drumming in the summer and all kinds of other things but this is significant in that the light as mentioned by other folks here will come directly into our yard and disrupt any nighttime quiet it's a very very big deal in that way.

It destroys all the natural darkness along that entire string of homes that butts right up to Eckstein Middle School that will be affected by these very tall lights as was stated before.

I've been a nurse for 45 years and I need to throw in a little something about the health impact of all this noise.

The evening noise especially when downtime is very important to all of our health to not have the constant hum of voices and noise and everything happening.

This will completely destroy those hours of peace up until 10 o'clock when I've heard the lights will be officially turned off.

that is way too late in the evening.

So I would ask for that would be reconsidered.

Real quick here, there was a Harvard study and the nurses' study for health for 30 years with tracking nurses that Low-level noise pollution really does affect our cardiovascular system, our brain, all kinds of other areas in our health.

So it is something that is being put in the back burner.

Real quickly, I agree with the cost of the project.

The million dollars that is allocated for this could be so much better spent.

how many years is it going to take to recoup that million dollars in the rentals to these other teams that are going to be playing on the field.

It doesn't seem like smart money management to me.

There's way better ways to help our kids by using that million dollars elsewhere.

Thank you for letting me speak.

The next speaker is Sabrina Burr.

Good evening.

My name is Sabrina Burr speaking on behalf of Seattle Council PTSA.

Most importantly on behalf of students and families who deserve more of Seattle Public Schools.

I'm asking you to postpone the vote on the goals and guardrails and engage with communities most impacted by this decision.

What outcomes of Seattle Public Schools actually the school board actually holding Seattle Public Schools accountable for achieving.

What does it mean when the proposed five year target moves third grade literacy for students with disability to 30.9 to 40% and eighth grade math from 19.7 to 20%.

Those are not ambitious expectations.

and when we talk about black students we must especially be careful about low outcomes don't become low expectations.

Black students in Seattle Public Schools having a persistent opportunity and achievement gap we cannot create a governance framework that allows the district to point out improvements for the broader student population while students experiencing the deepest inequities are left behind.

Desegregated data matters because black students are not a monolith.

Black students may also be students with disabilities, multilingual learners, students experiencing poverty, students facing multi-barriers simultaneously if the overall numbers improve while students remain stagnant.

We cannot call this equitable progress and graduation rates alone cannot tell us whether black students are receiving literacy, math, critical thinking, and academic preparation that they need.

Students graduating from Seattle Public Schools without developing those fundamental skills is not evidence that the system has succeeded.

Our children deserve more than a system that measures whether they move slightly.

They deserve, the school board to establish meaningful expectations, monitors progress and holds the district accountable for achieving them.

So tonight I am asking the board to pause the adoption, take some time to answer the fundamental questions.

What are the outcomes?

What are the meaningful five-year targets?

What interim measures tell us whether we're on track and how will the board ensure black students and other students experience the greatest opportunity got are actually improving.

Our students deserve ambition goals, transparency, accountability, and governance systems that communicate, not just in words, but through measurable expectations that every student, including black students, is capable of achieving high levels and deserves the opportunity and the support to do so.

The next speaker is Paul Vahy.

Hello superintendent board.

My name is Paul Vahy.

I'm a proud parent of two graduates of Seattle Public Schools and actually a proud neighbor of Eckstein Middle School.

I really enjoy the activity.

I enjoy having the kids around.

I love having to walk by my house every day on the way to school.

I'm here on behalf of asking you to either redirect the money for the million dollars for the lighting project or to bring in more and that is because if that comes into play I think we'd need more infrastructure to go along with the lights that one of the main infrastructure needs is bathrooms because the school is closed and right now even in off-school hours when there are many teams and activities playing over the weekends during daylight hours, there's still no bathroom.

There's one honey bucket.

Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not, but that leaves the bushes, which are my backyard.

So increased infrastructure for bathrooms, for garbage pickup, because often there's no garbage pickup after the activities that are up there currently during daylight hours.

And also increased barriers.

Trees are netting, mostly soccer and lacrosse balls from minors and children who are playing.

They come into our yards, which can be a nuisance.

Kids will also come.

maybe trespassing or not when adults are playing the velocities increased considerably we've had broken windows I think the evening activities would increase the number of adults playing and also the number of adults coming into our property to look for the balls that come over the fence I would just say if it's a good idea to I think the money better spent elsewhere rather than sinking more money to this project but thank you for the consideration

The next speaker is Sherry Vahey.

And Sherry's not here.

Okay, great.

Janice White, I see you online.

We are going to do all of our remote testimony at the end to see if we can fix our tech issues.

So we're going to skip over you for now, but we'll come back.

The next speaker is Hong Dong Yang.

Good evening, Board and Superintendent.

My name is Honom Yang.

I'm coming here for expressing my serious concern about the Akstam Middle School Lightning Project.

I live in 33rd Avenue Northeast.

My backyard shared a fence line with the Akstam Middle School Sport Field.

My wife and I are moving to our home this May.

In only three months, Two soccer bots have entered our backyard.

One nearly hit me while I was working outside.

Children have also come to our door to look for lost bots.

On one night, music from the field continued about 1 a.m.

in the morning.

I have the video of that incident.

Those experiences matter because the proposed light would extend the use of the field into the evening.

The checklist says that much of the added use may come from private school and non-school sport groups, including adult leagues, with the game continuing until 9.45 at night.

Existing problem noise lost the bus, visitors, traffic, and the loss of privacy could then continue into the hours when families are resting and the children are sleeping.

However, the noise study did not measure the actual evening game.

The traffic report also says the campus can hold more than 240 cars, but it does not provide a clear parking plan showing where those car would safely fit.

I love sport, I play soccer for six years, and I support sport opportunities for students.

But before the project moves forward, I ask the board to require a realistic review, its nighttime effect, and to listen directly to the families in the surrounding neighborhood.

Thank you.

And Yana, we see you online, but we're gonna skip over you for now and come back soon.

The next speaker is Ellen Lundgren.

Good day.

I'm a 31-year homeowner on 30th Ave Northeast, much representation from 33rd, but I'm on the dead end street that the bus has come on all over.

Anyway, I've been a four-year volunteer in special ed at Eckstein.

I support the school.

I support schools.

I support the sports that I get to listen to all summer with the kids playing.

That's not who this field is going to attract with 80-foot poles at 10 at night.

I know I'm on the clock here, it's not easy, but the play field is very small.

Before I came here tonight, today, I thought, I gotta know what I'm talking about.

36 steps from my street level and 33rd to get to the top of that play field.

I already see just the roofs of houses.

And my understanding is there was no EIS, and I can't believe that.

A million, 25,000 bucks?

And also if you've ever been up to the school, the track is a quarter mile, less than a quarter mile.

Five rounds gets you a mile.

So it's a very small playground.

And I just, I'm appalled.

and what bothers me personally other than the noise, the exhaust, the garbage and I'm three doors behind the school.

It's not being done for the kids that the middle school children who pretty much clear out and go home to dinner at six or seven o'clock.

The other big concern is that lights are known to disrupt migratory patterns of birds.

and that affects everything else.

We have local birds that nest.

I mean we have owls in our yards and hawks and tremendous.

Just finish on that note which is it will disrupt migratory bird patterns and I think that has to be brought into consideration.

Thanks.

The next speaker is Tomas Masur.

Can I give a copy of my statement?

Good evening school board directors and superintendent.

My name is Tomas Mazur.

I am a homeowner living directly adjacent to the eastern boundary of Eckstein Middle School field.

I am speaking tonight because this proposed lighting project represents a breach of public transparency regarding voter approved levy funds.

While the lighting appears in the Building Technology Athletics 5 SEPA checklist, it was omitted from the budget document presented to Seattle voters.

Even worse, the SEPA checklist explicitly admits that the primary beneficiaries of the field writing will not be SPS students, but rather private schools and third-party adult leagues.

Using a school-specific zoning exception to divert voter-approved capital dollars for adult recreation misuses public funds and trust.

Environmentally and operationally, the project's analysis is severely flawed.

The lighting models don't account for the field level relative to adjacent homes.

My families will be looking at poles 90 feet above our home.

Regarding safety, soccer and lacrosse balls repeatedly enter our yard.

I'm a father of a one-year-old and a five-year-old child.

Those balls have landed as close as one feet, three feet close to my children.

They have hit our house.

Introducing adult leagues will only make that worse.

Regarding fire risks, two years ago, there was a fire caused on the field by fireworks.

That just proves that there is inadequate security on that field.

What I ask the board is to withdraw the proposal in its current form.

If it decides to move forward, require a full environmental impact statement.

I also want the board to clarify on public record where the funds for this project are coming from and if they're coming from the BTA5 levy, why was it not listed on that project?

And finally mandate legally binding mitigations as I requested in my comments to the SEPA checklist.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Medhanit Haile.

and I don't see that number online either.

Okay, we are going to move on.

The next speaker is Amara Maniz.

Hi, I'm Amara, I'm a SPS parent.

As school closures are considered to balance the budget, I'm here to attest that alternative schools are absolutely essential.

When you meet the needs of kids who can't thrive in standard schools, you're also preventing youth suicide, substance abuse, and incarceration.

My oldest child is disabled.

Her learning and wiring differences make it so hard for her to function in modern society.

Her mental health has suffered since elementary school.

In middle school, my goal as a parent was literally just to keep her alive.

She only lasted two and a half months at a standard SPS school, despite wonderful supportive staff before we had to pull her and take leave from work to keep eyes on her 24-7.

The little bit of academics and social connection she managed during middle school was thanks to Cascade Parent Partnership.

When we enrolled her in NOVA last year, I expected to only send her part time.

She'd spent seven months essentially homebound and not able to complete basic activities of daily life consistently.

Any version of regular engagement would have been success.

But she decided to go full time.

She's made a wonderful group of caring, supportive friends and earned full credit for the first semester.

Even after experiencing a traumatic event, she managed to keep going and earning credit through the spring and is looking forward to school starting again.

I didn't dare dream it would go so well.

Nova has given us hope that she can find a path to and in adulthood where she finds community and engage meaningfully in work.

There is nothing I can say that could describe the depth of my gratitude for Nova or the intensity of my terror were it to go away.

As adults there are such diverse options for work environments and most of us would not choose one where we have to co-work in tight quarters with 30 other people with each task dictated.

Please do not close alternative schools.

Don't let children who cannot succeed in standard school environments believe they are lost causes and have no future.

Thank you.

Ashley looks like is also online.

Okay, so we are going to take a moment and see if we can fix our tech issues.

So one second.

All right, we will...

Oh, maybe that will fix things.

We're going to take a quick recess here.

We'll reconvene at, let's give it till 545. 5.45.

We'll see folks back for continued public testimony at 5.45.

Michelle, we're not doing active public testimony.

and now a president.

Since then we have provided a 10 page paper and eight graphs detailing our concerns which we have requested to be part of the public record tonight.

Board policy 0030 states Seattle Public Schools will raise the achievement of all students while narrowing the gaps between the lowest and highest performing students.

School board policy 0010 states the board of directors of Seattle Public Schools affirms that prioritizing growth for those students who are furthest from educational justice is central to improving all outcomes for students.

In contrast, the proposed goal metric framework for Policy 0020 actually increases the gaps between some of the lowest and highest performing students, including American Indian and Alaska Native students, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students, Black and African-American students, English language learners, and students with disabilities.

0030 states the board believes that it is the right of every student to have an equitable educational experience.

Yet this is not the agenda we see in policy 0020. The board has asked the superintendent for recommendations on metrics However, it is the board's duty to ensure the recommendations align with the governance framework you created with community.

Respectfully, I ask the board to please pull policy 0020 from the consent agenda and make a motion to postpone adoption so these substantial concerns can be addressed.

This is how we move forward with shared accountability for the success of every student.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Samantha Fogg please press star 6 to unmute.

Hello can you hear me.

Yes we can.

Can you hear me okay.

Yes we can hear you.

Great.

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

If you think about goals if you think about the CBA I really want you to understand what opportunity gaps look like when you are living them.

I want you to really know what the segregation that is built into our CBA is like for students to live.

A contract bargaining agreement should be an agreement that protects adults from exploitation in a system that is designed to serve children.

It is my hope that this bargain will not continue to be in place in which civil rights of children are sacrificed for the comfort of adults.

I asked my kid, if you could dream big, what would you want to do once you aren't in high school anymore?

And my kid said, I would love to be in a space where other people choose to be.

We all read books and argue about interpretation and theory and talk about literature from different perspectives and with people with different lived experiences.

But a couple months later when I brought up college with that same child, my child said, why do you think I would want to go to college?

All my teachers tell me that is not for me.

And quite frankly, I am so tired of navigating discrimination that I cannot fathom voluntarily subjecting myself to academic spaces.

I have forced my kid into visiting colleges, and my child has been amazed to find that colleges are so different from high school.

And professors have actively recruited them, but the classes my child is being offered this semester, including being assigned to an elective that they got an A in in ninth grade for a second time due to apparent lack of electives, Failure to provide classes to my child is a barrier to my child getting into colleges.

In Seattle Public Schools, my child has been subjected to, among other things, Asian hate, disability discrimination, has been injured by educators, has been sexually harassed by a teacher.

All of this by people paid by Seattle Public Schools.

My child has had amazing advocates and worked with truly fantastic educators also people paid by your remarks.

Systems change isn't just a nice to have.

It is a moral obligation.

Please take the opportunities you are given to give children opportunities.

Thank you.

DIRECTOR HAMPSON- The next speaker is Janice White.

Please press star six to unmute.

Hi can you hear me?

Yes we can.

Good afternoon I'm Janice White here today representing the Kids Do Well If They Can Coalition.

Kids Do Well If They Can is a phrase coined by child psychologist Dr. Ross Green and is a mindset shift in how we think about kids who struggle at school.

As you know the coalition sponsored two webinars last spring with Dr. Green reaching nearly 500 attendees about the collaborative and proactive solutions framework for helping students build the skills they lack access to and solve the problems that lead to meltdowns in classroom, restraints, disciplinary removals, and lost instructional time.

We really appreciate that so many of you school board directors made the time to attend one or both of the webinars to learn about CPS.

At the May 13th school board meeting you heard a presentation from Gatewood Elementary staff and family about the positive impact that using the CPS framework has had on their school.

And at the June 3rd school board meeting you heard testimony from community members about CPS and also voted to accept a grant from the PTA at BSA Elementary that will be used in part to fund professional development about CPS.

Earlier this month the Kids Do Well If They Can Coalition shared a proposal with the district to begin a collaborative planning process with stakeholders.

SPS has agreed to meet with us to learn more about the proposal, hear about the promising results individual schools have already seen, and better understand the strong support among educators and community members for exploring a pilot program and professional learning opportunities.

We're grateful for the opportunity to continue the conversation and share what we're learning with the goal of exploring what might be possible together.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Yana Parker.

Please press star 6 to unmute.

Good afternoon.

For the record my name is Yana Parker.

Please postpone adoption of the board goals on your agenda today.

For example for disabled students as was talked about already the proposed five year third grade literacy goal moved by only 0.1% in proficiency and eighth grade math proficiency by just 0.3%.

That is essentially no expected improvement for disabled students over five years.

How did we get goals this low?

The top five in five set benchmarks in comparison to other districts If other districts are failing disabled students, likely are outperforming them is not the adequate goal for Seattle students.

We need to be proactive.

A group may look relatively stronger in third grade, but academic demands only increase.

Some disabled students will need more time, different instruction, or additional supports later.

We need to build skills and close gaps early, not wait until students fail, fall behind and then try to catch up.

That is the waste to fail approach and it's unacceptable.

Students do not fit neatly into one data category.

A disabled student may also be black, multilingual and from a low income household.

Those inequities can compound and aggregate gains, and aggregate gains can hide students at the intersection.

Overall, black student outcomes could improve while black disabled students remain stagnant.

Postpone the vote and bring back revised goals that reflect high expectations and the potential of all Seattle students with an opportunity for the community to review the actual metrics before final adoption.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Ashley Warabek.

Please press star six to unmute.

Yes, we can hear you.

Hello.

Yes.

Hello.

We hear you.

My name is Ashley Warabek.

I am the parent of a fourth grader at Salmon Bay K-8.

Critical thinking and creativity are imperative to the future our child is preparing for and I am deeply concerned about the AI guidance for teachers I've seen this week.

I envision public school as a place for him to learn through friction and trial and error not by clicking his way through colorful games being folded curriculum.

I envisioned public school as a safe place for him to mess up practice and grow not be monitored surveilled and tracked his data being pulled without our family's consent.

I envision public school as a place where he is taught through vetted curriculum that is proven effective not exposed to dark patterns that tie him into a lifetime of brand loyalty.

As an artist designer and strategist I use systems thinking futures thinking and community engagement to consider difficult questions about problems facing our society.

I know you are familiar with the research the statistics the lawsuits but who at SPS is asking questions like who is benefiting from big tech presence in schools or what skills might society lose when students use AI for schoolwork or what might our children gain by prioritizing pencils and paper and why does the district devote time to prepare AI guidance that includes green light usage examples for third graders over pausing AI usage while teaching AI literacy.

The future belongs to those who think about it.

And if our students are being taught to outsource their thinking and creativity to AI, the people and companies with the money, power and control will continue to determine their futures for them.

Prioritize our children and their futures over big tech.

Thank you.

And that was our final speaker.

That concludes our public testimony for this evening.

Thank you so much for everyone who was here this evening giving up their time to provide information to the board.

We're going to continue on to our agenda.

The next item is our consent agenda.

As always directors may pull items for from the consent agenda for discussion if they wish.

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 Briggs and seconded by Director Mizrahi.

Directors have any items they'd like to remove from the consent agenda.

Seeing no one making eye contact with me.

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

Aye.

Those opposed.

All right the consent agenda passes.

We are then going to move on to action items on today's agenda.

The first one being the approval of the 2627 compensation bulletin for non-represented staff and I'm going to pass it over it sounds like to Superintendent Schuldner to present this item.

Sure, well good evening everyone.

It's unfortunate to have to present this compensation bulletin to the board.

As all of you who've ever heard me speak about this topic know that the district is insolvent.

the district is structurally insolvent, meaning that we spend more money than we get in.

Now there's a lot of reasons for that structural insolvency.

Some of it is the formulas from the state, some of it is the formulas in which we staff, and some of it is around a incorrect conceptualization around some of the salary machinations that we make.

What is being presented today is what, in essence, I can control by giving to the board.

And what's being presented is a raise for non-represented staffs in the order of effective COLA.

Now, many of you might have read or learned about COLA, But what we don't talk about so much is what that actually means around this district.

So I hate to be pedantic here, but I will be my old professorial self.

The way it works is that the state gives the district this idea of IPD.

There's this inflationary price deflator.

This idea that we are getting money from the state that's equivalent to COLA-ish, a kind of cost of living increase.

The problem is that that's based on their formula on how school districts are supposed to be staffed and run and organized.

but that's not how SPS is run or staffed or organized.

So when the district is in receiving of money from the state according to their formula for COLA, that doesn't actually translate to us.

what it means is that we are getting what we refer to as effective COLA, meaning that the money that comes to us is not COLA according to our calculations.

Now there's reasons for that.

Transportation, the formulas the state give us just don't come by us.

The salary, what they think we should be paying teachers, is a lot lower than we believe we should be paying teachers.

The salaries, the money, the way that we spend our money here is different than the way that the state thinks we should be spending our money.

So when they give us this idea of COLA, the way it impacts the school district is what we're calling effective COLA.

That's the real number.

That's the real number of the money we get from the state.

The problem that this district has found itself in, structural insolvency, almost bankrupt, no money in the till, is because the concept of COLA is so ingrained in this district that we think it's some sort of pass through.

It's not.

The pass through is the effective COLA rate.

And because of that, with what is within my control is that we are asking our incredible, wonderful, hardworking, non-rep staff to accept a salary increase of effective COLA, which is the money that we're actually getting from the state.

In addition, I want to remind this wonderful community that these folks not only would be receiving that, but they continue to have two days of furlough, meaning that there's actually two days that they are taken out of their salaries so that we can try, maybe, just maybe, to balance our budget.

And so what I say to this wonderful board is, I'm sorry I have to do this.

The staff here works incredibly hard.

Those wonderful people over there, the wonderful people upstairs, all of the people that work so hard that are non-represented are being asked to take one for the team.

And I appreciate that.

request here about approving the 26-27 compensation bulletin for non-represented staff is one that acknowledges the fiscal reality in which we stand and asks for the non-reps to do this.

Not that anybody cares about me.

I'm taking just straight zero for the year.

And so what I care about is that we understand and we recognize the reality in which we're in and we're asking for our non-reps to understand that too.

And so I'm happy to answer any questions I can.

And so what's being put in front of you is this concept of effective COLA, not COLA or effective IPD.

Thank you.

Thank you and I appreciate this coming as an action item and with that explanation I know in my experience it's been assumed that it will be approved.

There's a lot of fraughtness around various other decisions and negotiations around salaries, but this is one that has always kind of been passed through.

And what I think a lot of people haven't realized is that it is typically aligned with whatever our labor partners got the year before.

and so it's it's always been sort of an implicit this is just how it goes and then we wonder why costs are increasing because everything kind of exponentially feeds into it again of course not that people don't deserve to be compensated for hard work but I appreciate the acknowledgement of reality that we are in.

My experience in the past has been, you know, and if you've watched many board meetings over the years, you're going to hear me say something I've said a lot of times before.

There's a lot of magical thinking around some kind of a rescue.

so prior to being on the board in 2017 we had a there were there the state was going to end was going to cap levy funding after McCleary well we advocated and extended for a levy cliff extension but it was for a limited period of time then came COVID with ESSER dollars so we've had these massive influxes of one-time funding that have has enabled the avoidance of really hard and necessary decisions that have compounded to bring us here today.

One other thing that I wanted to point out which again if you watched a lot of board meetings you've heard me say before the state allocations the prototypical funding model is not only not aligned with how districts actually need to staff it's not even aligned with reality of being in 2026. That formula was set in 2009. so I mean it's just at every single level that formula is inadequate at the same time that's how that's the funding that we get so we have to operate within that so we the assumptions made and again that 2009 that was a post 2008 recession response to keep other needs of the state from gutting education further and we're entering into a legislative reality where I am very concerned about this past session was the first session in my experience where funding was actually cut.

It has been small increases but also meaningful increases in terms of special education but that prototypical funding formula, those assumptions in there have not been revisited by the legislature since they were set in 2009. and so at basically every level there is sort of a state structural inadequacy with what school districts actually do and provide in both the number of staff and the cost of those staff.

I have a question about again a state level issue which is my understanding is that you know the state's dealing with their own budget deficit and that there's been a I don't know if it's a memo or announcement or what's happening but that state employees there's basically a salary for a salary freeze of some kind.

Do we have do we are like no colas like nobody's getting cola if you're a state employee is my understanding is the sort of proposal.

Our allocation from the state doesn't necessarily respond to that in the same way but I think it's an indication of the reality that our state is in.

Am I right in that understanding that we're not gonna get a notice from the legislature that says, oh sorry, actually we're not even giving you effective COLA.

I mean it is my understanding that the way that school funding works in Washington is that we would be receiving their calculation of COLA which for us is what we're calling effective IPD and so again the proposal here for non-rep staff is to be able to take the money that the state is giving us at that rate and and then giving it to our wonderful, amazing staff, but not giving them more than what we get, because again, the reason why we're in the problem that we're in is that we are spending more than we are receiving.

Okay, yeah, I'm personally prepared to approve, to recommend a yes vote, or to vote yes, and with apologies of the reality that we're all having to grapple with, and thank you for explaining that.

So I guess I have a question.

So this is something we approve annually.

This is effective IPD or effective COLA is the increase this year.

Does that break from our common practice?

I mean, having been here for six months and 26 days, my understanding is that typically the staff is receiving IPD, the COLA from the state number, not the actual reality.

and in other years they've received other things but this is definitely different than the last couple of years for this staff.

This would be less money in terms of percentage and again that's why I both feel we must do this in order to remain solvent or get out of insolvency but that's also why I'm apologizing because this is a big hit for folks.

When you're expecting a raise of a certain number and you're getting 66% of that, that's pretty tough.

And that is, in fact, our IPD effective rate, is that when you take all the money that the state gives us under their percentage increase, the reality is it's about two-thirds for us.

Not that anybody needs to do all of this math, but right now the COLA IPD is like 2.6, 2.6, and this would be a 1.73 or thereabouts, which is the 66%, the kind of effective COLA rate.

Director Song?

Is there a reason why we prefer to do two furlough days as opposed to a lower?

So this district has done furlough days before and we're continuing this process because again, that is what's helping us remain on that brink of insolvency.

So the idea here is to maintain that current situation and to allow the effective IPD rate.

What happens next year is a whole other story.

And certainly it's a conversation that if you all don't fire me, we will have next year.

But the reason for not adjusting that is we already have it and we're already still in the problems that we're in.

So we have to start tightening even harder.

A comment which is, This is a difficult thing to ask of our staff.

We are considering this item kind of separately, so it feels like they're, you know, bearing the brunt, but it in reality is part of a broader package as part of our broader budget that we're going to be voting on alone.

So it's not a, this is the only kind of impact that we're going to be seeing.

The reality is we have a very difficult financial situation.

We're going to have to identify money, where we can find it, and it is within a package of various cost-saving measures that your team has identified.

So even though we're considering this specific item, it is part of a package.

Absolutely, and certainly my greatest hope when this conversation comes again next year is that we don't have to do this.

but I appreciate the understanding, the deep understanding that not only is this kind of what is necessary to help us move forward, but that it's part of an even larger conversation and budget around how do we stay from handing the keys over to Chris Regdahl.

Other questions from board directors?

I guess my final question is as Director Song pointed out, you know, later on the agenda here soon we will be voting on a budget.

As you're building the budget for our, do you take into account effective IPD or how do you do that?

Yeah, so the way that we built the current budget is with an understanding that was based on previous decisions around IPD.

The issue, of course, is that that's an estimate, and so this, would allow us to continue to move in a positive direction in saving money.

But we always have to take into consideration all salaries at a certain number.

We're currently engaged in other conversations, and so those will impact us one way or the other.

So clearly I can't talk about some other things, but what we know is that the budget that's being presented to you leaves us with almost no money in the bank.

And so the idea that we can at least to have this conversation to try to help in any way we can.

We hope to do that.

Other directors?

All right, well then I'm gonna do what I should have done previously, which is ask for a motion for the item.

I move that the school board approve the 2026-2027 compensation bulletin for non-represented staff as attached to the school board action report with any minor additions, deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and authorize the superintendent to take any necessary actions to implement the document.

Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.

Second.

Okay, I have a motion from Vice President Briggs and a second from Director Mizrahi.

Any final discussion before I call for a vote?

All right, then I'll ask staff to please call for the vote.

Director Rankin?

Yes.

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Song?

Yes.

Vice President Briggs?

Aye.

Director Lavallee?

Aye.

Director Mizrahi Yes.

President Topp Yes.

This motion is passed unanimously.

All right, thank you.

And I agree with you, Superintendent Schultener, hopefully that as we do this again next year, we are in a different position.

But next on action items is approval of the 26th, 27th Superintendent Evaluation Tool.

May I have a motion for this?

I move that the school board approve the 2026-2027 Superintendent Evaluation Tool.

Second.

I have a second from Vice President or a motion from Vice President Briggs a second from Director Mizrahi.

We did have a conversation at our last work session about this, but I will pass it over to Director Lavallee to present this item.

Thank you, President Topp.

As we discussed last week in our special meeting as well, this is a tool that's derived from the WASDA framework and that we've simplified for the next year to get kind of what we thought was most essential and needed out of this evaluation tool.

So we're gonna use this for the next year and then come up with a framework the year after that really starts to incorporate data into the evaluation as well.

We've worked with Director Rankin and Ms. Rahi together to create this simplified version of it that has all eight points that the WSDA framework recommends and have three to four different subjects within that and then the evaluations under that of ratings.

Perfect.

Questions or comments from board directors?

Director Rankin.

Yeah just a quick addition which is that the superintendent the hiring and evaluating of the superintendent is aside from approving a balanced budget probably the most important role that the school board has and this has been in my experience pretty undervalued and kind of left as a administrative hassle and appreciate the opportunity to work with other board directors to create this tool and make it part of the cadence of what we do not an aside and that also because we're talking about the goals policy and responding to some comments that the superintendent tool is another really powerful place to look for how are things going.

That what we have right now is a structure that describes kind of the behaviors and activities we expect of a superintendent and the next iteration is going to be more closely tied to actually data on progress on the goals.

But just to kind of put the goals in that context too of like our most important job as a board is evaluating the success of the district by monitoring progress towards goals and evaluating the performance of the superintendent.

And so I appreciate that we're moving in this direction and I'm excited to approve it.

Thank you for that.

We had definitely discussed in the next version that we will have those goals related metrics.

There's a goals based frameworks and this other framework and we went back and forth on what we could achieve this year and this was because we're still looking at revisions of the goals that are now proposed.

This was what we could feel confident on rating the superintendent for this year.

This past six months, we used an even more modified version of this.

The goal with this too is that as we move forward we get more and more clarity on this.

We're able to hold the superintendent accountable to what our goals are and what the job is which is as Director Rankin was saying a crucial part of the work of this board.

So I'm looking forward to going through this evaluation tool and coming up with something for the following year that incorporates a bunch of the work on goals and making sure that that equity part is a focus and that we are in fact moving, as we heard in testimony earlier, we are in fact moving the students that most need to be moved to be able to close that gap in our education system.

Other comments from directors?

Alright, then I'll call for the vote.

Director Smith?

Aye.

Director Song?

Yes.

Vice President Briggs?

Aye.

Director Lavallee?

Aye.

Director Mizrahi?

Yes.

Director Rankin?

Aye.

President Top.

Aye.

This motion is passed unanimously.

All right, moving on.

Moving on to a big item on our agenda this evening, approval of Resolution 2026-27-2, fixing and adopting the 2627 budget.

Is there a motion?

I move that the school board adopt resolution 2026-2702 as attached to the board action report to fix and adopt the 2026-27 budget, the four-year budget plan summary and the four-year enrollment projection.

Joe.

Second.

All right, I have a motion from Vice President Friggs and a second from Director Mizrahi.

I'll pass it over to Superintendent Schuldner and maybe Dr. Buddleman to present the issue.

Sure, so if you've been watching for the last six months, Dr. Buddleman and myself have tried to be as open and transparent and clear as we possibly can around the budget.

This budget has been presented on multiple occasions through a series of ways What you're gonna see from the top line, and certainly Kurt can give any sort of details or explanation, is that this takes us down to the bone.

For a district with a working budget of $1.35 billion, it leaves us with about 40 million left.

that is really, really scary.

I have all the faith in the world and this wonderful community and the staff and this board and all of our employees is that we're gonna be able to make it through, but this budget that is being presented to you is pretty much as close to zero as you can get without really going over the edge.

We've done a lot of work already.

We've saved almost about 50 million off of what was projected.

If we had not done that, we would be presenting you a budget to go into binding conditions.

We, all of us, everybody did a really good job to get us out of that.

We cut a lot over these last couple of months and what we're presenting to you is a budget for the 26, 27 year which gets us really to the brink but it at least lets us fight for one more day.

There are some technical things within it that I think Kurt might want to speak a little bit about just to understand the dire state that we're in and I'm certainly able to answer any questions that you want as well.

Kurt, take it away.

Thank you for your engagement in the budget development process this year.

It's been difficult, but I think we made good progress to get to a balanced budget for next year.

As Superintendent Shouldner said, projected that we would in the next year, the year that's forthcoming at about $40 million in our fund balance, which is inadequate for an institution of this size.

And just as a sort of detailed point around that of that $40 million, about 12 or 13 million of that is restricted.

So it's inventory in the warehouse.

It's things that are locked up by labor agreement or law.

40 minus 13 is 27 and then of that we've already assigned that to different things and so we're really getting down to the tough spot for Seattle Public Schools fiscally.

So I just wanted to add that piece of detail for the board as you consider this you voted on the non-compensation, non-compensation, that was Freudian slip, non-represented compensation proposal earlier, and so that's not incorporated in this, we did not update that.

You're simply voting on the total number of the budget and making sure that the district stays within those resources for next year.

Yeah, to put it in perspective, if you need a more sobering data point, as Kurt said, the 40 million includes money that's actually already been earmarked and or things and the last, I don't think we're gonna go to Facebook marketplace and sell our equipment.

And so what that 27 million over 1.35 billion represents is 2%.

If this was your household, this was any other budget, any other business, to only have 2% left in your budget is really tough.

And so that's why I'm very appreciative and sorry all at the same time for the decision about the non-rep staff.

there's gonna be other very hard decisions we're gonna have to make.

I know we can do this together, but I appreciate Dr. Muddleman and his team.

Already we have found, as I said, 50 million or so.

We're making changes every day to figure out ways to stay solvent, but the reality of approving this budget is this is the last one without structural change.

we're not going to be able to get past this unless we make some serious serious changes.

After that sobering conversation questions or comments from board directors.

Director Rankin.

Thanks.

I appreciate the clarity around the 40 million.

I think it would be really easy to hear that and think, oh, if there's 40 million more dollars, what are we even talking about?

But that essentially is how we start the year.

It's not just 40 million sitting there.

So thank you for that.

I mostly just wanted to thank both of you for, and also apologize to you, been?

I don't know.

I think you knew what you were getting into when you applied for this job.

But the reality then of it is also a different thing.

And you're taking head on what should have been handled prior to you getting here to some extent.

And it's also sort of a perfect storm of a number of variables.

But I just wanna express, I think I was the lone no vote on the budget last year, and I do plan to vote yes on this one because of the forthrightness and clarity and assurances that you both have provided as a team.

I've been burned enough times where I'm not just gonna take it on good faith that don't worry, there's a plan.

I really appreciate being able to see and hear your various scenarios and not just say, oh, trust us, it'll come out, we'll figure it out later, because it doesn't happen.

And so, yes, it's hard and...

but I'm grateful for both of your work as a team and also with us in helping us understand really the reality and what we all have to do.

Director Lavallee.

Yeah, thank you.

I just a little bit of an echo of what Director Rankin was saying.

I was very frustrated as a private citizen last year watching the budget kind of go through and there being so little clarity on what was being presented to the board and so much frustration.

And I deeply appreciate that, although I am not thrilled with the point that we're at and I don't think any of us up here are.

I appreciate the continuous presentations of what is happening.

The presentations not just to the board but also to the finance committee about really detailed information going into that.

of continual kind of like what can we fix, what can't we fix, and why those things exist.

So there's been a lot more work to present accurate and clear information about the budget, both to the board and to the public.

So I appreciate that and I'm hopeful that next year we can continue to have hard conversations and get a lot of clarity way ahead of time so that we're continually feeling like we're not getting it at the very last minute with the caveat that I still feel like August is very late.

So thank you so much for the hard work on this.

Other directors?

All right.

I will just say that I have a few comments.

I'll be supporting the budget tonight.

I just want to thank Dr. Buddleman you and your staff for the tremendous amount of work that got us here.

So thank you.

But again adopting a balanced budget tonight does not mean our financial challenges are behind us.

We still have a lot of structural work ahead as Superintendent Schultner said and I don't think it'll be easy and I think it's important to remember that this budget represents the resources we actually have.

and every ongoing commitment we make has to ultimately fit within those resources, not just this year, but in future years.

So we all want to invest more in our students and in our schools and the people who serve them.

And I think that's part of the structural challenge we face in trying to to have Olympia send more money to schools across the state.

But I think this challenge for this board and the district and you superintendent is making sure the investments we make get us to a sustainable spot because I think part of what we talk about is having this conversation every year.

Our schools, our families, parents, kids worried about, you know, what does this mean for my classroom next year?

And I think if we get to a point where we have some stability, I think that will be important.

So I will support the budget tonight, but recognizing that we still have a lot of hard work to do.

Others?

Nope, let's do the vote.

Director Song?

Yes.

Vice President Briggs?

Aye.

Director Lavallee?

Aye.

Director Mizrahi?

Yes.

Director Rankin?

Aye.

Director Smith?

Aye.

President Topp?

Yes.

This motion is passed unanimously.

We have a budget, everybody.

All right.

Moving on.

Approval of the revision to Board Policy Number 0020, Goals for the District.

Can I have a motion?

Oops, lost my place.

Okay, I move that the school board adopt revisions to board policy number 0020 goals for the district.

Second.

Okay, I have a motion from Vice President Briggs and a second from Director Mizrahi and I'll pass it over to Director Mizrahi to present this item.

Yeah I suppose so.

No I mean there's not really much to present.

This is these are the goals we've talked about several times.

We had lots of work sessions on these.

I think these are well socialized goals.

What we did is maybe a little bit different than how the goals have looked in our previous policies in that it's laid out a little bit more directly where you see the exact percentages of what we're trying to hit where the current benchmark is.

I think that that will hopefully give people a lot of insight into what we're doing, why we're doing it, and what numbers we're trying to get to.

meant to give maximum clarity.

With that said I think that the thing that will give it ultimate clarity is when we also have a guardrails document to go along with it because I think a lot of the commentary that we maybe heard about these goals is in my mind a little bit related to the fact that there's not guardrails attached to them and what we mean when we talk about hitting certain benchmarks and what expectations we have around equity when it comes to that.

So.

there shouldn't be any surprises in here.

This is all the things that we've talked about at that table over there and now it is ideally enshrined in policy.

I don't know if there's anyone else from the policy committee that wants to chime in on.

Yeah go ahead.

Well all right.

So kind of echoing what Joe talked about, we're doing this very much in public, which is tough, because we're figuring it out as we go.

I'm not going to say we're building the plane while we're flying it, because we're in a plane.

We're in a plane, OK?

And we've been in this plane for a while.

I am prepared to approve this today and recommend that that is what we do.

But I do want to acknowledge that there will be some disappointment and hurt, maybe frustrations with me and others in approving these and acknowledge the comments that came.

It is tough to see that some metrics show no growth, very little growth.

but I wanna, so the prior iteration of goals and guardrails, we had very arbitrary, these groups will somehow magically improve to 75% with like no plan attached for how that was actually gonna be possible and where, our district was in reality at that point.

And so we went out to the community and asked for what the most important things were for kids.

We brought that back.

a while ago, but now we have a new superintendent, so we re-brought those things to the superintendent and says, this is what our community says is most important.

Our job is to say, here are the priorities and the values on behalf of our community.

It's the superintendent's job then to say, how do I think we could measure this in a way that has validity, that I can cascade through the system and connect to the actual work that happens so that it's not We wish all these things because if it was we wish all these things we would just set all the goals at 100% and we would all be really disappointed and We would also not have a good tool for how to direct our investment in a limited system So I'm not at all Supporting or asking anybody to accept low to no growth for some groups and some measures.

And I don't think anybody else is either.

What I appreciate about how these are written is that they help us identify that, for example, students with disabilities, the greatest need that is glaring to me is graduation.

and so in a world of limited resources, of course I want 40%, I want that to be higher for students with disabilities in elementary school for third grade reading.

But what the whole trajectory tells me is that the greatest need, if we're really thinking about equity and who needs the most support, something happens in our system, something that we are doing, drops off for those students and so again in a system of limited resources what I want the superintendent to do is to say certain groups of students need more we want everyone to thrive and the kind of alarm bell is being rung for certain groups of certain students even at certain times and that's where we're going to prioritize and what I've seen us do in the past or not do is that everything becomes so important that resources and energy just, it turns all into lip service of how much we care about different groups of students and we don't actually put those investments behind it.

And so I wanna acknowledge the disappointment that some folks are gonna have with the acceptance of these as written, but also that the context for these isn't necessarily, here's all that we hope for these students and here's the most that we can ask of.

It's where is the greatest need right now and where should we be focusing on the biggest opportunity for change?

And that is something happens that is like makes us an outlier with other districts of our size and wealth in secondary.

and so that along with having the guardrails, adopting the goals without the accompanying guardrails is a little bit tricky because you don't see that values-based piece as much even though the superintendent has given us metrics.

And so my ask or my recommendation I guess is that we approve this policy right now to get the structure of the policy because we've been talking around this for three years and we need to be clear.

Clarity is kindness.

We need to be able to see what are we asking our superintendent to do, what are our expectations, what works, what doesn't.

and what we may see too is, wow, we said we were gonna focus on high school, but something happened and all of a sudden that literacy rate for students with disabilities is going down.

That's gonna be another like, hey, whoa, what's happening?

And so I think to get the structure, to get this policy, we go with it now, the policy committee is going to immediately revisit the goals policy, the guardrails policies, and what really are our vision and values policies, 0010, 0030. And we're going to look at them pretty much right away.

Am I right, Joe?

Like in a couple weeks?

as a more complete package, I think to allow the superintendent to not be in limbo and to move ahead with his work, we adopt this now, we look at that whole package, and that will help contextualize, I think, more about what the broader expectations really are around our students.

And then again, it's our policy, we own them, we own the metrics, even though I kind of think we shouldn't, but we own the metrics and so we could immediately in January say, wow, this doesn't make sense and some other things have changed and we need to do this.

We could in June look at it again.

I would expect that we are reviewing our goals policy no less than annually and those metrics can change.

This doesn't seal us into anything for five years but I think given where we've been and where we're at, we need something that is structurally sound that we can actually build a framework around and so for that reason, let's move and we'll keep improving, we'll keep doing better and thank you to those of you holding us accountable to our values and what we said.

I hope you will see that progress being made and if we don't we will readjust because I know that we're all really committed to that.

I think the other person on the committee is Director Smith.

I don't think I have particular comments from being on the committee but I think I will have comments as a board member.

Please.

Should I just go?

Yeah.

So let me take a minute.

So I think first off I do want to really emphasize how this framework is so data driven and that that is something I really appreciate.

I think thinking about where we want to be as a district saying we want to do as well as as other districts in our country that's not a perfect mirror to be holding us up to because there are achievement gaps in other districts but from where we are now it sets us in the right direction and it gives us a path that like has it has data behind it and that's not something that we've used before.

And so I think that that is really important to acknowledge.

The metrics weren't pulled out of thin air.

They were pulled out of looking at data of performance of other districts.

I think one one potential weakness and which I completely understand is that we don't have metrics on like intersectional data and I believe and Superintendent Schilder you can correct me if this is wrong but the categories we're looking at are the federally recognized categories because that's what you can actually compare to across districts.

reliably and so that's you know this is the data we have and so that's really a lot of what's driving this but that doesn't mean that we have to limit ourselves to only considering these categories in our progress monitoring and reporting as things go we can absolutely request that data and I hope that we will be because I think it is very important.

I concur certainly any data that we're able to provide that the board would like we are happy to provide it and you know I do want to make a very important point that the intersectionality of these different topics is very very important and it's something that we would look at and the good news certainly about the way that the district functions is we can not only show that, but we also know that if we do move on the metrics as presented, it really will make a dramatic difference for many of the intersectional data points.

But I think the important piece is that we could also then show that.

but to your point we're using data through the lens of how data is accepted by both the state and the federal government so that we can really be as transparent as possible.

One of the things that I've been concerned about and this is education writ large is that school districts have a tendency to show the data they want to show and they have a tendency of presenting the data in a way that they can adjust it.

The hope here in terms of Forget the pedagogy, but the idea of the data we're sharing is data that others can double, triple, and quadruple check.

That way we're not just picking these numbers out of whole cloth.

These are numbers that are being presented by either the federal government or the state government.

And so that's one of the major drivers is that what I've heard since I've been here is the trust factor the transparency factor.

How do we make sure that everybody feels like we are telling you the kind of actual results it would be by some of these status sets.

Director Lavallee.

Don't challenge me saying you'll give us all the data we want.

Because I will ask you for a lot of data if that's the case.

I wanted to make kind of two points.

That we can't overcome all systematic inequities that we face within our city or within our country.

But I do think that this is a good step about being honest about the challenges that we're seeing within our schools and working to close some of them.

So I'm excited about them personally.

I will mention, though, that these should not necessarily be limiting as well.

You know, just because we've hit a goal, let's see if we can go way above that.

I've had a conversation with you about the special ed numbers not being as high as I think some people would like to see them and potentially some of us would like to see them for the increase that we're looking at.

And that's not necessarily a we hit that number and now we don't care anymore.

we can always exceed expectations.

So I want to push that into this conversation as well that these are our baseline goals and I fully expect that for some of them let's go past them.

Let's do better and more.

Yeah I mean of course I agree and I really want to thank the comments that were made today I agree wholeheartedly that we want to not only make sure that we are holding ourselves up for the kind of federally recognized designations but for all of our children and you know when you think of our eighth grade math scores having to be raised by 15 percentage points from about 50 to 65 that's going to greatly impact so many students and I look forward to working with the people that made public comment on how do we continue this conversation.

This is just the beginning and I'm reminded of something that Vice President Briggs asked when we were sitting over there which was, OK, fine, so we're top five in America or on the West Coast.

What's next?

And I think I flippantly or not flippantly said Singapore or Finland or Norway.

And that's exactly right.

take the first steps.

We have to do what's right by our children, but there's no question that we should be aiming for being the best school district in the world.

I would like to be the best one in America first, and then let's really start to move forward.

So I, again, really want to thank the public comment.

I certainly believe wholeheartedly that we can have higher metrics and do better work.

The issue for me is just finding a way to present a data set that makes sense that you can actually say this is the pedagogy behind why we're doing this so that we can as a district, as Director Rankin said, to really highlight where we need the most help.

Our graduation rates, and I've said this very clearly, are so much lower than where they need to be.

Our eighth grade math scores are really low in some places and not in others.

We've got to focus on where we're really not hitting the mark.

But the good news is the way that the data presents itself is if we hit the numbers, all of the numbers are going to rise in a pretty dramatic way.

And Briggs.

Thank you.

I just want to say that I'm very, very empathetic to all the people from community who have called in or emailed or given testimony about their feelings about these numbers, and I share those feelings.

I think it's a sad commentary when to be in the top five, it doesn't even require you to clear 50% in certain categories.

that is bonkers to me, frankly.

And so I think we all find that pretty frustrating.

It sounds to me, I know, I really believe that we all want the same things here, that we all care very deeply, that's why we're here, about eliminating these disparities and creating the best and most opportunities for as many kids as we possibly can in the school district.

And so I feel like where based on what I'm hearing from the committee and from Ben and from community, where the disconnect seems to be is really around the choice to align with top five.

And I understand, I think, Liza, you did a great job of explaining what the rationale for that was and using that as a benchmark against which we will compare ourselves.

I guess I'm just wondering if it came up at all during your committee discussions I understand the need to sort of tether all the data to that, not like necessarily cherry pick, well, this group, we will hold to a different standard, like you need it to be consistent.

But I'm wondering if there was any conversation around any other alternative benchmarks, or something like using the top five benchmark, but for any group that was well below 50%, sort of setting them aside and saying, we're at least gonna get this group to 50%.

Does that make sense, what I'm saying?

So I think, yeah, I understand the dilemma here and I agree with everybody.

I mean, that's just, everybody's right.

That's just, that's the situation.

But I guess I just have that one lingering question, Did that come up at all?

Was that something that you guys talked about in committee?

And if so, I would love to just know.

And we don't have to go really far in depth because we've had many study sessions about this, but just that one point I would love to know.

in committee, we were mostly looking at the structure of the actual policy, not the data, because that was already accepted.

I mean, I don't know, I can't remember if we voted on it, but it was basically accepted by the board that the top five and five framework was, like, we weren't, unless I'm totally remembering well, we weren't talking about the, you know, do we like these numbers or not?

We were trying to more put what had been presented to the board in March?

February?

I can't remember.

Pretty early in your tenure.

We were trying to put what had been presented by the superintendent into a policy structure that would support our oversight and

Yeah, that totally makes sense.

So maybe it's more a question for Ben.

When you were looking at this and you saw, oh, this is what we got for students with disabilities, a point, a tenth of a percent increase, how did you, I mean, you've explained your rationale, but I'm just, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, there was always that thought and, you know, in different ways we've always tried to figure out, well, like, what's the right number, right?

And so, you know, one could just say, here are our current numbers, everything needs to go up by 10%.

but why?

Where did that number come from?

We need to figure out why we are focused on where we are and when you do that kind of blanket theory is you actually end up missing where you are struggling mightily.

Some of those metrics were asking to go up by 20%, even higher in some.

And by thinking with the kind of current rationale, it allows us to say, wow, here's where we're really needing to focus, here's where we're doing well and we need to kind of to continue to do well and hopefully move up.

But again, the good news when you look at all of this data, and again, I appreciate the conversation about intersectionality, about if somebody has got multiple, in multiple tranches, The good news is that when those all move, you're gonna start to hit all of the children in some way, shape, or form.

Again, not to hark back on the eighth grade math, but to go from 50 to 65, that 15% jump for all is really gonna matter, but then you're also gonna look at the different tranches, ethnicity, and so forth.

So, yeah.

I mean, I always thought, you know, in some districts, you know, the goal is go up by five points.

Great.

I think that's, why not?

Go up by 10 points.

But I think sometimes school districts tend to make goals that are either totally unacceptable, like they're not going to be able to get to, or they're so low, or they're not tied to a rationale.

And then what ends up happening is you don't figure out where you're really struggling and maybe where you're doing well and you can learn what you're doing?

Or is it that these numbers are high because we are promoting and giving resources here rather than where we need to give resources somewhere else?

So look, I also want to say to not only the folks that spoke but anybody listening at home is This is all iterative.

If we adopt it, the board adopts it, this doesn't mean it's the end all be all.

The hope is that we are sharing the data, we're showing where we're going, and if the idea is, hey, for anything that's current top five, we should raise by five points, All right, let's talk about that.

Let's talk about what that would mean.

Because I think we do have to think about the reality of publishing something that isn't necessarily showing real growth.

But I think that if we do hit the numbers, you are going to see kind of a growth writ large.

So look, I really want to thank You all know I've been engaging in lots of email conversations back and forth trying to show this, but what was shared publicly is correct, right?

Why are we doing this?

This seems like it's problematic, and I think the response is we're trying to get a framework that gets us to a place where we can really raise proficiency and expectations for everybody, but in a way that actually is cohesive rather than one-off.

And something that was said earlier, what I don't want to do is to treat different folks differently.

throws out the whole purpose of having a kind of comprehensive ideal.

And I am the first one to admit, I am happy to learn from anybody else.

If other folks have theories around a kind of a cohesive framework, I would love to hear it.

And again, that's why we've presented it, I don't know, six times, is so that people can actually engage.

And anybody who knows me, me, you respond, I'll respond, don't you worry.

And I would love to accept a comprehensive framework from anybody, and I'll happily share it publicly.

But at this point, having normalized this now for months and months and months, I just want to make sure that everybody recognizes that this is step one, it's iterative, and we can continue to have conversations about it.

So thank you.

All right.

I think my comments are brief.

I've been on the board for two and a half years now.

This is my third set of goal framework that I've gone through.

And I think that part of this was part of what excites me about sort of this framework, this structure that we've put in place, something that I've seen different from previous iterations, is sort of this cascading effect.

I know that we were all invited to the Senior Leadership Institute.

I was there with Director Smith and we saw Superintendent Schuldner present this data, the goals to the principals and my understanding was then later the schools looked at their own individual data.

and really had some very difficult conversations.

And I think you shared some of the data publicly, both the good and the bad, to all the principals.

You can correct me if I'm wrong.

But I think that that is different and I think that that cascading effect is something we haven't seen to date.

And I think that part of then the next iteration from my understanding is that then the schools have those conversations.

And the way that you've updated the school improvement plans, will reflect that.

And that is something I haven't seen.

So you might have a school that is hitting every metric.

They're looking at their data, but that doesn't mean they're done, I don't think, either.

And then there are schools that aren't, and they're having very difficult, honest conversations of where we're not and what that means.

And then hopefully, in an ideal world, the district helping support where they need some support saying, hey, here's where we're at.

We need that support.

Here's where we need the support.

Please help us.

Yeah and to that point just so folks know is these are the kind of district goals when we've creating the CSIPs not only are we having the CSIPs mirror this but we have talked to schools about our expectations of moving their data so that not only they mirror this but if they are high functioning we still expect them to move and so you know again I very much appreciate the idea that There might be places where it feels like we don't have higher enough expectations, but I would say that when you tie this as a complete, cohesive package with the CSIP, with the work we're doing, you will see, if we do our job, some really tremendous growth.

And the other thing that's important, too, is if we don't highlight where we're really falling down, it makes it too easy to obfuscate the problem.

It's like, oh, yeah, everybody's just going to go up by five.

Terrific.

It's not as meaningful as saying, here's where we need to go.

And then, remember, this is just district goals.

Every school has a goal based on where they are, and then the classrooms, and the grades, and the individual kids, and that way we're all in this together, kind of playing by the same codex.

But look, step one, will get moving.

Anybody who wants to, if they have a better comprehensive plan, please share it with me.

And certainly I would love to engage in conversation with the community if there are specific things that we can adjust as we put this into play so that we can really highlight the supports that all of our kids need.

Other comments or questions before we vote?

All right, I'm calling staff for the vote.

Vice President Briggs?

Aye.

Director Lavallee?

Aye.

Director Mizrahi?

Yes.

Director Rankin?

Yes.

Director Smith?

Aye.

Director Song?

Yes.

President Taup?

Yes.

This motion is passed unanimously.

All right, we have adopted a set of goals.

I think that was the easy part.

Now we'll see what happens next.

Alright, moving on.

Approval of the General Agency Agreement with the City of Seattle.

May I have a motion?

I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to execute the general agency agreement with the City of Seattle as attached to this board action report and accept grant funds totaling $37,964,926 and 55 cents from the City of Seattle's families education preschool and promise levy with any minor additions deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to take any necessary actions and enter into project agreements to accept the grant funds.

immediate action is in the best interest of the district.

Second.

I have a motion from Vice President Briggs and a second from Director Mizrahi.

Superintendent Schuldner am I passing this on to you?

Sure.

Please take the money.

I've been thrilled with our relationship with the city.

Big shout out to Dr. Chappelle and Izzy and the whole team, to the mayor, to Linda.

Everybody from the city has been so gracious around working with us.

They even come to our cabinet meetings.

so that we show a real solidarity between using the FEP levy money and the outcomes that we want for our own children.

So I think what I would say about this is I hope the board approves it, because it would be nice to have $37.9 million.

But the more important thing that I think this is symbolic of is the relationship that's strengthening between SPS and the city.

Now, of course, how could I not say what I always say, which is There's 1.3 billion dollars in the levy and we would like more of it.

But I think that currently where we are with this agreement is terrific.

And again, I really appreciate the work from the mayor on down in terms of working with us to really support our children.

This money goes to all sorts of programming that really does make a difference for our kids and our community.

Questions or comments from board directors?

Director Rankin.

I have a question that I apologize because I think I asked that already and I'm just not remembering the answer which is and maybe I'm just going to say it and don't need an answer right now but how this acceptance would fall under the grants policy because this is a grant and then just where we would want to place that because it's also much more significant grant than some other exemptions and then This feels like in the future also a good opportunity to have somebody from the city here when we are doing this to talk about it a little bit or when it's being introduced, just so that we have just a little bit more of a contact with what we're accepting.

I mean, I know you know what we're accepting.

I have been around enough times to understand, but I'm just thinking about it in the greater context.

I mean, I think it would be a really nice, just how we introduce the executive directors and we have the city band play.

I think that on the year that we accept this, we could invite the team from FEPP just to show our thanks and also our partnership.

Director Song.

To answer your question Liza about how this would work with the grants policy I think what the current discussion we're having is that we would place acceptance of grants in the authority of the superintendent but also leave room where the superintendent may want to bring certain grants for board consideration.

I think something like this It's my personal recommendation that something of this significance that they go ahead and bring something like this to the board for approval.

Director Smith.

I just I think there's the distinction between the grants and gifts.

And so I I'm actually unsure if this would qualify as a grant or a gift.

I think we were working on the language to determine like is this money just given to us free and clear or is it for specific purposes with like reporting back to the city how we're using it and that would make that determination.

Others.

All right, call for the vote.

Director Lavallee?

Aye.

Director Mizrahi?

Yes.

Director Rankin?

Yes.

Director Smith?

Aye.

Director Song?

Yes.

Vice President Briggs?

Aye.

President Topp?

Yes.

This motion is passed unanimously.

All right, thank you.

We're moving on to the last action item, number six, acceptance of universal school meals, supplemental reimbursement and healthy food in schools partnership.

And this one, again, I think it's Chief Podesta, Chief Operating Officer Podesta.

Do you want to call for the motion first?

Yes, thank you.

Motion, please.

I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to execute an agreement with the city of Seattle for a universal school meals, supplemental reimbursements and healthy food and schools partnership for the 2026-27 school year with any minor additions, deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to take any necessary actions to implement the agreement.

Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.

So before the grade chief.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

Now go.

So before the great COO Podesta goes, I just want to frame some of this.

As many of you know, the mayor, the city council announced that they wanted to support Universal Free Mills.

We were thrilled with their support However, just because they said so does not mean that a school district is able to immediately turn around and say, ta-da.

The idea that we have this in front of you is mind-blowing to me.

In such a quick time, from the moment that the mayor and the city council discussed this, to get here to have you vote on an authorization is one of the best bureaucratic actions I have ever seen.

Two very large institutions, the city of Seattle and the school district of Seattle, the SPS, were able to discuss, talk, cajole each other, push each other so that we can get a contract in front of you.

Now again, we were talking about this would start in fall, right?

They made a decision to help us do this.

The idea that we would start on the first day of school was never in the cards at the beginning because how could you imagine that two very large bureaucracies would be able to get contracts this quickly, then staff up, get the food, and actually make this happen?

I think, amazingly enough, we might actually be able to do this.

School starts soon, maybe, and we want to make sure that we will be able to do that.

And I also see in the back two really wonderful people, Deja and Shelley.

I want to say thank you to you both.

to your incredible union because it's gonna be on your wonderful, our wonderful employees to make this happen.

And so the idea that this is being presented to you as a board shows you just how good the relationships are and the talent is to make this happen.

We are ordering food.

as we speak, we are thinking about staffing as we speak, but it is up to you to actually accept this or not.

But I do want to make sure that people at home understand that when the city says, hey, they want something, we, the school district, are the ones that have to make it happen.

And so I want to thank Fred, I want to thank Culinary, I want to thank Ops, I want to thank 302, I want to thank every single person that's been able to bring this today so that we might, just might, be able to do this on the first day of school.

So with that, Fred, take it away.

Great.

Thank you.

To Superintendent Schilderner's point the City Council adopted this three weeks from yesterday and there was a lot of back and forth over the summer whether this was going to happen it was not what was going to be the nature of this agreement of the long list of people been described who deserve credit for this.

I am at the exact bottom of that list but here I am anyway.

So again this we already have programs with state and federal partners that allow us to serve lunch and breakfast without charge for about half of our students.

This creates that eligibility for the other half.

this is different than some of those other programs because we've been clear with the city and this is where the contractual discussions were important that we need to recover our full costs which we don't do from other funders.

So we spent a lot of time over the summer seeing that this might happen talking about what our costs how do we get reimbursed for food labor and supplies.

We are also it's difficult to model the demand for this a demand curve does odd things when the price becomes zero.

So it's not easy to know what the actual demand will be because we're offering these kinds of programs in schools that have not historically had them and the needs are different so we'll see.

But the agreement before you is structured states that the point of it the goal is to meet the district's costs that we will work intensively with our city partners on understanding what those costs are.

The most volatile part of that is labor because since we're offering a program to schools who don't have a high participation rate in our meal program.

We're not exactly sure where that's going to be but we probably have existing labor that can absorb some of this demand.

But if we need to add labor because the demand exceeds our model then we'll have to talk about that and adjust it as we go.

I want to thank Aaron Smith our Director of Culinary Services and Dr. Asplen Campbell who are thinking about this and seeing the handwriting on the wall if this was likely to happen.

so getting ready in advance of agreements which is why we think we can launch the program at the start of school.

It will take a little grace on the again because we're not sure exactly what's going to happen.

Culinary service has done a great job at staffing and recruiting.

We are much better staff than we generally are and they order food ahead of time thinking about what the inventory would be and you know what the potential shelf life of food is.

So I think we're in good shape.

Again I would encourage us to take the money see how this works.

We'll learn as we go.

Again the structure of the agreement is we get reimbursed.

There is it's split into two where There is a term for the cities through the end of the city's fiscal year which is December 31st.

And then there's a second option term where we can adjust this program if in the fall we learn things that we need to do things differently.

We need to find additional funding or the city does.

But I think we've developed a really good partnership and I think families are excited about this program.

Questions from board directors.

Director Mizrahi.

So the 3.7 million, do we think that takes us through, how confident are we that that takes us through December 31st?

Do we think it takes us beyond that?

We think that that's about right.

We think that the 3637, because we are trying to start day one, gets us to kind of December, but again, we're gonna be looking at all sorts of data points to see, but the kind of back of the envelope math that we've been doing, we think that that's about right.

Now, ironically of course, and I don't mean this kind of too jokingly, sometimes it really depends on what we serve.

And so when you've got certain schools that have never had a kind of universal system, we really don't know the uptake.

So we are kind of thinking in the dark a little bit, but when we've run all of our calculations, if things work the way we think, the 3-6 will get us to winter break.

But I mean, I know, Fred, you've been part of these conversations too.

our school year number was about double that obviously to the end of the year is a shorter part of the school year.

It could be it's hard to know because again we're serving schools with lower need but they have much many more paid students now who would normally pay.

So what that uptake is we'll just have to see.

We are kind of doing this in sort of a soft launch mode.

I mean the world has said on our behalf without us really saying it hey that this is happening this fall.

So I think logistically it's easier for us not to worry about trying to collect money but also not push it because we might need to do some staffing up and so that's, I think that's how it's gonna go.

But you're suggesting we could offer some of the less popular food items if we're getting closer to that number toward the end of the year.

No, okay, but seriously, if it goes above the 3.7, and it's not December 31st yet,

What happens?

We eat that cost.

Literally and figuratively.

This is why we have a very good relationship with the city and they understand that they were making promises on our behalf and so we have a very good and strong understanding that we will show them the true costs and they are gonna do what they can to reimburse, but as it is written, this is a promise, but we do think, I mean, I would say we're pretty confident that this is the right number, but we will let you know pretty shortly if it's not, and then we are, trying our best to do what's right with the promises of others.

And we do, of course, think it is still a great idea for kids to eat.

But Fred, I mean.

What the agreement obligates us to do, so the city can't legally enter into a contract beyond funds that they've appropriated.

But if we're seeing that the cost trends are gonna exceed that, we're obligated to sit down and talk about how are we gonna amend this agreement to do whatever.

are we doing until the money runs out are we changing rates are we well how are we going to make adjustments so there's implicit agreement that we're gonna figure it out, but this is where we are.

There's an estimate of what the funding can be.

Again, we need to enter into good faith negotiations.

And then the structure of the agreement is it ends at the December 31st, unless we both enter into this optional second term, which will also be contingent on appropriations in the city's fiscal 2027.

You have a last related question.

I know others have questions too.

So I guess this is a question for the city, not for us, but you hate to do something and then take it away.

So do we know if the city, if in the budget the mayor transmits will have appropriations for beyond December?

Because that would be the- That's the intent that's been conveyed to us.

Got it.

That's not in our control, but- Yeah.

And again, this obviously seems to be a high priority for all of us.

Got it.

Like in all things we do, we accept good faith and we have positive intent.

But I will say that the way that the city has been very thoughtful and very responsive to our concerns gives me quite a lot of hope that this is a good thing and that we'll be able to make it forward.

Director Song.

Relatedly, this 3.7 million I guess I'm a little confused because that seems like pretty much all the money the city has set aside.

And so I really do wonder what happens after December because this is the number that I have seen out in the public for in totality.

And now we're talking about this is what it would cost up until December.

So I'm just kind of flagging that as a risk that I see.

I have two questions.

One, what part of the cost do you think is the riskiest part?

I'm gonna assume that it's the labor, and what percentage of the 3.7 is going to be labor?

Sorry, if I could just do the first part of the question.

because it's their fiscal year, the money that they're allocating is until December 31st.

In our conversations, because we know this is a priority for them, they have been talking about then the next year's budget, what would then be in it.

But their budget only goes up to December 31st, because that's their budget year.

I see, okay.

Fred's walking away, so I don't want to turn it over to him.

Yeah, and if it's not really a question you can answer, because it's pretty detailed right now, we didn't get this information committee yet, so I'm fine with a follow-up.

The labor represents, again, that's the hardest part to model because that's where there may be marginal costs that are different than food costs, but it's a bit higher than 40%, and that's the part where there could be volatility.

just how many people do you need to serve lunches again we have many schools that their participation overall is in the single digits as a percentage so they can triple and one person can still serve all those lunches but if serving 20 lunches turns into serving 200 lunches we'll need to add staff so that's that's the part we need to keep an eye on.

Yes, we've gotten a commitment from the executive that at least the similar amount to this 3.6, which is the meals part of this will be represented in the mayor's proposed budget.

But that number will be tuned to this agreement also calls for us by November 30th to exercise that option and agree on what that funding is gonna look like for the next city fiscal year.

My second question is, we actually did do this in 2022. So I'm wondering, what did we learn?

Is any of that experience and data applicable in that situation, or do we really feel like...

That's where we started with the modeling.

We saw about a 30% increase in overall participation.

at that time you know that was a while ago.

There were other constraints and conditions about how school was being operated in 2022 but that's kind of where we started and that's that something in that range seems like this funding will work for us but we'll see.

And again it was it was a different time there were different options for families than there are now.

So we'll learn as we go.

Director Rankin.

Wet blanket alert.

I am mostly concerned about the communication to our families.

I mean having we did this in the 21-22 school year and had a really hard time when that funding was gone supporting families and understanding the need to fill out free and reduced lunch forms again and even at the time still having to fill them out in spite of lunch being free.

This is great.

Obviously, it's great that the city wants to support us in this way, but there is a huge difference between free lunch for all Seattle public school students for two years until the millionaire's tax kicks in, which is still wishful thinking, and free lunch until December 2026. I feel like we are the only ones that understand that and that's really concerning to me because if something goes away, I'm not going to believe it until it's appropriated.

When it's appropriated, I'll be like, I see it in the budget.

Great.

I believe the intent is there.

Intent is not going to feed children.

The money is going to feed children.

see this going in a way where we are left footing the bill and left with the blame for, should this not continue where, oh, the school district now isn't doing this, or it's gonna increase her deficit.

So, but the thing I really wanna be clear about is what I have seen is like, oh, now nobody, now there's gonna be no stigma, nobody needs to fill out free and reduced lunch forms, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

That's not true.

because even for however long this lasts, the money covers students who are not already covered for meals from the federal government.

we still have to fill out those forms and provide information to the federal government for how many kids qualify for those meals to get that funding.

We don't just get it, we have to every year say this is how many students qualify according to the USDA guidelines and that's the money that we get.

So how are we working with schools to help people understand that they've gotta fill that out?

We've had that circumstance since we came back from COVID.

The majority of our schools already have universal free lunch.

so we worked hard to increase participation in getting those forms filled out for many reasons because they're tied to other funding.

And they're tied to other things, yeah.

Yeah, so I think we live in that world already.

I think, you know, we'll see how this program goes.

What will happen is if we don't accept this contract then what is going to happen this fall nobody's getting the benefits of this program.

I'm not suggesting we don't accept it, I'm just kind of fully aware that it's a little, it's magical thinking to think and then we just feed all the children.

I have had a food service job and we tracked weather We tracked all kinds of data for planning how many things of each product to bake that day.

It's really, really, really hard to get to where you don't run out of food and you don't have a large amount of waste.

We had seven years of data on weather conditions and what the trend was in terms of how many baguettes got sold.

And that's a challenge Erin already faces in the majority of our schools.

The new learning will be now is we're serving a different market that we haven't historically served so we'll have to take some time to figure out how does this work in a school like Ballard High School that has a 5 percent participation rate in our meals program.

What's that going to do there?

We'll figure it out.

But also lunch lines filling out forms, those things do not disappear because we have this funding.

And it is lovely that we have this funding.

It's also, and again, the funding for this is about the reimbursement rate.

It's different for breakfast and lunch, but it's still about 50% greater than we're getting from those other partners.

So that's an important thing to do.

Yeah, so I mean, I also want to really highlight something else that Director Rankin said, which is really, really important, which is we have to make sure that we are communicating this with clarity.

Of course, the great Bev Redman will take care of all of those things.

but we'll just make sure that we are as explicit with our families as possible, that this is a new program, that we're working very, very closely and that this is funding us up until a certain point with the hope that it will continue.

because I agree that sometimes the school district will be given the blame when it is not our blame and then we would have to eat the money even though this is not our doing.

So again, I will thank the city partners for their largesse in understanding this, but definitely we are going to do our best to communicate this as clearly and as rationally as possible so that we can do this, so thanks.

I mean if you look at the path that got us here there was some deliberation on the part of the city but once the program was kind of proposed and withdrawn it was three days before it was back on the docket.

So I think there is a lot of support for this program.

Director Lavallee.

I my my older child before I ran for school board this was his greatest wish where he's just like kids should have free meals because kids don't have money and so why doesn't everyone get free meals.

So he is by the way absolutely ecstatic about this.

I secondly want to say thank you to the city and especially to city council.

I know the city council debate was incredibly difficult and had a lot of back and forth and I want to highlight the fact that so much of it wasn't about not wanting to serve kids but it was about some of the things that we are concerned about here as well of making sure that it is repeatable and fundable going on long term.

because the initial proposal didn't have some of the stability that was needed.

And so I know that so much of the debate got into are we or are we not feeding kids?

And so much of their discussion ended up being of where does this come from?

How can we make sure it's dependable?

And those are our concerns as well.

So I do have big concerns that we're just looking at it until December and then the budget cycle starts again.

at what point is something cut and at what point does that hurt kids and hurt kids even more because we're turning a valve on and off continuously and then at what point does hopefully additional taxes that the state will create or has created kick in and allow the state to help fund this.

So all of those create some unpredictability that gives me real concern and trepidation about it.

I do want to echo Director Rankin's point though in that some of those forms I hear you saying that we already have some approaches to doing that and I see those in some of my schools and I also see schools that have missed that and schools that have been greatly impacted because somebody didn't know to push it and they didn't get enough forms in and they lost some stuff at their school because of that.

So as much as I hear that some schools are really good at doing it, I think some others really struggle at doing that.

And to Director Incan's point, that will change if we don't really push on that from a strategic management point of view.

and then I also wanted to highlight that within all of this, just having scheduling of what is going to be served and making sure that there are those options there and I know that gets into a little bit of a deeper point but I know constantly I hear my kids come home We're at a school where all the lunches are already covered, and someone will be like, oh, well, it had cheese on it, so I didn't want to eat that, and the only thing that was available was a bag of pretzels.

And they, God bless my kids, they eat anything.

but at the same time that's not true for all students.

So making sure that as we go through this that we're really clear about what we're going to be serving and how much we think we're going to have of that and where the gaps might be is going to be really important for kids so that they're not hungry in the middle of the day thinking that they were going to get this free lunch.

Yep, absolutely.

So, I mean, look, we want to do what we can.

We're working closely with the city.

It's clear that this is something that they really want, and we're happy to be partners for it.

Communication will be key.

And then to the point about the forms, that's also, again, another communication issue.

The school district has to do a better job communication at large and I think this will be a really great opportunity for us to show that we can have a really good sense of what's going on with good and standard communication but this board, I really appreciate you highlighting the need for the families to fill out the forms because those forms really unlock a series of funding potentials and that's certainly something that we all can do to help promote the usage of it so that we can get more funds, so thank you.

I would add one point the city's budget process starts next month and so the mayor will propose her adopted budget her proposed budget pretty early so we'll have visibility and it's usually adopted by the our deadline for exercising this option or not.

So I think we'll we'll see how this is going along the way.

Director Song last comment and then we are going to vote.

I have a final point about communication, which is I know that when we expanded the community eligibility benefits, some of the schools didn't receive the communication that they were going to be getting universal meals.

So I respectfully ask staff that we think about communications at the building level.

Families are really wanting to hear from their principals.

Open rates are great for Ben's emails, but I do think that principals need to communicate directly to their school communities what the situation is with meals.

Absolutely, and I think the six folks that you met and the seven positions that were created to help be those kind of instrumental executive directors will help support those principals.

You're 100% right.

The families and the kids listen to the school level stuff, and so we will work on that very diligently.

Thank you.

All right, vote on this item.

Director Mizrahi?

Yes.

Director Rankin?

Yes.

Director Smith?

Aye.

Director Song?

Yes.

Vice President Briggs?

Aye.

Director Lavallee?

Aye.

President Topp?

Yes.

This motion is passed unanimously.

All right.

That ends our action items.

I will say I'm very proud of this board.

I think that this was probably the most conversation we've had on action items since I've been on the board.

I think there was some really good, deep conversations, some good questions asked.

I think that we're seeing some of the positive outcomes from some of the infrastructure we've set up with the informational study sessions for one of our meetings and having some of the actual deeper discussion and time and space for that in our informational study session versus our regular board meeting.

And I also think the kind of work from committees and being able to have that as an avenue has really made this a positive board meeting, but also one that didn't last till 9 p.m.

I say that, but we're not done yet because the board is now immediately recessing the regular board meeting into executive session to review the performance of a public employee per RCW 4230-110-1G.

The session is scheduled for, I think we can do it in 30 minutes, folks, 30 minutes with an anticipated end time of 8.05.

Carrie has a card over there for the all-city band for us to sign.

Please do sign it.

Strong optimism that 30 minutes will be enough, but that is not correct.

So I am the executive session to review the performance of a public employee.

Per RCW 42301101G was originally scheduled for 30 minutes.

We are running long and this session is now expected to go an additional 15 minutes with an anticipated end time of 8.20 p.m.

good evening to our lovely audience who is still with us the board recessed out of executive session at 8 20 p.m the regular board meeting is now reconvened at 8 21 p.m there being no further business to come before the board the regular meeting of the board is now adjourned at 8 21 p.m thank you everyone and have a good night