School Board Meeting - November 17, 2021

Director Rankin.

Here.

We do not have Director Rankin.

President Hamlin.

Here.

We are holding today's meeting in a hybrid format with directors, staff, and members of the public here in person with remote access also available through SPS TV.

by broadcast and streaming on YouTube and by phone, consistent with the governor's proclamation on open public meetings.

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

I will now turn it over to Superintendent Jones for his comments and a proclamation for Native American Heritage Month and Day.

Thank you, Director Hampson and board members.

First off, I would be remiss if I haven't taken the opportunity to thank our staff, our educators, our school leaders for the tireless work that they've done on behalf of our students for this last two and a half months.

These first two and a half months have been a tremendous load for our staff to carry and they've done it admirably.

I want to just take a moment to recognize them.

Regarding November 12th, our non-instructional day, the families and those impacted, I'd like to humbly thank you for your grace regarding last Friday's district closure.

While we had to decide between not so great choices, I recognize this was certainly a hardship on many of our families.

For that inconvenience, I'm sorry.

And when we have situations similarly to these in the future, we now have more experience on how to proceed with the least amount of impact on our families.

We have forecasted what is upcoming and we have secured more substitutes to be more responsive to future challenges.

In the meantime, I have been deploying central office staff here at the John Stanford Center one day a week to assist at schools to continue to try to close the gap.

So today I am looking forward to recognizing our departing board members, DeWolf and Dury.

And in the meantime, I'm also looking forward to honoring Native Heritage Month.

So, I want to invite Director DeWolf to read into the record November 2021 as Native American Heritage Month and November 26, 2021 as Native American Heritage Day.

Today's proclamation comes from Washington State Governor Inslee marking statewide recognition and we honor and observe that at Seattle Public Schools.

Director DeWolf would you do us the honor of reading the proclamation please.

Thank you Superintendent Jones.

It would be my honor.

Whereas Native Americans have inhabited the area known now as Washington State since time immemorial, and today 29 federally recognized Indian tribes, out-of-state tribes with a treaty reserved right, and other tribal communities reside in Washington.

And whereas members and descendants of tribes around the United States and First Nations of Canada also reside in the state of Washington, And whereas Native American contributions and values have shaped the social, political, environmental, and economic fabric of our state, while also enhancing freedom, prosperity, and cultural diversity.

And whereas state law, RCW 43.376, direct the governor and state agencies to establish government-to-government relationships with Indian tribes in order to enhance and formalize working relationships with the tribe through collaboration and consultation.

And whereas state law RCW 28A.320.170 mandates the teaching of tribal history, culture, and government in common schools, which will contribute greatly to improving schools' history curriculum and enhance awareness for a better cultural understanding.

And whereas, substitute House Bill 1356 prohibiting the inappropriate use of Native American names, symbols, or images as public mascot logos or team names was signed into law on April 26, 2021, thus removing harmful stereotypes and barriers to racial equality, cultural awareness, and an equitable education.

and whereas the state of Washington has designated the Friday immediately following the fourth Thursday in November as a state legal and school holiday known as Native American Heritage Day and whereas Washington joins other states across the nation in celebrating Native American Heritage Month honoring unique heritage of this continent's first people and reaffirming the commitment to respect each tribe's sovereignty and cultural identity.

Now for the Governor of the State of Washington has hereby proclaimed November 2021 as Native American Heritage Month and November 26, 2021 as Native American Heritage Day and Washington encouraged all people in our state to join in this special observance.

Thank you Director DeWolf.

And I did want to note that we had originally hoped to have the Muckleshoot Tribal Council here with us today.

I had a great conversation with one of their tribal council leaders this morning, and we will be doing that sometime in December.

They asked me to forward on some links based on some work that they're doing to help create a better understanding about their history as the treaty tribe for the area on which Seattle Public Schools sits.

So please take a look at that email and we look forward to many prosperous conversations with them over the very things that are represented in the proclamation.

Thank you for that Director DeWolf and Dr. Superintendent Jones.

We will now move to the consent agenda if we could have a motion for the consent agenda.

Looks like we've made it past the piece of it, am I wrong?

Oh, sorry.

What's that?

It looked like we skipped a portion of the agenda, but I might have just been, can we do the, yeah.

It's highlighted in yellow, just got distracted.

Yes, I'm sorry, we are gonna have to move into an important segment of the meeting tonight.

to take some time to honor our outgoing school board directors, Zachary DeWolf and Erin Dury.

I'm going to first invite up Manuela Sly from the community, is she gonna shoot me some look because I'm calling her up too soon, to provide some words from the community on the contributions of Director DeWolf and Director Dury.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I'm just very excited to be here after so long.

I haven't seen this world for so long.

So thank you so much for having me and giving me some time today and the opportunity to offer my deep gratitude to both Directors Dury and DeWolf.

Director Dury, thank you so much for stepping up to the plate when your community needed the most.

Taking over school board seat in the middle of a pandemic, it's something that not very many people would do and you did it.

You did it with grace and you did it with dignity.

So thank you so much.

You also are highly appreciated by many, especially students that came to you to share their concern and their ideas and their hope and their dreams.

I am really, really grateful for that time that you gave to our students.

Centering the students is what you continue to do and I'm confident you will continue to do so in your future advocacy effort.

I know that you will still be around working to make this a better district.

I wish you so much success in your endeavor.

Thank you very much.

Now Director DeWolf.

Thank you.

Director DeWolf.

Your commitment to students and families has inspired me to continue this battle for educational justice.

Thank you for your unwavering support for your beloved LGBTQ community and for allowing me to be a co-conspirator for change.

It has been an honor.

The feeling is here despite the noise because you and I we have worked together closely and I know what is in your heart and I believe in you and I trust you and I am honored to have served alongside in my capacity as president of Seattle Council PTSA and also as a fellow leader of color.

And following your lead of centering student voice, I am proud to introduce West Seattle High School class of 2020 graduate, Adri Sly.

Having our senior year cut short was unfortunate to say the least.

We didn't get to see most of our athletes celebrate their senior night.

We didn't get to dress up for prom or walk the stage with the people we had shared our childhood with.

And although we missed out on a lot of experiences, I think most of the class of 2020 also realized that we're more than just those experiences.

And I think that's what those trees that were planted represent.

I think that over time, they're going to restore and they're going to give back to the environment, just as class of 2020 is going to do down the road.

And I just want to thank you for putting a lot of thought into that and really representing our class and what we have to offer for the future.

Thank you so much.

So there you have it, straight from the words and mouths of students that really, really appreciate you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

And now we have a couple of special guests online, students who would like to speak regarding our director's departure.

We'll start with Kaley Yuan.

Hold on just a second, Kaylee, we can't quite hear you.

We can hear you and if you can speak as loud as possible, we have quite a lot of background noise here.

I wanna make sure directors hear your good word.

Thanks, Kaylee.

You had worked with directors both through Paul's 1250s without his insight out or without just taking your time to meet with you, taking your time to talk to us, go through our ideas.

It brought so much really good insight to where we are now.

We're actually put action towards that.

Just seeing how everything grew from just this small for ideas being with you like a couple of times for like a month.

I got to like learn a lot more about how policies and things work.

Just like helped our group so much and we're so thankful and grateful for that.

And I just like really appreciate that took the time to meet with and took the time to talk to us.

help us out, support us.

A lot of support.

Thank you so much.

That means a lot.

And you already got me tearing up a little bit here, Kaylee.

We're now going to go to Rita Mateja, Walker Burr.

Hello, everyone.

Yes, we can hear you, Irina Mateja.

So much, grateful.

I appreciate what you've accomplished with breast support, just like the growth that I've seen in Santa Cruz schools with your help has been so tremendous.

The fact that like, Children feel more welcome going to school, and in fact, feel more comfortable, like, walking.

That's so safe, the stuff you did, amazing.

You always, people have, okay, like, listen, and you always, like, shout.

I hear, for example, like, back to back.

Thank you so much, like all of you in general, so thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Rena.

And now, before we have directors give their gratitude and thanks, I'd like to invite up Gail Morris and Shannon Brown to help me with some presentations of some gifts.

We'll start with Director DeWolf.

I'd like to read this verse.

This is a blanket made from my favorite artist.

Her name is Gail White Eagle.

Her Indian name is Sisanalt and she is Muckleshoot and Chehalis.

She's a hereditary line to many others and while she is currently employed by the Muckleshoot tribe as a lead culture teacher, sharing her knowledge with youth, adults, and elders, Sisanalt has been weaving for 25 years.

She's a premier weaver, This is a blanket that is a cranberry color, and these are one of her weaving designs from a blanket that she's made.

And she has her work all over the world, and I love her work, and it's a great color for you.

Oh, can you grab the other stuff?

I just want to say, as I'm standing here, the last four years of working with you has been amazing.

Before the pandemic, we were on a wild ride.

We were getting a lot of stuff done, visiting the tribes.

Just a huge support to the Native Ed program.

The work you did with Matt Bremley is unbelievable.

I just appreciate you so much.

I can't believe you're leaving.

It's a lot for me to take it, right?

I want to give this drum.

This is Taducida in Lushootseed.

And we made it from our department.

For you.

And this is the newest book that came out from Adrienne Keene.

Adrienne Keene has a podcast called All My Relations.

And this is stories of all contemporary Native people.

There's Billy Frank on the bottom.

This is for you as well.

I can't.

my gratitude to you and Dr. Jones traveling out to Muckleshoot with me and I just appreciate you so much.

Okay a couple more things for you to hold and then you get to take a seat and relax before we make you speak.

There's a certificate of appreciation.

I don't know if we're going to get pictures with that and then Just a card and some flowers.

Do you feel like Miss America?

Miss Native America?

All right.

And then if Director Dury, if you could come up as well.

I know Director Dury is not a fan of this type of attention so I'm going to keep it short.

We talked about it ahead of time.

So I want to get the certificate out so we can take some pictures of that.

It's in an incredibly fragile and precious frame.

And then another token of our appreciation.

And you'll see later why this is honey, but I wanna express my gratitude to you for helping us branch out in your short but critical tenure here with us in Seattle Public Schools.

As was said by Manuela, not many people would consider stepping up in this kind of environment.

that we're in right now and the fact that you're willing to do so speak just absolute volumes.

So our sincere gratitude to you for doing that during this time and we're very sad that you're going to be leaving with us.

But I know we all have a lot more to say so please accept your gift and I will um and then do you want to take a picture of the two of them Bev's in charge of whatever pictures need to be taken so when the two of you Okay, who will be first on this board of directors to express their gratitude to each of our departing school board members?

And do so loudly to rise above the clamor.

Superintendent Jones is gonna go first.

So I'll start with Director Dury.

Director Dury, I want to thank you for your courage and stepping up to support the district in a time in a need of transition.

While your tenure was short, that's been marked by your significant commitment to students, equity, and governance.

You've been a champion for this board's work on student outcome focused governance.

and you've really asked really great questions to refocus us on conversations about keeping students first.

Your insights, your leadership, your experience has been profound, and it'll be missed.

So we look forward to your continued advocacy and your involvement, not on the board, but as a parent and as a continued ally for Seattle Public Schools, and so thank you.

Director DeWolf, I want to thank you for your commitment to Seattle Public Schools.

You've been a real champion for students of color furthest from educational justice.

Your work to bring student members to the board, making space for students, and decision-making led by students has been remarkable.

A couple of highlights that stand out with me around youth-centering students.

As we heard from some of our students, your work with the NAACP Youth Coalition has been tremendous in centering student voice.

Initiatives like your advocacy for Black Lives Matter Week has been important.

Your advocacy for LGBTQ students and families has been a game changer.

Thank you for your student and community workforce agreement work.

That's been a powerful.

Multiple policies changes on behalf of students is countless.

And then recently, this policy work that you're doing with clean energy has been, again, tremendous.

Your tenure is going to be felt long after you're here.

We had a chance to talk and I just I shared with you about your handoff to the next cohort.

You've given us a real catalytic jumpstart to do tremendous work.

And again, your centering of students has been tremendously powerful.

So thank you for your service.

I am happy to go next, but I will try my best to look.

Wow, okay, positioning.

I'll try my best to look neither of you in the eye because I have no Kleenex up here.

This job, and I'm gonna try to speak loudly so that everybody can hear me and hopefully our friends outside can hear me as well.

This job has often been described, I remember even hearing this when I was a kid back in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, as the hardest job in American politics.

Let me paint the picture for what this type of service looks like.

There is very little compensation, $4,600 annually, $50 a day in stipend.

There are very few thank yous, not that that is what we do this for, but as you can imagine, leading a system that focuses and prioritizes folks' children, there are often disagreements, and there are often times when those disagreements become incredibly heated.

This job is often forgotten.

In many spaces where we share with other elected officials, school board directors are not often seen in the same light as other offices that govern this city.

This is a job that takes an immense amount of time away from your family.

especially during the pandemic, while others were taking the time that was gifted to us in one of the most unimaginably horrible ways that we could think of.

School board directors launched into double duty in many instances, spending countless hours, multiple nights a week.

During the pandemic, I can attest that there were literally four or five weeks when we had four or five hour meetings on every single day of the week.

It takes an immense amount of time away from your family for a largely volunteer role.

And as I've signed up for another four years, people often ask me why.

And There's not really a way to explain it other than a deep and undying love for children and ensuring that the system that we adults make here is one that sees them, is one that understands them, and one that has their best interest at heart.

When I transitioned onto this board, there were not a whole lot of folks that looked like me.

There were not a whole lot of people who had recently attended college or high school for that matter, but there was one, and it was Zachary DeWolf.

When I think about what it means not only to be a board director, but to be a young man on this board, to be a transplant to this city, to not have gone to Garfield, or Franklin, or Beach, or one of the fantastic other high schools on the south end particularly, but still find in your heart, without even having a child in this district, Let me repeat that, without having a child in this district to give your time, your energy, and in so many instances, your peace, that is a sacrifice and an offering that not many will understand.

And I just wanna say that I see you.

I can't look people in the eye.

I see you and I thank you for your friendship and for your mentorship because in so many ways you have given me the roadmap for what advocacy in our generation looks like.

I just hope that I can live up to the example that you have set for me.

Director Dury, choosing to come onto this board, particularly this board, in the middle of a pandemic, when the hardest job in American politics has never been harder, with all of the responsibilities you have at home, with all of the roles and hats you wear both professionally and in your community, and to still bring the same vigor and energy as any other newly elected school board member is honestly incredibly surprising.

But also welcomed beyond measure.

And even though your time with us may have been short, it came when we certainly needed it most.

When our team was down a player, you came in, you stepped up and you said, put me in, coach.

Y'all, we spend a lot of time together.

And I spend a lot of time thinking about what my life would have been like had I not stepped into this role, right?

Being from Mississippi, my family lives halfway across the country.

They literally could not be further away unless they were in the panhandle of Florida.

But I largely see this board and the work that we do as a close, a close semblance to what family means to me.

Because a family is a body that sticks together regardless of differences in opinion, regardless of disagreements we may have, and regardless of how tough things get.

And in times when it seems as though No one could possibly understand what you're going through.

I know that for me personally, both of you have provided not only a shoulder, but a pair of eyes to see me with.

And I'm just gonna say it's gonna be really difficult not seeing you guys up here.

And even though I'm incredibly excited for our new family members to join us up here.

It doesn't make this any easier, and if no one has told you this in relation to this role, thank you.

On behalf of our students, our families, our educators, and every single person that makes up the school district, we are wholly better for your service, and you have definitely left it better than you found it.

Having a hard time in this moment with a lot of different emotions for a lot of different reasons.

And attention deficit disorder.

Things drawing my attention.

I Having been here with you for two years and you for this very intense last several months, it's really, it's strange to, as Brandon said, strange to imagine doing this and not seeing you both there.

Something that I will keep with me from both of you is the tremendous amount of grace and calm that you both brought.

Right now, in this specific moment, but also recently, I find myself feeling really, really angry and frustrated with almost everybody around me all of the time.

The model that I feel like you both present is, I don't know how you do it.

Maybe we'll have to talk after this.

But I don't know if you let it roll off your back or if you somehow absorb it.

But that sort of taking a breath and a moment and being just patient and kind is something from both of you that I'm going to try to keep as this goes forward so that Security doesn't take me out.

But the other thing that both of you have brought to us is always, always, always, always the reminder that students are our focus.

There's so many different ways that we can get caught up in adult issues.

even when we are aware that that's a problem and I the two of you always consistently bring it back to students whether it's in a committee meeting or or in in just how you move through this role you know saying well I'm gonna check with these students I'm gonna reach out to this group I'm gonna talk with these folks and that's just that's gonna be missed a lot and also something that I'll try to remember when I look even if you're both not there, that that reminder of students first and community first is always gonna be there.

And in particularly, Zachary, I want to read, I think I emailed it to you, but your tremendous commitment and work on behalf of our LGBTQ plus students is going to be long-lasting and woven into the fabric of our district.

And I got a letter or an email from a first grader a couple days ago that said dear Director Rankin, I wish there was a bathroom for everyone at Northeast Elementary so that even if you're not a boy or a girl you can still go into the bathroom and feel like you belong.

And the sweet simpleness of that I feel like is something that you have created space for and and also normalize.

It shouldn't be controversial for a child to be able to use a bathroom that they feel safe using.

And yet it is something that we have to remind people of and push for and make sure that it is there.

know I have no idea if you ever interacted with this family at all but just that that's part of the conversation and that's something that this child saw the need for and wants to make sure is there for themselves and their classmates.

I think is indirectly due to your influence in creating space for that conversation and making sure that when we talk about student safety and belonging that it expands into you know beyond the curriculum it's about how students come to school and how we accept them and how we do or do not let them know that this is a safe place for them to enter so.

Thank you.

I'll miss you guys and I hope and expect that we'll see you, you know, in all other situations just not necessarily up here.

Thanks so much.

The juxtaposition of some of the words we are hearing as we speak and celebrate of tyranny, et cetera, some that I'll dare not repeat, is so wonderfully ironic with respect to freedom of speech and ethics and putting our children and our families first.

Now, when you ran for school board, Mr. DeWolf, did you count on a pandemic, a world wide, freaking endemic.

Did you count on this much change?

Did you count on the really high highs and the really low lows?

Did you count on waking up at three o'clock in the morning on a regular basis where you couldn't turn your brain off because of all of these extraordinarily profound issues.

And wonder how, in a bureaucracy, you can make a difference.

I know you have.

I've been there for some of it.

And it's not a secret that you and I have tussled.

But that's what families are for.

And I thank you.

And I think you've taught me a great deal, and I hope that I've returned the favor.

And I hope without some of the rancor, some of the worldwide pandemic, we will start drinking margaritas together and keeping us updated on our doings because I don't expect you to sit still for one stinking moment.

And we also know where you live and we can get back as a volunteer.

because your passion leads first.

And last I looked you were pretty good at writing resolutions so I'm gonna push your elbow.

Thank you.

Director Dury, I'm sad that we won't see you.

On the other hand I hope that you know you left this place better than you found it.

And There are truly not very many people that would have stepped up to the plate you did and coach put me in is the exact right phrase that director Hersey spoke to you of and you did it with honor and I thank you.

Okay well I said a little bit already Director Dury about my appreciation for you and much of that has been reiterated.

I was thinking about how I wish I had more to say and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we didn't have enough time together and enough opportunity to work together.

But I think what I'm going to hold close is the time that we spent together on Sunday with students who are very serious in their commitment to solving issues related to sexual harassment and assault, many of whom are in the room right now.

And your partnership and working through what is a very, very difficult moments with making sure that the students we were speaking with get the true, not just the voice that they deserve, but the change that they deserve and have the opportunity to see some of that come to fruition while they're still here in Seattle Public Schools.

I just felt a tremendous sense of kinship and satisfaction in our ability to work together in that space and I'm regretful that I won't have more opportunities but I do know that you're going to stick around and you're going to be back in the Seattle Council PTSA world and I'm so tremendously grateful to you for that as well and look forward to a an ongoing friendship and collaboration.

Director DeWolf, Zachary, there's not a whole lot that I can say without bursting into a tremendous amount of tears Um, we've been through a lot.

Together in a very short period of time, and even though we've actually known each other for quite some time.

Uh, for those who are interested, we met at the zoo.

when Zachary first came to Seattle.

I feel very fortunate that I know that our paths are never going to diverge because we have community and family connections and I never in a million years would have imagined the variability of work that we would do together in the short time that we have the two years that we've been on the board together.

I'm scared to let you go because now you'll be the only Native person on the board and it has been so reaffirming and wonderful to be in a space with this much vulnerability and exposure and not for once in my life be the only Native person in the room.

And you have modeled that role honorably and carefully and with great respect and I end up thinking in the same ways for that first grader.

I have the same story to tell about my one of my children who I know you have made the district a better place for them simply by sticking up for the fact that students didn't have to be concerned about going to the bathroom and feeling like they have to be questioned in their full identity every time they have to use the loo.

And we have you to thank for that.

We really do.

So I can't express the ways in which, and I know I've told you this before, that your impact will continue to show up over and over and over again.

And those that didn't know you before when you heard nobody ever remembers who any of us are after we're gone.

But, um, those who will come next will see the work that you've done.

And, uh, layers and students will know that you did the work that you did.

And whatever it was that you set out to do when you joined this board.

I hope you feel that you accomplished it because I think it's pretty clear that everyone else around you believes that.

So, um.

Gratitude for tremendous gratitude for your service and I can't wait to see what you do next and we're always here for you.

And now you have to talk.

None of us come up here as experts, but we do have a good amount of folks behind us.

We don't presume to know everything just because we read a few pages on the internet, but we spend our time in community with students, with young people, with families, with educators, with people who care about this work.

I met Director Harris shortly after I was sworn in.

I had a list of I think probably about 21 things I wanted to accomplish in about three months.

That's not how things work here.

I think if there's anything I would want to say is that there are young people out there who need to know

that they are worthy, that they are valued, that they are enough just as they are.

And if it's using the bathroom that aligns with who you are, it's about getting a job for you or your family on our construction jobs, if it's about making sure you feel seen and valued as a black student in this district, if it's seeing that your future matters, because the environment is important.

I just want them to know that if I could leave with anything it's that you and your futures young people are so important and every one of us on this board believes that and that's what we fight for.

There are so many things I wanted to do.

I wish I could have done.

Sorry I didn't get to them.

I want you to know I sacrificed a lot and I really worked hard to try to be the best for you young people and your families and our educators.

I wish I could have done more.

Thank you sir.

But what I'm most excited about is the work that Director Hersey and I did to bring students on this board.

So the accountability and the oversight that we seven directors can provide is one layer.

But now there are three students who are going to keep this district accountable on the things that we failed to deliver on, the places where we missed the mark, and the work still needed.

So while I may not be here, those young people are going to keep this district more accountable I think than we probably ever could.

So I'm excited to see how far the district goes with those three incredible voices that we bring on.

I think if anything that I particularly for the what's happening outside today you know certainly respect people's right to believe anything truly anything they want to believe.

The truest thing is that young people are the most important assets, the most important things in this city.

and we have to do our best every day making sure that they believe that because this world tells them every day that they are not enough.

I hope you know that.

I have been so grateful to serve here.

I'm looking forward to getting a few more hours of sleep and I will be here to keep pushing you to do your best.

Thank you for this opportunity and I will turn it over to you Director Dury.

So.

Up down.

Okay.

I actually wrote something down because I do better in one-on-one community conversations with people and so I had, I'm just gonna read.

So, I joined this board because of the unique potential I saw at a very unique and consequential time.

We had a board of directors talking truly about the issues and needs that we are facing.

We were bringing in an interim superintendent who is dedicated to these same causes and we had a groundswell of teachers and staff aligned to focus on the needs of our students.

In my time on the board, though short, I saw this dedication to change continue.

I saw policy passed to create the change.

I heard intent and passion for taking on the real issues our district was facing.

And I worked with people grappling with these issues and seeking the opportunities for solutions.

Now we have an incoming board that is more representative than ever before.

We are in the process of securing a permanent superintendent and we will be entering a new bargaining time with our teachers.

These are three very important legs to the stool that holds up the students of this district and we cannot fail our students.

We cannot let a leg of this stool crack or get weak.

The students of this district deserve the attention, the dedication, and the commitment to take this opportunity and enact the changes that we have been talking about.

We cannot be shy, worried, or afraid to lean fully into our stated intents and bring forward the real on the ground action.

Our impact must match our intent.

I look forward to witnessing the board, the district, and the staff take the actions our students are calling for.

And I look forward to continuing to work in my own way in the community to ensure that this happens.

Thank you all for all that you've done and keep rising.

Okay thank you everyone out there in audience land for indulging our time that's taking this really really critical time to acknowledge the contributions of our school board members who are leaving us at this time.

It's a bit like a wedding ceremony where you can't hear what's going on but you know that it's really important to the bride and groom.

So thank you for that indulgence.

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

May I have a motion for the consent agenda?

Are you sure we're at the consent agenda?

This is the time?

I move for approval of the consent agenda.

Second.

Approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Vice President Hersey and seconded by Director DeWolf.

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

Apologies, Director Harris, did you get your minute corrections?

Oh, fantastic, okay.

Okay, seeing none, all those in favor of the consent agenda signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

The consent agenda has passed unanimously.

I am going to go to public testimony since we are past 5 o'clock.

And we will go back to board committee report after that.

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

For any speakers watching through SPS TV, please call in now to ensure you're on the phone line when your name is called.

Board procedure 1430BP provides the rules for testimony.

And I ask that speakers are respectful of these rules.

I will summarize some important parts of this procedure.

1st testimony will be taken today from those individuals called from our public testimony list.

And if applicable, the waiting list, which are included on today's agenda posting on the school board website.

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

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

The total amount of time allowed will not exceed two minutes for the combined number of speakers, and time will not be restarted after the new speaker begins.

In order to maximize opportunities for others to address the board, each speaker is allowed only one speaking slot per meeting.

If a speaker seats time to a later speaker on the testimony list or waiting list, the person to whom time was seated will not be called to provide testimony again later in the meeting.

As there's only 1 speaking slot per person.

Those who do not wish to have time seated to them may decline and retain their place on the testimony or wait.

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

Ms. Wilson-Jones will read off the testimony speaker.

Thank you, President Hampton.

For those who are joining remotely, please remain muted until you hear your name called.

At that point, please press star six to unmute on the conference call line and also ensure that you are unmuted on the phone you are calling from.

For those who are here in person, you can step up to the podium when your name is called.

Each speaker will have a two minute speaking time and a chime will sound when your time is exhausted.

The first speaker on today's testimony list is Ella Guo.

Ella Guo.

Hi, I'm here.

Perfect.

Do I just get started right away?

Perfect.

Thank you.

I've been a Seattle.

I have been in Seattle.

And I have always volunteered.

In any invitations.

Whether I was.

For.

A meeting.

It all left.

What is the.

Way.

To be able.

To.

Apply.

Value.

During the time I joined the student advisory board for Juneau.

I was told that by SPS implementing your authentic voice in this process of decision making is our.

I thought.

This is it.

I am finally going to prove the environment that Ellis and I have been living in and learning through our entire lives.

However, the expectations of our voices, creating authentic change, never.

The only exception to this frustration and this frustrating experience has been at NOVA.

An example of collaboration with our authentic voices at NOVA would be through our Students aid not only in giving feedback but actively participating in the process of improving our environment whether that's orienting prospective students, families, or advocates.

The open environment created by staff but upheld by the staff.

The friendliness and communication with staff and students is rooted in students being able to give honest feedback.

Real change looks like students and staff being able to address an issue together and collaboratively work towards which then assists in the authentic process of continuing to make NOVA a safe and validating environment.

Implementing authentic student voice at SPS asks for feedback and for students to collaborate with staff to improve their school environment.

I have experiences at NOVA and I have seen this help create a safer environment for students.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Miss Wilson Jones.

The next speaker on today's testimony list is Niccolo Potesto.

Niccolo Potesto.

I think it's Potesta, correct?

Yes.

So I will be speaking with Dylan Oh, start it, okay.

We are representatives from Students Against Sexual Assault, a group of students who valorize their work to better serve survivors of sexual assault.

When I was 12, I was raped by two boys at school.

The next morning, my school found out and called the police.

They proceeded with an inappropriate protocol.

My abusers were interviewed before me.

Because of this, one of them found me and manipulated me into believing I wasn't raped or harassed.

He was able to force me into holding back many dates

Thank you.

After speaking with Principal Wynkoop yesterday, I learned that schools are supposed to follow a process where the police get the basic information about the case and then have to deal with, later, the in-depth situation.

This was not followed in my case.

I was kept in the office and interviewed for over an hour with no follow-up.

They did not express to me that I had the right to decide whether my parents were in the room while I was questioned, or even that I had the right to stay silent until a process could happen.

I often Sorry, the boys were suspended for one week specifically for the distribution.

After that, my school's administration had never happened.

I often hid in the bathroom with my advisors, and the school suspended me for skipping class.

I was suspended for trying to keep myself safe, no one else would.

There was no support, no explanation of my rights, no knowledge about.

This is not an abnormal case.

We have heard dozens of horror stories from people who have gone through this inappropriate and outdated system of reporting sexual assault.

People describe it as traumatizing, uncomfortable, and damaging.

On top of the past 29,999 edits, we are asking for monthly training for all SPS mandatory reports on how to handle a student reporting a sexual assault claim.

This could help many survivors look for support for the traumatizing aspect of poorly executed We are also asking for a new sexual assault specialized therapy placed in every SDS middle and high school in a new and improved way.

We had more, but the time is up.

Oh.

We need change and we can't do it on our own.

We hope that you take these demands into consideration and continue to work with us in the future to change the lives of survivors of sexual assault.

Thank you both so very much for being here and I did just want to confirm what I believe is a new date for the forum which is scheduled to be we believe on December 1st.

1st, week of December and also we will be.

Director Hersey and I have committed at least and other directors are welcome to join us.

The students will be holding a rally on December 1st here outside the John Stanford Center and we will be taking a recess during our board meeting to go out and address the students and yes we even if you were we would still come out and address you.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and I just thank you for sharing your story.

Go ahead, Ms. Wilson-Jones, and we will see you on the first, if not before.

The next speaker is Chris Jackins.

Sorry, Mr. Jackins, could everybody in the audience please make sure their nose is covered by their mask?

Can everyone in the audience please make sure their nose is covered by their mask?

Thank you.

May I start now?

Can you restart the clock?

Yes, go ahead, you're fine.

Thank you.

My name is Chris Jackins, Box 84063, Seattle 98124. I will try to speak a little louder and clearer at the moment.

On retiring school board members, I wish to thank Director Zachary DeWolf and Erin Dury for their service to Seattle Public Schools.

On the Proclamation of Native American Heritage Month and Day, School Board Resolution 2016-17-1 notes that the City of Seattle is named for the Chief of the Duwamish Tribe and urges the U.S. to confer treaty rights and benefits on the Duwamish Nation.

On the minutes of the November 3rd board meeting, seven points.

Number one, prior to the November 3rd meeting, I left a message for the head of human resources asking why the personnel report showed a gigantic number of substitutes had left the system.

I got no reply.

Number two, the board did not discuss the personnel report, yet the school was subsequently canceled last Friday, partly because of a lack of substitutes.

Number three, did the board not read the report or did the board not want to tell the public?

Number four, there was public testimony about the cancellation of transportation for McDonald Elementary.

Number five, some board members responded that parents had no right to complain.

This seems incorrect.

Number six, the board votes to approve the district's transportation service standards.

The district's action to cancel bus routes violate these board approved standards.

The board must vote on any changes.

Number seven, I would be glad to recommend attorneys be interested in hearing.

On the contract with an executive search firm to conduct a superintendent search, this item was included in the consent agenda which prevents public or discussion of the item.

Perhaps the board would like to take a break and listen to some of the concerns from people outside.

Thank you very much.

The next speaker is Suzanne Deleski.

Good evening, I'm Suzanne Dale Esty, a proud K-12 graduate of Seattle Public Schools, a former student representative to the school board, and a parent of two teenagers in the Seattle schools.

And I want to first thank Director Dury for stepping up and serving as director for our district.

Tonight I'm here on behalf of over 15,000 construction workers and their families across the region and 19 affiliate unions in the Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council to thank Director Zachary DeWolf for his incredible leadership, I want to make sure you hear that, and service as a school board director.

My client Monty Anderson with the Seattle Building Trades was so disappointed he couldn't be here tonight as he is traveling, he's literally on a plane.

Moni and I were honored to work very closely with Zachary for the past three years.

Director DeWolf is a strong, passionate, visionary leader and an outstanding human being with great character and tremendous integrity.

The building trades stand for values that Zachary shares and fights for every day.

Improving lives, increasing equity and opportunity, social justice, and the dignity and safety of our workers.

It is not an understatement to state that this historic student and community workforce agreement the Seattle Public Schools passed, on which Zachary led, will leave a tremendous legacy and impact thousands of working people.

women, people of color, community members, veterans, people that need social and economic opportunity.

So Zachary, we just want to thank you for, as Monty says, providing that pathway out of poverty.

We also want to thank you for your leadership on the BTA levy, on the Clean Energy Amendment, the Tree Initiative, so much more.

We are truly grateful for all that you've done to get things done here in Seattle Public Schools.

Thanks so much.

The next speaker is Sabrina Burr.

Sabrina Burr.

Good evening.

I would like to take this time to welcome you to this great directory.

When someone that has not been on and did a good job of really listening to what's going on can make a strong You incredible work.

I want to.

Direct.

About all.

Your passion.

And what we're trying.

What.

Is.

Honored.

With you.

Alongside.

Crees will grow.

As.

You talked about.

School board.

But one.

On.

And because of that work they're directed to do, students in this next legislative session will fight to make sure they have a voice.

And so that's done, and this work needs to be planned.

We'll go on time, look at or accomplish what people do at the end of their service, but no one knows who's lost.

I've seen you disrespected.

On your.

And your whole heritage.

Not.

And you have stood with integrity.

And have never wavered.

You are.

A great.

Senatorian.

A great person.

Someone.

Served.

People well.

But more important.

Sir.

What is more important.

Whole world.

You all did great work for.

Our.

Folks.

Thoughts.

My thoughts.

Today.

I wanted.

And I know that.

If you did nothing else.

Your work.

On.

These.

But I know that.

You.

Doing your work.

So I want.

Thank you so much, Sabrina.

The next speaker is Heidi McDonald.

Heidi McDonald.

Hello.

Go ahead Heidi.

Thanks.

So I'm not.

I'm honestly not sure whether this is the right venue for the question but I haven't been able to answer.

Support.

Top of the.

School board in an attempt to get an answer.

And it is about.

Staff.

But.

I don't know what the district is doing.

The plan.

Still staff.

Here.

Well.

I have.

Families and.

I'd like to know whether the district is consisting of an all hands on deck approach.

Similar.

Approach.

From.

In the.

Washington district.

To open.

If that approach is to be followed.

Why not.

So.

I'm hoping that someone either can.

Hear a now or point.

Who can give me.

That's all.

So if anybody has to answer that one.

The next speaker on today's list is Brian Timothy Lally.

Sorry, this is currently our public testimony is a forum where we go to take testimony from each person.

in sequentially.

We don't respond directly.

Board members may respond in their comments if they so choose, but we don't respond at this time.

And also you can feel free to send an email.

How does somebody get a response to these kinds of questions?

I literally don't know that the contact path.

I see an email from you and I'll be happy to respond to your email.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

The next speaker is now Brian Timothy Lally.

Ladies and gentlemen, I request a vote no on school board resolution number 21, which represents the Washington State Board of Health in making a requirement for COVID-19 vaccination.

that's fact-proof and states, quote, states fact-proof.

However, in addition to the fact-proof, and the data, the fact-proof, GateRS gets you at gaters.s.g.

a site, all facts, allowed for a treaty site, posed for a serious health, and under those circumstances, should they be banned.

The act represents a threat, risks a path to defense.

but raised a factor.

Heard again and again, yeah, all right, but pretty important.

any type of court.

I just want to say that- Please begin to wrap up your remarks.

The next speaker on today's testimony list is Cecile Hansen.

Cecile Hansen.

Cecile, if you're on the phone, you need to press star six to unmute, or you may have just done so.

Cecile Hansen.

Good evening.

Greetings to staff, school board, county administrators, and team administrators.

Thank you for the opportunity to address this as a student-making body and for students, as I always try to say, to consider the educated needs of generations of students at Seattle School District.

Teaching an inclusive history is important at times, teaching civility is sometimes a great task that requires a sense of the voice and the history of people who have been martyred.

Based on many speaking engagements I invited to, there's increased interest in learning more about the history of the Duwamish tribe.

And as you know, the Duwamish tribe is a traditional maternal tribe.

After stripping it all off, I spent over five years.

And at start, Fannie Olive decided to find fish in the Palmyra Strip.

And as you know, fishing is a livelihood, and you want to find everybody to fish and hunt for work.

In the Palmyra Strip, I was trying 1855. This is the fact that unstyled must be the curriculum taught in the Seattle schools today.

Indeed the top historian of local history, American history, is David Bergey.

It's an important fact.

As I presented today.

When the two Seattle scientists, government, agreement, not just for his father, the Qamish tribe, both of his mother's tribe, Qamish tribe, both tribes.

It's been going on for years, and they've been advocating for acknowledgement.

And I have to tell you that it's been very hard.

We've been working very hard and have found out where we are.

Also in the environment program, Although we gave up 4,000 acres, under the point of emergency, we are determined to survive.

There's an important virtue, and it's the one we strive for.

It doesn't matter if I try to say or do the line or race on this drive.

There's fear and nothing to diminish the existence and our revision.

It's been a long journey for me to head up this white federal college.

It's time for a college that respects the interior pride, legacy of a mother.

We have curriculum and culture and many stories to tell us about where we come from, who we are and how we are.

And we can't all odd.

I have been approved Overwhelming support from the general public which continues to be pouring in.

Raised awareness.

For so many thousands of children.

From throughout the United States, county, and the world.

Who are raising their hands in support of the cause of the Quamish tribe.

Courageous Seattle school boards do the right thing.

Right side of the kids.

Our children.

For our children.

We are not just pure people who have gone to different reservations.

As many of my tribe say.

Quamish tribe.

is solved by with John Brooks and leadership since the time in Seattle, and I am a leader for you.

And I want to thank you for the opportunity to share with you tonight.

And I also applaud the party board members for retiring.

Congratulations and bless everyone tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Hanson.

The next speaker is E.

Tyler Crone.

E. Tyler Crone.

I am joining you with a warm heartfelt thank you and congratulations to Zachary on his tenure.

I have been a parent In Seattle Public Schools since 2008, I have students who are currently at center school and co-elements.

And the Boondi as a parent of transgender and bi-diverse child has been extraordinary.

And when we began in Seattle Public Schools, there was one person in the entire group who was to serve all of the LGBTQ students, their families, teachers, To speak about health.

To talk about sexual violence.

To educate students.

On anything.

That we want.

And.

As you all might imagine Seattle Public Schools was not able to.

And ready to.

Structurally meet.

The needs.

Of my child.

It has been a learning journey.

All the way through.

But the piece that Zachary has brought to the table I've been to listen to students to partner with them to partner with families and elevate what was happening on a case by case basis across all the.

Into.

Structural.

Structural.

And our future is so much.

So I am beyond thankful to say that.

Charles who entered Seattle Public Schools way back when is.

A brilliant leader in third grade class.

at the center schools and that there is community and support to create a fit visibility.

My thanks first and closing is exactly for someone who leads our vision and I can't speak enough how all that you have brought and your representation made a transformative difference.

I'll tell my journey so many young people and families across the city.

And my final message to all of you who will continue on on the board to step up the work, to think inclusively and vibrantly about how we are making our schools safe, welcoming, and affirming for LGBTQ students.

So thank you, Zachary.

Love you.

Thank you all for your leadership.

Thank you, Tyler.

The next speaker is Rebecca Landa.

Rebecca Landa.

Hello.

My son, Aaron, is a survivor of vaccine injury.

He is allergic to vaccines.

Despite his autism diagnosis, Aaron has worked hard to learn and started Skills Center this year.

I'm sorry, can you replace your mask?

He will never take the injection.

Please postpone your vote on the injection so that Aaron can graduate Skills Center this June.

Every student, every family deserves freedom to choose.

Medical freedom is a human right.

Each of you, all of you, will be held accountable.

And the next speaker is Rochelle Lane.

Hello, thank you for allowing us to be able to speak to you.

I am a mother of a high schooler, junior high, and she has, and I'm speaking to you about the COVID mandate as far as the vaccine being necessary.

So she has had COVID as well as most of her friends that she associates with and they have all recovered from it just fine.

And with that, their natural immunity has given them as much protection as they will need.

This shot that people are taking is actually a medical procedure that is not a one-size-fits-all.

We have many friends that we know that have been hurt from it or had side effects already as adults.

I would never want to see children receive this shot First of all, not FDA approved, but also as just a blanket solution.

What I would like to see addressed is health.

I would like to see how can we make our children healthier?

What should they be eating?

What supplement should they be taking?

What vitamins should school children have during this supposed pandemic?

But the only option so far that we've seen have been the shot and the math.

So education, I believe, should not be crossing the line for medical freedom between the parents.

I think this is a personal choice, and if parents choose to vaccinate their children, they should do so.

But in no way should we be obligated or feel compelled to go against our personal beliefs on this so that my daughter can attend school.

As a culture, we really let fear control us and we've lost the connection of the sacredness of our children.

So I just ask that people please focus on the correct science information of a 99.9% survival rate and not anything else of propaganda and from media.

So we please ask you to vote now.

Thank you.

That was the final speaker on today's testimony list.

Okay, we will take a 10 minute recess and reconvene at.

554. Okay, let's reconvene.

Yep, and we'll need you, Leslie, because we're now a bit thin.

No, actually, we're just doing intro, so.

Actually, we're going to go to committee report.

So.

Bringing the board meeting back to order, let's start.

With okay, I'll start with the executive committee meeting.

Unless 1 of the other committee pairs is ready to go.

With the committee comment, go ahead.

If you wanna do them both, that's fine with me.

I'll go ahead and knock that out.

So, no, they are who?

Yeah.

Our friends?

No, no, just for this evening.

They still got the rest.

Oh yeah, they're gone, go on, that's us.

We're gonna lose our quorum.

We don't need a quorum.

We got a quorum.

Oh, you can't leave, no, you can't leave.

Am I giving comments or not?

Lord have mercy.

Okay, cool.

No significant comments from our last Audit and Finance Committee meeting.

We are in between opportunities.

I feel disrespect.

We are in between so many things, so if you would like to go watch the meeting, it is available online.

What I will say for my board comments, though, is that it's convenient that everybody has left the room, but when we have conversations about disinformation, And then comments that say that there is a 99.9% survival rate from this disease.

As a person, as a black man who has lost countless family members to this virus, I will not sit at this diet and let one child in this district pass away from a preventable disease or have long lasting side effects.

Additionally, and I just want this to be incredibly clear.

Additionally, the Board of Health beat us to the punch, if I'm not mistaken, right?

They have already started taking those steps.

We have a responsibility of the stewards of this district to do everything we can to work with our regional health authority and other government agencies to protect the people who we were elected to serve.

Disagreements can happen, that's perfectly fine, but there are a number of vaccines that we already require.

and we are not mandating a vaccine from the school district perspective.

We are asking kindly that folks take steps to do that for our communities, which they have already done with or without our vote.

So what I would say for anyone who might be standing outside and for anyone who might be listening at home, The only disinformation that exists when we have conversations around whether we need to move forward with these measures to keep our children safe is the idea, the simple idea, that by ensuring that safety, we are infringing upon individual rights.

That is not the case.

What we are doing is everything in our power to ensure that not one child dies or has long lasting lifelong effect from a completely and utterly preventable disease.

We have been here talking about this from these masks, not necessarily here because for the better part of the last few years we've been at home.

But let me be clear, this is not a game.

This is not an opportunity for us to take lightly the fact that 440,000 people in climbing have died.

I have missed a board meeting to travel home to Mississippi to bury my uncle.

There is no excuse for that.

And I will be damned, and I will take whatever fine that comes to me for this, I will be damned if I put a parent in the situation to where they have to bury their child.

So if there is an instance where we continue to have these conversations, people are entitled to free speech, I welcome it.

But there is not going to be a situation, from my perspective at least, that we don't do everything in our power to prevent that from happening.

And I wanna make that abundantly clear.

So as folks are shaking their heads out in the audience, raising their voices outside, please continue.

That is your God-given right.

But it is also my God-given right as an elected official to make sure that I keep every child in this district safe, and that is exactly what I intend to do.

Thank you Director Hersey and Director Rankin do you want to give your committee reports and if you'd like to combine your board comments you're welcome to do that as well or you can wait till the end.

Sure I'll try to do a combo.

Committee reports.

We what day is it?

We just met, we had our November committee meeting for the Student Services Curriculum and Instruction Committee last week and goodness knows that I have no recall right now in this moment.

But some big issues that are going to be coming.

We're talking more about advancing inclusionary practices.

We'll be talking about that more in December.

Our next committee meeting.

What that's going to look like from a policy standpoint following our trajectory from the isolation restraint policy changes that was the beginning of a process that we're going through to bring inclusion to the center of a lot of work.

I'm sorry I'm very even more than usual distracted and to connect some things that Director Hersey said and from committee.

The whole Our role and and what we are here to do is to do everything that we can within the for the best interests of students and the community.

That means that sometimes individual preferences are not necessarily represented because we're making broader making choices for a whole body of people with lots of different needs and lots of different beliefs and preferences.

And what's great about being a school board director is knowing that we were elected in a citywide vote to represent the vision and the values of the people of Seattle.

And so based upon that function, the majority vote declares the winner.

And so the people who are sitting up here won the majority vote of our constituents.

which means that their will is represented by us being here.

And that doesn't mean that other opinions or dissenting voices are not welcome, but it does mean that we have been given a clear direction from the whole community as to what vision and values is had by the fact that we're all pretty transparently continuing the work that we said we would do when we campaign.

And it's also in alignment with federal law, state law.

Our power as a body is in a lot of ways what people don't want it to be.

They want us to exert power in ways that are actually not appropriate or possible.

But in terms of what's important to us and our broader community values, the board as representatives of the community are extremely, that is where our power lies in representing the voice and vision of families.

And although there are people who Oh, and the personal freedom is if the vision and values being represented and carried out are so objectionable to someone individually, you are not forced to participate.

You do not have to attend public school.

That's the ultimate freedom at the end of all of this.

You have choices that several governing bodies determine.

and at the end of the day your decision is yours as to whether or not to continue to participate and we hope that you will and we want you know things as a community for our students but if there is ever something that is beyond for you personally you do not have to participate.

Okay I'm going to go from that to the executive committee report I was on a particular high after our last executive committee meeting on November 10th.

And just to note the next executive committee meeting is on December 8th.

We had some fantastic discussion and culmination of work thanks to our extremely hardworking staff.

Including the progress on a multilingual website.

which is tremendously exciting.

That will bring a level of communication to, I believe our top, help me if I forget, but our top five languages.

that we have not seen before in terms of the accessibility of various parts of our website so better communication.

We spoke about our board goals and student outcomes focus governance implementation as well as a new communication structure for the board so that we have a less talk version of the Initial outreach to the board so that folks who contact us actually get a response.

Because, uh, as some folks know, we can't reply all.

Emails go to all of us and yet do none of us because we don't know who they came from what district they're from.

It's very difficult for us to respond and and probably 75 to 80% of them are actually.

Items that need to be responded to by staff and so.

Very excited and grateful for that work and hopefully that will be I forget the timeline, but I know it'll be rolling out in the coming months.

And then importantly an extremely extensive policy calendar.

This board of directors is years behind and it's policy work.

And I'm extremely grateful to staff for putting together the some 50 policies that we need have.

agreed to get to and are behind in getting to that need to be updated.

That's going to be some critical work that we undertake this year if we are to really become a high functioning best practices board.

So it was a time of Satisfaction seeing some of these pieces of work come together and have a really good platform from which to do work this next year as a board and continue some excellent movement towards better practices and better governance and to ultimately get towards good governance.

We're not there yet, but we've got a ways to go.

So with that I don't have any particular board comment but I haven't already spoken to in terms of just the opportunity to appreciate our outgoing school board members and so I'm going to turn it over to Director Harris for any of her comments and then we'll go into intro and be done for the evening.

President Hampson.

With respect to last Tuesday's SSC&I committee meeting, I have to think when I say that.

We had a terrific presentation from the TAF, Technology Access Foundation staff at Washington Middle School.

mostly outstanding work that's being done.

Certainly the staff that presented were best and brightest.

Some bumps in the road, big surprise, middle of a pandemic, back to in-person school, but impressive as all heck.

And I well appreciate how controversial all of that was, but as we don't try new things, were consigned for the status quo.

I'm very pleased that that happened.

There are still concerns about differentiation.

I think I had a nickel for that word.

Every time I've heard it on this dais, I'd be a wealthy woman.

We also had great presentations from ethnic studies and black studies.

Great updates on that work.

And we also heard about the CSIP process.

And we're going to talk about that in a moment.

And today we did get the web link.

They are on the web as of today.

Much appreciated.

My personal comments.

Enormous thanks to Nicola and Dylan.

For those that don't know, I do a fair amount of civil rights work, victims work, and only on the side in the legal community for victims and plaintiffs.

Make more money if I work for big corporations, but not how I'm made.

And the courage shown by them telling their stories is awe-inspiring and profoundly gut-wrenching.

We can, we must do better.

I understand we're working on that.

I understand that social media has blown up with respect to how things are handled.

And do I believe everything I read on social media?

Absolutely not, but it's an early warning system.

And I'm hoping that we will bring in some of the nationally renowned experts at the Sexual Assault Center up at Harborview, have led the way for 40 years.

I hope that we bring in a number of other folks who literally nationally are recognized as experts.

Title IX is a profound lever in what we do.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about that.

The comments that have been made tonight are personally to me, revolting.

And I echo what my esteemed colleague, Director Hersey has had to say, Director Rankin as well.

Quote unquote, a supposed pandemic.

How dare you?

How dare you?

my acknowledgement and gratitude to healthcare professionals including my own daughter that I didn't get to see for six months because I'm of a certain age and wasn't vaccinated before they were available who held the hands of people up at Virginia Mason while they died, intubated, because their families were not allowed in.

Please don't tell me that this is a, quote, supposed pandemic.

Tell me about the healthcare workers who haven't had days off in months, who have been working double and triple shifts.

And when we want to talk about shortages of personnel, like we had on Friday, shortages of substitutes, let's match that up with shortages of healthcare personnel and first responders.

And let's talk about our teachers and our staff who have been working nonstop with little thanks and have been subject to exorciating pushback.

and libel and slander for the last year and a half.

Not okay.

And you know, we have a duty not just to our students, but we have a duty as well to our teachers and staff and their compromised families that they will bring COVID-19 home to.

So again, free speech, you betcha.

My entire career, civil rights, you betcha.

But individual rights and community rights are very, very different things and that needs to be acknowledged.

And let's also talk about the lunch lady and nutrition that delivered well over 1.5 million meals this last year.

They didn't get days off.

They were exposed to COVID from all manner of direction.

And what about our custodian?

Everybody in this organization has busted their backside, and I cannot tell you how much I resent that bullshit.

Thank you.

Okay I did want to note just as a point of celebration for staff that the cases in Seattle Public Schools are down to the lowest they've been since the start of school down to 44. So immense gratitude to the entire team that is making sure that we keep Seattle Public Schools as a place where we are minimizing not just minimizing spread but actually maybe even defeating it with a combination of that in our vaccine clinic which are I don't I we have we've already I think we've already gotten out 1400 vaccines just in this last eight days.

More than that, so it's, I think that's just actually, that's just the five to 11 age group for that.

So yeah, regardless of what you heard, I came from the Southeast Seattle, no, no, no, the Southeast Seattle Senior Center in Rainier Beach, where they're gonna start hosting vaccination clinic.

And one of the things that they're most excited about is that they are going to have children coming to a place where their elders and the idea that children will now be able to safely interact with elders because they will be vaccinated and they're extremely excited about that possibility.

So that was really incredible.

Lots of good news.

And a big focus on what we heard a lot from community, which is that we need to make sure that families are actually getting not just access to vaccines, but access to information about vaccines and from credible messengers that are trusted.

Okay and I do want to note that the we did move to December 8th which was already a pre-planned time for student outcomes focus governance training from tomorrow.

It's been an incredibly intense week as you all know and we are down two directors tomorrow and don't have two new directors that are coming on and so it really made sense to just move that to the 8th of December and that will also give staff a bit more time to be prepared as we go through the exercise of walking through the metric.

I was going to say performance metric but it's actually progress monitoring.

Thank you.

Okay so first introduction item Classified Mentorship Program Memorandum of Agreement.

This came through the Executive Committee on November 10th and is recommended for approval.

Approval of this item would approve the Classified Mentorship Program as attached to the School Board Action Report.

All right, hi everybody.

Hi Lindsay, go ahead.

I'm Lindsay Berger, Director of Professional Growth and Mentor Support, and I'm here to introduce this MOA and the BAR that goes with it.

The MOA for use of the Classified Mentorship Program represents a culmination of bargaining back.

Feels like forever.

When the board decided to use the Classified Mentorship Program that would set aside $6,000 a year to support new Classified staff, Classified staff and any Classified staff A work group created after starting in 2009 and his last for a couple of years, trying to identify and outline what that program looks like.

The result of that program is outlined in this way.

So it's a highlight, it's around dollar amounts.

The program aims give $3,000 to a mentor coordinator that would hire staff for him and then hire mentors for classified staff up to $1,000 a year for their work.

The additional funding would be broken up into supplies, technology supplies, extra time versus not doing much here, et cetera.

But this is a really exciting program.

Classified employees have not had a centralized program in the past.

The way our staff have, get our classified staff diverse group at 53% employees of color.

So we're really excited to be able to bring this program to them and support them in growing and developing as professionals and also So I will open it up to questions now.

Do directors have any comments, questions or concerns for Lindsay at this time?

And I just want to note the tiny dollar amount, but it is part of the collective bargaining.

Thank you so much, Lindsay.

Thank you.

Next, we move to the amendment and renaming of board policy 1822 training and professional development for board members participation in school directors association.

Amendment of board policy number 1112 board member training and repeal of board policy number 1805 open government training.

This came through the exec committee on November 10th for approval.

Approval of this item would amend board policy 1112 board member orientation as attached to the board action report amend and rename board policy 1822 training professional development for board members.

Participation school directors association as attached to the board action report and repeal board policy number 1805 open government.

Open government training.

I am, most of this is technical.

We did have a robust discussion in committee about the broader list of trainings that we want to make sure that directors get as they come into Seattle Public Schools.

And so I did create that separate list and have given that to staff to guide us in making sure that we're bringing directors on in the most inclusive and thorough way, manner possible.

I will ask if Ms.

Wilson-Jones wants to speak to any of the technical aspects of it.

No, you don't want to.

Okay.

Do directors have any comments or questions or concerns about the amendment?

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Uh, 3rd intro item is acceptance of.

The Seattle University grant funding for.

2021 to 22 school year for the central Seattle school and neighborhood network.

This came through, uh, student services curriculum and.

Instruction on November 9. and is presented for consideration.

Approval of this item would authorize the superintendent to accept grant funds from Seattle University in the amount of $300,000 through the end of 2021-22 school year for the creation of a school family and community network to support up to six elementary schools.

And Mr. James Bush he'll be briefing us I see.

and directors, this is one of those.

But as described so far, this is funding the learning.

Initially, BIPOC families and school leaders together to build equitable learning environment for students.

The focus of the local equity network is to support social, sustainable math, structural, positive, family.

The local equity network is a partnership with Seattle University, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, led by the staff department, and Seattle University.

Last year, the board approved $446,500 in a COVID environment, which supports both principals and workers on the ground with staff or families.

As schools have returned to in-person learning, we hope to increase math instruction for families Surrounding.

Surrounding that following.

Really got.

I mean.

Left eye.

Whole.

So five area.

Primary goals of the land are to meet family leaders.

and increase veterans education with their children's teachers, with support of CBOs, like Seattle Housing Authority.

Directors, do we have any questions, comments, or concerns?

Thank you very much, Mr. Bush.

And finally, among intro items is the annual approval of schools per the Washington Administrative Code 180-16-220.

This came through Student Services Curriculum and Instruction on November 9th and is presented for consideration.

NIC Dr. Ponce-Pedroza will be briefing us.

Good evening everyone, I'm so glad to be here and seeing all of you today.

I'm also have online doctor Mike if there's questions.

I'm here to bring together in front of you the bar to submit approval of the schools that certifies to the state that each school has a school improvement plan in place.

There's a couple highlights that I'd like to address with the board just make sure to note.

One highlight is just to make sure that everyone knows that they are published.

They are on the school's website, district website, and they're ready to be viewed.

And I believe the school board has a link to all of them in one spot.

Additionally that we have used a student data from spring and again in fall to revise and improve these plans and make sure that they're in alignment with current data that we have.

CSIP will begin to incorporate student outcomes that are focused on our governance goals and guardrails.

We're beginning that work and aligning that work.

that CSIPs are designed as working documents that these are things that actually will be continually revised and as additional data is brought forth when we do the assessments and the surveys along the year and that we announce that they're uploaded and that other directors of schools will be hooking in and supporting the oversight and the continuous improvement process around CSIP design.

I just wanted to make sure that you have those highlights and if there's additional questions, I or Dr. Petrosky can answer any of your questions.

Thank you, Dr. Pedrosa.

Directors, do you have comments, questions, or concerns?

I do.

I can remember a time sitting in these seats when then sitting board members said it doesn't matter if they're correct we just have to send them to OSPI.

And let me assure you they were not correct and let me assure you I took three days that I'll never get back in my life.

And I went to all however many schools that we had individually and highlighted the fact that they weren't updated and they hadn't been changed in the year before and they were missing large swaths of goals, probably guardrails, but we didn't use that language or acronyms at that time, grant and outside funding, but it was okay because it just had to be sent to Olympia in the picture.

Lord that I've been here I voted against them I've helped redesign them I've abstained and I couldn't be happier that we're actually trying to get them right and yes I will spend my weekend going through all 104 of them and send you a lengthy email and I well appreciate that this is paperwork that Some might think of as box checking, but if we're not gonna do it right, then I don't know why we're doing it.

And I appreciate getting those links today very, very much.

Thank you.

Director Rankin.

I'll just add to that.

I would say the most for Mr. Starosky effusive and excited about CSIPs and how they connect to the goals and guardrails and I think that that excitement is shared because they're not intended to be box checking.

They're supposed to actually be a useful tool and being able to tie goals and guardrails into those and you know we have I mean we keep kind of saying this we have so there's so many different things going on even without COVID so many different things going on different programs different initiatives different grants and it's it's to where you know how do we know how do we know what we think we know how do we know if it's working and if we don't know if it's working how do we make improvements and the appreciation that I have for Director Harris for continuing to push on this and and for staff also is you know what I hope what I think why OSPI wants these is for accountability of districts to them not just so they have some more paperwork to fill out and the exciting thing about having it on the website is that I hope as we continue to work focusing on student outcomes focused governance that a lot of these dots are going to get connected and people are going to be able to look at the CSIP and say oh that makes sense or oh I see where we're falling short or I see where we're doing really well and that it's aligned with the priorities that we have as a district.

So I just want to thank you for that.

Thank you.

I will just echo that one of the first things that struck me about the concept of student outcomes focused governance was that I could see an immediate tie to the CSIPs.

So to see it presented here for the first time and the clear link drawn, Michael and Concie, is exciting that the work that we do as a board will finally have that direct impact on what students are experiencing in buildings from an academic standpoint and that those that will be the focus of our conversations going forward.

I spoke to a the head of a school district of a district of 4,000 for the better part of two hours and she was interviewing me but I ended up interviewing her a bit about their progress similar issues lots of really dissimilar issues and yet they were using the CSIP process and a form of student outcomes focus and had been for the better part of 10 years and it really took that critical partnership and focus between the board and staff and holding people accountable to those outcomes for students to get there and it took them years to get so I felt a little ashamed at where we are as this huge district right now but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel for this important work and so I thank you all for helping this or making sure that we can see that reflected in the Board Action Report.

All right.

Thank you.

And finally we completed our board self-evaluation narrative.

We don't It is online.

We actually completed the last bit of work on that last week in our training and we, that was some really good work.

If anyone wants to take a look at that, Director Hersey did the, all of that, writing of that.

So we are thankful to him for doing that.

Those are goals we set for ourselves at the beginning of this past year.

And do you want to make any comments about it or are we all good?

No significant comments.

What I will say is just thank you for all the directors who have participated in those goals.

I feel as though that they were incredibly ambitious.

There's always more left to be done.

But I am just thoroughly excited.

I know from my perspective being able to look back on the year that we've had and read through all of the amazing things that we've accomplished and be reminded of all the incredible work that we have in front of us.

I am just excited to continue serving in this role and excited to develop a new set of goals with a new set of board directors.

So thanks for the opportunity.

It was a pleasure.

And thank you for the board office for correcting what I'm sure were endless amounts of typos in my work.

So thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

And as there's no further business on the agenda, this exciting board meeting is adjourned at 8, I'm sorry, 636 p.m.

We haven't been here that long.

Thank you all very much.

Get home safely.

Oh.