I'm now calling the board special meeting to order at 4 p.m.
Please note that this meeting is being recorded.
We would like to acknowledge that we are on the ancestral lands and traditional territories of the Puget Sound Coast Salish people.
For the record I'll call the roll.
Do we have Vice President Hampson with us.
Hello.
Director Harris.
Present.
Director Rankin.
Director Rivera-Smith.
Hello Director Sargent.
I'm here.
Hello Michelle.
Director Song-Moritz.
Okay.
And this is President Hersey.
So I am not sure if Director Rankin or Song-Moritz are planning to join us but I know it being midwinter break that many families have many plans.
So if they join the line if somebody would just please let me know.
All right so moving right along, this meeting is being held remotely consistent with the Governor's proclamation on open public meetings.
The public is being provided access today via Microsoft Teams and by phone.
Today's meeting is being held to take public comment on the superintendent search.
To facilitate this meeting please ensure that you are muted and your cameras are off when you are not speaking.
Staff will be working to administer the meeting and we'll be muting participants to ensure that we can hear from today's speakers.
The school board has opened a search for the superintendent and has engaged an executive search firm that specializes in educational leadership.
With feedback from the community and support of the search firm, we're currently developing the profile of the leader we need and we appreciate hearing from you as we're developing that profile.
Thank you for your participation today and for making the time to be a part of this process.
Please limit your comments today to your perspectives on what our district needs in a superintendent.
Specifically, what are the strengths of the district that you wouldn't want to lose?
What are the district needs that require sustained focus over the next few years?
Or what characteristics or qualifications would you most welcome in a superintendent?
We will be taking public comment from those who pre-registered for today's forum.
If you signed up to provide comments and are watching through SPS TV, please call in or join our Microsoft Teams now to ensure that you are on the line when your name is called.
Please remain muted and turn off your cameras until your name is called to provide comment.
Today's public comment list is posted to today's agenda.
You will have a two-minute speaking time.
Once your name is read please unmute in Teams by pressing star six on your phone or excuse me or by pressing star six on your phone.
You have the option to turn on your camera if joining with Microsoft Teams.
Staff will begin a timer and a chime will sound when your two minute speaking time has exhausted.
After your comments please mute again and turn off your camera.
Only those who are called by name should unmute and turn on their camera and only one person should speak at a time.
If a speaker does not unmute to provide comments by phone or Teams when their name is called, the next speaker's name will be called.
Staff will now call from the public comment list.
If a speaker goes over, oh excuse me, let me go ahead.
I see that we have Director Samaritz that has joined us.
Hello, Vivian.
Hi.
Okay, so Ms. Wilson-Jones, are you with us?
I am.
Good afternoon, President.
Fantastic.
Take it away, Ms. Wilson-Jones.
So for those who are joining by phone, one additional reminder, when your name is called, please press star six to unmute on the conference line and also make sure that you have unmuted on the device you're calling from.
Those joining by Teams can turn on their camera and go ahead and unmute when I call your name.
You'll have two minutes to speak and the chime will sound when your time is exhausted.
The first speaker today is Anne Sheeran.
Anne Sheeran.
Anne Sheeran.
I'm not seeing Anne's name or phone number on the line.
Oh wait.
Do I see you there Anne.
Anne if you're joined as Michael we can see that you're there and unmuted but we cannot hear you speaking.
I'm going to go ahead.
How about this?
We can hear you.
Can you hear me now?
Okay, I'm sorry about that.
Okay, so I'm the parent of a ninth grader at Garfield and a recent West Seattle High School graduate with an IEP.
As a member of the special education PTSA since 2005, I have been through just about six superintendent searches by now, and what I want to see in the next superintendent are vision and leadership, holding everybody accountable for transforming forming the way our district delivers special education services.
I want to see a superintendent who is determined to oversee the end of segregationist practices, no excuses.
I want to see a superintendent who expresses curiosity about what families and students are experiencing, who follows up when the special ed PTSA reaches out, and who won't condone stage-managed town halls that gaslight our families.
These used to be very small asks and very basic expectations.
Unfortunately, however, none of these leadership commitments are prioritized in recent hires, nor are they being demonstrated now.
To the extent that we might as well put Donald Duck in charge of the district.
For all the good that position has brought about for special education.
Can we not use this search to raise the bar back up high?
Can we not find leadership who will work with the unions positively to embrace our students in general and who will demand real accountabilities for any practices of segregation, isolation and restraint?
Our next superintendent ought to be interested in and qualified to take these problems on as leaders can and ought to be held accountable for genuine direct engagement with our advocacy organizations.
Thanks very much.
The next speaker is Kathleen Vandera.
Kathleen Vandera.
Kathleen Vandera.
I'm not seeing Kathleen's name or phone numbers.
I'm going to move to the next speaker and I will circle back at the end to any speakers that we miss.
So one more try for Kathleen.
Moving to the next speaker, Ashley Thurkill.
Thank you.
Is that Ashley?
Yeah, can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you, Ashley.
Great.
We need a superintendent who is on the ground and who gets input not only from administrators, but from teachers, parents, and students when they're making decisions, who attends special education PTSA events, and meetings, and when administrators are painting a rosy picture of what is happening, but multiple parents are saying that there is inequity, segregation, exclusion, and that they have to spend countless hours fighting for their child.
there's a problem.
And we need a superintendent who will listen and hire outside consultants to gather data and fix it rather than use the same administration to fix that problem.
Case in point, my son is currently in one of the segregated special education classrooms in Seattle Public Schools.
He started his journey in a very inclusive environment at the UWEEU and spent over 75% of his time there.
in general education with instructional assistants.
He's bright, he's highly capable, and he's always at or above grade level.
He needs supports with things like attending, social skills, impulsivity, something that a trained instructional assistant could do in a gen ed class if there were one available.
That's what happened at the EEU.
Yet in three years of SPS, my bright, highly capable son has had his IEP-supported general education time whittled down to less than 25% by the time he was in second grade, and now they're trying to take it down to zero, and he's stuck in a segregated classroom without the intellectual challenge he needs because they say they don't have the staff or means to support inclusion.
We know that staff shouldn't be a reason that he's not in gen ed, but that's basically what happens.
They could still do this if they were not over-ratioed, if the staff weren't doing the work of three to four people because the school didn't hire appropriately, if they didn't make those decisions in October as opposed to September and take until January to hire a special education teacher.
That's what happened.
So they stuck my son in a special education segregated classroom, and he stayed there until January without a teacher.
In this city, in this day and age, the continued segregation and inequity needs to end.
It's astounding and we need a superintendent who appreciates the diversity that disability brings and who pushes for the resources and inclusions that our students need to be able to participate in and contribute to general education.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Shalise Montgomery.
Shalise Montgomery.
Shalise Montgomery.
Shalise, if you're on the phone, please press star six to unmute.
Shalise Montgomery.
Moving to our next speaker, James Daniel Duncan.
James Daniel Duncan.
Yes, I'm on, but my camera's off.
Is that intentional?
Oh, okay.
Amen.
Hello?
Hello?
We can hear you, James.
Yes, amen.
Thank you guys for allowing me to make a comment and to be a part of your superintendent search, so I will try to be brief.
I know that there's a wide, well, first off, I have a junior in one of the high schools, Seattle Public High Schools, a son, and he's doing well.
And I also would like to just say that I know that there's a wide and deep variety of issues that could be gone into.
And so I just feel that I would like someone that is genuineness, genuine and pure in heart, someone that really cares and has a love for working with children and doing the best to meet each and every one of those deep needs that our children have.
And so without going into all of them, I want every kid covered.
that they may have the best opportunity to become who they have always been destined to be and with a good education in the Seattle Public School System.
Honestly, I know Brent Jones, who has currently been involved as the superintendent.
I've known him for quite some time, see him in the community, a good man of faith and someone who genuinely cares about what's going on in the Seattle Public School System.
He's conveyed those sentiments to me, and knowing him personally, I know what kind of man he is.
So I just pray that whoever you guys get will fulfill their divine will and purpose and give these children what is best.
It's not always easy to trust your children to go off to school, but when you know they can go off to school and they're under great leadership from the top all the way to the bottom with all the teachers who work very hard to meet the children's needs, that would be a blessing.
And so thank you guys for your time.
The next speaker is Marianne Bryan.
Marianne Bryan.
Hello.
This is Marianne.
Can you hear me.
We can hear you Marianne.
Okay great.
Just give me one second to pull it up.
Okay.
Hello.
I'm Marianne Bryan.
I've had at least one student enrolled in the Seattle Public School District since 2010. My children have also qualified for special education services and for highly capable or advanced learning opportunities and have experienced the asynchronous development that is common with such twice exceptional students.
In the search for a new superintendent, I would prioritize finding someone who is capable of thinking about the needs of disabled and highly capable students that do not fit into the typical programs approach of special education, nor the typical independent group work that is provided as differentiation for highly capable students in neighborhood schools.
as our students are often excluded from any cohort program.
Identification as highly capable is often lacking for twice exceptional students because identification process used by SDS assumes uniform advanced skill levels on testing rather than following research that shows that asynchronous talents and skills of twice exceptional students SPS needs effective leadership towards identifying these students and serving their needs.
Out of my three children, I've had two children who went from spending the majority of their time in general education, more than 80%, to 100% special education time through placement at a non-public agency at public expense due to SPS not having a plan for meeting their unique needs as highly intelligent students with disabilities that impact learning.
Both of these students ended up shut down and unable to continue school.
When searching for a new superintendent, I hope that the board considers someone that knows that twice exceptional students exist.
Until the district can face the needs of this population head on, we will continually fail to adequately provide necessary services in the context of appropriate intellectual challenge, which is a loss for the students, their families, their community, and ends up spending public school funds to private nonpublic specialty schools at the cost of at least $60,000 per student a year.
We need leadership that can find solutions that meet the needs of twice exceptional students.
not only for their sake, but because they meet the needs of identified twice exceptional students within the district, we know that many other students' needs will also be served.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Nicole Schmidt.
Nicole Schmidt.
Nicole Schmidt.
Moving to the next speaker, Chris Jackins.
Chris Jackins.
My name is Chris Jackins, Box 84063, Seattle 98124. Superintendents, candidates should embrace the following concerns.
Resume publishing the annual data profile district summary.
Reopen Indian Heritage High School.
African-American Academy, alternative schools like Summit K-12.
Increase school choice.
Provide transportation to all schools outside of walk zones to avoid creating and aggravating racial imbalance.
Respect community connections to school buildings.
Renovate and modernize.
Don't demolish.
Don't demolish Rainier Beach High School, including Paul Robeson Performing Arts Center, which is less than 25 years old.
Returning Historic Northgate Elementary School.
Supply physical textbooks.
Reduce screen time.
Keep commercial advertising out of public schools.
Give careful consideration to resources for deaf and hard of hearing programs, special education and accelerated learning.
Thank you very much.
The next speaker is Elizabeth Elizabeth
Hi, if that's me, I'm Elizabeth Whitmire.
I'm the parent of a fourth grader with an IP and also a first grader at Seattle Public Schools.
And I would like to see a superintendent who can provide instructional leadership that is scientifically based and founded in equity and accessibility.
My son is also twice exceptional.
He's exceptionally gifted and also has multiple learning disabilities.
He's autistic, has ADHD, has dyslexia and dysgraphia.
The reading instruction in Seattle Public Schools currently is whole language based.
Seattle Public Schools does not use science based reading, even though that is proven to improve reading outcomes for all students but particularly for students with disabilities.
So my son did not learn to decode because of dyslexia when he was in elementary school and the gap between his verbal fluency and reading and writing was apparent as early as kindergarten but because of the fail first approach to special education in Seattle Public Schools.
He was never far enough below grade level in reading to qualify for any support services in reading and writing until third grade because he was able to compensate for his dyslexia and dysgraphia with his verbal fluency and ability to guess, make guesses based on context within the whole language approach.
In third grade, when the school shifted from learning to read to reading to learn, he couldn't do it.
was immediately far below his classmates in performance and decided that he was stupid and should repeat third grade even though he's testing at significantly above his peers in other kinds of standardized testing.
Washington State is currently 35th in terms of fourth grade students being able to read.
I'll wrap up but basically the approach now is to break out everything.
So there's a special education that doesn't meet the needs of students who are twice exceptional.
And then there's a highly capable cohort, which many highly capable students can't access because they have disabilities.
And if there was an approach that was based on universal design and science-based education, we wouldn't need to have such students.
So I think that there could be such a division between differentiation between these populations and there could be inclusion.
Uh that would be equitable for all students.
Um instead of what's happening now, which is parents who have the resources to hire external tutors or to have a part time job advocating for their child within school.
Get the services and the rest of
Hi, my name is Yana Parker, and I am a parent of twice exceptional students, two of them, and I echo what Elizabeth just shared.
Exactly.
Our kids don't seem to be disabled enough to receive services and just because of their high cognitive ability and their opportunity to somewhat compensate for their challenges.
That doesn't mean that there is no impact, that there is not mental health impact, high anxiety, and other impacts like sleep.
I am here today to ask the board to think about how important engagement with the disability community is to them when searching for the new superintendent.
Because leaving the last leaving the search or the engagement with our community for last minute and only scheduling for midwinter break does not seem to show much interest.
In other districts, the search firms organize superintendent search-related public forums, and they even meet with constituents one-on-one or in small groups to gather input or what the community is looking for in the next superintendent.
We have not seen any of that.
While I understand that everyone has a lot on their plate, the school board included, I can't help but notice that the delay in community outreach and the low effort.
I did my own surveying of the community to see if families know about this meeting and or other examples of outreach.
None of the 12 people were aware of any emails.
One of them knew about this meeting from me and three knew that some outreach was supposedly happening.
The rest were not aware of anything happening around the new superintendent search.
Nine of these people have at least one student with disability.
When will students and their families be considered partners?
How can you repair our trust that you are truly interested in our needs and the needs of our students?
Thank you.
The next speaker is Michelle Campbell.
Michelle Campbell.
Hello.
Thank you for this opportunity to provide feedback today.
I'm a mom of two Seattle public school students at Thornton Creek Elementary, one in kindergarten and one in third grade.
She has an IEP for multiple learning disabilities.
I would like to thank Superintendent Jones and the SPS school board for your continued work guided by the SPS strategic plan and the students outcome focused governance.
I believe it's important for our next superintendent to have a deep understanding that this work is not about changing our students, but about changing systems so that all our kids can thrive, not only some of them.
Because we know what cost we pay when this doesn't happen, and that cost is too high.
We need a superintendent that will be guided by values, values of transparency, truth, collaboration, community, partnership, anti-racism, and anti-ableism.
We need someone who will unapologetically continue to center students furthest from educational justice.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Ashley Utu.
Hi, yes, Ashley Utu is my name.
I am a product of the Seattle Public School System.
I am raising three little ones with my first oldest child being a first grader in a Seattle Public School System.
I will say having gone through the Seattle Public School System myself and family members who have come up through the system, I'm really disheartened in the way that improvements have not been made with all of our technological advances, our society awareness and economic disparities.
The failures that were present 20 years ago are still present today.
And what I expect from a superintendent coming into this organization, and I do say an organization because at the end of the day, everybody's still getting paid for their roles, is that I expect the politics to be removed.
I expect somebody accepting a role of service and public leadership such as this to represent that in its integrity and be a serviceman first and foremost, therefore getting down into the ground, into the weeds of things, rolling up the sleeves, being present.
I sent an email to Dr. Jones in the fall and never received a response.
I sent a follow-up through the SPS talk and got an automated response.
I work in human resources.
I know how these games are played.
It is very disheartening that integrity, collaboration, and visibility and transparency are not at the forefront of the current system as it has not been.
And so I expect more tangible efforts.
I really want to see the success of the district.
But I'm really disheartened with the fact that it's still not there, even 20 years from me being removed from the system.
And with, you know, the current disparities still at play, even worsened and more visible, I think as a community, we all strive for that on the Seattle Public School Facebook page.
There's a lot of disgruntled, disheartened community members feeling disconnected.
And I think we can all do a better job when we say that we are going into service.
We truly go into service.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Jenny LaRocque.
Jenny LaRocque.
Jenny LaRocque, if you're on the phone, please press star six to unmute.
Moving to the next speaker, Jean Campbell.
Jean Campbell.
Jean Campbell, if you're on the phone, please press star six to unmute.
And if there's somebody on the phone whose name I have called and you're having technical issues unmuting, I will go back through the names one more time at the end.
Um, the next name is Roxanna.
Um.
Banquies.
It's Roxanna Banger.
Thank you, Roxanna.
We can hear you.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I like the first off like to give my gratitude to the school board.
You are holding us up my goodness through this pandemic and, um.
Well, I am a teacher.
I do have a doctorate in educational leadership with a focus on higher education administration.
I can certainly go into this field right now.
However, I love teaching and I'm still teaching.
I'm front and center.
Parents, you're number one.
all unlistening to everything you're saying.
You need a superintendent that is going to hear these pleas and implement them.
They can do this.
If they have the right knowledge for the 21st century, all your needs should be met.
Right now as a teacher, I want you to know we are behind, but just like Ms. Ms. Ashley's technology through the pandemic and remote teaching, it was very hard to see what our children were doing with their hands.
We needed to know what they were writing.
We needed to teach them how to hold up their work to the camera.
They did not know how to do this.
We're back now in person and we need to still teach our children how to do this in case of another pandemic.
The school board is doing a wonderful job through this pandemic.
Parents in the community, they're split.
They want in-person and remote learning.
And the way we're doing this now, we're satisfying both so that the economy can keep thriving, people can keep working.
We need a superintendent.
that can fulfill all of your needs and it's possible.
It certainly is.
Thank you so very much.
Thank you again for the school board and all of you parents coming forth with your needs.
It needs to be heard.
It's very important.
You're number one.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Jules Damore.
Jules Damore.
I can see Jules is signed in by Teams.
Jules, if you could unmute.
I don't know how to unmute.
We can hear you now, Jules.
Hi, I just, I've changed my mind.
I don't think I can speak.
I'll just observe today.
Thank you.
Moving to the next speaker, Charlotte Watson King.
Charlotte Watson King.
Hello.
Go ahead, we can hear you.
Oh, I didn't sign up to speak.
I was just listening, but I think as a leader.
We need, as all the speakers have said, someone who's going to get in here find out what the issues are with our special ed, ensure that we have adequate staffing.
When a staff member leaves, that person either is going to have a permanent sub or we need someone that's going to be there.
And so special ed is being neglected A lot of the leadership does not have a background in special ed, but yet they're being assigned to supervise special ed.
And so there's a lot of issues with the special ed department.
The district people that come in that are attending IEPs are supposed to support the staff.
seem to be working against them.
And so I want someone who has integrity, who cares about the students and the families who will get in there and will actually listen and meet with families, find out what the issues are, and come up with a concrete plan to address those issues, and that the special ed staff feels supported.
at the different school sites.
So that's what I want, a person that has worked with families with diverse backgrounds and will put those who are furthest away from educational justice at the forefront of their to-do list.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Wendy Sykes.
Wendy Sykes.
Hi.
Go ahead, Wendy.
We can hear you.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you.
Hi.
I'm a parent of a sophomore daughter at Roosevelt High School.
And my first comment is that scheduling this during midwinter break when many families are away seems like a poor choice.
So I'm not sure this is getting off with the best foot.
And second, I think the board should tell parents what they have learned from previous searches.
And what are you doing different now to get a different outcome?
Because you keep using the same search firm to find the superintendent, but then they end up either being fired or leaving under a cloud, but they are never here for very long.
So maybe you are looking for the wrong thing.
I think we need a superintendent who can manage a business, not teach a class.
We don't need that.
We have good teachers.
But I think that we have those teachers in spite of the district, not because of it.
The district is micromanaging schools.
They won't provide support.
They tell parents to work with the school to solve problems, but they won't give the schools the power to create solutions.
I think the district has become more of a hindrance to the schools than a help.
Communication to parents is more like propaganda and educational jargon than actual useful information.
Even serious complaints to the district take months to resolve or are never resolved at all, or you don't hear back from the district, as the speaker earlier said.
We need a superintendent who has proven skills at managing a large, complex organization with a budget at least the size of SPS.
And they need to be comfortable giving individual schools more control, and they need to understand that communication should go both ways.
The Seattle Public School District has not been doing well for quite some time.
You need somebody special.
You do not need what you've gotten for the last four or five years.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Carolyn Kaplan.
Carolyn Kaplan.
Hello.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you.
Oh, great.
Okay.
Well, I have a parent of two, a high schooler and a middle schooler, and we went through the whole pandemic.
And I dealt with the board a lot because I was trying to try to find ways, creative ways for kids to go back.
to school in some way just to do some kind of exercise outside or meet up once a week or something that was safe and anyway there are a lot of issues but I have to say that the Board of Education is all about creating equality in the schools and their whole anti-bullying policies are so fantastic for the kids and I really appreciate the direction that the Seattle schools are going in that way.
Social health is so important and we're such a good role model for public schools, I think.
So I definitely would like to have someone who continues with that.
The other thing I'd like to say is that I would really like for the schools to be starting to focus on kids personal health.
We have to teach our kids how our bodies and minds work, what our organs are, what they do.
We can't just, we're living in the dark when it comes to so many, with that, when we're so into trying to promote science and equality and how we are all wonderful as human beings and what our potential is.
And just in this time when we're all wearing masks, not to focus on respiratory health for our kids and the problems that they're going to have as a result of not even knowing where their diaphragms are or how to sit to be healthy, how to use their posture to create less anxiety and pain in their systems.
So I think that there has to be a focus in our public schools on that aspect as well, not just social health, but our own personal health.
So thank you.
The next speaker is Cheryl Lynn Crother.
Cheryl Lynn Crother.
Okay, I am glad that Charlotte Watson King did choose to speak because so much of what she said echoes what I wanted to say.
I called in yesterday to the group that was specific for, I'm sorry I'm out walking, I got off the bus early so I'd be loud, I wouldn't be too loud, and I really appreciate Oh, no.
Yesterday's call was a little frustrating because of the fact that it wasn't published on the website.
And I'm glad to see that this one is.
I wish there were more people who were tuning in.
I do agree that the part of it being during midweek or midwinter break is a problem.
I will share the story that I shared about an amazing, remarkable 23-year-old UW grad who had intended to go into special education and died last week.
He was a counselor and I just learned about it yesterday.
He was a counselor with the Seattle Parks Specialized Programs and an absolute amazing person who is exactly exactly the kind of person that we needed in Seattle Public Schools that we need now in Seattle Public Schools as a special education teacher and with the kind of passion and drive and ability to connect kids in ways that you Those of us with kids who have disabilities, we're in awe of the kind of superintendent that we need.
Oh, it's the kind who could have convinced this dearly departed young man to come to Seattle Public Schools because he had seen enough of what was going on through COVID and hearing from parents and even before that, that he was not going to consider Seattle Public Schools.
He was a UW grad who got through by joining the military to pay for his education.
And I don't know exactly.
I'm not, I, his passing, I'm not sure what happened.
There's a lot of problems with what we're doing to our 23-year-olds, much less our 13-year-olds.
And I just, thank you.
The next speaker is Susan Hernandez.
Susan Hernandez.
Hello, can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you.
Okay, great.
I have a five-year-old, so we are just beginning our journey with Seattle Public Schools, and I strongly recommend our next superintendent have the experience with implementing innovative special education programming with a focus on inclusion and fostering culture and understanding of neurodiversity, equity, and the intersection of neurodiversity and racism.
In addition, evidence of a strong commitment to putting kids and families first is imperative.
And here's why.
As a parent of a kindergartner, our first day of school was a mix of joy and terror.
Excited and hopeful to send our son to school, yet scared his teachers would not see the qualities and characteristics that make him shine, such as his infectious smile, curiosity of the world, and the desire to learn.
I feared that instead they would see a problem Although we somehow navigated the difficult and non-transparent IEP process, and based on his needs, he was placed in the access program, we were new to Seattle Public Schools and weren't sure what to expect.
Unfortunately, his experience fell apart from day one, and we have spent the last few months trying to rectify the shortcomings of his IEP and its implementation.
As I reflect on our missteps, what is blatantly apparent is special education is an afterthought.
On paper, many of the special education programs seem ideal and innovative.
In practice, implementation falls short.
Part of this is because of staff shortages, which are pervasive, but much of the fault lies on the shoulders of leadership.
There is no strong vision of what special education should be like.
There is no plan on transforming the broken system and educating and supporting staff Instead, we have dedicated teachers and staff who may lack training or, most important, lack support to implement evidence-based strategies.
Secondly, the process is not always transparent and, at times, misleading, thereby engendering mistrust, creating educational barriers for families, in particular, families of color.
I think about this in the context of being a Latina and a mother is a child of disability.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Chetan Soni.
Chetan Soni.
Hi there.
My name is Chetan and I use he him pronouns.
I am also a student at Lincoln High School.
I am representing Seattle Student Union, a group that came together around COVID concerns in the district.
When asking about who should be our superintendent, we should be mindful about who the choices affect most.
Students, particularly furthest from educational justice, are BIPOC and LGBTQ plus students.
What students want to see from a superintendent is clear, action.
We want to see action for changes in our district.
I did an informal survey on my Instagram story in which 20 people from SPS participated, and 30% of those students feel like our current superintendent sticks out for them.
Looking at the results closely, North End students were the ones that mostly said the current superintendent sticks out for them.
I also asked if the superintendent could prioritize one thing, what would it be?
And most people responded with more mental health support.
I know that the school board is doing the work, but we need a superintendent who will collaborate and do the work with them as well.
From what I know, the superintendent can impose fast changes, and what we need is an ally to students, particularly to the most vulnerable, that can act quickly and equitably.
I also agree with Jana.
The outreach around the superintendent search seemed a little rushed, and if it hadn't been for the quick response of our group, we wouldn't be here today.
Some important items we suggest you take into consideration when picking the new superintendent is one, we would love a candidate that has experience with youth.
Two, we want a candidate that can listen to youth and collaborate with youth to create the environment that we want to see in our district.
Three, we want a candidate that is transparent about practices, announcements, and the thinking behind those announcements.
Four, we want a candidate that will establish more mental health supports for students.
Five, we want a candidate that interviews with the superintendent advisory, or with the student superintendent advisory board, in which the SAB can make a recommendation that will be considered when making the final choice on a superintendent.
Six, we want a candidate that will establish clear and concise feedback systems specifically for students in the district.
And seven, Seattle Student Union wants a candidate that will keep police, including student resources officers, out of our schools.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Jason Grotelution.
Jason Grotelution.
Yes, hi, this is Jason Grotelution.
I'm a member of the Parent Advisory Council and also a parent of a SPS student.
My comments are brief.
I think our next superintendent should be engaged and plugged in with issues of the district and should prioritize building and using a strong support system to help them respond to feedback, questions and concerns from parents, staff and community members.
Keeping up with those responses is way too much for one person to respond to everything, but it's crucial that those who take time to actually provide feedback actually hear something back from leadership.
I think a greater focus on highly capable learners, especially those from marginalized communities, is needed without sacrificing the importance in serving and lifting up all students.
I agree with the prior commenter that prioritizing mental health issues is crucial as well.
It's been a rough couple of years in particular.
Finally, if there are any untapped options available for including the current interim superintendent, Dr. Brent Jones, in consideration by the search committee, I'd like to see those explored as well.
That's all.
Thank you for your time.
I'm now going to go back through the names of people who previously were on the list, but were not able to unmute earlier.
So if you did preregister and have not provided your testimony yet, please listen for your name now and be ready to unmute.
The first person is Kathleen Vandera.
Kathleen Vandera.
If you're on the phone, please press star six to unmute.
Moving to the next speaker, Shalise Montgomery.
Shalise Montgomery.
Nicole Schmidt.
Nicole Schmidt.
Jenny LaRocque.
Jenny LaRocque.
Jean Campbell.
Jean Campbell.
If there's anybody who preregistered and just heard their name called but was not able to unmute in time, please unmute now and let us know who you are and then you can provide your testimony.
President Hersey, that concludes today's testimony list.
Thank you, Ms. Wilson-Jones, and thank you to all those who took time off of their midwinter break to join us and provide their feedback.
We greatly appreciate it.
With that being said, seeing as there is no further business on our agenda, this meeting stands adjourned at 4.47 p.m.
Thank you, Directors.
Enjoy your evenings.
Thank you all.
Take care.