It is 530 and it is time for public testimony and we have rules for public testimony.
And please don't make me gavel you down.
I don't like to do that because I believe in transparency and authentic communication.
Only one person speaks at a time.
Comments should be addressed to the board.
Please adhere to the time limit on testimony.
Our red yellow lights are not working.
So she will raise her hand at 30 if you could keep your eye out to your left for that and at two minutes she will leave her hand up.
You need to wrap up your comments at that time.
The focus of the comments need to be on issues and solutions and the majority of the speaker's time must be spent on the topic he or she signed up for.
No racial slurs personal insults ridicule or threats will be allowed.
and no comments regarding personnel matters or calling out individual SPS staff by name or by title and all signs brought to the meeting are subject to these ground rules as well.
Would you please read out the first three folks and then she will read out the next three folks and if you could line up behind we can keep this rolling.
Thank you very much for coming down to speak with us this evening.
We are listening.
First up for public testimony we have Chris Jackins followed by Krista Hanley and then Sarah Sense Wilson.
My name is Chris Jackins.
Box 8 4 0 6 3 Seattle 9 8 1 2 4. Welcome to the new superintendent.
On the five hundred and fifty six thousand dollar settlement agreement with Leidig construction regarding the Wilson Pacific project Cascadia Elementary Licton Springs K-8 and Robert Eagle Staff Middle School to three points.
Number one are odors at the school still covered by the warranty.
Number two the agreement also involves the Olympic Hills and Loyal Heights projects.
Number three some background on the Wilson Pacific site.
The district evicted native programs at the site and demolished the city landmark Indian Heritage High School buildings at Wilson Pacific.
The district sued the landmarks board and only saved murals which were not landmarked.
On the 2018-2019 budget two points.
Number one please direct funds toward resuming publication of data profile district summary.
Number two total average annual full time equivalent enrollment is projected to decrease from 53,089 to 52,884.
On athletic field lighting, on June 6 the board voted to approve field lighting contracts before a final environmental decision had been made.
A court appeal of this board action has been filed.
On the contracts for sign language interpreter vendors, please amend this action to include the allocation of an on-call sign language interpreter.
On Native American education please quickly support a board action to re-establish a school in the tradition of the district's previous Indian heritage high school.
Thank you.
Harris.
And then Sarah.
Hi my name is Krista Hanley I am the parent of a second grader as well as a reentry case manager in King County and I'm here to advocate for specifically for Native American education and that it may be.
made a priority in this year's budget specifically concerning the old Indian heritage site and The current Robert Eagle Staff Middle School and Licton Springs K-8 there were multiple promises made regarding this site, and it's we know the history obviously broken promises with this community and there In my opinion and in many many people's opinions there needs to be a native focused K through 12 school.
I need to interrupt you.
Yes.
You are listed on here is talking about the family levy and budget.
So I need you to take the majority of your time and speak to that topic if you could and would please.
OK so I'd like to speak the majority toward the budget and fully funding native K through 12. school at specifically at the old Indian heritage site.
This is this site is culturally important to our native community.
There's been a long history like I said of broken promises and I'd ask the school board to allocate ongoing funds.
We know in reentry and social work that.
High school dropouts go to jail at a rate of 40 percent higher than non high school dropouts.
We don't want obviously our native people in Seattle subject to broken promises underfunding etc.
So I would actually like to if I could see the rest of my time and give it to Sarah.
is already scheduled to speak and we only have two minute increments is the way this works.
OK then I would like to well I'm aware of that but I also was aware I could see my time and then I would I'd like to reiterate please fully fund a native K through 12 and make this a priority in this year's budget and all the budgets in the future.
Thank you.
Thank you.
After Sarah Sense Wilson we will have Carol Simmons followed by Tom Spear and Joanne Sayers.
Good evening my name is Sarah Sense Wilson and I want to welcome Denise Juneau.
We're very pleased and extremely happy and excited that you are with us and that you've accepted this position.
So I wanted to speak to a few questions and this is this all ties in with budget and also the family levy is in what way the is the or how do we find the projected population expectation for the Robert Eagle Staff School for 2018 2019 and what and where are the building usage plans for that school.
We've been told that the reason why UNEA needs to leave the school is because there is an overpopulation at Robert Eagle Staff School.
And so we're we're really curious about what that population looks like and is the district in in the plans for addressing that issue and redrawing the boundaries.
In terms of UNEA and our presence at the Robert Eagle Staff School UNEA has a budget of over one hundred fifty thousand a year and those funds go directly towards Indian education in the Seattle Public Schools.
So you know that that includes the tutoring the mentorship all of the academic support supplies materials.
We also fund evening dinners for our families you know for who many of them are in the category of poverty and struggling financially.
So these are significant resources that we contribute to the Robert Eagle Staff community of learners.
And we are also an inclusive.
program so we work with all students including the Licton Springs and non-native and native.
And so this is being jeopardized at this point by the push out that we're experiencing And yes we did get the the email from Flip Hernandon and we still we still need to have the two evenings that are in the space of the Robert Eagle Staff School.
So the you know compromising our program is going to jeopardize our funding which again you know that's funding that goes to the community to our students to our families.
And so that's that needs to be considered and all the implications that go with pushing out in our community from that school.
There's again as Krista mentioned there's lots of broken promises and this is yet another one.
And you know that school has dedicated space.
It was created it was designed to have the community involved to have those connections with the extended out into the community.
And now that's being It's being hindered it's being shut down and I'd like to know where's the accountability and where is the transparency in these decisions.
And no you're not following policy.
You are not following policy.
We have educational equity and race policy 0 0 3 0 and also at the jumpstart from.
filling out our documents with the leadership at the school.
They designated us under the wrong category.
And so we're not even considered a partnership with the district.
So as we should be and we need an MOU with the district so that we can ensure that you know the year to year we won't have to be on pins and needles.
Fear that we're going to be pushed out.
There needs to be stability there needs to be consistency for that cultural continuity that we have at that site.
So thank you very much.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
And welcome Superintendent Juneau.
My name is Carol Simmons.
I am a former Seattle Public School District teacher counselor and secondary school administrator.
Tonight I am presenting or representing excuse me the multicultural council on education.
Seattle Public Schools are failing our Native American students.
However community based support groups such as Urban Native Education Alliance UNEA's Clear Sky programs have dramatically improved the — Yes.
I need to call out that you signed up for budget family and education levy.
So if you could spend the majority of your comments to an issue that is on the agenda it would be much appreciated.
Director Harris I don't know there'll be the majority but I certainly will mention the levy and how we want to support the levy and rally our constituents to support the levy.
Regardless of the success of the clear sky program the Seattle Public School District announced May 22nd that they were reducing the access of these programs at the Robert Eagle Staff building.
No rationale was given for this decision until July 9th.
When an email was sent to Ms. Sense Wilson stating that building space at the Robert Eagle Staff building was reduced as quote space use will continue to be challenging.
This reason is woefully insufficient.
What is that challenge that prompts this harmful reduction.
The absence of sensitivity clarity and timeliness in the response is an example of the ongoing disrespect to our native community.
This is another broken promise that echoes the heartbreak of broken promises with Native Americans over centuries and in our school district over too many years.
Please do not allow the displacement of any of the Clear Sky programs, or the limiting of program time, or the stealing of native land, or the disrespecting of sacred space.
Please rescind the decision to reduce any of the space or time of the Clear Sky program access at the Robert Eagle Staff Building immediately.
and allow this successful program to continue until the Indian Heritage School is restored and the promise made to restore it has been realized.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Speaker 2. Tom Spear.
My name's Tom Spear, I live at 11818 11th Avenue Northwest.
I'm a parent, business owner, a veteran, and a volunteer elder for Urban Native Education Alliance.
I've been down here to see you guys many times in the last five years, and I'm sorry to say that the amount of trust that I have in you, and unfortunately your predecessors, is diminishing rapidly.
Too many broken promises, too many humiliations, Too many switch the deals at the last minute.
I'm not a contract lawyer, but I know that some of the things that have been done won't stand up in the court of public opinion.
I was asked to speak about mentorship, and I don't know if you are aware that this is part of our program.
It's an essential element.
It's not the same as tutoring.
Mentorship is where a person is assigned, an adult is assigned to a youth and you work with them to overcome some of the challenges that they have coming from a broken and victimized community.
And believe me, there are plenty of them.
We had a, I was assigned to a young man two years ago who was in despair.
who had a very poor outlook on his life and his future from a broken family, if you will.
And we took his issues and built him up scholastically, built him up emotionally, and in terms of how he perceived his world.
And in two years, and it took every bit of two years, it turned the situation around.
Now he got a Rotary Scholarship.
He got an award from the King County Judges Panel.
a science and biology contest award.
This is the sort of thing that we can do with mentorship, but we can't do it if we're pushed out of the space that allowed us to achieve these successes.
So mentorship is essential.
Mentorship saves lives.
Okay, thank you.
Next up we have Joanne Sayers followed by Barbara Drake Vicki Pinkham and Elizabeth Pinkham.
My name is Joanne Sayers Pinkham.
My father is director Scott Pinkham.
Thank you Superintendent Juneau for being a role model for me my sister and other native students.
The reason I'm here is to ask for the school district for 1.5 million dollars to build us to build a native focus high school.
I know that several thousands of dollars were being awarded to Indian education and I know that the district plans on building a new high school next year.
I would like to be in I would like to be I would like it to be a native focused high school that I can attend in two years.
Growing up I heard stories about the Seattle schools opening a native focus high school.
It was promised to us but like all the broken treaties the Seattle Public Schools has broken their promise to me.
They broke their promise when they illegally closed the only Native American school in the district.
Three years ago I attended Clear Sky tutoring program at the Wilson Pacific School at the former American Indian Heritage High School.
The building was condemned and broken.
There wasn't any heat running water or usable bathrooms in the building that was offered to us.
Even though we are part of Seattle Public Schools we met there for tutoring and cultural classes and learned tribal languages.
The Wilson Pacific High School was torn down and replaced by advanced placement program students and their principal does not value the importance of having a school named after a Lakota tribe member.
She does not want us there.
She is forcing us out.
She claims that it is unfair.
We need to make sure that we are not calling out district staff either by name or position.
Thank you.
It's unfair for us to be allowed in their school when there are other groups wanting access to her school.
Every few months I testify for better conditions for American Indian and Alaskan natives a couple of months ago.
I'll just.
We need to wrap it up.
The two minutes have hit.
OK.
Thank you.
What that tells me is that I'm not worth it.
What I heard is that I should not be allowed to learn my cultural traditions or languages from teachers that would value me.
What I heard was that the highly capable or advanced placement programs students are valued and I'm not.
What I heard was that the immigrant peers are valued when they are allowed to have their languages in schools.
There are signs in schools welcoming them in their own languages but I've yet not seen yet to see signs that welcome me in Duwamish, Ojibwe, Tlingit or Nimiipuu languages.
Can you conclude your remarks please?
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
Barbara.
My name is Barb Drake a member of 350 Seattle a climate focused organization that strongly advocates for the rights of indigenous peoples.
My testimonial, it ties in with the family levy and budget, and I have put my own words aside to share a letter or parts of it from an organization named RYTHER that works closely with the Urban Native Education Alliance.
RYTHER provides inpatient programs to serve children between the ages of 6 and 14 who are involved in foster care.
Unfortunately, children of Native American descent are overrepresented at Rither, as with all of child welfare.
At times, comprising as much as 25% of the children being served in their cottages.
Ryther brings many native children to Robert Eagle Staff School to participate in their native warrior athletics and clear sky programs which has been over eight and it has had an eight year relationship with them.
Separating or separation from family friends schools neighborhoods and communities is overwhelming for any child.
For Native American children the trauma is compounded by living outside of a community that reflects their culture and being.
Ryther's relationship with UNEA is essential for Native American children to have a consistent, dependable connection to their community and culture, to feel a part of something that is familiar and affirming and reflective of them.
Part of that connection is enhanced by UNEA's ability to hold their program's events at the Robert Eagle Staff School.
This school's unique environment and decor speak to the strengths, gifts, and spirit of Native American heritage.
Further children at Ryther have generally had demoralizing experience within school settings related to their trauma frequent moves and individualized needs that are not often met let alone assessed.
When they attend UNEA activities and events at this school they receive a message that school can be inviting and fun and inclusive and reflective of what is good about them their families and their community.
When Ryther will while Ryther will.
Your remarks the two minutes has passed.
OK.
One more sentence.
While Ryther will continue to have the Native American children that we serve involved with UNEA the loss of the Robert Eagle Staff School for their activities would be tragic.
Thank you.
Vicki.
Elizabeth?
Hello my name is Elizabeth Molly Pinkham.
I am Nimiipuu, Tlingit and Mexican.
I graduated high school two years ago and I'm an upcoming junior at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Many of you know my father is Scott Pinkham.
First let me thank Superintendent Juneau for accepting the position of Seattle Public Schools Superintendent.
You probably know that you're a role model for American Indian and Alaska Native students and you're a welcoming sight for me and my sister.
I'm here today to ask money be set aside for a native focus school.
I know there's there's some here today that would say we do not need a native focus school high school or a native focus school in general.
They would have you believe that we just that we should be all assimilated and whitewashed everything and leave the status quo alone.
However I'm a college student who's going to a native focus college.
It is.
It has helped me achieve more than I could ever imagine.
It allows me to feel safe and happy knowing that there's someone who is like me caring for my future.
Wouldn't you want that for others.
However I would also like to refer back to January 8th 2001 when Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act.
The primary purpose for this is to ensure every student in every public school achieve important learning goals while educating while being educated in safe classrooms by well-prepared teachers.
We all know that didn't work.
And then in December 2015 President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeed Act into law replacing the no child left behind.
Did you notice neither of these acts excluded Native American Indians or Alaskan Natives.
They did not say no child left behind except American Indians or Alaskan Natives or Every Student Succeeds Act unless you're Native American or Alaskan Native.
Y'all caught that right.
Yet kids like me drop out of Seattle Public Schools every day or they come or even contemplate suicide because they hate their schools their teachers or principals.
And I know that's a hard topic to hear but it's true because I was one of those students.
I know.
I know hate is a very strong word but I hated my principal and my teacher.
Because they show no respect showing their disgust for me.
Or other natives.
I can honestly say that I was never welcomed in school.
I told this to my parents and they took it here and you and who did nothing and they said nothing.
Did you know the Seattle Public Schools mission statement states that Seattle Public Schools is committed to ensuring edible adequate access closing the opportunity gaps excellence and education for every student.
Like the previous two acts it does not say American Indians or Alaska Natives are excluded.
Amazing isn't it.
I don't know who wrote that mission but they're wrong.
I was excluded.
I'm only one student but that one student is too much.
You've heard for us to ask for a native focused high school for the past five or six years.
The school would not only address the access to racism and inappropriate behaviors of teachers.
It would allow students like me and others and my sister to learn in an environment that teaches with respect and dignity.
For the past six years Nyland divided the communities not only by the American Indians and Alaska natives.
That was how he subconsciously or consciously was able to oppress the students of color.
The oppression has to stop.
This entire country is not only country in the world that is divided that would have over 500 American Indian and Alaskan Native fairly recognized tribes.
This is the only country where people a person can learn about American Indian or Alaskan Native culture tradition and religion.
And once those languages and traditions are lost they're gone forever.
We need the native focus high school and we need it in my lifetime.
The school board has passed the Duwamish resolution last year.
This hired the first American Indian superintendent in the city elected my father as the first American Indian Board of Directors.
It's time the school board does the right thing and build a new American Indian Heritage High School.
We have waited long enough.
Thank you.
Next up we have Susan Stahl followed by Virginia Andrews and Lauren Kurland.
Susan Virginia.
Good evening everyone.
I'm Ginger Andrews.
I teach fifth grade at Stevens Elementary and I'm here tonight to speak up for my kids.
The inequitable staffing at my school has been increasing over the last five years and in a number of meetings in the last year I've discovered it's the same group of kids each time that are not seen in our policies and our procedures.
And they are our SEL and our access students.
So starting with enrollment projection, we have 11 openings in those programs last year.
It represents about a third of our capacity in those programs, but 11 spots are not being saved in the Gen Ed staffing.
So right out of the gate, there's not enough room in our classrooms for the students when they arrive.
And secondly, recently I took a look at a document that's called the Equity Tier Calculation Methodology.
And it includes a half a dozen categories to consider for weighted staffing, but none of those categories are for special education.
So our SEL and access students might fall into one or more of those categories, but the fact that they have special needs and require support to access their curriculum or their peers within Gen Ed is not being included for weighted staffing.
Then finally even when well-intentioned members of departments in SPS come to talk to us and deconstruct our staffing processes they don't have all the information that they need.
Recently we discovered that the class counts that are being used to drive our staffing are not accurate and specifically they don't include our SEL students so that the person with the most power to decide what size classes our students are going to encounter can't see all of our kids.
And that does not give anybody the chance to be successful at institutionalizing equity.
So I think it's really important for us to speak up now because there's still time to fix this before next school year.
We don't have to repeat all the same mistakes again.
And if we really truly want to institutionalize equity at our schools we have to start by intentionally seeing all of our students every day.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
Lauren after Lauren we will have Emily Lieberman followed by Rebecca Winecoop and Jonathan Betzel.
Good evening everyone.
My name is Lauren Curland.
I am the proud mother of two current Seattle Public School students and one incoming kindergartner to Seattle Public Schools who is sitting patiently right back there.
I am also an ordained rabbi and an observant Jew.
This means that my family observes the Jewish dietary laws and observes the Sabbath each week from sundown Friday night until sundown Saturday evening.
During that time we do not use the phone or the computer nor drive our car.
It's actually pretty relaxing.
Though the option for Jewish day school exists in Seattle we chose to be a part of the public school system so our children could learn from and with people from diverse backgrounds.
We also believe wholeheartedly in SPS's vision of an educational system that strives for equity and inclusion.
In light of that vision I was sorely disappointed to learn that SPS had scheduled the first day of kindergarten a quintessential American rite of passage on Rosh Hashanah the Jewish New Year and one of our most sacred holidays.
Though this is the most recent example I understand that these type of challenges scheduling important school events on major holidays have impacted other minority faith communities in Seattle in the past.
It seems to me that we cannot have equity and inclusion if our public school calendar ignores each other's most sacred holidays.
For our family the decision is clear.
If the first day of kindergarten remains on Rosh Hashanah our daughter will not attend school that day.
Instead she will be with us and hundreds of others in synagogue for a day of prayer and reflection.
It is a painful choice.
But the right one for our family while other families with conflicted hearts may make a different decision.
I regret that Seattle Public Schools has asked them and us to make this difficult choice.
I urge you to consider as the Mercer Island and Issaquah school districts have done how you might live your values as an inclusive school district by changing the first day of kindergarten.
I realize it cannot be easy at this point but it would make a powerful statement that Seattle Public Schools take seriously their commitment to respect the cultural backgrounds of all their learners.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome Superintendent Juneau.
I'm Emily Lieberman and I have to add my personal request that you listen closely to the American Indian and Jewish families here today asking you to recognize our community's diverse needs.
I'm here today because I have two kids at Stevens Elementary School and at your last board meeting you heard from our parents teachers our PTA and a second grader.
We're here again today to continue asking you to hire a 12th classroom teacher for Stevens right now.
Our enrollment numbers entitle us to 12 teachers.
The district tells us that they plan to hire 12 teach our 12 teacher.
after the school year begins.
But that planned disruption for our kids and staff is frustrating and unnecessary.
We're also worried about the district's delay because last year we were also entitled to 12 teachers.
But after school started the district despite acknowledging that the weighted staffing standards entitled us to 12 teachers refused to provide that 12 teacher and only staffed Stevens with 11. We had primary classes as large as 31 kids and it was a disastrous year.
Last meeting you heard from teachers who felt unable to serve their students adequately, some of whom have left the school.
And you heard how the physical safety of our kids was compromised to say nothing of academic achievement.
You also heard from a special ed teacher at your last meeting.
Our programs include resource access and primary and secondary social emotional learner programs.
It's impossible to serve those kids well or any kids well with 31 students in a room.
And now to learn that some special ed seats aren't being considered in our enrollment calculation at all is disappointing.
So here we are again entitled to 12 teachers but staffed with only 11. There's a lot of talk in SPS about the unintended consequences of various decisions and I'm sure that this terrible year at Stevens was an unintended consequence of the district's decision to withhold the required staffing from Stevens this past year.
If you do it again, it can't be called an unintended consequence.
I know that your enrollment information and your budget are controlled by two different departments, but I don't believe that it's impossible to avoid the train wreck that we see coming, especially when it's the exact same train wreck that we experienced this year.
I'm submitting written copies of my testimony and a timeline describing the staffing fluctuations that Stevens has suffered in recent years and we hope that you will work with the staff to fix this problem and that the district will fund a 12th teacher at Stevens right away.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good evening.
Welcome Superintendent Juneau.
I'm Rebecca Wynkoop and I'm the librarian at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School.
I'm fortunate to work in a school and a library that values the authentic reading lives of our students and supports this value with both funding and staffing.
We are working daily to build a school community focused on restorative justice and closing gaps for all of our students.
Today I'm coming from work.
Yes it's the summer we're piloting a program that opens our library in the summer for students a few days.
During the school year we circulate over three thousand four hundred books each month.
We have a brand new collection and have added more than 600 new books to our collection this year.
Checked out eighty seven books to students today.
Collectively SPS libraries have collections valued at over 18 million dollars and that value faces an annual depreciation and lack of access two months out of every school year.
Senate Bill 63 62 recently passed by our state legislature recommends a twenty dollar per student allocation for library materials from the pot of state money that comes to our school district.
This is an allocation not a mandate but you can help us advocate and ensure that this money buys library materials that end up directly in the hands of our students.
I'd hope to have copies of the 57 bus by Dashika Slater for you this evening.
Sadly my shipment didn't arrive before I left the house.
I'll get them to you as soon as I can.
But I do have for you however a list of middle schools and high schools that in our district that do not have a copy of this book.
Published in 2017 the 57 bus is a true story of two teens in Oakland California.
In 2014 one teen lit another teen on fire.
It's a story of how two lives were changed in an instant and serves as a constant reminder for me as an educator that all of my students have a story that needs to be told.
Please help us continue to advocate for our students and our libraries that serve them.
Senate Bill 6362 allocates 20 dollars per student and you can help us ensure that that allocation becomes a reality.
Thank you.
Good evening.
Thanks for allowing this testimony.
I'm Jonathan Betzall citizen of Seattle since 1985 and a parent of two proud graduates of the Seattle Public Schools.
I represent the Nakani Indian sorry Nakani Native program.
Our name means go between or bridge builder in the Tlingit language and we carry out this role in supporting the annual tribal canoe journey advocating for Native American treaty rights and building cultural bridges with a larger North American society.
We are here to support the Urban Native Education Alliance's Clear Sky program at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School.
We want that program to be able to maintain its current programs in its current space.
We object to any diminution of this program which has been so successful in supporting students of color and their families.
We want the district to pledge to stop whittling down existing agreements and uphold the efforts that the community has made to support our children's success through culturally appropriate education.
Yesterday we saw a letter from President Harris stating that the program would be allowed to operate as it has for one more year.
I'm not sure of the details of that.
And that's a good start.
But we want that program to have long term stability.
And to be treated like a trusted partner.
Contributing greatly to the district's success through its strong community roots rather than a resource to be shuffled from building to building.
Last month, the U.S.
Supreme Court let stand a court order for the state of Washington to do its part to honor the U.S. government's legal obligations to Native American tribes.
While that decision focused on specific treaty rights to hunt and fish, it implies that governments at all levels, including school boards, must work as equal partners with Native American communities, especially when those communities have demonstrated their competence at addressing difficult social issues and their willingness to collaborate while doing so.
Deepening the mutually supportive relationship between the district and the Urban Native Education Alliance can only benefit our children.
Thank you.
Next up for public testimony we have Raven Fuentes followed by David Richard Oliveira and Eric Blumenhagen.
Raven.
Hi my name is Raymond Fuentes.
Before my time begins may I also be allowed to talk about the budget.
That's a question.
The majority of your time needs to be about Robert Eagle Staff middle school and Clear Sky.
You have two minutes and you can wrap in the budget as long as not the majority of your time because you didn't sign up for that.
OK.
Those are the rules.
They've been the rules for a long time.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
In 2013 me and my daughter I fled a domestic violent relationship and we came to Seattle homeless.
So we've been through the homeless system throughout Seattle and we're stable now.
So programs such as Clear Sky really benefit families and single parents.
I've taken surveys throughout this school about our lineage Our blood quantity and our living situations.
2013 through 2018 we have received zero outreach from Seattle Public Schools.
I've received more outreach from Clear Sky.
So funding for programs should be supported more for the native community.
With the rising cost of living in Seattle more homeless children are going to rise as well.
Those numbers are rising.
And my concern is if Native children are falling through the cracks so are homeless women and children.
I want to know what you guys are doing for outreach because I have not seen it and I'm very very concerned for that.
When you were struggling.
to find food or make ends meet.
The last thing you're thinking about is standing before the school board and asking for help.
People want to have dignity and you know sometimes they don't want to ask for help.
My suggestion is that you guys at least implement a program into your budget that.
Reaches out to children their families and to ask hey how can we help you.
Even if it's with a pair of shoes or may we be allowed to help you.
I have not seen that.
And I really think you guys should consider that for Seattle.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is David Richard Oliveira.
I'm a parent of two Alaska Native children that I raised in Alaska.
I came down here in 2000, and lo and behold, I'm raising a 15-year-old daughter.
But the last 15 years I've been working at Sandpoint Family Housing and last year we had a very public shooting by the police of one of our clients.
And I was asked by two of the families that were living on that floor, we need to do a smudging on this building.
It was through Indian Ed at Sandpoint Elementary that I made the connection with Clear Sky Native Youth Council and the Urban Native Education Alliance.
And I just want to tell you that.
I feel like I'm back in Alaska.
But after hearing some of the testimony here in Alaska we do have a native school geared towards that culture.
At this point I like to give the rest of my time to A.J.
as a.
My name is Amadanio Joseph Aguara.
I'm a coordinator for the native community led program Seattle Clear Sky Native Youth Council a program that was created in the absence of Indian Heritage High School.
I started as a coordinator from September of 2017 the opening school year of Robert Eagle Staff Middle School.
As coordinator I help with many of the setup and planning of our activities and work a lot with the daily programs on Tuesday and Thursday.
During Tuesdays and Thursdays, we provide free dinner, as well as mentorship and tutoring, homework help, as well as spiritual and community and traditional activities that really help our youth.
Youth outreach and ending the school-to-prison pipeline, which is very real, with school dropout rates and the lack of the lack of resources and help and visibility of our native community.
That is what we are working to fight and heal for.
That's what we are outreaching for.
As there is a push out at our current space at Robert Eagle Staff School.
I move the supplies from storage located in the gym area down to the lunch area of the Robert Eagle Staff School.
However at Licton Springs we do not have the tables we need for our families.
We have to move much cumbersome tables from a much further distance and all of our supplies necessary.
It's not adequate for our adults and elders when the chairs we have there.
are that for young elementary school students it is not safe.
It is too cramped.
It is very claustrophobic and overcrowded.
We cannot even serve our lunch without having to force tables into the narrow hallway of the space we are given that is smaller than a classroom along with a classroom we cannot hardly move tables into.
These conditions do not.
Do not accommodate our ability to run our programs for our youth and families promoting mental health for our mindfulness and meditation program as well as our mentorship program and our tutoring to help promote academics and our native warrior athletics program which we need the gym for every Thursday to promote physical health and communication.
However.
Currently from what I've heard we are being downsized with no input and What I see is that that would greatly diminish the quality and the amount of resource of the same quality we are providing of outreach to our native families and community in the school district.
Thank you and be very harmful.
Your remarks the two minutes is long since our capacity to serve folks have come to speak to us and managed to make their remarks in two minutes.
An invisible group of people who are a very American ethnic group who are just disregarded.
I'm done.
Thank you.
After Eric Blumenhagen we will have Rabbi Allison Flash followed by John Turrow.
Hello and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you about wait lists.
Again I'm back.
It's another year.
I'd also like to welcome Superintendent Juneau.
One of the challenges of a new job is you don't have institutional memory.
So I'd like to ask board and staff's indulgence while I go back in history a little bit.
Superintendent when you talk to staff you may hear that holding wait lists based on planned staffing is a longtime practice.
That's true for one or two schools but for the rest of the district this is new.
This is last year.
Less than two years ago a senior staff member said in a work session right over here that wait lists will be moved to physical building capacity.
Period.
Full stop.
Last year staff acknowledged that holding wait lists for staffing capacity wasn't supported by board policy or superintendent procedures on enrollment.
Let me repeat that using staffing capacity to hold wait lists violates policy and procedure.
The board had an opportunity to change policy last fall to allow for staffing capacity but declined to do so.
So let's go past policy.
Let's look at whether holding wait lists actually works.
The practice was supposed to provide enrollment stability so that schools wouldn't gain or lose staff.
As of the work session on June 25th half of the attendance area elementaries have a wait list and have an enrollment reduction that could cause them to lose staff members.
Half.
Seven of those schools are expected to lose 24 or more students which is a teacher over last year even though they have waitlists that might backfill that loss.
Thurgood Marshall Elementary is expected to lose 71 students over last year but it has 57 on the waitlist.
That's crazy.
And of those seven elementary schools for Title 1 and 5 have nine non-white populations higher than the district average.
This is a serious equity issue.
Holding wait lists for staffing capacity is against policy.
Remarks.
Yes thank you is against procedure and does not work.
It's a practice that you should end.
Thank you.
Good evening.
My name is Rabbi Allison Flash.
I'm a rabbi and an educator in North Seattle and I'm here to talk with you about the affect that creating conflicts between people's religious and cultural heritage and school schedules creates for families.
Year after year although we have written multiple letters and we have offered to help with calendaring issues there is a constant challenge to balance religious and cultural heritage of families of all minorities.
Currently the schedule for school systems is set up to honor Christian holidays.
Never is Christmas a conflict for a child.
Never is Easter a conflict for a child.
They don't have to choose between their heritage and going to school.
That is not the case for minority children.
Let me make this clear that this is not a Jewish issue a Muslim issue a Hindu issue or a native issue.
This is an issue of equity in our school system because what happens when we make these children's choose is that we send a powerful and hurtful message to these families that their children do not matter.
When we create conflicts for families such as putting curriculum night field trips exams labs for high school students with perishable ingredients that cannot be remade or made up vision and hearing tests pictures for the yearbooks.
Those children are taught that they do not matter because their religious faith is not honored.
More damaging than teaching the minorities that they don't matter is that we are teaching the children in the majority religious culture that minorities don't matter.
And in this day and age with this political climate that is an incredibly dangerous message.
I need you to understand that starting kindergarten the quintessential life changing moment for families on Rosh Hashanah which is equivalent to starting it on Easter Sunday is unacceptable and inappropriate and it sends a horrible message for families.
Welcome to our school system for the next 13 years.
We are not going to care about you.
Thank you.
Next up we have John Turow followed by Vicki Pinkham and Susan Stahl.
Good evening and welcome to the new superintendent.
Thank you.
My name is John Turow and I'm a father of two.
My oldest Oriana will begin kindergarten at Coe Elementary in the fall.
And I'd like to speak to you about the first day of kindergarten which is currently scheduled to coincide with the Jewish religious holiday of Rosh Hashanah.
Along with the nearby holiday of Yom Kippur that's considered by Jews to be one of the two holiest days of the year.
It's really important.
I grew up on the East Coast in Philadelphia and my wife Rachel grew up on the West Coast in the Bay Area.
And we like to joke that as happy immigrants to Seattle we've embraced important local customs like driving a Subaru.
But our kids are born here and we're proud of we're proud of raising them in this dynamic and progressive city.
So I was surprised to learn that Rosh Hashanah coincides with the first day of school in the Seattle school district in part because that never would have happened in the places where my wife and I grew up.
Doubly so to learn that the problem has been identified and not yet addressed even as the Mercer Island and Issaquah school districts have indeed found a way to adjust their schedules.
For my family the truth is it's not an overly hard choice.
If the schedule doesn't change we'll do what doubtless many other families will do and we'll keep Oriana home on her first day of kindergarten to attend services and we'll bring her in the next day.
In fact I even understand there were short individual conferences scheduled for the previous week so that Ori can meet her teachers then.
But while that is manageable it's nonetheless disappointing.
My family's first interaction with the school district is one of disregard even if no disrespect was intended.
My daughter's first step in this important new phase of her life is one of exclusion.
So I would like to encourage the board to do two things.
First let's find a way to adjust the calendar for 2018 as the Mercer Island and Nassau school districts have done.
Second let's recommit ourselves to a high standard of inclusive scheduling that accommodates all families not just Jewish ones befitting befitting the world city that we in Seattle rightly believe our home to be.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm Vicki Pinkham and I apologize for being late.
Traffic was terrible.
Welcome Superintendent Juneau.
You heard from my children and you've heard from us numerous times before and we're here again today asking for the one point five million dollars that would be allocated towards a native focus school.
And everything that has been said I can repeat again but I'm going to allocate my time the rest of my time to Walker Thomas.
Hi my name is Walker Thomas.
I'm a behavioral specialist who works at Ryther.
Ryther is an inpatient treatment facility that treats children between the ages of 6 and 14 who are in the foster care system.
These children all have significant trauma histories and complex psychological and psychiatric conditions.
The native children who are treated or rather face the added trauma of being separated from their culture and heritage.
UNEA provides an invaluable resource for us for those who are trying to treat the most vulnerable in our community in a way that minimizes further harm.
Over the past two years I've been privileged to watch kids attend week after week and watch as their pride and connection to their native heritage deepens.
And the effect that this pride and connection can have on their academic performance sense of community and overall mental health is undeniable.
The children we treat are often hyper vigilant and deeply guarded and they can be really difficult to reach the large open spaces and prominent native artwork at the Robert Eagle Staff School helps our kids feel a sense of safety fun and pride.
It is a tremendous resource to us and the kids we serve.
I urge you to continue to allow UNEA to use this space and continue to let them act as a vital resource to the native children across Seattle.
Thank you.
Hello.
Sorry I was late also for traffic.
Welcome Superintendent Juneau to our district.
Earlier this week I wrote an email to the board asking for clarification about the displacement of the clear sky tutoring and cultural program from its current location at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School.
I was glad to get a response, but then disappointed that the language in the email was cumbersome and evasive, making it seem as though it was a reasonable compromise.
What this boils down to, in my opinion, is that a program that serves a minoritized group is being displaced for reasons that are still unclear.
As I stated in my message that you all previously received, I've seen the benefits of this program firsthand in my work with Native students at Ballard High School, as well as the dire need for such a program, and I don't understand why such an important and underserved group would not be given first priority in space considerations.
We should be supporting programs like this, not displacing them and making it harder for them to serve Native students.
Please reconsider your decision to back principal Marnie Campbell and displacing this program.
If you are really follow following your own policy 0 0 3 0 and ensuring racial equity full access of storage and activity space at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School to UNEA and Clear Sky should be restored.
Thank you.
And I'd like to cede the rest of my time.
I probably don't need a microphone.
because I have a ceremony voice.
And when those spirits are talking, they're not just talking to all of you and all of you.
They're talking to all those spirits.
There will be a test on what I just said.
And the entire success of the future of your life will depend on you passing that test.
And I'm not going to translate it for you.
And that's what you do to my babies every day in your school.
You talk to them in a language they don't understand.
Once in a while, you get a good translator.
You know, you should know I'm not on UNEA.
I'm not on the Indian Ed and American Commission.
I'm not in any of these groups.
I'm going past two minutes to call the cops on that one.
I'm a grandmother.
These young people said, the mothers and fathers are talking.
They don't listen.
We better have a grandma come talk.
That's me.
Now, my grandkids didn't benefit from UIDA.
Should I be greedy?
and attack them?
No.
I applaud them for everybody else's grandkids who do benefit.
My grandkids benefited from the Indian Ed program here.
Did Sarah attack them because her kids aren't in there?
No.
So all this division that y'all think is in the community It isn't as much division as you think.
Is there conflict?
Yes.
A good deal of that conflict has been manipulated by Seattle Public Schools' administration and Seattle Public Schools' school board.
We really don't need your help.
You're doing that conflict we are not.
So I have your memory, by the way.
Remember when we were all protesting?
When we were all carrying signs and drumming?
Coming all the way up Delridge?
Because you promised us.
You promised us we wouldn't have to leave that Louisa Boren building.
You said, if you would just go to that Wilson Pacific building, stop protesting, go up there.
You'll never have to move again.
Must have been as long as the rivers run, right?
And when you close that building to rebuild it, I wasn't real hot about the whole murals issue.
That was Sarah and them.
But you know, that wasn't my thing.
But I'm going to tell you.
I was in those meetings when Sarah Wilson was told there would be an Indian Heritage High School.
I was in those meetings when we were told there would be a classroom set aside for the native community so we could lock up our things.
We could have meetings in there.
We were told that not just Clear Sky But the whole Native community was going to have access to things like the gymnasium, the lunchroom.
We were told so many things.
We were told the school district cares about our children.
So.
Every time y'all have broken a promise over the 40 years that I've had kids in Seattle Public Schools my own children my grandchildren my foster children my nieces and nephews.
You've tried to destroy them all.
My heart breaks because there's a few times you've been successful.
And you know it's.
It's sad that your district takes advantage of that bit of conflict in our community.
I'm suggesting a meeting like we had before.
I'm suggesting a meeting with the community but not your organizing.
Y'all ought to pay for it because you owe it.
But a community meeting organized by the Native community with facilitators from the Native community.
You know that we can't hardly even introduce ourselves in two minutes.
I mean you know my name and my clan and my tribe but you don't know hardly anything about me because we can't do that in two minutes.
But if I gave you a test on what I said earlier Every one of you would flunk.
Maybe he might know some of those words.
But none of you are Ojibwe.
None of you know how to speak my language.
None of you know the protocol for my culture.
None of you know that I knew this girl's mother in meetings with her.
Well, some of you know that because you heard me say it.
My family had an agreement.
for more than a generation on how we're going to support children in this community.
And it involved putting an end to conflict.
So stop causing the conflict.
Stop manipulating the conflict.
Come and meet with us under our protocol.
We're going to give you more than two minutes.
We're going to let every one of you fully introduce yourself.
We're going to treat you with respect.
We might feed you but definitely this business like we've had here tonight is not OK.
You treat our children bad.
You treat them like you don't have a heart.
They bared their soul.
They bared their spirit here and you lacked compassion.
Not every one of you.
but a good part of your school district.
So I really want that manipulation to stop.
I really want that game playing to stop.
I really want you to quit blaming my community for conflict.
I really want to see a meeting where we come together in an organized way and we develop that policy where we write these things down.
They used to call it like a treaty.
Right.
Write those things down.
You promised us that school you promised us that space.
I don't know.
I'm not actually 100 percent in support of having that school back.
Although a lot of my kids went there and they were really successful.
Right now my grandson's pulling really good grades at Chief Sealth in that that program they have there.
But I really don't think that it's exclusive.
I don't think that you have to deny them that school in favor of that program.
I really think you could do them both because you sure owe it.
So meet with the community develop that process where you're going to clearly define the issues that are between our communities not within our community.
between our community.
What are the conflicts that the native community have with Seattle Public Schools.
How will we define those those conflicts.
How will we address those issues.
How will we seek resolution.
Right.
Conflict is only good if you're working towards a resolution.
Otherwise it's wasted energy.
So don't be afraid of that conflict, but definitely embrace the process to reach resolution.
Put the resolution in writing, and then stick to it.
So I really like the work that they're doing.
I really like the work that Gail and her program are doing.
I said a staff person's name, but y'all know.
Y'all know, I think, the world of Gail Morris, right?
I think the world of what they're doing They're really working hard for my grandkids.
If I broke down on the way home and I called Sarah she'd come get me.
Right.
So there are a whole bunch of us in this community.
We just don't want to waste our energy.
We're not part of any of your conflict.
Your conflict.
Because I'm not claiming that for our community.
And I want you to be nicer to these kids when they come up here to talk.
And did I miss anything?
All right.
That's what the grandmothers right.
We just got to take you all in hand.
So that's done now.
So I look forward to hearing when you're going to start that process or I'll be back.
This concludes the sign up list for public testimony this evening.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for coming down to testify.
Thank you very much for telling us your truth.
Many of which frankly are very hard to hear but much appreciated.
This is time for directors who choose to respond to comments from the public that they've heard may do so.
Totally optional.
Would anyone like to speak further about what they've heard this evening.
Director Mack.
I'm incredibly moved by the stories that came to us and I appreciate that we took the time to listen longer than our two minutes.
I recognize that our policies around two minutes is really restrictive to actually communicate effectively.
So I'm glad that we allowed and got to hear more completely.
The student stories are heartbreaking to me and I I hear the need for reducing the conflict and coming to resolution.
And for me as operations committee chair I see the tension that's here in the buildings issue.
It's fundamental building space that's at issue here.
It's building space.
We we.
have conflict over not having enough space in the right places and not having organized effectively to make sure we can meet all the needs that we need to be meeting.
And so I hear that and I'm wanting to understand more about what resolution has been brought for the two nights or the one night.
I'm still a little confused about what is actually happening for next year.
I hope it is a positive resolution and I look forward to hearing from staff and about what that actually ends up being.
Regarding the Stevens elementary school and the waitlist issue and a new a new data point was brought up tonight about 11 students not being counted and I'm kind of curious to dig into that a little bit more and appreciate folks continuing to advocate on behalf of their school.
And.
The waitlist waitlist testimony.
There is a there's a major tension between building capacity and staffing capacity and that's something that we do need to continue to work on from a.
policy and procedure standpoint.
So I appreciate having that comment.
Those comments come today and assuredly attempting to work on those things through our operations committee and with staff to to hopefully improve some processes around those in the future.
Thank you.
Any other board members like to comment.
Director Patu then Director Burke.
Just like to say thank you to everyone who actually came out here tonight and spoke your heart.
Hear you loud and clear and hopefully that we can do a lot more in terms of really making things happen.
And actually this is something that.
We've been talking about for years even before I got on the board and I really would like to see something done about getting that off and running because I believe that this group definitely needs that space and that school that they've been talking about for years.
Sometimes it takes you got to teach your you know your kids your culture and in order for them to continue on where you left off and they need that.
We all need to learn about our culture.
We can't just assume that we're going to learn it somewhere else.
So I believe that it's something that needs to be done and hopefully we can support to continue on the native terms of teaching their kids and finding a space for them to be able to have that opportunity to continue on.
So thank you for coming tonight and speaking your truth.
I think that's what these meetings are all about is actually for us to hear you loud and clear in terms of what your needs are and how else we as board directors can listen to you and be able to come up with a solution that we can actually be able to work together to make things better.
So thank you for coming.
Director Burke.
I also want to share my gratitude for for all that shared their public testimony with us.
I know that it's.
It's it's a pretty significant power imbalance.
One person standing behind a podium talking to a group of people sitting behind the dais and so I I commend the community for rallying around their their their speakers and offering that show of support and for the speakers for sharing their stories.
The.
The messaging and the narrative and the realities around broken promises is something that continues to upset me and break my heart as well.
I say that without any malice around the people who have broken them because while I don't want to make excuses for people that came before me or for myself.
I started doing this the school board thing because I was like we can fix math and we can get Woodshop back.
And now I realize.
How many things in the system are competing priorities and how how much of a challenge it is to to hear about the so many areas for need.
And when you're facing that need how clear and obvious it is that wow we have to serve that need.
We have to help that individual student that group of students we have to address that unmet need and we can do it in this way.
And then the next year comes along and the person that advocated for that isn't there or the budget goes away or seven million different reasons that commitment then becomes a broken promise.
And so the the.
It's something that we as a board and as a district and as a system have to have the discipline to make promises we can keep and keep promises we make because when we look back at historically trying to do everything that we've said yes we'd like to do that.
It creates an unsustainable model.
We don't have the funding we don't have the staff capacity and.
So I think that I'm really grateful around the messaging the stories that I heard around healing around working together around students around student needs and talking more about that.
And thank you for the invitation to come visit.
I've had the pleasure of sitting in on I believe it's three of the parent advisory committee meetings which I just dropped in on one of them thinking this would be a great thing for me to learn from.
And I've learned that when you go in you can't come out.
When you go in you're committing to a relationship.
And I've heard the stories of broken promises and so it's created this new understanding for me about how important that work is.
So know that I will continue to have these conversations.
I'm not going to overcommit.
I'm not going to promise.
Yes we're going to open a school.
Yes we're going to put a bunch of funding but I do want to engage with the community to understand what do what do what do our students need.
Your students our students and and how are we building something sustainable that your students value and that they see themselves in and that we're not going to talk about in a year or five years or 10 years is a broken promise.
So know that that is my commitment.
Director DeWolf please.
Thank you President Harris.
I have been I've been sitting with this for the last couple of weeks so apologies if it sounds a little robotic.
I wanted to make sure I wrote my thoughts down to speak clearly tonight.
I am an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree tribe of Rocky Boy Montana.
I first want to do something we should have done at the beginning of this meeting which is to recognize that we are on stolen indigenous land.
I am honored to live work and serve in the Coast Salish territories in the city of Chief Sealth who is a descendant of the Suquamish Muckleshoot and Duwamish.
We know that systems and institutions that we benefit from deploy and uphold can be problematic and make invisible the stories of people at the margins.
Those of us who hold identities outside of dominant white heteronormative culture such as Native peoples and we at Seattle Public Schools know we can always do better.
and welcome all of our CBO's partnership and accountability in ensuring our public schools work for every single one of our students no matter their origin their status their race their gender their sexuality or ability.
Now let's be frank here for our community particularly as Native people Seattle Public Schools and other public institutions have made lots of promises and failed to deliver.
Sometimes they have denied that promises were ever even made.
So yes excuse my French call us on our and our broken promises continue doing that.
It lights a fire under us to work to rectify and resolve.
The advocacy has rattled our cages at SPS and we have listened.
Our program now serves some 400 students and that has increased.
430 SPS teachers and librarians have been trained in since time immemorial.
SPS has a permanent native library at Meany Middle School.
We now have 11 full time staff and just this year within the last two months.
We increased funding by two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to expand our programming and put another Chukachi in North Seattle.
The advocacy that has taken place makes all of that invisible.
It makes the successful stories and experiences of our incredibly talented and native native youth who are thriving in our district.
So I want to read a poem from Shikachi produces this book every year and this year it's called Stand Up and it's from the students at the Shikachi program at Chief Sealth and Denny International Middle School.
And I read a poem called Strength of a Bear by Chris Brown who is a enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux.
Strength of a bear.
My coat can withstand hate.
I have the might of the mountains gaze toward my horizon.
I can crush a meteor with my bare hands.
I will expand into space.
I will stand tall on the peaks of peace and hate.
I glide like the hawk soaring with the gusts of wind.
I can be as strong as the buffalo.
My hooves make the sounds of thunder crashing.
They burnt our history into ashes yet we remain resilient.
These are the stories that I want to make sure that we don't forget and make invisible.
What has aided some of the invisibility of the incredible work we are trying to do and of the success of these students is when people are not getting the full picture.
Now what I have heard in the community and then their messages and the texts and the social media that I have received says that we are cutting funding that we're displacing programs that we're cutting back that we're pushing out that we're severely cutting and all of this may feel true and it is difficult to have these conversations if we're not sharing information.
These types of statements make invisible all the work we're doing systemically to put our money where our values are regarding equity.
Now I understand that we do not fund UNEA.
They are their own 501 C 3 so we cannot cut funding nor can we restore it.
Now I understand that we may have changed locations but I I don't hear that as displaced.
Now when I understand.
There's not a severe cut and UNEA is still receiving space without the fees that we generally ask our CBOs to share.
And I'm asking for some flexibility for a district with severe capacity issues and underfunding where we invite our community partners to share in that frustrating reality.
We are absolutely still committed to our native youth.
What I hope tonight and what I ask is our board and superintendent commit to an open public meeting facility facilitated by native facilitators with a broader community.
I believe we have to be partners and when we fight instead of collaborate everyone loses especially our most vulnerable.
But I also want to make sure something is very clear.
UNEA is one of the most incredible and passionate organizations fighting for and serving and supporting our native students in our district and our city.
And we are all better for it.
I know these types of programs.
I benefited from a program just like this when I was in Seattle when I was in public schools.
When I moved off the reservation I wasn't native enough for my native community back on the reservation.
I wasn't white enough for my peers in my public schools.
I've felt visible in the programs that UNEA does.
So my hope remains steadfast that all native students will receive the best possible education at every one of our schools which is why I support our district's native education program the staff Gail Morris the families and volunteers and the amazing work they're doing every single day.
And I hope you will too.