School Board Meeting - May 13, 2020

I'm now calling the May 13th 2020 regular board meeting to order.

We live and go to school in a city.

We live and go to school in this.

We live and go to school in a city that is the ancestral homeland to the Duwamish people the Muckleshoot Nation and the Suquamish Nation.

We acknowledge them as custodians of this land since time immemorial.

As guests and in many of our cases as settlers on this land we extend our deepest gratitude and respect to their ancestors and elders past present and future.

Ms. Wilson-Jones will you call the roll call please.

Director Hampson here Director Harris here Director Hersey here Director Mack

Director Rankin.

Don't believe we have Director Rankin yet.

Director Rankin.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Here.

Director DeWolf.

Director DeWolf.

Present sorry I'm here.

And we'll work to get Director Rankin connected.

Awesome.

Thank you very much Mr. Wilson-Jones.

Superintendent Juneau is also joining us for today's meeting and additional staff will be briefing the board as we move through today's agenda.

This meeting is being held remotely consistent with the governor's March 24th 2020 proclamation prohibiting meetings such as this one from from being held in person.

And I'll note that members of the public may also be joining via phone or online streaming.

I will not be asking members of the public to identify themselves but thank you to those of us for joining us.

As stated on the agenda there will not be a public comment opportunity today for the board's March 11th 2020 vote to waive relevant provisions of board policy 1430 and board procedure 1430BP as well as board resolution 2019 slash 20-29.

Public comments are always invited and we please and we do ask you to please continue sending us your public comments to the board by fax and by mail as stated on the agenda.

To facilitate this meeting I will ask all participants to ensure you are muted when you are not speaking.

Staff may be muting participants to address feedback and ensure we can hear directors and staff.

With that I will now turn it over to Superintendent Juneau for her comments.

Thank you and thanks to all of you again.

I hope everybody is healthy and safe.

I just today I think it's important.

Yesterday we tried to do a Facebook Live event and had some technical difficulties but we're going to do that again tonight.

And as you know I've been doing these Tuesday 430 Facebook Live events just to try to get information out about what's going on with the district.

And as we are looking forward to summer school and the future of SPS I think you know we all know that our Number one priority is going to be the health and safety of our students and our staff.

And there's just a lot of considerations that need to be taken into account as we have these conversations.

And so it's very complex.

Every time one topic is brought up seven other cascading topics have to be considered.

And there are a lot of different theories and models across the country that we look to and are learning from about how this should be done.

But here at Seattle Public Schools we will lead with science.

We will lead with our public health partners in all of our deliberations so that we know that our staff and students are safe and healthy.

I'm happy to have Carrie Nicholson here today.

She is our Seattle Public School assistant manager of student health services and she's going to just give you a little preview of.

some of the science and considerations behind reopening school.

I thought it was just a good time for the board to kind of see how complex this issue really is and sort of at least for the science about what needs to be taken into consideration.

So thank you Carrie for being with us here today and for giving a little update about your expertise.

Really happy that you are on board and part of the SPS family.

Superintendent Juneau if I could just pause for one moment.

I just wanted to make sure that for the record we have noted that Liza is now on.

Thank you for that.

Hi.

Sorry.

Yeah I came on right after roll call right before the superintendent started speaking.

Thank you Director Rankin.

Okay Director.

Superintendent Juneau back to you.

Yeah so I'll just turn it over to Carrie now to kind of walk through some of the research that she's been engaged in.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for inviting me today to share our perspective for returning to school through the lens of health services.

And thank you Superintendent Juneau for inviting me here today as well.

So there is go ahead and forward the slide please.

Thank you.

There is a lot to consider as we think about reopening schools.

While there are many questions that will need to be answered there are some critical questions that decision makers will need to address before we can even begin to move forward.

Like what are the essential components of a COVID-19 safety plan at each work location.

How can we utilize one-sixth of our staff who may be at high risk and unable to return to work in person.

And for health services the most critical question of all What does it look like to survey and screen over 50,000 students for a virus that is taking the lives of those in our community.

So I invite you to keep these questions in mind as we move forward through the presentation.

Next slide.

So I want to begin by taking a quick look back at when this all started and specifically when COVID-19 first emerged in Seattle Public Schools.

The picture you see on your screen is from March 1st with over 30,000 Seattle Sounder fans who are actually cheering on our own Jordan Morris's goal.

Fans showed up for this game and they were told quote there is minimal risk of exposure.

And while this game is taking place Seattle Public Schools is seeing our first COVID-19 cases.

I received a call actually the evening before on February 29th about a potential exposure at one of our sites.

A parent who subsequently had tested positive had taken their child to school and entered the building.

I immediately reached out to public health for guidance but because it was a weekend I did not receive an immediate response.

And while the Seattle game is going on I was at my own daughter's volleyball game when I became informed that we had two additional concerns where staff had potentially been exposed to the virus.

either by a spouse or by a member in the home who had come in contact with a COVID-19 positive patient.

I spent much of this day on the phone with Karen Campbell and Sherry Cox and Benjamin Coulter and Pat Sanders.

We tried to determine what the best response was.

And mind you this is now Sunday and we have crews on standby ready to respond in advance for the next school day.

It was.

It wasn't until the evening of Sunday that we finally heard back from public health.

But just like Seattle Sounder fans were told we were told there was minimal risk of exposure.

Therefore there was no action required on our part.

But here's what's important.

How we chose to respond I believe is what matters.

We responded with compassion and care for our students and staff.

We cleaned the building sites.

We communicated with staff and families and we even gave staff who had been exposed or potentially exposed the option to stay home from work.

So what is different from March 1st?

We now know that social distancing matters.

We know that you're actually more contagious a few days prior before experiencing symptoms.

We've learned that face coverings do help prevent transmission of the virus.

especially when I wear a face covering and you wear a face covering.

We have learned a lot about the virus but what we have learned about ourselves as a district I believe is what matters most.

Next slide.

We have learned that we're in we are all in this together.

We have learned that our understanding of COVID-19 is going to continue to change.

We have learned that a unified message is essential And we have learned the necessity of breaking down silos and working across departments.

But most importantly we have learned the why behind our actions.

Our why is that we value education but we value the health and safety of our school community more.

Every decision we make is a reflection of our values and demonstrates how we care for one another and our community at large.

Next slide.

While we are grounded in caring about the health and safety of our school community we look through our shared values as a lens for determining how schools can be safely reopened.

Our shared values include reducing the risk of the spread of COVID-19.

Keeping safe staff and students safe and healthy.

Enabling staff and students to return to learning and in the classrooms.

Supporting the social and emotional interactions in a safe environment.

and supporting families as they return to work and providing these services through a racial equity lens.

Next slide.

Communication is an essential component to a plan for reopening schools.

In fact it is the foundation for building trust with our school community at a time when facts really matter.

Early and consistent messaging supports the implementation of new practices.

District messaging communicates our shared values and must start early.

It builds a culture of readiness for returning to school and it promotes school community connectedness.

It provides a value-based platform for future messaging.

And I have to say that I'm particularly proud of how our district's messaging has consistently aligned with public health guidelines.

I've been in numerous meetings with state and national school nurse leaders as well as Department of Health leaders, where our website has been referenced as a place to go to get up-to-date information.

Next slide.

So we can look to guidelines that are being released as our state begins to slowly reopen.

For example, the state requirements for opening work locations include a comprehensive plan to limit exposure and control and mitigate risk.

as well as a safety plan that allows for physical distancing adequate professional personal protection equipment and a COVID-19 supervisor.

These are state requirement that mandate implementing a plan that minimizes the risk for transmission while holding one another accountable.

Next slide.

We can also look at various models to help us guide us in our planning for reopening school.

Child care sites provide an example of a framework that has effectively limited transmission of the virus thus allowing many essential workers like our first responders and our health care employees to continue to report to work during the governor's stay-at-home orders.

The child care framework has become one that we became familiar with as we briefly investigated opening up child care sites to first responders at our various schools.

Measures to reduce transmission include temperature checks daily temperature checks strict hand washing limiting access which means that parents are not allowed on site as well as reducing the size of the groups to 10. Additionally whenever possible the same students are kept in groups together throughout the day.

Next slide.

We can also to countries like Denmark Denmark and Norway, as well as the Providence of Quebec, and we can see that they're using a similar framework as they reopen schools.

You can see that Denmark is reopening with a small group of 12 students, where Norway and Quebec, and actually greater Canada in general, is looking at smaller groups of sizes of 15. Again, there will be emphasis on the hand washing and the disinfecting of commonly touched surfaces.

we can see that this model is actually being implemented in other countries as they slowly begin to open.

Next slide.

So, I believe that we need to be grounded in evidence-based science, but unfortunately, this is a new era and this is new ground.

So, as I looked to the research, I was able to find this particular article, which I think provides a good foundation and a visual representation as we begin to plan for moving forward and reopening schools.

And what the study was really interested in was how can you mitigate or how can you interrupt transmission to prevent schools from being closed.

And so what you're looking at here is actually it'll be a two layered schools.

This is the bottom layer.

And what they did is they looked at the multiple contacts and transmission via contact students had throughout the day.

And so you will be able to see that in each one of those markings as they go through.

I'll go ahead and move to the next slide to describe it more in full.

So here, although it's hard to see, I think the visual representation will explain the most important facts So at the upper part of the diagram there where the cursor is, thank you, is without mitigating measures, meaning without the strict hand washing, without some staggered passing times, without cleaning, without limiting classroom sizes.

And what you can see there is the contact density color diagram below going from the blue all the way to the red, meaning most transmission.

So in that upper diagram where the red is that's the entrance to the building we could see there is a lot of transmission there a lot of contact.

On the outer the orange both on the lower level and upper level these are all classrooms.

We can see the amount of transmission is quite high there as well.

And in the middle are the hallways where students are passing and we can also see quite a bit of transmission.

As we move to the lower diagram what you're seeing there is now mitigating measures and the impact of those.

And while the entryway continues to be red meaning high contact that's something for us to consider in our planning.

But what you really can see is the emphasis where the classrooms are now green.

And what that means is a combination of all these mitigating measures greatly reduce the transmission or the contact transmission.

And for us, I think this can mean a few things.

One, it can help with contact tracing.

We might be able to identify where transmission takes place as well as reduce the transmission in general.

And I'd also like to note that unlike what we did in the fall, a model such as this, where we are looking at reducing or combining mitigating measures, it might also reduce the workload and the cost of the cleaning that was required whenever we had an identified case.

So I just wanted to share that with you.

I think to the closest we can get, considering where we're at today, it provides a good visual representation of the way we can look in going forward.

Go ahead and move to the next slide.

So we can also look at other countries who are beginning to return to school.

The way in which countries are thinking about returning to school are varied and they're dependent upon a variety of factors.

Similarly, the way in which Seattle Public Schools considers returning to school may also look very different than how schools in eastern Washington or other parts of the state begin to reopen schools.

So this is a list of different ways that I investigated and looked at.

So go ahead and move to the next slide, please.

So let's look at grade level phasing first.

So we can see that Denmark, Quebec, Canada, and China all prioritize grade level phasing, meaning they focused on the younger grades.

And consideration was made because they saw the younger grades as better tolerating the illness.

getting less ill and less impacting the health care system as well as allowing families to return to work sooner.

Next slide.

Staggered start dates.

So this is interesting.

South Africa is re-entering students by grade over selected dates at two-week intervals.

What they saw was that 12th and 7th graders were the mature learners.

And at the exit grades it could actually help the incoming next two grades which would have been the 11th and 6th graders the following two weeks acclimate and return and transition better back into school.

So again over two week periods the next two grades will continue to integrate back and finally ending with kindergartners returning at the end of July.

New South Wales.

Interesting.

They looked at 12th graders as being a priority and returning them five days a week so that they could catch up and be prepared to go on to college.

Next they followed with kindergarten students as they saw it necessary that kindergartners needed a solid foundation.

And then they looked at 6th and 7th graders as needing that social and emotional learning foundation before they transitioned to high school.

Next slide.

This is actually my favorite slide.

So I love that they looked at targeted populations.

I think that this is interesting.

So looking at how we can return students back to school who might have the most difficult difficulty accessing education.

Those who are furthest from educational justice or those who lack Internet or transportation or rely on school and school meals.

Or students with disabilities who need specially designed instruction.

Or identifying students who would benefit most from in-person instruction.

Next slide.

So other ways to return to school include staggered start times.

This is one I think we're hearing a lot about.

So England has an opening.

You can do it with staggered start and finish times.

Or you can look at staggered start times around recess or outdoor activities as well.

You could stagger mean days of the week.

Australia is considering opening up only one or two days a week.

Or there is the combined seat-based and online learning, which is a modified day with remote learning.

And interesting, Denmark is actually having their specialists deliver all their activities remotely.

And I think that this, This concept also gives rise to consideration for our at-risk staff who might not be able to provide in-person instruction could deliver online instruction.

How we decide to reopen schools can be seen as an additional layer of protection for returning students and staff safely back to school.

It will need to be individual individualized to the district and could perhaps even look differently across our district.

I mean I begin to wonder could reopening look different in the north end of Seattle as it does in the south end of Seattle.

Could it look differently depending on the grade.

Could we use different approaches based on ages and different demographic locations.

There are all lots of considerations that we can look at individually as it applies to our district.

And my final slide.

So in summary there is a lot of critical questions that remain that must be answered before we return to school.

This concludes my presentation and I want to thank you for your time for allowing me to share our perception of and our perspective for returning to school.

Thank you.

Thank you Carrie.

And I think directors you can just see how complex this Even just the science and the health public health situation behind reopening.

It is why I believe schools need to be part of a larger regional state and countrywide conversation because we also know that whatever we do really does affect the economic fiber of any city or community.

And so I look forward to being included or us to be included in some of those larger conversations that are happening about reopening the economy.

I mean you can see that all the different ways that it could happen you know have to take into consideration what are our tech companies and other workplaces doing with their workforce.

And as you know when we first started out the closure of Seattle Public Schools There really was a lot of movement for other industries to keep their workers home and thereby putting burden on our workers here at the district and just seeing how the perception of value for workers came into play.

And I think now that during this closure people really are seeing how valuable public education is and how valuable our educators are to everything that happens in the city and so.

You know if there are staggered schedules or if there are a day on and a day off or if we stay in remote learning all of that affects everything that's going on at home.

And so those considerations have to be taken under under to think about all that stuff we have to think about workplaces we have to think about the economy.

But I just wanted to make sure that you are all seeing that there is deep thinking happening and we have really Great experts at the district who have been engaged in this research and such since our closure.

And it's not like we are just now picking it up.

I mean Carrie and the team at SPS really have been making this research and these considerations and bringing them forward to us.

So just a lot.

I just wanted you all to see that things are happening.

A lot of considerations.

There are a lot of big issues to be worked out and just the necessity of diving into these and figuring out how it is that we're going to move forward.

And just to also let people know that we at Seattle Public Schools are going to lead with science.

We're going to follow the guidance of public health because as you saw on the one slide our top priority will be the safe safety and health of our students and staff.

So.

Thank you for this brief conversation Mr. President and I'll turn it back over to you.

Thank you Superintendent Juneau.

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

May I have a motion for the consent agenda please.

This is Director Hampson.

Just one moment.

I move approval of the consent portion of the agenda.

The approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Director Hampson.

Do I have a second.

Director Harris.

Would any other directors like to second the motion.

Second.

Thank you Director Hersey.

Approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Director Hampson and seconded by Director Hersey.

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

Okay.

Hearing none.

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

All those opposed.

Hearing none the consent agenda has passed.

I think Director Rivera-Smith said she had a question.

Not about that consent agenda.

It was about the slides are gone.

One moment.

The consent agenda has passed unanimously.

Thank you directors.

Okay.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Yeah I apologize I'm so sorry.

The slides are gone.

All I'm seeing is Director Hanson's back.

So I don't think that the video is is on where it should be.

And I don't think Director Hampson was watching.

Okay.

I think if you just can.

I think it's your your app Lisa.

I think you just want to you just want to print in the lower section.

Pin Martina Loffelman's page to your your Teams.

There we go.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

Awesome.

Okay.

So.

We now move to the action items on today's agenda.

As we move through these items and later the introduction items I first will call on committee chairs and then I will call on the remaining directors alphabetically for questions and comments.

And just a point of personal privilege I want to just thank Director Mack for a great work session last week and this is an item from the Ops Committee.

So thank you Director Mack for for facilitating the work session virtually.

So we will now move to item action item number one BEX V award contract P1721 for construction project management services to CBRE Heery for the Lincoln High School Phase 2 project.

This came to the operations committee on April 8th for approval.

May I have a motion for this item.

This is Director Hampson.

I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to execute contract P1721 for construction project management services with CBRE what is that CRE and the amount of one million three hundred ninety nine thousand and fifty six dollars including reimbursable expenses with any minor additions deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent to implement the contract.

Back up the motion.

Thank you directors.

Okay.

This item has been moved by Director Hampson and seconded by Director Harris.

We'll now move to directors for any comments or questions for Director of Capital Projects and Planning Richard Best before we vote.

So now I'm going to call on directors to ask questions and provide comments on the item starting with our Operations Committee Chairperson Director Macker.

Hi, good afternoon.

I do not actually have any questions or comments to add.

We had a conversation about this in an introduction a couple weeks ago.

And again, just appreciate all the work.

And thank you.

Thank you Director Mack.

Okay.

Next up is Director Hampson.

No questions for me at this time.

Thank you Director Hampson.

Next is Director Harris.

No questions.

I'm good.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Harris.

Next up Director Hersey.

None for me.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Hersey.

Next up is Director Rankin.

No questions.

Thanks.

Thank you Director Rankin.

Next up is Director Rivera-Smith.

No questions.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Rivera-Smith.

I have no question for Richard Best at this time as well.

So hearing no further questions or comments from the board Miss Wilson-Jones.

Can you do the roll call vote please.

Director Harris oh sorry Director Mack Director Mack aye Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye aye Director Hampson aye Director Harris Director Hersey aye Director DeWolf aye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

Thank you Miss Wilson-Jones.

We will now move to Action Item 2 BEX V

award construction contract P5139 to Wayne's Roofing Inc. for the West Seattle High School roof replacement project.

This came through the operations committee on April 8th for approval.

May I have a motion for this item.

This is Director Hampson.

I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to execute construction contract P5139 with Raines Wayne's Roofing in an amount not to exceed $7,015,064 plus Washington State sales tax with any minor additions deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to take any necessary actions to implement the contract.

Second the motion.

Thank you directors.

This item has been moved by Director Hampson and seconded by Director Harris.

Just a note about this item this item has been updated since introduction.

So Director of Capital Projects and Planning Richard Best could you please provide us a brief update on the item.

Yes.

You'll note that the price has gone down for this project Director DeWolf.

We received a final pricing from this project on Saturday April 4th.

Our architectural firm reviewed the pricing again and moved it forward for a new contract amount of $7,015,000.

So it reflects the work that is being put in place by Wayne's Roofing at West Seattle High School for the roof replacement project.

Now I will turn it over to directors for any comments or questions before we move to the vote.

So I'll be starting with our operations committee chairperson Director Mack.

Again good afternoon.

We had robust conversation in committee about this and also in introduction.

So I have no further questions or comments at this time.

Just to thank you.

Director Mack.

Next up is Director Hampson.

No questions for me.

Thank you very much.

Thanks Director Hampson.

Next up is Director Harris.

No questions.

Thanks.

Thank you Director Harris.

Next up is Director Hersey.

None for me.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Next up is Director Rankin.

No questions.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Rankin.

Next up is Director Rivera-Smith.

Yes I have one quick question.

So and I noticed this was actually I could have asked this about the Lincoln one also we just agreed.

But on both of these BAR's they share practically identical equity analysis.

I think it's like a one word difference.

And that's fine but my issue is that these equity analysis's seem to cover they're kind of analyzing BEX V which was did go through the process a toolkit process when it was when it was created.

So that's wonderful.

I feel like this isn't neither of these have equity analysis that are specific to the contracts at question here.

And I and I think we've had talk in committees about about this issue but I just want to raise it again that I don't feel like our equity analysis are really diving into these specific contracts.

How you do that too I mean how you dive in equity analysis for a contract is of course to be written I suppose but I do want us to perhaps look at that and figure out ways that we can make these more more applicable and specific to sexual harassment on it and not sex 5 which you know again again is on all of these contracts at BAR's and it has to fall into that process and we'll clear on but on these contracts themselves there is not that hasn't been done.

So not so much a question but a comment.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Rivera-Smith.

I don't have any other I don't have any comments or questions although just to respond to that I would imagine that there is likely further work to be done to add that to any contracting process which likely would go through A&F.

So I think any conversations about the contracts having equity analysis that's probably a good conversation for A&F.

Yeah I agree.

Thank you.

This is Director Mack.

Do any other folks have questions or comments about item number 2.

Director DeWolf can you hear me.

This is Director Mack.

I in response to.

Yes and it's and it's in response to the question that Director Rivera-Smith and concern that she raised around the racial equity what is actually being responded to in the bars related to these contracts.

And I just wanted to add to that that we did in fact have a conversation in Ops around this topic trying to identify what is the appropriate level of information for each of these contract bars if they're coming through or when they come through.

Should it be focused on the overall process around whether or not BEX V or the other levy under which it was selected was appropriate was appropriately equitable and focused on racial equity.

And or what about issues like student and community workforce agreements and those sorts of things.

So the question was raised and the conversation was had that Since we're still in the process of the conversation around student and community workforce agreements that that that layer at this point may not be the most appropriate and maybe the most appropriate is to focus on the district selection process and view it through that lens.

But I would say that I think that we're happy to continue to have the conversation to.

you know evaluate what what needs to be included.

Absolutely.

And absolutely I'm looking forward to our.

future conversation on student and community workforce agreements.

I know we've gotten to reschedule that since March 18th so I look forward to the day when we do get to have that kind of deeper conversation that Director Mack and Director Rivera-Smith are referencing because I think the potential for a student and community workforce agreement could really kind of help set a more clear and consistent and explicit definition in our contracting.

and our commitment to racial equity.

So for item number 2 seeing no other further comments or questions Miss Wilson-Jones can you call the roll call vote for us please.

Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Hampson aye Director Harris

Director Hersey aye Director Mack aye Director DeWolf aye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

Thank you very much Miss Wilson-Jones.

We will now move to Introduction Item Number 1. High School Chemistry B instructional materials adoption.

Dr. DeBacker I believe you will be briefing us today.

Yes.

Thank you President DeWolf and good afternoon to everybody.

We are grateful for the opportunity to bring this BAR for Chemistry B materials for your introduction today.

This adoption represents a final piece of the K-12 science adoption that started last year.

The materials are intended to provide resources for our junior year of science.

We want to remind you that the state now requires three years of science for all students and it is part of the 24 credit graduation requirements.

We'd like to thank you for your support of K-12 instructional materials adoption.

The new adopted science materials that the board approved last year have been very valuable to us during this school closure.

It's been a way for our teachers to collaborate and has provided all students with high quality equitable experiences during this unprecedented time.

We're eager to add this final component to our science materials so that we can continue to provide equitable opportunities for all students to engage in rigorous and authentic science.

It is critical that we move forward with the approval of these materials so that we can have professional development during the summer and be ready for the school year when we open in the fall.

As you'll notice in the BAR the background section is very detailed.

It gives you the larger context and the timeline in which this BAR originated.

We had a long in-depth process for adopting K-12 science materials in 2019 and the adoption of the CHEMB is a final piece of this work.

This BAR was developed in response to the board's input during their approved full of the overall plan for K-12 science instructional materials last year.

You'll notice in the background section that we talk about the previously adopted science materials that were very out of date.

We talk about the state's 2013 adoption of new science standards and the development of a new science assessment which sparked the need for new instructional materials.

We discuss our.

Seattle Public School science team's first efforts to align these standards and then we detail the formal adoption process including the field testing community engagement and the ultimate decision.

You'll also see in the BAR the racial equity analysis and that echoes many important points made last spring about the need to address equity issues for Seattle Public School students in accessing rigorous science instruction and STEM based professions.

In addition.

With respect to chemistry B it is important to note that most STEM professions require at least baseline competencies in chemistry.

All students now need access to high quality chemistry instruction and that requires both the elimination of a math prerequisite as gatekeepers and the approval of new and updated instructional materials in which students can engage through a culturally responsive approach.

We had several conversations in C&I over last year and also back in April of this year.

We appreciate the positive feedback that they received that we received.

We should also note that this adoption involved our new Instructional Materials Committee and we thank you for approving the new members back in March.

Prior IMC started the process for this adoption the newly formed INC. has already been involved in this process and it's this involvement that led us to our decision to pull this BAR from the April 29th board agenda and reintroduce it today.

Let me tell you a little bit about that.

The High School Science Instructional Materials Adoption Committee deliberated and at a meeting on March 16th they voted unanimously to recommend to the IMC that the district develop Chemistry B instructional materials be moved forward for adoption for use in all high school Chemistry B classrooms.

The IMC voted on March 23rd to approve a timeline for the Chemistry B adoption.

The BAR moved to the Curriculum and Instruction Committee on April 21st and it was moved forward for introduction at the April 29th board meeting.

However.

Upon further review staff revealed that the record of the IMC's process and the actions was incomplete.

And so we chose to remove the BAR from introduction as you may recall a couple of weeks ago.

To remove any ambiguity and to ensure a complete record the matter was brought back to the IMC for a formal approval vote.

That IMC convened again on May 4th of this year.

We reviewed the high school science instructional materials adoption committee's process and.

The IMC voted unanimously to approve their final selection which is a district developed Chemistry B instructional materials as you see today in the BAR.

With us today in order to answer any questions around the Chemistry B process or the materials that have been developed by our own Seattle Public School teachers is Mary Margaret Welch our program manager.

And of course we always have Dr. Caleb Perkins hanging out to answer any questions as well.

President DeWolf with that I will Stan for any questions.

Thank you Chief DeBacker.

I will now ask directors to share any questions or provide comments on Introduction Item Number 1. We'll start with the Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee Chairperson Director Rankin.

Hi.

Thank you.

Thank you Dr. DeBacker for the thorough explanation.

I don't I don't have any questions.

I just do want to say that when at our last board meeting when it was pulled Dr. DeBacker contacted me later as the chair and you know was apologizing and and and saying how you know they nobody meant to surprise anyone and they felt really bad and I I just want to say that I actually really appreciate that they noticed that the approval wasn't wasn't tacitly documented in the minutes.

And even though knowing that knowing what the conversation around the materials had been and that the that the will of the committee or the intention of the committee was to move it forward.

I just I really appreciate that that was flagged and that that it was pulled so that we could make sure that in the record of this adoption moving forward everything is is presented as it should be and that there's accurate accurate record and that you know the effort to reconvene the committee to make sure that we officially take that vote so that it can come back to us today even though it's probably sort of a hassle for a bunch of people.

I really appreciate that that the BAR as it stands and the process as it stands is is solid.

Totally totally solid.

So thank you for that.

And in that yeah that's pretty much it.

So at my request also I was provided with the version of the BAR that we're seeing today and indicated where the changes had been made so that I could see as the committee chair and that my fellow committee members could see that the the content of the BAR wasn't changed that it was just to acknowledge the the reconvening of that meeting of the group on on May 4th to move that forward.

So that was like I don't know I just really appreciate being able to see to see that and make sure that everyone felt comfortable and was up to date.

And so yeah that's it.

Thanks.

Thank you Director Rankin.

Oh wait and also I just am excited that this is a district created curriculum by our educators so add that.

Thank you Director Rankin.

Next up is Director Hampson.

Hi.

Thank you.

If you could speak to the 16 percent of the scoring related to bias and then also the kind of analysis in the racial equity section around the extent to which materials Well it says any instructional materials program that failed to achieve an acceptable score in this category were eliminated from consideration.

If you could expound on that.

I appreciate the attention which is the majority of the racial equity piece around providing access to this curriculum as as part of the racial equity piece.

But in terms of how it may or may not be reflective or representative of our student body.

I'm I'm curious a bit more about that.

If you can speak to that and whether or not there was any particular community engagement outside of the the committee structure to to vet for any bias that might have been missed.

President DeWolf is it is it appropriate if Mary Margaret Welch answered that question.

Certainly certainly Chief Director.

Good afternoon.

Director Hampson let me make sure that I can answer all the components of your question.

First of all I would like to direct you to attachment D which is our review criteria.

There are five components in the review criteria and I think you are referencing component 3 which is ensuring that there is no racial bias within the context of the instructional materials and the second part is also about looking at our racial equity tool then that's component 4 to ensure that the instructional materials are indeed solid and that they meet the needs of all of our learners.

And so when we looked at that we we had had experience with instructional materials the year prior.

and had a chance to look at several pieces that one and we wanted to absolutely make sure that we were meeting the needs of every one of our learners.

To reiterate what I'm sure you heard from me several times prior and that is that the whole goal of this moment in science education has everything to do with making sure that all of our children have access to quality high instructional materials.

Prior to this we had elementary materials that were a quarter century old and our high school materials actually never met an adoption that happened in 2010. And so we knew that the materials were void of really careful and appropriate instruction and we thought that it was important that every single one of our children had access to this material.

I'd also like to point out that sitting on the development team and for this instructional material are two of our African American women who teach chemistry, and that's pretty unique in our district to have people of color who are representing this.

So there was a strong emphasis on ensuring that there was what we call phenomena-based science, that there were engagements that helped children see themselves in this space.

Chemistry has notoriously been one of those disciplines that has been focused on white men in white lab coats.

And we wanted to make sure that kids saw the realities of chemistry and how chemistry was an important ingredient and important part of our lives.

I think we are all sitting at home on this call rather than face to face would agree that students need and our community and our world needs a stronger understanding of the underpinnings of science including and especially at this moment chemistry.

So did we vet it in the community.

Absolutely.

We had opportunities for community engagement and people to ask questions but I would also underpin that the most important like points were with our own students.

So two of the schools that actually did the field test were Chief Sealth International and Franklin High School.

Two of our most diverse schools and we really did focus our questions to our students about meeting their needs and appropriately representing the things that they felt that they needed to know in this space of our standards.

So I hope that I've answered your question but if I have not please feel free to ask an additional question.

That's good for now.

Thank you very much.

Any other questions or comments Director Hampson.

Okay I will take that as a no and I will move to Director Harris.

Thank you President DeWolf.

I'd like to hear a little bit more about the community engagement.

As I'm sure folks recall from a year ago our science issues were quite controversial.

So I want to hear what we did to.

Get this proposed curriculum out for parents and student feedback please.

Thank you.

Dr. DeBacker shall I continue.

Yes please.

So I'd say that the first and foremost way for for families to engage in this instructional material and have opportunities to look at it and give us feedback was the fact that this is online instructional material.

So this was posted to our web page with invitations that were sent through our communications department for folks to view them online.

So there was an opportunity for people to see samples of the instructional materials to ask questions and to evaluate it online.

And so that was one moment of engagement.

We also hosted two open houses.

One was at Chief Sealth International and then we also hosted another one where we were supposed to host another one at Nathan Hale High School.

And that was about this.

In fact it was exactly the same day March 11th.

And so what we did in anticipation of knowing that we would not be able to see each other face to face we hosted an online session for folks to join us and ask their questions.

And again I'd like to underscore the fact that I think our students are really a very very important part of our community to give us feedback and input and we solicited their input in a variety of ways including some focus groups.

So there were a lot of students who were also able to give us their feedback and input.

The teachers who were involved in the chemistry B also reached out to their families of students and actually invited them to come to both the open houses and also to go to the online materials so that they could see those instructional materials in person.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Harris.

Next we'll have Director Hersey.

No questions for me but just an incredible amount of thank you and gratitude to the diligence of our curriculum and instruction team in terms of making sure that we have all of our eyes dotted and teased crossed in terms of this.

I think that this is really a clear example of our commitment to making sure that we get this right.

So again thank you to everyone who was involved in making this happen.

Thank you Director Hersey.

Next up we'll have Director Mack.

Hi thank you.

No questions at this time.

Thank you Director Mack.

Next up is Director Rankin.

Oh you went first.

Never mind Director Rivera-Smith.

You don't need to hear from me again.

Thank you.

No I'm no questions.

I want to also appreciate how much time went into this.

I spoke with Director I'm sorry I spoke with Chief DeBacker recently about the process this went through.

How a year ago it can be got really bad scores and but it was chosen to be continually worked on and the Sunset Constructors came together and really made it their own and turned into what is clearly the the best choice for us to move forward with.

So thank you for all the work.

And again no further questions or comments.

Thank you Director Rivera.

Mine is only gratitude as well.

Thank you Chief DeBacker and Miss Mary Margaret Welch for all of your work on this and thank you for catching the issue last time.

So hearing no further questions or comments about Introduction Item Number 1. We will now move to the board comment section of the agenda and we'll just for ease we'll move alphabetically.

Director is obviously welcome to their comments.

It is 159.

We'll start with Director Hampson.

I believe Director Hampson had to step out and address.

That is a great point.

I do forget I forgot about that.

Thank you for the reminder Director Harris.

Director Harris I'll actually kick it over to you for the next board comments.

Elegant segue.

Thank you sir.

I have very little to add other than keep the emails and feedback coming in.

It's very helpful as a board director to hear from folks with boots on the ground and what's working and what's not working.

And a special shout out and thanks to my fellow director Lisa Rivera-Smith who invited me to participate on her Zoom directors meeting.

I found it hugely helpful.

And stay safe.

Wash your hands.

I know folks are looking for Answers that frankly we don't have right now but I do believe in my heart of hearts and certainly in my cynical brain that we're working hard to do the best that we can with what we have.

I am extremely fearful about the financial consequences of COVID-19 and to all my legislative friends help.

Thank you very much.

Stay safe.

Wash your hands.

Thank you Director Harris.

Next up is Director Hersey.

Similar to Director Harris I don't have much to add.

I just want to say thank you to all the folks who have been working diligently to make sure that our students feel supported.

There will be various meetings coming up.

I know that we've got tomorrow a call with our Somali community and others that are in the works.

So just thank you so much for everyone who is making sure that this ship is still pushing forward.

And I just really appreciate it.

I hope everybody remains safe.

Wash your hands and we will see you again soon.

Thank you Director Hersey.

Next up we will have Director Mack.

Hi good afternoon again.

I'll take the opportunity to just do a little briefing around the Ops Committee work just to catch everybody up to speed.

I know folks are paying attention but there's a there's been a lot going on.

In the last month we had two operations committee meetings and those minutes are available or those agendas and so forth are available from the board office if you're interested.

We have another Ops Committee meeting coming up tomorrow evening at 430. It'll be conducted via Teams.

And just a note on the agenda for the Ops Committee meetings we also notice other upcoming meetings for advisory committees etc.

The Capacity Enrollment and Facilities Master Planning Advisory Committee is going to be launching with their first meeting on May 22nd.

That's coming up.

And I also noticed that the ITAC Advisory Committee meeting will also be launching and I believe these are all going to be done virtually and that information can be found from the board office as to how to listen into those meetings.

Director Mack could you do a quick refresher on the advisory committee for folks just on what it.

On the capacity enrollment and facility master planning advisory committee.

Yes that that committee is a board committee that was approved almost a year ago now.

And that their charge is to support the board's work around all things enrollment capacity and facilities master planning it's actually quite a large body of work you know managing and planning around 104 school buildings and 54,000 students around enrollment and capacity issues.

And I'm very much looking forward to having that advisory committee on board given lots of challenges that we'll be facing in the future.

Not the least of which is you know we don't know how we're going to reopen and the impact of of of that on our facilities and how we manage them is going to be an interesting challenge to try to solve.

And related to that you know every year we do the student assignment transition plan and boundaries for the next school year.

At this point we're under the one that's coming up for the current school year and the planning around next school year.

the 2021-22 school year is going on now.

Unfortunately because of the governor's order the work session that was planned for next week for the student assignment transition plan and boundaries work session has been deemed not necessary or I'm not sure which of the two things the necessary or what's the other one.

Current there's two words that we have to follow.

Routine.

Necessary and routine.

Necessary and routine.

Okay so that that that board work session that was planned for next week on the 20th is is going to be rescheduled.

And so just FYI that's happening.

And Additionally related to the planning for reopening schools it's on my mind greatly about the impact of whatever plan happens on our enrollment capacity structure and the you know how we actually do this in buildings.

We're you know for folks that already know this but I'll just repeat it we have over 300 portables in the district already and we are overcrowded.

So so moving forward with a reopening plan that might require smaller class sizes is going to take a lot of planning.

I know that OSPI and I think you all I sent an email about this.

This week OSPI has also convened a workgroup to talk about the various aspects of the epidemiology for reopening schools and I look forward to learning what that group comes up with.

You know they have folks from across the state involved in that conversation.

And I I don't know that they're coming back with that whatever recommendation comes out of that group will go to the governor and the governor is going to be the one to say this is what's going on with schools ultimately.

So my understanding is that you know that's Expected or hoped that some of those recommendations would be coming out in early June from that group.

But I know that that date's not like lockdown.

But you know the uncertainty of what we're going to do and what we need to do to keep our students safe.

I really appreciate that the superintendent and our staff forgive me for not having her name directly in front of me.

The presentation that just happened at the beginning of this meeting.

I really appreciate that we are already thinking about this doing research on it considering the various things we need to consider going forward.

And so gratitude there for Superintendent and staff starting those conversations and being engaged in those conversations on the statewide level.

The as I said the operations committee agenda is already posted a number of routine things out there and also a few policies are going to be discussed.

And so I you know Director Hersey said you know thank you for everyone moving all of this stuff forward.

It's it's you know we've got a lot on our plates as a as a board and a district.

And I am grateful for everyone continuing to to join in this work and and extremely grateful for the advisory committee members that are going to be joining us.

And additionally.

I'm looking forward to the district's work on the continuous learning plan that we're going to need to be approving a couple of weeks from now.

I understand that that's going to be coming to C&I next week.

And I'm looking forward to learning all the ins and outs and the details there for that continuous learning plan for what we are doing now through the end of the school year.

I think that's all that I have to say but I'll I'll I'll I'll also join in with Director Harris's reach out to the community to continue to write to us and share your thoughts and concerns and continue to be part of the conversation of how we provide the best education that we possibly can for Seattle school students.

And with that I'll conclude my comments.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Mack.

Next up is Director Rankin.

Hi thanks.

Yeah I want to echo my thanks for the health and safety presentation with different considerations and scenarios for reopening that we had at the beginning of this meeting.

And I wonder if there's a way it's not in the board materials for this meeting.

So I wonder if there's a way that we can share that with the greater community or have a link on the website somewhere because there was some good information in there.

And also I just think it's good for people to see that you know what's being considered and the work that people sort of behind the scenes are doing.

So if we can find a way to share that out that would be great.

I you know I don't know.

This is all just so interesting.

In thinking about reopening or what re-whatever the things that I keep coming back to in my mind and I know that you know I am a member of a board that is responsible for governance and oversight.

We're not responsible for coming up with solutions or you know figuring out the plan but of course that's you know On everybody's mind what do things look like and what we're hearing from families and all this stuff.

So what I keep coming back to as I think about scenarios and different possibilities things that we can't get away from in any solution that we cannot as a school district be responsible for entirely and can't do without is Internet access for all of our students and all of our educators.

There is no way that a school district can or should be responsible for providing that but I think everyone will agree it's absolutely critical that everyone has those things.

So I am calling on and asking for our state legislators the governor OSPI City Council mayor whoever anybody and everybody we need access to broadband to Internet to Wi-Fi to all of this stuff for our students and for their families as as being involved in advocacy for People living in low income housing for quite some time.

Internet has been one of those things that we cannot say that we are providing equity or that we care about making things even and accessible for our communities.

And I'm talking about as a greater society.

If we don't acknowledge that so much is tied to being having availability of getting online And it is absolutely an issue of social justice that we have some people in our communities that don't have access.

So I really like any plan is going to involve some component of online learning and it is just I mean it should go without saying but it doesn't that we have got to find a way to ensure access for and not not we Seattle Public Schools we society have got to provide access to families like immediately.

It's it's past time.

So that and the other piece that you know in my head I can imagine various scenarios for what the school day might look like for elementary school middle school high school.

But again a piece that we cannot get away from that is something we don't have the resources to solve on our own is the child care piece.

Education is not child care however in a traditional day or in the unusual times, school is where a lot of our kids are spending a lot of their time while parents are at work.

And so when we think about, you know, reducing class sizes to 10 at a time, where are the other 20 kids in that class if they're not, you know, in the classroom?

And the assumption can't be that they're just at home because if people are pushing to reopen the economy, whatever that means, What that means is forcing people to go back to work who may not have other options.

There is a major class divide in who can and can't work from home.

And if we expect people to go back to work in person our society has to any solution that we have has to include where their children are going to be safely healthfully and also including access to education.

So we can't have a child care solution that's separate from education.

that's kids safely in a room unless they also have access to the education that their peers are getting.

So I'm just again calling on lawmakers at all levels to understand the reality of what many of us especially mothers honestly have been saying in education for years is that there is so much that's put on our educational system that's taken for granted that has not that on paper is not education but it's absolutely critical for public education to be provided.

So Internet.

Child care.

What are we going to do.

And then in addition to that we really really need support at all levels for counseling for mental health services and access to to health care.

Now is a really great time.

to have a nurse at every school.

You know 10 years ago would have been a great time too.

But now if you know no other time I cannot fathom us doing this without nurses in our buildings.

So please to our lawmakers we have to figure that out for our kids for our families for safety.

And in terms of Mental health counseling that's something again that we've already needed and our school system is overly relied on to provide even though we don't have funding to provide that really what we can do is be a point of contact for referrals.

But there are not enough providers.

But the impact of this even if even if we can open up schools logistically totally smoothly figure out shifts of kids.

The psychological impact that this is going to have on our kids and our educators is something that we the only thing we can predict about it is that it's going to have an impact.

We don't know what that impact is going to be and it's going to be different for everybody.

So we really need to think about getting those resources to families.

And one other thing that I want to just say really quickly is that I heard a suggestion somewhere that high school stay all online.

And and this wasn't from Seattle Public Schools but just out there.

High school stay all online to allow more space for K-8 students to to be in the high school buildings.

That I I don't think it's fair to ask our high school students to become totally completely isolated just because they can be self-sufficient as young adults.

I they deserve connection with their teachers.

They deserve to be at school in person even if it's not all of the time.

And they're already going to be losing so many things that make high school so meaningful and engaging for students.

Athletics the arts all of these kinds of things with lots of people in close contact.

And I don't think that it's okay to assume that high school students can just be at home so that we can use the space for other kids.

Anyway that's.

Way more than my two minutes.

Thank you everybody for being thoughtful and compassionate and keeping in contact as much as you can.

And yeah that's that's it.

Thank you Director Rankin.

Next up is Director Rivera-Smith.

Hi.

Thank you.

I also want to again add my appreciation We got to hear from our SPS Student Health Services Assistant Manager Carrie Nicholson.

And I want to reiterate what they she what she what her Superintendent Juneau shared is that their virtual town hall has been rescheduled for it sounds like today this afternoon at 430 p.m.

I believe on the SPS Facebook page.

So it's great to hear because I know a lot of people were interested in listening into that.

Alice what's on it.

I do look forward to that this afternoon.

Here today though I appreciate hearing what Ms. Nixon shared how SPS has and will continue to react to the pandemic.

I appreciate her sharing and I hope families are able to hear that our understanding of COVID is going to continue to change.

The responses to COVID and the guidance on the federal government state the county has all been evolving and we appreciate everyone's grace and flexibility in rolling with you know the rollout of these lessons and services and responses.

I know it's a household you know every household is having to find its own way to to deal with that and roll with that so I appreciate the family who are lending that amount of grace in that.

I appreciate his sharing the why behind our actions which is that we value education of course and we also care about the health and safety of our school community more in this because that's we can't learn we can't teach if we're not safe and healthy.

So in speaking to community members at my at my and Director Harris's virtual community meeting last weekend it was a great chance to hear from community.

about parents are very aware that health and safety has to come first.

And they are aware that our planning and decision-making this doesn't be more about than just what academic classes are going to look like.

It's also about what are what are athletics going to look like.

What are music band orchestra and their performances going to look like.

What will bus transportation look like because many many of our students rely on that to get to school.

So as we as we come up with ideas and changes to how the school is going to work we of course need to look at all those aspects.

And I'm very happy to hear that our district is having those those important and creative conversations and going on there.

Last week you know as a nation we celebrated our our teachers and our educators.

And it's kind of a group that as parents we have kind of been thrown into ourselves in a trial by fire sort of initiation as being homeschool teachers now but nevertheless it is our school educators that have had you know this the weight of distance learning thrust upon their shoulders and have all done what they can twice at the challenge using their own unique approaches and skill sets.

And I want to share a few of the praises that came in last week.

on our Lincoln High School appreciation pamphlet.

Just some of the.

Shubhankar heard one of your mini lectures supposed to be just for students.

It was great because she had been thinking along the way rather than just telling them facts.

And she asked have you ever considered things like your own big science discoveries about tiny particles webcasts.

This was to our teachers for math Dr. Vermaak.

Mr. Noyes.

Thank you for doing everything you can to make sure your students know you about their education and well-being.

Teaching world history isn't ideal.

You have bent over backwards to take care of your students my students.

Thank you for caring and thank you for wanting only the best for these kids.

Pathway.

Gracias por todo.

Lo que haces por los estudiantes.

Thank you for all you do for the students.

Thank you to all the Lincoln staff for navigating the online world and taking it all in stride.

You know that you are you know that you are doing the best you can given the circumstances.

Thank you.

Thank you Miss Peterson for making science fun and engaging for our daughter.

She is inspired by you.

And I think this comment kind of summed it up it said thank you to all the teachers who are figuring out how to teach during this crazy time which it is.

And we all extend our gratitude to all of our educators every day of the year.

And it was great to see all the highlights last week.

And again thank you to not just the class level educators but all of our staff working hard to get us through this time.

That is all.

Thank you Director Rivera-Smith.

Director Hampson.

Pįnagigi thank you.

I am going to keep this relatively short and I apologize for the noise behind me which somebody's cutting down a tree.

It's always a sad day for me when somebody cuts cuts down a tree.

But I wanted to echo statements made by our by some of the prior board directors in terms of some of the advocacy that that we need at the local local and state levels in terms of what we're funding.

We know that our way out in this economic environment that is the United States and our capitalistic system that the that that fiscal investment is absolutely critical in order to bring us out of what promises to be at least a great recession.

And the idea that we could do that without significant investment in education is simply nonsensical because it is education is the backbone of our society in terms of how we grow future workers but also how we support our families who are working.

And the $13.5 billion that came out of the CARES Act was a nice start but it is only that it results in a fairly small amount of money going to into Seattle and my current understanding is that that is that 25 percent of that may potentially go to private schools because it's not based on title status not based on need.

on low income percentages but on on just students.

And so our superintendent thank you Superintendent Juneau for signing on with the other with some 62 other members of the Council of Great City Schools and communicating to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the majority leader in the Senate as well as the minority leaders in each of those bodies to request what is more arrogant to possibly being able to meet the needs of transitioning what is what is ultimately going to be a massive transition in terms of the structure of our education system locally and nationwide statewide and nationally and asking for an additional allocation of one hundred and seventy five billion dollars in education stabilization funds as well that is that is distributed to the local level through the Title 1 formula.

It's absolutely critical.

And that we which again is based on on this percentage of low-income students that we have and also urging Congress to provide an additional 13 billion for IDEA 12 billion in additional Title 1 program funding.

2 billion for E-rate which has to do with our our technology costs and emergency infrastructure funds that include public schools.

So for those that are inclined I don't know if we can put this on our district website but I'll link to the Council of Great City Schools on my personal district site and ask that any of you that would like to Join us in advocating at the federal level.

Do so.

This transition will not happen effectively as much as I appreciate the examples from many countries throughout the world that are are are breaking the they are starting to create some additional models for getting back to school.

Those countries are frequently supported.

with much larger social safety nets for the families of those children that we do not have.

We know that we have students in high school who are working right now and are working every single day and probably not able to focus as much on their studies because it's safer for them to work than it is for their older parents.

So I would ask that we do that and then again echo the the need for advocacy at the state level with respect to and federal level with respect to investment in broadband.

That's an incredibly important fiscal investment that needs to be made.

It gets people back to work and we have got to have that access.

We can't solve the Internet access problem one hotspot at a time.

It's just not sustainable.

So we've got to get broadband.

equitably accessible in our communities particularly for students who need it to access their education.

So that's all for me and thank you very much and I hope everybody stays well.

Thank you Director Hampson.

I don't have too many comments just wanted to really echo again the gratitude last week not only for our thousands of teachers across the district but the thousands of new teachers we have in our district includes

parents and families guardians caregivers aunties older siblings cousins grandparents and friends who are also co-teaching alongside the district in this time.

And so I want to also just share a ton of gratitude for the folks at home who are supporting their students even more deeply now.

I just wanted to encourage folks if you have questions for Superintendent Juneau about the presentation at the beginning please send those to Superintendent Juneau and CC me and the board and I track those questions.

What came up for me during that conversation about some of our the considerations around science and health was that I think as we continue to have the discussion about next year there are many many things we have to be thoughtful about and considerations in addition to the science and the data and the public health guidance.

I imagine that there's going to be some potential conversations with our with our labor partners about what that looks like.

And so that is a deeply important conversation that I would imagine will come up outside of science and health considerations will be our kind of labor and workforce so I'll be very interested to hear about that.

Ultimately we are responsible for our students.

I just want to make sure that they are at the center and guiding our decisions.

And just also want to do one other shout to Manuela Slye who's the president of the Seattle Council PTSA for continued advocacy for parents and students across this district especially the students and the parents and the families who are furthest from educational justice.

Really really grateful for her advocacy and continue to be grateful for her sharing concerns and issues that come up from community that we don't always hear.

For now that's all I have.

So I will.

Close up my comments.

There being no further business to come before the board.

Today's regular board meeting is now adjourned at 2 31 p.m.

Thank you all and have a safe and healthy rest of your day.

Thanks everybody.