Seattle Schools Board Meeting - May 18, 2022

I'm now calling the May 18th 2022 regular board meeting to order at 417 p.m.

This meeting is being recorded.

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

Miss Wilson-Jones the roll call please.

Vice President Hampson.

Here.

Director Harris.

Director Rankin.

Here.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Present.

Director Sargeant.

Present.

Director Tungwarth.

Present.

And President Hersey.

Yo okay.

We are holding today's meeting in a hybrid format with directors and staff and members of the public here in person with remote access also available through SPS-TV by broadcast and streaming on YouTube and by phone consistent with the governor's proclamation on open public meeting.

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

We are joined remotely tonight by Carol I'm going to butcher that last name.

The Council of Great City Schools and Columbus School Board.

Thank you for supporting tonight's Student Outcomes Focus Governance Progress Monitoring Training.

Before we begin I will pass it to Carol for an introduction.

Hi, it's a pleasure and honor to be here.

I want to distinguish between my role tonight and AJ's previous role.

He's what we call an active coach.

I'm going to be what we call a passive coach.

So I'm more in the category of phoning a friend than actively participating in your monitoring session.

I just want to stress that this is incredibly important work.

And it's all about continuous improvement.

And I am here to tell you the struggle is real but worthwhile.

Our board had a monitoring session last night that was on the heels of a couple of really solid sessions and it was a little rough.

So it's a process.

It's about continuous process and continuous improvement.

And we're very glad you're part of our SOFG family.

I will now turn it over to Superintendent Jones for comments.

and for the progress monitoring training our college excuse me training on our college and career readiness goal.

Thank you President Hersey.

Thank you.

Thank you to the audience tonight.

Good evening.

This afternoon will be a little different than most of the board meetings in that we'll have progress monitoring as Carol talked about.

And we'll talk about one of our academic goals around college and career readiness.

We know that reading is critical and math has become increasingly important in our modern world, but our third goal around college and career readiness are how are we getting our students college and career ready, prepared for college, career, and life.

So tonight we'll consider the metrics that show our progress toward the college and career readiness goal.

And in that spirit it's a good time to acknowledge the culmination of years of learning as we prepare for high school commencement ceremonies for the class of 2022. This class of graduates has distinguished itself with the resilience and focus that they've shown.

I look forward to congratulating these young people at some of the ceremonies and I know the school board will also be out in force at graduations.

Another highlight for our secondary students this spring is a return to in-person prom.

I know that's been a big deal for many of our students.

While COVID is not gone and we know that we're taking additional precautions so that they can have a great time.

And we're pleased that we can usher in the return of some of our treasured school traditions.

And while families and students are looking at the calendar and planning for their summers my staff is also looking at the calendar and already planning for the 22-23 academic year.

Lastly I want to just note that as you may have heard school start times next year will largely be the same as they are this year.

We haven't solved our transportation challenges and I've asked my staff to continue to work on Work with child care providers, athletics, families, and other partners to ensure that we improve our services.

Our commitment is for all students to be in school, on time, and ready to learn.

And we won't give up until we get that right.

So this is an exciting time of our school year marked by anticipation and change.

And this school year is not over.

Work is not done.

We can pause to acknowledge the challenges met and traditions resuming.

So like I said we're going to talk about college and career readiness tonight.

We're going to have progress monitoring.

I'm going to interact with the board on some questions that they may have about the data and some observations.

We'll talk about the strategies that we're using as a as a district to really advance college and career readiness.

And Carol I know you said you're going to be a passive observer here but I invite you to jump on in any point in time because this is a learning opportunity for us and we're still in that phase.

So without further ado, President Hersey, I'll start talking about college and career readiness.

OK, I got the nod.

So we're grateful that we have the time here to discuss this important work to promote college and career readiness.

I also want to note that we're still, like I mentioned, in a learning stance with progress monitoring, and I look forward to continuing to learn with each of you.

And while we don't have AJ with us, we do have Carol.

And Carol, again, I want to invite you to participate as you see fit.

We'll follow the same sequence that we used for the third grade reading goal memo in February.

And we'll spend the first 10 minutes doing an independent, close reading of this important memo on college and career readiness.

This will be an opportunity to refresh what you all have looked at over the last several days, and then we can start with some observations of what you see in the data.

I will give you my summary, and then we'll have a little bit of back and forth.

So any questions on what we're attempting to do right now?

Okay, so let's take 10 minutes and do our close read of the memo.

And then once we're done with that, I will do a summary and then I'll ask you about your observations and any clarifying questions you have.

And the memo is this this document that's color coded starting with the with the blue and it ends in the in the gray.

So it is 425. We'll conclude at 435.

Actually, I'm sorry, but I have a question.

I am sorry we typically do not take questions at this portion in the meeting.

If you would like to reach out to our board office they could likely support you with what you might.

For all of those who are joining for public testimony, public testimony will begin no earlier than 5 p.m.

So if you are joined on Teams, it will be just a moment before you're ready for that portion of the meeting.

For those of you who just arrived, we're in a process called progress monitoring.

We're looking at our goal number three around college and career readiness.

We're measuring our progress to that end.

I'm leading a session with the board, and the board's gonna be asking me clarifying questions around the strategies that we're using to make progress towards ensuring our students are college and career ready.

How long is the meeting?

Oh, I bet you don't know.

Okay, it's 35 after.

Ready to proceed.

Okay, now that you've concluded your time reading the memo, I'll now take a few minutes to orient us to the conversation on the data.

As you saw at the top of the first page, based on the available data, I'm pleased to share that we're on track to meet our college and career readiness goal.

In particular this memo illustrates the progress SPS is making in helping students earn their credits and graduate on time having completed advanced coursework such as advanced placement, international baccalaureate, and or college in the high school courses.

So for our top line measure we see that the percentage of Black boys and teens who graduated and also successfully completed at least one advanced course was above target.

with the class of 2021 being around 12 points higher than the top line as your target.

And as we discussed last week, when we talked about interim goals and guardrails, we chose this top line since research shows that it correlates with post-secondary readiness.

And yes, we have the specific research to show that.

As you know from last Wednesday's conversation we also have two interims that we chose because of our statistical analysis that correlate with this top line measure.

And for last week's request we can provide you the analysis that validate these these selections.

So the interim measure number one is based on recent data and it's the number of ninth grade black boys and teens who earned at least three total credits with a minimum of 6.5 credits in ELA math and science by the end of 2021-22 semester one.

So I'm happy to share that this rate is currently about five points above the end of year target.

Regarding the interim measure number two is the 10th grade black boys and teens who earned at least nine total credits with a minimum of 1.5 credits in ELA, math and science, and one credit in social studies by the end of the 2021-22 semester one.

I'm also happy to share that this rate is currently about seven points above the year-end target.

Well that said overall we're making good progress and heading in the right direction given our investments in four major areas.

1. Relationship building such as mentoring.

2. Credit earning such as the 9th grade success tracker.

3. Advanced coursework such as our grading for equity work and partnership with the equal opportunity schools.

And 4. Pathway planning such as our access to the Seattle Promise for African-American male students.

African-American male students generally are taking more core subject courses in 9th and 10th grade and also more advanced courses in 11th and 12th grade.

This coupled with the impact of changes in the grading policy means it's reasonable that we anticipate continued top line progress with the class of 2022. That said, we will need to continue to closely monitor our progress and analyze the underlying trends and patterns in the data.

Now we'll turn to our discussion where we'll have, we ask for technical questions, tactical questions, and today we're going to talk primarily about strategic questions.

But before we do that, I want to open up to the board to just ask you, what are your observations as you look at this data?

So I want to open up to a free-flowing conversation around what are you seeing in these data?

Directors, feel free to hop in, and I just want to make sure that everybody is oriented.

There are some question stems to help formulate your questions as you're thinking about them.

The strategic questions, you see our progress monitoring at the top, so.

Still looking for observations, but if you have a question, you can go ahead.

I'm just I'm trying to clarify something.

It says under strategic, it says looking at table one.

Is that?

Is that the same as figure one?

Those are sample if you're looking under.

Yeah, that's this is in an imaginary situation.

It's not directly about what's before us.

Yeah.

immediate observations from directors.

Take it away Director Rankin.

I have I mean I have questions too but but my initial observation is that this you know six pages of of document represents a huge amount of work and effort and I think it can be seen the thoughtfulness is apparent to me in in kind of the different areas about that it's that it's addressing a lot of things that we've been talking about that you know I feel like we are being understood by staff and on the same page as to the things that we think are are important and the work that we're all doing together.

I especially appreciate the disaggregation of data.

to call out students with IEPs and multilingual students.

That's really helpful.

And also the few places where it talks about differences between school specific questions and district wide like the kind of zooming in and out is is is noted which I appreciate.

Please.

Thanks.

Yes, thank you for all this good information, data.

I look at it and I'm thinking maybe we aim too low.

You're already above any other targets.

That's awesome.

That's really great to see.

So that shows that the strategies your staff have selected are working.

I have questions still too, but I guess I'll wait on that.

But yeah, it's very encouraging.

Okay, should we dive into some questions?

Yeah, I just want to leave it open to see if any more observations on the data and then we can dive into some questions.

Sounds good.

My observations are that this is some, we have some promising trends it appears and so that's interesting to me that we might actually need to consider setting our targets higher.

And so I'm interested in the next part to talk about you know why we what we believe is true in terms of or why that's true what what's what's working.

There are I also noticed that there are a lot of moving parts and so it's going to be important to continue to it's incumbent upon us to make sure that we have First of all time to prepare.

I think we need to make sure we start getting these a week in advance so that we have enough time because there's a lot to digest.

And because we are going to need to work with staff to continue to refine this so that we are very clear about what it is that is working and why it's working.

And but super exciting.

to have this in front of us to be able to start this conversation.

I'm tickled.

So.

My main.

Thank you Director Hampson.

My main observation aside from the fact that this is. really seems to be really great news on the onset of the conversation around this goal.

It's similar to one of the points that Director Hampson brought up.

It seems as though as it should be this is an incredibly multi-layered strategy and approach to this goal.

And I just want to flag for board directors as we are monitoring this progress really understanding because this is very different from looking at our goals related to reading and numeracy.

The monitoring of this is going to take a little bit more nuance and understanding how each particular strategy is impacting the bottom line.

And so any help that staff could provide or context that we as a board could provide to to make that a little bit more clear moving forward I think would just only add to the process in a positive way.

But other than that general observations I'm very excited about what's in front of us at this moment.

Okay, proceeding on, just for context, remember there's four strategies, four main strategies that we're looking at.

Relationship building, credit earning, advanced coursework, and pathway planning.

And so all of our strategies, sub-strategies flow from those.

So you did ask some questions in advance, and I want to just tee some of those up, and then we'll have an open session for questions.

One of the questions was, What is our definition of a course being successfully completed?

So the answer to that, a successful completion of an advanced course is defined as passing the course with a D or better grade.

And that's a technical question.

That's the answer to that question.

We want to see probably a C plus or B or better.

But technically, that's the answer to that question.

There was another there was another question around in figure two, there's a statement talking about, however, in the 2021 school year, there was an increase between semesters.

Is that an error?

The graph appears to show opposite of that, where it's a decrease between 81.6 percent and 72.4 percent.

The answer is correct.

That was an error.

And the school year reference should have been 2019 to 2020. So our apologies for not catching that.

You all may have other questions.

Those are more technical questions.

I'd like to maybe hear some strategic questions that you have going forward.

So now would be the time.

Directors feel free to raise your hand.

I'm going to take chair's privilege really quickly.

I see you Director Harris.

One of the questions that I have is a bit of a permutation of number one on the sheet where it asks what claims can we make about how our efforts promote grading for equity.

are affecting this data.

I want to pull that back a little bit and zoom out.

Can you tell us when we are talking about grading for equity what does that mean.

Because I feel as though equity or rather the word equity has been co-opted in so many ways that it can be bent and twisted into whatever is serving the person that might be utilizing it at that moment.

So if we get like a specific understanding of what grading for equity is and how how that impacts our students and what does it mean to Seattle Public Schools.

So grading for equity in a nutshell is bias-free and informs learning.

Okay.

That that's grading for equity.

And and one of the claims that we want to make about grading for equity is that these efforts that we're making to grade more equitably has a positive effect on our top line.

Students receive more opportunities and support to demonstrate proficiency.

There's still a debate on whether this improvement results in improved secondary readiness, but we're giving more opportunities to show proficiency.

Yeah so I would just say if we're going to be utilizing the term grading for equity I would challenge us to think about what does it mean just to call it what it is instead of utilizing the word equity.

Absolutely.

Fantastic.

Love that though.

Director.

Sorry.

Can I ask a follow up question to that or is that.

Sure.

No go ahead.

Yeah just because that was one of my questions and so I want to.

take care of that while we're on that.

What I understood you to say I believe you said bias-free it informs learning.

So it's a set of strategies which I work I can't remember which of the memos it was in where I read it.

It makes sense to me that it was competency-based grading.

Is that correct.

And.

Love that idea personally but I don't want it to be about what I love in terms of what I think is right.

I want it to be about what is going to work.

And it sounds to me like there is a sense that that presents an opportunity to create better outcomes but we don't we don't know for sure that that's going to demonstrate in that that's going to actually result.

We don't have the data to necessarily know that that competency based quote unquote equity grading is going to necessarily have that impact.

Is that what I heard you say?

Yeah.

So the the kind of author or person that gets credit a lot of credit is this doctor named Joe Feldman and really This is what the CS and the SSC&I committee endorsed these specific practices that really allow for retakes, check in with students and families biweekly for in in no grades below 50. So that's how it plays out in practice.

I don't know if I answered your question but that's that's how it manifests.

So okay but so we don't know so it sounds great but we don't necessarily know that it's going to have the impact and so My question about is that then will that become something that we are in fact able to look at to see whether or not that's correlating to improvements?

Yeah, and Feldman talks about how this has high correlation.

So we believe from a theoretical research perspective it does.

We just don't have that data internally yet.

Okay so but there is some data that could be referenced in the analysis in the presentation that would tell us in other scenarios this is how it's had an impact.

I'm not sure exactly.

Okay I would like to know that.

I mean I can go out and get the book right but I'm looking for staff to present that as part of why that that is a demonstrated effective part of the strategy.

That that's it for me on that.

Thank you.

Director Harris.

I guess three questions.

I did not see that data compilation on research and evaluations work plan this year.

And do they have enough staff.

and frankly enough money to do that because if not we've got a significant serious problem.

Second question.

Have we reached out to our local colleges and gotten feedback on these practices and if not why not and are they perceiving us to be grade inflators.

And are our students being compared to other districts with different strategies and is it harming them?

Third question is.

I don't see the three through line in replication.

We all know that I am a huge believer in mentorships.

But the through line and replication just like our 13 schools how are we pushing this out.

How are we doing universal target is targeted universalism.

Thank you.

So thank you Director Harris.

I know that our REA team is interested in doing this.

doing this analysis, doing this compilation of data so that we can have a much cleaner understanding of the impacts.

Do they have the capacity?

I don't know, but I know I know that there's interest been stated there.

Regarding our partnership with local colleges, yes, we're in collaboration with colleges kind of consistently, but around this specific item, I don't know around how how much back and forth we're having with them.

Regarding harming, I don't think it's harming.

I think this is more consistent with what we'd see in some college grading kind of practices, particularly at the community and technical colleges.

Your third question around, basically, how do we take the targeted to the universal?

These four strategic areas that I talked about, they're already available to many schools.

We talked about, you know, example, the ninth grade success tracker.

that's being expanded as we speak.

And that's an example of how we're taking the targeted practices and moving them to the universal.

So that's our intent.

And I think that's what we're what we're endeavoring to do.

And in all these spaces, we're talking about reading, talking about math.

We're always trying to take the targeted and applying it to the universal.

Director Sargent.

Can you define REA?

Sorry, Research Evaluation and Assessment.

I have a follow-up.

Okay go ahead.

Go ahead.

Because one of my questions on here that I submitted was what are the barriers to making our individual school successes system-wide.

So to follow up on that of how they're being implemented what are the barriers to having that successfully accomplished.

It's the last one.

Can you repeat the last part of the question.

I'm sorry I didn't hear.

What are the sorry what are the barriers to making our individual school successes with true CC with CCR true system and district wide.

Yeah I think one of the things we're already implementing implementing many of these strategies district wide but the collaboration that we're having amongst across secondary schools is ensuring that we have some fidelity of implementation.

So that's that's our system wide strategy.

We're having conversations with our secondary principals around What are their what are some of their barriers and how do we address those?

Equal Opportunity Schools is a is a community based organization or even a nonprofit organization that is helping us to identify what our barriers are.

And so that's one of the things that they bring value to us so we can understand what those are.

They're giving us a third party unbiased assessment of what what our barriers are.

So that's been really helpful for us.

So they're being identified currently.

We don't we don't know the area where we're getting there.

Well, a lot of those barriers are around alignment, and I think that there's a we're developing a multi year plan that part of that is looking at a risk assessment.

Part of that is looking at doing our SWOT analysis with strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

And so that's all embedded in that in that work plan.

Thank you.

My follow up question to Director Harris's question about replication.

I had had a similar thought and then I wanted to challenge myself to kind of put it in the form of a a past historic looking strategic question.

And it is also connected to the initial observations that Director Hersey and I had made with respect to of all of the programmatic inputs or well I'm just going to call them inputs for now because they're kind of listed here as these are all the different programs that we're putting in place or have put in place.

And of all of these different layers what evidence do we have that they are have proven to be successful in having impacts on these top line outcomes that we seek and interim outputs that we seek and As well to what extent do we know that they can to what extent have they been demonstrated to be able to be integrated such that they're sustainable in the school communities or in that school building so that it's not something that has to be continually funded.

That's a great question.

I think in the aggregate, all of these working together will have an impact.

And one of the things I didn't mention is a barrier that we also need to take into consideration for strategies.

One barrier is safe and welcoming environment.

Many of our students who enter into advanced placement classes or IB sometimes don't feel comfortable in those spaces.

And so it's not just the kind of the technical strategy, it's also the welcoming environment strategy, the sense of belonging and those type of things.

As we look at strategies such as the Ninth Grade Success Tracker, we've had, you know, we've seen that there's powerful outcomes in other places like Chicago.

And so we know that other districts have had really good success in implementing those.

We don't know yet how powerful and what type of impacts we have in the aggregate of all of our strategies.

And so we're in that phase right now of stepping back to say, What's working.

We think we have early positive impact but we don't have a good capture on the historical system wide impact.

We know that certain certain certain of our high schools that have IB are seeing some success.

We see certain high schools that have college in the high school are having success.

But across the board we haven't seen how all of the strategies working together have had an impact yet.

Any follow ups on that.

Oh, sorry.

No, go ahead.

Were you gonna follow up on that?

No.

Oh, yeah.

No, I think that's sufficient.

Go ahead.

I'm not sure who's next.

Superintendent Jones, you talked about safe and welcoming schools.

Until adult behaviors change, that's not gonna change.

And so what is the strategy for setting an expectation?

And if the expectation is not met, what will the consequences be?

We have students in the room.

They understand consequences, both good and bad.

And we have to hold adults to those same consequences.

Well, simply put, in this board's wisdom, we have adopted guardrails.

guardrails together create the conditions for us to be able to be successful on our academic goals.

They range from anti-racist practices to safe and welcoming environment to engagement.

Those are all practices that we need to make sure are in place so that we can we can move forward with these with these strategies.

I don't think they can happen independent of each other.

I have a tactical question and a strategic question.

You only get one.

Pick the strategy.

I'm giving you a hard time.

My the tactical question is connected to grading that some other directors have already mentioned.

Specifically about the grading scale and the practices and where it's noted in here That a drop that has happened on first semester credit earning is an indication that the restoration of E grades has resulted in more students not earning credits.

Raises the question of whether we are returning at least partially to pre-pandemic trends.

So two questions about that.

When we eliminated the E during the pandemic I would like to see the E permanently eliminated.

I don't think we should be failing students.

They can get it incomplete and then have support to complete the course in my opinion.

But I know we don't have all the resources for that.

So my question is one about the grading policy and I know that Dr. Perkins and others that we've been talking about this a lot.

Long-term changes to that.

But my concern with the restoration of the E-grades has resulted to more students not earning credits is that instead of giving students an incomplete that they were being passed even though learning did not take place.

And so for me the problem isn't the restoration of an E.

The problem is how do we know if students The the the goal isn't to get the credit and check that box.

The credit should be a reflection of learning that took place.

And so the credit doesn't mean anything without the learning.

So I guess how do we because if the goal was just to give everybody passing credits you know probably someone could go into power school and just give everybody passing credits then we've met our goal.

But that's obviously not.

not serving our students.

So how I guess in the conversation about grading I guess this is probably a bigger question just how do we know what that actually means and how do we know that students are demonstrating what they know and are able to do as reflected as in that grade.

And then how do we make sure that adults are being held accountable.

for providing support to a student who is not get you know didn't get it for whatever reason.

Let me take a crack at that before I lose the thread here.

We believe that grading has had an impact.

We do believe that grading has had an impact.

And we talk about this concept of competency based grading.

if we do that right and we do that well, that that will have an impact.

We're not going to see just passing students along.

That's why we talk about this competency based based approach.

One of one of the pieces that's working really well right now is our bi-weekly check-ins so that we can we can do a formative kind of of assessment if you will of how it's going so we don't get to the end of the semester and then we say oh what happened.

So we we're looking at competency along the way.

So that's just one example of how we're trying to make sure that the concept is is supported by good practice.

Thank you.

And then my strategic question is about So it's great that our numbers overall are higher than what our target was but then when you break it down it's not higher for all students with captured within the whole.

So I'm wondering about so I would not necessarily support aiming our target higher because I think that will camouflage the students that the students with IEPs and students and multilingual students who may not be making You know getting that support and making that progress.

So I am wondering about strategy for supporting the success of students with IEP's and multilingual students in advanced courses and in in general courses.

But something that I wanted to point out that is a little bit of a red flag for me is that on the back page talking about advanced coursework.

The back page of the packet it says

You just take the multilingual question out and so we can ask that separately because there's a you smushed together a whole bunch of questions and I would like to.

Well but there's a commonality here on the back page between the two of them that I'm trying to point out.

Which is that it says here teachers need help in how to differentiate grades slash standards for students with disabilities.

And then also says teachers need help in how to differentiate grades slash standards for our multilingual students.

I we do not have different standards or different grades for students with disabilities or students whose first language is not English.

And we expect that they are perfectly capable of of the same level of achievement of students without disabilities and students whose first language is English.

Let me jump on this right away.

So we should be differentiating instruction.

That was not written correctly.

We what we need to just say is differentiation.

Thank you.

Not differentiation of standards.

Differentiation of instruction.

Yes.

Which I would absolutely agree we need support across the system in our for general education and ELIA's and special education for the support in in differentiated instruction and supports to access the curriculum that everyone else is accessing not to lower our standards for those students.

You're absolutely correct.

So thank you.

Thank you.

And so that's I guess strategy wise.

What is the strategy to increase access to differentiated instruction and appropriate support as opposed to a lowering of standards.

Yeah, so we're we're using, for example, one of the concepts we're using is universal design for learning and equity training for our educators offered this summer.

We're looking at comprehensive coordinated early intervention, intervening services and disproportionality.

Those are type of efforts that were underway to start to train us, start to understand the concepts, not just from a concept, but take it to practice.

And so there's a there's there's several different things that we're doing, but those are a couple of examples.

To Director Hampson's point of separating the two specifically for students with disabilities you know an IEP is a is a tool for a student who qualifies for support as having a disability to access general education curriculum.

It's not to yeah put them in a different track but I will add too that we know that there are students with cognitive and developmental disabilities that Their ability to access with support is is markedly different from a typically developing student and that we also need to make sure that in those student IEP's there is a that part of their specially designed instruction for which they qualify by having a disability specifically calls out if their goals or expectations are not the same as meeting grade level standards.

But for many many students with IEP's and disabilities their goals are to access and achieve at the same level of a peer without a disability.

I could just say yes to what you said.

Absolutely.

I mean I couldn't say it better.

But that's that that is our intent.

That's our goal.

Those are those are.

That's some of the professional development that we're engaged with.

And so that is the spirit and actually what we're trying to do.

And my follow up to that was the just the specific question what what's the strategy for supporting the success of multilingual students in advanced courses.

Yes so with with our multilingual.

Given that there's only a 10 point gap which I think is some pretty good news but still It's a gap.

Yeah, same thing.

We're talking about differentiation.

We're also talking about expanding credit opportunities for English learners through our expanded world language credit testing.

It enables them to get credit.

We're also looking at helping teachers with differentiation once again.

And then another piece that we're doing, we're examining the schedules of multilingual students to ensure the support classes aren't conflicting with advanced course taking.

And so those are some of the strategies that we're doing.

In terms of those assessments the linguistic assessments does that mean they can find an online course.

where they can get access to the language and then get the assessment and therefore get the credit.

No I don't think it's that sophisticated.

I'm talking about just in the course calendar how the courses are being laid out.

I thought you said something before that that had to do with.

Because there is a I thought that was in here about having the opportunity because I know that we do assessments for.

You're talking about language proficiency.

Yeah.

Yeah.

As a way I thought I saw that in here as a way to support credit attainment for multilingual learners.

Yeah let me just say Chief Sealth is doing some really innovative pieces on that and so I can get some more data on that around specific strategies but they're being very intentional with that.

Okay.

Before you go Director Salem-Hurwitz.

Carol how are we doing.

Any any.

Want to raise your hand at all and say hey we're.

Can you hear me.

That's my first question.

Okay, good.

I am a little bit of a personal challenge and that my power went out.

I had to run across the street and I'm now in like a food court, but it's okay.

I've heard most of the conversation.

I think that, you know, you're having good discussion and you're digging into the facts and just give you some advice.

Try very hard, and I am not successful at this yet, and I wasn't last night, to avoid as much as you can commenting, board members, commenting, offering advice, and really, really, really try to just ask the question, the underlying question that you need the answer to.

And it just takes practice.

But the discussion is right on target with what you're trying to figure out, which is how to make sure that you're continuing to improve on this particular goal.

Any questions you have for me?

No, I just want to make sure we're on track with the process.

Yeah, and I think that President Hershey should feel free to say, wait a minute, that's an opinion.

Let's get back to the question.

I mean, you know, very kindly, of course, but That's sort of part of how we get better is when we check each other.

So don't you know hesitate to weigh in with kindness.

Noted.

So.

So I know we.

I know we only have a few more minutes.

I want to just give board members a couple more opportunities to ask questions please.

Director Sommeritz.

Thank you.

I have this observation about so I'm looking at Figure 2 and Figure 3 which are the percent of 9th and 10th graders on track for credit accumulation.

And there is definitely a drop off between 9th and 10th grade.

So my question is do we think that is important to address that gap that drop off in terms of our ability to achieve our top line KPI.

And if so do we have hypotheses or strategies around that.

Yeah, well, we know that getting off to a fast start in 9th grade is really important, and we also have studied that starting from middle school to transition to 9th grade.

I don't know what that what attributes to that drop off, but it is tremendously important to examine that gap, and that's part of the research that the team is doing to say, well, what constitutes barriers in terms of that gap?

I don't know what that is yet, but it's tremendously important.

I have a second question, which is a few weeks ago we were given a presentation at a budget work session around how we, a budget around these goals.

And I'm just wondering if any of the information presented in this memo helped inform the proposed budget that would shared to us a few weeks ago and is it a reflection of strategies that we found to have worked or is it more a reflection of things that we have not tried yet and we would like to try?

I think largely it's impacted this memo around how we're budgeting.

We want to make sure that we're aligned on let me see it's in the section around what we're asking the board to do and Not necessarily specific line items at this point, but we're just really asking the board to keep us accountable to stay aligned and organized around these concepts.

And so.

We want to make sure that we have we're making decisions with specific strategies that best serve our students of color furthest from educational justice.

This has funding implications.

And so in general we're looking for your endorsement your support for these strategies as we bring them forward probably in the out years.

Superintendent Jones one thing that I noted again back to Director Harris's question around replication.

The I was heartened to see I noticed DEEL Department of Education Early Learning is in here specifically in reference to reviewing data together around this.

And Mike now I'm trying to make sure I don't state any opinions or observations or maybe okay.

It's really critical that our all of our partners that are engaging with Seattle Public Schools students also understand what it is that we're trying to what kind of impacts we're trying to have what kind of outcomes we seek for students.

And this is starting to become a really powerful tool to have those conversations collectively so that we're all talking about the same thing and it's not just this amorphous oh we need tutoring.

For what for you know why toward what end.

And so I'm wondering Because there are a number of relational relationships with partners and community-based partners.

And so what's our experience in terms of getting them on board with the specific strategies and what it is that we're trying to accomplish and being able to say to them hey we we this is where we are with with the data and we think that if we can have an impact in these areas then we can have these outcomes for our kids and are you on board with this and and then and that also plays into I mean it's all aligning all the resources right and so I'm just curious how much this has started to become part of the conversation with all those other partners that tap in.

Yeah I'd like to just just focus on Deal for a second.

Deal has been is one of is a tremendous partner.

They've they've Reoriented kind of their work plan their strategy their vision to align with Seattle Public Schools.

Director Somerich you can correct me on that since you sit on the LOC.

And they're really focused on college and career readiness.

And they're and they're also invested because they have the Seattle Promise.

And so they've been they've been actively working to share data and data analysis.

And we talk about our progress together.

And so it's a really strong partnership and we we're we go back and forth a lot.

sometimes we get into even a tangle around what does the data mean.

And so, and then Director Harris, I know this, I know this will, this will probably push you somewhere, but they also hold us accountable with performance measures around what we're doing in terms of our progress.

And so the whole backs and money even is attached to this.

And so we have, we have a good relationship.

I don't know if Director Samaritz, I want to invite you in to that around what you're seeing with, with Dill.

I know I'm supposed to be answering the question, but if you could give some flavor to it, if you'd like.

Yeah I actually was just going to talk about it in my board comments but I have to do it now.

That's okay.

I had was able to attend a retreat last week with Deal and it was data focused and it was remarkable to me how much alignment they have around the goals and measurement around the students and I think Dr. Jones' characterization around their objectives around career and college readiness it was it is very much in line with what we're talking about here.

So I I am very grateful for that partnership.

Okay so I have a question.

I see that Lisa has an additional question.

Anybody else.

Okay.

So these will likely be the last two.

So I'll give you the last word Lisa.

My last question is around the last bullet point on page six for board support.

It says consider prioritizing additional funding to reach our goals and timelines particularly for students not yet meeting our targets such as AMA African-American males and students with IEPs.

What when you say additional funding I I'm not recalling the through line between that request and what we've seen in our budget work sessions.

So would you be able to speak to exactly what that additional funding would be utilized for.

Not not yet.

We we do want we're trying to just signal that that's those are the ask that you should see in the forthcoming budgets.

Fantastic.

Yes.

That's all I need to know.

Thank you.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Following back up on some information that was given to us earlier.

Now that we know that the definition of successfully completing these grades or these classes are a D or better.

How do we know then that even though we're reaching our targets that we are in fact as it says in our executive summary dramatically improving the college and career readiness and post-secondary opportunities for African-American boys and teens.

We don't with a D grade but we do with the ideally with the competency based grade.

And so that's that's I.

We believe there's a correlation with the competency integrating and post-secondary success at some point.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

That makes a ton of sense.

Okay.

Any other questions from directors.

All right.

Fantastic.

So we will I believe continue on with our agenda unless somebody thinks that is inappropriate at this time.

Do you want to give Carol any close out.

I was just about to do that.

Thank you.

Thank you Carol.

If you if you have any feedback for us.

Can you hear me.

Yep.

Yes.

I can hear you well.

You know just really continuing the same.

Typically at least in our board sessions we then go move on to grading ourselves on how well we did with the rubric.

And I don't know if AJ's been doing that with you.

But it seems to me that if that's not part of your normal practice and you haven't done that yet, we could probably do that informally in a meeting after this and then try to integrate that next step, maybe your next monitoring session.

Have you done that in the past?

We have done that in the past for the sake that we have done the comment and folks who I would like to do it but would board directors be interested in.

I just don't know if this particular moment.

Yeah that's fine.

And you know other ways to do it is to just do it you know watch the video and kind of do it on your own and you know there's all kinds of ways to skim that cap.

That's the only thing.

And again it's a pleasure to be part of this and keep up the good work.

Thank you.

We appreciate your presence.

Thanks.

All right.

Take care.

Bye bye.

Take care.

Okay.

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

May I have a motion for the consent agenda.

In a moment you may.

Indeed.

Take your time.

I move approval of the consent agenda.

Second.

Thank you.

Approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Director Hampson and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

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

Okay.

Seeing none.

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

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All right.

This passes unanimously.

We have now come to the board committee report section of the agenda.

I do not believe any committees have met since our last meeting.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

All right.

So we will skirt on past that unless anybody has a major pressing update.

Please make it quick.

Go ahead.

Yeah I would just like to say that our next SSC&I committee meeting is next next week.

Right.

And I'm just very excited about work that's happening on inclusionary practices and we will have some I will be bringing a BAR for some policy policy changes and I will also be inviting directors to join me in a couple of community sessions to look at after we get them we'll get the drafts from from staff and they'll be in the meeting minutes but I also wanted to give another opportunity to people just to see them and reflect and I will be inviting you all to join me at you know maybe three different times.

So just look out for that.

Will do.

Thank you.

Okay.

We have now reached the public testimony portion of the agenda.

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

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

So for any folks who might be joining us via the Teams channel, we will not be taking public testimony via Teams.

Preferably not.

So if you would please take a moment to go ahead and prepare yourself to call in.

That would be ideal.

Board Procedure 1430BP provides the rules for testimony and I ask that speakers are respectful of these rules.

I will summarize some important parts of this procedure.

First testimony will be taken today from those individuals called from our public testimony list and if applicable the waiting list.

which are included in today's agenda posting on the school board website.

No worries.

Only those who are called by name should unmute their phones or step forward to the podium.

And only if you would please take a moment to go ahead and prepare.

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

The total amount of time allowed will not exceed two minutes for the combined number of speakers.

And time will not be restarted after the new speaker begins.

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

If a speaker cedes their time to a later speaker on the testimony list or waiting list the person to whom time was ceded will not be called to provide testimony again later in the meeting as there is only one speaking slot per person.

Those who do not wish to have time ceded to them may decline and retain their place on the testimony list.

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

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

But just a couple of logistical announcements for today.

A beep will sound when your time is exhausted.

And I also want to let people know that we have a slightly different logistical setup today with some people who have joined via Teams.

So if your mic has been disabled and you're on Teams and I do call your name then we'll try and get it set up so that you can provide your testimony today.

And then finally if anyone is not in this room because we're at capacity in this room and I call your name I'll try and give a moment to make sure that you're able to enter the room and I'll give I'll go back through the names again at the end in case we missed anybody who was in the lobby.

The first speaker on today's list who I believe actually probably is joining us via Teams is our invited speaker from Lincoln High School Kion Salami.

Okay.

Hello Directors and Superintendent Jones.

I'm Kion Islami Lincoln's ASB President.

I speak today to highlight Lincoln High School's flourishing student community.

Students take part through clubs athletics our house system ASB and other student organized activities.

Lincoln has 65 student clubs each distinctive and routinely meeting ranging from common interests like Robotics Club to affinity groups like Asian Student Union.

We have high we have high participation in athletics with around 700 unique students joining in the fall winter and spring seasons.

More than half of our current student more than half of our current student body.

We have this level of participation despite having no athletic facilities.

As part of Lincoln's house system 9th graders are assigned to one of four houses according to their mentorship.

Circle triangle oval and square house.

This system was implemented to prevent a pecking order from forming as every 9th grader automatically shares a house with the upperclassmen.

Lincoln also works to integrate 9th graders into high school using a peer mentor program called Link Group where upperclassmen lead meetings teach lessons and direct discussions in 9th grade mentorships.

Mentorship classes mentorship classes are essential for integrating 9th graders and are a big part of who we are as a school community.

Students at Lincoln care about the community and are active in improving it.

In a collaboration between Lincoln's Feminism Club and ASB and as a and as a result of a direct request by students in a house meeting earlier this year students student leaders worked with this district to get Lincoln bathroom stocked with free hygiene products in accordance with Washington law.

Just last month Lincoln students organized a protest against sexual assault with nearly a quarter of the school participating.

Lincoln students have planned and hosted service projects which for this school year include a food drive benefit food drive benefiting Common Ground a clothing drive benefiting Mary's Place a toy drive benefiting Wellspring and a blanket drive benefiting Seattle Humane Society.

Being such a young school Lincoln is in a unique position where its culture hasn't fully formed but as it is it's shaping up to be something great.

I ask that you continue to work to incorporate the requests made by the Lincoln Students Against Sexual Assault and that you support mentorship and advisory programs district wide.

Thank you for your time.

Next speaker is Ava Bender.

Ava Bender.

Hello I'm Eva Bender.

I'm currently a Latin 2 student at Roosevelt High School and I started a petition that is being handed to you right now to keep the Latin program at Roosevelt High School and I gathered more than 900 signatures from students alumni parents teachers UW professors parents of incoming students and members of the community who all want to see the Latin program continue next year at Roosevelt.

I know that there are plenty of incoming students as well that want to take Latin but they are not being allowed to sign up for it because Latin was taken off of 8th grade registration.

I myself started Latin as a summer online class before 9th grade to get into the Roosevelt Latin program.

I then spent a full year online during the pandemic as well and I can tell you that any online class is extremely difficult.

I'm a hardworking student but I struggled in Latin online.

I persisted because I wanted to put time into this.

I wanted Latin to be my future at Roosevelt and I still want that.

Latin is my community and it's the only class that I have with all the same people for four years.

I've now invested two years in the Latin program and now would be the time where I'm supposed to be able to take the UW College in the High School Latin class but I'm being left without a class to take.

I gathered classmate signatures for those that wanted to continue Latin and at least 18 students want to continue to take Latin next year.

The last two principals of Roosevelt told us that the Latin program would be there would be there at Roosevelt for us to finish but without a principal right now Latin was canceled and we were told that the only way for us to continue our language is to take online Latin with the Spokane School District.

We should have the opportunity to finish this program.

Ms. Schofield our teacher is staying at Roosevelt and is wanting and willing to teach us.

Please think about the opportunities that are being taken away from many kids not offering Latin at Roosevelt and please let us continue to have at least one period of Latin available until we can finish the program.

The next speaker is Shadow Lakedee.

Shadow Lakedee.

I'm calling.

Hello.

My name is Shadda Lisi.

I'm currently a junior at Cleveland STEM High School.

I'm here today to talk to you about an injustice being carried out against our current principal Catherine Brown.

Early in 2022 Catherine Brown sent an email to families informing them that teachers would no longer be contact tracing at school.

As a result of this the district opened a disciplinary investigation into her for ignoring a directive to withhold the information about changes in COVID-19 contact tracing from the Cleveland community.

To put it simply Catherine Brown is being disciplined for doing exactly what students and families have been asking the school officials and the district to do throughout this whole pandemic.

Communicate with us.

Principal Brown Principal Brown is being replaced by a woman named Marnie Campbell whom the district assigned to us.

When myself and my fellow students learned this the first thing we did was research her and what we found was to put it mildly concerning.

When you search Marnie Campbell's name one of the first things you'll find is an article from the Seattle Times about a sexual assault lawsuit.

In 2005 a 12-year-old girl at Nathan Eckstein Middle School alleged that her computer science teacher was sexually abusing her and making inappropriate comments to her.

When she reported this behavioral to Principal Campbell she failed to remove the girl from the teacher's class or take other action to correct the situation.

Even going so far as to state that the girl needed counseling and that she was making the allegations up for attention.

The teacher the allegations were made against had no disciplinary action taken against him.

Let me make this very clear.

The Cleveland community does not want this risk at our school.

We want and deserve to be able to have input from staff students and families about who our principal will be.

I implore you on behalf of the Cleveland community to rehire Catherine Brown as the principal of Cleveland.

Thank you for listening to me speak today.

The next speaker is Mia Dolan.

Mia Dolan.

My name is Mia Dong and I am currently a senior attending Cleveland STEM High School.

I firmly believe that the appointment of Marnie Campbell as the next principal will cause irreparable harm to our community.

Campbell has a history of actions that do not fundamentally align with the values vigorously upheld at Cleveland.

When a 12-year-old student reported that she had been sexually abused by a teacher she did not receive any support from Campbell.

She was not immediately removed from his classroom and her safety was put in jeopardy.

Campbell even suggested that the student was fabricating the allegations to get attention.

This instance highlights Campbell's inability to make rational decisions and show even the slightest concern for her students.

The entire Cleveland community is outraged by the decision to hire Campbell.

We have an incredibly diverse student body.

It's important to acknowledge that Campbell has only been the principal of predominantly White schools.

This will undoubtedly influence how she will manage Cleveland.

She lacks the empathy and experience needed to address the issues that are important to us.

My younger sister will be attending Cleveland next year.

I have a responsibility to her and other students to leave behind a prosperous community.

Who will my sister turn to for help when Campbell inevitably fails her.

It seems like the Seattle Public School District is more concerned with asserting their power and control through a lapdog than actually trying to find a principal that prioritizes the well-being of their students.

The superintendent and his cabinet keep assuring us that they want to hear our voices but why wasn't this concern present before Campbell was chosen without any input from students families or staff.

When hordes of people express their anger fear and confusion against injustice how can you sit there and say that this is in our best interest.

Thank you for listening.

The next speaker is Rina Mateja.

Hello my name is Rena Mateja and I'm a current senior at Cleveland High School.

And today I stand here disappointed.

Disappointed by systems and disappointed by people in power who made promises that youth of color and student voice would be prioritized.

And today that is not the case.

We were promised student engagement transparency and not being and not and our voices not being used as checkboxes but somehow that did not happen.

The allegations that are against the new appointed principal are not okay.

You selected a person who sided with a White family who tried to shut down an ethnic studies class.

A family who depicted students of color and their firsthand experiences as racism as venting racial hatred.

someone who had among the lowest climate survey numbers in the district and someone who during their tenure at the center school enrollment plummeted from 299 in 2009 to 221 in 2016 when the district finally removed them from the center school.

There was no community student voice or teacher voice that was taken into account when this was an appointment and that is one thing that we cannot have anymore is appointments.

It is important that not only student voice is taken into account but community voice is taken into account because these are the decisions that are going to affect us directly.

So appointments by people who do not have experience in the schools is not okay and it cannot happen anymore.

And we don't want a new appointment.

We want Ms. Brown back to be clear.

And there were a lot of people who we spoke to today that could not speak for you, Mr. Jones.

So I hope that you are at Cleveland answering our questions because there are people who said that they cannot speak for you.

So I hope that you could speak for yourself.

And I hope to stop recycling district employees who are not fit and finding ones who will actually be successful in buildings and who actually will thrive in buildings especially with students of color students furthest away from educational justice and students who are there to learn and have a good experience.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Mia Dabney.

My name is Mia Dabney.

I am the General ASB President of Cleveland High School and the President of the NAACP Youth Council.

It's important to me to have a leader of the school who holds values of the school.

Cleveland High School had that and you stripped her away from her position.

The Superintendent the Mayor and the Director of African-American Studies have all had children go through Cleveland.

and they know firsthand the environment relationships and support systems their families have received at Cleveland.

We need that type of leadership and it starts with having leaders who are rooted in the community.

And you took that away.

Actions speak louder than words.

And I'm going to say it one more time.

Actions speak louder than words.

You all constantly say you care about Black and Brown students and their success but your actions do not prove that.

Include youth in decision making at all levels consistently every day with every decision you are constantly making.

I'm a senior and I'm leaving.

I'm going away to college but I'm still here fighting because I don't want to leave these underclassmen here with that principle and that chaos.

I do not want them to be disrespected and feel unsafe in that school building.

The next speaker is Dahlia Christensen.

Dahlia Christensen.

Hello.

My name is Dahlia Christensen.

I'm a 9th grader at CliftonSlim High School.

Let me start off by saying that our school is exceptional.

We are unique.

We are different and we have our own way of doing things that can't be found anywhere else.

We have an incredibly strong and diverse student body and pride ourselves on student voices and advocacy.

The majority of our teachers are intent on letting us be heard as well as having our experiences to be the best possible version that they can be at this school.

Principal Brown not only upheld these values but worked to make them mandatory and a part of our administration.

We were told by her that our opinions matter our stories matter and that us simultaneously as individuals and as a community have the power to make things change.

And we do.

So imagine our surprise when Principal Brown was taken out of her position first concerning her health and then concerning an investigation that was caused by her being completely transparent with her students.

Something we've been asking the district to do for years.

They didn't tell us that they were stopping contact tracing but Ms. Brown came through for us and did which allowed case numbers to go down and less families to get sick.

But at a district like that as we can clearly see from the current events they didn't.

Ms. Brown is being punished for caring more than the district itself.

We demand not only crystal clear communication from you as a district but a formal apology from this from the district and as a superintendent for punishing Ms. Brown for caring about our well-being.

Let's list some key points off.

Marnie Campbell has taught at predominantly white and North End schools.

Cleveland is a majority BIPOC like BIPOC school a progressive school and is also located in South Seattle.

The Cleveland student body is justifiably angry and frustrated regarding the decision.

We were not consulted whatsoever and staff and students didn't have any say in this hiring process.

We understand that you are trying to do the right thing but your system is inherently flawed.

Whether you know it or not I found via the Sounding Times Marty Campbell was primarily involved in a sexual assault case regarding a 6th grade student of X-T Middle School.

She not only failed to take action in the student's favor and protection but she also told the 12-year-old child that she had made claims up for attention.

How can you expect us to feel safe when you appoint this woman to our school.

The next speaker is Nia Speedy.

Thank you so much.

My name is Nyah Spivey.

I am a senior at Cleveland High School and as my peers have said Cleveland is a very diverse group of people and Cleveland is different than a lot of other SPS schools in the fact that we have a lot of ethnic studies at our school.

We have a really strong STEM STEM field at our school and we have a lot of diversity.

Marnie Campbell would not be a good fit for our school because she doesn't fit that demographic.

Miss Brown was our principal and she gave us all of our all of our teachers of color and she made sure that the staff represented the students that go to that school.

Marnie Campbell does not represent our student body.

She does not understand the feelings that students go through.

She does not understand what it is to be Black.

She does not understand what it is to be a minority.

She is a white woman.

And that is not a good fit for Cleveland.

I'm looking directly at you Jones because you are a Black man.

Your daughter graduated from Cleveland and you are a person of power.

You specifically gave us Marnie Campbell and that is not an option.

I am looking directly at you and I'm calling you out right now because that is not acceptable for Cleveland.

Sorry.

Ms. Brown was fired because she was giving us the clarity that we needed and the clarity that we ask all of you to give us every day.

And so for her to be fired for that simple fact makes no sense at all.

We are just asking you for clear communication and to listen to us and everything that goes on in our school because you guys are not at our school every day.

We are at our school every day and we know what goes on in our school and we know our student body.

You do not know our student body.

So we are asking for you to hear us listen to us and implement our ideas and thoughts in every decision that you make.

The next speaker is Elias Cass.

Elias Cass.

Hi my name is Elias Cash and I'm the father of an SPS first grader and a 3-year-old receiving school-based services.

I was very very relieved to hear that SPS paused the plan to move to 3 tiers of bell time so I'd like to comment more broadly about transportation.

SPS claims to have students at the core of their decision making but awarding a contract to a company that hasn't been able to fulfill the basic obligations of their existing contract does not prioritize students.

Shifting the responsibility of those shortcomings exclusively to families by completely upending start times does not prioritize students.

SPS needs a transparent inclusive process that looks at all options when revising the transportation service standard rather than having a predetermined outcome set before inviting feedback.

Knowing what we do about first students frequent and unapologetic mishandling of student safety it is unthinkable that they would just be handed another contract.

There is another competitive bid with an excellent track record whose fleet is fully equipped with GPS which would both improve safety and decrease the day-to-day work of the transportation staff answering questions like where is my bus and where is my child.

Reducing that work would free them up for the long-term work of revising the transportation standards with the input of all stakeholders.

With the years reprieve more creative solutions can be considered like building the bus routes around students who qualify and intend to ride the bus rather than building routes around students who qualify regardless of whether or not they actually intend to ride the bus.

Building routes through an opt-in process would allow for intelligent routing in order to fill buses more efficiently which reduces the number of buses and drivers required and improves funding from the state who want to see buses mostly full.

Many special ed students can ride a regular bus which both promotes inclusivity and is more efficient.

This planning and coordination will take time and work and the Transportation Department needs to have the resources to do this work with families rather than shifting the entire burden to families to just figure out how to deal with school starting well after they have to be at work.

If we do end up in a situation again where there are not enough drivers for all routes we need a transparent process to determine how routes are prioritized.

It's not enough for SPS to say that they prioritize equity or students for others from educational justice.

Those rubrics and data need to be public.

Please begin this process before the start of the next school year so this time around we can ensure that all voices are heard and the results are in line with our values as a district.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Zoe Kyleson.

Zoe Kyleson.

Zoe Kyleson.

Moving to the next speaker then Cameron Page.

My name is Cameron Page.

I'm a gender-fluid student who attends Cleveland High School.

I am a sophomore and I'm here to talk about the hiring of our alleged new appointed principal Marani Marani Campbell.

A person who doesn't who we don't want in charge of such a progressive school and may con makes us concerned for our staff and students safety and well-being.

I am disgusted.

I am disgusted by the lack of transparency from the schools and the school systems for claiming to care about the health and safety and care of staff and students.

If we were cared about you would know if your child has been in contact with anyone with COVID-19 and they would care appointing a principal who denies sexual assault allegations claiming they're for attention.

I am disgusted that we haven't been listened to and our voices haven't been heard and I'm tired.

Tired that the school system has failed us again and doesn't listen to our voices.

Our principal doesn't deserve what happened to her.

She was being transparent and honest with what was happening with the lack of contract tracing and is being punished for that.

We have worked with Ka I have worked with Katherine Brown through the school year to push our school into progression for acceptance of all.

And with this new principal coming on all I can see is a step back from progress we have made.

But I will not be knocked down.

We will not be knocked down.

We will not let our voices go unheard and I will not let the little girl at Nathan Eckstein and who knows how many more see no justice because in the end Seattle Schools is nothing without its students or teachers.

We deserve to be heard.

We deserve a principal we want.

The staff and teachers deserve to work in a safe environment and be transparent and honest at all times with parents.

and our voices shouldn't be silenced by a school system.

Rehire Catherine Brown because she is a principal that cares about her community.

If not then let us choose.

Let our opinions matter in the final choice.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Alex Zimmerman.

Zecheil, a demi-Nazi fascist mob and bandita.

What is you want make from America?

Concentration camp?

What has happened here?

It's a nightmare.

Why people here sit six feet one another and outside there's 40 people without room and without limitation.

Why you doing this?

It's idiotic situation.

And I talk about this 3,000 times in consul chamber.

You more dangerous than Nazi or Come, call me, you know what it means, because you are, by definition, natural born degenerate idiot.

It don't have sense.

You don't want what these people present.

Look, there's 40 people outside clapping every time when somebody speak.

Why you don't doing this?

What is BS this?

Can you explain to me?

Who make decision?

A teacher?

A teach student?

So this a concentration camp?

So everybody under control?

Guys, are you understand about your talking?

I told you many time, you very low class professional.

If you broken a constitution, state constitution, open public meeting act, by definition you are criminal, you are bandita.

You understand about your talking?

It's very simple.

And you teach student when you don't know us rule in constitution, house law.

What is you talking about, guy?

Why you doing this circus?

You thinking it's not enough?

Open door.

People can sit outside.

Room huge.

Look how many people have six feet.

Where else you find six feet?

I go right now, speak everybody.

Nobody have six feet.

Nobody have six feet.

Why you have six feet?

Why?

This is exactly what's happened.

Guys, I speak with you many times.

You need doing something, because what you're doing right now is a nightmare.

For last 30 years, you bring two generation Seattle people to total collapse.

You know what this means?

They acting like a zombie.

They acting like an idiot.

It's your job.

You understand?

You did this for last 30 years.

Speaker is Chris Jackins.

My name is Chris Jackins.

Box 84063 Seattle 98124. My compliments to the other speakers today.

Nice to have you here.

On the K-5 math adoption.

Drop the expensive online costs that increase screen time and that reduce human teacher time.

Concentrate on physical books that students can take home.

Please vote no.

On Interagency Academy School two points.

Number one the improper closure action deprived families of their rights under state law including required formal hearings.

Number two the district's own argument affirmed by a court was that state law applies when a physical school site is proposed to be closed for instructional purposes.

On Rainier Beach five points.

Number one please do not demolish or replace the school.

The project has been rife with biased review.

Number two a prior school board sent a letter to the city landmarks board warning against landmarking the school.

The letters context included the district having recently sued the landmarks board.

Number three.

On Rainier Beach the district hired Bassetti Architects one of whose principal employees in the project was simultaneously the chair of the city landmarks board.

Number four the area of Rainier Beach High School is the site of a centuries old Duwamish tribe village as well as the modern Paul Robeson Performing Arts Center scheduled to be demolished.

Number five The board should take action to retain some history of the school as occurred at Garfield Franklin West Seattle Roosevelt and Cleveland.

Thank you very much.

The next speaker is Barbara Barbara Trosper.

Barbara Trosper.

Hello.

My name is Barbara Trosper.

I live in District 7 but my child is a 7th grader at Washington Middle School in District 5. First I want to say thanks to the board.

The policy work that you're doing makes a difference for our students.

Next I want to thank district staff for the work they're doing on making advanced learning accessible to all students.

However I want to share that the advanced learning label does no good if the school or teachers are not empowered to provide the service.

In the four years of having the AL label my child has received half a year of walk-to-reading.

Elementary teachers shared that the school didn't buy the necessary workbooks they teach to the middle or that advanced learners do fine on the state test so they don't actually need support.

At Washington everyone is in general education because advanced learning services don't exist and the cohort was ended.

This means that teachers are responsible for providing an appropriate challenge.

In classrooms where students' abilities can range four grade levels this is an impossible task.

My ask is that clear expectations support and some accountability checks be made so students can actually get advanced learning opportunities.

I also want to talk about student safety.

As parents we know our kids speak through actions.

This year my child has had a mouthful of liquid spit on their face.

They have been punched in the head.

A student tried to stab my child in the back with a pencil and I could share more.

I am not saying these are bad kids.

I believe these students are missing the social-emotional tools and support to make better choices.

Based on the data from the discipline dashboard Washington currently has 509 days of exclusion with under 600 students enrolled.

This is two times the rate of suspension and expulsion than the next highest discipline rate at a middle school.

The P223 report shows the enrollment at Washington has dropped by 61 students as of May.

I wonder are you all listening to the actions of students at Washington.

Is there a plan to teach them the tools to communicate with less physical actions.

Thank you for listening to me today.

I hope you can listen to our students.

The next speaker is Mason Bender.

Mason Bender.

Hi folks.

My name is Mason Bender.

You met my daughter Ava earlier.

I've been an active member of the school community working with school administrators on committees and helping to progress the opportunities for all of Seattle's public school kids.

I'm here for dozens of parents trying to maintain the commitment that was made to kids to finish their foreign language plan at Roosevelt.

Most importantly we all appreciate and respect those educating our kids.

I'm here though because right now nobody will listen engage and help solve our concerns.

The school points the finger at the district and the district points the finger at the school.

Parents attempts at meetings are canceled last minute.

Emails go virtually unanswered by both the school and the district.

Kids are being stranded and being set up.

I understand the board might be able to help our voices be heard and potentially help provide a single teacher for a single section of Latin to allow these kids to finish their program.

Just a couple of years ago there were 80 to 100 kids annually in the Latin program.

Now there are not enough students but it's not because of lack of interest.

It's because of lack of access.

Latin 1 was taken off of the 8th grade registration for the last two years.

If SPS needs to wind this down we understand but these are not one year classes.

These are four year paths.

All of this was foreseen and planned for by prior principals.

Our last two principals understood the issues.

We are between principals and the third principal in three years will not start until July 1. But time is of the essence on this and the kids are being pressured into switching classes and giving up the progression of four years of a foreign language and two years of college in the high school credit.

Schedules are being made and administrators filling in are moving things around very quickly.

The option given is a $200 a semester voucher for kids to take a canned online Latin class through Spokane schools and kids will need to attend two different online programs to keep costs down.

The class doesn't remotely pick up where the kids will finish the spring.

All of this while there's a fantastic Latin teacher still at Roosevelt.

Parents and teachers have proposed many solutions.

We are all begging to work with the school and the district to find a solution that maintains in-person education.

Please help us.

The next speaker is John Putz.

Hello my name is John Putz.

I have three children in Seattle Public Schools including two at Roosevelt.

I don't want to belabor what Ava and Mason talked about but I would like to say that I think Latin at Roosevelt is just one instance of challenging and interesting courses that are being cut at Roosevelt and I guess around the district.

It was heartening to hear you all talk about advanced learning before and trying to get more kids into those types of classes.

It seems unfortunate to be cutting those opportunities at the same time as you're trying to encourage them.

I think the school system in Seattle should really strive to engage students to nurture their curiosity to encourage them to see the world in different ways and to challenge them with difficult Topics.

Getting rid of Latin and other such courses leaves our students and our community poorer.

I think this will ultimately lead to less engagement from students.

Poorer performance and more families leaving the district.

I would also encourage you to reach out to the Roosevelt administration to encourage them to work with the stakeholders to come up with solutions that meet everyone's needs.

Latin has been at Roosevelt for a hundred years is what I understand.

I think it's a great testament to the ambition and commitment that has existed there for a long time.

It would be a shame and a betrayal to all those educators and students who've kept it kept it alive all these years to eliminate it now.

Thank you for your attention.

The next speaker is Tracy Buckingham.

Tracy Buckingham.

While my child is not eligible to ride the bus I want to advocate for safer busing.

I am currently the family support PTSA person at my daughter's school Hazel Wolf K-8.

First student has consistently put students at risk and was even sued in 2016 and paid $11.5 million to settle its critical safety violations in San Francisco.

In Seattle first student has a record of repeated critical violations that it recently settled.

And while that settlement was far less it has a history of not reporting problems like not reporting bus accidents to the parents not following the protocol checking driver's license or backgrounds or substance testing.

First student was fined $396,000 settled for $198,000 but only pays $68,000 now and with the rest waive unless they are repeat critical violations within three years.

Are we really going to renew until it's too late and something unthinkable happens.

Why are we waiting for it to be bad enough.

It is clear that is where we are headed.

First student is a poor district partner that has repeatedly proved they will mislead and cover up problems instead of recording and taking the steps to ensure that it won't happen again.

Zoom on the other hand was founded by a working mother an immigrant woman who is exactly who we say we are trying to highlight and focus on.

It makes sense for SPS to follow their standards of practice and take that into account when choosing a district partner for their contract.

San Francisco and Oakland switched from First Student to Zoom and it is improving transportation there.

In contract contract bidding SPS did not consider wheelchair accessible buses or differences among bus types.

Even though Zoom's wheelchair busing was much cheaper.

According to Zoom that makes their contract $7 million cheaper.

And you can see it Northwest article by Dalton Day.

Please give our students safe busing.

Thank you.

The next speaker is AJ Calhoun.

AJ Calhoun.

AJ I think you're with us by Teams if you want to unmute it should work.

Hello.

My name is AJ Calhoun.

I use they and them pronouns.

I am profoundly gifted Autistic and I have and I have ADHD.

I have attended public school for eight years.

The last four of those years were spent at SPS.

Of those years by far the best of them was spent at Cascadia.

For the first time in my life I was environment designed for kids like me.

I was surrounded by kids who got it.

Who understood what I was going through and treated me with respect.

In 6th grade I moved to Hamilton.

Things quickly went downhill.

The curriculum was inadequate and the students and teachers treated me badly even though I never met some of them.

I wasn't learning and I was being badly bullied.

The pandemic happened and after a confusing confusing first few months I got my life together.

I start I dropped some classes and started supplementing with material from outside of the district I now attend a private school.

Your plan is to dismantle the HCC program replacing it with a tiered model of services in every school.

This is unrealistic.

Our neighborhood schools are extremely underfunded.

Teachers are struggling to teach gen ed and spelled kids already.

You are kidding yourselves if you genuinely believe that you can add an additional two or three levels of services to every school to have all of them properly implemented.

The things you were implementing this year to improve equity in the HCC program such as Testing every student relying on community input and using culturally competent tests are all good and you should continue doing these.

But you should not dismantle the program.

I am one voice among many.

I ask you to listen to us.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Mary Ellen Russell.

Mary Ellen Russell.

Hello board members and Superintendent Jones.

I want to start by saying again how much I appreciate the work that you do.

As a parent of two SPS students I applaud your commitment to student outcomes focused governance.

However I am concerned that SPS is not living up to this goal as it considers a new contract for bus services.

Although there is nothing more fundamental to student outcomes than safety.

First student SPS's bus provider for 30 years has a long record of safety violations that put students at risk.

This winter the state fined First Student for 396 safety violations in its charter bus service that were critical acute or repeated.

Last week I reached out to SPS parent groups asking whether their children have experienced unsafe conditions in First Student's care.

22 parents contacted me to share details of one or more very troubling incidents.

Four different families told me that their kids' buses had crashed some more than once and that the families were never notified by First Student.

They only heard about it from their kids.

Six parents shared times when bus drivers behaved inappropriately including yelling at non-verbal students sending kids into traffic and harassing a non-binary student.

The most common stories 19 in all were of students being dropped alone far from home put on the wrong bus or lost for hours while in first student care.

One parent shared that first student eventually found his child alone strapped into the back of a bus parked in the bus yard unable to free themselves on a sunny day in June.

That life-threatening situation was directly caused by First Student failing to provide oversight for a brand new hire.

The most common threat among all these stories was First Student's complete failure to follow up on the episode or take any steps to prevent it from happening again.

When SPS signed the last bus contract they had no real choice but to work with First Student because they were the only provider in the city.

This year there is finally another viable bidder for the bus contract.

That means that if SPS continues working with First Student a provider who puts students at risk it will be by choice.

As members of the school board you have the power to refuse to contract with a bus provider who doesn't keep kids safe.

I'm asking you to carefully consider what consequences might be if you vote for a new contract with First Student and to center student safety in your decisions.

Thank you.

Next is Andrew Cooper.

Andrew Cooper.

Thank you.

My name is Andrew Cooper.

I'm a parent of a kindergartner and a second grader in SPS.

First I'd like to thank Superintendent Jones for choosing to continue with a two-tier bell schedule and to Directors Rivera-Smith and Song-Moritz for their leadership on this issue.

If SPS wants the public to understand and support its policy decisions it must become more transparent.

We've heard this echoed again and again today.

And this isn't just for decisions about bell times.

This cuts across all policy decisions.

Transparency is especially important when it comes to statements regarding equity and the district's move to become an anti-racist educational system.

The district can't just say equity is driving the decision.

They must show how it is driving the decision.

They must collect data analyze the data and then most importantly show the public the journey they went through to arrive at the final decision.

This is what will allow for fruitful discussions about the proposal.

build trust and help bring groups closer to consensus.

This is what teachers tell students all the time.

Show your work.

Students show their work so that teachers can understand the process the student took to get their final answer.

The teacher can then tailor discussions to target very specific areas.

In special education teachers collect reams of data and then walk the family through that data and those analyses so that everyone involved can understand and discuss why specific recommendations are being made.

This is what allows the group to reach a consensus on what is best for the student.

It's time for the district to start showing their work.

Teachers expect students to show their work.

Families expect teachers to show their work.

It's time for the district to be held accountable to the same standards.

Be transparent and show your work.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to future opportunities for community engagement in your decision making process.

Next speaker is Chavis Geary.

Chavis Geary.

Hello.

In my 10 years working at Cleveland I have never before seen our community so hurt angered and betrayed as we are now having been removed from the process of selecting a school leader we trust.

After learning of our abrupt leadership change last week I can no longer tell our students and their families that it will be okay at our school.

Please prioritize what our students families and staff at Cleveland are asking for.

We want to have a school leader of our choosing that we trust and believe in.

Katherine Brown already exists.

We want her back next year.

She wants to be back next year.

If you are unable to meet our needs by welcoming her back how will you open up the interview process so that her replacement is chosen by the Cleveland community.

Please don't break what has taken so long to build.

I cede the rest of my time to Trayvon Mitchell.

Hi my name is Trayvon Mitchell.

I go to Cleveland High School.

I'm here to talk about how Ms. Brown meant and meant to us and what she done at Cleveland High School.

Ms. Brown has always been about racial equity.

She has always been a part of racial equity meetings.

And most of the meeting most of the time in those meetings Ms. Brown is listening to the concerns and questions and she does she does everything she can to implement their concerns.

For example 8 out of her 18 years at Cleveland High School she she has been an administrator leader.

In 2015 just the start of her being an administrator suspicious rate was 4.1 percent.

Most were Black.

And 2019 a couple of years later subsistence rate went down less than 1 percent.

Do not break.

I mean do not fix nothing that is broken.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Sabrina Burke.

In this district you hear a lot of talk about engagement and student voice.

Truth is student voice only matters when it's tied to a district narrative or agenda.

To say I'm upset over the wrongful appointment of Marnie Campbell at Cleveland High School.

Actually I have lost all hope and faith in positive change.

Dr. Jones how could you.

I truly bought the Kool-Aid that you cared about our students respected their voice and lived experiences.

Clearly you do not.

You also fed us untruth and false narrative as to who this white woman is in your letter.

As to if this as to if this district has no memory.

You hurt our youth.

You failed them.

Big.

And what about the Cleveland staff who have been holding it down under extreme challenging conditions?

Do they matter?

Who did you listen to, Brent, in making this awful decision?

The very people recycling bad leaders back into our buildings after they do harm to our children?

And if you want to know why Black families and families of color choose not to engage in this district this right here is why.

This is like a domestically violent relationship with a violent it's emotional abuse roller coaster.

On Monday before their prom, you sent out a BS letter to staff and families about after months of waiting.

Federal investigations for special education, working against ethnic studies, dismissed and discounted sexual assault victim, low comment surveys, We need to do better and we need to bring back the promise Dr. Nyland did that there would be no appointments in Southeast Seattle.

Our students and our families and our staff deserve a say.

The most important decision you make is who leads our buildings.

And if they're not tied to our community they're doing harm and we need to stop doing harm to our children.

Next the next speaker is Laura Marie Rivera.

Laura Marie Rivera.

Laura Marie Rivera.

If you're on the phone please press star-6 to unmute.

Going to move to the next speaker.

Joe Donahue or Donahoe.

Hi.

Thank you for hearing me.

Members of the board and Superintendent Jones.

My name is Joe Donahoe.

I'm a teacher at Cleveland High School.

Just finishing up my fourth year at Cleveland.

I'm speaking for myself but I also would like to point out that there is a contingent of 35 other concerned students and families out in the lobby that you keep that you keep hearing to cheer.

I've got this shirt from Chef Gary that he was wearing as well that at Cleveland we do different better.

And I think you've seen that today that we rally together as a community.

As a school and learning community we still haven't been given any direct information about the circumstances and reasoning underlying the decision to replace Catherine Brown as principal.

So I would like to give some reasons that I think Ms. Brown is the paragon of a good educator a good administrator and exactly what the district says they stand for in furthering students farthest from educational justice.

Ms. Brown has a reputation as a very demanding but fair evaluator.

The observation feedback I've received from her is more in-depth caring and helpful in developing my practice than any I ever received at any other point in my teaching career.

She's a definition of what makes a good educator and she truly walks the walk when it comes to centering families furthest from educational justice.

And you've seen that in the support that she's receiving today.

At the beginning of the year I found out weeks before UW registration was due that I had lost we had lost a grant application that had prior.

been given to students to register for UW credit and it was grant money that was given to students on low income so that they could receive credit from the University of Washington for my class.

Ms. Brown helped me to find $10,000 $5,000 from the PTSA and $5,000 from the school budget in order to support 31 students to register for the University of Washington.

And all of them are going to receive those credits today.

They all passed the class and that's thanks to Ms. Brown.

I'm out of time but I hope that you remember that in 2011 the board reversed a similar decision to replace a principal Martin Flo at Ingram High School.

And I just ask that you think about doing the same again to repair some of the harm that's been caused to our community.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Liz Heppner.

Liz Heppner.

Liz Heppner please press star-6 if you are on the.

One more try.

Liz Heppner looks like you need to press star-6 to unmute on the conference line.

Okay I'm going to go back through one more time on those we didn't hear from.

Is that Liz.

Hi.

Sorry.

Good evening speakers and student speakers.

Good evening school board members.

Good evening Superintendent Jones.

Other attendees.

I'm speaking today regarding the Cleveland High School principal hiring.

I'm speaking as a parent.

My son graduated from Cleveland in 2020 and my daughter is a current sophomore at Cleveland.

Both my kids have attended SPS's in our Beacon Hill neighborhood since kindergarten.

I'm also speaking as an experienced public high school educator.

As a parent and as an educator I have witnessed that when students school staff and families are stakeholders in the decision making about their school leadership that leadership is the strongest it can be because it fits and serves the needs of the community.

I believe that Principal Brown has been a strong steady leader who is incredibly dedicated to her school community.

She communicates with clarity and consistency and has shared the facts essential for families to know particularly throughout the incredible challenges of COVID.

When I got an email last week from the district informing me that Katherine Brown was to be replaced by Dr. Marnie Campbell I was baffled.

I am very concerned that a leader who puts students first is being replaced by a leader who has a history we've heard tonight of not listening to students among other things.

I am concerned that there is more to this story that is being covered up.

I am most concerned that students school staff and families have absolutely no voice in determining who is the best fit to lead Cleveland.

I'll close by saying I've heard some incredibly powerful and articulate student voices this evening and my just love and appreciation to you students who have spoken.

I'm awed and inspired and I hope our school district leaders are listening.

Thank you.

I'm going to check back for two speakers who weren't here earlier when I called Zoe Kielsen.

Zoe Kielsen.

And then also Laura Marie Rivera.

Okay I'm going to go to the wait list.

Dana Louie.

Good evening my name is Dana Louie and I'm currently a junior at Cleveland STEM High School.

I'm the class of 2023 ASB president.

My freshman year Ms. Brown was my vice principal for the Souls Pathway.

I view her as a strong independent leader.

She creates a warm and welcoming presence when she steps into a space.

I played on the Cleveland girls basketball team this year and Ms. Brown would watch our games.

I would see her in the crowd and it made me feel supported and I remember seeing her at an away game at the Lakeside High School.

Maya Ms. Brown has worked at Cleveland for 18 years and earned her way up to her dream job being our principal.

She is familiar with our school culture staff members and community.

Cleveland is ran differently than other SPS high schools.

We are a choice school with a STEM pathways and our student body is predominantly BIPOC.

I felt safe knowing my school was in good hands when Ms. Brown got promoted to being Cleveland's principal.

She knows how to make valuable decisions that benefit students and families especially during this school year returning back to the building with COVID.

Good communication is valuable when there are high risk people in our community.

On the other hand Marnie Campbell is not the right fit for Cleveland.

She was the principal of Eckstein Middle School in the past.

There is a Seattle Times article Seattle School settles sex abuse case for nearly $250,000.

I feel unsafe and uncomfortable knowing Campbell handled the situation of a sexual abuse with the lack of listening to the 12-year-old student.

I want my principal to listen to me when I speak my truth and when I talk about an experience vulnerable to me.

When I was dealing with something similar this school year Cleveland's admin supported me and listened to me.

I trusted them and they helped guide me take the next steps.

I would not trust Marnie Campbell to take care of my concerns the way Cleveland admin did.

I do not think Campbell is connected to the Cleveland community.

She was placed here without recent experience working at a South End high school.

Cleveland is different than schools she has previously worked at.

Marnie Campbell was appointed at Cleveland's As Cleveland's new principal without any input from Cleveland students families and staff I was shocked to find out by receiving an email with the news.

Thank you for your time.

The final speaker today will be Jonah Reby.

My name is Joe Naribi.

I am currently a freshman at Cleveland High School.

I've been an SPS student since kindergarten.

I have an IEP and I have diagnosed dysgraphia as well as ADHD.

A lot of my prior schools lacked resources and staff to help me grow academically.

Principal Brown does an excellent job making first and form making sure first and foremost that students and staff are safe.

Under her leadership staff have provided an exceptional learning environment for students during a global pandemic.

When I was recently purchasing school supplies at a store the cashier asked where I went to school.

I proudly answered Cleveland High School.

She not only seemed surprised but then proceeded to tell me stories about how about Cleveland's past and how much it has improved.

Ms. Brown has been teaching at Cleveland High School for 18 years.

18 years.

She has been an integral part of positive change at Cleveland High School according to past students and current and past teachers.

A lot of previous people have already talked about the allegations for Ms. Brown's replacement but something I would like to add is the fact that as a staff member at a school she is Oh wait give me one second.

She is a mandated reporter.

What that means is that under revised Code of Washington Title 74 Chapter 74.3 Section 74-34020 she is required by law to report sexual assault and abuse cases to relevant law enforcement which she failed to do.

She should not be working at SPS period.

That was the 25th speaker for tonight.

on this.

Fantastic.

Okay.

That concludes public testimony.

First I just want to say thank you to everybody who spent what looks like a beautiful day outside to come here and talk to us about the issues that you're experiencing.

It is not lost on us.

And I'm sure you will likely be hearing some communication from board directors in some capacity.

Yeah.

That being said We are the executive session that was scheduled earlier for today's agenda will not be held.

So we now have come to the board comments section of the agenda and we will begin.

What can we do.

You want to do progress monitoring and then come to board comments.

I think it's important we grade ourselves.

Yeah no I agree.

I thought we would just do that after board comments but we can do that first.

doesn't really matter to me.

So let's go ahead and take a look.

Before we go to board comments let's go ahead and take a look at the rubric for scoring.

Okay so take a moment and familiarize yourself with the rubric.

Everybody here should know how to utilize it if anybody needs additional context I'm more than happy to provide it.

We are about for those of you who are listening out in the audience this practice is what comes after progress monitoring where the board does a self-evaluation to determine whether we were on track with doing what we need to do in terms of communicating effectively about student outcomes or if we need additional work in specific areas.

So let's take about five minutes.

Well not five minutes but take just a minute to familiarize yourself with the document and then I will lead us through our self-evaluation process.

Okay so we will now engage in a brief conversation about these items.

I will just ask I think for the efficacy of time I will just go through and say ineffective monitoring approach effective monitoring effective monitoring highly effective monitoring.

If you selected the portion within any of those groups as related to the Y-axis of the progress monitoring grid just indicate that.

So first one is preparation and given the fact that we you know still are working toward getting this document a week in advance.

Did anyone select ineffective monitoring or preparation.

Okay.

Did anyone select approaching effective monitoring for this one?

I selected that one.

Okay, so it looks like six.

Effective monitoring?

No, this is solely your interpretation.

And then highly effective monitoring, no one's left.

So, okay.

So, it looks like we are in that category.

To be clear, this is an evaluation of us as a whole, not as individuals.

So, yeah.

Even though individuals can have an impact.

Yeah.

Thank you for that clarity Director Hampson.

Okay.

Moving on to data and opinions.

Anyone select ineffective monitoring.

Okay.

Approaching effective monitoring.

That is the one that I selected.

Okay.

So looks like unanimously selected approaching.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Okay.

Questions and statements.

Ineffective monitoring.

Approaching effective monitoring.

Effective monitoring.

I was in the middle of approaching and effective.

Highly effective monitoring.

So I didn't get you two.

Were you approaching or approaching.

Both approaching.

Okay cool.

A little bit of progress in that area.

All right taking a look at past and future in effective monitoring.

Approaching effective monitoring.

Okay.

Fantastic.

Change your votes.

Approaching.

Okay.

Solid.

Effective monitoring.

I think we were close to this one.

I think we were more so on this side.

Yeah.

And then obviously no no selections for highly effective monitoring.

Okay.

Progress monitoring and project management in effective monitoring.

Approaching effective monitoring.

Okay.

Effective monitoring.

I was actually with Leslie on this one, approaching effective monitoring.

So, but it looks like the majority of us have pushed us into effective monitoring there.

So, I will, I will submit that graciously.

Okay.

So, do you have any feedback on what do we do after we escort ourselves?

Well, normally we would have done this with, you know, our observer to kind of help us.

So, if we can maybe check back in with her and see if, what we how we tracked it if that's kind of what she experienced as well.

And I don't know if the superintendent has anything to I'd love to know if Superintendent Jones has any feedback for us.

I agree.

I agree with all of your evaluations except for maybe the last one around progress monitoring and progress management.

And I'm being technical.

Any conversation.

focused on offering advice concerning school system operations.

It was any conversation.

And so I'm trying to see how.

That's true.

That's real.

We got to effective on that.

We may have failed that.

Okay.

Because we did have some tactical and technical questions.

I hear that.

So and my my question are we can we start to get these 7 days in advance.

Do we need to make that a formal.

The memo itself.

Progress monitoring in particular.

Yeah.

I'm more than happy to make.

I know they have to be posted by Friday before but I think especially with this rich of information and data we need a week to review it.

Yeah.

I'll make that commitment.

Yes.

Thank you.

Okay.

All right.

Consider it done.

Thank you.

All right.

So thank you directors for engaging in that practice.

Continuous improvement is critical.

So with that being completed we will now head into the board comments section of tonight's agenda.

And I have an order here so we're just going to go in order on the paper.

Director Hampson.

You are next.

You will be next.

I promise.

Go ahead Leslie.

Appreciate that.

Thank you so much.

First of all Saturday 3 to 5 p.m.

West Seattle Library in-person community meeting.

Two of my board directors my colleagues can join us.

We're rowdy.

We have good listening skills and I hope you do.

And I am looking forward to it.

And there's a one in three chance of lasagna.

I am a proud Cleveland Eagle graduate.

Very proud of that fact.

I'm not going to talk about the former principal Because that's a personnel issue and we as board members are not allowed to speak to those issues.

I am however going to talk about how we select the most important linchpins in our district school leaders.

And how over the years has gone up down and around as to how that happens.

and inconsistent practices in a very big way.

Now Lord knows the pandemic has absolutely hampered our bandwidth.

No question about it.

But I appreciate the gentleman bringing up the Martin Flo 2011 issue very much.

That was a real change.

But you know the one that really strikes me is when Rainier Beach High School was looking for a principal And Superintendent Jones you were here then.

Not many folks over here were.

You and I were here.

We watched it.

We watched the PTSA moms show up in their orange shirts every one of the meetings and spoke their truths.

And the John Stanford Center wanted somebody else.

And they pushed back real darn hard and look who we got.

We got Dwayne Chappelle.

He was not the first choice of the John Stanford Center bureaucracy.

Not by a stretch.

And what did he do out there.

He brought in the International Baccalaureate and fought like hell on behalf of his school and his students and his teachers.

And now he's in charge of DEEL and helping us.

That's called engagement.

You were here then.

I I'm having trouble with this in a really big way.

The board was given talking points earlier this evening and I wrote back to administration and this is what I said.

I am most curious as to whether we colon number one have held interview sessions with folks that have undergone training to allow them to participate in the selection process.

Number two have held trainings So in the last two years and if so at what times.

I believe the CBA with our teachers SEA says it needs to be co-authored.

And I remember fighting like the dog that I am a few years back with Clover Codd and others that we would do it on a Saturday when working people could show the heck up because otherwise it was in the middle of the day when working people couldn't show up which narrowed the representation terribly.

Well what happened.

This room was full.

And maybe I'm not keeping track but I believe I keep pretty good track.

I haven't seen any offerings of those sessions.

And the CBA says you can't sit on an interview committee if you don't get the training.

This is like major major in catch-22.

It's nuts.

Sorry but it's nuts.

Number three have we reviewed the CBA's on principal selection processes.

Number four reviewed our engagement and have communicated that effectively to the communities and to the board.

Not just for the Cleveland process but for all capitalized all principal appointments.

New paragraph comma frankly feels arbitrary and quite possibly in violation of procedures.

Please acknowledge receipt and advise.

Thank you in advance.

We can and must do better.

And I'll stop there.

Thank you.

OK.

I'm not going to I'm not going to pretend to go in any order.

So we we've blown that out of the water.

Anybody else ready to give their comments at this time.

Okay.

Go ahead Director Rivera-Smith.

Actually that was pretty dumb.

We don't want to follow Leslie there.

But I'm going to try.

I think as as many of you guys who've listened to me in the last two and a half years now I'm I'm not the most amazing public speaker.

I'm not I'm not really that good at it yet but I I am I can recognize when I see it and I saw a lot of it today.

I am so amazed at all the students who came out today to speak and just there's so many adjectives I could think of but you know a lot of them are just bravery are are and but one of the words that I also want to touch on is is agency because I think the fact that you're here and can come and speak and on the phone and on Teams and I'm sure we're getting emails and everything too.

It's that you have the agency to do that.

And I hope that means that's something that we've given you that your teachers have given you and that your parents have given you and taught you that your voice matters and it will make a difference.

And it has and it will continue to.

I do believe it.

I think we see it over and over again.

And as one of you said in here I have my notes that it was Actions speak louder than words right.

It sounds pretty simple but it's true.

It really does.

And we have we we use a lot of right words.

We're good at that most of the time.

But our actions mean a lot more.

So I I want us to do that too.

I strongly believe in engagement in principal selections.

I don't want to use word appointments because I mean that is the key leader of a school.

And I had this conversation I know with with past Superintendent Juneau when she was here because it came up a lot too and I know we haven't talked about this yet so you probably don't know how I feel about it.

But I definitely.

Yeah and that's what I'm doing here in the most respectful way I can because I know you I mean I can't I can't hold something on you when I haven't talked to you about it haven't expressed it myself.

So I feel very strongly about engagement with principal selections.

I think as Director Harris said it is the key person in the school.

It sets the culture.

It sets the expectations the accountability and that person I can't I don't believe they can be put there without engagement of the students and staff because that's who they are going to be interacting with most not us.

Again I just want to thank everybody who spoke and I hope that we can keep hearing your voice in our decisions that we make.

I know we're going to get some student board members soon and that'll help.

I am working with some I'm have the beginnings of a student voice policy I wanted to work with students on so that we have that assurance that Student Voice is taking into consideration on items just like this like principal appointments and a lot of other places.

So I'll end there.

But thank you everybody again.

Anybody else ready.

Go ahead Director Someretz.

Thank you.

Cleveland High School students staff and family.

I don't know you yet.

And I really thank you for coming tonight because I have seen who you are and it's made an impression.

And I'm really sorry that it's in this context.

But again thank you very much for coming and testifying this evening.

With regard to the decision around bell times for the 22-23 school year I am grateful to Dr. Jones for his leadership in demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness.

We still absolutely need to address our district's operational and financial challenges related to bus transportation and community feedback was instrumental in shaping this decision and I hope to continue to hear from students staff and families on how our transportation service disruptions in the fall will impact them and more broadly how their prior transportation experiences including any safety and reliability concerns.

Last week as I mentioned before I attended a day-long retreat with fellow members of our Oversight Committee for the Family Education Preschool and Promise Levy and we did a data deep dive.

And while we all saw the sobering impact that the pandemic had on academic outcomes for our K-12 and graduating students I believe that this clarity can also impair us to make strategic investments as well.

So I am very grateful for the partnership with the City of Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning fellow committee members and of course the voters and taxpayers of Seattle for this huge financial investment in our city's youth and their futures.

It's Asian-American Pacific Islander AAPI Heritage Month and I want to highlight today the contributions of one AAPI Seattleite a Seattle Public Schools graduate Wing Luke.

As the first person of color to serve on city council he was instrumental in Seattle's passing of an open housing ordinance in 1963. And while even today we continue to grapple with the legacy of redlining in Seattle he played an instrumental role in dismantling racist laws and policies in Seattle.

We have an elementary school named for him.

And yesterday I convened at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience in Chinatown ID with fellow AAPI community members and Jewish community leaders to talk about collective action that we can take on anti-hate and social justice issues.

These are communities that historically have experienced hate and violence.

And then this convening was actually planned before the horrific shootings this past weekend in Dallas and Buffalo.

And of course they weighed very heavily on our minds.

And I've been reflecting on what brought me here literally to this dais.

After the Atlanta spa shootings and the rise of anti-Asian hate during this pandemic I felt compelled to bring AAPI representation to our Seattle community specifically to our school board.

And I've been reflecting on now what.

Two things that are emerging for me.

Tactically this accused shooter in Buffalo threatened violence against his school.

Someone in his school district brought this to law enforcement.

Currently 19 states including Washington State have red flag laws.

A family member or law enforcement official can petition to temporarily take away the firearms of a loved one or a member of the community in a mental health crisis who may help harm themselves or others.

This law does exist in New York and unfortunately it didn't protect that community in Buffalo.

I am wondering however if we need to empower school administrators.

And certainly there is an opportunity to for community education that these options exist.

More broadly I believe the shooting in Buffalo underscores exactly why we need to talk about racism in schools.

Too many people are receiving their schooling about race and racist media.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Samuels.

Go ahead Director Rankin.

I am going to focus explicitly on policy in my comments right now.

The first is to reiterate what I mentioned earlier about inclusionary practices.

As people may or may not know we have a current model for providing special education services that is proven to be full of bias and relegate students to exclusionary settings in particular students of color with disabilities.

It's it's disproportionately racist.

It removes students from engaging with their peers in learning and it's a model that was that doesn't meet current best practices or the needs of students.

And so you may have missed I know everybody tunes into budget meetings.

But you may have missed the end of our last budget session when our Director of Special Education and Inclusion mentioned that this current service model is being eliminated.

And it's there's so many other things going on that are big and important but it's this is big and important too.

And and the really exciting thing is that it's being discussed now and in partnership and has been being worked on in partnership with educators and families about what a new model might look like.

But the most important thing is centering the needs of students and moving away from a model that focuses solely on staffing ratios.

That's not policy but what is policy is we have a an instructional philosophy policy a special education policy and a couple other policies that have to do with services for special education students.

And so.

We've been discussing it in committee and staff has been working and I will be bringing that BAR forward before the end of this school year.

And so the policies the related policies staff is doing engagement with different groups especially some groups that worked with us on the isolation and restraint policy revisions.

And I wanted to do some opportunity for board engagement to just talk to community about the policy level changes.

And so again I will be I'm working to schedule those with the board office and I will be inviting directors to join me and try to schedule them at different times of day so that people can just come and see the.

the proposed amendments and have a chance to give some feedback and make sure that the community values are reflected in in those policy proposed policy changes.

As far as the bell times go I also want to thank Superintendent Jones for making what I'm sure was a difficult decision to pull back on something that had started to roll forward and recognizing that there had not been sufficient engagement or evaluation to move that forward at this time.

do want to really note that the underlying challenge hasn't been solved and that challenge is that more students are currently eligible for transportation than can currently be served with the staffing available on two tiers.

That problem is not going to go away by having pushed this decision off.

So by state I just want to be super duper clear by state law School districts must provide transportation to all students who are eligible.

That is state law.

District policy is what determines the eligibility of students.

So the board is responsible for the transportation policy and the document and the annual review and approval of a document called the Transportation Service Standards.

Currently the Transportation Service Standards leave us with more eligible students then we can provide on two tiers.

So there will continue to be suspended service next year.

We also need to still adopt the service standards this year.

That is required by our policy.

And so and I still believe that approval of changes in bell times should be a separate process than an amendment to that document.

I'm going to maintain that even though we didn't bring all that forward.

So the board is responsible for and has the authority to appropriately evaluate the standards and the bell times when there are changes separately.

And it's our job as the overseers of the district to do that work here and in committee and in policy in full view of the public as a board of seven.

And we so that work still needs to happen so we don't find ourself in the same position a year from now.

The last thing is sort of a legislative update but I just want to say that now is the time for communities to think about the next legislative session.

It's it's a budget session.

It's big.

We have as a board director I cannot use school resources district resources to advocate for a particular point or issue but I but I can say please please get involved with your PTA get involved with your local legislative district and start talking about the issues that are important to your school and your community now because if you wait until January when session is getting going it's it's almost it's going to be too late and the session goes really fast.

We have there were several recent retirements announced for members of the legislature including some of our strongest public education champions.

And so now is the time to look at who's running who's running for re-election who's who's newly running and ask questions of those candidates about supporting public schools in the next session.

Reach out to me.

Reach out to other board directors.

Reach out to your legislative chair at your PTA and figure out the really important issues so that we we are having those conversations with elected officials about our priorities now and can and can push for some legislation to support our students and our schools.

Thanks.

Please.

Hey Sabrina.

Hey Concie.

Brent.

Brandon.

I experienced tonight a profound amount of hurt and disappointment.

And is that Rita.

Hey Rita.

Sorry.

I don't see that well.

Yeah I want to fully acknowledge that that was it was hard to watch the students expressing their level of hurt and disappointment.

I'm really disappointed myself that what I believe started off as some bad adult behavior got us into this situation where students are now feeling the the brunt of a damaged and disappointed and hurt community.

And I also know that I'm not the one that will have anything to do with solving that other than the importance of acknowledging the reality that is that families and students are experiencing.

And I think I would just I have tremendous faith in Brent Jones and Brandon Hersey and Concie Pedroza to find a way forward in all this with you all and replay the tape that tells us what anyone any one of us could have done differently to create a different situation.

So that we're not here again and I don't know if we can prevent it from happening at all.

If we're doing our job really well there are going to have to be some extremely tough moments.

Whether or not this is one that needed to happen I don't know but I certainly wanted to take the time and the space to make it clear that I do acknowledge and hear that profound level of disappointment and frustration and encourage my colleagues to work with the Cleveland community to move forward in a way that's going to be healthy for everyone.

And I appreciate you all.

Thanks.

OK let me wrap us up so that folks can get out in the sun.

That I'm not going to go into the lengthy explanation of how important the role of a principal is at a particular school district.

I think that has been made abundantly clear and if not then you clearly were not listening during public comment.

But again just as the son of a teacher as an educator myself and with Cleveland being in my district and working closely with that community on a number of things all I can say is There is a real opportunity here.

Right.

First acknowledging the truth of what was shared with us tonight and that there are many truths in this context.

There is the very real truth of the students that we heard from.

There is a very real truth that per policy Superintendent Jones has the authority to do that.

Right.

I'm not commenting on the you know the choice in and of itself but we are existing in a very murky area around if we do this here which community engagement is the forefront and the cornerstone of what I believe the role of a board director in a school district should be.

We also need to be prepared for the entire system to do that.

Right.

If that is the direction that we want to go that we can't just have an unspoken agreement.

That is policy work of the board.

Like that's policy.

You know what I'm saying.

So that's on us to create the conditions for those types of things to happen.

And so what I don't want us to do is to sit on the dais and flog each other for a decision that was fully in the bounds for a person to make.

That doesn't mean that we have to agree with it.

And if we feel differently we have pathways to change that right.

Rita and Sabrina y'all know that y'all got my number on speed dial.

Let's have a conversation.

Let's figure out a productive way to move forward.

And I'm I would be surprised if the leadership was not interested in having that conversation.

Okay.

And I appreciate all that y'all have done in bringing the students here.

That is primary.

That is.

Well okay no you know what I mean.

You know what I mean.

In the support that you give to that particular student group to empower their voices to bring themselves here because they are grown I appreciate it.

What I am saying as a director as I am the genesis of change if we as a director right the power that we have is to have a conversation about how do we codify our commitment to community engagement in these particular instances.

We talk about it all the time.

We throw community, I'm not, we throw community engagement around like it's, like it's a weapon when it should be the cornerstone of everything that we do.

And so we have an opportunity here to analyze the way that we do things and to impact policy because that is our role.

What I don't want to happen is for this to, you know, exist in a vacuum to where We all sit up here we say we hear you and then you know nobody really interacts with the solution except for the Black folks frankly that live in our part of town.

And I just want that to sit in.

We will solve this like we always do.

And by we I mean the African-American community in District 7. But all of us cannot absolve ourselves from the roles that we play here.

And I just all want to remind us that we determine policy as a board.

And the way that policy exists right now is the way that policy exists right now.

If we don't like it it's on us to change it.

So when we change it all is going to be held accountable to that.

And I just want to make that very clear.

Because words mean nothing.

What we say up here on the dais that's not going to change the experience of those people out there.

But what we can do is look at what is actually in our power to codify our commitment to community engagement.

Instead of pontificating and using it as an opportunity in my opinion to virtue signal without necessarily having a plan on how we're going to fix it.

Because we have to be able to do that as a leadership team.

The board in coordination with the superintendent and senior staff.

So what I can commit to all the students who I presume are off doing homework or being great kids somewhere I will engage with this community to figure out what is a viable pathway forward and I am sure that I will not be the only representative from the school district that will do that.

What I'm asking from board directors is to consider and we will have a conversation maybe at a retreat I don't know I'm going to have to figure out the proper way to do it because this is not the first time that this has happened.

It feels as though based on what we've heard it's happened a lot and nobody's done anything about it.

Nobody's done anything about it.

I've been here for like 20 minutes two years but like 20 minutes in the grand scheme of things.

So let's do something about it.

Y'all want to do something about it.

Great.

That's what we do.

So I'm excited.

Apparently Director Rivera-Smith has the solution.

So I look forward to it.

Yeah by all means.

First of all I want to acknowledge Sabrina and Rita.

I think our Cleveland student shows showed us what emerging adult leadership looks like.

I often feel like sometimes when I'm sitting on the dais that there are decisions that adults have made that are not on the dais that then we on the dais have to grapple with.

That is completely changeable.

Adults get to choose how decisions how input for decisions that need to be made happens.

I feel like the bell time transportation situation is an example of a flawed process.

And it did not have to be that way.

And thankfully, we have a leader who recognized, you know what, we cannot ram this down the throats of the families of Seattle Public Schools.

That's what for the families in the room your superintendent did.

He said time out.

Sometimes that has to be done but I would like to put forth that if we do our work in the first place he doesn't have to say time out.

It should not have to take hundreds and hundreds of people to raise their hands and say to us, this is not a good decision for students.

This was a financial decision, and yes, we have a finite amount of money.

This is true for the parents in the room.

We don't get to dictate how much money we have to spend.

We still need to demand fully funding public school education and all that it takes to deliver high quality public school education for our students at a local, state, and national level.

And at the same time, as I don't choose the word overseer because actually that has a very triggering and Liza I'm just I know you didn't mean anything, but we are stewards.

We are stewards and we are adults and we actually have the power to move in a proactive way.

I'm tired of reacting on the dais.

We are constantly reacting based on adult decisions.

We have got to start becoming proactive.

We're not modeling to the next generation what effective leadership looks like when we are always in reactive mode.

And I'm confident that those of us who have been elected, I don't like to work in a animus way.

It's not how I work at King County.

I'm a collaborative colleague.

I want to sit down at the table and have conversations so that when board meetings happen, I'm not surprised and feel like I've got to defend something that I actually don't even know how to defend.

And so I'm hoping that moving forward, I think this example of students coming out, it is possible for those of us in the room who may have more knowledge about the situation to have a truth, but those students also have a truth.

And we cannot dismiss their truth because adults happen to have personnel information that may have influenced a decision.

It doesn't mean we dismiss students' truth.

I think if anybody knows best what students needs it's the students particularly when they get to high school.

If we as stewards of this district have educated our students that young woman by the time she gets to 11th grade she is in a she is able to make sound rational decisions.

And yes part of that is her family but it's also the education she's gotten in this district.

We have to believe students.

I just I cannot sit here and say I think all of these people wasted a perfectly good day of weather to come out and protest for lies.

I don't believe that.

I believe they spoke the truth.

I believe they know what they're talking about.

They may not understand why the principle was dismissed.

but they know what their school needs.

And what they're asking from us is to have a voice, to have their voice be listened to.

And we can do that as adults.

It's about a decision.

We can choose to say, yes, we're going to listen and engage with them, or no, we're just going to make our adult decisions because we know best.

That's what it feels like sometimes.

And to me, and I can imagine that's what it feels like to students.

So what my hope is, we have had a month of really difficult, challenging, I think, unavoidable conflicts.

And I hope that the adults, we can actually sit back and reflect and say, what can we do differently?

Or are we just going to keep doing it like this?

This is embarrassing, in my opinion.

It can't just be business as usual.

We've got to lead in a different way.

We've got to show the students what effective leadership looks like.

Otherwise, we're not doing our jobs and we're failing them.

Okay thank you everybody for your comments.

Anybody else want to wrap this up.

All right.

There being no further business on the agenda the regular board meeting is now adjourned at 7-11 p.m.

I have gotten to do it twice.

Let me be great.