SPEAKER_01
Good afternoon.
We are calling the board meeting to order in a moment and SPS-TV will begin broadcasting.
Directors of the Seattle School Board Director Hampson Is this a roll call?
Yeah, I guess so.
Okay.
Director Hampson is here.
Director Harris is on her way.
Vice President Rankin.
Fantastic.
Director Rivera-Smith.
Hello Director Song-Muritz.
Fantastic.
Director Sargi was not able to join us this evening and this is President Hersey.
The superintendent is also present as well as staff and we are also being joined by special guests here to celebrate this momentous day.
This evening we will be swearing in both our returning school board student member Luna Crone-Burrow As well as incoming student member Ayush Muthuswamy.
I want to make sure that I pronounce that correctly.
Is it Muthuswamy?
Muthuswamy.
Perfect.
Thank you for that.
Student member Ayush Muthuswamy.
Incoming student member Lola Van Der Noot could not join us this evening but we will hold her oath of office at another time.
We will now begin our oaths of office.
If the student members could please join me up front at your leisure.
And we will begin with student member Crome Barone.
So just so you know, where it says your name, you say your name.
OK?
So repeat after me.
SPEAKER_00
I. I, Luna Crome Barone.
SPEAKER_01
Do solemnly swear.
SPEAKER_00
Do solemnly swear.
SPEAKER_01
That I will support the Constitution and laws of the United States.
SPEAKER_00
That I will support the Constitution and laws of the United States.
SPEAKER_01
And the Constitution and laws of the state of Washington.
And the Constitution and laws of the state of Washington.
And will do to the best of my judgment skill and ability.
SPEAKER_00
And will do to the best of my judgment skill and ability.
SPEAKER_01
Truly faithfully diligently.
SPEAKER_00
Truly faithfully diligently.
SPEAKER_01
And impartially perform the duties.
SPEAKER_00
And impartially perform the duties.
SPEAKER_01
Of student member of the Seattle Public School Board of Directors.
SPEAKER_00
Of student member of the Seattle Public School Board of Directors.
SPEAKER_01
As such duties are prescribed by law and policy.
SPEAKER_00
as such duties are prescribed by law and policy.
SPEAKER_01
Congratulations and welcome back.
I, your name, do solemnly swear.
I, Ayush Bhattaswamy, do solemnly swear.
That I will support the Constitution and laws of the United States.
SPEAKER_02
That I will support the Constitution and laws of the United States.
SPEAKER_01
And the Constitution and laws of the state of Washington.
SPEAKER_02
And the Constitution and laws of the state of Washington.
SPEAKER_01
And will do to the best of my judgment, skill, and ability.
SPEAKER_02
And will do to the best of my judgment, skill, and ability.
Truly, faithfully, and diligently.
Truly faithfully and diligently.
SPEAKER_01
It's such a tricky one.
And impartially perform the duties.
And impartially perform the duties.
Of student member of the Seattle Public School Board of Directors.
SPEAKER_02
Of student member of the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors.
SPEAKER_01
As such duties are prescribed by law and policy.
SPEAKER_02
As such duties are prescribed by law and policy.
SPEAKER_01
Congratulations and welcome aboard.
We will now give our student board members starting with Director Cron Barone an opportunity to say a few words should they choose to.
Take it away.
SPEAKER_00
Thank you President Hersey.
I'm happy to be back.
Thank you all for having me back and thank you to our student selection committee for having us here for this wonderful opportunity.
So looking forward to this year, a very exciting year.
I'm really excited to get into this year as you know last year we were really finding our footing, finding our way.
really, really get the gears moving, you know?
And to start with that, I think something that Ayush and I have both been talking about a lot today is through this year we want to work to make this position even more impactful than it already is, to make sure continue on our mission to lay the groundwork for student voice and student participation to be an absolutely essential part of the change making process here in our district.
On that note I'm excited to partner with the Seattle Student Union this year in making what we talk about as a more digestible version of what we're talking about here at regular board meetings.
That will be published in what will be called the student paper and the first edition of which will be out soon on the Seattle Student Union website seattlestudentunion.org.
And I'm super excited to bring this new level of transparency and communication to students as Ayush and I have set through today are some of our goals is to reach out and really get into community and meet students where they are at rather than having requiring them to come meet us where we're at.
We want to be there to meet students where they're at and hear their needs in that way.
This year, I'm looking for from you, my colleagues on the board and Superintendent Jones, I'm looking for accountability and leadership and action on promises of healthy, safe, loving environments for students to learn and grow.
Because at the end of the day, an intellectual, excellent, healthy, wonderful environment to learn in is the most important thing we can do to raise a new generation of young leaders.
and I'm really excited to work with you.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02
I just want to first start off by saying thank you Director Hersey for that and thank you everyone for this amazing opportunity.
I'm beyond grateful to be here as one of your student board members this year.
It's been lovely meeting all of you and I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you a little bit better in this coming year.
I want to start off by saying my first priority is empowering student voice and this role is an amazing first step in that but that's what it is, a first step.
What this district needs and what's going to take it to excellence is centering student voice at every single stage of the decision making process.
When you give students the opportunity to empower themselves and to empower themselves in the creation of their own educational experiences they'll step up to that position because we care.
Students care about schooling so much.
This is a lifeline for myself.
I'm sure Luna can say it herself.
Schools are lifelines for her and for all of the students in this district.
We need this opportunity and we need the spaces to empower ourselves and to drive our own education.
And that's where this board comes in.
We have to create those spaces for students.
I think too often the narrative is that we sit here and students come to us, complain and talk about their issues and how we can help them.
But we need to go to them.
We need to flip the script.
Because students, that's not their job.
Their job is to be a kid.
Their job is to be a student.
Their job is not to complain and to advocate and to fight for their rights.
Because that's what it is.
It's a right.
We need to go to them and we need to make sure we're getting their authentic engagement and finding them where they are.
because that's how we're going to get them sorry that's how we're going to get their authentic selves and that's how we're going to make sure we have a district that works for everyone.
So that's our responsibility in that district and that's something I'm looking forward to working with all of you this year.
Creating those spaces and pushing for student voice so students don't have to be a student an advocate and a fighter.
They can just be a kid.
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01
I couldn't have thought of two better examples of students that we have at Seattle Public Schools to kick us off this year.
So thank you.
I'm super excited about y'all being here and it's going to be it's going to be a lit one for sure.
That being said we have certificates over there that we need to sign.
But more importantly we also have cake.
So if you will are we going to do cake over there.
We're going to do cake over here.
We're going to bring the cake out here so y'all just chill.
There will be cake.
We will sign papers and then we will just you know turn up for a little bit before we get to our school board meeting.
So thank you very much for being here.
We appreciate you and we will see you soon.
I'll come back and adjourn later.
The board special meeting is now officially adjourned at three thirty one.
Yep.
Three thirty one p.m.
Thank you.
