It is 430 December 11th 2019. Welcome to the Seattle Public Schools Board's legislative meeting.
We started late tonight because of a snafu on one of our public announcements and I'm calling this meeting to order.
And as we begin this board and the district would like to recognize and honor the first peoples of the Puget Sound territories by acknowledging that we are on the land of the coastal Salish tribes.
First I'd like to welcome our new board directors Director Hampson Director Rankin and Director Rivera-Smith.
I want you to know they've been working very hard prior to their oath of office last Monday and they've been attending meetings nonstop and it's like getting a drink of water out of a fire hose.
But it's going to be a great two years and I cannot wait to do fabulous robust work on behalf of Seattle Public Schools 53000 students and 12000 employees.
I am excited.
I'll note that the titles on the dais this evening are not correct.
And in fact we will be having an election soon.
I'll also note that it has been my extraordinary privilege and honor to preside as president for the last two years and I am frankly very happy to give up the mic and the gavel and we do have a gavel here we haven't used it yet if you can believe that because we have fabulous people in depth on this board to pick right up where we left off.
and to keep moving and I don't think it's appropriate frankly to cork the system.
And we've got folks ready and willing and able and again I think most appropriate.
And I also will look forward to having some additional time as opposed to focusing on a multitude of emails devils in the details and administrative issues.
So.
Also would like to welcome Jamie Spott at the end here who is joining us on the dais this evening from the Seattle Skills Center.
Jamie will have an opportunity to give comments later in the meeting and she is welcome to stay till the bitter end.
And when directors are asking questions of staff You are welcome to pick up the mic and ask questions as well.
Student voice is very important to us.
We're doing a better job at that and you can help us do even better.
Welcome.
Thank you.
For those that would prefer please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
To the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic from which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
We had the opportunity earlier to hear from the students from Meany Middle School before the meeting was called for order and somebody is whispering to me because this is a team sport.
Roll call please.
Director DeWolf.
Here.
Director Hampson here.
Director Hersey here.
Director Mack here.
Director Rankin here.
Director Rivera-Smith present.
Director Harris here.
OK Madam Superintendent the floor is yours.
Superintendent comments.
Thank you.
Well hello everybody.
And I also want to second the congratulations to the new board directors.
You look really really good up here and I'm just really pleased to be a member of this team this leadership team that is going to forge a new path for Seattle Public Schools and be really based in equity and I'm just really proud to be up here on the dais with all of you.
And as you know we'll have a new a new executive committee tonight after elections and I just want to take a moment to really thank the current executive committee Director DeWolf who's been member at large Director Burke who is not on the board anymore but in particular.
President Harris thank you so much for steering this ship over since I've been here.
It's just been really a pleasure to have you here seated by me and leading this district and I just really appreciate your leadership through some tough times hard conversations but also really really good decisions that were made up here and so I just really want to thank you for that and thank you for your leadership over the past two years.
Thanks.
Okay for new directors and current and old directors I have grounded my superintendent comments in our strategic plan.
So this is how I start out each presentation just to make sure we're grounded in that.
And these with these are our priorities with the focus on the 2019-20 goals so far this year.
I highlight what I am seeing both at John Stanford and when I'm out in schools.
and know that everyone in our system is responsible to implementing this plan and that is what I see in the spaces that I visit.
As you likely know the three goals and initiatives that we have taken on this year are safe and welcoming environments third grade reading culturally responsive practices all in the service to African-American boys and young men and students furthest from educational justice.
We lifted these goals because they set the stage.
They create the culture and climate necessary for our students to be successful in reaching the other goals in Seattle excellence.
And as I mentioned I see this work playing out in every classroom I visit and I'm so grateful to our school leaders and our teachers for embracing this work wholeheartedly.
I look forward to your partnership in lifting and supporting this work as well.
Tier 1 behavior supports PBIS is evident in all of the schools I visit from pre-K to high school.
In this picture you can see information from Broadview Thompson Lincoln High School and Seattle our South Shore pre-K 8. The mission at Lincoln is to learn with passion act with courage improve the world.
Students and staff at Lincoln are in teams and they spend the first weeks of school building a safe and welcoming environment where everyone can thrive.
They use character strong which provides students with SEL competencies and character development.
Principal Sammons at Broadview Thompson has worked with staff to build strong PBIS to support students.
They have bulldog positive expectations called be safe be respectful be responsible.
And throughout the school the expectations of behavior are posted everywhere.
And this one explains the expectations for bathroom behavior which we all know is very important.
The Academy for Creating Excellence or ARC is a course for middle school boys of color at South Shore.
And here is their code of honor that the students repeat daily with the hope that they internalize these words and they become actions and beliefs for the students in this course.
Principal Hendrickson or Mr. H as they call him there is hopeful to start an ARC class for younger students soon.
Circles are used in almost all of our elementary classrooms as a way to build community at the beginning and or end of the day.
The picture on the bottom left is an art class at Broadview Thompson.
The top picture are the students in the ARC class at pre pre pre K-8 South Shore.
I'm reciting that code that you just saw at the end of class and this work really is showing to be transformative for those students in the class.
It was pretty impressive to sit in there and see the work that they're doing and the internal empowerment that's happening as a result of having that class present in their school.
The Broadview Thompson team embodies lifelong learning.
They are aligning their reading expectations for students both horizontally and vertically.
Third grade students work in small reading groups to receive instruction that is at their just right level.
Staff are using SIPs which is systematic instruction and phonological awareness phonics and sight words.
How about that one.
which is a research based decoding intervention program program proven to help new and struggling readers in K-12 build skills and confidence for fluent independent reading.
SIPS is a part of the CCC instructional materials and is a great intervention for students who need a little extra support in reading.
At South Shore Pre-K 8 I visited several classes where students were engaged in independent reading or working in small groups with their teachers.
I dropped in a second grade classroom that was using flowcabulary.
I encourage you to look it up.
It is a hip hop based supplemental material that helps students build a variety of reading skills.
During the lesson I observed students were using text clues to make inferences which is a very very engaging culturally relevant lesson.
Staff at Broadview Thompson learn side by side with their families and central office staff at one of our as one of our 13 focus schools.
They receive central office assistance to support their MTSS their English language learners and their special education work.
Family Connectors support Broadview Thompson families on ways to navigate our system here at SPS.
Both Broadview Thompson and South Shore are fortunate recipients of teachers from Seattle Teacher Residency.
Seattle teacher residency cohorts are more diverse than our current staff and each cohort continues to be more diverse than the previous cohort.
So we're really proud of that partnership that we have with the alliance and the University of Washington.
At South Shore over 60 percent of their elementary teachers are teachers of color.
There is no shortage of Seattle excellence in our schools.
The photo on the left is from the after school robotics team at Broadview Thompson.
Thank you again to the supporters at Washington First and Amazon for making this work possible in our schools.
These two boys were trying to get their robot to stay on that black line.
While they were not successful their gift to continue and their resilience and their efforts to continue to try was very impressive.
And those two on the left on the right.
They were excited to meet a superintendent and tell me all about their reading they were doing in school.
And I hope that they never ever lose their passion for learning.
I also met with the student advisory board this past weekend.
They remain committed to our work and want to be more engaged in the work centered on Seattle excellence and especially black excellence.
And that concludes my remarks Madam President and just want to thank you directors and welcome you again and look forward to our work.
ever so much.
Now we've come to Roman for board committee reports.
Who would like to go first.
Director Mack ups.
Good evening I can do both ops and then legislative liaison just touch base on that.
I guess starting first with the legislative liaison work that the legislature has not convened yet that happens in early January.
We did have the WSSDA conference.
couple of weeks ago in which resolutions which are somewhat similar to the legislative agenda that's been adopted by WSSDA that was discussed at that time.
We learned then that and it's since been pushed out that the staffing enrichment work group has finished their work.
This was a work group that was convened under the 22 42 law.
to take a look at the prototypical school funding model and make changes to it recommendations to improve it.
It hasn't been changed in a good number of years.
Initiative 1351 was passed quite a long time ago which would have actually given us smaller class sizes and funded nurses and counselors and things and that didn't actually get funded.
So this workgroup has written their report and.
put out their recommendations and I think that their recommendation is a request for the 2021 school year.
So next year would add an additional 500 million into the system if the legislature were to adopt that.
So this is a positive.
positive report coming forward to ask the legislature to to fund our counselors and nurses at a more appropriate level.
So we look forward to doing that advocacy come January.
For Ops we had a meeting I think last week and we actually kept it on time for once in a great while but it was a packed meeting including let's see we talked about the 16 900 and 16 901 policy 16 901 is going to be revised 16 900 is going to be updated.
We're still in process and had a nice discussion about where that is. and moving forward the capacity enrollment and facilities master plan advisory committee has now been advertised and I believe the deadline might have been today but we decided in committee that because of the holidays and the lateness and all of that that we should actually extend that deadline so we make sure we can get enough applications.
I'm not sure what it's been extended to but I think sometime in the first week of January is when that will happen.
So if you know anyone that's interested in participating on that advisory committee super excited to have folks engage in that.
We talked about and had the board action reports around capacity management actions.
This is where we have to look forward into the next year and see if we need to convert a staff room into a classroom because we're going to expect that there's going to be more students or we need to add portables that sort of thing.
So we got that report and it's not it's I think it's a light year compared to what's happened over the last five years.
And I think that's essentially it.
The next one will be January 9th.
Who would like to report out from C&I yesterday.
Director DeWolf you're up.
Thank you.
President Harris I don't have my notes but what I will say is yesterday we one BAR came through yesterday which we'll see on our agenda not at this meeting but the following yes the following meeting we will have it for introduction.
It was an interim committee committee meeting given that we haven't fully fleshed out the new committee structure and focus on it.
So we had a really great discussion about advanced learning task force and some of the work just excuse me more broadly about advanced learning.
I've had an update from our native native education program Gail Morris.
And also heard an update from folks working on science implementation.
So I think the only thing I want to add was that recognized from the minutes that I didn't attend at the last one that in February we should be getting an update from folks working on the anti-racism policies.
So just for C&I folks to be kind of on the forecast that I looking through the notes in the meeting minutes we should hear something back in February so just be.
kind of tracking that but we'll see that bar at our introduction in the January at the January meeting.
And I believe it would be appropriate for each and every one of the directors to take a look at the drafting on the anti-racist policy because this is huge work and it's my hope that we are transparent and thoughtful and communicative without breaking OPMA and get input back in to both staff and Director Hampson is is one of the co-authors of that.
But but let's make sure we don't dump that on to C&I that we all own it and that we get our questions answered that we have our concerns answered and that we operationalize it.
President Harris do you know which which meeting that was presented for so we can find the draft.
And or we can ask staff to send it out to us as an attachment.
I please just just going to the minutes yesterday I think it would have been presented at the November meeting.
I think that's my recollection as well but let's pull it out elevate it and make sure that that we are arm and arm on this one.
It it is way too important to sit back.
Okay well last but never least I was the acting chair for Audit and Finance on Monday and it was a robust meeting and directors Mack and Hampson joined us.
We had the usual reports out from the finance team and CFO Berge etc.
We also heard from.
Amy Fleming our extraordinarily gifted accounting director and we heard as well from the McGilvra principal and Michael Stone director of grants on whether or not to accept over three hundred and fifty thousand dollars of PTSA money to supplement their staffing levels.
And it was a rich and robust and frankly extraordinarily painful conversation.
It has been moved to intro.
It came out of A&F for consideration to have what I expect to be a difficult thoughtful conversation in terms of PTSA's PTO's booster clubs etc. buying staff because our friends in the legislature have not met the mandates for staffing for truly appropriate school services.
So we'll we'll get to that on the agenda.
I also need to read the announcement from Andrew Medina the director of internal audit.
As folks know we have we the board have two employees Superintendent Denise Juneau and the internal auditor Andrew Medina.
And he has policy requirements to report out and we have and properly so transparency requirements board procedure 6 5 5 0 BP internal audit requires an announcement of completed internal audits at the audit and finance committee chair for December.
I am announcing that at the December 3rd quarterly audit and finance committee meeting.
The Office of Internal Audit presented two internal audit reports special education the sustainability of the correction corrective action plan and alternative subcontractor selection process.
All findings and recommendations are discussed at a public audit and finance committee meeting and the completed reports are available online at the Office of Internal Audit's public web page.
Click on departments and services.
Under the directory tab please click on internal audit.
We also closed 25 plus open audit items and that is cause for celebration.
It is a robust system.
Our internal auditor and his department are nationally renowned for this work and it's important that we pay attention to it because I assure you the voters in our community does.
Moving on to executive committee this morning again rich and robust sometimes a little bit rowdy and I am in favor of that.
We met from 8 to 10. We got out two minutes early I'm here to tell you and we heard from the new past executive director.
One of the things we did two years ago is we invited our labor partners in to speak with us to have conversation.
Pass stands for ooh acronym foul busted.
Well done.
Thank you.
The Principals Association of Seattle Schools and that includes our assistant principals as well.
And one of the things we talked about this morning is changing the language so that we don't necessarily say principals assistant principals we say leadership teams.
And it was a rich and robust conversation and she played A distinct role that might well have been misinterpreted out in blog and Facebook land at the Loyal Heights Elementary school issues and having an opportunity to ask questions and to parry back and forth about things that matter to all of us without being under the guise of collective bargaining negotiations which we as a board have to stay the heck out of.
And we also talked about the fact that we're losing some assistant principals to other districts and what a shame that is and leadership paths if you will.
Anyway I am very pleased by the results of these conversations and I think it can only help us.
We did miss the current past president Garfield High School principal Ted Howard the third because he had a death in the family and we wish him very well.
Hope to hear back from him soon.
Talked a lot about the retreat.
We talked some about the strat plan.
So stay tuned to be continued.
Any other good of the order committee report outs seeing none.
Madam the floor is yours.
Student comments.
Thank you.
First I would like to say good evening to all the school board directors and to Superintendent Juneau.
Thank you for this opportunity to speak.
I would like to take this time to talk about the skill center program.
We have a number of different programs that are offered to high school students during the school year and the summer in a variety of different subjects and skills.
I would like to take the next few minutes to highlight a few of these programs and to tell you what these classes are working on and any concerns they may have.
In case you are not familiar with the skill center they offer classes in nursing assistance taught at West Seattle High School construction trades taught at both Ingram and Rainier Beach high schools firefighting and emergency medical services taught at Washington Middle School and the skill center building.
Aerospace science and technology taught at Rainier Beach.
Administrative medical office assistance taught at Lincoln High School.
Careers in education taught at Franklin High School.
Automotive technology taught at Washington Middle School and the Skills Center building.
Culinary arts taught at Rainier Beach.
Health sciences and medical assistance taught at the John Marshall building.
Maritime vessel operations taught at the Seattle Maritime Academy in Ballard.
Media arts taught at Seattle World Schools and video game animation and programming taught at the John Marshall Building.
In our nursing program taught at West Seattle High School by Megan McQuaid students are learning about medical terms anatomy and physiology diseases and disease processes HIV AIDS and bloodborne pathogen training.
Students also learn health care basic life support and CPR.
During the nursing course students also complete their clinical at Providence Mount St. Vincent over five weeks in the spring where they work hands on with patients caregivers CNA's which are certified nursing assistants and nurses at the assisted living facility.
Students in the program recently also went to the Gates Foundation to learn how students can help with world health concerns.
In our careers in education class which is the class that I am taking and which is offered at Franklin High School by Dr. Janai Simone students learn about child development and different child development theorists as well as different teaching methods used in the classroom.
We have also learned about classroom management.
Students learn how to properly read out loud to students and use technology such as overhead projectors.
Recently students went on an observation to South Shore Elementary School to observe classrooms in a variety of grade levels from pre-K to 8th grade.
We watched teachers in their classes and witnessed firsthand the different teaching techniques used in the classroom.
In the new year students will get to put their knowledge to the test and assist at an elementary school working with teachers and students in the classroom.
We also have a construction trades class taught at Ingram and Rainier Beach High School by Stephanie Colbert Last month at a careers and technical education conference one of their students Emmanuel Thomas presented about construction trades.
He talked about the class about how the class has really taught him about leadership and teamwork.
The class also has taught him about the importance of building things that can last things that people can use for a long time.
This perfectly represents the skill center program and what it's all about.
These classes are meant to teach students about leadership and building their leadership skills.
The programs these programs are also meant to try and help students find a future profession that they are passionate about and get them prepared for college and life outside of high school.
In our fire science and EMS program taught by Jack Greaves at Washington Middle School and the Skills Center building.
Some recent events from this program include students meeting at the Seattle Fire Department's joint training facility once a week to practice fire ground skills.
Another special event coming up for this program is traveling to the Washington State Fire Academy in May for a live training day.
This is a day for students to see what it is like to fight actual fires and to utilize the skills they have been practicing all year round.
In addition to some of the positive learning going on I was asked to report about any concerns that the students are experiencing.
The main one across all of the classes offered is about transportation.
We've experienced times when cabs do not come for students or they came even though they didn't need to.
I know the skill center is working on improving transportation.
This is very important because without reliable transportation between home schools and schools where the skill center classes are held students will be reluctant to sign up.
One additional concern brought on by the fire science and EMS program is the lack of credit equivalencies.
Currently firefighting students only earn about 3.0 occupational ed credits for class when students in other fire firing EMS programs in the area are earning lab science and P.E.
credits as well.
In closing I have had a very positive experience in my time with teaching academy.
The class that I'm taking careers in education has helped me to better understand many of the components that go into working in education.
This class has also helped reinforce my desire to work in early childhood education.
The class is very small which helps the instructor better know how we learn and allows her to build relationships with all of us.
I really appreciate you taking the time to hear what I have to say about a program that I feel has been very beneficial for students and I hope this program will continue to run and be funded for the foreseeable future.
Thank you.
Thank you Ms. Bott.
Mr. Goldsman could you stand up and wave please.
You are the principal of the Seattle Skills Center.
And two or three weeks ago the time runs together.
We had quite the impressive meeting for CTE with a great many community leaders down at the Seattle World Trade Center and both myself and Superintendent Juneau double dog dared them to sign up to sign all their employees up as mentors and to partner with us because they are competing for terrific employees citywide countywide statewide United States and international.
And if they're going to recruit those kind of folks then we need to be ready to meet that need.
Couple of personal questions for you if and feel free to pass if you like.
What are your plans.
You are in what year in school.
I am a senior.
You are a senior.
Do you know what you're doing next year and how you're going to get there.
I will be taking great advantage of the Seattle Promise opportunity and.
hopefully either going to South Seattle or Seattle Central Community College to earn my AA degree and then I am hoping to transfer to a four year university where I will hopefully get my bachelor's in teaching.
Clover Cod you know where she lives.
Get her signed up now and.
Please do introduce yourself to the folks sitting at the wall.
You can hire yourself a mentor tonight.
You can hire yourself the best and the brightest.
to help you succeed beyond your wildest imagination and these people will not turn you down.
And if they do come chat with us.
OK.
Thanks very much.
And like I say please stay on the dais.
Please push back and ask questions as though you were elected to do so.
You're here in a representative capacity and you have certainly represented our students very very well.
Thank you.
OK Romans 6 business action items consent agenda.
Do I have a motion for the consent agenda.
Yes you do.
I move to approve the consent agenda.
Second.
Approval of the consent agenda has been moved and seconded.
Do directors have any items they would like removed from the consent agenda that will be placed then back on the action calendar.
Director Mack please.
I just want my confetti from the dais because most of them are final acceptance.
And you will lead the round of applause should this pass.
Madam Chair of Ops Director DeWolf did you have anything that you wish to remove.
You look ready to go.
Roaring ready to go.
Okay.
Going once going twice.
All those in favor of passing the consent agenda please signify by saying aye.
Aye.
The consent agenda has passed.
That is your first vote.
Y'all are going to make me work for it tonight aren't ya.
You know what they say about payback.
OK we now move to the election of board officers.
I'm turning the gavel over to Superintendent Juneau who presides statutorily over this as per state statute.
The floor is yours.
This is what she passes on to the new person.
So I'm going to hide it.
Before I open the floor for nominations I would like to review the election process.
For each officer position president vice president and member at large I will take nominations from the board.
A second is not required for the nomination but one can be made.
After all the nominations are made for a position there will be an opportunity for directors to provide comment before voting.
After comments have been concluded the board will vote for each position in the order the nominations were made by law and board policy.
The voting will be conducted by a roll call vote.
The voting will conclude at the point when one nomination gets four or more votes.
After the president has been elected we will move on to the vice president and then the member at large.
In summary for each position there will be nominations then discussion then voting.
At the conclusion of the election process for all three positions each new officer will have an opportunity to provide remarks.
Nominations are now open are now in order for the office of president.
I nominate Zachary DeWolf.
I second that nomination.
Are there other nominations for president.
Other nominations.
If there are no more nominations I close the nominations for president.
Would any directors like to make comments at this time.
Can I.
You're at the end.
I'll make I would just like to make a short comment.
My predecessor Jill Geary had many wonderful things to say about her experience working with Zach DeWolf.
I've known him for his entire seven years that he's been in Seattle due to familial connections.
But I think the most important word and what is going to be really relevant in the year to come and why I'm supporting him as president is collaborative.
And I mean that in all sincerity whether it's us collaborating together as board members with staff leadership with elected officials both local and state.
I think it's the most apt and important characteristic that he will bring to the table among many others.
Ms. Wilson-Jones please call the roll for the vote for Director DeWolf.
Director DeWolf.
Director Hampson aye Director Hersey aye Director Mack aye Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Harris aye.
The nomination of Director DeWolf has passed unanimously.
Congratulations on your election as president director DeWolf.
Thank you so much.
Does he stay in the same seat.
He gets to decide.
He is now the decider.
Nominations are now in order for the office of vice president.
For the office of vice president I would be really pleased to nominate Chandra Hampson.
Are there other nominations for vice president.
I will second that.
Other nominations.
If there are no more nominations I close the nominations for vice president.
Would any directors like to make any comments at this time.
Oh I was just going to say with.
Director DeWolf as president I think we have in the two of them we'll have a good balance of the collaborative process the knowledge of Seattle schools and all the connect connections in the community and what Chandra really brings as a director Hampson is a really strong strong fiscal skills.
And I think her perspective on the executive board will be really really important to keep us Keep us within well well targeted towards our goals of fiscal responsibility and keeping equity and students furthest from educational justice.
Always always always at the forefront in every decision.
Just start talking.
Thank you.
Superintendent Juneau.
I think the thing that particularly in this process about thinking about this role what was really kept coming back to me was our strategic plan and I've really been grateful for Superintendent Juneau.
But even in just the last few weeks and having meetings here with some extra free time everybody I talk to.
ties their work back to the strategic plan more explicitly than I've heard ever.
And I just recognize that Director Hampson was a pivotal played a pivotal role in the creation and development of that strategic plan as a community member.
And I think both that commitment to that her commitment to equity and her deep understanding of.
of both fiscal and that world will be a great asset.
And I think as far as wonkiness for ops I think Hampson certainly occupies the role of wonkiness when it comes to audit and finance and so those are the that's the type of mind that I think we'll be really grateful to have here so.
I'll keep my comments general.
I would just like to say how excited I am moving forward especially again thinking of our strategic plan to have leadership that reflects our shared values of reaching our students that are furthest away from educational justice and what a clear message this sends especially to our indigenous communities that we are now led our district led by three members of Native communities and.
I am just really excited about that.
I think that there's something to be said for that.
I think that that's something we're celebrating and I really am excited about what this means for our district and what this means for our students.
Ms. Wilson-Jones please call the roll for the vote for Director Hampson.
Director Hampson aye Director Harris aye Director Hersey proudly aye Director Mack Director Rankin Director Rivera-Smith Director DeWolf aye.
The nomination of Director Hampson has passed unanimously.
Congratulations on your election as vice president Director Hampson.
And I and I also just want to echo Director Hersey's comments about how proud this these last two votes have really made me and I think should make Seattle to be in a city named after a chief and to be on Duwamish land and the acknowledgments and sitting under this sign and just thinking about the historic moment.
of this event tonight and the election of the leadership to lead this district.
I couldn't be more proud to be on this dais with the vote that just happened.
So thank you.
Now nominations are now in order for the office of the member at large who serves with the president and vice president on the executive committee.
Director Mack.
I'd like to nominate Director Harris.
Second.
Are there other nominations for member at large.
Other nominations.
If there are no more nominations I close the nominations for member at large.
Would any directors like to make any comments at this time.
Director DeWolf.
I think what is most exciting about thinking about having Director Harris as part of the executive committee in this role is was a really prime example of our working relationship this morning at our executive committee.
You know what is really beautiful about this board as we come to this from different experiences and identities and values and ideologies and understandings and all these things that make us unique.
And even at the times that we have disagreement we can still leave those meetings just with full respect.
Tons of humor and sass and still committed to this work.
So I think that that bodes well for a positive working relationship on the executive committee and I would be excited to support you.
Director Hersey.
One of the things that I appreciate especially about Director Harris is her ability to provide context to situations especially as a new member of this board.
Understanding how we arrive to specific places in terms of when we're making decisions that is imperative and it is crucial and I am excited for our executive committee going forward.
Director Hampson.
A fundamental learning for me for me in my almost 50 years is it's coming is the importance of moving forward by not operating from a place of fear and culturally in the city of Seattle.
It's something that I've come I've struggled with over the years that I believe that we do operate from a place of fear too much of the time.
We are at a place in this city in this district in this country and on this planet where we don't have the option of operating from a place of fear.
And even when I have fundamental disagreements with Director Harris.
I always appreciate that I don't have to be concerned about whether she's going to be coming from that that not she's always coming from a brave space and is going to speak her mind and I don't have to guess where she's coming from.
And that saves us a heck of a lot of time and being able to push things forward.
So it's very refreshing.
Very un-Seattle and I appreciate it because I think it's a tone that we need to set.
Our children deserve for us to take a stance for them.
Ms. Wilson-Jones please call the roll for the vote for Director Harris.
Director Harris aye Director Hersey aye Director Mack aye Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Hampson aye Director DeWolf aye The nomination of Director Harris has passed unanimously.
Congratulations on your election as member at large Director Harris.
I look forward to continue the service with you.
Mr. President I would like to report that the officers for the board of directors for 2020 are President DeWolf Vice President Hampson member at large Harris.
I would now like to invite our newly elected officers beginning with the president to offer any remarks they would like to make.
Thank you Superintendent Juneau and thank you my fellow directors for your support.
I don't necessarily want to belabor too much because obviously this is a business meeting and so I want to focus there.
But I think the two things that have come up for me as I'm thinking about this role Particularly one of the really important principles in native culture is a seven generations principle and that says what we do now must create positive sustainable and meaningful solutions not only just for today in the immediate but for seven generations into the future.
And you know I don't want there to be any secrets about my my the lens in which I'm thinking and that is a deeply important one which is a seven generations principle.
And the only other thing I want to say is as we head into this year with certainly some Things that I imagine we'll be able to celebrate that are great and some of the challenging things that might feel stormy.
I will continue to be committed deeply to our strategic plan which says we will be centering black and African-American males and students from furthest furthest from educational justice and that will guide all of my decisions.
So while it might seem like these are really tough decisions the decisions for me are going to be very.
easy because they will be about making sure we're doing things for the long term and making sure we're centering the students that are furthest from educational justice.
And just the things I'm really excited to be working on are our student community workforce agreements we'll have some recommendations later early in the next year.
ethnic studies the long and important process of implementing our advanced learning task force recommendations working internally and with our partners around how do we be really thoughtful about LGBTQ inclusion in our curriculum our anti-racism policy expanding indigenous languages and and honestly.
Expanding our green goals and commitments and while I think it would be really easy to lean on the fact that we don't have money we don't have time it's really hard for us to do this as a district.
At this rate I don't believe we have any choice and it is our.
Is our.
I would say our sacred purpose in this next year to really be looking at ways that we can expand our green goals and commitments.
And I think the other last thing is is as educational experts in the city I'm really looking forward to thinking about things intersectionally.
And just because we are the educational experts here doesn't mean we can't advocate at the city and the county level for policies that will continue to support.
The root cause and the root issues that that our students are afflicted by whether it's housing or transit.
So I'm really just looking forward to while it's going to be a long and challenging and as President Harris can surely share stories.
I'm really excited to be leading at this time.
So thank you all for your support.
Vice President Hampson.
I see we only have.
We only have a few minutes before we want to stay on time so I will keep this short.
Also we have a retreat on Saturday which community members are welcome to attend.
I have attended many as a non board member and so encourage people to listen in.
And I'm looking forward to having collaborative discussions with my colleagues.
And so I want to wait to discuss any real focal points until we've had a chance to have that discussion.
That being said I've I tell my girls every morning when they leave for school to be brave for their ancestors and related to my comments about Director Harris and why I'm excited to to lead with her and with Director DeWolf and all of the rest of you and all of the staff.
is I have to we always have to remind ourselves of that in every decision and everything that we do.
We can all look back at countless moments in our lives when we weren't brave and we don't forget those moments.
We may not always like the outcome of when we were brave but but we don't generally regret having taken a brave step and taken a chance on trying to make things better for our communities.
So I hope that that will be something that is proven out in my actions and in my work on this board is that I am demonstrably brave for my ancestors that I'm making hard decisions and supporting this district in all of us.
This is it.
This is the Coast Salish territory is a canoeing place.
And it's all about pulling together and that's what this board in this district needs to do.
And so I want to honor that and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be on this land of the Coast Salish people and we'll be keeping that in mind as I as I move forward in this role and I'm grateful to all of you for your support.
It means a lot.
Member at Large Harris.
may shock you that I might have run out of words.
I'm the daughter of a trailblazer.
My mother was a pilot in World War 2. She stopped her doctorate in education when she had me number six and I'm going to borrow former director Pinkham's line about they kept going until they got perfection and my brothers and sisters will pay me back at Christmas for that.
But I have been extraordinarily blessed by mentors in my life who have guided me who have coached me who have told me to follow my heart and to put others first.
And that whatever you do do it in a team sport speak from your heart and work your backside off.
And I'm really excited about these next two years and the next year in specific.
We have a hell of a bench up here and that's very exciting to me and to the folks in our staff here in the room.
and our eleven thousand and ninety others.
Game on.
Let's go do amazing work together.
Thank you.
I would note that while the new officers will take their roles immediately for the sake of logistics this evening directors will remain in their current seats for the remainder of tonight's meeting.
I will now turn the gavel over to our new board president Director DeWolf to take the meeting into a three minute recess.
Thank you.
I want you to actually walk it over.
I am going to.
Okay good.
We're taking a recess for three minutes.