SPEAKER_11
Peace often said, parents were proud.
SPEAKER_06
Good afternoon.
We will be calling the board meeting to order in a moment.
And SPS-TV will begin broadcasting for those joining us by phone.
Please remain muted until we reach the testimony portion and your name is called.
This is President Hersey.
I am now calling the November 9th, 2022 regular board meeting to order at 4.23 PM.
This meeting is being recorded.
We would like to acknowledge that we are on the ancestral lands and traditional territories of the Puget Sound Coast Salish people.
SPEAKER_01
Please remain muted until we reach the testimony.
SPEAKER_06
Ms. Wilson-Jones, the roll call, please.
SPEAKER_14
Vice President Hampson here.
Director Harris is not able to join Director Rankin.
Here.
Director Rivera-Smith.
Present.
Director Sarju.
Present.
Director Song-Moritz.
Present.
President Hersey.
Here.
Director Cron Barone.
Present.
Director Hassan.
Here.
SPEAKER_06
And just as a heads up, our heads up display is not on.
Folks could kill their mics.
We're getting a little bit of feedback.
It might also be the podium mic.
I don't know where it could be coming from.
We'll wait.
I'm still getting a ton of feedback or echo.
Do we know what that could be?
I would be remiss if we started and we didn't.
Could just be my mic.
All right Okay I think we're good.
Yesterday the Seattle Public Schools community was shaken by an incident of gun violence in one of our schools.
The Ingraham community lost a student.
A family lost a child.
But perhaps most tragically a child lost their life.
No words or condolences could ever begin to rectify the loss placed upon this child's family and community.
The last few years have taken a lot from us, but none more so than from our children.
It's hard to imagine the horror that the Ingram community experienced yesterday.
and that far too many school communities across the country have experienced in recent years.
The horror of hearing a gunshot outside of your classroom, of receiving a text from your child that there's been a shooting at school, of our educators and staff wondering if they're going to make it home that night.
It's a horror that students parents and staff hope to never experience.
And it's something that we intend to do everything in our power to prevent from happening again.
In this moment of sorrow fear and confusion.
Seattle Public Schools reaffirms that the safety of our students.
The safety of your children.
Remains not only our focus but our top priority.
We'd like to thank the educators and staff at Ingram, under the leadership of Principal Flo, for their rapid response in securing the campus and taking care of our students while they waited for the authorities to arrive.
These are true acts of heroism, and we are eternally grateful.
We are also grateful to the Seattle Police Department, as well as our safety and security, coordinated school health, and 411 crisis response teams for their support of the Ingraham community during yesterday's tragedy.
In the coming weeks, months, and years, there will be many questions and offerings of support and collaboration around improvements to student safety.
We welcome those offerings with open hearts.
Seattle Public Schools will work to complete a thorough assessment of what additional safety measures must be implemented to allow our students to fully focus on their studies while at school as opposed to their safety.
We are in a public health crisis as it pertains to gun violence.
A crisis that will only persist if our government fails to act.
We must reduce the threat of gun violence not only in our schools but in our broader communities, and will continue to partner with community-based organizations, the city of Seattle, King County, and the state of Washington, and frankly, every other government body that seeks to create a better world for our children.
But for now, we must allow ourselves to grieve.
We must hold our children closely and provide them with comfort and support, We must come together as a city to lift up the Ingram community in the honor of the child who lost their life.
And for all those who were impacted by this tragedy, especially our students, we see you, we love you, and we will always be here for you.
I will now turn it over to Superintendent Jones for his comments.
SPEAKER_04
Thank you President Hersey board members community.
It is true that we had a tragic event yesterday.
As a father as a parent I don't want to be in a position to feel that hurt and pain.
It's unacceptable.
My condolences to the families impacted and to the Ingram community.
You know as the leader of this district I never want our Ingram community or any of our schools to experience this again.
I saw the aftermath of this firsthand.
I saw the yellow tape that should not be in our schools.
Know that we are healing right now and we're we're dealing with the trauma.
At the same time I'm pleased that we have so many caring adults that are coming forward to provide us meaningful and tangible support.
Our coordinated school health team will be on site for support for Monday and we have adults returning to buildings tomorrow to prepare to receive our students.
The Ingram community and principal Martin Flow as well as our safety and security team and all the adults have been remarkable in their responsiveness.
The students and parents have been amazing in their desire to support and our community leaders have been right there unequivocally to offer their support as well.
We all recognize the issue here.
And I am very clear eyed that this incident does not have an easy fix.
However again this is unacceptable.
We as a community SPS community will do what's necessary to keep our students safe.
Our students and families deserve that and should expect that.
For those of you that know me I've been working towards welcoming and safe environments for several years here at Seattle Public Schools.
because I know, as you know, that this is foundational for our students to thrive and have the outcomes that we all aspire for them to have.
My self-appointed mission, as I talk about, is to create a condition for students to thrive.
We're seeing positive outcomes in that regard, but it's still obviously not enough.
I don't want our students to just feel safe, but I want them to have a sense of belonging.
I want them to be able to come to school and experience joy and not have to experience any type of fear or being scared of having an aggressive encounter.
We know that we have more and more violence plaguing us and now it's entering into our Seattle schools.
The pressure of the streets in our communities have violated our school buildings.
These complex issues are never served by simple superficial sorts of short sighted reactions but rather with long term plans that result in far reaching positive change in my team.
Our team has been meeting since yesterday and before then to work on these items and we will prioritize these.
I'm grateful that we have a community that realizes that there's short term midterm and long term things that we need to do and we have tremendous support coming in from people all over our community.
Our civic elected leaders are standing with us in our time of need.
Nonetheless we will move with urgency to create a safer environment.
So in response I'm approving a new safety initiative and it will feature three things.
As President Hersey talked about doing a thorough assessment I am going to launch a safety and security audit to diagnose what are our opportunities and threats.
We will have a community action team to make immediate determinations of what we can do right now.
Those efforts will be informed by Police Chief Diaz Mayor Harrell and others who are invested in our community well-being.
And thirdly we will launch a child well-being council and that will be led by nurses pediatricians psychologists and others with expertise in being able to recognize and reconcile mental health and social emotional matters.
And more immediately our coordinated school health team will be on site for counselor and social workers with counselors and social workers to provide comprehensive support for our students on Monday.
I realize there's much more for us to do and we'll be working working diligently to get our support in place that are both short and long term mitigation efforts.
So I'm asking you all to join me and us in our efforts to make our schools safe welcoming places of belonging because that's what our students deserve.
That's what our families expect and that's what our community demands of us.
In the meantime stay well and be with us during this challenging time.
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_06
I will now turn it over to our school board student member Luna Chrome Barron for comments.
SPEAKER_09
Thank you, President Hersey.
I just want to give fair warning that tonight talking, I'm not talking as a board member here on the dais.
I'm talking as a kid, as a student.
Yesterday I spent my first period class at Nathan Hill High School writing a big student comment of what I was going to say today.
I was going to talk about how student mental health is the basis of student success.
and how when we look at how our students are going to succeed academically in school and socially in school, we need to look at student mental health first.
Just a day later, or even just a couple hours later, I was like, maybe I should have been writing that the basis of student well-being is not getting killed in school.
That how we're going to start supporting students to succeed and to thrive is by making sure that they stay alive at school.
I, as you probably might be able to tell, am very upset.
And I think I can speak on behalf of my peers when I say that we are all very upset.
Yesterday I was talking to some friends in a class as we were in shelter in place, some friends of mine who knew the victim, and they were telling me about all these funny stories of this kid and all these stories that they had, all these sweet memories.
And we all smiled at these sweet memories, and then that kind of turned to a grimace because we remembered that that person who they'd laughed with and smiled with is dead.
I mean, the thing that's been making me as a person very, very frankly angry is that the response I've seen, the communication I've seen is, oh, well, this was an isolated incident.
Oh, well, it was a fight between two students.
So what?
there is still a child who was killed at school.
Just because it was an isolated incident, just because it was a fight, just doesn't make it any less unacceptable and any less a failure on the part of our district, on the part of all of us up here.
And at this moment, I feel lost because I really don't have the words to know what to say.
I don't know how to make things better.
I've spent in school the last two days in shelter in place.
Today, we received threats of violence at our school.
We had to be escorted by teachers to the bathroom.
So yeah, I don't really, I don't have all the solutions at the moment, and that is another piece that I think I can say, as much as I am a leader in this position, I'm also still a student, and I'm also still a kid, and I'm also scared, and I'm also sad.
And what I need and what I think I can speak on behalf of my peers is what we need is to know that we're safe in our school buildings.
And I can speak with confidence when I say we do not feel safe at school.
And even as we look to how we can create systemic solutions to make sure that this never happens again, this kid, someone's baby, is still dead.
And that's on all of us.
And that's on the entire district.
And that's on the way that we, as a community, have clearly failed our children.
And so yeah, what I need to see today, what I think we all need to see today is how the adults around us are going to keep us safe.
And what I know is that the way that we're not going to be kept safe is with more police presence in schools.
As we've seen, more police presence in schools only leads to more violence in schools.
We do not need more violent police officers violently bullying and harassing students in school.
And I know that is not very politically governance correct of me to say.
But I will never support any policing in schools.
Schools should be a place that are automatically safe, where kids are nurtured and loved and not killed.
And I really want to extend my love to my peers in the Ingram community and to everyone, all of my peers in the district, and also to all of the staff and educators in the district, and to say, and I know it doesn't mean anything, but to say I am so, so sorry.
And I think that's the best I can do at this point, because I myself am still scared and upset.
But at the end of the day, that's what I need to see.
I need to see a guarantee of how we are going to be kept safe.
And I know that it is unhelpful for me to be saying this and not say how we can do this.
But I can say that I am a kid, and as a kid, I should have a guarantee that I will be safe in school of all places.
And so, yeah, that's all I have to say tonight.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_08
I'd like to say that I came here today in solidarity and to show my support.
My heart is completely broken to this tragic incident that happened at Ingram.
There's really no words to describe how I feel.
So knowing that people who were there I can't even like imagine how they feel how the families feel.
We see these things happen across our nation and we send our solidarity and our condolences but it the feeling that you have when it's so close to home or in your school building is a different type of feeling.
The fact that a child was at school a place for education like Luna said regardless of what circumstance it is a student died at school and at a school that is under Seattle Public Schools District.
That is a district that I am a part of a leader of and I have been very confused in my role.
And me and Luna and Jenna have discussed this but it is very confusing trying to part our role in this as we are students.
Students who were also scared.
We shouldn't be going to a school building where we are supposed to be educated and freeing for our lives.
I don't know how we are not supposed to guarantee student safety when we're at a school of education.
School is not supposed to be a place where we feel unsafe.
Student safety is so important and we as a whole need to come together to fix this issue.
And it is unfortunate to say quite often we keep saying to stop these tragic events from happening again.
There shouldn't have been.
This shouldn't have happened from the first place.
Saying again and again and again to the same issues that we keep seeing.
It was as if.
Is this conversation going to be held.
Would this conversation be held today.
If the tragic event did not happen yesterday.
It's like no nothing will change until it happens to us.
We shouldn't have waited for it to happen to us.
We're saying again and again but the amount of times of again we say is not going to bring back that child's life.
And like we said no amount of condolences no amount of I'm sorry no amount of I'm sending you my love can bring that child's life back.
But from my heart that is breaking I am so sorry to all the students that were affected by this to the family of the child.
I genuinely have no words as Luna said I am a kid and a kid who is fearful.
I accepted this position to be student voice but.
I am at a loss for words as I just can't imagine that this happened in a district that I'm supposed to be a part of leader of.
I feel as if that I failed but I understand that I'm also a kid who I should not be worrying about my safety at a school.
I we as a nation as a state as a city and as the community and district we are SPS have failed.
We have failed to reassure student safety and again to the family of that child.
I am so sorry.
SPEAKER_06
An immense thank you to our student directors for sharing their perspectives.
We will next go to public testimony.
We will be taking public testimony by phone and in person as stated on the agenda.
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 on today's agenda posting on the school board's website.
Only those who are called by name should unmute their phones and step forward to the podium and only one person should speak at a time.
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.
Time will not be restarted after the new speaker begins and the new speaker will not be called again later if they are on the testimony list or waiting list.
Those who do not wish to have time ceded to them may decline and retain their place on the testimony or wait list.
The majority of the speaker's time should be spent on the topic they have indicated they wish to speak about.
Finally the board expects the same standard of civility for those participating in public comment as the board expects for itself.
Ms. Koo will read off the testimony speakers.
SPEAKER_10
Thank you President Hersey.
Speakers joining us via phone please remain muted until your name is called to provide testimony.
When your name is called please be sure you have unmuted on the device you're calling from and also press star six to unmute yourself on the conference call line.
Each speaker will have a two minute speaking time.
You will hear a beep when your time is exhausted and the next speaker will be called.
The first speaker on the list is Chris Jackins.
SPEAKER_00
My name is Chris Jackins Box 8 4 0 6 3 Seattle 9 8 1 2 4 on construction projects.
Please fix the projects at Montlake John Rogers Alki and Madison on the minutes of the October 26 board meeting.
Nine points.
Number one the board has seemed to favor less detailed minutes.
This leaves future boards at a disadvantage.
Number two for the minutes related to amendment number one the votes of board members on the amendment were not cited and the board's extensive discussion of the amendment was not referenced.
Number three the minutes do not reflect the fact that the redistricting consultants report contains an error.
Number four this is an issue that I brought to the board without receiving any response.
I appreciate the board member Rivera-Smith publicly cited an email from the consultants which acknowledged the error.
Number five for those examining the record in the future the issue and the email should be referenced.
Number six the board appeared to be ignoring and hushing up a mathematical error and a central document related to the board's own electoral legitimacy.
Number seven this is not a good example to be set by a board which asserts that is up to the task of monitoring the district's efforts to improve student math scores.
Number eight this is also not a good example to be set by a board which asserts that it will respect and respond to public input.
I still have not seen the email.
Number nine the board touts student outcomes focused governance while continuing to ignore current problems.
Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_10
We had several people let us know this evening that they'll not be joining.
So I'll move down the list to Sherrilyn Crowther.
Sherilyn if you're on the line please press star 6 to unmute.
The next speaker on the list is Darlene Christopher.
Darlene if you're on the line please press star 6 to unmute.
The next speaker on the list is Myra Parker.
Myra if you're on the line please press star 6 to unmute.
Before we end today's testimony I'll go back and check on those who have missed their turn.
The first is Sherilyn Crowther.
The next is Darlene Christopher.
And the last is Myra Parker.
This concludes today's testimony.
SPEAKER_06
Thank you, Ms. Ku.
That concludes our public testimony for the meeting.
Thank you, everyone, for your comments.
We have now come to the board committee and liaison report section of the agenda.
Last meeting the board voted to temporarily suspend most standing committees while restructuring the board's governance.
So we will go to our liaison reports beginning with Vice President Hampson as tribal liaison to read Governor Inslee's proclamation honoring to Native American heritage month.
Director Hampson.
SPEAKER_02
Thank you President Hersey.
Whereas Native Americans have inhabited the area now known as Washington state since time immemorial.
And today 29 federally recognized Indian tribes out of state tribes with treaty reserved rights and other tribal communities reside in Washington state.
And whereas members and descendants of tribes around the United States and First Nations of Canada also reside in the state of Washington.
and whereas Native American contributions and values have shaped the social, political, environmental, and economic fabric of the state while also enhancing freedom, prosperity, and cultural diversity, and whereas state law RCW 43.376 directs the governor and state agencies to establish government-to-government relationships with Indian tribes in order to enhance and formalize working relationships with tribes through collaboration and consultation.
And whereas state law RCW 28A.320.170 mandates the teaching of tribal history, culture, and government in common schools, which will contribute greatly to improving schools' history curriculum and enhance awareness for a better cultural understanding.
And whereas substitute House Bill 1356 prohibiting the inappropriate use of Native American names, symbols, or images as public school mascots, logos, or team names was signed into law on April 26, 2021, thus removing harmful stereotypes and barriers to racial equality, cultural awareness, and an equitable education.
And whereas the state of Washington has designated Friday immediately following the fourth Thursday in November as a state legal and school holiday known as Native American Heritage Day.
And whereas Washington joins other states across the nation in celebrating Native American Heritage Month, honoring the unique heritage of this continent's first people and reaffirming the commitment to respect each tribe's sovereignty and cultural identity.
Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington, has proclaimed November 2022 as Native American Heritage Month and November 25, 2022 as Native American Heritage Day.
in Washington and in Washington and encourage all people in our state to join in this special observance.
I wanted to update this just briefly to note that the additional Bill that was passed that relates to this proclamation, Bill 5252, which was passed last session, which requires that school district and educational service district directors, which is this body, are required to perform tribal consultation and must take and certify completion of the training by September 1st, 2023. and establishes that directors are required to perform consultation and must renew certification of the completion within five years of initial completion.
And in the same session the state of Washington also now requires for school principals to undergo government to government training and that pertains to the whereas stated in this proclamation.
which covers our government to government relationship of which this body is a governmental entity and responsible for working with tribes in that capacity and to that end Superintendent Jones and again I'm very much hoping that at least one other director will join us at Suquamish next week to meet with the chairman of the Suquamish tribe and his staff to work through some prospective policies for tribal consultation.
This would be the first for a school district in Washington state and around specifically the House Bill 1356 which prohibited the inappropriate use of Native American names or symbols, mascots, logos, and names, and so we have a prospective policy to review with them as well.
That's on Tuesday in Suquamish, and we are also in communication with Muckleshoot, which is our other tribe on whose lands we are situated, and they are looking at the similar policies, and we hope to be meeting with them in the coming months as well.
Again, I very much encourage my fellow directors to join so that you can learn more about what it means to engage in true tribal consultation and learn more about what tribal sovereignty is.
And that's what we have coming up for that particular liaison role.
Did you want me to move into anything on audit?
SPEAKER_05
prepared to do so.
SPEAKER_02
We haven't met.
We have a meeting coming up in December.
I will just note that we do have an RF.
I just want to make sure folks understand that we have an RFP going out next week that the folks might notice that is has the title of student safety.
And currently that is the scope of that where it hasn't been completely finalized.
And so it.
isn't necessarily intended to cover specifics related to the tragic events of yesterday.
The student safety overall however as a risk for Seattle Public Schools is one of our top priorities and is one of the biggest risks that we've assessed as necessary to address.
And so the board will have once we hear back from staff as to How where they see those those risks playing out in various departments will have the opportunity to take another look at that series of audits that we can do which really help us bring an external eye in to take a look at operationally what are we doing to support student safety throughout the entire spectrum of what happens in a given school day.
So I just wanted to note that as well and then our next Audit meeting I believe is on December quarterly audit meeting where we will have further discussion on these items.
I believe is on December 5th but I'm not sure about that.
I'll correct it later if I look it up.
Does anybody else know off the top of their head.
And that's it for me.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_06
Thank you Director Hampson Director Rankin.
SPEAKER_13
So for a legislative update.
We have the approval of our legislative agenda on the consent agenda for SPS.
It was discussed last meeting for introduction.
Additionally many other organizations and institutions have published their legislative agendas including Washington State PTA Washington State School Directors Association and lots of other community organizations.
And you'll notice there is a lot of consistency between our legislative agenda and others who work with students and families in our state.
Special education funding is a big one.
But also overall health, safety and well-being, mental health and gun violence prevention are things that you will see a lot of organizations talking about.
So if you are looking for a way to advocate, different organizations publish talking points and you can track various bills.
To let to let you know if there's something you're interested in you want to indicate your support for Seattle Public Schools will be advocating for things on our agenda in support of our students.
And I know there are a lot of things that we deeply care about and we'll be engaging around in addition to that as as individuals and community members.
I don't know.
We need to get loud and make a big difference for our students because it's our job and they deserve it.
SPEAKER_12
Yes, I will be giving an update on my role as a city liaison.
Currently, the city council is going through its budgeting process and the council will make its final determination and vote on November 21st.
So I have sent a short list of budget amendments proposed by various council members that have impact on our district.
But I think the most critical ones are the ones that come from the Department of Education and Early Learning.
We are very lucky as a district that this is an important partnership.
Taxpayers provide levy money for important programming including Seattle Preschool.
K through 12 grants to our schools and Seattle Promise which is tuition and scholarships for our Seattle Community Colleges for Seattle Public School graduates.
I will be working with members of Dr. Jones teams from the Seattle preschool program and the college and career readiness to prepare a letter of written testimony in response to these budget amendments and we'll be sharing that with board directors for feedback.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_06
Thank you Director Song.
We have now reached the consent portion of today's agenda.
We have a motion for the consent agenda.
SPEAKER_02
I move approval of the consent agenda.
Second.
SPEAKER_06
Approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Vice President Hampson and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.
Do directors have any items they would like to remove from the consent agenda.
I believe we do need to remove item number one.
So I will pull that one and then Ms. Wilson-Jones will speak to the rationale for that in just a moment.
Do we have any other items to be removed.
SPEAKER_02
I move approval of the consent agenda as amended.
Second.
SPEAKER_06
This has been moved by Vice President Hampson and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.
All the directors in favor please signify by saying aye.
SPEAKER_02
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
SPEAKER_06
I didn't hear you Lisa.
SPEAKER_11
Aye.
SPEAKER_06
Thank you.
Aye.
This motion passes unanimously.
We will now turn our attention to consent agenda item number one.
SPEAKER_02
I move for the approval of the meeting minutes from the October 26 2022 regular board meeting.
SPEAKER_14
Good evening directors Ellie Wilson Jones director of policy and board relations.
As noted in public testimony there is an error in the draft minutes posted for the October 26 regular board meeting.
The version of the minutes that is posted online that was before you tonight was missing the vote summary for Amendment 1 to consent agenda item 5. General Counsel Narver is with us and I believe can kind of coach on.
process, but I believe what we'll need is a motion to amend those minutes with the addition of the language which I can read.
Greg, is it sufficient if I read the language and then somebody moves that addition?
SPEAKER_01
Yes, as long as you it is a.
The exact language that you're offering is the language that would be adopted by the motion, correct?
SPEAKER_14
So under that item, currently it has Director Hampson moved to approve this item, Director Rivera-Smith seconded, Director Rivera-Smith moved to approve Amendment 1, Director Song-Moritz seconded, Director discussed Amendment 1 and the underlying item.
The text that is then missing, and that would be added if moved by somebody here as an amendment, would be the motion to approve Amendment 1 was approved 4 to 2 to 1. Directors Harris Rivera-Smith, Stong-Moritz and Hersey voted yes.
Director Hampson and Sargio voted no.
Director Rankin abstained.
And then it would carry on to the next motion.
SPEAKER_02
I move the addition of the language as stated by Director Wilson-Jones.
SPEAKER_11
Second.
SPEAKER_06
All right.
All in favor or do we need to take the roll for this one.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
I think you need to roll call on this because it's not part of the consent agenda.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_14
Thank you Greg.
I'm calling the roll now on amendment the amendment to consent agenda item 1. Director Sarju.
SPEAKER_03
Aye.
SPEAKER_14
Director Song-Moritz.
Aye.
Aye.
Vice President Hampson.
Aye.
Director Rankin.
Aye.
Director Rivera-Smith.
Aye.
This motion on the amendment passes unanimously.
Would you like me to move to the underlying.
Oh we need the underlying move.
Sorry.
SPEAKER_02
I move for the approval of the meeting minutes from the October 26 2022 regular board meeting as amended.
Second.
SPEAKER_06
All right.
Thank you.
This has been moved and properly seconded.
Miss Wilson Jones the roll call please.
SPEAKER_14
Director Song Moritz.
Vice President Hampson.
Aye.
Director Rankin.
SPEAKER_13
Sorry just to clarify the first vote was approving the language addition and this vote is now approving the amended item.
Yes.
OK thank you.
Aye.
SPEAKER_14
Director Rivera-Smith.
Aye.
Director Sarju.
Aye.
President Hersey.
SPEAKER_06
Aye.
SPEAKER_14
This motion has passed unanimously and thank you for helping me correct my error.
SPEAKER_06
Thank you for keeping us on track always.
All right.
We will now move to the action item on today's agenda.
The action item reads as follows resolution 2022 23 dash 10. Certification of excess levy and calculation of general fund levy rollback for 2023. President Hersey.
Yes.
SPEAKER_03
I have a point to make that's out of order.
May I do that now.
SPEAKER_06
Yet.
Yes.
SPEAKER_03
I got a text message from someone who was having technical difficulties when they were trying to do public testimony, and they attempted twice, but apparently we couldn't hear them.
And we may not accept We may not interrupt what we're doing now, but what I'm asking on behalf of this individual, if it's possible, because they were trying, they were present, because we do not have the chat feature available, if they could provide their testimony at some other point in this meeting to be determined by you or anyone else.
SPEAKER_06
I'm not sure.
So I'm not sure if I have the authority to make that call.
But if I do I'm sure we could find two minutes to hear from our speaker.
But if it would be wildly out of the scope of what we normally do I would entertain any feedback from council or staff.
They have an opinion.
SPEAKER_03
Like I said it was out of order.
But I hear you.
SPEAKER_06
I think that the only issue is that I feel that it sets a dangerous precedent for folks who have access to board directors who can text us.
So yeah I I don't know.
SPEAKER_03
I don't I I fully understand that.
And I'm I'm not specifically saying yes we should do this.
No I know.
But it is.
It is difficult for people who just have technical difficulties anyway like me much less a tech issue that is not their own fault because we don't have the chat feature.
And I think that's we may need to rethink this.
I'm not sure how we do that.
Or that they could text a, like, for example, Ms. Ku, if they're having a problem and they're trying, they could text her.
I think that's a more appropriate connection than someone like me or myself.
So I just want to state for the record, I recognize that this is out of order.
And You know I'm not sure what the testimony was going to be about but it could be very something very important.
And so I'll just let whoever could make that exception and think about in the future how we might handle something like this when there is an effort to to to engage and to access and it's not working.
SPEAKER_02
So I don't know if I may.
Please.
When folks sign up for public testimony correct me if I'm wrong board office staff they are to provide the phone number from which they are calling so that if they are on and we cannot hear them we can still identify that they're there.
SPEAKER_06
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02
So I don't know if that happened in this case.
SPEAKER_06
Miss Wilson Jones is approaching the podium.
SPEAKER_14
We do ask for their phone number.
I would say that due to the complexity of running a hybrid system, we do not have, and we don't have the ability to unmute people.
We scan for the phone number sometimes.
Sometimes we're able to see it, catch it, deal that in the moment to note that they're there.
But basically, we're calling their names and expecting them to unmute at that time.
I can't recall whether we have past precedent of kind of pausing a meeting and jumping back to an earlier section.
I will say a couple other directors received text messages and asked, and I said, know because we had moved on and past president generally had been to move on and the board office has or will reach out to offer the opportunity to provide written comments and to certainly call in the line we can forward a voicemail.
But I would defer to you President Hersey and the board on whether you would want to pivot back to testimony at this point.
SPEAKER_06
Let's.
SPEAKER_03
I think.
Oh, go ahead.
No, I was going to say I think I think Director Ellie, her point is valid and legitimate.
And, you know, this is this is, you know, probably a situation that, you know, maybe they can look into if somebody is really actively trying and they can't get in.
And I don't think we need to belabor it.
I I just wanted to bring it up because I'm sure It's not the first time this has happened to someone and it's probably not the last so that's I support what she said.
SPEAKER_06
Okay.
Thank you for that.
I think just in general let's try to stick to the process that we have.
And the only reason I say that is because you know there could be a few people who are trying to get into public testimony and we definitely want to hear from those folks.
But I don't want to give preferential treatment to folks who might happen to have our cell phone numbers.
That being said, I hope that we can work with that individual to get written testimony submitted to the board and also offer the opportunity to sign up for our next meeting, which is going to be on 1130. I should say that differently.
It's going to be on November the 30th.
So we look forward to hearing whoever that speaker might be, maybe even in multi-modes of communication.
So again, apologies that there were technical difficulties.
We thank you for, if you're still listening, we thank you for your desire to engage with us and we look forward to the opportunity to speak with you next.
Okay.
I believe I was reading the action item.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm just going to keep doing that.
All right.
Approval of this item would.
School board approval or excuse me approval of this item would school board approval of resolution 2022 dash or excuse me slash 23 dash 10 certifying excess levy and calculation of the general fund levy rollback for 2023 as attached to the board action report.
Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.
SPEAKER_02
I move that the school board approve.
I move school board approval of resolution 2022 slash 23 dash 10 certifying excess levies and calculation of the general fund levy rollback for 2023 is attached to the board action report.
Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.
SPEAKER_06
This has been moved by President Hampson and seconded by Director Smith.
Do we have a presentation on this.
SPEAKER_07
Good evening Linda Sebring budget director.
I do not have a presentation a formal presentation but I can answer questions and for board members who are not familiar with the levy certification let me just give you a little background.
So in February we went out to the voters in the city of Seattle and asked them to approve two property tax levies.
One is what we call our maintenance and operations levy and another is a capital levy.
So the voters graciously approved those back in February and that sets a certain dollar amount for a maximum amount of collections for these property taxes.
The operations levy and the maintenance and operations levy is further limited by the state formula for Seattle.
That means it's a dollar amount multiplied by the number of students that we have.
So at this time in November we get information from the state the office of the superintendent of public instruction verifying and it's in your attachment it's the very last page where it's labeled worksheet for estimating 2023 through 2027 levy authority and LEA.
They validate what our enrollment is and what the dollar amount per student is.
So what this is doing is it's saying that you ask for the voters to approve a certain dollar amount.
which for us was two hundred and five million nine hundred thousand dollars.
But because of the restrictions the state has it is limited to the hundred ninety four million nine thousand two hundred and sixty seven dollars.
The capital fund does not have a similar limitation.
So what the board is being asked to approve today is to reset the property tax levy amount to the authorized amount the state has identified here.
SPEAKER_06
All right.
Thank you.
Do directors have any questions.
SPEAKER_05
Go ahead.
SPEAKER_13
Just a clarification on what rollback means.
So the I mean quick summary is basically voters authorized higher amount than the state allows collection of says the rollback.
for like these sums haven't been collected already.
The rollback is to say we will not collect them or they were collected and will be uncollected.
SPEAKER_07
Excellent question.
This is for calendar year 2023. So the way the property taxes work is there on a calendar basis January through December and we run a school year that of course overlaps into multiple calendar years.
So what this is doing is it's saying initially when the board went out to the voters you guys approved a levy amount And the voters approved a levy amount that was higher than we have authority to collect.
So by rolling back the dollar amount that you originally approved to align it with what the state is authorizing is what's required at this time.
And we have to then get this to the county to do their tax authorities by November 30th which is why this came at you fast.
We don't get the information until the last minute and then we have to get it to the county quickly because if we don't get it to him that by November 30th.
We are late.
And we want them to include this in the property tax statements they start building for residents in the city.
SPEAKER_13
Thank you.
SPEAKER_06
Thank you.
Any other questions.
All right.
Seeing none.
Miss Wilson Jones the roll call please.
SPEAKER_14
Director Rivera-Smith.
Aye.
Director Sarju.
Aye.
Director Song-Moritz.
SPEAKER_12
Aye.
SPEAKER_14
Vice President Hampson.
SPEAKER_12
Aye.
SPEAKER_14
Director Rankin.
SPEAKER_02
Aye.
SPEAKER_14
President Hersey.
SPEAKER_06
Aye.
SPEAKER_14
This motion has passed unanimously.
SPEAKER_06
Thank you very much.
We have now come to the board comment section of today's agenda.
Are there any directors that would like to offer comment at this time.
SPEAKER_05
OK.
Go for it.
Yes please.
SPEAKER_02
I just wanted to parlay a little bit.
Because of this is the beginning of Native American Heritage Month.
and I just wanted to underscore as somebody who is part of that whereas the members and descendants of tribes around the United States and First Nations of Canada that that includes me and my family, my ancestors.
My ancestors are also those that came to this country and quite a long time ago and colonized and enslaved and One of the things that's so important about a proclamation like this we read it we don't pay a lot of attention to it.
The but when we are dealing with something like.
We refer to it as gun violence in school right.
But today because we are experiencing it as something that happened in our district we know that it's the death of a child in school not gun violence in school.
So that is something that we have to pay attention to politically.
I think if we're going to have honest conversations with our students about what they're experiencing in these moments we have to also be really honest about the fact that this country was created with the idea that certain lives particularly Native and black lives were expendable and our schools were founded on beliefs and values connected to that.
And the work that we do the one thing I can offer you as students because of.
the really difficult dichotomy that you've expressed about what does it mean to be a leader in a situation like this and be in the position of just hurting from being a young person and experiencing this fear and uncertainty and understanding that the system is not doing what you rightfully believe it should for you and your fellow students.
And that is that We are in a continual process.
You are here as leaders because you are part of the team that is helping us undo the legacies that are the founding of this country.
And it is so important, therefore, that we recognize our first peoples, that we recognize their traditional knowledge And that that traditional knowledge and ways of being the history that we talk about it's all the proclamations pretty pretty great in terms of how it expresses that there are inherent practices and cultural understandings that we can all learn from that allow us to live here together sustainably and with one another without violence.
And so what does it mean to be a school board with both adults, students, some of us approaching elder status and believe, suspend any disbelief and instead hold up the absolute belief in one another that we can't create a future for your children.
that is free of this violence.
I'm really proud to come from the people that I come from because they've survived against all odds, against environments of schools where they were actively punished for just being who they were all day, every day.
So to try to turn it to a more positive note, I just wanted to share with you all.
This is a picture of one of my two tribes, tribal councils, and two of my uncles.
I'm going to share this with my fellow board members.
This is my Daga Louie.
All my first memories are actually of him.
I used to think he was my dad because we were living on the reservation and my dad wasn't around at the time.
He's a really, really special person to me.
This is my Daga Kenny.
They were both present at my kid's feathering this summer at my Daga Louise house.
This is what governance looks like in Indian country.
This is my tribe in Nebraska and so I just wanted to share this with you because I know I've, you know, you hear about it and I just talked about it in terms of the proclamation and connecting it to The violence that created these governmental entities that we're part of now that are responsible for providing the service of education.
But these are the real people and they're my real family.
And if I'm lucky I get to see them at least once a year.
And they.
in the middle of a very red state are there trying to, they're having the same conversations that we do about things like gay marriage.
My kids got involved with a recent debate they had about LGBTQ, what we call two-spirit rights on our reservation.
So I hope you see hope in their faces, that in spite of the history of violence that we are built on, that we are resilient, and we can do this together, and that we are on a continual path of, I hate to, it's extremely cheesy for me to quote Martin Luther King, but I do believe the, Now I can't even remember the quote because I'm teary-eyed, but it's about the arc of justice.
So I'm going to share this, and I'm here to talk with you all as student school board members and others who need to just allow there to be.
We really I really encourage everybody to allow folks to feel what they're feeling including the hopelessness and then see if we can look to each other for hope and a better future.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_06
Thank you Director Hampson.
Any other directors before we head to adjournment?
Go ahead, Director Rivera-Smith.
SPEAKER_11
Hi, can you hear me?
Are you guys able to hear me right now?
SPEAKER_06
Yes, we can hear you.
SPEAKER_11
Okay.
Sorry.
Thank you.
I switched to my headset, so I wasn't sure if it was working.
Thank you.
Yesterday was that day that we always knew could happen, but we never wanted it to.
And then violence in America has become less of an if and more of a when.
As the parent of a high school senior myself, I watch him walk out that door every morning, always knowing in the back of my mind that there are no guarantees.
No guarantees I'll come home.
No guarantees I'll even make it to school.
No guarantees that I'll ever hug him again.
And so I hug him every morning, probably more than he likes.
But I do.
And for one family, they are living a nightmare right now.
And my heart, all of our hearts break for them.
I know that I would move heaven and earth to protect my child.
And it must be our commitment at several schools and school district to do the same for every student who passes through our doors.
And I appreciate Dr. Jones's words earlier regarding the steps that he's gonna be implementing soon.
I very much appreciate that.
And I appreciate the work our board and previous boards have done, because we have made that commitment.
In addition to we have board policy 4210, which prohibits weapons on school grounds and public school transportation, school events.
In addition to that, we also, the Seattle School Board passed a resolution in May of 2018 to declare support for sensible gun safety legislation, declares opposition to efforts to arm educators, and it also declared support for the March for Our Lives that happened on March 24th, 2018. Every year that I've been on this board, I believe we've passed the Wear Orange proclamation for our gun violence awareness.
So I know we're committed and but we all know we also know that commitment, you know, taken via information sharing, secure entrances, surveillance cameras, lockdown drills and more.
It won't stop every act of gun violence from entering our campuses.
And I know that people know that.
Many of the messages I've gotten have acknowledged that the fight to stop gun violence is not our fight alone.
In a strange twist of coincidences, yesterday was also election day and never was it more punctuated that we must elect leaders who will pass strong gun safety legislation.
I saw a lot of that being done last night.
I didn't keep up on all the returns, but it's happening and it has to keep happening.
There are over 130,000 K-12 schools in the United States, but yesterday only Ingraham existed for us.
And that morning, I had a thought that I have sometimes when things happen.
And I think about that Superman movie where he flies in the opposite direction of the Earth's rotation to make time go backwards.
And I think about how much we want that to happen.
when these things happen you just want to rewind life for a minute even.
But we don't need Superman.
We need each other.
We need resolve.
We need commitment.
And we need love.
And again thank thank thank you Superintendent Jones for the steps we'll hopefully be seeing soon.
And thank you students for being so strong in the face of what happened yesterday even if it wasn't on your campus.
It touched all of our students and we're asking them to be incredibly strong right now.
The staff our educators our central office administrators everybody.
Thank you all.
And.
Hug your children.
SPEAKER_05
Thank you Director Rivera-Smith.
SPEAKER_13
I'm going to keep this very brief.
Which is this is actually a request to everybody in our community in instances of gun violence on K-12 campuses in the United States.
78 percent of those are carried out by a student or a former student.
And of those 79 percent of them involve a gun that was obtained from the student's home or the home of a friend or family member.
So in the face of fear and hopelessness and wondering what to do one thing.
that everyone can do is if you have guns in your home please lock them up.
If your child spends time in places where there are firearms please ask them about secure storage.
Of all the other things that have been mentioned it's it's may seem small.
But I think one thing that everybody can agree on wherever you stand on gun laws and whatnot is that a 14 year old and a gun shouldn't exist together.
Especially not at school.
And so that's that's my plea is that if you if you are a gun owner or have.
guns around places where your children are.
Please please securely store them so that they cannot be accessed by minors.
SPEAKER_05
Do you have an additional comment.
No no no no.
We like to prioritize students.
SPEAKER_08
I would like to take a quick moment to share that the Seattle Student Union and Ingraham High School's students against gun violence has put together a rally on November 14th on Monday to City Hall.
There's a walkout at 950 and a rally at 1130. If anyone wants to have further details on the Seattle Student Union Instagram page.
They have posted information on this rally.
I encourage everyone to go.
They have included directions to Seattle City Hall from every school and I would like to.
Speak on their demands.
Mental health counselors in every school that represents the diverse backgrounds of students at least one per every 200 students.
Update safe strong.
Updated safe storage laws.
Increased security with increased training on de-escalation and anti-racism and the ban assault rifles.
Again I'd like to say I hope we can all come together as a community to show our support.
SPEAKER_05
Thank you.
Director Hersey.
SPEAKER_03
In times like these it's.
really hard to make any types of comments that are actually truly meaningful in a transformational way.
I was struck and touched and proud of Director Luna's comments.
I'm proud to be a colleague of hers.
Make no mistake, I recognize that I'm a mentor, but when we're on the dais, we're colleagues.
One of the things that happens in situations like this, well, many things happen, and we're gonna follow the same arc here in Seattle that has happened everywhere else, where when the shooter is revealed, there will be all kinds of comments, Um, you know, there will be people who say that the district, you know, as if it's a, an entity, um, isn't doing its job.
Um, I mean, I can, I can go on and on.
You all know the drill that we will follow the same arc here that has happened everywhere else.
And as a parent, It's easy, and I'm a parent.
I'm a parent of three biological children, all went to Seattle Public Schools.
I'm the parent of a number of foster children who went to Seattle Public Schools.
And I'm an auntie to a nephew who is currently in Seattle Public Schools.
So I feel the same thing as many parents are feeling right now, this urge to demand, to point fingers, to issue edicts that if we don't do more, fill in the blank.
And I've never seen a situation where that strategy has actually worked, and it's a temptation.
Even as a school board director, it's a temptation.
And really, I think Director Rivera-Smith said it.
The most powerful weapon we have is our voice and our vote.
And yes, the election is over and another one will come around.
And the way we as as parents, as community members, as board members, can exercise our voice and our vote, and that is to get in front of, to speak to, to compel those who are in decision-making positions to do what they need to do.
in general, but in situations like this, I mean, yes, we need strong gun violence laws, and that's not gonna singularly stop shootings in schools, but it's one thing that we need and must do, along with other things.
We need to compel those in decision-making powers with decision-making powers that we need social, emotional and mental health support well-funded in our schools.
I'm not saying that if we had had a counselor, you know, there two years ago and maybe talk with this young person who was the person who pulled the trigger that that would have prevented this.
But what we do know is our children are under a lot of pressure.
We know this.
That may have not have changed the outcome of this situation and we will never know.
We can't look back.
The other thing to remember is there are two families who are experiencing loss.
The family of the shooter is experiencing tremendous loss as well.
We cannot blame, go to say, oh, if the parents had, you know, they weren't doing their job.
We don't know anything about this family.
We have no idea.
And blame isn't going to fix the situation.
We have two families and then ripple out, right, all of the people connected, all of the friends, all of the students, who were connected to these two individuals.
They're gonna be dealing with some stuff.
They will ask themselves, could I have seen this coming?
Or maybe I did see something and now I'm feeling guilty because no, they couldn't have prevented this.
Really, I don't think.
I think students should be doing what Director Luna said, learning.
When they see something, yes, they should say something, like all of us.
But students shouldn't have to bear the burden of being on the lookout because that flight or flight, constant flight or flight hormones impacts their ability to learn and perform to their highest potential.
So as we move through this.
We're not moving out of this.
We're going to be moving through this for a very, very, very long time.
We need to remember that we're more powerful together.
We can exercise our voice.
We can support, we need to support our young people.
Those are things that are in our control.
We have to support our young people.
even our most difficult young people.
It's our collective job to do that.
And so I hope that we will remember as facts emerge, as very difficult details get revealed.
I have said this, I'm living a parallel process.
I spent three hours in meetings today because my colleagues were directly impacted in this situation.
So I had to get through these meetings and then come to school board.
And someone just reached out to me one of my colleagues and said I'm praying for you.
I can't imagine what the board meeting is like for you tonight.
So what we need to do is hold one another in the light.
Because that's what's going to make us stronger, not pointing fingers, not blaming, not demanding that Superintendent Jones do this and do that.
He's going to do his job.
I have no doubt he's going to do his job.
It may not be what he may not have all the ideas that I think he should have or that you think he should have, but trust.
that he's going to do this job and he's going to do it well because he cares about students.
He is the parent of a Seattle Public School graduate.
He has invested his entire life and career in our students in this district.
We have to trust him.
And I hope my hope is we can model what it looks like to move through this in a way that's actually going to bring about real change.
That's my hope.
SPEAKER_06
Thank you Director Harju.
Any other comments.
OK.
Seeing none.
As there is no further items of business on our agenda this meeting stands adjourned at 5 47 p.m..
Thank you very much.
Please hug your children spend time with your family and we will see you on the 30th.