Seattle School Board Special Meeting - November 10, 2021

For the record I will call the roll.

Director DeWolf.

Present.

Director Dury will not be joining us tonight.

Director Hampson.

Here.

Thank you.

Director Harris.

Director Rankin.

Here.

Director Rivera-Smith.

This is Director Hersey.

We're holding today's meeting in a hybrid format with directors staff and members of the public here in person with remote access also available via Microsoft Teams and phone.

Consistent with the governor's proclamation on open open public meeting.

The public is being provided remote access today via Microsoft Teams and phone.

Because we also have some joining us remotely I'll remind everyone on the phone or Teams to please remain muted when you are not speaking.

There will not be a public comment opportunity.

Also for those directors and staff in person please mute your microphone when you are not speaking.

Please also leave microphones in their stands and speak directly into them when you are speaking to ensure that those joining us remotely can hear us.

The first work session this evening is a budget work session.

At the conclusion of the first work session we will move into the superintendent search firm interviews.

I will now hand it over to Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance JoLynn Berge for the presentation.

Thank you Director Hersey.

In alignment with last time please for the sake of the presentation so that we can have a full and open discussion with all the information possible let's try to hold our question until the given intersections and I promise I will get to you.

I think those intersections will probably be after item number 2 ESSER spending.

Deputy Superintendent Gannon I believe is live this evening.

Thank you JoLynn.

Good afternoon Directors.

Again for the record I'm Rob Gannon Deputy Superintendent.

We have a number of slides to work with you and as Director Hersey mentioned we're happy to take questions but I think there will be logical points engaged discussion.

This first slide is like in our last work session a repeat of how we propose to frame our discussion and also the work we take into the budget development.

So this is almost an exact replica of the slide that you saw last time.

I just want to roll through them quickly because as we look at some significant challenges in our budget We want to evaluate some of the options we have to consider and how to use those in concert to address the potential of a budget shortfall in the out years.

We will talk in some specificity on a number of these issues but I want to acknowledge at the outset that we continue to look within the organization about what is the right approach to each of these measures and how can we bring forward meaningful analysis ultimately to the Superintendent for his final consideration engaging with staff preparing to go out to community and then importantly presenting budget options for this board to ultimately consider and approve.

So I think what I'm also trying to forecast is we have some good discussions underway but we do not yet have a lot of robust analysis to present to all of you.

So we will look at the enrollment recovery picture and try to give some additional explanation there.

We will talk about how we can approach central office reductions.

We'll again revisit the use of the Economic Stabilization Fund and respecting Director Harris's comments.

We will not refer to it as the rainy day fund.

All that did last time was precipitate lots of additional moisture in the air.

It's it's been a long day already and all of you know it's been a long week already so.

And then we'll continue to present the board options to consider about how we could approach potential revenue enhancements by seeking relief from the state or conversely or concert how we would accompany that with the program.

So you'll see this slide again later in the presentation again.

plus I hope frame our discussion and launch us into our next budget work session where we can.

So JoLynn will take the next couple of slides and I think from there forward we'll be bouncing back and forth trying to present information from each of our perspective but honing in on the same points regarding.

Thank you.

Next slide is one that we've seen before the 22-23 throughout the budget development calendar.

Not too drafty at this point.

Pretty set.

So we have dates that we're working towards in January.

That critical day of February 28th for budget allocations out to school means any budget direction on school staffing has to be determined in those January meetings.

As for spending.

We were asked to give an update on ESSER spending.

I know this slide is small so you might want to look at it in your your packet.

Or if you're online the documents are posted and you'll be able to make this larger.

Basically what this is showing that in total we had $145 million in ESSER revenue.

That covers ESSERs 1 2 and 3. And what we've shown is actual expenditures So we are done spending ESSER 1 and it shows by line item how those dollars were spent and in which year the expenditure occurred.

And we finished that up in 21-22.

We had a little bit of money.

In ESSER 1 there's a private school set aside where private schools were allocated some of the money by law and they determined their timeline to spend.

So that's what made that difference.

And then you can also see that ESSER 2 Fully spent out that's the bottom line very bottom of the slide.

So you can see that we have spent all 41.3 million dollars of ESSER 2. With the majority of that I should not say transportation continuity I should say school continuity.

So continuity of operations is the line item that ESSER 2 should be showing on for that 30 million dollars.

There was also some dollars for HVAC and PPE that sort of expenditure and those were for 2021 so it's the year that closed August 30th.

In addition to that in 2021 we have spent 10 million dollars or just right under 10 million dollars out of ESSER III with the majority of that expenditure coming in the health and safety line.

So with that I'm happy to take any questions that directors might have.

I've collapsed.

This is a subset of the worksheet that you've seen before.

I've just only included the line items that had expenditures.

If you don't see a line item on there it's because they did not have an expenditure yet.

Directors if you have questions signify by raising your hand.

Director Rankin.

Thank you.

You the this is a clarification.

In the ESSER 2 column is a school program continuity transportation continuity.

You had said.

One line above in the school program continuity.

So does that include transportation or is is the transportation the line in the ESSER 3 box.

Transportation will be the line in ESSER 3 only.

Thanks.

At this point.

All right let's keep rolling.

All right one just one more comment.

We get a lot of questions about well what else.

The rest of the budget is fully committed.

And in fact we've had to reallocate a couple different times moving funds from planned learning engagement supports other wellness supports into the health and safety line.

So that is continuing to be monitored.

The next time that we'll see this updated for actual expenditures would likely be in the December or January meeting where we're where we will show the slide that has expenditures on it.

Everything that's budgeted and everything that's actual.

So we'll bring that back in that timeline.

Directors if I could add a bit of comment on this slide not in its detail but just in why we think it is important for us to continue to return to the ESSER allocations.

We hear often from community and sometimes from schools that you have ample federal dollars.

Why are you not using them to address a particular need.

And while that is a fair question and we want to continue to be responsive to those questions we also want to demonstrate that our ESSER funding has been allocated and we're continuing to use more and more of the ESSER funds to address the health and safety issues that continue throughout the ongoing pandemic response.

So that's that's our major point that we want to continue to express to community.

We're always happy to show how these dollars are being expended.

That's not evident in detail on this slide but that is a place we're ready to go if necessary.

And then we just want to acknowledge that we want to re-enter this into our slide deck as we progress in the budget because we know new members will be coming on the board and we want to refresh their or give them a fresh understanding of where they are on this.

This is not to rehash information with all of you which I think you're beginning to have a depth of understanding on but it is to speak to community at large and the new members that will be coming.

Can you just clarify through what point in time are these funds intended to be used if you didn't already.

We have budget plans.

I believe that use those through 23-24.

Most all of our dollars though I think will be spent in 22-23.

I think we're one of the few districts that spent all of 1 and 2 already.

I don't think any other district in the state that I'm aware of at least not the large districts are spending at the same pace.

So we have had firm plans in place.

We continue to update and iterate on those plans.

But like I said at this point the dollars basically are over committed and we're continuing to have to make adjustments.

Can you explain maintenance of equity.

What does that go towards.

And again I think I dropped my categories in one line below because the dollars in that line should be on the hourly support the school lunch protocols and the contact tracing.

Maintenance of effort is a line that we're holding because there's a federal requirement sitting in ESSER 3. that says that you have to increase funding for your highest poverty schools and maintain that even if they're even if certain things change in those schools like special ed programming or special population enrollment.

So that is a requirement that we've talked about once before.

It is a federal requirement.

We did get that waived.

We worked pretty hard in the budget office to work nationally to allow us to not have to we got a waiver for this school year but that requirement still sitting on us for next year.

We think that that is about two or three million dollars of cost for us that we'll have to ensure schools regardless of anything that's going on maintain certain levels of funding.

So it's still in development by the feds.

That's all I can really say to it.

It's it's brand new.

Not not a lot known about it.

I heard you say maintenance of effort.

Is this maintenance of equity here.

It's maintenance of equity.

Maintenance of equity.

There's also maintenance of effort as another federal requirement.

Okay.

And then so it sounds like some of these things are shifted or somewhere maybe not.

Could you maybe send out a corrected version.

I'm not sure where to tell what should be where.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Is that the start.

All right let's keep going.

All right so next we have an update.

We'll move into the actual budget work.

This slide will be our new baseline.

So this was our awareness when we became aware of the enrollment issue.

You saw this slide for the first time at the work session on September 29th.

This slide's just a refresher that at that point in time that we knew that we had a $28 million dollar enrollment issue.

And we had issues into the out-years.

So then as we start looking at potential solutions I'll just highlight the things that have changed.

So we have closed 2021. So the ending fund balance is now firm at 55,034,483.

The last time we met I think I believe we had a placeholder if you look back in your binders at 55 million dollars.

In addition.

The ESSER backfill remains unchanged.

The enrollment loss dollar figure remains unchanged.

The Economic Stabilization Fund has been updated by about $300,000.

And if you recall that is the most recent closed fiscal year.

That number needs to equal 4 percent of expenditures.

And so once 2021 actual expenditures were known we were able to update that number.

Capital funding remains the same.

Reductions to central admin and district programs remains the same as do the next two line items as well on this slide.

Bob.

So again to cast this slide this was an initial attempt to identify the magnitude of what we could consider to address the forecasted budget deficit.

The updates that JoLynn gave you are numerical but there is no substance change in this slide and subsequent slides will again show the detail about how we could consider this in a in a sense of the parameters or the options we might consider.

So with that we're going to take one slight deviation in the next slide and this relates to the enrollment picture.

So in our last budget work sessions there were a number of questions about where is enrollment.

How is it funded.

What would it mean if we were to forecast enrollment recovery.

So I won't recap all of the questions but we wanted to bring this forward in broad terms to show the lines and their relationship and then make two important points.

And so I'll let JoLynn add some detail here but the first thing that I would point out is that as we all know we are dealing with an enrollment shortfall that brings us to about 50,000 students.

We were a district that had been budgeting at a level of 54,000 students and then we made an adjustment to 52,000 students roughly.

So right now we have to consider what our enrollment will be in the fall as we build toward the next budget year.

There are choices here and we need to begin to wrestle with the outcomes of what those choices are.

In specific terms One view would be to say that we should anticipate conservatively enrollment in the fall to come at 50,000.

Recognizing that right now we're staffed at a level for 52,000 and how would our staffing allocations be adjusted to accommodate that new baseline figure in the fall.

Now there are different scenarios that could obviously occur.

We could see some enrollment recovery.

We could see it come back to 52,000 in which case we would be rightly staffed or at least staffed according to our budgeted projections as they are now and anticipating a return in that enrollment.

But we do not have any certainty that we will see 52,000 students come back in the fall.

So there's a question of.

Which direction should we go.

If we go with a more conservative approach we will have to look at a staffing adjustment.

That staffing adjustment just right sizes our budget if you will.

It does not address the shortfall that we're discussing.

That's first major the major point that I wanted to make.

Supporting point which I'd like to just put out and make sure we have a common understanding is that If enrollment grows were to grow significantly that does not solve our budget challenge either.

For sake of argument if our enrollment were to grow to 58,000 students we would get an appropriate allocation or a commensurate allocation from the state but we would also expend at that level so the net would be a zero gain.

So there is no there is no strong return on getting more students because we don't capitalize on any core efficiencies.

We still have essentially the same types of costs and we expend at levels that we're already conditioned and prepared to spend them.

So those are the two points that I'd like to make.

I won't recast them but JoLynn if you want to Add any clarity or this might be another point we'll take some questions from.

Any questions at this point.

All right let's see are you sure.

Go ahead.

For sure.

Sorry I am my eyes are popping a little bit.

Overstaffed by 275 and 170 are in special education.

Okay the last when the last time I heard numbers we were overstaffed by about 200 FTE and 74 were in special education.

Is that have we lost more students that lead to those being over or what.

for the special ed IA's.

So I went back and added we added in the special ed IA's.

So the first number that you heard was just straight.

Certificated.

Certificated staff.

And then we went back and included the special ed IA's because they make up both part of the revenue issue and the expenditure issue.

And it's a sizable number.

It is very it sure is.

So the 170 number is. the certificated special education teachers plus IA's.

That's right.

Does it include ESA's.

No.

Just special ed teachers and special ed IA's.

I have a lot more questions about that but it's not budget related so I will hold my comments.

Any other questions.

You have another.

and about the potential solutions and maybe we're going to go into more detail you said.

Okay.

Alright moving on.

This is a slide that we have seen before and you roll.

So this slide is roughly parallel to a slide we presented in our last budget work session.

The estimated amount column parallels what you saw on a previous slide in this presentation and is used as a construct to give illustration to the scenarios that we list in A and B.

So I'd like to walk you through scenario A and then by comparison B to give you a sense again of the types or excuse me the parameters we might consider as we then build the detail to go towards our budget.

So in the first line you see the ending fund balance brought forward as a core component of addressing the FY22-23 gap.

The $55 million.

The ESSER dollars as JoLynn earlier indicated are there.

The enrollment loss now slightly updated.

Excuse me the enrollment loss is brought there.

The Economic Stabilization Fund consistent with the slide we presented in the last work session here we're showing using the amount that is above the 3 percent floor that we have in policy.

So we would bring 9.7 million to bear.

The capital funding would be brought in as previously discussed.

The next line in reductions to central admin again we continue to consider how we would go about this at the Stanford Center and looking across the various support and programs we have in this building.

We're using now a placeholder of two million dollars.

That is not to say that is the right figure that is useful in this scenario.

It is also more achievable in the sense that there are a lot of critical positions in this building supporting programmatic work and leadership and curriculum and all sorts of very important programs.

Two million dollars would continue to take a toll on the services provided in this building.

We're bringing that forward as a more realistic or achievable number were we to approach reductions here.

We have added for sake of this illustration and this option more to the investments in new priorities.

We've moved that to five million dollars recognizing that there are still many things that we may consider as critical to advancing the strategic plan or other endeavors and initiatives that the board and the superintendent would like to pursue.

And we continue to have the placeholder of the transportation change in in this scenario.

So were we to use that combination of things we would arrive at a total of just less than $60 million and that would leave us a deficit to address with some very difficult programmatic changes and other reductions to consider of $18 million.

One of the things that was discussed at least in general terms at our last work session was could we pursue one-time relief from the state in granting us additional funding to offset the enrollment loss.

Were we to be successful in that effort then $28 million would be restored and we would then have $9 million left in balance.

And then I would argue that in this scenario, the prudent thing to do would be to return or consider returning that excess back into the economic stabilization reserve.

We'll go into some additional we'll play this out a little bit more in a subsequent slide.

Scenario B by comparison does all of that but shows that if we do not get the relief that we might seek from the state then we have that 18 million dollar deficit to address in the coming budget year.

So I think if we jump to the next slide you'll see this in a larger context and I hope that for purposes of our effort here makes the illustration More clear.

So I will explain the scenario A and then what JoLynn was just gesturing to me about was the scenario B is missing a column on this slide.

So I can speak to that and we'll send you all an updated slide.

So Scenario A then brings the 22-23 year forward and you would see again that with state relief we would have a positive balance of 9.7 million dollars.

When we look in the out years if we were to return that 9.7 either to the reserve or apply it in the future year we would have 39 million dollars in our stabilization reserve.

And in 23-24 we would have a $36 million shortfall absent any other significant reductions.

And in the out year 24-25 without any plan to address it we would have a $92 million shortfall.

Option B again the 22-23 column is as previous as shown in the previous slide we would have an $18 million shortfall without state relief.

have 9 million patients that are down in the reserve.

States have a slightly larger problem, I think 26 million are oxygenated.

And the missing column is patients

by outcome of a 9% deficit.

So this is meant to illustrate that the state will meet upcoming very large challenges.

It doesn't materialize serious challenges without state assistance, lost recovery.

These are then very carefully about how we view targeted and how very aggressively other residents And to see if I add anything then next slide.

Give a view to opportunity.

Challenges.

That's.

I'll just emphasize the point.

Five numbers.

They're the same.

Based on what we.

Next slide together.

Next slide was put together to provide some context about in broad terms by program where are we at as far as our expenditures exceeding state revenues and where really have we made choices.

So where you see a deficit it's where levy comes in to fill that gap.

So on the first line it's showing our certificated cost in TD.

And you can see that the state is funding us for two thousand six hundred and thirty FTEs.

And we have staffed two thousand six hundred and sixty FTEs.

So we actually have four thousand six hundred and thirty FTEs to allocate to the expenditure line item.

The expenditures are far outpacing state revenue.

But what I want to say is that this slide demonstrates something that is a funding detail that's not well-known.

When the state fixed McCleary they really fixed teacher salaries only.

So they made a large step forward in state allocation more closely aligned with what's actually paying And they lowered our levy amount by an obstacle.

What they didn't address is the other two classifications on staffing support which is classified staff and and administrators.

Those two have remained funded at an average of 60 or 70 cents.

So that's part of.

That's part of the whole dynamic about when the state made that step forward, there were other steps that didn't come.

And there is a compensation committee right now required by legislation that is starting to meet all of the WSSDA's on it.

To talk about what is the next step for compensation and our teacher salaries, frankly, keep where they need to be.

So teacher salaries, it's about keeping pace.

The other two are about you had never fixed them.

You never did anything about those.

So talk about basic education then.

The state revenue is covering about 86%.

Look at special education.

And so this is our certificated staff, our classified staff.

But everyone that's in the special education program for K-12 see that we're 500 FTE above what the state allocating to us.

Seventy eight million dollars above what the state allocates to us.

So forty nine percent of our expenditures are being covered.

So a larger district sitting in that program which is something that we've known at this district and that other districts recognize.

These numbers and figures look similar except for maybe in the bilingual one.

Other districts.

CTE programs, they're smaller.

They typically have underspend and will typically come in at about a break-even point for both programs.

They're on here for, not on here, from my perspective.

Then we get to bilingual education.

The state only funds certificated deaf in bilingual education.

The state does not fund any IAs.

We do allocate IAs out to are bilingual so we have two hundred and three allocated and bilingual ed is funded by the state.

This is the budget for twenty two.

I can tell you that the actual amount that we ran a deficit in bilingual ed is twenty twenty one.

The next line item is school.

This is the front office staff and our principal.

There are other people who are staffing in our school that are classified positions.

$246,000 allocation, $35 million dollars, 68 percent of that ratio.

Same information provided for classified staff district five.

These are like our folks, our gardeners, trades and crafts folks, for 57 over they allocate and this is where you can really see that classified funding issue.

The state's funding seven positions over but it's a ratio of 49 percent that the state is actually spending.

Then we get to central.

These are budget office payroll.

About 75 positions and we're funded about 50 percent.

So the reason that we're demonstrating large categories, because that $18 million has to be adjusted somewhere.

These are where we spend dollars at a level large enough to solve an 18 million.

JoLynn has this great ability to hand it over to me. be the difficult talking point.

So I'd like to cast this in both a neutral light because this represents both the challenge we face.

How do we consider where to begin to make reductions.

Odd categories.

Where the district has made important choices to fund that.

So.

We recognize that those would be hard decisions in your leadership to make hard decisions for consider and hard for to adjust to.

I say this can be viewed as a neutral slide because this also presents indicated the opportunities for say here is where in our district underfunded by state allocation.

How do we augment that funding.

How do we go about that.

Still have to do is recognize that in the very near term.

Out.

One time state relief.

Enrollment loss.

We have an 18. We have a significant shortfall.

In the upcoming budget.

In the out years we have an even larger problem.

to consider deeper, deeper reductions on these times.

Also say that the simplistic tool that we may hear about as suggestions don't really address the needs of our day.

So a common refrain might be, well, Just cut teacher salaries.

That's how you solve it.

Well, we have to recognize right from the start that we value our instructors.

We value our instructors, teachers, and our staff a great deal.

And we need to remain competitive in this competitive environment.

That's no good.

In the long run, it's a broad, broad cut in the central office, even though that gives some relief to some minds.

Similarly, we can't simply take a 8% reduction across all categories.

That would be a problem, but...

...find opportunities to improve the services we offer.

So this...

This slide offers no recipe.

This slide offers no remedy.

Does give us an opportunity.

Category.

Last thing I want to say is.

Articulated some clear areas where.

Special education is.

Funded.

And we are.

Staffed by.

The state's rendering.

And we know that we face.

Is there an opportunity in doubtless state?

How do we go about that?

Challenge.

Bilingualization is another.

Each of these also has clear ties to what we are.

So enshrined in the practice of operating the mind.

To undo that, challenge.

not to cast labor in a negative light, management in labor.

But there will be...

I don't want to cast that as anti-labor, because it's quite the opposite.

It's a challenge that is going to be on the table, talking about shattering that.

When we take on this challenge if ever to.

Interactions.

Have to find a productive way.

Respect the good.

Director Harris.

Thank you.

I want to go back a couple of slides to the five million free tier busing.

I have heard nothing in the last couple of years about the academic medical studies about the efficacy of our children at least children five And I'd like to know what we've got going through our box and what the results of our studies are and where they are on the.

And and any time we're talking about the three tier system I desperately need the data to know that.

I'm not sure that either of you were here and that's fair.

It was a difficult call notwithstanding bus driver or contractor shortages.

Did it for the right reason and we're still waiting for that analysis.

So I'll fight like the person that I am without that information.

The other question.

comes up this is going to be very very difficult.

There are two of you all meeting staff and SEA right now to learn them up just like you're learning it.

Because I don't want to wait until September of next year to sign the bargain.

Thank you.

Director Harris I'll respond to your second question and I'll turn to Jim Flynn for her insights on.

Simple answer to your second question.

Are we engaging with PASS.

Are we engaging with SEA leadership.

I'll say we have started that process.

I met with PASS leaders Tuesday yesterday and what And walk walk them through the slides that we made as a presentation to the board in the last work session.

And we have made clear and they are very receptive to ongoing discussions about how to understand the depth of our challenges.

enter into a space where we jointly consider might be the right approach.

We have started that with PASS.

I met with SEA with SEA on Monday and made a similar offer to them that we could begin not to bargain share information about how we see the budget challenges ahead not to forecast the path or the solution that we seeking.

common understanding of that challenge and I also in SEA leadership to come with the hard questions.

How do we understand these.

How do their economic analysis.

So that we aren't entering into actual bargaining.

Tested space.

So in short we are meeting with both of those groups.

Ongoing efforts.

Several weeks.

Have we received a response to that offer yet.

Director Hersey to be more precise.

I met with President Moderator and Vice President Hawkins and said I was very eager to get this conversation underway.

They responded yes we're very eager to start that.

So it's a matter now of scheduling that question and making sure the leadership team is.

That is wonderful news.

Thank you.

Director Rankin you had a question.

Oh.

So we have asked Ashley Davies to come in December and give a little details about what the transportation item meant.

And I was here when we put the bell time.

So there's two different things that get conflated in transportation right.

There's the bell time flip where we move all the elementary to the earliest start time and the high school.

At the same time or near about.

used to have three start times and we went back to two start times.

This is only talking about moving back to three start times.

So I will say my memory recalls the third group didn't want to go to the earlier time necessarily elementary school.

There were pros and cons right for that.

What we do know is that in that bar that it was going to cost money to go Two tiers from G.

Because what it means is the difference of one bus driver can do one route a day and that's it because there's not enough time between start times.

Can't go back and get the.

Have three tiers of start time.

Two.

Have time enough to do one route.

Take kids to A.

And then you have time enough to take kids to school.

That's what creates the safety.

That you have 400 buses and they can cover all of these routes or you can have 300 buses.

That's where the safety is.

But Ashley Davies will be sent to give more information about that.

With the UW stuff that we get from Dr. Redwood.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I am very glad that Ashley will be here in December to talk about this is going to say also, I.

As Director Harris said I cannot entertain a return to three tiers as a budgetary solution without understanding what the impact is and how we're going to look at that knowing and having been heavily involved in the other changes about the broader impact that they'll have to our students and our families but also to child care providers enrichment.

I mean it's just like it's just a total upheaval and it is.

Very challenging.

And the idea of going back to that.

But that's also the idea of going back to the three tiers that we had before.

Maybe there's a definition that doesn't you know that's not those same three times but that's again I can't accept that as a possibility without understanding the context just about the budget.

So I just wanted to really state that.

Does this in the projections out three years ahead what are the assumptions about the cost of salaries and how how those play out.

Okay thanks.

And then.

Also with this does this assume that the operations levy passes that includes includes that money assuming that it passes.

So without that it's even bleaker.

I just wanted to make sure.

Thank you.

And then in the expenditures compared to state funding.

I know that this is something that is really confusing for folks about the funded FTE by the state and our actual funded FTE and also not just the difference between those two numbers but the difference between.

what an FTE costs to us and what the state says that it costs within those allocations.

So like I really appreciate this but I also I think if in the hopes that we can help more people understand how these decisions are made and why they're important that I think that might be something that we can do.

With the bilingual education.

And our numbers being three times the amount that's allocated is that because do we have certificated bilingual education staff or do we only have IA's.

Okay.

So is part of this number.

Well that's interesting.

I guess my question is is some of that some of the difference in the two numbers the fact certificated staffs cost more than IA's and we're kind of.

Does that make sense.

The state only allocates certificated FTE's.

We're over that allocation out of the gate just on certificated staff in this program.

And we also supplement with classified staff or IA's and the state does not fund any IA's in there.

So all of those are just straight above.

Okay.

So that number the 340 includes certificated and IA's.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

In terms of discussions with labor partners which is obviously hugely important something that I want to make sure that we're thinking about is how to avoid or how to I don't know involve more people in Like these aren't just labor conversations.

These are conversations about what kind of education the broader community wants to provide for students.

And so I think we'd be making a mistake to view these as I guess we need to have conversations about these in public with the public that include our labor partners and include educators and families and everybody that don't become this sort of the district and SEA fighting each other over dollar allocations and that's maybe based in I don't know what I'm trying to say not based in the interest of what the community would want.

This kind of goes along with comments I've made before about We have to stop talking about more or less and more about the like special education is a really good example.

Like it would be easy to say well the state's only covering 49 percent so we'll just cut half of it.

That's obviously not a good solution.

And we know that we have in quotes extra staff and we know that we have a lot of families whose students are still not being served and we know that we want to increase inclusionary practices and those are all going to have an impact.

So how do we make sure that those conversations that the budget's not driving the solutions that what we we all want as educators students and families is driving the funding.

Does that make sense.

Do you agree.

I mean what we want to do is.

You want to move to a better way to serve it.

And it may be a different model but it should be but at the end of the day I'll say that it has to balance somehow.

Yeah I mean at some point a decision has to be made and we have to we have the dollars that we have.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

I would just say also that we need to be really clear on how we approach that because I know in the past other labor partners other jurisdictions outside of us having conversations about items that are bargaining table five of the bargaining table are typically frowned upon for various reasons.

I know what you're suggesting is not that.

The only thing that I would say is that if we are interested in doing that we need to develop whatever that's going to look like with SEA to make sure that we are not preemptively causing more disruption than finding solutions.

With that, Director Rivera, is there a question?

That totally makes sense.

Thank you.

But I will say to follow up on this conversation here because I absolutely agree that our funding should not be the biggest of our of our services and our allocations of staff but so I feel like we have you know we have a budget that reflects our values but we don't have revenue that reflects our values is the problem.

So definitely.

at that revenue resource issue and I know we are.

Director Hampson.

While those things are true that Director Rankin Director Rivera-Smith have said we also don't currently have the outcomes that we want for our students as it pertains to either special education or bilingual education services and we need to keep in mind that we that makes us poor advocates and poor partners with our fellow districts when we are so overspent and so underperformed in our outcomes for students in special education.

So we're a long ways from having something that is overspent and yet producing lovely results for our families and communities.

We need to keep that in mind as well.

And I would just say before we move on to the next piece of our agenda that yes we do not need to leave with budgeting but there there is nothing that is going to make this 90 million dollar problem go away.

Right.

And so I do just want to be clear that as we are having conversations about what we are going to do internally I know that a lot of folks are also thinking that we need to go to the state which I totally agree with.

But before we go to the state in order to in order to be taken seriously there is a large amount of cleanup that we need to do in our own books.

And I think specifically the way that we push our partners at the legislature is first by showing that we are doing everything in our power to get to a point to where we can budget our books on our own.

the or excuse me balance our books on our own and then we obviously have the leverage necessary.

I also want to make clear for folks that if we get to a point to where we do not budget appropriately and we do not find solutions and we do not have the hard conversations and make the hard choices OSPI will come and make those choices for us.

And I guarantee everybody in this room would rather be in a position to where we can collaboratively find solutions to this and even those outside of this room who might be listening who I hope are listening that we can find collaborative solutions to this now because I guarantee you that the alternative is not what any of us want.

So with that I'm not sure what the next piece of our agenda is.

Please.

I have heard from people listening that the sound is a little bit choppy and that is apparently because we are not all speaking into our microphone and the sound cuts out.

So just for folks listening and that's a note for me too because I know I'm moving around a lot to make sure folks can hear.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Okay.

Anything else from senior staff.

Director Hersey thank you.

We will close with this slide not because we have identified a clear set of solutions but this slide will continue to frame our discussion.

We have roughly one month between now and our next budget work session.

JoLynn and I along with senior staff and many throughout the organization are continuing to look at how we could make the adjustments internally to realize that outcome of making sure that we are budgeting effectively inside before we go outside and look for relief.

So we intend to come forward with a deeper set of details in our next budget work session.

We also recognize that we'll have new members on board sitting and ready to participate at that time.

So we look forward to December 10th.

the December 10th work session.

Okay before we move on to our superintendent search firm interviews we have one more question from Director Harris.

I would also like to take the liberty and give us five minutes before we head into that interview so that folks can do what they need to do.

When you all come back to us on December 10th if you can give us a sense of how these meetings are being held.

Who is in the room.

How the meetings are being conducted and where we are in the weighted staffing standard continuum.

I absolutely know you're busting your backsides on all of this but giving us more information about the process the how and the what would be very helpful to at least this person.

Thank you.

Okay, do we have time for five?

We come back at 540, perfect.

Great, thanks everybody.

We will be interviewing two firms Hazard Young Atteya and Associates and McPherson and Jacobson.

These two firms were the top candidates following the RFP process.

Board will meet again on Monday November 15th to select one of these two firms to conduct conduct the superintendent search.

Directors submitted interview questions last week and each director will ask one question from the list.

I will call on directors when it is their turn to ask a question.

We will be interviewing Hazard Young Atteya and Associates first.

They will be joining us remotely.

Hello and welcome to the HYA team.

Please introduce yourselves and provide your opening statements.

Hello can you hear me.

I'm Maria Ott.

Hi Maria yes we can hear you.

Thanks for being here.

Thank you for having us.

I am waiting to see the rest of the team join.

Are they in the waiting room.

I guess we're a bit early so we can just pause for a few minutes while your rest of your team gets on.

I will text and see if they're in in fruit in cyberspace.

Hold on.

Well I see Will.

We're just missing Carolyn McKinnon.

I see you talking but you're muted.

Are you intending to be speaking.

To William to me.

We're speaking to Carolyn McKinnon.

She's having difficulty with the link.

We're trying to help her get into the room.

Oh yeah and I'm not going.

We apologize for the delay.

We're still having difficulty with her link and we may have to go on without Carolyn.

She's our lead on this.

So is there.

Maria I have her call in on the call in line.

Can you call in on the call in line Carolyn.

I can try to get the call.

I have a number.

Direct line 8 4 7 2 5. That's probably Teresa's call in line.

Do they have a call in line here.

Do you have the call in number Will.

Yes.

It's 1 2 0 6. 1 2 0 6. 800. 800. 4 1 2 5.

Okay.

1206-800-4125.

And then there's an access code you're going to have to punch in.

The access code is 325-608-248-pound.

I can see this thing, but she's in the process of dialing in.

Okay, thank you.

Well, you're welcome.

I don't know where to go to get in.

I can't even get in on this number.

The number isn't working for her.

I think we need to just begin.

It's a pleasure to meet all of you.

Thank you for your patience.

I know how hard it is sometimes with the technology.

So I really appreciate you being patient with us.

My colleague William Ector and I will go ahead without our lead.

So I look forward to meeting all of you.

So I'm Maria Ott and I'm here representing Hazard Young and Atiyah.

And I'll just very briefly tell you who I am.

I am a retired superintendent.

I am also a professor of clinical education and at the USC Rossier School of Ed.

I am the lead faculty for the AASA USC Rossier Urban Superintendents Academy which is a superintendent academy and partnership between the National Superintendents Association AASA and USC.

I'm also a member of the ALAS the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents of their board.

I'm a co-author of a culturally proficient society begins in school leadership for equity.

And it is just my pleasure to meet you and I look forward to being able to support you in this process.

And now to have my colleague introduce himself.

Yes.

Good evening everyone.

My name is Will Ector.

And I'm a retired superintendent as well.

Retired superintendent of Berryessa Union School District here in Silicon Valley in San Jose California.

Four years retired.

I'm currently an adjunct professor also at formerly at San Jose State and also Santa Clara County's credential program as well.

I have 43 years in education.

At the same time 35 of those have been in the area of administration.

I'm also currently a member of on the exec board for the CASA California Association of African-American Superintendents and Administrators as well as NAPSE the National Association of National Alliance of Black School Administrators as well.

And that's kind of just the overview of mine.

I guess we can go ahead and get started the program at this point.

Okay.

Thank you.

I will now call on Director DeWolf to ask the first question.

HYA please limit your answers to more than five minutes.

Good evening.

Thank you so much for being here.

Wonderful to hear your introductions.

My name is Director DeWolf.

I'll be asking the first question tonight.

The first question is can you tell us about a time You made a placement with district needing to rebuild trust within and outside the organization.

Let me share with you the time that I was involved in the search when LA Unified selected Michelle King as their superintendent.

And at that time there were a lot of issues that involved both internal and external trust-building challenges for the district.

They had gone through some difficult times and so I think that was a very solid placement.

So I will see if Will if you have any that you want to add to that.

Yes.

My my last one started off that way.

The past superintendent had left and really broke down all of the trust bridges with all of the units the administrative unit the classified as well and certificated units there in the district.

And it was really I mean morale was really bad.

Parents of one of the rapid the fastest growing school districts here and in the Bay Area.

I mean it's really growing right now.

They're having growth issues.

They're having problems with their bonds.

keeping up with it and spending them correctly.

As fast as they had to build new schools they had to do maintenance work on the old ones so the parents were really at ends and it just was at the beginning somewhat of a chaotic scenario with different factions within the district.

And we were able to come through and listen to them and make a good hire there.

Can we provide any additional information.

Any questions.

I'm sorry I can't hear at all.

My my volume's not coming through very well.

I was just trying to clarify what school district you were speaking of in both of your examples.

I couldn't tell if it was two different ones or the same one.

Those were different districts.

The first one was the example was LA Unified.

And the one I talked about was in reference to Dublin Unified Dublin School District.

Thank you.

Okay and I will be asking the second question.

Based on your experience what have you learned about the elements of a successful placement.

Well one of the things that I consider to be Just so foundational to successful placement is really broad stakeholder input that really captures the diverse perspectives from the school district as well as from the community.

I know that that you have a lot of involvement in your district and I think that that's absolutely crucial.

The leadership profile.

that is developed from all of the stakeholder input I think is really crucial crucial to a successful placement because it really helps define very clearly what the stakeholders see as the challenges and issues that are in the future for your district and also helps describe the strengths and characteristics that people are looking for in that next superintendent.

So that's foundational.

So it it that profile helps the firm cast the net broad and wide and deep to find the very best candidates who match the profile and have the potential to successfully work with the board and with the school district in the leader top leadership capacity.

So it's part of what happens is you're building trust with your stakeholders during that process.

And it kind of confirms for everyone that you as a board see that as the most important decision that you will make to find a leader who is matched to what your stakeholders consider they need both in terms of experience skills and dispositions that they will bring to the to the position.

So this is one of the initial measurement tools that we used for making that successful placement.

It's kind of like a rubric and you use it to gauge the match between the candidate and the qualities that you and your system are looking for.

Your interviews also are crucial to making that selection process go well and looking for that best fit.

a careful vetting process that brings forth the best talent and potential for Seattle.

And then when you go into the selection process clearly the way you introduce the new superintendent into the system is absolutely one additional solid piece of an effective successful and effective placement.

Yes I'd just like to add that it's critical that the profile that we put together on the the candidate profile which consists of all the input from your stakeholders.

It really gives your stakeholders a firsthand feeling of being included and participation and that they are they definitely have a say in what's going on in terms of that they're being heard and some of their concerns whether the emphasizing the strengths of the district or and the characteristics of the new candidate what they need to possess coming in are taken taken into hand at that point in time.

Okay thank you.

Next we will go to Director Harris for the next question.

Thanks for being here.

Much appreciated.

Next question is what methods do you use to engage candidates who have historically been underrepresented in positions like superintendent.

And can you share any data that demonstrates the effectiveness of those methods.

Thank you.

Well sure.

I'd love to answer that for you.

HYA prides itself in seeking a diverse pool of candidates.

who fit the actual leadership profile that I just talked about for this particular desired position as your superintendent there in Seattle Seattle Unified.

HYA is committed to identifying supporting and placing school district as well as well the schools as well as the district leadership and leaders of color and gender that have long been historically underrepresented.

And we take pride in this in the sense that in our opening statements we mentioned that Dr. Ott just mentioned her affiliation with a lot of the culturally diverse groups that she's she's a member with on the national level as well as myself.

And I know I do a lot of workshops here in California on aspiring administrators.

I do those monthly for the African-American superintendents and administrators group there.

So we do a lot of work and not only that but we take pride in participating.

I attend a lot of the.

The CALSA that's the California Alliance of Latino Superintendents.

They're their organization.

We do a lot of we're very involved intersectionally with all the different groups both here which I know from California as well as at the national level with NAPC.

So we go out of our way and all of our associates bring a diverse relationship or a connection which allows us to to go out and to the results and contacting diverse candidates for positions that we're trying to fill.

Like I said we've had several of our associates here in HYA have been national officers for a lot of the the diverse I mean a lot of the diverse cultural groups such as both both the Latino and African-American educators.

We've led searches to find the objective records for some of these several states dealing with a lot of this.

And one thing I'd like to add that in our packet you're going to find that we've included the data of all of the goes back from 2016 to the present.

These only for the diversity slates that we brought before school boards across the country.

And they're all dealing with I think a minimum of about 20,000 students and above going up to as high as I think 200,000 students that we've been associated with.

And one thing I'll say we're very we're very aggressive and very purposeful about bringing those who have not been invited before to participate in this by giving them access.

And we do take this very seriously in terms of changing the narrative to enhance these individuals opportunity to to participate.

And one of the things I like to say that even though we go through and we bring these candidates in the slate we do not hire.

That hiring is strictly up to the boards.

And whether it be gender equity or diversity that we're dealing with we will get you a diverse group but we will put them before you.

But at the end of the day it's the boards that make those decisions.

And I don't know if you have that information in front of you or not.

Our HYA data sheet.

that has the data from 2016 up to 2020 of all of the states of the large systems that we've been processed with.

I don't know if you have those with you but I would hope that you do.

If not we can get it to you in terms of the data analysis.

And just adding to what my colleagues shared with you.

I had mentioned that I'm the lead faculty I direct the AASA USC Rossier Urban Superintendent Academy.

There are two urban academies that are affiliated with AASA.

The one that is at Rossier USC Rossier and the other is at Howard University.

And we work closely together with a shared commitment shared vision to develop our diverse leaders to be ready to step into urban leadership positions.

Many of the individuals who are in the academy are are sitting superintendents who are preparing for that move to a larger district.

And some of them are very talented deputies senior level leaders.

And so I just wanted to share that in terms of the individuals that we interact with on a regular basis.

Thank you.

We'll now go to Director Hersey for the next question.

Thank you.

I'm just confirming we're on number four correct.

Okay.

Please share how you would build the job description and marketing material used to advertise the position and outreach you do to ensure a diverse and qualified set of candidates.

I'll start and then I'll pass it to my colleague.

You know a lot of that comes from interviewing you as a board and then also from the stakeholder groups that we would interact with.

You know you have many partner organizations that work closely with Seattle Public Schools.

You have influencers within your community that you will want us to hear from and so You know the beginning process is really to understand what that profile needs to look like.

That's how you recruit.

Otherwise people are just hearing an announcement and not necessarily knowing that they're a match or not a match to the position.

Will do you want to add to that.

Yeah just just to kind of jump on what you said.

A lot of the information the initial is what the board tells us.

Those those skill sets that you feel that were lacking or that you that you need moving forward to help bring the district closer together and be more effective in whatever area deemed necessary there for Seattle.

One of the other things I think that is critical in terms of developing that job description is that we also look at those elements that the stakeholders put forth in terms of what they feel is missing.

And we were able to go through and take their information and bring that before you as well as we as we collectively put together this job description in terms of and once we do that we do get this job description put together.

That's at that point that's when we start really marketing the district in terms of looking for people.

That is kind of like the template that we use to measure the skill sets that the candidates are bringing to the plate at that time.

We also advertised on all the major sites that would attract a diverse candidate pool including you know with AASA with ALAS with some of the state organizations such as what Will mentioned CALSA in California and as well as other state affiliates.

There are a number of them that are connected with NAPC as well as with ALAS and So we reach out to make sure that we're in the most visible places possible.

Thank you very much.

We'll go now for a question from Director Rankin.

Thank you and good evening.

Hi.

What can you tell us about your approach to vetting potential.

I'll I'll begin that and then pass it off to my colleague.

We take the vetting process very very seriously.

So when we do that part of it is you know looking at individuals that the candidate identifies as sources of information but we go we have such a solid network across the country.

I we reach out.

And we do that vetting confidentially but through the networks that exist in HYA.

That's one of the benefits of HYA is that the extensive network of connections that allow us to vet candidates to make sure that we're not missing anything in terms of a match for Seattle Public Schools.

Well.

Yes one of the things and the vetting process we're very I'd say somewhat aggressive in the sense of potential candidates in terms of just going through doing our background checks.

We do the initial digital screening as well.

We do an initial digital background check and then if they make it to the finals we do a very comprehensive forensic.

digital background check just to make sure there's anything that we didn't get along the way.

So we're very aggressive in terms of the vetting process.

And we will go through and vet the the candidates.

I know the last job had over 175 candidates of which we vetted down to 65 that we actually screened ourselves personally.

And then from that that 65 we broke it down to 10 that we brought before the board in order for them to do the interviewing with.

At that point we got down to 3. at that point but at that point we do very comprehensive vetting in terms of part of our processes embedded in what we do.

And one thing I'll say about about HYA that you'll find is that we are a national firm.

I mean we and we approach it from the national level in terms of the candidates that are coming at us from all over the country of really making sure that they match up to the actual leadership profile that we're trying to fulfill at whatever district it might be.

And please be free to ask follow-up questions if there's anything that you're wanting to know that we're perhaps missing.

Thank you.

Yes I encourage directors to do that.

So the next question will come from Director Rivera-Smith.

Thank you and good evening.

The question is how do you approach community or stakeholder forums and listening sessions.

How will you process analyze and report back to the board the data you gather from these meetings.

Separately that can you speak to your experience with and your capacity to providing that translation services.

Well first of all everything that we do is translatable regardless of what language.

We will find a language if you have a population that you need our data translated to we will find a way to make that happen first and foremost.

And at the beginning the way that we would go through getting community and stakeholder input and the listening sessions it's critical.

And that's probably the heart of the process that we conduct for you.

We'll come in and they're all the information that they give us.

We'll take that information and and extract it.

and and be able to put that in the form of a report that we'll come back and share with the board.

And this is based on the board input as well.

We will also we have some online interviews online surveys that makes it a little bit more personable for the individual to a lot of times we're reluctant to share in some of the groups because sometimes the politics that exists in the community between groups that they're not open as open as we would like them to be and we'd like to get their honest opinion.

So we do have a online survey where stakeholders can give input.

Now we get this information once they've given it to us and we collate it and we have a way of taking those doing an analysis report and bringing that back before the board.

So the board gets to see it first and foremost and the board has the opportunity not only to look and review it but they also can share it with the community based upon what the stakeholders said.

This is what they their input along with your input has has come to and it's a really comprehensive.

That's one thing about HYA the the data analysis element.

And we we take all of that and we're able to tell you what are the main highlights of each group.

And it's broken down down to every group that gave us from students parents community groups certificated classified administrators.

It's all broken down to you and a nice data analysis report that we share with the board.

For the public meetings for parent meetings if if those need meetings need to be conducted in another language we would work with your staff on that.

I'm Spanish-speaking so I'm comfortable with facilitating those kinds of meetings but we would work with your team there to make sure that appropriate and respectful trans-segmentation was happening for your parent groups.

And one of the things that we've learned is that during this period of you know virtual meetings we're getting a whole lot more involvement.

There's just a tremendous response for the opportunity similar to what probably you're you experienced with your online meetings.

So we work hard to get that broad input and to be really respectful of the language needs of the community.

And just just background wise I mean we well I know I come from just with my own in the Bay Area where I've had schools that had over 50 languages spoken.

Schools of 800 elementary schools and middle schools 1,200 running with with close to 50 languages spoken.

So in terms of dealing with the second language and getting it translated to be effective to elicit participation in this whole process is not a problem.

I've dealt with it my whole educational career.

Thank you so much.

Finally based on your experience please comment on some lessons you have learned about the value and approach to involving different stakeholder groups at different stages of the search process.

Well I think you've heard from both Will and myself the importance of really hearing from those people in the community who have the greatest investment right.

They have their children.

They're your partner organizations that want your success.

And so to have a process that is really inclusive of all of their voices is really as I said earlier foundational to the success to the whole process.

It just that whole stakeholder element it just shows the value that you have for the diverse voices that make up your district and make up your community.

Clearly it begins with the board and get capturing your voices and knowing what you desire in that next superintendent.

But also parents and your students your your older students your city and community leaders all of the significant stakeholder groups that partner with you and they provide various levels of support to your initiatives.

So we ask you during the interview to make sure that you will identify any stakeholder groups that you want to make sure we interview.

Sometimes they will have a separate interview depending on what the group is so we would ask you that.

We also ask the stakeholders for names of individuals that they would want to recommend and we follow up on those as well.

You know that's an important question for the stakeholder meetings.

Is there anyone they want to make sure the firm reaches out to.

We talked about the linguistic accessibility.

We take that very very seriously.

I you know I've if you look up my background you know I've been on the forefront of advocacy for English learners and the proponent of bilingual education from very early in my career.

We take that seriously and again it's it represents the trust that you all have in in the voices of your stakeholders.

People want to be heard.

I mean this is the next leader for this great school district and it takes time to do this.

So one of the words of advice I have is that don't rush this part of it.

The stakeholder input process is crucial to getting the best talent into the pool.

So.

You know that you have to respect the fact that that needs that process needs to be as complete as possible as possible and that when we bring you the the analysis of that as Will described so very well that you will see and hear the voices of all those stakeholders throughout the process.

Sometimes stakeholders will want to be more directly involved and I will just say that my experience over my long career is that that does not work for every situation because we lose candidates if you know the candidate particularly if they're a sitting superintendent successful and They're considering coming to your district.

You want to make sure that the stakeholder input process is separate from the process that you use in interviewing and making your final decision.

It rests with you obviously because this is going to be the additional member to the governance team that will be working so closely with all of you.

Yeah it's such a critical piece to the puzzle being able to utilize your giving all your stakeholder groups some factor of participation in this process.

And where you have it is critical.

Traditionally when we do the stakeholder interviews the groups and what having these are the parents.

We also include students in this process especially Sometimes the middle school and high school kids.

Some stakeholder groups giving us the leadership groups giving us input as well.

We ask them some of the same questions.

And I think it's critical for you as a board to try to include as many as possible on that process.

But at the end of the day you want to have enough data and enough input from your community in order to help drive the decision of the individual you're going to hire as your next Superintendent of Seattle.

That's where the rubber hits the road.

And you want to do this in a way that you don't antagonize any of your subgroups in the community that you know that that causes more ripples for the individual coming in.

The idea of bringing someone that's going to quiet the waters bring some harmony to to the district help to minimize any type of discord that's out there.

And a lot of that is done through the process and how you design the process of which if we're selected to work with you we will help you set up that.

We will sit down and give you parameters on what we would recommend and you would make those decisions as to which way you want to go and to what degree that you would want to utilize their input.

But we would help guide you there and you would have to make those decisions.

Go ahead Director Rankin you have a follow up question.

I do.

Thank you.

I was based on what you were just talking about and I'm curious if.

you're able to speak on or if related to that thing related to what you were just saying when you approach the stakeholder groups if there is or if there could be kind of what sort of your briefing or educational opportunity is with community.

I know that there are oftentimes there's confusion or or misunderstanding about really what is the role of the superintendent What is the role of the board.

Are there things like state law or federal law that come into play.

And I can imagine you know community looking to this opportunity as a way to address Many things that they they may think need addressing that may or may not have to do with how somebody works as a superintendent.

And so I'm curious if you in engaging stakeholders what sort of like the primer for the discussion is and if there's an opportunity there for some sharing of information and empowering them within those contexts.

That's a wonderful wonderful question and there definitely is.

It's it's probably one of my favorite parts is really the introduction to an input session and framing it.

And that's a wonderful opportunity.

You described it well to help reinforce the role of the superintendent.

And sometimes stakeholders you know I I I think They there's just such genuine desire to get the best person in that role.

You know stakeholders desire continuity and stability and they don't want to lose direction.

If a district's doing some powerful work and I know you've got your strategic plan through I think through 2024 you've got some work in progress and stakeholders will want to understand how can they have a role in making sure that the district continues on on a pathway.

And so that gives us a great opportunity to clarify that.

And the entire team is made up of very experienced superintendents.

I've been superintendent of two different districts but I was also the second in command in LA Unified for five years under Roy Romer when he was there as a non-traditional superintendent and he recruited me back to the district.

And I had been a superintendent for 7 years and he convinced me to come back and I spent those 5 years with him before going back out into the superintendency seat.

So you know we bring all of those experiences of successful careers as superintendents.

I just spent 2 years advising Austin Buechner in LA Unified before his decision to step out of the superintendency.

These are.

You know really amazing times because there's so many issues churning for boards for superintendents and our our goal would be to help support you in a really successful process where you would have a leader that would work side you know at your side as part of your team to help you realize the vision you have for your your community your schools and It was just a pleasure to see to read and see some of what you have posted on your web page and and the commitment that you have to really lifting up your diverse students.

I commend you for the work you're doing.

I was excited about it.

Your African-American initiative.

I've been working with a district that's got a similar initiative in L.A.

County and just really commend you for that.

So if we're selected we'll be excited to you know be able to help educate your public during the stakeholder sessions at least on a level of understanding the differences in the roles.

Yeah it's not a lot I would add no more than it's critical that we definitely keep the we do what we can to help define those roles because nothing's worse than misunderstanding as to the actual role of the superintendent and of the board as well because a lot of people they they they're not close enough to know what those roles are.

Thank you.

Do other directors have follow-up questions before.

Let our candidates move to closing statements.

Okay so one thing I would be super helpful for you to speak to we did have a change in the the principles on this coming out of HYA.

And so if you could just speak to that change I think it would be helpful for our board to hear that from from you all if you're versed to or have capacity to speak to that in addition to your other closing comments as well as any questions that you may have for us.

I I can just speak from what level of knowledge I have and that is I understand there was some kind of behind at the home office mix up in some of the names.

And so the team that you have is Carolyn McKenna myself and Will here.

So that's the team.

I'm really sorry that Carolyn wasn't able to get the link to work.

And so thank you for being patient with us on that.

But that mix up on I think that you're referring to Carolyn had shared that there was some mix up in that that was at the home office and what they put into the form.

Will do you have any more information than what I have.

No.

Just briefly that's all I heard in terms of the change of associates in terms of who they selected.

And it was a last-minute change in order to to address the team that's going to be coming forward to you tonight and before Other than that I just I'd just like to say that we really appreciate your patience tonight because this is this was not the original game plan but one thing being an educator for 43 years and in the hill and right in the center of Silicon Valley one thing you can count on is when you need technology the most it doesn't always work.

So tonight just validate at that point even more so.

So I just want to thank you for the patience in allowing us to try to get Carolyn on board.

And Carolyn could have answered that question for you.

Unfortunately because she was the point.

But we will we can get that to you if it's necessary.

All I can say is you have a great team if you select us.

Do you have any other closing comments that you'd like to make.

I would just like to thank you on behalf of Carolyn.

I know that she.

has experience with your district and I know she had planned to wrap that up to really just to say how much we would like to be able to work with you and support you in this important process.

And I would just reinforce that.

I think all three of us are very excited at the opportunity.

We know it's a decision you will ultimately have to make but just know that you would have our full commitment and that we would be there at your side to you know have a very successful process that would end up with a you know a leader that would work with you as a member of your governance team and that would be the kind of leader that would help move the district forward to that next level.

Will I'll let you have the last remark.

And just basically with HYA you're getting a firm that does By nature they do a lot of research and data analysis.

And we we bring a little of that to the table in terms of helping to dig a little bit deeper in terms of helping to find make sure that all the voices are being heard.

Taking that input and giving it to you in a format that can help you make better decisions as to building out the desired characteristics of your next superintendent.

That's something I think that none of our other firms can do that we have in our arsenal that I've learned over the years.

It's been very fantastic here.

And once again like I said we would be there for you through the process to the hiring and after the hiring in terms of just to ensure the success of your candidate moving forward.

And I just want to thank you for the opportunity to come before you tonight.

We really do.

Thank you much.

Very much appreciated and wish you the very best in your journey.

Thank you so very much.

Appreciate your time this evening.

If there are any additional statements that Carolyn would like to pass along we can make sure that the entire board gets those statements since she wasn't able to be with us this evening.

And also appreciate your your color coordination.

You would have thought we called each other up on the phone, wouldn't you?

Every once in a while you get lucky that way you show up and you're coordinated.

All right, well take care and thanks again.

Thank you.

Good luck to you.

Hope to hear from you.

Bye bye.

Bye bye.

OK, thanks again to HYA and we will now move to interview McPherson and Jacobson.

They will be joining us in person.

Hello and welcome McPherson and Jacobson I'm sorry Jacobson team.

As soon as you get settled and are ready I'll ask you to introduce yourselves and provide your opening statements.

Take your time.

Thank you.

Oh good that works.

No.

Yeah, it was.

OK.

Shall we switch out his mic with his colleague or?

It's part of the task.

How's that?

That's better, I think, isn't it?

Yeah, good.

So thank you.

Thank you for inviting us.

giving us the opportunity to talk with you about the most important job the school board has and that is hiring their superintendent.

My name is Steve Lau and I've been a superintendent for 30 years and about 38 years in public education.

Can you still hear?

Okay, good.

And I've been with McPherson since 2014. I've been in districts, eight districts of 150, the complete district was 150 kids.

To my last district in the city of Stockton, 38,000 kids, high poverty, high crime.

And I had a $500 million annual budget.

So I've had quite the experience.

It's been an amazing career.

Gustavo.

Gustavo Balderas.

I'm superintendent right now in the Edmond School District right up north.

Right north of Seattle.

Been a superintendent for 11 years.

Been a superintendent in California in the Central Valley as well as in Orange County prior to my last district in Eugene.

32 years in education.

Also president-elect of the National Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents.

Also that works well with NAVSEA.

We've been doing more partnership lately in terms of recruitment.

So getting a bigger, our goal is to ensure that we have better representation and upper leadership across the U.S.

So thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

I'm PJ Ford Slack.

I sort of feel like the exchange student here.

Most of my experience has happened overseas in places like China, Australia, and New Zealand working with the Maori or in Alaska for the last 20 years where I was not only a superintendent and a principal but also the head of all K-12 education second from the Commissioner of Ed.

My big focus and I'm thrilled to be in the state of Washington and be in the Seattle School District where a very dear friend of mine was close to your superintendents a few superintendents ago because she was the superintendent of Anchorage.

And that is the largest school district of course in Alaska and a very large one it is.

But I've spent my time mainly working with small districts or medium sized districts in the state of Alaska.

and in Minnesota and Oregon and a lot of time with different tribal groups or indigenous groups from the Northwest up to Alaska and over to Australia and New Zealand and I'm thrilled to be here.

So thank you.

I'm glad it wasn't last night.

Driving from the coast would not have been fun.

And the last member isn't able to be here tonight in your packet.

There is a resume for Dr. Tawana Grover, who's the current superintendent of Grand Isle Public Schools, Grand Isle, Nebraska.

She will be part of our team.

She just wasn't able to be here tonight and you'll have the information about her in So do how do we proceed now.

Do we just begin to answer questions or are you going to ask the questions.

Well yeah we'll prompt you with the various directors asking you the question and you will have we just ask that you try to answer them within five minutes for each of the questions.

So we'll start with Director DeWolf with our first question and he's remote so he'll be over there and hopefully you can hear him.

That cranes your neck.

Go ahead Zachary.

Thank you President Hampson.

I'm sitting in a classroom here.

Wonderful team's background.

And thank you so much for being with us tonight.

Sorry I can't be there with you in person.

And I'll have the first question for you tonight.

Can you tell us about a time you made a placement with a district needing to rebuild trust within and outside the organization.

So frankly, the answer is every search.

Because there is such a big disruption in.

I don't want to say the force, but in in the district when there's such uncertainty about who's going to be the next leader.

You know, I just finished Vancouver Public Schools.

That's that was a big transition.

Again, they're concerned about who's going to be the next leader, what are they going to be like, et cetera.

I'm working right now with Breeder Albany Schools.

They just released their superintendent, no cause.

And when you talk to the stakeholders, there's a huge disruption, there's concern, there's a change in going forward.

And I think that the biggest thing, I mean, the answer is every search.

Some have more trouble than others.

Some have more distress than others.

but our process is a process that brings people in.

We tap as many voices in the community as possible and it's about working with the school board and the stakeholder groups within the district and the community to come up with the criteria and the needs of the district and the community for the next person.

That builds the trust back.

Our process, every process we do, is such that it brings trust back to the person who's been hired by the board, and that gives them credit, if you will, that people know them, they see them, they feel good about them, and so they can begin the process in the district with some support and backing from the constituent groups within the district.

I'll reiterate what Steve mentioned.

I think every time you do this it's always distress in the system because you're changing the top leader and there's a lot of unknown by staff in terms of what's going to happen with the new person coming in and so forth.

But to build that trust with not just the broader community but with the team And having an understanding with the community and what the board wants what the board wants to see in the next leader, but also getting all the voices ensuring that we have.

as much voice as well as a lot of student voice in the process.

I think that's always essential is that having the students be able to voice their opinion in terms of what they see is working well in the system and not working well in the system, what they see as well.

So and also parents that furthest from educational justice, the parents of students furthest from educational justice is something that needs to be again very intentional in the outreach.

So but every every surge I've been a 4-time superintendent it's always a stress.

Some situations more stressful than others in the system.

I would just say that one of the reasons that I am working have been working for a few years with McPherson Jacobson is has to do with my experience in other districts and how searches have been conducted and to me it is extremely important for the school board to not only feel comfortable that they are being represented but also for them to be able to hear however that is whether it's with stakeholder groups or other ways that you might use.

You need to hear from all of the people of course that you represent you ran and you were successfully elected and you need that.

And so what I like about McPherson Jacobson is their attention to that those details with stakeholders and with the board's criteria so that we can go forward in a transparent manner.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next question.

Based on your experience what have you learned about the elements of a successful placement?

So there are a lot of individuals who have the credentials to do the job.

Our process is successful.

Eighty percent of the people that have been selected by boards are still in the position after five years.

50 percent after 10 years and it's because of that process.

Stability of leadership is key to educational success, success within the district for kids and families.

You want the leader to come and stay and be here because then people can count on what they're saying and doing and they know where the district is headed.

Our process brings you someone who's going to be a fit, not just someone who can do the job, We actually work very, very hard at ferreting out the qualities and criterias, the characteristics that you're looking for, your stakeholder groups are looking for, so that we can provide you with candidates that are the best fit for the position, so that they get to stay in their position and benefit the community and the children.

What I've learned is the more The more groups and individuals we can touch in this process, the better the process.

I felt at the beginning of COVID problems, the COVID pandemic, that because everything went online, I thought we were going to miss meeting people.

It's just the opposite.

What we found is that when you have a community meeting and you can tape it and put it on your website, you're going to have more of your constituents view it and weigh in on the surveys about the individual's strengths and weaknesses.

You actually have expanded your reach.

Your net is much broader.

So I would say that the thing I've learned is our process is very successful because we spend so much time talking to individual groups that you've identified.

It's your process, not ours.

We have protocol.

For example, I mentioned greater Albany.

We have 21 meetings for the greater Albany schools.

21 individual meetings with different constituent groups.

I would expect at least that many for community in your district, probably more.

It's about touching as many of those voices and hearing what they have to say.

That's what makes the process work.

is a very attractive city.

So the candidate pool it is about fit.

It's about the fit for the candidate but also the fit for the board and the community to ensuring that we have again a quality pool of people from across the country that apply.

I mean our job is to bring in people that fit your your needs and your community needs and your wishes as a board in terms of your vision.

Someone that can carry out your vision.

So that's our goal is we have 120 or so consultants across the country that can do that and be able to bring people to a very attractive community.

Thank you.

Next question will come from Director Harris.

Thanks so much for being here.

What methods do you use to engage candidates who have historically been unrepresentative in positions like superintendent?

And can you share any data that demonstrates the effectiveness of those methods?

So McPherson Jacobson has over more than 120 consultants like we are here tonight across the nation.

Who are members?

In fact, Gustavo is president-elect of ALAS.

It's the Hispanic Administrators Association.

We have members in NABCI, the African American Administrators Association.

So we have people who are part of those organizations and they will actively recruit those individuals that are fit for your needs, for your community, for your district.

A third of our applicants over the past five years have been female, a quarter of them have been ethnically diverse, and a third of the placements have either been female or ethnically diverse candidates.

And again, remember those people are still in their positions.

I said 80% are still in positions after five years and 50% after 10 years.

The non-traditional candidates, our consultants will seek out those individuals.

who fit the profile that you've developed, not us.

And we will bring you a diverse slate of individuals to meet your criteria and your characteristics.

It really is about the network that we have across the United States that to be able to attract and know the people that are out there.

This pandemic has been very difficult on leaders.

So you see a lot of open positions.

You've seen a lot of turnover across the country.

and our goal is to look at who is there available and wants to be able to throw your name into the hat to a very again a very solid district very attractive area and we have those connections with just not with NAVSEA with ALAS and other associations that are state affiliates for us across the U.S.

to bring you the most diverse Canada pool we possibly can.

Over the years what I have seen in working with various underrepresented groups and in various programs to develop and mentor superintendents is not only to make sure that the candidate is of course qualified meets your criteria But it's also important to make sure that the supportive network is there for that candidate.

We still are in a time and I can speak as a female that sometimes it is very difficult to get into the positions that we do.

We meet all the criteria.

It all looks great.

But we also want to make sure that they are sustained and supported as well because it's a relationship between the board and the superintendent.

And again I think that Seattle I think that Washington itself has a supportive set of networks.

I'm still involved with NSBA which is the National Indian School Board Association.

But it is important not only to bring you the the candidate that meets your criteria and that the first opening is wonderful but that it is sustained for the goodness of your district.

Thank you.

Director Hersey.

Please share how you will build the job description and marketing material used to advertise the position and outreach you do to ensure a diverse and qualified set of candidates.

So the criteria, as I mentioned earlier, is your criteria.

It comes from your constituents, the individuals in your school and community about what they're looking for in the next leader for Portland Public Schools.

What we do is we work with your Seattle.

So I'm old.

And I live next door to Portland, I apologize.

Thank you for that.

Seattle Public Schools, I apologize.

That's silly.

We work with your, we work with the board, we work with the point of contact.

There'll be an individual, be it a board member or oftentimes it's the executive secretary to the board or the superintendent, who then makes all the contacts throughout the district and talks to individuals about The flyer, the brochure talks about the good things in the district so we can make sure we have all those things.

The board gets the final say on all of things to make sure it's what they want.

We want to present the strengths of the district in the community.

We want to make sure that we get it out.

We talked about what do we do?

We advertise.

We can advertise in the New York Times.

Uh the san francisco chronicle we can um, we can advertise in the major newspapers for you Clearly in in our proposal is a list of advertising venues The council of greater city schools is not in there, but I think you are a member.

Is that that is correct?

And so we would do that as well because those are where your contacts are going to be and um That's going to help us not only recruit people but it's also going to help us develop a brochure that will meet the needs of the individuals who are part of those organizations.

Thank you.

Director Rankin.

Thank you.

What can you tell us about your approach to vetting potential candidates.

So we do a heavy background check on our on our candidates and both those that are on references and beyond references because again it's a the superintendent pool is is there's 14,000 school districts or so across the U.S.

So people know who's there to make sure that we have a comprehensive background check that's provided to the board.

Also there's a formal background check that Steve can talk about a little bit as well but we do informal informal checks on folks just to make sure that We fully vet out the candidates that are brought to you.

And also, again, the former background check, you want to speak to that?

What we say we do more than 3D.

Uh, we don't just rely on their listed references.

We talk to individuals in their community could have been the police of chief of Chief of police.

Yeah, I did that too.

I know this is seattle This is not portland We talked to The mayor we talked to individuals that they would have interactions with so we find out As much as we can find out we scrub down that individual so that we can be confident that we bring you people We know what's been what's been their history That there's nothing hidden there and we do a formal once you select somebody we do a formal Criminal and financial background check as well so that you know everything there is to know not only that but we also ask the individuals Before we bring them before you Is there anything in your history that might embarrass the board if it became no we ask that of every one of their references as well So we get as much information as we can facebook twitter.

We look at the newspapers Do the search on the internet so we scrub down those individuals before we bring them before?

I can speak to that.

I know that a candidate search that was done in Alaska, I know that they got to me, but McPherson Jacobson went further.

In fact, they found a rather somewhat disreputable newspaper article about the gentleman who was one of the candidates, and they came back.

I'm really glad they came back to me.

And I talked about that and said that this was, you know, 25 years ago and it was a bad divorce with his wife, all of those things.

And then I gave them the name of the attorney that had represented the district.

And I said, he will be able to speak more clearly about what happened 20 years ago, because as far as I know, this candidate is an excellent candidate.

But when you go to that length, to make sure that the person that's coming in front of you is not going to surprise you six months down the road, two years down the road, or somebody is going to send you a Facebook post, or whatever it is.

And we know how fluid it is right now.

I think that that speaks volumes for the care that is now taken to make sure that you have a person in front of you that not only looks good on paper or speaking but also has a history that you will be proud of and your students and your parents and your schools will be proud of.

Most recently in Vancouver Public Schools, we talked to the NAACP.

It was more of an informal Hispanic leadership group.

We talked to the Cowlitz Indian Tribal Leadership.

We talked to ministerial organizations, elected officials.

So we want to find out how these individuals work with all of those constituent groups.

Those are very important things to us, and as I think it is very important to you, because they are the public face of the district.

Director Rivera-Smith with that.

Yes.

Thank you.

My question is how do you approach community and stakeholder forums and listening sessions.

How will you process analyze and report back to the board the data you gather from these meetings.

Separately can you speak to your experience within the capacity to providing translation services.

So the translation services we tend to usually work with the district because we want to work with trusted individuals in the community.

We do have we do have some.

bilingual consultants and we can utilize their services, but I do like to use the individuals who are seen on a regular basis in your constituent communities because they're going to be trusted and I think that makes for a better process.

Now, the data.

We tend to ask four questions that help us find out what the right person is, what the right candidate would be, and help us recruit.

We ask four questions.

What's good about the community that helps us recruit individuals to the community?

What's good about the district that again gives us some background information to help vet the candidates?

What are the issues that the new superintendent is going to face in the district.

That helps us also to talk to the individuals about their skill sets and how they're a match for the needs of the district.

And finally, what are the characteristics, qualities, and experiences that you'd like to see in your next superintendent?

That data is scripted raw and you get that raw data.

You also get a summary of that data.

Those same questions are posted in a SurveyMonkey forum format on your website so that all individuals can feel free to talk about things or type in things that they may not feel comfortable with in a public setting.

That is raw data that you get as well.

The only thing we take out of the raw data would be any individual's names or any profanity.

Other than that, you get the raw typing of the individuals who are putting data into the system.

We can do that in multiple languages.

We can get that translated as well.

So that information is used by the board in their decision-making process, or at least that's our recommended protocol.

Again, we give you summaries, but it really helps us Find and bring to you the right candidates the right fit because to me and to our organization That's what this is about.

It's not about just bringing you somebody who can do the job It's about bringing you the person that you need to do the job and will say and work with you to accomplish your goals All things I I do speak spanish

So and I'm local very local and I'm very vested in terms of your next superintendent being very local.

And I know the way Seattle goes the way a lot of districts go.

So we very vested in terms of finding the best person for your job for as your next superintendent.

Thank you for that.

Regarding the youth working with our district and using our our translators because I appreciate that that that point you make about them being trusted in the communities.

Do you look for do you pay them then separately or do you look for us to take time because they're all very busy clearly with the district work.

I know this is a very in the weeds question but do you pay them yourself and is that including your fee.

Those translator fees are not included in the current fee but it's.

you know, it just depends on how many different languages and how many different sessions you have.

There'd be no way for us to calculate that because that's really at your discretion, right?

So the proposal is the base proposal.

We feel that's sufficient to get you through most of it.

There is a not to exceed amount, but I do not believe that includes the cost of the translators.

So.

I hope that answers the question.

Thank you for that.

And final question, based on your experience, please comment on some lessons you have learned about the value and approach to involving different stakeholder groups at different stages of the search process.

I think it's essential to always be engaged with your community and your broader community, especially the communities that sometimes are not heard from as much, because again, we have to be very intentional and go out to them often.

So, but also your students, your staff, and ensuring that we have a collective voice in terms of intentionality, in terms of getting the proper feedback from a variety of stakeholders.

I think that's something that's that we do throughout and something that we would hope that knowing processes we would have a lot of stakeholder meetings here processes that it's going to take a while to go through all the stakeholder groups that you want us to meet with but also to ensure that they get we we have that in in in their language as well to be very intentional not just reaching out to folks to have meetings in school settings but also going out to community if possible.

and also through surveying we do and compiling a lot of information to really build the qualities and characteristics that the community wants and bring that to the school board.

I know I mentioned earlier my concern about not having public meetings during the COVID pandemic early on.

And the lesson again, I'll just repeat that it just actually expanded the reach of the district to touch more people, more individuals and get more responses back.

Not everybody can attend these meetings.

They have lives, they have families, and they're just not able to do those things.

So the more we can record and put online for people to view and respond to, I think the better.

And to me, that's the beauty of our process.

The deeper we can go into the community to hear what the needs are, the better fit we're going to find for your next superintendent.

The more people feel like they're part of the process and that they want to support your next superintendent.

That is a critical part of this process and the more I do it, the more I see the value of touching as many individual groups, students, parents, city individuals, elected officials, all of those people and individuals who are going to be touched by your next superintendent.

Just like to add that while this isn't with Mack and Jake I have currently 10 students who have been across my work life 44 years in different places who were involved in stakeholder groups with either a principal or superintendent hire and they are all school board members right now.

Now that's not a huge piece of data certainly in a district like Seattle.

But I think it speaks volumes to always making sure that each voice feeling like they've been heard makes a huge difference certainly as we've learned over the years.

So I hope that you will choose to consider having your students involved because they can be just a wonderful asset for and a very uplifting asset for a school board to to hear their feelings too.

So thank you.

Just one quick last thing.

It's not the traditional kids.

It's not your student council kids, although I think you need to hear from them as well.

It's your non-traditional leadership kids.

Those are kids that you need to hear from.

Those are people, those are individuals in your school community who have power and they have the pulse of what's going on for their group of individuals And we need to hear from all of those individuals.

Those are extremely important part of that of our process.

Thank you.

Director Harris you had a follow up question.

I do.

I noticed that three of your team either started working with this firm this year or last year and I frankly have some concerns about longevity.

Certainly you balance the ticket if you will.

I also have some concerns that two of the four folks are current superintendents in terms of availability and priorities to their districts presently.

And on page 34 you didn't mention some of the places that you talked about in the advertising question so I'm a little uncomfortable there frankly.

Last piece is four consecutive days of in-person stakeholder meetings.

You mentioned 21 in Albany and that we would probably need more.

How many days did you set aside for the 21 in Albany that the cost issues are obviously of some concern.

Thank you.

So so I appreciate that.

So let me just say this about cost.

The district is going to spend a small amount of money on the process in the end.

You want to spend as much as it takes to get the process done.

We have the not to exceed it $45,000.

We will work with you to do as many days as possible.

Frankly, you know, if Gustavo can't can't come from Edmonds because he's got superintendent work, then we take over.

We work with each other.

I'm working currently with the Greater Albany Schools with a sitting superintendent, and he's able to balance his time and do what needs to be done to serve the needs of the district.

And between the two of us, we can do that.

So You know the advertising in the new york times and some of the major newspapers That you that tends to be more for a non-traditional candidate and you've had a non-traditional superintendent who in my uh recollection was extremely successful Um, although unfortunately he I think he would became ill and passed away a young man But but I think that it really depends on what what you want.

This is the standard uh, uh protocol If you want to expand it, we can do that.

So I want to try to assure you on two things.

We're not trying to increase the cost.

We're going to work and meet your needs no matter what it takes.

If it takes more than four days, then we're going to do that for you.

We don't normally participate in the interviews, but we can do that for you.

That is actually an additional cost as well, but it just depends on what the needs of the board and the community are.

We're going to fulfill that because this is a mission.

This is not about a job.

We don't make a lot of money doing this.

We do this because it's the right thing for communities and the right thing for kids, and our slogan is it's about the kids.

It really is about the kids.

All of us here are in this to make a difference in the lives of children and we will make it right whatever it takes.

So I want to try to reassure you we're not trying to jack up the price.

We're not going to get any more money if we advertise the New York Times.

That's just the cost of their advertising, if that's what you wish.

We will provide you with the service you need, whether it's Gustavo or PJ or me or Dr. Grover.

We will make sure that you have that.

Now, as far as longevity, we are recruiting new individuals all the time, and we do that because There are new individuals in the system all the time and those are individuals who have current contract contacts Gustavo is the next president of all us Gonna open him up and us up and you up to a vast Number of individual potential candidates from that group so we're always trying to increase our reach increase our scope and the They may be new to the company they're not new to education and they're not new to this process because that's what superintendents do on a regular basis is recruit vet and hire people.

That's what I did for more than 30 years as superintendent.

I hope I answered your question.

I think you did and I appreciate it very much.

You're welcome.

Go ahead Director Rivera-Smith.

So Director Harris actually had basically the same question I did but I like how she phrased and she asked for those 21 stakeholder engagements you did how many days did that take?

So would four days be four groups or you do several a day?

I know it varies but for that example what would that have been?

So so I we have some virtual meetings and we have some in-person meetings.

We could have many many more virtual meetings than it's hard to get each of our meetings is at least an hour with each of the groups so you can only get so many of those in in a day on site.

You can get far more when you do them virtually and it's been very satisfactory.

The number of meetings for Greater Albany, the number of days for Greater Albany, I think is, I don't have the number in my head but it's at least five And we just agreed to that because they have this great need because of the situation they're in.

We said we were going to be in district two days for Greater Albany.

We're going to be in there more than two days at no additional cost for them.

But we're doing far many more of those meetings virtually because of the need of the concerns of the individuals in the community and the district because of what happened in their district.

their superintendent was released for no cause just a few months ago and that caused a lot of disruption in the district.

And we know how important it is to touch those individuals and to hear their concerns so that we can talk to them about our process and going forward they're going to get a good superintendent.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Lincoln.

I want to ask ask you all the same question that popped into my head with the last the other group and it's related to the 7th question here.

But based on on your answers to that and the process can you share or tell us a little bit about what how the engagement process includes or doesn't include educating the different stakeholder groups also about the roles of this position that is being filled.

You know so I guess what would your what what is your approach to that as you engage with community in helping people understand that we're hiring a person not solving all of the issues with public education in one process.

Yeah.

So how do you approach that.

That's a great question because I think everybody's looking for super people.

Everybody's looking for that perfect candidate that come through the door.

And I think just educating people educating people in terms of what the role is of the superintendent.

I think that something's crucial.

It's sometimes left out.

And for us it's making sure people understand the running of the district.

The boards are what superintendents are how.

You have one employee.

employees and superintendent and that's a CEO that runs the system based on the vision that you have as a board of directors.

So making sure people understand the different layers and some systems are more complex because of size.

Seattle's more complex you're the biggest system in Washington State.

So making sure people understand their systems within the system and how it operates and ensuring that the superintendent is The ceo of that system following your again your vision based on your strategic plan But having that education is is crucial because people don't understand sometimes people don't understand what the role of a superintendent is It's very um, it happens all the time and when we have these public forums There are times when individuals want to come and complain.

We need more service They're not paying attention to our kids.

We need more supplies at our schools and it's like um I'm sure you do.

I'm sure those are valid concerns.

But tonight we're here to talk about who the next superintendent will be or could be and what skills they're going to have to help you with those problems.

So it's our process to redirect them to say, we appreciate your concerns.

We value those concerns.

But tonight's exercise is who is that next superintendent going to be?

Who needs to address your concerns?

So we're actually a step above what their concerns are.

And they tend to understand that.

Okay, we get that.

We get that.

So we thought maybe tonight was going to be a night when we're going to get more money for our schools or our programs.

It's like, no, but you're going to get a person who can help you address those concerns and those needs.

And that's the most important piece because the money goes away in one year.

It's the individual that's going to be here to make significant ongoing change, lasting change.

Over the years, that's one of the most important pieces that I believe I have done in every community that I bring to McPherson Jacobson that I still do out in the western side of Washington.

It is an important relationship to talk about.

You as the board elected officials who are the employer for the superintendent.

It is a unique relationship.

It is not a relationship forged necessarily a friendships write-off but it is a coming together of minds and you hope you have hired a creative person to follow your goals and your vision and they have to mesh together.

What that superintendent then does with communication or building trust or whatever the identified pieces with the rest of the district is what you're hiring.

And most people do not understand that it is not like being a principal.

It is not like being the director of curriculum.

And I see it whether it's a small district or whether it's a large district or whether it's a tribal district that I'm currently with right now working.

It's it's a very complex dance and it and it's something that has to be built on respect and trust and value of each person.

The superintendent has to value what you bring to the table.

And you need to value what your candidate the choice what they bring to the table.

And that's for the betterment of the education of the kids in this great city in this great school district.

I think that it was it's it's an important question to ask and it's an important person it's an important piece to know that your consultants are working with that piece with your stakeholders because that is exactly what we're going to hear right off until we get through and make sure their voices are heard so that you can hear them too.

So great question and I just I'm really passionate about that to make sure people understand the importance of school board members and the importance of that person they hire as superintendent.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Okay now is your opportunity to make any closing statements and or ask any questions that you might have of us.

Thank you, just want to thank you for being a board of directors during this time.

It's very difficult and the decisions you're making, it's very difficult.

I mean, we're in the third year of COVID.

We're in the third year of COVID.

So just wanted to thank you for just what you're doing and to guide the system because it is incredibly difficult right now.

And just, you know, just, You're doing god's work.

So just thank you.

It's a super as a superintendent nearby.

It's just great appreciation So, let me echo what gustavo has said thank you for your dedication to the community to children the future of our democracy That's what we do.

We're here to make a difference.

Any of the firms you have interviewed can do this job.

Any of them can do it.

You won't find a team that's going to work harder to find the right person, the right fit, the individuals for you to choose from.

That we can't I mean we're going to work as hard as possible to do this for you.

It's a it's a mission-driven statement um The um, I guess the question um Comes down to what do you want?

You have to understand that this individual whoever it is Is it superhuman?

They only have so many hours in a day The board has to be able to support whoever they select in difficult times.

I've always said it's not necessarily the superintendent's fault that something went wrong.

It's their responsibility.

And if you're not a team, if you're not a governance team, any individual is going to fail.

So the board has to commit to that individual, whoever that person is going to be.

We will bring you highly competent, qualified individuals You have to find the one that you feel you can support so that that you together with your superintendent can lead the district forward.

And we can do that with you.

We will partner with you to find that individual no matter what it takes.

And oh, by the way, if you didn't read it, we have a guarantee.

We're so confident in our system and our process that if for any reason whatsoever, the person leaves in the first two years, we'll come back and do it at just cost.

We make no more money.

We don't get a nickel for the search the second search.

Advertising or transportation those are actual costs and that's all the district would have to pay.

You don't have to pay the consultants or the company anything.

I just want to say thank you for this opportunity.

I'm very thrilled to be with McPherson Jacobson I didn't necessarily expect to be living in the great state of Washington, even though my grandchildren are certainly here and and the Lake Washington School District, which I knew a lot about too.

But Seattle as I said before because Carol Como who was a superintendent long time in Anchorage and I were good friends I would hear so much about Seattle and I find this to be such an incredibly diverse and engaging place to be.

Vibrant.

Students that have such potential.

And I thank you again for stepping forward as the gentlemen have said.

This is not a time that any of us saw coming at us and it certainly is tough tough to do.

So I stay engaged any way I can to help any district I can continue to do the best they can for kids because they are our next generations.

So I I really appreciate this.

This was an exciting thing for me to actually find you.

and not get lost in the Soto District which is good.

But I I just am so in admiration of a district like this that I know tries to focus on how you best support all of your students and I thank you.

I just say the last thing is we would we really would love to work with you.

We would love to earn your trust and work with you to find your next leader.

And I guess as a final question is what are your next steps.

When do you plan on making a decision.

So we have a decision meeting set for Monday at I'm not sure what time.

Probably 430. So we'll have a very brief discussion before we adjourn tonight to make sure that we don't have any follow up steps questions that somehow didn't get asked and and then we will make a decision on Monday.

Thank you for the opportunity to make this presentation and thank you for your service.

Thank you all three of you very much.

And please get home safely.

Are you going back to Tohola.

Thank you.

Here.

Well thank you this way.

So assuming that everyone got what they needed tonight to be ready for decision making on Monday.

If for some reason there's any follow up questions we'll need to get them to the consultants through staff.

Yes.

through through Nancy.

Okay so we'll we'll are we if you could send them to me if you have follow-up questions and then I will get them to Nancy.

And with that as there's no further business on the agenda this meeting stands adjourned at 7 31 p.m.