Seattle School Board Meeting Jan 12, 2022

Okay good afternoon.

We will be calling the board meeting to order in a moment and SPS-TV will begin broadcasting.

All right.

This is President Hersey.

I am now calling the January 12th 2022 Regular Board Meeting to order at 416 p.m.

This meeting is being recorded.

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

We will now move on to the roll call.

Miss Wilson-Jones the roll call please.

Vice President Hampson.

Here.

And there's a little bit of an echo on your end Ellie FYI.

Director Harris.

Present.

Director Rankin.

Here.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Present.

Director Sargeant.

Here.

Director Song-Moretz.

Present.

And President Hersey.

Here.

All right.

This meeting is being held remotely consistent with the governor's proclamation on open public meetings.

The public is being provided remote access today through SPS-TV by broadcast and streaming on YouTube and by phone consistent with the governor's proclamation on open public meetings.

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

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

Thank you President Hersey.

I want to talk briefly about our biggest challenge right now and that's following up and following through with how we are mitigating our strategies to mitigate COVID.

So I just want to say as Superintendent I recognize there's a lot of fear and anxiety in community.

This is hard.

It's extraordinarily inconvenient.

It's impactful on staff family and students.

And you know collectively we're doing everything that we can to keep schools open and in-person.

We monitor daily.

We meet multiple times every day to respond to the changing conditions.

This week.

For transparency and clarity purposes we published our continuity of operation plan.

This plan gives our thresholds and our guidelines for how we're making decisions around school closures and how to go to remote.

We have moved individual classrooms to remote.

We've we've combined classes.

We and as you know we've temporarily closed entire buildings and some buildings have gone to remote.

And this is all due to the number of staffing shortages due to reported illnesses.

Now according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation it looks like we are peaking in terms of Omicron.

And so we're looking forward to a some relief.

But until we get that relief I just want to be clear that our school teams have done heroic heroic task in order to keep our buildings open and in-person.

And learning is still happening.

That is our business.

A hundred and one schools are open today for in-person learning.

Receiving in-person learning from our great teachers is the best that we can do.

That's what we do.

In-person learning is the best we do.

So our objective is to.

continue to learn in-person safely.

No guidance no public health guidance is telling us to go remote.

We continue to follow public health guidance.

That is that's who we are following.

And in-person learning is also a state mandate.

And this is again what our district is following.

So instruction happens better in-person and we've learned this over the last 22 months.

We've heard this from our families.

They've urged us to continue in-person.

We've heard this over and over.

So as we talk about student outcome focused governance and we talk about goals and guardrails we've had 5 guardrails but I'm adding a 6th guardrail.

And that guardrail is the superintendent will not allow disruption of learning.

And the interim guardrail to that is the superintendent excuse me Disrupt the virus so that we don't disrupt learning.

Disrupt the virus so we don't disrupt learning.

So I just want to really emphasize that we are working extraordinarily hard.

I want to thank everyone who has pushed up their sleeves and done yeoman's duty to help us to be safe.

I appreciate that tremendously and we are moving forward together.

So.

I want to pivot to this is Board Appreciation Month.

We are going to have a robust celebration on the 26th to recognize you but in the interim thank you.

You're appreciated.

On behalf of all the SPS staff we appreciate you and Board Appreciation Month.

Now a bit of good news in all of this I am committing on record today that our seniors will have a prompt.

That concludes my remarks.

Back to you President Hersey.

If there are any seniors out there who are watching this which may be one or two I would imagine that they are very excited in this moment.

Okay.

Thank you Superintendent Jones for your comments.

That was absolutely excellent.

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

May I have a motion for the consent agenda.

I move approval of the consent agenda.

This is Director Hampson.

Second.

Okay.

Approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Vice President Hampson and seconded by member-at-large Rivera-Smith.

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

Director Harris I see your hand.

There you go.

President Harris I move that we take the minutes of the December 1st meeting off the consent agenda please.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any other issues.

President Hersey.

Yes.

Director Rivera-Smith please.

Item I don't necessarily wish to take off the agenda but I do want to give Assistant Superintendent Fred Podesta a chance to correct a clerical error in one of our bars.

Okay.

That would be great.

And if he's prepared to.

Would now be the is Chief Narver on the phone or someone who can support with the timeline of that.

I am.

It would be okay.

But actually I believe the corrected BAR was posted before the meeting and I'm looking to Ms. Wilson-Jones to confirm that that Clara Clara was corrected on a it had to do with the dollar figure on change orders.

This is Ellie Wilson-Jones Director of Policy and Board Relations.

Just confirming that indeed that Consent Agenda Number 5 was replaced at 4 today to correct the fiscal analysis section.

Okay.

Fantastic.

So it doesn't appear that we need any additional action at this time.

Am I correct.

That's correct.

It doesn't that correction doesn't affect them either the motion language or the text of the resolution that is adopted with a favorable vote on that.

So it shouldn't affect the board's action on the consent agenda for that item.

Okay.

Wonderful.

As always good catch.

Director Rivera-Smith thank you for your diligence and thank you to staff for moving so quickly and getting that corrected.

Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Student.

So I would then move for approval of the consent agenda as amended.

That is correct and we would need a second.

Second.

Okay.

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

All those in favor please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

And aye.

Sarge you aye.

Aye.

Great.

I believe that's everyone.

All those opposed.

Any abstentions.

Okay so let me see here.

All right.

So we will now be moving directly into discussion of the item removed from the consent agenda.

I believe it goes to Director Harris.

Am I correct in that.

Director Harris thinks you are.

And I suspect that Director Rankin is going to follow up as well since we had some email conversation this afternoon.

Take it away.

Thank you.

And I did not have time this afternoon and my apologies for the late notice.

When we discussed the budget forecast and had discussion we had discussions about empty boxes on ways to mitigate our funding deficits.

They included option schools small schools K-8's and moving the bus tiers around.

And it was a robust and I thought fairly elegant discussion and Assistant Superintendent Rob Gannon and Assistant Superintendent of Finance JoLynn Berge gave us good input and assured us that none of those empty boxes would be filled in in this budget cycle because the analysis and deep dive that we would need to approve said fairly major changes has not been done because of bandwidth and the extreme oppressive nature of all of our COVID mitigation and acting as a public health entity.

We were assured that that would not happen.

Further we asked for the updated status of the Children's Hospital Research Project to talk about the student outcomes focused changes from changing the bus schedules.

And I and I think those are important things to put in the minute meeting minutes and I'm wondering whether given the time and I don't want to pencil whip or or burn time here whether we might move this to the next legislative meeting and come up with some agreeable language.

And then I believe Director Rankin had something to say as well or at least she did this afternoon in our email conversations.

Thank you so much.

So I see Director Hampson's hand.

Let me go ahead and answer her question really quickly and then we'll move to Director Rankin.

Go ahead Director Hampson.

Well we're having discussion before a motion's on the table so.

Yeah.

I would move to just get back on track.

I would move approval of the meeting minutes from the December 15th 2021 regular board meeting to start and then I had another comment once we get back to discussion.

Okay.

I believe we are back on track so that will require a second.

Okay so are we.

I can give a second.

I'm sorry I'm trying to understand what's going on.

Yeah I'm a little so can we get some support with procedure on this just to see what needs to happen so we can make sure that we're on track.

President Hersey.

I agree.

President Rivera-Smith we just missed the step of having the motion and the second before we moved into discussion.

So I think I've heard the motion now for approval of December 15th minutes from Vice President Hampson and so the next step would be a second on that motion.

Okay.

That's what I thought.

And I am comfortable with second.

Second.

Okay.

Fantastic.

So it is clear that we may now move into discussion.

Is that correct.

Okay.

So go ahead Director Hampson.

These are these are regular board meeting minutes.

It's televised.

It's recorded.

We do not it is neither best practice nor is it our practice to have discussion narrative in our minutes.

It's readily accessible.

And anytime you remove re-report something and remove it from the recorded version then it becomes an interpretation.

So I strongly oppose adding narrative to our regular board meeting minutes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Director Rankin.

Well maybe maybe this is somewhere in between Director Harris and Director Hampson I'm not sure.

But in terms of what was noted in that particular conversation that Director Harris mentioned the the children's study I also missed seeing that There was a discussion about the relationship between changing changing transportation standards for budget but that there is also currently a process in operations of transportation service standards that was mentioned.

And especially as it ties to student outcomes I just was missing seeing that those two things had been tied together.

I don't know if that's narrative or a fact but.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right.

So we will now move to a vote and I will pass it over to Miss Wilson-Jones for the roll call please.

I'm calling the vote on the approval of the December 15th minutes starting with Director Sarju.

Am I saying yes.

I'm I don't know what the answer here is.

We're voting on whether I kind of lost a thread.

We're voting on whether to approve the December 15 minutes correct.

Yeah.

Sorry.

That is the motion that President Hersey had called for the vote on.

And I'm sorry this is General Counsel Greg Narver.

Can I jump in for a second.

There was there was suggestion from one of the directors that there might be a motion offered to defer consideration of the minutes and I didn't know if that motion was going to be offered or if you needed to recognize somebody for a motion to defer consideration until the vote until you took a vote on approving them or not.

I haven't heard anyone offer that but there was a suggestion that it might be offered and it would be better to resolve first whether we're going to whether the board will vote on approving these minutes at this meeting and then if so proceed to the vote on on whether to approve them or not.

Okay so it sounds like in order for us to push this to the next meeting so that the corrections can be made there would need to be a motion to suggest to do that.

Is that correct.

Yes there would be a motion to postpone consideration of approval of these minutes to the next legislative meeting.

If that motion is seconded.

You can discuss it if you like and then the board would decide whether or not to defer consideration or keep it at this meeting.

And then if kept at this meeting you'd proceed on the vote to approve them.

The joys of political procedure.

Wonderful.

And I'm sorry Director Harris I think we need something more specific than so moved.

I think you would you would be bringing a motion to postpone consideration to the next legislative meeting.

I move that we postpone consideration of the December 15th 2021 minutes of the legislative session to the next legislative meeting so that we might collaborate and agree on any amendments.

Is there a second.

Second.

Okay.

It has been moved and properly seconded.

We will now move to a vote.

Miss Wilson-Jones I believe now it is your opportunity to call for the roll.

Thank you President Hersey.

And can I just confirm the second was from Director Rivera-Smith.

That is correct.

Okay.

Thank you.

So calling the vote now on the motion to postpone consideration starting with Director Song-Moretz.

Nay.

Can you repeat that.

Apologies.

Nay.

Vice President Hampson.

Nay.

Director Harris.

Yay.

Director Rankin.

Sorry the vote.

Can you clarify for me what the whether or not to defer.

That is correct Director Rankin.

It's a motion to postpone approval of these minutes to the next meeting essentially.

Gotcha.

Okay.

I'm actually going to backtrack on my previous comments and vote no.

Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Sargeau nay Director Herse or President Hersey abstain.

This motion has not passed with a vote of 2 yes to 4 no and 1 abstention.

That sounds correct to me.

Okay.

So procedurally do we now move back to the previous motion.

Okay.

That's what I thought.

Correct.

All right.

So do I need to call for another motion or can we move directly to the vote.

I already moved.

That's what I thought.

You can move directly to the vote.

Okay.

Hold on one.

Okay.

Go ahead Michelle.

What's your question.

Really quickly.

I just need it clearly stated what that because my confusion I think now was justified based on what just happened.

So I don't want to be confused.

I want to know exactly what we're doing.

And so I'm just making a request that it be clearly stated.

That's all.

Sure.

I can restate the motion.

I move approval for of the minutes from the December 15th 2021 board meeting.

Okay.

So that is what we are doing.

All right.

So this has already been moved and seconded.

So Ms. Wilson-Jones would you please call the roll.

Director Sarju.

I vote yes.

Director Song-Wen.

Yes.

Vice President Hampson aye Director Harris aye Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye and President Hersey aye.

This motion this motion has passed by a vote of 6 yes to 1 no.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

I certainly do appreciate it.

Let's see here now.

Okay.

We have now reached the board committee reports section of the agenda.

We will hear briefly now from the chairs of each of our boards for committee starting with Audit and Finance Committee.

Vice President Hampson would you like to share any updates.

Can you come back to me.

Sorry I just need to toggle some documents.

Absolutely.

The Executive Committee has not met yet but we will be meeting next Wednesday morning if I'm not mistaken.

That is the 19th.

Is that correct.

Yep.

We'll be re-meeting on or is it the 18th.

Let me double check.

Nope it's the 19th.

So we will have an update for you next legislative meeting.

Director Harris I see your hand.

Now I'm putting it down before I start talking so I don't leave it on.

I rec I recollect that the Executive Committee had a special meeting last week.

Yes.

With respect to the superintendent search process.

Yes.

And I'm wondering if you want to to address that sir.

Thank you for that reminder.

Sure.

I would be more than happy to.

So we met with our search firm HYA and Associates on our superintendent search process which is now underway.

We went over some of the procedural pieces on how the search will be conducted.

We gave feedback.

I know that I have completed an interview and I know a few other board directors have as well providing feedback on community groups that will be reached out to both in an individual and group capacity as well as got a few questions answered about how we will push forward and what the timeline is.

That's pretty much all we know at this point.

We are really excited for them to begin their work.

I know that they are reaching out to community members as early as this or next week.

So if you are interested in providing feedback I know that there will be opportunities for surveys and other opportunities for the general public to give us information on what their priorities are for our next superintendent.

So be on the lookout for that.

And if you have any questions you are always more than welcome to email the board or the board office whatever is your typical way of getting a hold of us and we'll be happy to get back to you in a timely fashion.

So thank you for that reminder Director Harris that's incredibly important and I would be remissed if I let that fall off of our radar.

Okay.

Getting back on track.

Now we will hear from the Operations Committee.

Director Rivera-Smith are you prepared to give some comments.

Yes.

Thank you.

Take it away.

Yes.

Wonderful.

Our so our next meeting is actually tomorrow.

What is that Thursday January 13th.

We're going to be meeting at 830 a.m.

on only on Teams.

We're not having an in-person meeting for that.

It's all virtual.

Along with the typical board committee sorry the Board Work Plan and Capital Finance Budget Update where I'm going to be seeing a few bars.

One on the approval to repair and perform roof restoration coatings on four of our school rooftops.

Whitman Washington Lowell and Decatur.

We're going to be seeing a couple bars on awarding architectural and engineering contracts for our Aki Elementary School modernization and addition project or not sorry yeah that's right school sorry and the John Rogers Elementary School Replacement Project.

We'll be doing a final acceptance on the Wing Luke Elementary School Building Project.

And I think our most probably one of the most interesting to people is the approval of the Student Assignment Transition Plan for 2022-23.

The Student Assignment Transition Plan continues most of the assignment rules that were in effect this school year.

But some of the highlights and changes will be discussed at our meeting and some of the updates will be we'll be updating some updating the programs to include new virtual the what we call the virtual option pilot program.

We'll be adding a definition for tiebreakers.

Removing some outdated language and renaming a couple of our programs.

We're going to be renaming the Bilingual Service Center Program to the Newcomer Program and renaming SM-2 to the officially the moderate-intensive program.

So those are things we'll be discussing as people are learning probably we're trying to inform the public that things start in committee and then they move forward.

So this isn't the last time we'll have a chance to hear about them.

But if you want to drop in in the morning tomorrow that's what we'll be discussing and looking forward to it.

Thank you.

Okay fantastic.

We will now move on to the Student Services Curriculum and Instruction Committee.

Director Rankin are you prepared to offer a few comments.

I am.

Thank you.

I'm going to be pretty brief and I'll also give a brief legislative update as the board liaison to WSSDA and the state legislature.

You might notice that I am in my car.

So I'm just letting you know right now President Hersey I'm leaving Garfield High School.

They had a rapid testing clinic today and I got trained up so well last Monday at Jans that I came to offer some support.

So I'm in my car parked.

I'll give you the update and then I'm going to be unavailable for remarks or comments but I'm going to listen to public testimony and get myself back to my house so I can join properly on Teams.

So just letting you know that during public testimony.

I will be here.

I will be listening but I will be driving so I will not be picking up my phone or responding to anything.

So SSC&I Committee Student Services Curriculum and Instruction.

We have our first meeting of the new year next week on Tuesday.

excuse me on Tuesday.

The agenda I'm not sure if it's posted yet or not but it should be available soon.

We have frequent frequently frequent flying standing items.

Black Studies.

Ethnic Studies.

Gail Morris from Native Ed will be joining us for a Since Time Immemorial update and some other good things.

In terms of the legislative updates the state legislature session has started started on Monday.

It goes for 60 days.

It's a short session.

What's known as a short session in Washington State legislatures don't don't meet year-round.

They meet in two different or they meet in January February-ish in off years which we are in now.

It's not a budget year.

They approve their budget every other year.

So the budget session was last year.

So there's the budget is is set.

But there's of course a lot of interesting bills and things to to talk about.

So I will be meeting weekly with staff to talk to follow bills.

There's also There's a whole bunch of different organizations that do bill tracking for anyone who's interested in following along.

WASDA which is the School Director Association they do bill tracking.

Washington State PTA does bill tracking whole bunch of other organizations.

I will be providing brief updates at our regular board meetings and I will also be updating and connecting with board directors weekly about where bills that we have on our legislative platform to support our happening and talk to directors about advocacy and whatnot in in collaboration with and coordination with staff.

So we're just starting that.

Super exciting.

So heads up.

And we as elected officials on in in a district resource which we are in right now in this meeting we cannot ask people to advocate for anything on our behalf.

But we can talk about facts things that are happening things that we are supporting.

and anybody listening in can take that information and do with it what they will as we discuss it.

So I'm going to turn off my camera and stuff now and listen in and that's it from me for now.

Awesome.

Thank you so much Director Rankin.

Please drive safely.

We will now loop back to Director Hampson.

Thank you.

So we had our first meeting of the year on Monday and we are at a new time.

We'll be meeting at 8 a.m.

We met at 8 15 on Monday we will be meeting at 8 a.m.

on our meeting times and our next meeting is on February 14th.

Yes Valentine's Day.

The critical things that we discussed on Monday are and I was just searching to see if I could find a link to it on our website.

The really important Labor and Employee Relations audit that was done by Moss Adams and I will check in with Associate Superintendent Nolltreat to see if we can get that a link to that either on the internal audit or the HR page so that folks can see the the updates to that really important work that started back in 2018 and that is in many respects complete and that there is no section of that work that has not been that has not been begun.

Although some really critical parts of that work are ongoing and are likely to be coming up to the board in the form of new policies in particular around harassment intimidation and bullying and some continuing conversation about making sure that we have appropriate student versus adult representation in those in those policies.

So and then we did have one bit of discussion around making sure that as we're speaking about the aspects of this that are connected to the strategic plan that we're also connecting then them to student outcomes as identified.

We then had an excellent update with some prospective good news that relates to Director Rankin's comments about the state legislative agenda on some proposals relative to high-needs areas for us including transportation nurses and counselors and coming out in the governor's budget.

And and that was some again promising news if not difficult to talk about because we don't want to get too hopeful.

And then our standard accounting and budget updates for the year we are District and staff are managing our funds well in spite of the looming crises that we have with respect to our structural deficit and working very hard to advocate for and fill gaps wherever possible.

And as you will as we will see later on the agenda there has been some a little bit of relief in terms of funding for staff related to testing and we'll hear about that when we get to that action item.

So if anybody else on the Audit and Finance Committee thinks that I missed anything you can feel free to speak up now.

That's Director Rankin and Director Song-Moretz.

Otherwise if folks would like to join us on the 14th I always encourage folks to and I'm happy to see community members on there because we do get excellent updates from our finance and budget staff.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right.

So we will conclude this agenda with the item with the report from Board Directors Sargiu and Song-Moritz on the Washington State Schools Directors Association Annual Conference which was held in November.

Are we prepared to give a brief report

Sure I can go ahead.

So thank you for this opportunity to attend the WSSDA conference.

It was very helpful as a new board director.

And there are three highlights I wanted to share with you.

Attending the board mini boot camp the group that I was part of had a really engaging conversation about using disaggregated data for our students.

And just practically speaking I learned the ins and outs of the Open Public Meetings Act.

I'm feeling a lot of security about following the laws and the rules as a school board director.

You know what I most appreciated about this session was I have it here actually.

They gave us something called the Washington State Board of Education gave us basically standards right.

When we're thinking about our students and setting them up for success we you know give clear expectations for for them.

And it was very helpful to have this as a school board director.

And in particular in there it defines helpful questions to ask ourselves for self-evaluation.

So I'm really grateful for this resource and will be referring to it regularly.

Another highlight for me was meeting fellow school board directors across Washington State.

And it was very clear to me in my conversations with them that a lot of the issues that we are dealing with in our school district are experienced across Washington State.

So developing those relationships will be really important as we work together for and try to identify solutions on a statewide basis.

And among the sessions that I attended virtually on I think it was a Saturday was one hosted by Alyssa Moeller from the Washington State Board of Education.

And she was just setting the vision for our state's mastery-based learning and the development of something called the Profile of a Graduate.

And you know I'll just quote from one of the slides that I took a screenshot of.

The profile of a graduate is not just the latest trend.

It is a way of enabling educators to address all the important skills in the classroom that we want our students to learn beyond the academic content such as critical thinking problem solving and how to work well in a team.

And I think it's wonderful that our state is thinking about the vision for our students as whole students and something that I hope to engage of our state education leaders and community members and further developing.

Thank you.

Thank you for that report Director Sommeritz.

Director Hersey would you like to add anything.

I had a similar I would have similar feedback as Director Vivian.

I did not attend the virtual sessions on Saturday because I actually was in Chicago.

for my first vacation theoretically and a number of years with one of my oldest children or with my oldest child.

But one of the things that I that I appreciated even though the format is really not conducive to everybody's learning style.

So what I did was I took a lot of pictures of slides but it was the opportunity to meet with Other board members particularly smaller districts who are less resourced and to hear about the the challenges and the struggles that they're encountering you know trying to procure what's best for their kids.

But one of the slides of one of the slides that I took a picture of that I think directly connects to student outcomes focused governance And for those of you just to remind you that we actually didn't talk about Student Outcomes Focused Governance until December if is that correct.

Do I have that right.

I think it was December is when we had our first sort of training meeting.

But anyway one of the slides it says the board's responsibilities mission vision and goals.

And it says create goals adjust goals identify how to measure progress monitor progress on a regular basis.

And for any of those any of those who know me and have heard me speak I feel like it's really important to keep a broad view as at least for me it's important.

I'm not going to speak for any other board director but we've got to keep our eye on the whole system.

And for me that.

thinking about the things that we need to do broadly versus everything that falls underneath each one of those things is really important.

And so I was excited to see to see that I'm looking to see here if there's anything else.

The other thing that I actually had a sidebar conversation and I think this is an appropriate opportunity given Superintendent Jones' comments is the need in this time of COVID to be proactive.

And quite honestly back in November when we attended this we there was very little conversation about Omicron.

And by the end of November, the county infection rates had increased 195%.

And so, yes, we are almost at the peak of Omicron, but we are also at the beginning of a new variant that combines Omicron and Delta.

And what we don't know, I'm a public health person, for those people, I know this is a little bit off, What we were talking about but this is an opportunity to say it.

What we don't know is if it's going to materialize into anything or not.

But what we can do is be proactive so that we're not reactive because it actually doesn't help our students and their families when we're reacting.

And so I would just like to encourage us including families to understand that our district staff has a very difficult job.

to navigate this.

And they are doing their level best, I do believe, to stay ahead of this.

And so Omicron has taught us a lot.

And I think moving forward, we can take those learnings just like we can from that WSDA or WASDA, whatever the acronym is, conference.

We've got to keep our eyes on the broader picture.

And if there's one thing that I got out of that boot camp, it was that.

Okay wonderful.

Thank you all for that very robust report.

I really appreciate y'all taking the time to represent our board so well at the conference.

So thank you.

Okay.

We are about three minutes away from public testimony.

Are there any directors that would like to give their personal comments before we move in to public testimony.

Help us shore it up on the back end.

Director Hersey what types of comments are you.

Yeah so board directors typically have a couple minutes though we are we are very loose with that timetable.

Now we are definitely at two minutes before public testimony.

But a couple of minutes just if you have anything that you want to share with community anything that you might be working on or any statements that you want to make for the public record is typically how folks use it.

You do not have to give comment but it is available to you should you so choose.

Okay looks like not a whole lot of folks are interested in giving a comment at this point and that is perfectly fine.

I don't believe we need to recess for such a short amount of time but we will be beginning public testimony promptly at 5 o'clock.

So if you need this opportunity to take a bio break or get some water or whatever you might need to do now would be the time.

Director Hersey.

Thank you President Hersey and for those who have joined for testimony today when I call your name please press star-6 on the conference line to unmute yourself on the conference line and then also make sure to unmute yourself on your device and please remain muted until you hear your name called.

If you're if you have trouble unmuting in time I will go back through the names again to make sure that we are able to hear from folks who are on the line today.

So the first speaker on today's testimony list is Rena Mateja Walker-Burr.

Rena Mateja Walker-Burr.

Hi can everybody hear me okay.

We can hear you.

You can go ahead.

Okay.

I'm sorry give me one second.

Okay.

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

When students were anticipating their return to schools we were promised we would be safe.

We were promised our mental health would be prioritized.

We were promised that we would return to a healthy environment.

We were promised that BIPOC students would have a space where we would be accepted and be able to thrive without any fear of harm.

And we were promised that we would stay alive.

All these promises have been broken.

because students do not feel safe healthy nor comfortable in SPS.

This continues the cycle of broken promises that have been occurring for far too long.

Students continue to be put in danger because the Benjamins are put over the babies and educators have to put their livelihoods on the line just so we can feel ease.

Living in the middle of a pandemic is not a choice we could make.

But continuing to put students in harm's way is.

Cleveland High School students have made demands that we ask to be met.

One.

District must be transparent about how many COVID cases are needed for the school to shut down.

2. District funds mental health resources for students staff and the community.

3. Change what defines an instructional day for the 180-day requirement.

4. District provides immediate open spaces for students and educators after harmful instances to the community such as our safety.

5. A meeting with Jay Inslee where youth are able to speak our truth.

We request the district sets up this meeting.

This is a this call to action cannot be silenced any longer.

So we ask you as a district to hear our call and give us an answer.

Thank you.

The next speaker on today's testimony list is Chris Jackins.

Chris Jackins.

My name is Chris Jackins.

Box 84063 Seattle 98124. On the five items on today's consent agenda two points.

Number one the board is continue continuing to deliberately vote on the consent agenda prior to allowing public comment.

This makes the board look autocratic and it reduces board due diligence.

Number two I raised questions at the December 15th meeting on several of these items.

The board has not addressed these questions.

On district outside consultants.

Six points.

Number one on December 8th the board seemed to agree with the board's outside consultant that the board should lead by example.

Number two following the board's example of not addressing questions district staff should not answer questions from the board and teachers should not answer questions from students.

And the board expects teachers and students to meet in person yet the board is only holding a remote meeting today.

Number three the board is taking the consultant's advice to monitor the superintendent as an excuse to ignore the public.

But considering public input is mandated by state law.

Number four the consultant seemed to recommend that the board ignore state law stating that quote state legislatures often task school boards with doing things that no school board should ever do unquote.

Number five how much taxpayer money is the board paying this consultant.

Number six another consultant on participatory budgeting recommended seeking corporate and philanthropic matching funds.

Instead please do not encourage corporate influence and commercial advertising in the public schools.

Thank you very much.

The next speaker on today's testimony list is Kay Smith-Blum.

Kay Smith-Blum.

Can you hear me.

We can hear you.

Good evening.

As ramifications of COVID continue to reverberate across the Seattle Public Schools community two things have become clear.

Any future levies will face harsher scrutiny from the Seattle voters and the inequities must be addressed immediately with real solutions.

At a time like this Seattle Schools needs a bigger and more well-defined vision.

The opportunity for this lies in the development of the next BTA and BEX Levy project lists.

We must focus our future capital dollars to both enhance the teacher-student relationship as well as alleviate our overcrowded schools.

The big opportunity to do both is at the Seattle Center.

During my tenure we crafted the largest building cycle ever BEX IV and simultaneously we envisioned what projects might be addressed in BEX V. That those discussions included a bigger vision for the district-owned parking lot and the leased property of Memorial Stadium both at the Seattle Center.

Members of the board and SPS staff discussed with the City of Seattle a possible trade for the Mercer Street parking lot owned by the city for the district's parking lot on 5th Avenue and Memorial Stadium lease.

All properties discussed were adjacent to the center located on flat easily buildable land and offered a variety of opportunities to encompass other learning aspects at the Seattle Center.

that still exist.

As long as you the board control the Memorial Stadium lease and the ownership of the adjacent parking lot this great opportunity exists for the creation of a K-12 pathway at the Seattle Center creating an equitable opportunity for an all-city drop because any student in our city has access to transit and to the downtown core.

I urge the board to set aside any proposal for Memorial Stadium and the adjacent lot that might be under consideration currently and think bigger and better.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Uti Uti Hawkins.

Uti Hawkins.

Hello.

I'm Uti Hawkins.

Vice President of the Seattle Education Association.

Educators work with live with and care for our students each and every day.

We know that to truly meet the state the stated needs of our students our decisions need to be informed by our students on their about their ground on-the-ground experiences.

They feel the real impacts that can that consistently shifting staffing programming and services have on their learning and the ability to meet needs like nutrition special education or mental health challenges.

Our students' experiences and visions must be front and center in our conversations.

SEA stands alongside alongside our students as they speak out to ensure SPS adequately and equitably meets their needs.

As educators we understand how their demands for change to the instructional day definition would create more sustainable school year for students and for their families.

We also need to listen to their daily experiences of facing a pandemic and take seriously their calls for mental health support.

What our students are feeling is a direct result of how our system is failing.

We need to take heed and do better.

Let's commit our responses to this pandemic to address their stated demands and asks.

Educators are doing all we can in our capacity.

But with the limits of our time and energies it is our students who have found vision for a more effective way forward.

I encourage every school board member and their administrator to listen closely and urgently and act in advocacy on what our students are asking adults for help with.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Sabrina Burr.

Sabrina Burr.

Sabrina it looks like you are unmuted on the conference line but we're not able to hear you yet.

Oh it looks like you're you're muted again so if you want to press star.

There we go.

I can see that you're on the line Sabrina but we're still not able to hear you.

It looks like you're unmuted on the line but maybe your device is muted.

I'm going to move to the next speaker and we'll come back around and call your name again Sabrina.

The next speaker is Ashanti Proctor.

Oh we can hear you now Sabrina.

Is that Sabrina.

Okay.

Great.

Thank you.

Good evening Superintendent Jones and school board directors.

First I want to thank you all for the hard work and the time you've been putting in during these unprecedented times.

Throughout our district despite being in the education business many are being asked to do and to be so much more.

Through immense fear exhaustion and uncertainty great learning is happening in Seattle Public Schools.

Our teachers have the most important job in America.

And at SPS they are doing their job often buying their own KN95 masks for safety.

Teachers are excited igniting minds of students and having students going home talking about school in positive ways.

Happier students are showing up at home.

But the COVID numbers are rising especially in our most diverse neighborhoods.

My own child is going to school against me and her father's wishes.

She is risking her health.

and the health of her loved ones for grades in her senior year.

A choice she should not have to make.

At what point are the numbers too high for the safety of staff students and families.

We need to go remote for a week or two to get through the rise in the COVID numbers to make sure we have the testing and a high-grade PPE for all in our building.

What will it take.

Do we need to fill out Jay Inslee's voicemail and email.

We must do better and be more intentional about communication.

The two messages that went out to families before the one signed by Superintendent Jones before the break were problematic and eroded trust and community.

And let's admit that we have no real family engagement in Seattle Public Schools.

Just tell the truth.

What is happening is because of principals and teachers our Native Ed program and McKinney-Vento.

We have a lot of people working making good money with dismal results.

Seattle Public Schools is the only organization where you cannot perform for years and keep your job.

We cannot afford for family engagement to be a standalone any longer.

It needs to be under schools and student services.

Our four pillars of family engagement need to be the vehicle that drives all of our engagement strategies throughout the district.

The number one indicator for student success is not socioeconomic or zip code.

It's family engagement where we partner with families for student success.

Student success plans are not even something I hear about in Seattle Public Schools.

Family engagement must be repositioned on the org chart and we need effective leadership immediately.

Thank you.

The next speaker on the testimony list is Ashanti Proctor.

Moving to the next speaker.

Kelsey McGrath.

McGrath.

Kelsey McGrath.

If I've called your name and you're on the line please press star-6 to unmute.

Go to the next speaker.

Marigold Wong.

Marigold Wong.

Moving on Angela Angela Calderon.

Angela Calderon.

Those are the remaining speakers on today's testimony list.

So if there's anybody who had signed up for public testimony who have called your name please press star-6 to unmute now.

President Hersey I'm going to go through one more time.

Ashanti Proctor.

Sheila Dunn.

Kelsey McGrath.

Marigold Wong.

Angela Calderon.

Not seeing anybody unmuting.

So President Hersey I believe that concludes today's testimony list.

All right.

Thank you Miss Wilson-Jones.

And if there were any technical difficulties I just want to invite those who signed up for public testimony tonight to please join us again next week.

We would love to hear from you.

Okay with that being said that concludes our public testimony for this meeting.

We will now move on to the items that were oh we have not removed anything from the consent agenda so we should be good.

All right.

Okay.

So we are now moving on to our action items for tonight of which we only have one.

Acceptance of the Learn to Return L2R Labor Support Fund Grant for 2021-22.

May I have a motion for this item.

This is Vice President Hampson.

I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to execute the agreement with Health Commons Project attached to this school board action report.

and accept grant funds in the amount of $3,797,362 for the Learn to Return Labor Support Fund with any minor additions deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to take any necessary actions to accept the grant funds.

Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.

This item has been moved by Vice President Hampson and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

This item is on the agenda for introduction and action today and was not reviewed by a board committee.

Assistant Deputy Superintendent Carri Campbell I believe you will be briefing us.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Carri Campbell Assistant Deputy Superintendent.

Tonight I'm presenting the board action report to accept a Learn to Return Labor Support Funds grants for 2021-22.

As mentioned the grant amount is in the total of $3,797,362 excuse me due to the short application time frame and the urgency of the need I'm bringing this forward tonight for introduction and action.

If approved these funds will help cover the cost of labor associated with our COVID-19 response.

Including reimbursement for 104 COVID response positions.

The protected healthcare room positions at our schools.

Reimbursement for the some contact tracing nurses.

Key COVID response positions.

And a new testing-related position.

A testing manager as well as a testing data administrator as well as security staff to support our regional testing clinic in the southeast.

Funding will also give SPS the extra capacity needed to finalize the design and the implementation of our Test-to-Stay program as well as pooled screening testing to mitigation strategies recommended by the Department of Health.

And I am now ready to answer any questions that board directors may have.

What wonderful news.

Thank you for that.

Assistant Deputy Superintendent Do we have any questions from our board directors.

Okay I see a couple of hands going up.

I believe I saw Director Sargent's hand first.

Sure.

Thank you for that overview.

I am curious if there is a plan that has been developed for example for TEST to stay.

Given the fact that The COVID-19 vaccination is actually not mandatory and for children as of to date.

I mean that's just one example.

So there would need to be some type of way that we're we're working with those families who have chosen in the moment that their children won't be vaccinated.

But more curiously is and you don't need to cover the plan.

I'm just wondering if we do have a plan as somebody who works in public health and has been redeployed to do COVID work.

You have to have a really strong plan with with lots of human resources to actually roll out something like this.

It's no small undertaking.

Thank you.

I appreciate your recognition that it's no small undertaking.

All of the testing we've been doing lately is quite a lot which is why part of this grant request included funding for a testing manager.

So the test to stay process is twofold.

One you have to approve to build out your plan and we've received initial approval from Public Health and working with the Learn to Return program administrators we've identified a vendor that we would use.

that would provide the labor force.

And so the next step is really building out that work plan as you described and the the hopes that by accepting these funds we would have additional capacity to move it more quickly.

Okay thank you.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Assistant Deputy Superintendent Campbell make sure I get that right.

Thank you for that information.

It really is exciting.

I'm wondering what is the what accepting these funds what effect is that going to have on our current budget because this is all reimbursement.

So it's all money already spent and therefore the money that was going to be spent on these items it's reimbursing for.

It's so should explain how what's freed up and what does this mean for us as far as our budget goes.

So working with Assistant Superintendent Berge we and her staff we went through and identified a lot of COVID-related expenditures and actually we received half of what we requested.

So I just want to make sure that that's clear to the board.

We're super excited about this award and we asked for more because we are currently using a lot of our ESSER funds to uphold required health protocols And so these reimburse this reimbursement or investment of funds from the CDC via DOH would allow us to support in other areas where we have used ESSER funds instead of for instruction or social emotional supports.

It would allow us to redirect funds that we'd already expended.

And then some of the funds are new.

This is one-time funds I should have mentioned.

The testing manager would.

would end at the end of the fiscal year as well as the testing manager or the testing coordinator I'm sorry data coordinator.

Thank you for that.

So I'm thinking so I see in the in the board action report here that the community engagement tool is not used because of the urgency because it comes in it's coming this is all happening so quickly and I get that.

So I'm wondering now that we're getting the money and it's freeing up money that was otherwise going to be used like the ESSER funds Are we going to engage the community engagement tool processes to decide how that now available ESSER funds might be used or is there some I'm just trying to find ways that we still can you know we didn't have a chance to but how can we still make sure that we fulfill our our commitment to community engagement.

Yeah related to this board action report for the acceptance of the funds I would not say that we will do any engagement.

We may want to do engagement with some of our key stakeholders like Seattle Council PTSA et cetera CSAC around the deployment of test-to-stay.

So any large operational change like change like this we would phase in implementation.

And so that is a place where we can do engagement.

I can't speak to how engagement will be funded for other ESSER deliverables.

That's something that I would leave to Assistant Superintendent Berge and Assistant Superintendent Bush to respond to.

But I think that as we continue to roll out our testing program there are places to engage with our community about how we prioritize initial phasing of supports.

That sounds great.

Thank you.

No further questions.

Okay.

Director Rankin.

And if you've already spoken if you could lower your hand that would be super helpful.

Take it away Director Rankin.

Sorry to interrupt.

Thank you so much.

Yes I'm I'm in my in my home now at my cold dark little spot in my house for meetings.

Yeah I it was exciting to see this but then also the realization that It's really mitigating mitigating funds that we have already spent.

So it's great.

And this is all helping us fulfill requirements by you know it's health and safety.

This is public health that we're doing.

And so it's great that those those ESSER dollars will be sort of reimbursed because You know CARES Act money went to all kinds of different entities including the Washington State Department of Health.

And part of the CARES Act is ESSER and I know Michelle I'm sorry I can't remember what all the acronyms are but the CARES Act is the federal federal money that was deployed to states for COVID relief.

And then the ESSER is the specific elementary and secondary schools funds.

within that.

So we got ESSER funds that were supposed to be for students and we're ending ending up spending a lot of those on public health which is is necessary but also very hard to do when you're also already trying to do education.

So it's great that we're getting some of that money reimbursed by the Return to Learn which is a public health initiative.

But my question is still about the LEBER.

So all of the various things that have been made available to our district have come with physical materials.

You know if somebody from the warehouse will drive three hours in the snow over winter break to get them for example.

But the materials have been made available.

And then lab processing for PCR testing and all of that has been available made available.

But the district has still had to provide those COVID rooms monitoring and people to give those PCR testing.

And then as we have seen you know me today and a bunch of us last week from the board and central office The staffing to actually stand up these clinics is still on us.

So you know we're all supposed to be doing education not creating testing protocols and staffing clinics.

It's incredible what we as a district have been able to do.

And honestly I'm like man if we decide we were well something we can do it and I'm going to remember that for the future.

If we decide we're going to do it we are all in.

This is not necessarily something we should have to go all in because there should be more support around us.

So my question is and obviously I'm in support of accepting this fund but but I notice you're still saying that some of it is for a staffing manager that we are hiring which means that that is ultimately someone who is still being managed by our superintendent who is supposed to be managing education.

So that's adding you know adding more responsibilities to a staff that was designed to manage and charged is charged with providing education.

So my question I guess is are there going to be more grants like this that are available to us.

And you also said that we applied for more than we received.

Is there any indication that any more labor or outside support is coming or is this just sort of yeah you can apply to be reimbursed for some stuff.

So there is another and I do not remember the name of the grant off the top of my head.

I'll get it for everyone and I'll make sure it gets distributed.

There is another grant that we can apply for that Audrey Quorns who is our Senior Project Manager in our office and I want to give great credit to her and JoLynn Berge's team for pulling this grant off in such a short time frame.

They will be applying for another funding source.

But you are correct that we are having to ask for either reimbursement or grant funds to support a lot of the labor force that's required to lift these highly recommended if not required mitigation strategies.

Awesome.

Thank you Director Hampson.

Thank you.

Kind of a follow-up.

I was just curious and a little I am so grateful that we're getting this money.

And and then was just wondering are we going to is there going to pretty much be a lump sum.

It says monthly for reimbursement.

I think that the way that I read I read the contract is that and again Assistant Superintendent Berge I don't know if she's on the call and she can provide more information but once the contract is executed we will get over the duration from now through the end of the contract we'll get a lump sum each month.

So I'm hoping the reporting is very simple.

Yeah I guess that was I was a little surprised that it went to this sort of level of reimbursement as if we're sort of you know constructing a building or something or trying to do you know have contingencies and that kind of thing.

It just it it's it was a little frustrating to see that they would layer on that that level of administration.

But at the same time I have also heard that that is that the feds are doing that on a number of different fronts.

And so that's that's a little bit frustrating because there is no capacity for additional administration in any of this.

So I'm sorry if that ends up being a additional burden.

However I am grateful that we were able to to get some of this reimbursed even if it is in fact covering the cost of of people who are doing duties that are should be teaching and learning as Director Rankin said.

So okay that was my only point of clarification.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Hampson.

Any other questions before we move on.

Okay.

Thank you for being so responsive.

Deputy Assistant Deputy Superintendent.

There we go nailed it.

Right on.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

We will now move to the vote on this item.

Now Director let's see.

Okay so Miss Wilson-Jones will you call for the roll please.

Yes.

Director Rivera-Smith aye Director Sargeant yes Director Song-Moretz aye Vice President Hampson aye Director Harris aye and big thanks.

Director Rankin aye.

President Hersey very graciously aye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

Fantastic.

And just again huge thank you to staff.

I know that this is no small feat but will make an immense difference.

So thank you for all your hard work.

Okay.

So we have now come to the board comment section of our agenda.

We again try to keep these succinct as possible but I am not holding you to any specific time allotment.

And also you do not have to make comments if you do not wish to.

So with that being said we will begin with Director Hampson.

Are you prepared at this time to make a few comments.

Yeah I will just say that.

I hope that folks are taking time to breathe right now.

And to that end and in consideration of the fact that as I mentioned when we went into the break I might ask directors to think about what is it that we can start to communicate with all of our caregivers out there who are working to support our students in in these very difficult environments.

And so it are preliminarily Director Sargeu and I believe Director Rankin and I are along with Manuela Slye and Sabrina Burr are going to put together a little town hall to talk with our families caregivers around our own needs for wellness and health because I think we're at a point where we got to be really careful that if we're not caring for ourselves we're not going to be able to give our best to our kids and we really need to model that for them.

So so that's my only real real point tonight.

And to Superintendent Jones' point on on prom I am really excited about that.

I do think that it's really really important and it probably sounds maybe like we're getting out ahead of ourselves but if we can't make that commitment to our students at this point and give them that to look forward to you know we've really lost sight of things.

So I appreciate that.

And personally we'll be doing some work to help support that effort more broadly in the community and more on that later.

So thank you very much and hang in there this week everyone.

Thank you Vice President Hampson Director Harris.

Extraordinary gratitude and thanks for the work that our staff is doing and for the first responders and the daycare providers and the bus drivers and the custodians and nutrition services.

They often don't get lifted up as much as they should.

And I for one am extraordinarily grateful and I see them as part of the SPS family.

I couldn't agree more with Vice President Hampson's comments.

If we don't take care of ourselves it's it's the you know airplane mask before helping someone else.

These are radically bizarre times.

We don't know what's coming next.

Thank you Superintendent Jones for giving our seniors hope that they will have a prom.

I hope we can extend that as well that they will have an in-person graduation.

Last year was very very different.

But it's my hope that we can have a socially responsible healthy responsible six feet apart limited families and friends even though that breaks my heart.

But but I hope that we can make a decision soon that that that is in fact going to happen.

Again I troll social media as an early warning system.

I appreciate the abject fear and anxiety that folks are coming in with.

I appreciate the student voices.

I would like to see numbers fiscal notes if you will attached to the student demands.

Because after our several budget meetings I'm not quite sure how we are in fact going to afford those demands.

And yes we've been looking for counselors for years and been unable to up the ratio.

So so when we have that conversation if we can put some numbers on that and where those funds are coming from I think it's a a more thoughtful and responsible conversation.

And and I know that our extraordinarily capable staff can help those students figure out what those numbers are and and what what the algorithms are that we need to be taking into account.

I very much appreciate the comments and public testimony tonight.

I'm extremely happy to see SEA testifying publicly.

I would like to have a couple of follow-up conversations and I invite a couple of my colleagues and friends to join me on those conversations.

But I feel like I'm getting whiplash on social media and half the world wants in-person schooling and the other half wants to be online and we have all these wonderful parameters and if you will guardrails from the feds from the state etc.

And the other thing I want to point out is it's my understanding that a bill will be dropping in the legislature that apparently our Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington thinks that that position ought to be a gubernatorial appointed position.

And given how incredibly interesting policies politics statutory frameworks are with respect to education.

That concerns me greatly.

So keep that on our horizon.

And the last thing is levy season is coming up.

I in West Seattle on my own time and my own dime will be a sign repository.

And it's an honor and it's a privilege and I appreciate my colleagues beyond as well as the staff.

Thank you so much.

Thank you Director Harris.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Thank you.

I I'll start with I guess thank you to all our public testimony speakers for being here.

I'm really I will say though John I'm really kind of troubled that so many couldn't get through.

And I hope we can figure out a way to rectify that.

I'm sure that Ellie is on it already.

I want to make sure that everybody who wants to take advantage of the opportunity to speak to us gets to be able to do that.

So hopefully we can figure out what went wrong there and reach those people.

But for the ones who were here thank you Nina Mateja for coming in and sharing your your truths about what the students are saying.

And we definitely want to listen to that.

I I'm trying to find more information on the demands you listed.

I haven't seen any email in my inbox but maybe I missed it.

I'll keep looking because I would love to hear more about those demands.

So if you haven't if there isn't been any kind of email to us yet please do that because definitely want to learn more.

Chris Jackins as always your points are well taken and I think he addressed a couple of them today so hopefully that helps.

Kay Smith-Blum thank you for your service to our district.

Definitely excited to hear about your thoughts on the potential for the Seattle Center properties that we own and control.

That is something that is on our minds and we talk a lot about it.

So it's great to hear some of your insights from being from your experience in our district.

Udi Hawkins thank you for also being here and speaking and helping share amplify the voice of our students and of course of your your membership.

Sabrina thank you as always for your hard work.

I know you come and thank us but really you know I know we should thank you too because you do so much to make sure our families have a voice in our district.

So thank you for that.

Your recommendation about going remote I can't say I disagree because I I I'm very concerned with the position we're putting our families in about choosing health and safety over schooling.

That is not a position they should have to make.

So but I know it's hard.

I'm not trying to.

You know say that I have the answer but I think that you know we we want we need to be very intentional and careful as we go through this right now because as much as the city depends on us to keep kids in school so that students can still you know work and do all the things that we need the city people to do.

You know we need to think about what's best for our students and in effect that's for also the rest of the city.

So thank you for speaking tonight.

Again I hope we can get the other people in somehow and hear from whoever wasn't able to speak.

I'm going to end by saying that we did go to our board as a whole and someone else is probably going to talk about this too because it was such a powerful experience.

We went and saw the American History Traveling Museum.

The Unspoken Truths.

It's an exhibition created and curated by storyteller Mr. Delbert Richardson.

It actually had been in the John Stafford Center about two years ago and a lot of us got to see it then but seeing it Is that yesterday.

I remember.

Yeah.

Time is flying.

But seeing it there over at the over at the King Street Station was amazing.

It's a chronological journey through the beginnings of Black people's origins in Africa through American chattel slavery the Jim Crow era all the way up to modern day African-American inventors originators and innovators.

So it was just so powerful.

And I asked Dr. Jones afterwards I said how can we get every SPS classroom to this exhibit.

And I meant it.

I had to run real fast.

But I said it and I had to run but that if I I feel like we have to do that.

We have to make that happen somehow.

Maybe it's whether it's getting them to it or it to them because maybe it's this is a video thing or something we can do.

But it was such an incredibly powerful experience that all of our students of all our races ethnicities nationalities really need to see it.

So I. I put that out there to see how can we make it happen.

But I'll end right there.

Thank you.

Thank you Director Rivera-Smith.

We will now move on to Director Rankin.

Thank you.

Yeah I totally I think a video of the exhibit that everyone can see might be amazing because having having Mr. Richardson there himself was something that was really powerful and and we couldn't do that for every school every classroom.

But you know he's such a great tour guide of his collection.

Anyway yes I second that Lisa.

I let's see is this our this is our first regular meeting of the new year which seems really bizarre because that means that we were just on break.

And it's sort of impossible because a lot has happened in the last week and a half.

I want to really thank you Superintendent Jones for a whole host of things but specifically today for your comments making clear something I've been trying to share with people to understand where decisions get made and who has power over what.

So thank you for making it clear about remote versus not remote.

It's not it's it's it's not based on our feelings or opinions or how many emails we get.

It's a state requirement to be in-person as we can and the superintendent can make operational decisions about staffing and that's pretty much it.

And the health department can can tell us that you know there's an outbreak.

But leading leading from that something that I really want to say in this setting and in public that I feel like has been mentioned just nationally about COVID is schools are congregate settings that people are bringing COVID to.

I have not seen data and there does not seem to be data out there that school is a place that is COVID.

And I want to give huge props to SEA and SPS during the collector or the MOU creation last year because I really think that a huge part of our success in keeping transmission down within our buildings is because SEA really pushed for and demanded very consistent across all buildings high high standards in ventilation and and filtration.

And combined with a statewide vaccine mandate for staff in K-12 and combined with a statewide mandate for mask wearing.

We are doing I mean everybody for as hard as they're working to keep their masks on remind kids and adults sometimes to pull them up over their nose.

Our buildings between the partnership between SEA and then the amazing work of our operations team our buildings are some of the best places to be in terms of transmission of COVID.

The problem of course is that we're not immune from everything that happens around us.

And so as people are exposed and become ill or are exposed and are quarantining out of precautions they still can't come to school either as teachers or as students.

And so but but I just kind of want I feel like schools are ending up taking a lot of the brunt of kind of everything.

And really it's adult behavior outside of school that is continuing to spread COVID.

And then we have to mitigate it when everybody comes to our buildings.

And we're doing that as best we can because we care so much and we all know and learned even more last year that in-person is the best place for our students to learn.

But there and there's a ton of work safety wise and identity safety wise to do in our buildings.

Let me be clear.

I'm talking specifically about COVID protocols.

But in terms of that we've done an incredible job keeping each other safe from the spread of COVID within our school buildings.

And so but I attached to that I'm really hungry for some data.

I know that fear and anxiety is happening out there and people and I know that kids even though our buildings are you know we're doing a great job with the filtration and ventilation and everything.

Worrying about is the person next to me vaccinated.

Is my mask fitting right.

Is my you know is my grandma okay.

You know all these different things are still are it's still having a huge impact and distracting students from being able to to learn at their best.

And but I'm I'm I have asked I think the the Deputy Superintendent Gannon and I just want to reiterate my asks for And I know our system doesn't do a great job of talking to each other between buildings.

I know we have building-level data but as as soon as we can I would really like to see what our staff absences and what our student absenteeism actually looks like.

Because it's hard to know what we're actually talking about in terms of missed instructional time and trying to reach kids at home or you know all these different things without us knowing kind of what the picture is and then of course the impacts on different schools or different demographic students if there's anything disproportionate that we should be looking at.

So as soon as that data is available I would really like to see it and understand.

I am going to again throw out that again I know everybody's so exhausted and we're all putting to our limit and doing jobs that are not our jobs under any any other scenario.

You know from the classroom central office it's it's incredible how much people are putting into keeping this going.

But all we have is each other.

So if we're going to keep doing this that's what we need to do.

But I'm going to throw out and ask a plea a suggestion that this is again an opportunity for us to be flexible and focus on the needs of our students and move away from the idea that students are little vessels to pour information into and that teachers are are you know faceless replaceable widgets to deliver that information.

None of those things are true.

And so even if we didn't have a substitute shortage having a revolving door of who's in front of you when you depend on your your teacher that you trust and knows you to deliver curriculum It's still going to have an impact.

So you know the idea that we're getting from the state that we have to stay in person that we have to keep going I am kind of putting out there that I don't think that necessarily means and maybe the requirements are beyond what I'm understanding right now but I don't think that has to mean that we are on a straight regular speed trajectory in terms of new new instructional material.

There's so much rich learning that can happen without us focusing on.

content delivery.

And so my ask or suggestion is that we think about as we know that we don't get to make the determination to just pivot to remote and that there's a lot of reasons that's not a good thing for students.

How do we maintain connection with educators.

How do we maintain learning for students without having the situations where a teacher is wondering okay I have a lesson planned for today.

A third of my class is missing.

Do I do the lesson and then have to teach it again when those kids come back and maybe other kids are missing.

Do I do the lesson.

Do I give the lesson to a sub who doesn't know my students who maybe won't deliver it as effectively.

Maybe they will but I don't know.

Do I put a pause.

What about the kids who are quarantining at home.

Do I you know touch base with them.

It's it's.

I'm thinking about different places where we can relieve pressure.

One is definitely if we stopped running a public health agency.

But the other one is in terms of this kind of steadfast track of a normal pace of curriculum delivery and that it doesn't matter what teacher is in front of your kid because that's just not the reality.

So I know that for instructional minutes to count it is educational activities as delivered by a district employee a district educator.

That doesn't mean keeping the regular pace.

And I'm not suggesting that we relax providing education.

I'm suggesting we use this as an opportunity to go back to our direction to the district this year about focusing on students with the highest needs.

What would it look like if we refocus our resources If instead of saying there's not enough coverage in the building we're going to pull special education IA's to cover Gen Ed classes.

It's not okay.

What if instead we said how do we who's in the building today.

How do we maximize student learning and connection.

How to take a moment to figure out what students need from us right now.

How do we use this as an advantage to maybe give additional to support to students with IEP's who are who have been struggling to keep pace.

Maybe we do walking field trips and talk about the history of our neighborhood.

Get in some ethnic studies.

Get in some outdoor learning.

Get you know we have an opportunity to do a bunch of things if we're allowed to in spite of the fact that we are all under tremendous stress and pressure.

And maybe this is a little bit rose-colored glasses but I'm trying to think of ways to relieve pressure for educators and and just wrap wrap everything we have around our students.

So I don't know if that's.

something that's even possible under instructional requirements but I wanted to throw that out.

And and I'd also really like to see some some data about absences and the impact on that.

So that's definitely more than my two minutes.

And yes.

Thanks.

Thank you Director Rankin.

We will now move on to Director Sarjoo

Thank you President Hersey.

I first want to just commend Ms. Walker-Burr.

I'm not sure if they are still on the phone but that's an example of a young person who clearly has had an experience that has prepared her to be a leader and to speak.

What she demonstrated was this concept that I call it's better to aim high and miss than aim low and hit.

And boy did she bring us some high bar things to consider.

And that's exactly what we want our youth to do.

We want them to aim high because what if she aimed low.

There is no accomplishment in aiming low.

and hitting their those those types of goals.

She set the bar high.

It's the adult's job to figure it out.

Will we be 100 percent successful.

That's not the point.

The point is she represented to us what it looks like to aim high.

And so I'm not sure if they're still on the phone or if their parents happen to be on the phone but I just want to say good job.

The other thing I'd like to just circle back around is I I I actually know that COVID is spreading in the schools.

I'm at the intersection at Public Health.

I have staff members who have kids in Seattle Public Schools and 33 percent of my staff have come down with COVID.

If you know anything about research 33 percent is statistically significant in a very large way.

Two of those families their children brought that brought it home from school and one of them sort of indirectly from school but sporting event connected to school.

So it is spreading in schools.

The other thing to consider and this is not an excuse.

What we know about Omicron is that its impacts are not as as devastating as previous variants for people who have been vaccinated, right?

Like there's lots of data around that.

And we cannot use that as, oh, well, we'll just, you know, we'll just react to situations that seem to be getting out of control.

And so I stated earlier, we need to be proactive.

There are more variants coming and just like Omicron, We didn't know what Omicron was going to bring to us.

We first heard about it in South Africa.

And I'm telling you within less than two weeks, it was devastating our country.

So we can use this as learning to say, what if this Omicron Delta, I forget what the name of it is.

They've already named it.

The Omicron Delta variant which actually is really concerning to public health officials.

Very very concerning.

We don't know its impact but we know that it could get here just like the Omicron and we need to proactively prepare.

For those community members on the call I have spent over three decades in my professional work supporting the social emotional mental health needs of our youngest citizens.

School is where they need to be.

I'm 100 percent in support of keeping schools open.

But I'm also practical that if we need to close schools for a week or two weeks I don't think we'll ever return to what we had in that first year of our pandemic.

I don't see it happening.

And please somebody say from my lips to God's ears because we all need to get out of this.

We need to get out of this.

We are all tired.

And it is the responsibility responsibility of the adults to be proactive.

We cannot move into this next phase if it's another variant.

Reacting and waiting because that puts parents in a very difficult position.

So for example, if we had said in early December, you know what, we've heard about this Omicron, we're getting ready to send children home for two weeks over the break.

What if we not have them return January 3rd, but have them return on Monday or Tuesday, January 18th, right?

We don't know where we would be.

Right.

But what we know is that the spread of that resulted from that break would have been somewhat mitigated not 100 percent but somewhat mitigated coming back to school.

And so now we know.

Right.

And I do believe our our administrators actually made the best decision with the information that they had in the moment.

And what we know now.

is that things are out of control.

Like literally Omicron is out of control.

And so we need to prepare for the next variant.

I'm just going to say that I'm no prophetess.

I'm no seer.

I don't have a crystal ball but I am in public health and I do follow the science and we have another variant if not multiple other variants emerging.

And I think our assumption should be what is the next Omicron.

Not if but when.

Just like the public health officials are saying we all need to prepare for when we get COVID not if.

Because with as as contagious as Omicron is we are likely all to get it.

And at some point I think we're likely all to get some variant of COVID.

And so we need to prepare for the when not the if.

And that's something we can do as adult leaders.

We can be proactive.

And I think parents if we communicate communication is important.

If we say it is possible that we might have to close schools for a week and we have a robust plan of what's going to happen in that week not every parent is going to be happy but every parent can be prepared.

Every family can be prepared because the goal is mitigation to stop the spread.

So that at some point we don't have to close schools.

That's our goal.

At some point we can keep kids in school five days a week so they're not going deep into the summer trying to do makeup days because that's what we may be looking at.

So we can be proactive and that is my my caution and my request of all of us is that we prepare for the next variant.

and that we make our decisions based on when it happens, what is our rubric for saying, okay, if this looks like it's going towards Omicron, what do we need to do to stop the spread?

We have midwinter break coming.

Oh my goodness.

We'll know then if that new variant is here.

It will be here before then, but we'll know then what we're dealing with.

I'm predicting it's gonna be here well before late February based on what is happening now.

And so I encourage us as adults to listen to some of these young people.

Right.

Our young people actually are really pretty smart.

Right.

Like like Serena Burr said against her parents wishes what they are doing in in allowing the child to make the decision is they're preparing her for what it means to to make adult decisions and then what it means when there are consequences consequences that result of those decisions.

I'm making an assumption here that that is a family connection just based on the last name.

So if Serena's on the call and that's not your child or if Ms. Walker-Burr is on the call and Serena's not your mom please forgive me.

But my point is whoever that child's parents are they are doing their job and they're doing their job well and she represents the potential and the kind of students we have in Seattle Public Schools.

That that Ms. Walker-Burr is not an accident.

She's not an anomaly and she's not an exception.

She just happens to be here today and testifying with us.

So as we move on that's what I'm encouraging us to do is to be prepared to actually have a plan For if we face another variant that is just like Omicron what have we learned from Omicron and what different decisions will we make.

Because that's in the best interest and safety of our staff our students our janitors our nutrition services people and their families.

Like we don't see the we don't see the extensions but the families.

Right.

We don't hear about the family members that end up in the hospital as a result of their child bringing home COVID.

I have a personal story.

I don't want to see that again.

It's a scary situation to be in.

And so I'm asking parents to truly believe and trust that our superintendent is actually making the best possible decisions that he can make with the data and information that he has real time.

Not a job I would want.

In this time everything is changing minute by minute.

And for the most part my expectations is that he makes the right decisions most of the time.

Because there's no way in this changing dynamic environment that he's actually literally like with you know if we are being realistic that he's going to be able to make the right decision every single time.

every single minute of every single day from the time he gets up to do this job to the time he turns off the computer and the phone so he can spend time with his family.

And so I trust that he is leading in the best possible way.

And when there is a decision that doesn't make us all happy because if I had my druthers We would not be in school right now.

We would be in school on January 18th.

Because I really believe if I could look back at my crystal ball that we wouldn't be here now.

And that's Monday morning quarterbacking.

We're here.

It doesn't matter.

But I do believe he is doing his level best to make the best decisions.

And we have to trust him.

We're not he's not going to make all of the people happy all of the time.

But for the most part he's doing a good job.

Okay thank you for that Director Sargeu.

Director Sommeritz.

Thank you.

It's been an intense few weeks and I first just want to thank our district leadership team for working furiously to prepare for the return to school buildings after winter break and continuing to make real-time day-by-day difficult decisions.

I have four nuggets I want to share today.

First, I've been continuing to meet with our building leaders, our principals, and I know that we are all exhausted, but to those that are listening, if you have anything to give, please drop a note to a building leader or principal that you know and thank them for their leadership.

One of them described to me that working during this pandemic is like walking through a haunted house.

You're just trying to exit and boom, something new and intense just keeps surprising you.

It's a really sad analogy.

I'm very grateful for their continued leadership in this pandemic and I hope the community can join me in this gratitude.

My kindergartner told me earlier this week that she had to go to the principal's office and this is really uncharacteristic for her so I asked her to tell me more.

And she explained to me that Nurse Angie was meeting with all the kindergarten students to check their eyes and ears.

And with all that our school nurses are doing I was stunned to know that our vision and hearing exams are still happening.

Some of you may know that my own hearing loss was suspected by a public school teacher confirmed by a school nurse at one of these screenings.

So I know all too well how important these screenings are.

School nurses if you happen to be listening I really would rather you be resting.

But if you need a volunteer to do these screenings I am so happy to do it.

This morning I had the pleasure of meeting with a local author Lily Lamott.

Students from Dearborn Park Elementary School.

School librarians Craig Seasholes.

Kathleen Gillespie.

As well as school librarians and teachers and students across our district.

Our 4th and 5th grade students are currently participating in the Seattle Public Library's Global Reading Challenge.

They are tasked to read 8 books and then they will be competing a district-wide tribute challenge.

And Arthur Lamott's book is one of our selections for this year.

And when I'm thinking about our stated student-focused outcomes goals a English language arts goal I am so excited about opportunities like this to gauge our broader community in support of academic goals for all of our students.

For those that are listening I encourage you to have a list of the books.

I have personally been enjoying them with my own 4th grader.

physical copies have been given to our participating school libraries and they're also available electronically thanks to Seattle Public Libraries.

And thank you to our hardworking 4th and 5th grade readers.

We are very proud of you.

And finally Director Rankin and I and maybe other directors will be hosting a virtual community meeting with Seattle Council PTSA next Tuesday at 7 p.m.

to talk about COVID protocols and testing.

We will be sharing out the details shortly and I hope you can join us.

So thank you everyone and stay healthy.

Thank you Director Song-Moritz.

And in the interest of time I want to get folks out of here really quickly.

I'm going to try to keep this as as succinct as possible.

The only thing that I want to offer tonight other than extreme gratitude for Brother Delbert Richardson hosting us at the Unspoken Truths exhibit As well as our legislators who are hard at work solving some of the biggest problems that we have right now especially in school funding.

Knock on wood we get a little bit of relief.

We had a really wonderful meeting with the Seattle delegation and a new found breadth of collaboration and just kinship in being able to fix these really giant problems that face our school district.

I just want to offer one thing before we close out.

When we think that we are supporting children I really want to give folks an opportunity to pause and really think about what that looks like.

Because for me that's going to look completely different than it's going to for Dr. Jones.

It's going to look completely different than it's going to for our educators.

It's going to look completely different than some of my colleagues here tonight and it's going to look even more different for their parents right.

But though we all have the same real and very I don't even know the word very intense desire to deliver on that aim of supporting children.

And in this moment when we are in so many ways chasing a moving target that is COVID and every 1 2 3 4 Greek letter alphabet of its variants that becomes a really big challenge and one that we don't have the answers to right.

As an educator even though I may not be in the classroom at this particular moment it's difficult for me to think that I don't have the tools that I need to keep my kids safe.

You know I don't have the resources that I need to help keep my children safe.

And that creates fear.

Right.

And when we have fear oftentimes comes confusion.

And when we have confusion oftentimes it's followed by anger and is then followed by finger pointing and then communication breaks down from there.

What I will say is that on the district's behalf we are working feverishly to not only improve our communications with the general public But we do have a lot of work that needs to happen to improve our communications with our buildings and I know that Dr. Jones and his team are committed to that.

But I did want to acknowledge as Dr. Jones has done earlier in this meeting the great amount of fear and confusion that these multiple variants and the moving target of addressing them has presented to our communities.

And that is no small thing.

And so the commitment that I want to give to anyone who might be listening but especially our educators is that we we can do more and we are working to do more in terms of improving how we communicate.

What is the plan and what can these predictable systems look like as some schools will pivot in and out of remote learning and in-person instruction.

So I say all that to say this.

These are unprecedented times and we've said that from this dais an innumerable amount of instances and occasions.

But I am very confident that like everything else we will come out on the other end of this better and more whole by this experience together.

I cannot remember a time that we have been in closer communication with SEA leadership.

I cannot remember a time when we have been in closer communication with our legislators who are working in Olympia right now.

And even though through all of this confusion and all of this fear and for some specific communities is it's hard to see the results of that work.

As a system we are moving in a direction that is going to leave us better than when we began.

And so as we as we continue to fight back these multiple variants and this moving target what I just want to offer is that we as a board as you've heard from so many of my colleagues hosting several various community sessions are here and ready to collaborate.

We are not going to get every instance right.

We are not going to be.

able to respond to every single call for action that is laid in front of us.

But we are here and we are willing to give it our best shot.

And we are in a prepared position to do the collaboration necessary to help instill the sense of security for families and educators but most importantly our children as we are trying to work through these incredibly difficult times.

So I want to stand here as the leader of this board and say I apologize for any lack of communication or any poor communication that may have transpired especially as we have begun to figure out how to mitigate for the impacts of Omicron and offer a commitment that While it might not feel like it for every single person out in our community we are trying and will continue to do better on your behalf on the behalf of your children.

Right.

So with that I want to just offer that through here We see you.

We love you.

We know that this is difficult and we are not in your shoes.

We are not going into classrooms every single day.

For me personally it's breaking my heart that I'm not in my classroom right now.

And the experiences of our educators are very different than the experiences of our administrators of board directors of folks who feel as though we are at the top of this system.

And I want to acknowledge that.

There is so much more that we have to learn and understand about what the day-to-day experiences of people who are walking into those classrooms whether they be educators or students are.

And with that knowledge with those open lines of communication I hope that we can build that understanding and with good understanding comes good policy and practice.

So please continue to reach out to us.

I know that personally I spent the majority of my weekend on the phone.

with various educators and leadership and specific buildings and I know that that's true for all of the other directors on this call but it's got to go beyond and we're recognizing the fact that it's got to go beyond conversations and it has to end up in action.

And I am incredibly confident in Dr. Jones's team that we are going to get there.

Right.

So please continue to hold us accountable.

Continue to communicate with us.

And if we're not getting it right let us know.

A lot of folks already are.

all in our emails.

And as we continue to try and be as responsive as we can just please know that we are we are working tirelessly to to help alleviate what is a really trying and difficult and life-threatening circumstance for so many families so many educators and so many folks who are out there in our community.

So with that being said it is 621. There being no further business to come before the board the regular board meeting is now adjourned at 621 p.m.

Please continue to wash your hands.

Socially distance.

Be safe because your life and the life of your children matter greatly to us.

In fact it's the most and most single important thing that is on our minds right now.

So have a wonderful evening.

Stay safe and we will see you soon.

Absolutely.

Thank you for that.

Take care.

Good night all.