SPEAKER_02
early evening, everybody.
This, wait, I call to order.
We don't do roll or anything, do we do roll?
Okay, sorry about that.
I am calling to order this special meeting of the board at 5.13 p.m.
We would like to acknowledge that we are on the ancestral land and traditional territory of the Coast Salish people.
This evening we will be welcoming and administering the oath of office to our two newest board directors, Sarah Clark and Joe Mizrahi.
We are so grateful to both of you for stepping up to support the students of Seattle Public Schools and our work together.
And the experience and communities that you both represent is going to be really strong additions to our collective work, and we couldn't be more happy to welcome you both.
And again, thank you for, and to your families for, families and community for I'm going to say probably giving you permission and or urging you to do this because it is time away from your families.
It's a sacrifice.
It's not compensated.
I hope that they told you that before.
Just now.
But it really means a lot to have both of you and the community members who support you here.
And my ask would be that the people who supported you being here today continue to support you both for their success and the success of all of us in support of Seattle Public Schools.
I will now pass it over to Dr. Jones.
SPEAKER_03
Thank you members of our educational community.
It's with great pleasure I welcome you to the oath of office ceremony for our newly elected board directors.
Thank you everyone present for joining us to turn this next chapter in our governance journey.
I want to extend my sincere congratulations and gratitude to Sarah Clark and Joe Mizorahi.
who are now entrusted with the responsibility of guiding our school district.
As they take the oath today, let us all recognize the weight and responsibility our newly elected directors are shouldering.
Serving on the school board is a commitment to shaping the future of our district and advocating for the needs of every student and fostering environments where every student thrives.
Their dedication to our students, teachers, and the broader SPS community will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on the quality of education we provide.
So without further ado, let us proceed with the oath of office.
I'll hand it back to you, President Rankin.
SPEAKER_02
Thank you.
So here we go.
I would like to invite our district to appointee Sarah Clark to please come forward to the podium.
SPEAKER_03
This is the oath of office.
So I want you to repeat after me OK.
SPEAKER_01
Ah very smart.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_03
I and state your name.
SPEAKER_01
I Sarah Clark.
SPEAKER_03
Do hereby solemnly swear.
Do hereby solemnly swear.
That I will support the Constitution of the United States.
SPEAKER_01
That I will support the Constitution of the United States.
SPEAKER_03
And the constitution of the state of Washington.
SPEAKER_01
And the constitution of the state of Washington.
SPEAKER_03
Promote the interest of education.
SPEAKER_01
Promote the interests of education.
SPEAKER_03
And will faithfully discharge the duties of director of school district number one.
SPEAKER_01
And faithfully just discharge the duties of director of Seattle school district number two.
It's number one.
Maybe.
The district.
Oh OK district number one.
That was confusing.
SPEAKER_03
King County state of Washington.
SPEAKER_01
King County state of Washington.
SPEAKER_03
To the best of my ability.
SPEAKER_01
To the best of my ability.
SPEAKER_03
There you go.
SPEAKER_02
So they are signing and notarizing the oath and then friends, family, anyone here with Director Clark is welcome to come up and take a photo as soon as signing is done and then we will have the next oath.
I now like to invite our district 4 appointee Joe Mizrahi to please come up to the podium.
SPEAKER_03
Please repeat after me.
I in your first name or your full name.
I Joseph Mizrahi.
Do hereby solemnly swear.
Do hereby solemnly swear.
That I will support the Constitution of the United States.
That I will support the Constitution of the United States.
And the Constitution of the state of Washington.
SPEAKER_00
And the Constitution of the state of Washington.
SPEAKER_03
Promote the interest of education.
Promote the interest of education.
And will faithfully discharge the duties of director of school district number one.
SPEAKER_00
And will faithfully discharge the duties of director of school of Seattle school district number one.
King County state of Washington.
King County state of Washington.
To the best of my ability.
To the best of my ability.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02
All right.
We have a board of seven again.
So likewise after the signing of the documents there the friends, families, community members of Director Misrahi are welcome to come up and take photos.
With the oaths taken and documents signed, we will now move to remarks from our new directors, if they would wish to share any.
Director Clark, do you have anything?
Fantastic.
Please, please, the mic is yours.
SPEAKER_01
OK I think I'm going to.
Can you guys hear me OK with my mask on.
I'm a little sick today so practicing good manners.
So thank you everyone.
It's an honor to be here today to be sworn in for district 2 director.
There's no way I'm going to be able to fill up the five minutes they gave us, but I'll certainly try.
So first I just want to start by thanking Michelle for nominating me, all the board for voting for me, and Dr. Jones for your confidence in me.
Your kind words last week during the break brought me a lot of comfort.
And thank you to my family, friends, and my boss.
who came out here tonight fighting rush hour traffic with less than 24 hours notice.
I'm really grateful for your support.
I was reflecting last night and this morning back on that little girl, little Sarah, who attended Seattle Public Schools, who had big dreams and a big smile, but also big fear and lack of self-worth.
She was surrounded by people who tried to lift her up to reach her dreams.
She tried her best but did not believe in herself.
Back then they didn't know anything about childhood PTSD or what children go through when they are separated from their parents at birth.
That was over 20 years ago and things got worse for a time but they also got better and the human psychology got a lot better too.
More help became available and I took advantage of it.
I stand here before you today as proof that no matter what happens in life, when you roll up your sleeves, are willing to face your biggest challenges and get to work on yourself, it is possible to move forward and make long-held dreams come true.
And rolling up my sleeves is exactly what I'm ready to do now that I've taken my oath of office.
I told you all last week that I would be taking trips around District 2 to visit all the schools, our students, teachers, staff, and parents.
I look forward to listening and learning from you all Working hard to ensure your voices are heard through my work and advocating with you for more state funding.
The huge nerd in me is also eager to take a deep dive into longstanding policies, procedures and budgets and to learn from the wisdom of my new colleagues experiences thus far.
I don't want us to return the district to status quo.
That has been broken for decades.
I want us to leave it better than we found it.
I believe that together we can and will do much better to get this district on a better path to improve access to educational excellence and mental health resources, increase safety in our schools, increase opportunities for students furthest from educational justice, and find creative solutions to the enrollment challenges we are faced with and make sure we are able to attract and retain not only great students but great educators as well.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02
Thank you so much Director Clark.
I'd like to now invite Director Mizrahi to share any remarks.
SPEAKER_00
Well, I did not prepare anything.
I just wanted to come and speak from the heart.
So I also will not take five minutes.
But first of all, I wanted to thank Director Topp for the nomination and the support of the full board.
And this process, I was telling my wife, Liz, last night that no matter what happened, I was so grateful that I engaged in this process.
Because throughout it, I was able to talk so many people so many of the directors attend these meetings and engage with so many folks in the community and hear all these you know challenging issues that people are facing but also hear a lot of the hope and the love that people have for their school district.
And one of the things that I think after the forum I was like gosh I should have said this I really missed an opportunity but I One of the things that I think gets lost sometimes in these processes and these forums, because you're talking about what are the biggest issues that face us and what are the biggest problems, is also all of the wonder, all these wonderful things and the amazing things that our district has to offer.
And I really love the Seattle School District.
We have amazing educators.
We have some amazing buildings and of course we have amazing students.
And I think that I'm just so excited to be part of that system now.
Obviously there is a lot to work on.
We have one of the biggest opportunity gaps in the country in our school district.
And what I'm really excited about is I feel like I'm joining a board that has already committed to taking that on head on.
We're not shying away from that.
We have our work cut out for us, but we're not shying away from it.
And one thing that, it's a phrase that we use a lot in the labor movement, this idea that it's not complicated, it's just hard.
And I think that a lot about what we're doing, right?
You know, it's not complicated.
We have to be talking to students, talking to families, talking to community, and doing the hard work to address the opportunity gap.
That's not complicated.
We know how to do it.
It's just hard.
But I'm excited to be doing it with you all, and I think I'm joining the board at a great time, and I'm excited to be engaging with all the community around that.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02
Thank you Director Mizrahi.
Dr. Jones closing remarks.
SPEAKER_03
Thank you President Rankin Director Clark liked how that sounds.
Director Mizrahi you liked how that sounds.
May your journey with the school board be filled with collaboration, innovation, and a steadfast commitment to the betterment of our schools.
We thank you for your willingness to serve.
As you both walked in, I told you there was an opportunity to turn back.
and you both rejected that notion and step forward.
I thank you.
I'm confident that your lived experiences, your passion will show through in your policy making and your decision making and your support for our 48,000 students and over 6,000 employees.
I think our city will be better because of your presence and I thank you for your willingness to serve.
At this time, I would like for the board of directors to come forward and take a picture, please.
I would like for you to.
You have free will.
SPEAKER_02
We'll get another one with Brandon and all the speakers.
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
SPEAKER_02
I'll get in the back.
You keep going to the back and I keep going to the back.
SPEAKER_00
Don't get to go to the back, get up here.
SPEAKER_03
All right, let's do number one since we're school district number one.
SPEAKER_01
I was confused.
Does that mean we're number one in the state?
Is that what they're saying?
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01
But what is it?
Does it mean that we're the biggest?
SPEAKER_00
There's 295.
SPEAKER_03
We just happen to be number one.
SPEAKER_00
We just happen to be number one.
So there'll never be a school district number two.
There'll never be a number two.
There'll never be a number two.
SPEAKER_01
Because somebody else already has number two.
Yeah.
There won't be a number two in Seattle.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
That's you.
SPEAKER_99
Let's do it together.
SPEAKER_01
Let's do it together.
SPEAKER_02
All right.
We are honored to present the school board for Seattle Public Schools.
So I don't have I didn't bring my phone up here.
What time is it.
We invite you to join us over here for a treat and celebrate.
And there being no further business before the board this meeting is adjourned at 530 p.m.
Thank you.
