Seattle School Board Meeting July 7, 2021

This is Director Hampson.

I'm now calling the July 7th 2021 Regular Board Meeting to order at 330 p.m.

This meeting is being recorded.

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

Ms. Wilson-Jones the roll call please.

Director DeWolf.

Present.

I do not believe Director Dury is able to join today.

Director Harris.

President.

Vice President Hersey.

Yo.

Director Rankin.

Director Rankin.

I'm here.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Present.

And President Hampson.

Here.

Superintendent Jones is also joining us for today's meeting and additional staff will be briefing the board as we move through the agenda.

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

The public is being provided remote access today by phone and through SPS-TV by broadcast and streaming on YouTube.

To facilitate this meeting I will ask all participants to ensure you are muted when you are not speaking.

Staff may be muting participants to address feedback and ensure we can hear directors and staff.

I will now turn it over to Superintendent Jones for his comments and an update on return to school coordination and planning.

We'll be starting testimony at about 4 p.m.

today as stated on the agenda to allow for this important update.

Take it away Dr. Jones.

Thank you President Hampson and Board of Directors.

Our people are working really hard to prepare for our fall return and we are 55 days away from September 1st.

Today I want to defer my time to the newly developed Office of Strategy Deployment and Responsiveness.

I'm going to ask Deputy Gannon to proceed.

Thank you very much.

Thank you Dr. Jones and good afternoon members of the board.

For the record my name is Rob Gannon.

I'm the Deputy Superintendent here at Seattle Public Schools enjoying the start of my third month with the organization.

Under Dr. Jones' leadership we are taking on a number of tasks.

Among them was to stand up what we are referring to as the Office of Strategy Deployment and Responsiveness.

I'm going to give a couple of quick overview slides and then turn it over to two of my colleagues.

But I want to speak in plain terms to what this office is tasked with doing.

So if I could go to the next slide please.

You'll see here that we have stated a very clear mission for the Office of Strategy Deployment and Responsiveness.

But at its core we are asking These two leaders Dr. Sarah Pritchett and Carrie Campbell along with project manager Audrey Quirns to really bring us into a state of readiness for the return to school in the fall to keep us aligned with our strategic plan and then to have a longer view about how we implement the strategic plan.

So I think this is very important office and we are extremely well served by these three individuals.

two of whom will speak later to some of the developments and work we're doing in direct preparation for the fall return.

Next slide please.

So you'll see here that we are referring to the 2018 Moss Adams External Audit Report.

A number of observations were brought forward in that report which we are incorporating now into our thinking about how this office can be focused and how it can help our organization be more effective as an organization.

I think there is much good evidence to suggest and indicate that we are an outstanding public school system with many great achievements in the schools.

I think one of the things that occasionally if not frequently holds us back is that the degree to which we as an organization not as a school district but as an organization carry out that work.

The observations made in the Moss Adams report make clear distinctions about what we are doing and what we can do better.

And so we've incorporated that into the thinking of this office.

We are intending to break down the silos that work within our organization and have our efforts be more coordinated.

We are intending to set realistic goals but actually then move towards the achievement and measures of progress that demonstrate the important outcomes associated with those goals.

Next slide please.

So this is just a continuation of the Moss Adams report but just I offer that up as grounding that it is not just Dr. Jones' leadership that is conceived of this office.

It is not just Dr. Pritchett and Chief Campbell that are carrying out this work.

It is work that is informed by the history of the organization and the improvements that we seek to make to truly achieve a level of outstanding achievement for our organization as a whole.

Next slide please.

So again in some plain terms translating the work of the Moss Adams report we are looking to make sure that the central office functions in a way that is responsive to the needs of communities families and schools primarily.

We are looking to improve our mechanisms of being strategically focused but also coordinated and using the tools that are necessary to deliver those outcomes.

Clear timelines.

Defined deliverables.

Clear reporting channels and a sense of ownership.

And then also importantly we're looking to make all of these different efforts not only achieved but taken to scale and supporting the departments that are are serving the entirety of the district.

Next slide please.

This slide really speaks to what we want to achieve beyond just the fall return.

So again the office comes together initially intensely focused on fall return.

Chief Pritchard excuse me Dr. Pritchett and Chief Campbell will speak to that with some degree of detail.

But we want to bring into practice through this effort the fall return.

The the work that can be sustained throughout the coming academic year.

and then beyond.

So it becomes a three-part transition.

The return to fall.

The demonstration of our achievement over the course of the academic year.

And then burning into our systems the practice that will endure beyond as we execute the strategic plan.

So these items and functions listed above here are really the critical work that will measure our success if we're able to reconfigure our organization to be truly on a path to continuous improvement and an ongoing demonstration of excellence.

So with that I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Pritchett and Chief Campbell who will give some evidence of what we're doing in the near term in our preparations for the fall and also gesture at the many things that are encompassed in that work and how they indicate future success.

So with that I turn it over to Chief Campbell and Dr. Pritchett.

Thank you very much Deputy Gannon.

It's great to see everyone.

Next slide please.

And for the record I'm Carrie Campbell and in a new role Assistant Deputy Superintendent.

So Dr. Pritchett and I are going to go over the focus for the fall and then talk about some of the new mechanisms and collaboration structures that we put into place to really center our work on student outcomes and ensuring that there's a strong feedback loop with our community.

as well as our school leaders.

So on September 1st we will launch 180 Days of Excellence.

We're all part of this commitment to our students and our families.

We will be returning full-time in-person five days a week for the majority of our students on September 1st.

And for our kindergarten students we'll begin full-time instruction on September 9th.

Working in collaboration with school leaders and staff these are our three focus areas.

That include responsiveness.

Responding to feedback and context changes in a quick and effective manner.

Prioritizing the needs of our students and our families.

Prioritizing healthy and safe schools and this includes wellness so student and staff wellness.

As well as supporting high-quality instruction and learning environments across our 104 school sites and the new virtual option pilot.

We aim to successfully reopen our schools while mitigating the spread and transmission of COVID and keeping our staff and our students healthy and safe.

Next slide please.

And in conversations with school leaders and central office staff and listening to the board and to reviewing all of the feedback from our students and families this last year we've identified some specific Success criteria.

How our students and staff will feel as we re-enter our buildings come fall.

Our families will be ensured that they will experience a culture of responsiveness.

That our communication is clear.

Our engagement is authentic.

That issues get resolved quickly and that we really work in partnership to co-construct solutions when issues arise.

That all students and staff experience a welcoming environment.

Because SPS has been attentive to and focused on addressing the traumas experienced by our students and staff prior to and during the pandemic.

I think we've talked a lot about we won't know where people are at where our students and families really are until we fully return that it'll be a while until we know how folks are doing.

But we intend to set up the system so we can meet the individualized needs.

of everyone in our school communities and make sure that they are well.

Next slide please.

That every student experiences high-quality instruction in an engaging learning environment that is culturally relevant and celebrates the gifts that each student brings to their classroom school and community.

And finally that staff students and families feel safe and are safe back in our schools.

And this will really happen through strong coordination between our Health Services Department facilities and school leaders and clear communication about building readiness and health and safety practices and protocols as well as training for our staff.

Next slide please.

Now I'm going to pass it on to Dr. Pritchett.

Good afternoon everyone.

Sarah Pritchett.

New role as Assistant Deputy Superintendent so happy to be here.

Our office launched on June 1st and we have been meeting with departments with divisions with school leaders and staff to really determine what are some of our operational risks and what are our opportunities as we return to school Fall 2021. There were clearly some things that we heard across all divisions across all staff that were in need.

The first was really a decision-making a clear decision-making body and process.

We found that across departments people we heard that it was challenging to identify who had the authority to make decisions and so decisions were not able to be made in a timely way.

We have developed an escalation mechanism for decisions and we have developed a cross-functional team that we'll go into a little bit later to address some of these needs that we have around making decisions and having that process.

be in place internally.

We also heard that during the spring we had an internal cross-functioning collaboration structure that was really well-received.

We had project management and integration of work across operations and teaching that supported schools in the spring.

And so we look to replicate that system district-wide and put that in place for planning for our fall return.

Our internal communications was continuing to be a challenge.

So our office really is working to support and strengthen internal communications.

We're hoping that the new structures that we put in place will be able to receive timely information in a manner that we can share with students and families and staff again in a in a very timely way.

Next slide please.

So this is one of the structures that we are standing up As you can see we have 4 subgroups that we are working with as we look at the fall collaboration and planning structure.

We have subgroups focused on student and staff wellness.

Healthy and safe schools and school operations.

High quality instruction and learning environments.

Communications engagement and responsiveness.

Each one of these groups have different deliverables that we are working on.

In our health and safety of course we are revising our COVID site supervisor handbooks.

We're looking at how to inform health.

We're excuse me we're in looking to update and guide our healthy and health and safety chapters in our playbook and providing guidance on operational operationalizing the health protocols as they change and as we come back into fall.

When we look at our student and staff wellness.

We are looking at revising our blueprint for wellness.

We're looking at the feedback and revisions.

We're shaping a chapter on student wellness for student and staff wellness for our playbook.

And really looking at creating a student and staff wellness campaign.

Those are some of the deliverables for those two groups.

For our high-quality learning environments This group will be working on providing feedback on priority standards and supports on grading assessments and our virtual pilot guidance.

Our responsive and communications engagement subgroup is really formed to co-develop a fall return to school handbook for students and staff inform the fall 2021 public campaign and really help to problem solve and develop stronger internal communication structures for school leaders and staff.

As you can see these groups will meet separately and then they all are leads for these groups and our project managers also form a cross-functional team that we will be meeting with as we look to resolve issues that come up that cannot be addressed within the subgroups.

Next slide.

On each of those subgroups we have principals and assistant principals that we're working with.

school administrators apply to be part of our advisory group and we narrowed it down to 21 school leaders.

And so we're so excited we've started that process of working with this advisory group.

Not only do they serve on our subgroups but they also work with with our office on advising us and giving us feedback real-time feedback in-the-field feedback as we sit to make our position to make decisions for the district.

Next slide.

A little bit more detail.

So as that cross-functioning team with our school advisors our subgroups are coming together.

We're making decisions and recommendations.

If decisions can't be made at that level which is that black box then that goes that those things get pushed to our superintendent and our deputy superintendent for decisions for advice And then we circle back with our decision-making log to make sure that we have a record of the decisions and the things that are made the choices that are made so that we can get that communication out to all parties.

Again addressing some of the need that we found over the spring where we had school leaders and staff that were not receiving information in a timely way.

So we're hoping that this structure for collaboration and planning will help us internally as we build our capacity to return back in the fall.

Next slide please.

And I'm going to pass it over to Carrie who's going to talk a little bit more about some of the day-to-day work that we've been doing in the office.

Thank you Dr. Pritchett.

So we're also serving as Dr. Pritchett mentioned surfacing risk to the work in a rapid response structure.

So this is just a screenshot of a weekly progress status update that we provide to Deputy Gannon on Tuesdays.

And then a risk assessment.

So you see those small shots on the right-hand side of specific key work that we're going through and surfacing if we need to bring folks together around an issue and get it resolved very quickly for schools in the larger system.

We bring this document to Deputy Gannon on Tuesdays and then we actually do a consultation with cabinet on Wednesdays.

We log this in a decision-making log and we push out those decisions to the rest of the organization.

Next slide please.

And then this is just work in progress.

So a lot's been done since June 1st when we launched the office but these are other bodies of work that are underway.

Dr. Pritchett mentioned we're working on revising the SPS health and safety protocols in response to the new Washington Department of Health guidance.

So an example of that would be around daily attestation.

That is actually a change that was made in the spring but because we had an MOU with SEA that we've been honoring through August 31st and and with implementation of summer school we didn't make that adjustment but that is an adjustment that has been determined and we will make for September 1. We're beginning to explore the possibility and the effectiveness of district-supported student and staff COVID testing.

The focus of this really is to help ensure that students have the least instructional loss if they need to quarantine because of COVID or close contact.

As part of that body of work we're establishing a formal relationship with the University of Washington specifically the Department of Global Health to provide guidance on implementation of our health and safety protocols.

We're already in the process of reconfiguring classrooms to the 3 feet or to the greatest extent possible in alignment with DOH guidance.

Chief Podesta has hired or is in the process of hiring a consultant to help us re-establish our ventilation operation plans for Fall 2021. As mentioned we're making adjustments to the playbook the guide to both Curriculum Instructions.

Safety Protocols.

Strong Practices in Family Engagement and Communication at the School Level.

And then finally providing coordination support around the Virtual Option Pilot and Enrollment.

The form actually gets lifted today July 7th and we're beginning to communicate out the enrollment process for families and students to formally enroll tomorrow to a targeted group that expressed interest and then to the broader community on Friday.

Next slide please.

And so at this time I think we are ready to take board director questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I'm going to ask directors to keep it to one question each with limited follow-up so we can stay on schedule and get through to everyone.

We'll start with Director Hersey.

Hello.

Thank you so much.

I just wanted to say how impressed I was with how y'all have laid this out.

I'm really excited about all the work that's gone into this and I've even been able to share space with y'all out in community with the NAACP Youth Council.

So I can really see y'all incorporating the feedback that they gave into this plan.

The only real question that I have is I didn't really see where educator like voice and responsiveness and especially working with SEA as we're developing these types of responses.

I didn't really see how they're reflected though I know that they are.

Could you just speak a little bit about how you've been working with SEA and our educators and other labor partners in ensuring that you know these feedback loops include them in a meaningful way.

So thank you Director Hersey.

I'll try and give a partial answer to that and then let Dr. Pritchett and Chief Campbell amplify it or correct me as necessary.

So in the early phases of our work we are both trying to center the various voices of stakeholder groups including SEA including other employee groups as well as community groups in this work.

The first manifestation is really the principals or building leaders group that has come together both be the voice of the school the school community but also be a point where we can gather additional information.

I'm saying this carefully because we also have a duty to recognize where we have a formal obligation to enter into negotiations with SEA.

And so we are careful to make sure we are careful that we are not blurring that distinction.

And it is not an easy line to draw but we are in regular contact.

With SEA Chief Treat is and his staff are working to understand where we need to formally engage SEA as opposed to where we need to engage the staff of the district in a feedback gathering exercise that is informative and helpful.

So that isn't meant to be a lot of words saying nothing that is meant to say that it is a complicated relationship between when are our staff staff providing feedback, and when are they represented by labor offering formal feedback, which could trigger an obligation to bargain.

No that's exactly what I wanted to hear.

Just I mean one of the big things that we've been facing over the past couple of years or at least since I've been here is the gray area on what are we supposed to be bargaining what we're not.

And seeing that you guys are taking some very clear steps and it seems collaboratively with SEA to ensure that we have some clear boundaries and guidelines on that is really is really good to hear.

And would love to hear if there was any other additional feedback from Carrie or Dr. Pritchett that they want to go off.

I think that Deputy Gannon covered it really well but I just want to give just a small example of how we do collaborate with SCA.

So probably 2 or 3 weeks ago Frank Griffin it probably is now 3 weeks ago Frank Griffin actually we co-created a space where he spoke directly to SCA membership around HVAC ventilation system.

All of a lot of things that continue to be a concern and We co-developed the agenda.

We put on the event.

SEA members came.

And so those are other ways that we continue to get feedback loop from our educators so that we can really be thinking and proactive about the supports that we put into place.

So we really know the concerns that they have before we start working to operationalize new guidance from DOH or others.

Okay.

And if you're satisfied Director Vice President Hersey I'll go now to Director Harris.

Thank you so much.

One of the things that I find frustrating as a board member is that I have not seen a new org chart nor have these PowerPoints been distributed to the board so that in advance of these updates so that we can formulate questions and not blindside you and and we can do a better job of our homework and next steps.

And I would be ever so grateful to know to A.

receive the PowerPoints prior to the board meetings both the superintendent the deputy superintendent and the excellent work that you all just provided.

And to know what the status of the Friday memos are to keep the board informed so we can fully meet our fiduciary duties.

There is no question whatsoever in my mind that you all are working your backsides off and that you're probably doing stellar work.

But seeing this and reacting to this with no homework is difficult for me and perhaps I'm an anomaly but I'm not sure that I believe that.

Thank you so much.

Director Harris Superintendent Jones here.

Fair comments.

Fair requests.

We will endeavor to to provide those in advance.

And we we think that you're I think that your request is absolutely timely.

So we are working on a Friday Memo alternative.

We have these slides available and we'll get those to you.

And anytime we present something of this nature I think it's a fair request for you to have it in advance.

And would you also say the same with respect to the new org charts and advise and collaboration with the board of directors.

Kind sir.

Yes.

And we once we finish the org charts which is still shifting a little bit we'll get those to you.

So we'll get you.

I'd rather the grid be in the way of the perfect.

Thank you.

There you go.

No problem.

Okay and we'll go now to Director Rivera-Smith.

Hi thank you.

I kind of have a little bit of a two-part question but I think the first part's really simple.

Could IS Chief sorry Deputy Superintendent or Associate.

Carrie you have a long title I'm sorry.

Could you what would you give us like the one sentence of your department.

If you were to say what your department is and does what is that quick easy elevator one sentence thing.

So it's to bring coherence to the strategic work of Seattle Public Schools in support of student outcomes.

Okay.

So looking at it through that lens and I'm trying to figure out like so I'm trying to you know think of it in terms of the strategic plan as well.

And which brings me to it something very related I believe but it's that in talking even with parents and staff there doesn't seem to be a shared at least understanding of targeted universalism and how it's applied in our district and where and when.

And just you know it's more than just having a shared definition right.

It's also about a shared approach and use.

So I would hope that somewhere it sounds like that might be something your your department might spread and share just so that we can make sure that we are you know using it the way intended and as intended and in all of the places that we should be doing that because it's it's it's important that we have that you know sort of like I said the shared understanding and use of that.

So that was that's my only comment I think about that and it sounds like that's something that you guys might be able to take care of or do so.

If not though.

Deputy Gannon or Superintendent Jones may have more to say about that but Fall Return really is the first initiative and I anticipate we'll be asked to support initiatives directly related to the strategic plan.

So that's great feedback for us about how to make our commitment to targeted universalism our theory of action clearer to our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Director Rivera-Smith.

This should embody targeted universalism in practice.

This is the systemic application of targeted universalism.

And so that's what we're trying to stand up.

Carrie and Dr. Pritchett have that charge to embed this spirit of responsiveness to students of color furthest from educational justice with that emphasis.

And so this is that operas operationalizing of targeted universalism.

So that's what we're endeavoring to do.

That's what I'm hoping too so thank you very much.

Yes.

Director Rankin.

Thank you.

I do not have any additional questions.

Just a comment that I'm hugely grateful for this type of approach.

I think the the consistency and dependability accountability that we've needed for a long time.

of communication goes from from central out to buildings is is some.

Director Rankin is cutting out.

I'm going to ask Director Rankin.

Yeah you're cutting out.

Maybe try one more time without your video.

Can you hear me.

Try it one more time.

Ask your question or make your comment.

Can you hear me now.

Yes.

Okay.

I was just going to say ironically.

Okay it's not working.

You're still cutting out.

Shoot.

Okay.

I'll try to come back to you.

I'm going to go to Director DeWolf.

Thank you President Hampson.

I don't have any questions but I do want to just say how grateful I am for y'all.

I what a difference a year makes.

I really really appreciate the work that's gone into this.

This feels super comprehensive.

I can tell a lot of thought went into it.

So thank you for doing that.

I think this is exactly the satiating I think what a lot of people in the community are asking for.

So I really appreciate the approach.

I'm super stoked about your creativity around thinking about how to kind of synthesize different teams and staff into a new department kind of initiative.

So I'm really excited about that.

So thank you for that.

And I and I just want to kind of underscore what Director Hersey said so I appreciate the answer from that.

Okay.

One last time Director Rankin.

You want to give it another shot.

How's that.

Sounds better.

Yay.

Okay.

No I just kind of echoing what my colleagues have said.

The the need for Consistency and accountability and real clear understanding of how information gets out to staff gets out to buildings is something that has has felt very hit or miss and kind of haphazard.

And so I really look forward to seeing hopefully the positive benefit of this planning.

And I would love to know if we will be getting kind of updates about how it's going or or what the if changes are made how we're how we're kind of looking at the effectiveness or not and what the continuous improvement might be.

But I'm really excited about this team and this work.

So I'm happy to respond to the last part of that comments question.

Director Rankin and all members of the board thank you for your critique your compliments and your support as we take this on.

Our intention is to not only carry out this work but really up our game in direct communication consistent communication.

So we will as a matter of routine bring this work back before the board.

The fall return plan the implementation of the strategic plan and the ongoing effort to realize those outcomes and benefits.

We're also working to do a better job in direct communication with families so they understand our progress towards a return to school in the fall.

And then importantly pivoting after that to what the work of the district is during the academic year and tying it to the actions of the strategic plan and even more importantly perhaps the work of student outcomes focused governance and the goals and guardrails work which is happening in parallel.

So my final comment is If you will allow us a bit of grace we're also building a system and attempting to perfect it at the same time.

So that we have had this strong start is a good indication but it is not an indication of perfection.

As Director Smith indicated we're still seeking to be good before we get to perfect and we can't let that be the enemy of what we're trying to achieve.

So I'm very proud of the work that the district.

That was Director Harris not Director Rivera-Smith.

My apologies Director Harris.

I'm sorry for that.

Not apologies necessary.

Just giving you a little feedback there pal.

Thank you.

See evidence that we are far from perfect and still seeking to get to good.

So but with that said we we intend to learn from our missteps and improve in each and every iteration.

So that's my final comment and thank you.

Okay I'm up.

So I want to say you know I'm going to get excited anytime somebody brings back a audit from 2018 and aims to follow up on work that has yet to be completed and and good recommendations those were and thank you for bringing those forward.

Thanks for Moss Adams for being a good critical partner continuously.

We're lucky to have them.

as a as one of our the partners that holds it helps us hold ourselves accountable.

And if only we make good on those those recommendations.

So that is a really positive step as far as I'm concerned to start off with.

And interestingly enough as I was going through old paperwork in preparation for some of our next steps as a board and found goals from when Carrie was the head of community engagement and found a whole series of SMART goals that didn't quite qualify that didn't qualify as SMART goals.

And so given where we're headed with student outcomes focused governance and the Miles Adams recommendations and that you're all focused on that.

I find that that and the your initial work here to provide that central kind of that central gear I guess is the way that that I'm seeing it start to get fleshed out here.

I think it's I want to thank you for bringing forward what looks like draft work.

I think if it weren't draft work then we wouldn't have the that we would have it in our hands to Director Harris's points and I look forward to seeing it to getting these copies and appreciate your openness and bravery in sharing the work with us at this point because I know that it is in process and you have not had much time to put this together and we have a very short time window to for you all to get it finalized and as clear as possible prior to the start of the school year.

And I think it's immeasurably important that we have the opportunity as a board and with you all to that you're offering yourselves up to engage in two-way communication with us about this at this stage.

It's incredibly helpful that we're in July and as Director DeWolf said what a difference that year a year makes.

So many thanks to you for all of that.

And I just have a couple of questions.

I'm sorry I'm supposed to have it be one.

So let me let me stick with my own instructions.

I think as far as students the my request and my ask would be if we could take one more step towards the student focus when I look at the document that we have and then I what flashed before me on the screen.

There are some some things even in terms of coherence to district initiatives and support of schools and then student outcomes student outcomes come second.

I would like to always see those things come first so that students are first in every time that we speak about it and every time that we write it down.

And and that is actually my question for you all is and with all my appreciation for the one of my favorite things in here is the knowledge management is the knowledge management as it pertains to our students.

I know we have a number of different things working and you speak to those here and I don't need an answer to this right now but I do firmly believe that we can do a much much better job not just giving students voice but then communicating directly to them about what's happening in our district and where we're headed and in response even to feedback that we get from them and that that's kind of the focal point for or the starting point for knowledge management that they're the students are a huge part of that.

So just wanted to hear really briefly if you have anything to respond to on that or I can hear it offline as well.

President Hampson I'll respond a little bit to that.

As I talked about this whole effort is around targeted universalism.

Targeted universalism is our process for system improvement.

So when you look at the knowledge management piece that's what's being fed back into the system for us to improve.

And so we we have to be led by students needs.

We have to understand what what they need in order to improve our system.

And so that's the knowledge management piece that we're talking about trying to feed back into the system.

for that targeted universalism all boats rising concept.

So that's what the spirit of that is.

I'll I'll I'll ask Carrie or Dr. Pritchett to weigh in on that if they have some extra to that add to that.

I don't have anything to add.

I just really appreciate the Feedback and I we can make those adjustments and also make those adjustments in principle and action as well.

And so we'll just I took my notes and I think that we'll make adjustments and continue to revise and get clear that students are always at the center and the forefront of our work.

So I just appreciate the feedback.

Okay.

And We will move on from this now.

And again appreciation for your willingness and openness to having this two-way conversation.

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

May I have a motion for the consent agenda.

Absolutely.

I move for the approval of the consent agenda.

Second.

Approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Vice President Hersey and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

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

I do.

This is Director Rankin.

Can you hear me.

Yes Director Rankin.

Okay.

I would like to I have a two really quick questions on the budget that I would like to ask.

So I'd like to pull that please.

Are there any other.

Harris would like to pull the budget as well.

Thank you.

Okay.

Any other items besides the budget.

Okay may I have a revised motion for the consent agenda as amended.

Yes I move for approval of the consent agenda as amended.

Second.

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

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

abstentions.

Aye.

Motion passes unanimously.

Okay and we are going to move next to public testimony before we address the items on the removed from the consent agenda.

We will be taking public testimony by teleconference today as stated on the agenda.

For any speakers watching through SPS-TV please call in now to ensure you are on the phone line when your name is called.

Board Procedure 1430BP provides the rules for testimony and I ask that speakers are respectful of these rules.

I will summarize some important parts of this procedure.

First testimony will be taken from those individuals called from our public testimony list and if applicable the waiting list which are included on today's agenda posting on the school board website.

Only those who are called by name should unmute their phones and only one person should speak at a time.

Speakers from the list may cede their time to another person when the listed speaker's name is called.

The total amount of time allowed will not exceed two minutes for the combined number of speakers and time will not be restarted after the new speaker begins.

In order to maximize opportunities for others to address the board each speaker is allowed only one speaking slot per meeting.

A speaker cedes time to a later speaker on the testimony list or waiting list.

The person to whom time was ceded will not be called to provide testimony again later in the meeting as there is only one speaking slot per person.

Those who do not wish to have time ceded to them may decline and retain their place on the testimony or wait list.

Finally the majority of the speaker's time should be spent on the topic they have indicated they wish to speak about.

Ms. Wilson-Jones will read off the testimony speakers.

Thank you President Hampson.

Speakers please remain muted until your name is called for my testimony.

When you hear your name please be sure to unmute on your phone and also press star-6 to unmute on the conference line.

Each speaker will have a two-minute speaking time and a chime will sound when your time is exhausted.

First on today's testimony list is Matt Killeen.

Matt Killeen.

We can hear you Matt.

You can go ahead.

Hello.

Can you hear me.

Yes we can hear you.

This is Matt Killeen.

Hi.

Yeah.

I guess something totally different.

I just followed a little bit of what you've been talking about but I just had some questions that I wish to pose as a concerned parent of a child in SPS school district returning to school in September.

And I'll just kick off straight away if I believe this is the correct form to do so.

And with a question can SPS explain what provisions are being put in place to ensure that all children will have unrestricted access to full-time taught education in line with the Governor's proclamation that schools need to be fully open.

For those families unable or unwilling to send their children to school physically will online services be maintained to meet this need and does this include Or will this include the recruitment of new staff to meet this increased demand or outsourcing of tuition.

And will possible financial incentives be available to those families most in need and affected by the shutdown to ensure they have continued access to education.

That is one question.

If I may proceed to one more question right now, and not to overdo it so you can potentially give me some feedback on the point I've just raised.

Should the CDC vaccine mandate continue to include children from ages K through 12, for those children or parents that do not consent to being injected with a vaccine or a potential EBA, experimental biological agent, How will schools deal with this?

Will such individuals be excluded from in-person learning?

In stark contrast to the championship of inclusion and diversity our unvaccinated children no longer welcome at school.

Moving to the next speaker on today's list.

Jeremiah Blond.

Jeremiah Blond.

Jeremiah if you're on the line you may need to press star-6 to unmute on the conference line.

Jeremiah Blond.

Okay moving to the next speaker.

Douglas Collins.

Douglas Collins.

Can you hear me.

Is this Jeremiah or Douglas.

Can you hear me.

We can hear you.

Is this is this Douglas.

Yes.

Okay go ahead Douglas.

Okay thank you.

I'm Doug Collins.

I have two kids in the Seattle Public Schools.

And first it's clear that in kids The myocarditis cases alone from the vaccine are worse and more numerous than any hospitalizations or deaths due to COVID.

It would be a big mistake to require such a vaccine because it is very obviously doing more harm than good in the young age group.

Mandates for masking distancing and school closures are harming kids who have next to zero risk from COVID.

These measures have been pretty much useless at preventing aerosol transmission.

And public health officials aren't considering the evidence of viral and bacterial contamination that accumulates in the masks.

It's sad how good research never seems to reach the desks of public health officials.

It's time for school districts to question the motivations of public health officials who have been misleading on many counts.

Florida has been open for more than nine months already.

But since it reopened Florida has fared far better in terms of COVID death rate than California.

The fact is mandates don't work and the information you're getting from public health is often wrong.

And here's the worst sort of mandate.

My kids are being officially excluded from groups now because they haven't got the COVID vaccine.

This is a new form of segregation.

Seattle schools should never take part in this.

Also people of color are less likely to want to get the vaccines for good reasons.

So why further marginalize these groups.

Kids exposed to coronavirus are almost always well.

Masked up distanced kids are not well kids.

The school board should reject unhealthy mandates and reject the new segregation.

Let kids be normal kids.

Thank you.

Next on the list is Anya Nartkar.

Anya Nartkar.

Anya can you hear me.

We can hear you.

Go ahead Anya.

Hello Anya can you hear me.

Yes we can hear you.

Thank you.

I'm the mother of children who attend SPS and I'd like to ask that masks be optional for students.

We do not have enough science showing that masks are safe for children.

I've worked in social justice and public health for the past 5 years.

I understand the process researchers go through to get a study approved and I thought to myself what would it take to do a study of mask wearing for children.

Is this something that you think would pass an ethics review board.

We're going to take a group of kids and put them in a product.

They'll wear it for 8 hours per day up to 11 if they're in extended care.

We will not ask for medical clearance or medical consent but this product will cause deoxygenation and hyperkania which is high levels of carbon dioxide in the blood and children will drop them get them wet with liquids get food and dirt on them wear them into restrooms.

There will be very little if any adult monitoring of the child's mask condition.

Would this pass an ethics review board in your opinion.

Of course not.

But this is what we are doing to the children in the school system.

A German registry used by over 20,000 parents found impairments caused by wearing masks at school.

They were reported by 68 percent.

These included headaches dizziness reduced ability to concentrate fatigue and depression.

You can look this study up.

I've seen these and more in my own children and psychological harms of kids not being able to read facial cues of their peers abound in the literature.

It's important to understand there's zero efficacy standards for children's masks.

You're requiring an untested unregulated product to be worn daily.

Masks are considered an emergency authorized medical product and the FDA states that people will have the option to accept or refuse administration of the product.

I'm proud to be part of a school community where diversity and inclusion are key values and I feel our policies should reflect that by allowing families to make medical decisions for their children.

The mask has become so politicized that it prevents rational consideration of evidence Please allow parents to make the most informed medical choice for their kids and not politicians.

Thank you so much.

Next on today's list is Chris Jackins.

Chris Jackins.

My name is Chris Jackins.

Box 84063 Seattle 98124. On the Northgate contract please vote no.

On the budget five points to the number one the board wrongly continues to embrace the district's formulistic budget approach.

Number two years ago I watched the district develop the weighted student formula and the weighted staffing standards.

These are for-profit business models not models for public schools.

Number three these models obscure whether schools are receiving proper support.

Number four these models are left over from a time when the district lost track of large sums of money and when the district went into debt to buy itself a new headquarters.

Number five the current budget continues to pay off the headquarters debt in a way that violates promises made to the public by past boards.

Please vote no.

On the West Seattle Elementary contract the district broke its promise to make public a parcel exchange appraisal.

The phrase value must be listed as a cost to the project.

Please vote no.

On final acceptance of field lighting at Franklin.

Four points.

Number one the board report includes a letter from the architect for this BTA project.

Number two this same architect is a member of the district's BEX BTA Oversight Committee.

Number three the district charge for the Oversight Committee states that quote Members shall not have any direct or indirect financial interest in any contract financed from school district funds." Unquote. Number four. The board appears to be knowingly approving ethical violations. Please vote no. And most of these topics you've already voted on in the consent agenda without allowing public input first. Thank you.

Next is Janice White.

Janice White.

Good afternoon.

One year ago the Special Education PTSA wrote to you and to the district about the fact that students with disabilities were not assigned to the proper tiers and were not being served in the Summer of Learning Program.

The Special Education Department reassigned a few students whose parents were savvy enough to make a fuss but did not address the systemic issue which meant that many students with IEPs were not able to participate.

One year later and here we are again.

Since last summer OSPI has published guidance telling school districts that they would have to provide recovery services to students with disability.

More detailed guidance was published in the beginning of May.

OSPI has specifically ordered that some groups of students in Seattle are entitled to summer recovery services in unprecedented class action decisions.

What was the reality yesterday on the first day.

Families who had received no communication from the district or conflicting communication about dates times location.

School locations without the teachers and IA's needed to ensure students safety let alone learning.

Kids who were left to fend for themselves.

Buses that didn't show up or were late.

Central office staff including the Director of Special Education teaching classes.

Our PTSA held its last general meeting of the year on June 15th.

Dr. Pedroza and Director Mitchell attended collected questions about the summer programs and promised to put out an FAQ so families would know what to expect.

We sent them the questions the next day.

No FAQ was published.

We understand that there are staffing challenges.

We also understand that there were no discussions with SEA about planning for summer school.

We appreciate that central office staff are stepping in but after more than a year of hearing that students with disabilities are being prioritized we are shaking our heads in disbelief because of the reality that families and students are facing once again.

We are especially dismayed about the continued poor communication resulting in our students not receiving instruction and services.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Pamela Phillips.

Pamela Phillips.

From Shelley Johnson who could not be here today.

I'm really disappointed by the lack of communication and poor planning that went into summer programs this year.

I have a child who just completed first grade with an extensive IEP and a behavior intervention plan.

He's largely non-verbal.

Per his IEP he has 100 percent one-to-one IA as well as various other accommodations like assistance with toileting eating and transition.

We requested ESY and were also told that additional days were being added this year because of the lack of services during COVID.

Ultimately he was assigned to Summer of Learning in person.

I never received any communication about summer programming dates time locations etc.

I had to reach out via email multiple times in the last two weeks and finally on Monday our special education supervisor confirmed the school and time to start after much research on her part.

When I showed up at Roxhill on Tuesday morning I was told there were no teachers and that central office staff was covering for them.

There was no IA available no specific plan for Sebastian and how to fulfill his accommodation.

Luckily I've had enough poor experiences with the school district that I had arranged other child care and didn't have to leave Sebastian in what would have been an unsafe environment for him.

All of the uncertainty and change is much more palatable to a non-disabled neurotypical child.

Had my non-disabled child been assigned to the summer program I probably could have left him there in that uncertain environment knowing he could keep himself safe and would maybe even get some benefit from it.

So once again it's the disabled students that aren't being served while the more typical students are albeit poorly.

A lot of stress could have been avoided by having open communication about the program and then about staffing issues so families could plan ahead.

It's very disappointing to see the district fail disabled students once again.

We've only been in the district for two years and I'm already exhausted and disheartened by the continual lip service that you are centering students with IEP's and then failing to actually do so.

Thank you so much.

That was the final speaker on today's list but I'll call one more time for Jeremiah Blond.

Jeremiah Blond.

If you're on the line please press star-6 to unmute.

President Hampson that concludes today's testimony list.

Thank you Ms. Wilson-Jones.

Okay we will now move to items that were removed from the consent agenda.

So this is for the give me one moment.

Sorry.

This is for Resolution 2020-21-28 Fixing and Adopting the 2021-22 Budget.

May I have a motion for this item.

Absolutely.

What number was that.

I'm looking for the precise motion.

Do you see a number on our agenda.

Yes I'm sorry.

It's number 8.

Perfect.

I move that the school board adopt Resolution 2020-2021-28 as attached to the board action report to fix and adopt the 2021-2022 budget the 4-year budget plan summary and the 4-year enrollment projections.

Second.

This motion has been made by Vice President Hersey and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

Director Rankin removed the item and I will ask you to ask your questions and and then if any other directors have questions I will go to them next so be prepared to raise your hand.

Director Rankin.

Yeah I know we've talked about the budget a lot and gone through a really great process with many public work sessions and feel pretty good about it.

I just wanted to confirm two issues that I've been getting questions about and that in the last couple of weeks I just wanted to just clarify for myself and for those that have been asking.

In our last Outdoor Education Task Force there was a question about the ESSER dollars.

There's a there's a recommendation the work session that we had on the budget work session that we had last month that included conversation about ESSER spending included a recommended budget line for outdoor education as part of the return to school.

And there was a question in our task force about if that had been approved or not and I just want to clarify my understanding is we don't need a separate approval for ESSER funds that we went through that process and the state has approved it.

So work on that can can go forth.

We don't need another.

There isn't another approval.

That's like good to go as the recommended budget for that.

So I would love just confirmation on that as that was a confusion that came up.

And then the other.

I'm still getting some questions from folks about the transportation budget.

And if my understanding is that as far as where we are now the transportation budget is going to work as quote unquote usual in the fall and that the expected spending and reimbursement from the state is similar to or the same as pre as pre-COVID.

But because folks are still asking about that I just wanted to double-check on that as well.

Those are my two questions.

Director Rankin.

Sorry.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon.

So I am confirming your first question.

There is no additional approval that is needed.

State law requires that school boards adopt an expenditure amount per fund.

And so what the ESSER dollars are included in the general fund expenditure number you are approving for the upcoming year.

And then we will come back next year for the 22-23 budget and the ESSER dollars that will be incorporated into that year's spending you will approve as part of that year's budget.

Second we are on track to maintain transportation service as they have traditionally happened in the past pre-COVID.

Our first student I think Chief Podesta you might be on but first student has said that they are on track to recruit the necessary bus drivers to provide transportation traditional transportation as it was before COVID.

Wonderful.

Thank you so much.

I'm I'm ready to to move on and ready to vote.

Thank you so much for that confirmation.

Okay and then I see that there's a hand up Director Harris.

That's correct.

I've got a statement that I'd like to read into the record because I will be voting no on this budget.

As long as the weighted student staffing and staffing formulas and enrollment projections are not grounded in policy or superintendent procedure on which These budgets are based I cannot and will not vote for this budget especially when it was originally on the consent calendar.

It violates our promises of transparency and accountability and fiduciary responsibilities and makes me fear for BTA V which of course we solely sorely need.

I absolutely applaud the work of folks including and especially President Hampson and others for their work on Policy 6550 regarding the internal audit policies which we passed in consent.

And I appreciate the callouts for the 2018 Moss Adams audit report and would remind folks that there was I believe it was 2012 audit report back in the day of Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson and many of which mandates have yet to be met as well.

Considering that the three primary responsibilities of the board of directors duly elected citywide are the hiring and firing of superintendent passing over a billion dollar B for billion budget was on the consent calendar and approving curriculum I am distressed by this and there's got to be a better way.

We can and must do better.

And my comments are absolutely not personal and I appreciate and applaud the work of our staff.

Thank you.

Director DeWolf.

Thank you.

Let me just get my video on.

Thank you.

President Hampson I am prepared to do my duly elected job and actually vote on this budget and not grandstand politically.

So I do have some questions here for Chief Berge.

Just based on the budget I went through it.

Certainly some of these could have come up earlier.

I just had a couple of questions.

The there is a there's a number on page 58 that says school board budget for 21-22 is $1,742,000.

And there is a section at the very beginning on page 8 where it lists Board of Directors as $5,847,000.

So can you clarify just a little bit of what that kind of nuance is why under district-wide leadership school board has 1.7 but then in page 8 under support services board of directors has 5.8.

Yes we will do our best.

Director Linda are you on if you want to answer.

I know there is a higher number because of election costs that are upcoming in the 21-22 school year so that is spiking.

the expenditures that we have put into the school board amounts.

Linda do you want to add to that.

Hi this is Linda Sebring budget director.

Yes the difference between the two is on page 58 that is what we call a department for the board of directors.

And as we said in page 8 it includes election costs is one of the larger costs of it.

But there are other things in there.

If you give me a second I will flip the page 8 and try and figure out exactly what is in the board item 8.

I think that that's helpful enough.

I knew that we have elections.

I was just trying to make sure that there wasn't a discrepancy but that sounds good.

So I'll that's totally cool with that.

I won't bug you anymore about that one.

On page 23 it talks about obviously it says in April USDA announced it would expand extend a program to reimburse school district groups meals And then it says normally as it says as a result of this change all students will be eligible.

This change will increase federal revenue and decrease paid meal price revenue.

Can you can you show me is it in this I guess chart here the reduction in our revenue.

And then I guess my more finer point question is are we actually losing money by taking on are bringing in some federal revenue are we actually losing money for what we would have received in paid meal price revenue.

Sure.

So we actually lose money every year on the child nutrition.

Let me say this.

We have to subsidize it because between regular reimbursements from the federal program and our paid meals we actually are subsidizing around 4 million dollars a year.

With COVID The federal rules change.

So they were paying for every single meal and all students were being served free.

Right.

So all students got meals that were paid for by the federal government.

It's actually reduced our deficit and helped our financial position both in the 2021 year for our child nutrition program and we expect that to continue in the 21-22 child nutrition program.

So while revenue from paid meals is reduced it is more than offset.

by the federal subsidy that we'll be receiving.

Okay.

Wonderful.

And then for clarity again back on page 58 I see that we're increasing the Department of Racial Equity Advancement.

Is that just staffing increases or what's the increase there over kind of this year over next year's budget.

So there were two things that we had put Linda do you want to add the specifics.

There were some contract language that we had agreed to so this is the continuation of that expansion of both staffing and racial equity teams.

Linda is that accurate.

Yes.

They were also going to be adding additional school site school teams.

So there's the additional staff from the negotiated agreement and then there's also some school teams.

No we actually dropped some teams since schools apply for this function each year during COVID and this would get us back to where we were before.

Okay.

And then for clarity can you just tell me where our summer school dollars come from.

I see this summer or this budget cycle we have $190,000 but next year we actually have a reduction to $130,000.

So is that fluctuating because of federal funds.

So we provided this information to President Hampson and I will outline the information to you as well.

So what happens is there are some carryover dollars that we've already so we put those in the budget in 2021 and if we don't spend all of those title or lap dollars we put them towards the expenditures for summer school.

So this summer school budget that you see reflected in this budget book reflects the amount of the 21-22 dollars that we expect to spend and then we add dollars from the 2021 budget that we then know we're not spending.

So based on that comment from President Hampson we're going to footnote that in the future to just kind of provide more transparency that this number is the current dollars and they are added to the previous year's budget to provide a total amount of resource for summer school which is Very similar to prior years.

Wonderful.

On page 206 two just clarification questions.

One is for BTA V levy planning.

Is the $2 million in that specifically on outreach engagement.

Is the planning like kind of drafting up designs.

I feel I should know this from operations but just for some clarity on the nuance about what that $2 million for BTA V planning is.

Linda do you have that off the top of your head.

I'm still looking for it.

Oh there's too many.

I would have to refer to Fred Podesta or Richard Best as the specifics on the topic.

Okay that's fair.

I can check it in Operations too.

I just cleared on that.

I also just wanted to call out for the record and thank you JoLynn and Chief Berge and Superintendent Jones and Chief Operations Officer Fred Podesta I see we have four forty four hundred fifty two thousand for student community workforce agreement administration so I'm grateful to see that.

Thank you for your your work to include that.

I also note I'm sorry I'm just bumping around had a lot of small things.

On page 48 it talks about deputy superintendent.

Can you clarify who is going to be or is there a deputy superintendent for operations.

Yeah just some just some clarity on that those dollars in that budget.

So Director DeWolf this is just on the operations side of the district in general.

When it says Deputy Superintendent that does refer directly to Deputy Superintendent Rob Gannon's office.

Understood.

So that is is that different than in the I think it's in the back where it talks about Superintendent's budget and then there's a line item where it says one FTE for Superintendent and then one FTE for Deputy.

I can't remember where it's at.

Is that the same person or are there

It's the same it's the same person.

It's just organized slightly differently and displayed differently.

Wonderful.

Okay.

And then the last thing I will say is I noticed that NOVA has an increase in funding.

Can you just clarify if that is I mean where that's based based in.

Is it just about enrollment.

I know that I've certainly been advocating along with them on making sure they get the dollars they need.

Is it just is it just connected to enrollment.

It is.

Okay.

Thanks for letting me do some lightning round.

I just want to again this is my very last budget as part of the school board.

I am really grateful for the opportunity.

I am so grateful for these books.

I spent a good amount of time reviewing that.

So thank you for allowing us to have these wonderful things to actually leaf through.

The work is incredible on that and I appreciate the art from our students.

So I will turn it back over to you President Hampson.

Okay.

Director Rivera-Smith.

I'm trying.

There you are.

You see me.

You hear me.

Yep.

Gotcha.

Sorry about that.

Technical difficulties.

Anyways I I'm prepared to vote on this budget and I really appreciate all the hard work that I know went into it.

I know not just by staff but also by our community members who took part in our participatory budgeting process.

I know it's a huge lift and I know our board you know work on this as well side-by-side with our budget department.

And all that being said you know I am you know I am still disappointed that the book wasn't proactively interpreted so that all our communities could easily access it.

I'm sad that we've still not been able to fund full-time counselors nurses and librarians in all our schools.

And while I'm really glad that Director Rankin pulled the item from consent you know I am regretful that we you know put it on the consent agenda to begin with and I take part of that because the decision was made in the Executive Committee.

And I can have more to say about that in my board comments but I you know I do regret that.

I think that it should have been not put there and I we can talk more about that I'm sure and that but I'm glad it was pulled and glad we've had a chance to discuss it more clearly.

A few of us had questions on it and that's why we had that opportunity there.

No further comments.

Okay.

I don't have any comments or questions at this point about the budget.

I'll just note just to clarify where we are in terms of moving towards student outcomes focus governance in terms of how we use our time.

We have had hours and hours and hours in both work sessions and board meetings working and committee meetings working on this budget.

And so we are trying to move from a place of of using staff and board time to revisit and recycle and kind of for lack of a better term do a lot of dog-and-pony-show type of presentations about things that we already know a great deal amount that unless there are new questions that we will put the vast majority of things that have already gone through the introduction stage on the consent agenda.

This is considered a best practice because it allows us to free up time to begin to spend our time with staff talking about accountability relative to student outcomes.

And that is our intent.

And in order to do that we need to make sure that we are focused on not the weediness of items that that we've already reviewed and discussed as we have in this case but to make sure that our focus is in fact on holding the district accountable to student outcomes which is our job.

And as is approving the budget and it is not a problem for the budget to be pulled or for anything that's that any board member deems important for discussion to be pulled from the consent agenda.

So it's not a diminishment of its importance.

It's simply a process that we're instituting.

And as Director Rivera-Smith actually was the one that advocated in our Executive Committee meeting for for having this that if we're going to do this that we should be consistent and have these things be on consent.

And then we as directors can make clear our statements to remove those things from consent and why it's critical that we have a discussion.

And so I appreciate that directors had items that they wanted to discuss relative to this.

And with that I want to say that we should expect to see more things in consent and it's not about diminishing the importance of those things.

It's that we really want to make sure folks are getting engaged and paying attention to those items prior to coming to the final vote which becomes cursory if in fact we're doing our our homework.

So of course we wouldn't be have things in the on consent that are intro and action or that we haven't had a chance to review.

So with that I would like to ask Ms. Wilson-Jones to call for the vote on this budget.

Director Rivera-Smith aye Director DeWolf aye Director Harris no Vice President Hersey aye Director Rankin aye President Hampson aye This motion has passed by a vote of 5 yes to 1 no.

Okay.

Bear with me while I scroll down.

We now move to the remaining action items on today's agenda which is Action Item Number 1. Award Bid Number B052181 Commercial Food Products and Supplies.

May I have a motion for this item.

Absolutely.

I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to enter into a one-year agreement for the 21-22 school year with the U.S.

Foods and Cisco Seattle Incorporated to purchase commercial food products and supplies for an estimated total cost of up to $6,060,000.

based on last year's expenditures and this year's budget.

With any minor additions deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to take any necessary actions to implement the agreement immediate action is in the best interest of the district.

There you go.

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

This item is on today's agenda for introduction and action.

Chief Operations Officer Fred Podesta I believe you'll be briefing us.

Yes thank you President Hampson.

The board approves a variety of food contracts over the course of a year or sometimes multi-year contracts for typically more commodity level products such as a bread contract or a dairy and juice contract and produce and contracts as well.

This particular contract is for commercial products dry goods condiments packaged snacks packaged side items and as well as supplies containers paper products and other things that make the overall comprehensive food program work.

We've gone through a competitive process at a category level and have selected these two bidders who can provide the hundreds of various individual products that are required to round out the meals program.

And we this is a complex process that we have just finished and which is why we're bringing this for intro and action so we can complete stocking up food orders for the remainder of summer to be ready for start of school in the fall.

I'd be happy to take any questions you might have.

Director Hampson you might be muted if you're speaking.

Thank you.

I was I was talking away.

Apologies.

Thank you Chief Podesta and we'll go now to Chief Chair of the Operations Committee Director DeWolf.

Thank you President Hampson.

I don't have anything to say.

That was the update I would just say is that we had an update about who we who was selected by the district and we had 3-0 approval in the committee so very supportive and I'll pass it back to you.

Okay well do directors have any questions or comments or concerns about this.

If so please raise your hand or speak up.

I have a question.

Director Rivera-Smith please go ahead.

Hi.

Yeah Chief Podesta what was the bidding process for this.

Was there multiple bidders.

Was it kind of we're stuck with this one

There there were two bidders US Foods and Cisco who bid on various categories and the contract is split.

It was a bid so price was the determining factor once the specifications.

And so you know we provide a variety of products and expected uses and they provide a line-item level price estimate for us.

And I guess so with two bidders I'm looking at the equity analysis and it's kind of geared more towards the food for their students but less towards the granting of the contract to a vendor.

And I guess this is one of those situations where we're going to we don't have much room to be equity selective and do this contractually I guess.

Yeah I think it's a good analogy.

I think the board action report makes reference to grocery store type items and I think that's a good analogy.

These are commercial products that are you know supplied nationally and that we need some large multi-faceted vendors to really satisfy this part.

You know we there are a variety of parts of the meal program but for this we're more likely to attract with a particularly a low price bid type process the major players in the food service industry.

Okay.

What was the interaction because of the loneliness of getting this in time for the start of school is that I might have missed it.

We have in prior years this is a new process for us because we've responded We particularly are in past years have participated in a food co-op with other districts that was really adding costs and also ending up with the same vendors providing the products.

And we had some supply chain issues at the start of school in 2019 you might recall and we were trying to get more direct contact with our vendors and kind of improve those processes.

Given that there are hundreds of line items in this bid it was just a complicated process which we started a long time ago.

We hadn't done this in in a while.

So really up to the final minute to assess that pricing which is also complex because there are so many products and so many different needs.

Estimating what the costs are really going to be is not a trivial exercise.

And this is our first time through it in many years.

And so it just took us till just now.

to finally get to the place where we are comfortable identifying the successful bidders.

Thank you so much.

No further questions.

Do other directors have comments questions or concerns.

I have one question slash comment.

I know that we do have some Let me take a step back.

I know that this food supply industry is extremely concentrated and so it's it's almost it's surprising that there even is much of a bidding process because of that.

But I do know that we have some dollars available for local not necessarily farm to school but other more local providers through I can't recall if it's through the Department of Agriculture.

Can you just remind me for context and for scale what that amount is that we're allowed to spend kind of more locally versus this the large Cisco dollars.

I'm not exactly sure how that sourcing is done or the or the scale of it.

I think Nutrition Services Director Smith is on.

a call as well.

So Erin I'm going to put you on the spot to see if you can answer that question or otherwise we can follow up.

And I apologize because I didn't give you warning that I would be asking this question so.

Yes.

Well that's all right.

I'm sure Erin can get it.

Hi.

Erin Smith Director of Community Services.

Director Hampson can you please repeat the question.

Oh I just was wondering.

I know that while we are this is a large contract that provides a massive amount of the food that we purchase that we do also have some small availability to purchase more locally.

And so I was just wondering for purposes of scale and proportion what that amount is that we have.

And I think it's something that you had mentioned to me it's through the Department of Agriculture but I could I want to make sure I get the story straight so that's why I was asking.

So the Department of Agriculture offers some farm-to-school programs in regards to produce and those programs are offered through OSPI's pilot program which we are participating in this upcoming school year.

But it's focus maze is produce produce fruits and vegetables.

When it comes to purchasing other items locally we have to follow procurement procedures and keep it under a certain threshold.

And that's really determined by the menu as we go through the process throughout the year.

And so what's the breakdown for the percent that we bought that we're able to I mean is it like we're maybe able to source 10 percent locally or 20 percent or.

In regards to the fruits and vegetables program.

Well I was just I mean I know that that is more local.

I was thinking more generally just in total.

It really depends on the menu.

So I believe the threshold is over 30,000 we need to get quotes and over that certain amount we have to go out to bid.

So we try to do a special item once a month and we try to purchase from locally but it really comes down to the price and the menu item to make sure we stay within the proper procurement procedures.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

I think that that's it then from directors.

So Ms. Wilson-Jones will you call for the vote.

Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye Director DeWolf aye Director Harris aye President Hampson aye.

This motion is passed unanimously.

We will now move to Action Item Number 2. Approval to procure HEPA units replace filters and UV lights for in-person instruction for Fall 2021. May I have a motion for this item.

Absolutely.

I move that the school board approve the procurement of HEPA units replacement filters and UV lights for an estimated cost of $3,552,000 plus freight costs and tax with any modifications deemed necessary by the Superintendent to complete the procurement.

Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.

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

This item did not go through committee and is on the agenda for introduction action today.

Chief Podesta back to you.

Thank you President Hampson.

I'm.

Sure all the directors will recall as we returned to in-person learning and our district as well as other organizations and other school districts were addressing health guidelines and trying to develop safe operations.

Air quality and ventilation was a large was an important issue as we were dealing with the effects of a airborne disease.

And we really had three tools at our disposal As we were returning students in higher occupancy to our buildings in the spring the actual occupancy of the building the between physical distancing and then you know really our hybrid model had fewer occupants in any building.

Fresh air we could bring into the building either through the building-level ventilation systems or more open doors and windows.

And that was our way to achieve better air quality and ventilation which was a good strategy for the spring given the look again lower occupancy in the buildings and milder weather.

It's not really a sustainable strategy through a whole school year and particularly during winter bringing 100 percent outside air into the building you know building if that outside air is 32 degrees or 35 degrees at some point is not going to be efficient and will lead to comfort issues in the building.

So we and the occupancy will be much greater in the fall.

So we're relying more on air filtration which we did as well in the spring.

We've upgraded the system the building system level filtration in buildings and this board action calls for the procurement of more portable HEPA filter units.

And HEPA in case you're curious is an acronym for High Efficiency Particulate Air.

And it these devices can filter very fine particles from the air including bacteria and viruses.

And we've deployed about bit less than 1,500 of these in the spring given the expected occupancy then.

And since this number will be far greater in the fall we want to procure as early as this time another 4,000 units so we can double up in classrooms where it's needed and other spaces we'll be occupying to just because there'll be more occupants more people breathing.

And to ensure a supply of fresh air for staff and students in our buildings.

And this will get the procurement process started.

The portable filters are easy for us to target and deploy exactly where we need them.

And you know will be a benefit to the general air quality in the long term as well.

And I'd be happy to take any questions you may have.

Okay.

And I will pass it over to our Head of Chair of our Operations Committee Director Zachary DeWolf.

Thank you Director Hampson.

I don't have any I don't have any questions at this time.

Thank you.

And do other directors have questions comments or concerns.

Please speak up or raise your hand.

This is Director Rankin.

I have a question.

Is there a and apologies if you said this and I dismissed it.

Is there a replacement plan for these and is this something we plan on doing now in perpetuity or is this specific to health recommendations due to COVID.

I'll take the first question first.

In the action itself and in the plan there replacement for the internal parts of the filters that this includes over the course of the year I think three replacements of the ultraviolet lights and filters that the actual filter wind inside the device.

We will and earlier in this meeting Carrie Hanson was talking about as we've brought some consultants on board that helped us plan for the spring are also going to help us advise our transition to you know getting back kind of the building code and our long-term sustainable ventilation and air quality standards.

So I think we're going to monitor this.

And you know we have as the board is well aware we have quite a wide portfolio of facilities that have different circumstances.

So I would expect.

At the end of all this we will see some of these devices in some places where they really help with ongoing air quality issues and less so in other places that have more modern ventilation systems because it's overhead for everyone to manage these and maintain them.

And so I suspect we'll end up reaching spaces somewhere.

depending on the future of this disease and you know our management plans of so what's normal look like.

We see the 21-22 school year as a you know a transition year to whatever comes next.

And air quality is always important and it's particularly important for younger people and children who are you know still developing their bodies.

So we will keep an eye on this situation to see how this can help us maintain optimal air quality in general whether it's regard to COVID or other issues.

Thank you.

Okay was there another question from another director.

I had a quick question.

Go ahead Director Rivera-Smith.

Thank you.

I see in here that this is to help us meet the need.

This is what's needed to meet safety recommendations.

What recommendations whose are those that they come from.

What's that based on.

You know the recommendation from a variety of folks.

There are not regulatory standards specific to this.

The CDC the Department of Health local Seattle King County Health have all made recommendations to increase fresh air and to filter you know to increase the filtration but it's not a particular regulatory standard we're trying to achieve.

And so that's why we're working with our own consultants and an industry organization to you know try to get to best practices.

And and again it's a balance between what the systems can do building comfort and you know what's practical.

And so this is also to approve the procurement of it.

Will we see this again when those projects are selected or is this it.

I'm sorry I didn't catch that Director Rivera-Smith.

This is our in-person for securities.

Is there going to be another BAR 4 contracts later.

Feedback I'm sorry.

No.

I mean these are portable devices that plug into a wall outlet.

And so just like the ones you approved earlier to go back to in-person learning in the spring these are deployed by our own staff.

You know this is this is a product shipment that will come to us thousands of units that we will deploy.

And so this this is the only action I think we need on the part of the board.

Thank you for the questions.

Other directors.

Okay.

Ms. Wilson-Jones will you call for the vote please.

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

This motion is passed unanimously.

Okay.

As I have I believe though I inadvertently skipped over our board committee reports I do not believe any committees have met since we last met.

Directors Hersey DeWolf and Rankin do you have anything to report relative to your committees or can we move to Director Compton.

I don't have anything.

Actually Director Hampson's I'm sorry one one second.

We are having the application open for the 100 percent clean energy task force so the community shouldn't be on the lookout for that.

That's that's coming out relatively soon.

We'd love to have plenty of representative members of our community joining those efforts.

Okay great.

Oh I can tagging along with that we also have a math adoption math curriculum adoption ask for applicants out as well.

Thanks for that reminder.

And where can those links be found.

www.seattleschools.org.

On which page.

I don't know that.

Okay.

Hopefully it's relatively easy to find.

Okay so we've now come to the board comments section of the agenda and we will go first to Director Hersey.

I really don't have that many comments.

What I would just say is that you know for the process of us transitioning from the status quo in how we operate to spend as much of our time and resources of the district that are coming in from our taxpayers and every other person in this city.

We are going to be doing things differently.

Okay.

That's not to say that we should not in full conscience be able to utilize the measures that are at our disposal to be able to get additional questions answered.

But if we are talking about if if we are at the place to where we are having these types of conversations about process and not necessarily content I worry greatly about how we are utilizing the resources of our district that have been entrusted to us because we repeatedly all of us make comments about our fiduciary duty.

And I believe strongly that our fiduciary duty is to utilize our time and our resources as effectively as possible.

So as we move forward I am entertaining and really want to have some serious conversations about our ability and aptitude to doing things differently so that we can focus as much of our time and resources on our students moving forward.

If that means that we are going to have more items on the consent agenda as the Vice President of the board and as a member of the leadership team that is going to be our prerogative because that is what's going to allow us to spend more time talking and working and figuring out how we are going to make our system better for students.

I fully encourage folks to pull things off of the consent agenda if you feel as though you have additional questions.

But for me if we are saying that because we have always done something this way or because of the process as it appears to folks out in community is being done in a way that does not fully realize our role as board directors then I would just challenge us to think wider just like we challenge our students to look beyond their current worldviews in search of greener pastures and better understanding that as we grow and develop and as we lead in these spaces we are going to be we are going to have to do things differently so that we can maximize the time and resources that we have in the places where we haven't traditionally put that effort.

So with that being said I hope that we can come to an agreement that as our process changes that we are going to continue to learn from one another and continue to make the decisions that we have to make in order to support our communities and our constituencies.

But I don't want this to be a moment where because of a process that we have, you know, utilized for decades and is the way that we've done something in the past, That doesn't necessarily sit well with me in terms of thinking how do we move forward and making sure that we are being good stewards of our resources and time.

So I'll just leave it on with that.

I hope everybody is enjoying this wonderful weather and I can't wait to get you to it just a little bit sooner.

Thank you so much to all of the budget staff that have been working on this throughout the entire year.

It has been no short of a herculean lift given the situation that we are in.

And we as directors in our district owe you a debt of gratitude because the amount of back and forth and variables that has gone into making this work especially during a transition of leadership is insurmountable and is greatly appreciated from me.

So with that being said I'll pass it on to the next director.

Thank you very much.

Okay we go next to Director Harris.

Okay.

First I miss you all.

And I was beyond thrilled of the work sessions that we were able to have in person.

And it's my hope from henceforward we can meet in person.

I think we lose a great deal on Teams Zoom etc.

And I cannot wait to start having community meetings in person.

Lasagna one out of three times.

The libraries have yet to open up their meeting rooms.

The moment they do I will start scheduling in advance for three months so that we can have our rowdy thoughtful conversations and any other board director is more than welcome to join.

And I miss that option significantly.

For those that have asked about my ankle I'm still wearing a brace.

My walks with Superintendent Jones and Deputy Superintendent Gannon are going to have to wait for another week or two where we can sit on a bench and brainstorm.

To our extraordinary staff and I ditto the comments made by Vice President Hersey the budget staff has gone well above and beyond and it is hugely appreciated to our new Associate Assistant Deputies Carri Campbell and Sarah Pritchett I am beyond excited about your aspirations and alternatives to the way that we have in fact done things for years and years and years and expecting different results.

Hard hard work.

And I'm excited and let me know how I can assist.

With respect to the K-5 curriculum adoption I hope that we have a community plan for engagement that is more than putting it on the website.

Again I'm more than happy to distribute flower flyers to parking lots and and thinking outside of the box.

Engaging our former critics from the so-called math wars so that when we do this we do this with with all degree of inclusion and and hearing different voices.

I look forward to that and I hope that status quo normal is a thing of the past.

And I miss my colleagues terribly and I'm with Vice President Hersey in terms of getting out in the sunshine especially after the heat wave last week.

Thanks so much.

Bye bye.

Okay and we'll go now to Director Rivera-Smith.

Hi.

Thank you.

Thanks to everybody who's still here listening in.

Those who are replaying this on YouTube.

I guess I'll go back to what I touched on back during the consent agenda was I want to take this opportunity to you know speak more about the change that we did recently make in Executive Committee which is the placement of action items directly under the consent agenda.

And I would I would agree that with the community I've heard from that it does seem like a backwards move into our obligations of transparency.

But in saying that I don't want to shirk my responsibility from it because I sit on the executive committee along with President Hampson and Vice President Hersey.

President Hampson presented this suggestion to us in May and we discussed it.

The pros and cons of that.

The pros as Director Hampson touched on already We're extending up our time to create space to move into I believe is to have hopefully at some point two-way conversations with community and have just focused more of our time on talking about student-focused outcomes.

To be clear you know directors always do have the opportunity to pull items from consent.

And I at that meeting in May I did express concerns that staff may be caught off guard if we're not able to give them the heads up that they need to be prepared to answer those questions.

So in moving to this direction I hope that staff can give us some grace and understanding when that does happen that's going to happen.

So I hope that there is like I said grace and understanding given there.

Excuse me.

I I also you know I in trying to move this moving things to consent the things the vast majority of time was mentioned in the meeting that the staff does come very prepared in prior meetings.

We hear things in committee.

and discuss it there then we hear them in introduction.

So those are where I think we need to do a good job expressing to community that those are the times we need to hear from them if they want to advocate for an item that we are considering.

I think that even now with the process we have a lot of community do not understand that that things have been discussed so heavily before they get to a board meeting.

So I really hope that we do a little we can do some more communications there.

to make sure people understand that that's kind of one less stop in the process perhaps that they'll have a chance.

If we are going to continue this process I would recommend that we do move the approval of consent to after public testimony.

I think that would give people who still believe that's the kind of a chance to effect change on our items that they still have an opportunity to be heard before we approve the consent.

And I also and I said this at the May meeting I would also suggest creating a clear criteria for why something should stay on an action.

And I suggested that a dollar amount might be that a higher dollar amount might be a threshold in which we do not remove it from from the action list.

And I you know I think that clearly there is a threshold that signifies a greater need for scrutiny because we have it in our other approvals of contracts.

But those are just my suggestions.

I understand I do understand the move that has been made to this and I agree with Director Hersey's you know desire to not just be stuck in status quo because it's the way you've always done it.

That's that's no way to run anything a business school district anything.

So but I do want to make sure that we're still cognizant of the public's need to be players in this.

Transparency I hate that we look at it as transparency for transparency's sake.

We don't we don't ever want to be doing things that are just performative.

Transparency is a means.

to knowledge to access and to to accountability which is what we all need to be held to.

So I want to make sure we don't lose that in our efforts to be more effective with our meetings.

That's all I got to say right now.

Thank you so much.

I'll pass the next director.

Director Rivera-Smith I'm sorry Director Rankin.

I know I don't want to take a lot of time kind of add on to what my colleague said said about the consent agenda.

And I I would say I really appreciate the work to move us towards talking about things that need to be talked about instead of following sort of a perfunctory checklist.

There are definitely times when an item you know is maybe a renewal or there are no changes.

And it does feel like to have staff present at committee and at intro and at action because because that's how things are done is definitely not a good use of people's time.

And the more value is when there are real questions and concerns.

So I appreciated the opportunity to discuss the some kind of last last I don't know crossing the I's dotting the T's things about the budget and before we took that vote.

And I think that going forward the additional piece of accountability that having things more things go on to the consent agenda once they have gone through other iterations is is it will hopefully mean that How should I say this.

We all really have to read everything that's on the consent agenda.

I am not going to point any fingers but just I do think that there are times and I have seen as a community member too watching the meeting where probably people didn't read through the consent agenda because it was it was an item that they already talked about or whatever and that you know we really need to make sure that our time spent discussing things and having questions asks asked really get to the meat of what we're trying to do for students and real accountability as opposed to box checking.

So I know it's a bit of an adjustment but it's one I support and I won't be shy to pull something off the consent agenda if there's you know outstanding questions.

But I do appreciate Us reclaiming some time from you know items that have been have been pretty pretty well gone through to you know the acknowledgement that by the time something comes for action that's really the end of the process.

And as Lisa was saying any way we can sort of help encourage the public to understand that the better.

And it's it's not that things pop up all of a sudden for action and it's voted it's that there's lots of public opportunities for different items as they move through.

And so you know we really want that public input and engagement so that when it comes prior to that so that when it comes for action or is on the consent agenda people feel really good about it.

And it's there's not outlying questions so sorry that's a very rambly way of saying saying all that.

We have a lot coming up in the fall and in August for Student Services Curriculum Instruction.

So I've been talking to to staff and I will try to get a written memo or overview of just sort of what's happening in lieu of a a July committee meeting because we do want to give people some a break to enjoy the sunshine and take a breath from the last year and a half.

And yeah I miss everybody too.

I can't wait for us to be able to have in-person meetings again.

And yeah that's it.

I hope everyone can enjoy some time and be ready to just buckle down and hit it hard again in August.

Director DeWolf.

Thank you President Hampson.

I just wanted to thank budget team and Chief Berge's team for all the work on the budget.

Just really really grateful for the work we've done this year and I just want to call it some really great things.

This year this school year we passed the Student Community Workforce Agreement had that signed.

Passed 100 percent clean energy resolution bringing students on the school board.

desegregate our schools by dismantling HCC and plenty of other amazing things that we're able to accomplish in one of the most difficult years of our lives and we were able to bring on a new superintendent.

So I know that we are all very tired.

I appreciate everybody's comments about consent but I honestly do my homework.

I read so I don't necessarily need advice from other directors.

I hope everybody has a great summer.

And as you're remembering the heat this year please remember that there are people particularly young people and students and families experiencing homelessness out in our community.

And if the only thing that you feel is important is to belittle bemoan or harass those folks as opposed to helping and being compassionate then that's a real problem.

And I hope that we if you look at that budget there's money in there for McKinney-Vento that we just approved and the city is now asking us a school district to pay for a service that we are not ever mandated legally to provide.

So I hope the city steps up and pays that and make sure that those those families in Broadview Thompson get the support they need.

Thank you very much and have a great summer.

Okay thanks everyone.

We have we just to let folks know we will be working these next 50 days as a board and in conjunction with our superintendent and senior staff in our ongoing effort to refine and reorganize towards best practices how we operate as a board.

And so we have some pretty critical work coming up.

We'll be participating in the Harvard Institute which is connected to our work with Council of Great City Schools for an entire week.

And that will be virtual again unfortunately but as we're slowly coming out of that we'll have more and more opportunities to to be together in person.

But the work does continue.

And even more critical is that we are able to work collaboratively with staff and in a way that makes sure that we are focused on our students as we move into fall.

We all know how much there is to lift.

How many additional hurdles have been created through COVID.

And not to mention the standard hurdles that come with our intense school year cycle.

Every time we go through one of these cycles I find myself dreaming of a year-round school.

year-round school year and maybe that will someday be in our horizon as well.

I just want to put another note out to remind everyone and make note myself as we went through this most recent heat wave and then listening today to tribal leaders from Suquamish And Port Gamble talk about the extent of the loss of their wild seafood wild wild oyster beds that they were trying to to restore because of this heat.

It hit me yet again how overwhelming it must be for our students to be coming of age in this time.

It's overwhelming for all of us but to consider The the weight of the thing everything from climate change to the COVID pandemic new variants that now make up 50 percent of all new cases.

And and the you know the assassination of the President of Haiti.

which if folks don't know the story of Haiti, it's one of the most critical stories in this Turtle Island area with respect to the liberation of formerly enslaved people who decided to uprise and actually be in charge of their own destiny and the way in which this country has played a role in all that.

It's a it's a really intense time.

And so I think I just want to re-emphasize the importance of listening to our students and understanding.

When I was growing up to understand something about a country like Haiti about that would have taken weeks for it to even just come out in a newspaper or magazine for me to read about it assuming I had access to that and now it's accessible.

you know on the news and or in social media.

In some ways it's a glorious thing for students.

My students were ready to go out and and march in support of the survivors and the victims of boarding school victims over the weekend and without me having to say anything because of them accessing social media.

But it's it's a lot.

And I know that our senior staff is is really cognizant of that as they're moving into this and cognizant of how we need to build wellness into all of this and we need to build it in for ourselves and then be really really listening hard to our students and what this means for them and how it is that we have to be incredibly flexible and responsive to creating an education system for their future and that allows them to to know and be able to do the things that is going to create a sustainable future for themselves because most of us are not going to be around for for that.

And they are the the leaders the future leaders and community members that are going to solve those problems.

So I take that very seriously and will continue to.

as we do our work over the summer to prepare for being very much focused on student outcomes.

And I do hope that these shifts that we have in process will start to illuminate much more direct and intentional conversations about how our kids are actually doing in their classrooms and that that will be really the focus of all of our work as a board as it should be.

So thank you all for your time tonight.

And with there being no further business on the agenda this meeting stands adjourned.

at 539 p.m.

Take care everyone.

Pįnagigi.