School Board Meeting May 1, 2019 Part 2

Can we quiet down so we can get to public testimony please.

Thank you.

In accordance with board policy 1 4 3 0 and corresponding procedure 1 4 3 0 BP.

These are the rules for engagement of public testimony and please follow them because it's out of respect to a public meeting.

It's out of respect for people's time for coming down here which we hugely appreciate.

We learn so very very much from you.

One person speaks at a time.

Comments should be addressed to the board.

Please adhere to the time limit on testimony.

There are green yellow and red lights on the podium.

The yellow light will show you you have 30 seconds left of your two minutes to wrap it up.

When the red light comes on please finish your sentence.

The focus on the comments should be on issues and solutions.

The majority of the speaker's time must be spent on the topic that was referenced when you signed up.

No racial slurs personal insults ridicule or threats are allowed.

No comments regarding personnel matters and your signs should adhere to these same rules.

Could you please read the next three folks to testify and if you hear your name in position two or three when she reads them off by threes please line up behind so we can roll.

Thank you so much.

OK first up for public testimony we have Winston Cole followed by Sophia Nguyen and Chris Jackins.

Hello my name is Winston Cole.

I'm a sophomore student athlete at Rainier Beach High School and I would like to thank the school board for placing us on the BEX V list for the renovation.

And Betty Patu we the students at Rainier Beach High School want to thank you for advocating quality education and having our backs.

We were informed that your cabinet members are now required to take professional development revolving around implicit bias training and overall equity training.

We want those in leadership roles such as cabinet members to be required to take professional development trainings as they are directly linked to racial equity rhetoric.

The superintendent is the only one able to require this of cabinet members and we urge you to make the right decision.

Moreover we want everyone in the central office to go through an interview process in order to be hired as it is unethical to simply place individuals into positions of power that affect our students.

We want there to be criteria and requirements in order for individuals to be hired.

Thank you for taking the time to listen and we hope you make the right decision.

At this time I would like to secede the remaining of my time to CeCe Chan.

Hey guys so you guys know me.

So I would like you guys to listen to my brother Winston over here and especially when we're pushing for training on implicit bias and racial equity for the cabinet members because the cabinet members make decisions for the students and if they're not looking to better themselves for the students then I ask you why are you a cabinet member.

Also understand that a lot of them might have taken implicit bias trainings already but we all know the school board knows we know that implicit bias and racial equity training is a constant thing.

It's never one and done.

You know it's always we're always learning together and going together.

So I would really like it if you guys could get that training there for the whole central office.

It'd be really appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi I'm Sophia and I am speaking for two.

Bruna Holm who is my peer and we are both a part of the science adoption committee and we're both from Franklin.

We just thought that it what we're doing is obviously important and we should really put forth the new curriculum as it was shown to help our peers and.

I'm sorry.

It's important because.

By having a curriculum that is uniform throughout the school we are obviously helping decrease the opportunity gap throughout the whole district.

And it's also important because these days especially in the south end schools students don't get as much opportunities to explore the science field.

And it's important because.

Being able to explore more and being able to be more engaged in science, which is what the new curriculum offers, is important because science offers so many opportunities that will better the environment, the world, and the future of the students.

And I think it's super important for all students to be involved and for both students, North and South, to have opportunities.

And these opportunities embed not only themselves, but the community.

And I think it's so vital for these students, especially for those who don't get the chance to take care, I'm sorry, to explore these.

So I'm sorry.

That's it.

Thank you.

After Chris Jackins we have Christine Shigaki followed by Cliff Meyer and Emily Lieberman.

My name is Chris Jackins box 8 4 0 6 3 Seattle 9 8 1 2 4 on the minutes of the April 3rd budget work session.

Three points.

Number one the board approved a provision that asserts that if money is lacking to fully restore librarians then the district would reconsider other items that it had previously agreed to protect from cuts.

Number two from the agenda there would be no way for such previously protected people to know that their positions were at risk.

Number three it would be better to vote at a regular board meeting on the Webster project.

It is not clear that the board has approved the type of school to be constructed yet construction is set to start today on the grant to South Shore a private foundation appears to be buying the right to help select the principal on loss of trees at Queen Anne Elementary.

Five points.

Number one on April 25th the district killed a large tree to try to fix an error in its sewer plans.

Number two it appears that the district thereby violated state law WAC 197 11 0 5 0 2 A and WAC 197 11 0 5 5 2. Number three the district environmental checklist for the project states quote none of the trees located on Parks property on Bigelow Avenue North would be removed unquote.

Number four this means that killing the tree was outside the scope of the environmental review for the project.

and so should not have been allowed without further district review.

It appears that such review did not occur.

Number five if the board believes that killing the tree was not illegal please state why.

Thank you.

Christine Shigaki I thank the district for recent decisions in helping their students at Washington.

Thank you.

Sophia and Israel I appreciate your testimonies and this is for you because this is a step towards alignment with the district's strategic plan of focusing on students of color.

I appreciate your partnership with the city and pre-K programs as the opportunity gap absolutely begins at the early childhood education.

Have you thought about implementing quality reading programs for students of color and socioeconomically disadvantaged pre-K and first graders.

And is it a very young age that the opportunity gap starts where those furthest from educational justice can be easily supported.

As for middle schools programs are offered in title in the south end but the course content and rigor and offerings are not comparable to north end programs.

The disparity is evident in the offerings and participate to participate in world language as numbers are staggering when comparing north versus south.

Where in other comprehensive middle schools world language coursework is offered to 6th and 7th graders Washington students are not given the opportunity until 8th grade where French and Japanese are online.

Simply offering the coursework is unacceptable as it is inequitable to offer subpar program content online language classes while other schools have quality programs with human teachers.

Seventh grade science at Washington this year was a class but minimum science instruction was given to our students all year long.

How is this excellence in quality education to offer a potential summer school program to make up for the loss of valuable instruction time.

How is this equitable.

This is unacceptable.

If the district is serious about achieving equity opportunities of course offerings and rigor need to be calibrated across all schools.

What will it take for the district to help all students reach their full potential especially those south of the Ship Canal where most students of color reside.

With precarious situation with the precarious situation at Washington including major challenges of limited funding and low enrollment numbers creative solutions need to be considered to serve all kids at Washington.

Washington has racial social economic and academic diversity.

Can the district consider using Washington as a pilot school and achieving strategic plan of equity across the district with adequate leadership funding and support Washington can serve and meet all of our students needs successfully.

We're ready to work with you on achieving this mission.

Please support us and thank you.

Hi I'm Cliff Meyer co-president of the Washington Middle School PTSA.

Thank you for all of your attention to the situation at Washington.

I'm here to talk now though about the front lines of equity in education at Washington Middle School.

You've all approved a strategic plan with some great big words but you don't yet have a lot to implement.

Well, how about we work together to find some great ideas in our very complicated building at Washington.

As of now, our school is an example of what happens when our district uses some outdated and inequitable policies to serve two groups of students with very different challenges.

Ideas and funding formulas that are meant to be fair, they fail the equity test at our building at least.

Can we provide what's needed for kids who are English language learners or face other special challenges?

Maybe at some buildings, but not really at Washington right now.

How about that highly capable services annual report that you're approving today?

You know, there's $1.6 million in there.

Where does it go?

Does it go to help the 360 kids at Washington who are supposed to be supported by it?

I don't really think so.

Will our next principal be equipped to solve these kinds of problems?

Well, I think unless you're planning on getting a Marvel superhero, not at Washington.

But we are ready to work with you.

Let's start a new era at our school.

Number one, let's start now to find the next principal.

Let's bring our community together to do that.

Number two, let's actually put the resources and funding that this building this complicated building deserves into place.

And number three let's say that this is something that we can all do together to support a strategic plan that's ambitious and a school that needs to be equally ambitious.

Thank you.

After Emily we have Brian Terry followed by Megan Batty and Alicia Taylor.

I'm Emily Lieberman.

This is my Washington seventh grader Lucy.

Thank you again for your support of Washington and for listening as we've shared our frustrations this year.

In many ways we now need your support more than ever with less than two months left in the school year.

Now is the time for the district to work with the Washington community.

to build the school that we all want to see for our kids.

Your strategic plan promises excellence in education for every student.

It commits to working directly and consistency in partnership with communities representing students of color who are farthest from educational justice.

Your strategic plan also promises to deliver on your commitments.

The principal's resignation email said that you will the district will reach out to the Washington community in the next few weeks But I implore you to do it right now without waiting another minute to deliver on your promises of engagement and academic excellence.

First we need the district to designate somebody who is immediately available to engage with our staff and BLT to begin the planning process for next year.

Allowing or requiring the departing principal to lead this will not set up our school or the incoming principal.

for success.

Our staff and BLT have been largely shut out of the planning process this school year.

We need immediate direct intervention to assure appropriate inclusion of the BLT and for decisions related to next year.

We need the BLT to assume decision making authority until a new principal is hired.

Again we need the district to assign a seasoned leader to facilitate the decision making and critical work of the next two months at Washington.

Second trust has been damaged in our building.

We need the district to reach out and seek to retain our excellent teachers who are the heart of our school.

Third we need immediate action on the principal hiring process.

It's unacceptable to delay when acting now would give Washington the best chance of finding an excellent leader.

Fourth we need transparency into the goals set for Washington and how the next principal will be supported to achieve them.

And finally please consider that the current governance model has failed Washington this year a model with no baseline and so little central oversight.

Means that any school could next year have the kind of year that Washington has had this year and none of us want that.

Thank you in advance for continuing your work to restore Washington Middle School to excellence.

Our community hopes to hear from you very soon about how that will happen.

Good evening.

Sixty five years ago this month the U.S.

Supreme Court considered racial segregation in our schools in the case of Brown versus the Board of Education.

They concluded that any time black and white students are placed in separate classrooms black students receive significantly inferior academic support.

I'd like to read you their findings with offensive language updated.

Segregation of white and black children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the black children.

The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the black group.

A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn.

Segregation with the sanction of law therefore has a tendency to delay the educational and mental development of black children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school system.

For many years now we have chosen to overlook racial segregation.

We have supported programs and made policy changes that have led to ever increasing classroom segregation and an ever increasing opportunity gap.

The only way to overcome this gap is to reverse decades of increasing segregation.

Please update all of our policies and programs to begin to undo the racial segregation that we have created in our classrooms.

Only then can we begin to comply with district policy with state law and with the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution.

Thank you.

Hi my name is Megan Batty and I'm a seventh grade science and STEM teacher at Hamilton Middle School.

I've been using amplify this year.

I know that data is important to the board and I deeply appreciate that.

In the classroom students are constantly challenging one another by asking where is your evidence.

So I think it is only fair you do the same.

We've recently had an end of quarter and I always survey my students so I thought it would be interesting to share some data with you.

Ninety five percent of my students responded that they are enjoying science this year.

Ninety eight percent said they are enjoying it more than the previous experiences with science.

Students identified that they have carried out 100 percent of the science and engineering practices over the course of the year.

Eighty nine percent of my students consider us to be doing the work of scientists and engineers.

As it has been mentioned before there is no perfect curriculum but I want to extend on that and note that I believe any curriculum can be misused.

I've heard accounts that Amplify relies heavily on screen time with little else happening in the classroom and teachers were sitting behind their desks watching their own screens.

To me that seems like an instructional choice.

On average I use the laptops for less than 20 minutes in a period two to three times per week.

During this time I'm always circulating and talking to students about their evidence collection.

When I surveyed my students the majority of them felt that the pace of the curriculum was right on track.

However I do have to differentiate for a portion of students that master the learning objectives before their peers.

As an educator I believe I should be required to use my professional judgment to adapt materials and extend them.

if I see that need for my individual students.

I consider this to be part of my job because I have a robust storyline and curriculum to work from.

I can do this differentiation and provide these opportunities to challenge all students because we also want our curriculum to be localized and specific to our diverse Seattle Public School learners.

I also think it's important that I get the opportunity to collaborate with teachers around the district.

to make sure our curriculum is enriched for our students.

I have student growth data and student work that I would be happy to share with you all when we have more time and I also invite you to come to my classroom at Hamilton.

Thanks for listening and considering my voice.

Hello.

I'd like to cede my time to John Wietfeld please.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak about science adoption.

I was a volunteer in the high school science adoption committee as a community member.

And today I wanted to share with you an observation and a conclusion that I drew as part of that committee.

I think you've already heard a lot of discussion about what what the new curricula is but I can share my feelings about what happened.

A little background, I am a scientist.

I did my Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and I spent my career doing research in industry in various places in the United States.

The first is an observation.

Observation is that the selection process the committee process I believe was very good.

It was well executed in fairness and integrity.

Mary Margaret and Brad both impressed me with their knowledge and energy for driving science education and staying on top of the process.

Secondly I was wowed by the teachers that were on the committee.

It was truly amazing and it is inspiring to me.

And one conclusion that I had is that the science curricula that we are talking about is good for I believe all students and in particular it is good for the higher level students.

It is a science that a curricula that adds to the traditional science curricula that I was exposed to as a young man.

And it teaches the way of thinking that scientists think and I think it will give our high schoolers an edge up in that process.

Thank you.

Eric Bishop is not here.

Next up is Jackie Wilson followed by Yolanda Jones and then Christine Bonita.

Hello my name is Jackie Wilson and I have been teaching science at Roosevelt High School for the past five years.

I also served on the high school science adoption committee and I have worked on the district develop materials for biology.

I want to urge you to thoughtfully review the board action report materials that you received.

The committee carefully evaluated these materials and their findings deserve your attention.

I also want you to recognize the significance of this adoption.

I work at a school where some teachers are supportive of the instructional materials being put forward and some are skeptical about them.

We should be critical and demand the best for our students.

But what concerns me is that my colleagues won't get involved in the process because they have no trust that this board will actually complete and fund this adoption.

Many of them were burned by the failed 2010 adoption and even our seasoned teachers have never seen Seattle provide science teachers with instructional materials.

No one is holding our teachers accountable nor are they providing resources to help our newer teachers succeed.

At my school students can have a drastically different experience depending on who their teacher is for a particular class.

This lack of alignment is inequitable leaving some kids underprepared or turning them off from science completely.

Before I joined the science collaboration I spent hours as a new teacher trying to find or make materials for my students.

I guarantee you that this lack of instructional materials is a factor in new teacher burnout in Seattle.

I also have seen how much I've grown as a teacher because of the science collaboration.

Without this adoption we will lose this valuable time to learn from each other.

Adopting quality instructional materials will be a starting point to bring all of our science teachers together.

There is no perfect curriculum and teachers will learn from each other as they implement and refine provided materials.

Again I urge you to give the science adoption the chance it deserves.

Thank you for your time.

Hello my name is Yolanda Jones and I am a science teacher at Franklin High School.

It is my second year of teaching.

It is my second year of teaching in this district.

And so I wanted to give you some context because last night I got to hear a lot about what 24 years ago looks like.

And I was one year old 24 years ago.

So there are students in this district experiencing a curriculum that is nearly as old as I am that is older than my little brother.

In 1999 I started kindergarten and my mother's top priority was to make sure that there were three letters attached to my name.

Those letters were T A G. I grew up in Portland Oregon.

Those letters meant that I was talented and gifted because my mother knew that another letter would follow me my entire life and that was letter B for black.

My mother knew that if me and my brother did not have this designation our education would look incredibly different.

My mother knew how to play a game.

My mother is white.

My father had no idea that his kids would even have to play this game.

I've heard a lot of asks for data which I do think is incredibly important.

But I also think you've had an opportunity to see that data and part of that data comes from looking at the opportunity gap because that data is representative of having 24 years of having 18 years without consistent curriculum across this district.

That opportunity gap is built and is strengthened by those inequities across the district and I would urge you to consider carefully all of the options for adoption that have been put in front of you.

Thank you.

Hello I am ceding my spot to Helene.

Hi my name is Helene and I'm a seventh grade teacher who goes to Asa Mercer middle school and I wanted to talk to you about how amplify from what I've learned is probably better than the old science material.

And I think this because in amplify we get to talk to one another for like about the whole unit and it's always very interactive and like outside of class we don't like stop talking about like oh it's science or something.

But we like I remember in PE for a long time in the metabolism unit we were like always talking to each other and we're like I think it's this one or no I think it's that one.

And we wouldn't just like be like I'm right you're stupid or something.

We'd always say things like I know this because and we'd state the facts and like it actually be useful and we wouldn't act like it was not even important.

We'd actually like care about what we were saying.

And also in Amplify we would do like work on simulations and stuff that would like always help me understand what we're doing because like reading from a textbook every single day is not going to teach me anything.

I learned this from TCI.

And most other things sorry most other curriculums have lots of articles and I don't think that really helps people and we need like hands on and stuff which amplify helps us with.

And we.

The OK forgetting about humans right now like the environment TCI we had textbooks we had TCI notebooks and we also had loose leaf paper.

You know how much of the woods that was used to just help us get that paper and an amplify it's mostly online and yes it's some people don't follow directions but it's actually the teacher who teaches it like if your teacher is actually on topic and they care it's because they're going to help you.

And in.

Like if we did the old thing from what I know it's all on paper and you know how much of a force that's going to knock out in one year.

Like thank you.

Next up is Alexia Jean Katsarov followed by Tuesday Chambers and Arlene Fairfield.

Hi I'm Dr. AJ Katsaroff is what I go by.

I'm also a master's in I have a master's in teaching.

I'm the science department chair at Franklin High School.

I'm so proud of my staff and students who have participated in this work.

I'm a parent of two students at Gatewood Elementary.

My spouse is a university science educator.

So we live and breathe science.

And so because of this I served on both the middle school and high school adoption science adoption committees.

As a scientist on both committees, I was one of many scientists.

And I've heard questions over the past several weeks about the content of this curriculum.

And John already spoke to it.

There were many of us as scientists who were deeply invested in ensuring that this was rigorous content aligned to the standards as part of our evaluation rubric.

As a teacher I am so impressed with the work of my students in this phenomenon based teaching and how they can do the work of figuring it out as the work of a scientist where we don't know the answer and we have to go and figure it out in our research labs or wherever our research space is and our students can do that with appropriate NGSS curriculum and I see it every day.

Amplify science was the best in middle school to do this and that was true in the evaluation rubrics and it was very much true in the teacher and student feedback and data sets after.

I highly recommend that.

And accordingly as a parent and as a committee member on the other two committees I highly encourage you to adopt amplify science as well in our K-5.

Our teachers in elementary school are wonderful and I love my students my own personal students teachers.

However they are not receiving the quality of science education which they should in a high tech city like Seattle.

And so I highly encourage you to make to follow their recommendation because the committees that I served on were authentic and filled with thoughtful community members and teachers and staff.

Thank you.

Hello my name is Tuesday Chambers and I am the Ballard High School librarian and ITAC member.

I am thrilled to stand before you as a full time fully funded librarian standing beside full time fully funded middle school and high school librarians across this district.

So thank you for restoring our library programs and recognizing the impact library programs have on Seattle school students.

Today I have the honor to cede my time to Ryan Connolly from Pathfinder K-8 who will share the impact of her library.

I want to start by thanking you.

The school board has been so great about supporting students such as myself.

Although I must say I was and am ecstatic to learn full time librarians are continued to be funded.

But sadly this privilege and need is not shared with our neighboring elementary schools.

I want you to think of the school you either went to or go to now as a living organism.

The principals the bones work hard to hold up our school and the teachers are the veins that help the blood cells.

The students stay in line and get to where they need to go.

However nobody can function without a beating heart.

Our librarian for a while it was scary.

We were barely able to function with only half a heart.

But next year my school's heart will be strong and full.

Every school is fueled by community.

I was a library TA or library assistant if you wish to call it that.

I was sorry I was the library assistant for the first semester of the school year and I noticed that during my time in the library that the library was the roots.

The library was the roots in which our community sprouted from.

Every day that I was in the library I saw happy kids participating in a variety of activities helping kids find the books that they were looking for were some of my happiest moments as a TA.

Their ever loving smiles when they got the books would brighten my day.

The joy I felt I feel never fails to show up when I see two kids in the same chair silently reading the same book.

I'm a library kid.

Every place I need to every place I go I need to know where the library is.

It's my safe haven my sanctuary.

Please know that there are other kids like me out there.

Kids who have only the library as their safe place.

My point is librarians are not expendable.

Neither are libraries.

Neither are disposable.

Not ever.

So please help protect them.

They are more than just people and places to retrieve books from.

Thank you.

Hi I'm Arlene Fairfield and I am a parent of a seventh grader at Washington Middle School and my co — parents and colleagues have already touched on a lot of these issues but I did want to ask about some of our class offerings which have been very deficient this year.

As you've heard we have had zero first year languages for any grades this year.

at Washington Middle School.

Eighth graders who already had a year of French or Japanese were offered an online course with no supervision and no instruction and that did not go particularly well.

So looking forward we need to restore world languages desperately next year at Washington Middle School.

The newly adopted strategic plan says world language is a priority for the district.

So our question now is.

When how quickly can we get the the timeline and the budget through the BLT so we can start working with BLT and administrators to hire those teachers.

I want to know how these teachers are selected because we need to start very early on to get appropriate language teachers so we can undo so much of the damage that's been done in that area.

Another course that is been so deficient this year at Washington Middle School is science.

I'm hearing a lot about the science curriculum being adopted.

Our seventh graders did not have science this year.

They had a period that was rotating subs since the very first day that school started many of whom who had zero science experience if they even had somebody in the classroom.

We have gone week after week with at least one day sometimes two days in a row where nobody has shown up.

The kids have either been in the classroom by themselves and it's been chaotic or they've been in the hallway and waiting for someone to come.

And even now when there's a babysitter there my child told me last week they made slime you know for the whole hour they watch videos.

So we need to also work now with somebody to help.

What are we going to do this summer to get these kids not and summer school is not really an option.

We need to work together to get them back up to speed in science and we're ready to do that.

But we need it to be acted on now.

Thank you.

Next up is Jennifer Stanley followed by Jasmine Riach and then Dan go forth.

Hi I'm Jennifer Stanley from Dearborn Park International School.

First I want to thank the board for hearing us.

I can imagine the difficulty in trying to spread too thin resources carefully.

I'm the parent of a fourth grader and an incoming kindergartner from Dearborn Park International School.

Our staff and families have been committed to the dual language program since it began when this fourth grader was a kindergartner.

The great news is that it is working and our kids are thriving.

I'd like to share some words directly from the district quote Seattle's international schools provide students with linguistic skills higher order thinking skills and a global perspective that will help them to contribute to and succeed in a 21st century world.

International schools help students engage in intellectually rigorous schoolwork and prepare them for college career and life.

International schools help close both the academic achievement gap as well as the global achievement gap unquote.

Dearborn Park has an amazing principal who spent sleepless weeks running the puzzle of numbers to continue the immersion language program for another year in the face of major budget cuts.

It is my understanding however that her solution is only a much needed stopgap and not a sustainable plan.

Our school is inclusive and extremely diverse.

We are a south end neighborhood school.

This program gives opportunity confidence and a forward trajectory to this underserved community.

Dearborn Park is also important as a school that feeds into Mercer Middle and its immersion language program.

We are integral to the dual language program as a whole.

If Dearborn Park can't continue its dual language program can Mercer Middle afford to lose those students.

What happens to that program.

People want to come here and we need the enrollment to keep this magical successful school going.

We need three things from you.

Please redraw the lines to include kids from overcrowded neighboring schools.

Let the heritage speakers in and let us use our waitlist.

There are people with us today from our waitlist who are currently assigned to adjacent overcrowded schools.

We were told we had a choice.

Please give it to us.

Thank you.

Jasmine.

Thank you.

Dan go forth.

My name is Dan Goforth and I am the father of a seventh grader at Washington Middle School and I really feel like I'm getting to know you.

This is my fifth school board meeting this year.

I would like to thank you for your effort to accomplish the departure of the current leadership guidance at Washington Middle School.

Having said that and having listened at five different testimonies given over those five meetings there is a common thread that I hear over and over again and it's the thread that I want to speak about.

I also sit on the Friends of Washington Middle Friends of Washington music.

Fundraising board and we have discovered this year that there is an opportunity that I don't think you guys are taking advantage of and I would suggest that it might be a good one in a little bit greater roll up your sleeves effort.

We have tried to reach out to all of our community not just our HCC kids.

Many of you familiar that the Washington Middle School jazz program is a nationally renowned award winning program.

They just won awards in Reno last weekend.

We at the foam board believe that it's through the education of music for all our kids that we will incorporate a larger more equitable student body into our music program.

Our music program includes 440 of our 660 kids now.

If we don't have the opportunity to collaborate with our teachers with our administrator and with you.

This cannot be successful.

I've heard over and over again from my fellow parents parents that are among over 250 people that signed a petition to make a change that we don't get the chance to collaborate.

This is a resource that you are ignoring and it is the greatest resource in Seattle.

As a Seattle real estate broker I know there's more money in this city than anyone would ever imagine and there's more educated people than most people imagine.

I would want you to reach out to allow us to create programs that we you and I can collaborate to create better school systems better education systems better learning opportunities for our kids.

It's something that seems to be entirely overlooked because I haven't heard anybody in five meetings talk about how great that opportunity is.

Thank you.

Next up is Danielle Vermack followed by Craig Seasholes and then Rebecca Neal.

Hi my name is Dr. Danielle Vermaak.

I teach 7th grade HCC at Hamilton Middle School.

I've been working for four years in the chemistry and physics collaboration high school collaboration.

I was a field tester in the science adoption program and I can testify to the rigor and integrity of the adoption process.

The board has heard from many teachers that our standards require significant shift in teaching and that the curriculum is really focused on equity.

There is also a perception out there that this curriculum may fail to prepare students for AP courses and college.

I want to speak to the fact that that is not true.

Many of my HCC students are science geeks like me, arrive to class wearing their periodic table socks.

They are challenged and they are learning content at a deep level.

I polled them on Monday on the difficulty of KMA unit 3, 112 out of 115 told me it was a good level of challenge.

The phenomenon students are asked to explain in unit in three is where the colors in fireworks come from.

This is actually a complex abstract and mind blowing explanation.

Light and electron energy is quantized.

It comes in chunks.

That is so cool.

One of my students who stated her interest in science at the beginning of the year as meh literally threw her hands in the air in excitement when she made the connection.

from a particle model for light learned in a wave unit of physics peer curriculum to the quantum leaps of electrons in chem A.

This was quite a moment.

Students are learning lots of content as well.

But the ability to think critically to argue from evidence and to build conceptual models based on evidence and discourse cannot be Googled.

Colleges also know this and arriving to a college with only the ability to memorize and rehash mountains of content is a recipe for failure and that is what we often have in science curriculum now.

So like all teachers I adapt curriculum to my students need.

This curriculum did and does need more work on differentiating up but we need a floor to start from and I urge you to please adopt this curriculum.

Thank you very much.

I have banned book socks.

I'm Craig Seashells librarian from Dearborn Park School and at the conclusion of school library month.

I want to shout and not shush.

Mara thanks for your efforts on behalf of Seattle Public School librarians and our libraries.

So here's a snapshot.

Did you know that our district circulates ninety five hundred books per day on an average.

Now that's a resource that's going into the hands of students it's real data that supports your efforts and mine.

Thank you Superintendent Juneau for visiting our schools and libraries and for noting to the board at the May budget meeting that this was a leadership moment.

Thank you to the board for showing leadership and unanimous support for the restoration of secondary librarians.

There are a few overdo's.

One is the issue of the restoration of full time elementary librarians.

Librarians will look to the district and the Washington Library Association and the Washington Education Association for legislative initiatives to help restore robust library staffing and material budgets that we haven't achieved yet.

At Dearborn Park we teach kids the phrase yet.

to show that they're determined to learn and that they can help make a change in the world.

Don't say we can't do this.

Just say we can't do it yet.

Lastly it's our librarians today donated a book to all of you by a local African-American author and I hope you'll read it enjoy it and donate it to an elementary librarian that doesn't have a budget.

Yet if you're not sure who those libraries are there's a bookmark inside who gave you the book and they'd be happy to help you identify a school library.

Again thank you very much.

My name is Rebecca Neal and I am ceding my time.

Hello my name is Matthew Brewer.

I'm a science teacher at Washington Middle School and an active member of the science adoption committee.

First of all thank you honorable board members and Superintendent Juneau for hearing public comments.

I started teaching in SPS in 2006 almost 15 years ago.

When I began we're using curriculum adopted in 2002 with information largely from the 1990s.

In 2011 the next generation science standards were introduced as national standards.

Washington state officially adopted the NGSS in 2013. 2018 marked the first year of the new assessment the WACCAS was aligned the NGSS.

The NGSS changes our thinking and approach to science in a 3D endeavor.

The discipline core ideas are science content.

The science and engineering practice are how scientists do their work, collect evidence, discourse with each other, et cetera, and the cross-cutting concepts of how connections are made from one idea to another, such as patterns, scales, and systems.

3D science is fundamental to any new curriculum adoption and mirrors how scientists and engineers do their work in the real world.

It is imperative that we prepare our students for 21st century and beyond for jobs that may not even exist yet because we challenge ourselves with the skills available now.

My values as an educator are deeply rooted in the district science department mission statement to provide all SPS science classrooms with a common NGSS aligned core scope and sequence to be college and or career ready excuse me.

Our goal is that our students will be scientifically literate.

This is accomplished through a collaborative interactive rigorous science program responsive to the needs of diverse learners.

Moving forward the science adoption team recommendation is in pair for future of our students.

I can attest as an acting member with full certainty that we followed school board policy 2015 and has been clean clear and necessary steps ensure the best possible curriculum is selected.

I encourage you therefore to follow the recommendation of the current curriculum instruction committee adoption of science curriculum at each grade level.

Thank you for your time.

Next up is Monica Fuji followed by Brian Bushwitz and then Mary Margaret Welsh.

Thank you.

Next is Brian Bushwitz.

Hello my name is Dr. Brian Buckwitz and I would like to support the science instruction materials adoption by ceding my time to Ava Bettencourt.

Hi my name is Ava Betancourt and I'm a 7th grader and I attend Asa Mercer Middle School.

I'm here to address the decision that is being made to either adopt the Amplify science curriculum or going back to a curriculum written in the 1990s.

This is my second year using Amplify and it's made science my favorite class.

It's engaged the students at my school and even has carried conversation outside of just our science class.

I think it's an important priority.

to make sure kids are engaged.

Kids learn a lot when they are having a lot of fun.

Amplify has fun storylines class discussions and debates as well as online services.

From my knowledge the old science curriculum written in the 90s has no storyline at all and is mostly on paper.

If we are focused on making students engaged why would we put forth a curriculum that just throws out facts instead of one that makes learning fun.

The world is moving forward and getting more advanced and so should our schools which leads into my last statement.

We should be moving forward as a district as well not backwards.

Thank you.

My name is Mary Margaret Welch and I'm ceding my time to Ashley Thomas.

You've heard me speak about Ashley Thomas several times in the last few weeks and I want you to hear from her firsthand.

My name is Ashley Thomas and I'm a ninth grade interventionist from Franklin High School.

I work with some of our city's most vulnerable students and it is clear to me that they are ill prepared for science in high school especially when compared to their peers who are from other schools outside of SPS.

Although my students have struggled with science this year peer has caused them to critically think in a way that they have not in the past and has made them holistically better students.

This year my students are thriving in science in a way that they haven't.

It leads me to believe that this adoption will create more equitable education for all students in Seattle but most especially for our black and brown students in South Seattle.

Too often I hear my black and brown students talk about how they aren't good at science.

We have an opportunity to change that narrative.

We need to adopt this science so our students see themselves in science as early as elementary.

And as I stand here I'm emotional because I have never heard a student like that student who just spoke who said that they love science.

So often I have to battle my students.

to engage in science.

They are fine in language arts they are fine in social studies but it is clear to me that depending on where they go to school and who their teachers are they may not be getting science at all.

Our students come in and they don't even know or they've never seen things that we know are the standard in eighth grade.

My students should know and have heard of what a proton is and my students do not know what it is.

It takes us so long to catch them up that when by the time we get to the standards in 10th grade they cannot pass their X back.

So I'm asking you our board to please consider passing this adoption.

Thank you.

Next up is Emily Wheeler followed by Joe Camacho and then Nina Aronson.

Hi I'm Emily Wheeler 7th grader at Washington Middle School.

Sorry it's my third time here.

Thank you for hearing us.

Thank you for listening.

For eight months the teachers at Washington Middle School have worked hard to take care of and to teach our children.

They have encouraged and listened and strategized with them.

But they have not had a chance to have input on their class schedules their class sizes or their class makeup.

There has not been collaboration there has not been input.

The teachers have valuable input on the types of classes that are needed.

What kids should be in which classes and which kids should not be in classes with each other.

Our teachers need to be part of the process just as they are at every other school.

You can't design a building for someone without asking what they need and want in their building and you can't design a schedule without asking the teachers what they need and desire.

We need to make sure that the Washington Middle School registrar who is paid to help design the schedule has control of that schedule.

Moving forward now that the principal will not be at our school next year we need to know what the options are for creating a schedule that includes world language and all the other important criteria that teachers need to see in the schedules and knowing that Washington Middle School needs to hire new teachers.

How do we ensure this is done in a thoughtful and inclusive manner.

That helps select teachers that are a good fit for the diverse population at Washington Middle School.

The principal will not be there next year and should not be selecting the teachers.

Each department needs to have control of who is hired for their teaching team and they can work with the BLT to review the candidates and make those selections.

Washington Middle School is a challenging school with lots of needs.

Hiring from outside the district didn't work too well with the pre-existing structural challenges.

This year of chaos the district needs to do some healing.

and needs to bring in a proven administrator into our school.

This school can't handle another lost year.

It's a great neighborhood.

It's a great school.

We have great teachers.

We deserve a great administrator.

We believe the selection committee should include people that know our issues such as the principal from Garfield the principal from Fairmont the principal from Thurgood Marshall should be on the selection committee for our new principal.

Parents and kids should be on that selection committee as well.

needs to be the people who understand our unique school and our unique community.

We also need open communication from the board from the administration and from the district so that we don't feel locked out and left out and ignored like we have for the past eight months.

Thank you for listening to us.

We look forward to working with you.

Hey I'm Joe Camacho I'm an eighth grade science teacher over at Aki Kurose Middle School.

When I was looking for a position earlier this year the school year I heard a lot of really powerful critiques about amplify science.

Heard a lot of things like hey the kids are going to be in front of the computer the entire time or it's not hands on it's not engaging.

This year I'm so glad that I didn't listen to those critiques because I've had the opportunity to have really great discussions with my students.

I've got to see students really engage in the science and I can stand here all day and tell you about my class but instead my eighth grade student Boyma is here to tell you about his experience in my class.

So I cede the rest of my time to Boyma.

Hi I'm Boyd Miscott an 8th grader at Occoquan Russell Middle School.

I took the light road to get here today to tell you about my science class.

My science class is an environment where not just me but all students come to learn.

We do different type of activities like using simulations on the computer simulations are programs on Amplify that help students who learn visually.

We actually get to see.

Animals adapting and trying to survive in their environment.

Also we get to use what we see on assimilation in real life.

Students learn in different ways.

For example I need something to relate to and something hands on.

That's happening right now in my science class.

I feel like I'm learning and I get to talk to other students about what I've learned.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak.

My name is Nina Ahrens.

I am the education head at Living Computers Museum and Labs.

I am also in a kind of unique position this year at within your district because I volunteer.

on three different advisory committees local politics.

I got involved.

I'm here today really to speak about like in my experience as a professional biologist.

Before I went to work at the museum I used to work at the Institute for Systems Biology.

I also was active on your high school science adoption.

But why I think I was compelled to come to you today is because I also sit on ITAC and I have heard a lot of of comments on screen time regarding this curriculum and it makes me wonder if this NGSS adoption has been skewed in a way by the public because it is a digital curriculum and it's no secret that Seattle Public Schools is not like digital curriculum or technology.

But I wanted to share with you there's some amazing cross departmental work that is happening between C&I and DOTS.

And I think you should be aware of it because I think there's a lot of concern from parents that they're that teachers if you give them a digital curriculum that they're just going to sit the kids in front of a computer and that's that every other district around Seattle Public has already moved on this.

Your staff are ready for a board decision that will push kids out of the 90s into the 21st century with their science education.

I know because I hear their conversations and I encourage you to come talk with me because I am one of that sits on three different advisories hearing all the different things that they're saying.

You should have trust that they're going to do the right thing when it comes to a digital curriculum.

There's a lot of work that is being done to help support teachers in doing this.

The board deserves to trust that the staff will be able to support them.

Please consider the science adoption.

Do not discriminate against it because it is 21st century tool.

Thank you.

That concludes public testimony this evening.

Thank you for signing up.

OK.

This is an opportunity for the board to reflect if they so choose on what they've heard in public testimony.

As mentioned before we do not have any action items this evening and we have 16 I believe intro items.

Would anyone like to go first.

That would be Director Geary.

Excuse me sir.

We have rules.

We've been through this before.

And have a good evening.

Thank you so much.

Director Geary.

Thank you to everybody.

Again I'm just going to comment.

I think tonight we had more students maybe than I've ever seen before testify.

So keep it up.

Keep it up.

Come and talk to us.

Tell us about your experiences.

Tell us about your schools.

I love it too.

I think it was Mr. Goforth who talked about Washington music.

I think I've been talking about it maybe not in the way you have but I do recognize that we have resources out there and I do recognize that we as a district need to figure out a great way to pull them.

I recognize it as something that we need to do district wide not on a per school basis because if we can grow the program across our district then we are expanding opportunity.

If we continue to only pool high resources in certain schools we will be up against the same problems that we see tonight over and over and over again.

So I have mentioned this maybe not in the way you've heard it but it's something that I certainly support.

Librarians you know thank you for coming to thank us.

Thank you for asking us about elementary librarians.

I haven't asked for you.

My ask for you is to look deep into your work.

around our strategic plan because I have found that when anybody who seems to think it is too narrowly defined actually takes a moment to reflect upon who actually shows up to speak about their interest and their group.

There is a lack of the intersectional identification of the kids farthest from educational justice.

And I talk about this particularly with regard to elementary schools because I do recognize that the libraries are the place where many parents.

have access to the school.

It can be a safe place for all of our parents.

It can also be the place where PTA meetings occur that can make parents feel very alienated if they don't bring dollars and power to the table.

And so how those libraries are being used can be very impactful in terms of are they welcoming or are they perpetuating unintentionally on anybody's part.

A system that excludes certain voices because they don't think they bring resources.

So that's my challenge to you.

You define your roles within your schools to really align with our strategic plan and the view that we've created for this district.

And I can't promise you and maybe because I'm not going to say never that we can't but maybe we'll get to a place where everything can be afforded because it's absolutely necessary in order to achieve our goals.

Thank you all.

Everybody who's come to speak speak about the science adoption and make it real to us.

I comment.

I think this thing and I could be wrong in this thought listening to the Washington Middle School parents who talk about how it has been horrible and a year has been lost through rotating teachers and the lack of a good schedule.

All the things that have been talked about and I can't help but fear.

That we're hearing about that in Washington Middle School because it is a school with a highly empowered group of parents who have strong voice who have prioritized their children's education.

Gratefully I completely appreciate that.

But I fear that that experience is happening in way more schools than just Washington Middle School and it's happening.

I'm not able to pull up the name right now.

I think it was Yolanda.

I think it's happening and the parents perhaps like Yolanda's father aren't even aware it's happening and they don't come and say it's happening as a problem because maybe they assume it's happening everywhere.

And that's why it is so important to me that we get that base of a common science curriculum.

around our district so that everybody at least has a starting place for a conversation about what should and shouldn't be happening in science in every school not just the schools with HCC students not just the schools that have the parent funding to support it.

So it's a great it's been a great night of testimony I've heard a lot of threads carried through very different people's comments and I want us to all think about how we as a district interact as one big.

entity because if we prepare our kids in elementary school to be prepared for middle school we will see more kids qualifying for highly capable.

We probably won't even need to separate them as much as we do because kids will find staying with their peers from elementary school.

We're not afraid that they're not going to get the education they need in middle school because we'll know that there's a great education in the middle school that they're going to go to.

And we're going to know that their teachers have had a base curriculum and able to work with other teachers in order to bolster it and differentiate it.

Last night one of the teachers a man I've known for many years I didn't expect to see him he came and I asked him point blank.

So what do you think.

And he's like first comment.

I am so grateful to have a curriculum that is set up to be differentiated.

Number one comment out of his mouth it was such a relief to him and he has been teaching science for years and years and years.

I can't imagine what it would be like for a new teacher or continuing substitute teachers coming in and out of rooms keeping kids happy by having them create you know some little pop science thing is probably the best they have.

And I'm sure that's happening in a lot of places.

So thank you everybody.

In my mind we have a lot of work but I hear that we are coming around and together around some of the most important ideas for our district.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next up Director Mack.

I actually don't have a ton to say tonight I appreciate everyone for coming out.

We had a long conversation yesterday about science adoption and I appreciate all of the comments and concerns and things that are coming forth and the additional information and conversation we'll have an introduction in a couple of weeks.

And appreciate the Washington community continuing to rally around to support the school there as well as so incredibly grateful that we can announce that we're restoring the WSS.

That is amazing and we're not having to cut as much and looking forward to the continued conversation around the enrollment and waitlist on the 8th.

So thanks for coming out and.

Next up.

Next up would Director Pinkham.

Thank you sir.

Again Tots Cloud and Qeˀciyéẁyéẁ thank you.

You know Washington Middle School you know the teachers parents students coming out here and showing you the support for your school.

You know that as Director Geary said that this is a lost year but let's also remember that sometimes you know when things go bad things hopefully are going to get better.

One of my classes that a student was talking about a good quote he said you know it'll get better in the end if it's not better yet it's not the end.

So thank you for coming here and supporting your school and offering some suggestions on how to go forward in a positive fashion and hopefully watch this school grow and continue to improve for our students.

And with the you know the comments we're hearing about the science adoption.

Some of the commenters shared that hearing things people saying it's too much screen time and there's needs to be more hands on and the teachers that are making it a success.

Mr. Camacho when you come up and shared had your students share you and yes you know a lot of things that the educator can do with this curriculum seems to be.

powerful so we need to make sure we're sharing that with our other teachers those teachers that may be struggling because I have gotten some e-mails from other teachers that are struggling with it.

But we do have some people are showing that can be successful.

So as we look at professional development reaching out to educators or science teachers that are hey I'm doing fantastic things with this.

Look what I'm doing.

Share that with our other teachers that are struggling.

Because I think you know again having this common curriculum that we can adopt will get us forward into the 21st century.

And in 99 I was actually just still doing some of my initial master's work which I finally finished.

It took me 20 years to finish a master's degree but — For people to say well gee I was still learning that Pluto was a planet.

So we need to update our curriculum and and definitely move forward.

So thank you everyone's coming here and supporting those issues.

Dearborn Park coming again and sharing that your gratitude.

Thank you.

It's good to be appreciated that when we hopefully we're like we're doing good work up here and the dual language needs and again providing suggestions about solutions.

Librarians.

Thank you as well for coming up here and showing your appreciation.

We'll continue on and do what we can for the librarians.

Unfortunately for me I wasn't a very good library user when I was in school but it was still a resource that you know is valuable.

I don't want to let people follow my example.

You know get your master's done in two years.

Language struggles too.

Unfortunately middle school then.

We'll see what we can do and I think again working with the BLT's your PTO's your PTA's and your racial equity teams to make sure that your school is feeling strong and empowered that the community feels like they have input.

So if you can provide input in one of those three groups or just being a parent attending those meetings you know do what you can not just come in here but also work with your school at that level.

And for the students that also came here and talked about ethnic studies and the need for that.

Keep up the talk and be involved.

I wanted to share something here and I got my screen timed out.

How many of you know but my daughter graduated from Ingraham High School is now attending Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe New Mexico and she just shared a message that a student that graduated from IAIA when she started there was just nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in fiction.

There there by Tommy Orange.

It's a shot in all falls 12 characters from Native communities all traveling to big Oakland power to the big Oakland power all connect to each other in the ways they may not yet realize.

There's Jackie Redfeather newly sober and working to make it back to the family she left behind.

Dane Oxedine who is pulling his life back together after his uncle's death has come to work at the POW to honor his memory.

14 year old Orville has come to perform traditional dance for the very first time.

Together this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American grappling with a complex and painful history with the inheritance of beauty and spirituality.

with communion and sacrifice and heroism hailed as an instant classic.

There There is a once poignant and laugh out loud funny utterly contemporary and always unforgettable.

So those of you that are looking to add something to your library check out There There by Tommy Orange.

Director Patu.

Thank you.

It always great to be here and be able to listen to the comments that you come and share with us.

I really wanted to say also that I didn't realize that there was no languages at Washington Middle School.

I guess you learn something new on a daily basis.

Hopefully that.

We will be able to get languages at Washington Middle School because I think it's very important to have languages at various schools.

And also I was also a little appalled by the fact that there was no science for 7th grader and this is all something new to me.

Didn't realize all this was going on but hopefully that we can be able to.

have it's very important to have science for all students and and hopefully that that matter can be taken care of.

The thing with the Dearborn Park we're hoping that the lines can get redraw so that way a lot of our heritage speaker can actually be able to attend Dearborn Park.

Didn't realize that where the line is that a lot of our of our speaker were actually not able to attend.

So I'm hoping that as we redraw the line that more of those families are able to come in and be able to be a part of that school.

I want to say thank you for just the opportunity to be up here and be able to be part of.

What all of you are about.

I know without you we wouldn't be sitting up here and hopefully that we don't solve all your problems but we work together in order for us to make sure that we provide the best opportunities for all your students for all your children.

And as a longtime board director I feel like I'm ancient.

It's always been a privilege to be a part of this board and be able to provide opportunities or just to be able to look at the overall of what's happening within our district and how can we better serve you and your children in any ways that we can.

So thank you for coming tonight and sharing with us your truth and hopefully that we can continue on to work together to make things better for your children.

Ditto that this is an extraordinarily humbling experience to look out at this room to see so very many passionate dedicated hardworking people.

There's there's the phrase walk your talk.

Y'all are living it every day and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it.

It is almost oppressive how many issues we get to deal with up here both in policy and budget and enormity and we've got a long way to go.

We are making progress.

We can and will do better.

And I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I thank our staff who keeps this engine running for our 52000 children.

Thank you very much.

We are at D intro items.

Number one Satterberg Foundation elementary feeder school grant.

This came before C&I April 23rd for approval.

Approval of this item would authorize the superintendent to accept the Satterberg Foundation elementary feeder school grant funds in the amount of nine hundred seventy thousand dollars.

I see the chief academic officer Dr. Diane DeBacker at the podium.

Thank you Diane DeBacker chief academic officer.

This board action report.

accepts nine hundred and seventy thousand dollars from the Satterberg Foundation to target literacy acceleration and 10 Seattle Public Elementary Schools.

I will pause for a second.

Dr. DeBacker keep talking.

We are pretty well versed in the Satterberg grant.

Yes.

We did invite members of the Satterberg Foundation to be with us tonight.

Those schedules did not allow for them to be here.

We will pass along our thanks to them and maybe they can be here in two weeks when this is. anticipated to be accepted.

Just an overview.

This is the second full year of the Satterberg Foundation grant.

It is it funds 10 feeder or elementary feeder schools.

Those schools are shown at the top of your page on page 2 of the BAR in case you're interested in those or you need a refresher.

The grant provides for coaching for teachers professional development for teachers and school leaders a common structure and systems and materials.

Our goal is to replicate this model throughout Seattle Public Schools.

At the — I will set it I will tee it up for you actually at the committee discussion on April 23rd it was asked how this would align with our strategic plan and there is not a better example of aligning with our strategic plan.

It is to accelerate literacy achievement at 10 elementary schools the schools that are selected feed into three middle schools that have another grant that you're going to hear about here in a few minutes.

It's it's focused on accelerating third grade students reading.

That is one of the major goals within the strategic plan.

So we look forward to any questions that you may have.

And I do want to give all the credit for even me being here to Dr. Cashel Toner who oversees this grant.

Comments questions concerns from my colleagues.

Director Mack.

I actually just have kind of a process question around why.

This grant went through C&I and the other grants went through A&F.

Is there a method to our madness there or is this just.

There really isn't a method to our madness and I'm looking at JoLynn and she's actually shrugging her shoulders.

This particular one because it's around third grade reading has gone through C&I.

I don't know if Nesholm came on a little bit earlier and.

In any event with any luck at all next year we'll have the same dilemma and we'll do some more planning and they'll go through the same committee.

Yes we will attempt that.

I'm I'm thinking back and I think it's that it was just because C&I ends up with a lot more so when the new one came on it was redirected.

But.

Let's put it on the action plan for next year and no harm no foul and we're always more than happy to accept financial assistance for our students.

Yep.

Any other comments questions concerns.

Thank you.

Comment concern sustainability.

I don't want to take the Satterberg's or the next up the Nesholm Foundation for granted for expectations but the leveraging of this money And this strategy has been hugely successful.

And I again the word replicate is at the forefront of my brain.

I think that it gives us a unique head start into our strategic plan goals.

Some concern however on the acceptance of funds from foundations if strings are attached.

And I want us to be very aware and very sensitive to those things without question the Satterberg Foundation and the Nesholm Foundation have been beyond without attaching strings and I cannot tell you how impressed and thankful I am for that.

Some of our governmental agencies require a heck of a lot more in terms of strings and testing and data sharing etc.

It is always our pleasure to accept money.

I do have concerns about basing strategic plan work on potentially non sustainable streams of funds but.

Please make every best effort to have the Satterberg Foundation folks and the Nesholm folks and probably the Strom Foundation formerly known as now administered by League of Education at our next meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up to kids in the middle grant from the Nesholm Family Foundation.

This came before A&F April 22nd for.

Consideration approval of this item would authorize the superintendent to accept the kids in the middle grant funds from the Nesholm Family Foundation and the amount of six hundred ninety thousand five hundred ninety six dollars for the 2019 20 school year.

Take it away Chief Financial Officer JoLynn Berge.

Good evening.

So again this is a grant that we've had since 2002. It's supporting literacy at the three highest free and reduced lunch middle schools Aki Kurose Mercer and Denny.

It has a specific focus on middle school literacy and student proficiency on the state assessment.

Funds are provided for an additional assistant principal to lead job embedded professional development for English language arts staff at each school.

And it provides professional development for staff based on the readers writers workshop framework.

And with that I would take any questions questions comments concerns from my colleagues.

Director Geary.

To President Harris's point in terms of sustainability I'm I think the more we can build the use of these funds to provide professional development that is sustainable within our schools then that's a brilliant use.

Director Mack.

We had a little bit of conversation in A&F about this around the big sheets and and the.

The this foundation provides this is amazing dollars that we need.

We have other dollars coming in for different things.

And can you explain a little bit about the work internal in the district that goes on to assisting supporting the granting funders to identify which schools might have more need.

Do you.

We have that process going on internally correct with our our partnership organization partnership folks too so that we're you know helping to like if you know grant fund grant funders are coming to the district and saying you know what can we do.

We are being thoughtful about identifying that.

We are and I think that that's part of the intentionality that Superintendent Juneau talks about as we move forward with our strategic plan is resource alignment using both state federal local dollars as well as grant dollars coming into the district and trying to identify those areas of need and then matching those up.

Go ahead Director Mack.

I just really appreciate that that work is going on because you know we we have a strategic plan focused on equity and we have to be careful to have the dollars follow that direction.

And then when we have so many different funding streams that are coming in and so complex that I appreciate that we're having a focus on ensuring that we're not you know triple funding in some places and not funding appropriately in the other places.

So thank you for that.

OK number three acceptance of the League of Education Voters Foundation LEV grant to South Shore pre-K through 8. This came before A&F April 22nd for approval approval of this item would authorize the superintendent to accept the LEV grant of up to two million dollars for 2019 through 2021 with the option of up to two million dollars for 2021 through 2023 for South Shore pre-K.

Take it away.

All right.

So South Shore pre K-8 this funding they have been receiving this funding since 2002 2003. It has been granted to this school each year.

The original focus of the funds was to support early learning preschool program at the school.

However that's changed over time as it became a K-8 school.

So the focus of the funds currently is to support social emotional learning at work at the building.

Funding supports up to six certificated and classified FTE for professional development and for students for student supports.

Mack.

I apologize for not thinking of this before but I just realized that I don't know that these bars actually reference the number of students that we're supporting and we have that I mean that it's also really helpful to be contextual when we're saying we're saying the school but schools have different enrollments in different populations so some schools are 200 kids and and I just wonder if that might be helpful to add that information to these bars about the number of students that are being served served by these these grants.

Any objection to adding those numbers before action.

No or we could do it next next year for the grant.

Any objection to adding this before action.

That would be fine.

Thank you so much.

Should I. We should do it for all of them.

Yeah.

I see the CAO acknowledging the request appreciate.

Director Patu please.

Does this cover all middle schools.

The.

The Nesholm Family Foundation grant is for the three high free and reduced schools.

So those were Aki Kurose Mercer and Denny.

CAO Berge were you here for public testimony where there was some concern that.

a foundation might buy their way in to assisting selecting leadership of a school specifically with respect to the Lev Foundation grant at South Shore pre K through 8.

I have heard us discuss that in past years that concern has been raised from the dais in past years and I believe that the conversation that staff had provided back information where there is input.

It's you know this is the decision is still the districts but just like we have other stakeholder groups families teachers other staff at the schools.

They are a voice involved in giving feedback and giving that recommendation.

Thank you.

Number four up excuse me Superintendent Juneau.

Hi I just looked up on our website 314 students at South Shore.

So at least for that grant you know how much it's affecting.

Always working.

We have enrollment in several different places.

Number four approval of the highly capable annual highly capable program plan.

This came before C&I April 23rd for.

Approval approval of this item would accept the district's highly capable program plan which must be approved every year per Washington Administrative Code 3 9 2 dash 1 7 0 dash 0 2 5 plan approval is necessary for accessing funds allocated by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction OSPI for highly capable services.

Mr. Wyeth.

Good evening, Wyatt Jesse, Chief of Student Support Services.

Yes, this is our annual submitting of our report to OSPI in order for us to accept the grantee monies for Highly Capable Services for Washington State.

And so that is, as it is stated in there, a little over $1.6 million.

Again most of those dollars do go towards the testing.

So we test about 5000 students at that mostly at the elementary grades.

But it also helps us support professional development for advanced placement and also other PD.

And then it also of course the staff that are in the department that help provide all the coaching that we do out at sites all 102 schools.

How many staff are you talking about.

10. Director Mack.

Whereas these previous grants around the foundations included textual materials and so forth.

The dollars that we have for this don't support any additional textual materials or anything other than the 10 staff members and the testing.

1.6 million isn't going to cover the materials.

Can we say testing and identification please because I don't think it's just testing.

Is that correct.

That is absolutely correct.

Thank you.

If we could change our verbiage I'd be grateful.

Sure.

Go ahead.

We were talking about this last night around the science adoption and the scope and sequencing and I'm wondering I haven't I haven't totally in detail read this this year.

I assume it's probably similar to the years past but I was curious to know about.

Whether or not it references anything to identifying scope and sequence for highly capable.

Meaning you know are they taking two grade levels ahead in science or where where it is.

Does does that is that being reported here anywhere.

Is it calling it out.

There are different services that we do first for students that are it is actually is called out that that we do do some acceleration.

So that is part of some of our own way of providing services as we as we actually define ourselves in our policies and our procedures explicitly around science now and we actually don't advance in elementary.

They do grade level content at the elementary level for students who are identified for highly capable at the highly capable pathway sites.

Is this a pre formatted template that is compliance oriented.

Yes Director Harris this is we've had many conversations at the dais about this wonderful forum.

I can't say I appreciate it all but I can say I do appreciate is that we have an awesome advanced learning task force and that We hope to radically change some of the ways that we do define our programming within our own policies and procedures.

And because of the task force I will be voting for it this year for the first time in four.

I love that.

Director Geary.

I know this is a district form but has the task force been given this form as just a breadth of considerations just not that they would fill it out but to see how at least the state considers all the different factors surrounding highly capable and it's not meant other than to sort of allow a different structure for people to think about it around.

Yes this is a state form and I can't recall if we did that but we have given so much incredible information it would definitely mirror the information that's in here because we've gone through a bulk of how we actually structure our services and what's what schools are getting or not.

And I know that that it's actually more elaborate than this form would ever have it presented.

Exactly.

And it's not the volume.

But the structure that allows people to see how all that volume might fit together under what kind of categories at least from the state's perspective it's just it's like the outline that people can plug information into to get a better understanding.

I think it could be an interesting document for some of the people there in terms of how they think and how they process information.

So if you'll allow me a little bit maybe to both those points from Director Harris and Director Geary My dream would be that we would have an addendum next year and it would have a description about the things that actually fulfill the details around all of the things that we're doing especially as we move forward from the work from the land surveying task force which we have been directed not only from Superintendent Juneau but with support of the board to really get that definition of support that our community wants.

That's truly reflective of our community.

Mack.

Yeah so I do I do notice here that it actually does get as detailed as the acceleration services and programs and that we do state advanced placements in 9 through 12 concurrent or dual enrollment honors and advancement starting from 6th grade on and it doesn't get into the subject lines.

It doesn't say it's just you know it is just math or it is but it does.

I mean we have to tell the state these are the things that we do and so this is how we tell them that.

And so it's on page 13.

And even though they don't give us the money to fund it appropriately.

That's true.

OK moving on.

Excuse me Director Pinkham please.

Just want to note that in this it does refer an RCW that has new criteria for identification.

And I'm just trying to look over this to see can you really highlight what is the new things.

Yeah.

So the there's been a couple actions.

The most notable that you would be referring to is the equitable identification of low income students.

And so actually the state has provided a commendation for the Seattle Public Schools in recognition of our own efforts in this particular area.

Going out there and we jumped right on it.

So I think that's the thing that this state changed that they were like wow OK so Seattle Public Schools jumped right on it using you know multiple data points to look at subtest scores to identify students to really get go out there and try to have families as well as educators referral for students who again qualify for low income services and supports.

OK and then I think I also noticed that this was also the first year that we sent out notices in multiple languages.

So I appreciate that and hopefully that will address Brian Terry's comments one of these days will come up and have different percentage rates for us that will show improvement.

Indeed.

OK.

Number five.

Amendment to board policy number 2 0 2 4 online learning repeal of board policy number C 16 point 0 0 acceptance of correspondence or college courses for high school credit came before C&I April 23rd for.

I am happy to report after much board input for approval.

Approval of this item would amend board policy number 2 0 2 4 online learning as attached to the board action report and that school board repeal board policy number C 16 point 0 0 acceptance of correspondence or college courses for high school credit also attached to the board action report.

If the motion is approved the changes would be effective starting the summer term of the 2018 19 school year.

Chief Academic Officer Dr. Diane DeBacker take it away.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to reintroduce this board action report for policy 2024. Governing the district's approach to out of district credits and credit recovery.

The origin or origin of this bar were problems that were raised by our college and career ready team by principals by parents by school board members and an internal audit which found that out of district credits were lacking some consistency clarity equity and rigor.

So our goals were for the revision were to make sure that the changes in the policy and the procedures resulted in the following consistency in our practice and equity some assurance of quality and rigor of the courses no increase in principal workload some appeals but limited appeals.

and no commitment to more than our district could handle.

Thank you Director Geary for making sure that we put that one in and thank you all for your input as we made some changes to this.

The BAR for 2024 is asking you to vote on the following changes to this policy.

The original changes were to expand the policy to cover all out of district credits for first time credit and all credit recovery options Not just online credit as what was shown in the old policy.

It was also to direct the superintendent or the designee to develop procedures for out of district credits and for first time credit recovery.

New since February since we first introduced this and it was with your input and and especially the input of Director Mack.

We've specified the purpose of this policy which is to ensure that Seattle Public Schools provides robust course offerings while at the same time we recognize the need for out of district credit and credit recovery courses.

New changes since February also is a clearer distinction between out of district credit and credit recovery.

Finally the list of options for you can get out of district credits from the approved list of from OSPI and from other providers here within the state.

And finally an appeals process that we would be able to provide because of this.

So those were the major changes that we made since you first saw this.

You will excuse me.

Go ahead.

Are we of the point where we can take comments questions concerns.

This one the only one has been pencil whipped a lot.

The only thing that I would add before you make comments is that there also is the policy 24 20 which ironically has the same numbers as 2024 and that one you had received back in January.

There were no concerns about it.

So we simply set it aside.

We will bring it back with 2024 because there were no changes to that.

So in the title of 24 20 is title of 24 20 is high school grade and credit marking policy.

Thank you.

So that's the only other thing I would add before you take questions before you take questions.

Director Director Mack please.

I just really want to give you Director Diane sorry Ms. DeBacker a major thank you for the support around the policy development and the coming back and starting with the goals and putting the purpose back in here and clarifying kind of what the board's intention is and and helping to pencil whip this into.

you know clarification around what belongs in policy what's board policy and what belongs in procedure.

And I really I really really appreciate the staff support on that and the process around thinking through that because you know board policy is board policy.

And the procedures are the action items and we need to be it's you know it's incredibly important to me as a board director that we're careful about where those things lie and that we're you know following our fiduciary duty.

And I just really appreciate your support around you know working through those issues on this policy.

I will pass that on to the people who did the heavy lifting on this Dr. Caleb Perkins and Emily Harrison.

Other comments questions concerns I would ditto those comments and I would suggest that the folks that think our staff doesn't listen to the board.

This is proof positive that is not correct.

This was very collaborative and I also appreciate that there are times that the boards need for detail.

and collaboration might be frustrating to staff especially with such limited bandwidth and staff.

And this is proof positive and welcome to the district.

You only showed up here in January and this one to me is a huge win.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Number six amending board policy 5 0 0 5 employment disclosure certification assurances and approvals A&F April 22nd for.

consideration.

Approval of this item would make edits to board policy 5 0 0 5 employment disclosure certification assurances and approval to allow athletic and human resources departments to conduct national background checks of volunteer coaches through OSPI in parens current practice.

Let me say that again.

Current practice as well as other human resource approved services.

Chief of Human Resources Dr. Clover Codd take it away.

Sure.

Good evening directors Superintendent Juneau.

So the substantive edits in this policy are actually in the section that's titled background checks and the changes are referring to volunteer athletic coaches.

So in 2017 OSPI notified Seattle School District that they would discontinue the fingerprinting background screening for school volunteers.

This prompted staff to begin researching alternative methods for volunteer screening as we needed to ensure that we had something in place that was more comprehensive than the typical watch check that happens for all volunteers in schools at the school sites.

SPS chose to use an online process that allows us to take an applicant social security number to search through criminal record sources.

It is more comprehensive more accurate and more timely than fingerprinting.

We already use this process this online process for volunteers but because our policy stated that volunteer coaches specifically needed to be fingerprinted we are not using that process with them currently.

If you approve these policy changes volunteer coaches will have to be checked through the Washington State Patrol criminal identification system still and then additionally through the national criminal background check service.

OSPI did end up reversing their decision and they now do still continue to process volunteer fingerprint cards.

However the process is incredibly laborious.

It is more expensive and not as comprehensive as the more current technology that searches federal state county municipal criminal records using Social Security numbers.

Currently the OSPI fingerprinting process costs forty four dollars and twenty five cents and takes one to two weeks before we have a result.

This process costs twenty one dollars and we have the results in two to four days.

So Anya.

is our our volunteer service administrator sitting here.

She's the subject matter expert.

She led this effort and she did extensive outreach with internal stakeholders with the athletics department with risk management with human resources community partnerships and with transportation.

And so with that I'll open it up for questions that you might have and I may need to defer to Anya.

Director Pinkham.

I guess for me I always get scared when we start putting social security numbers into computers and searches.

So what kind of guarantee that we're safely doing this and protecting people's identity.

I'm going to have Anya come up because she runs the process.

Good evening board members.

The vendor we're currently working with, verified volunteers, has a very strict privacy and security system in place that we verify that meets our criteria.

However, for A number of reasons volunteers can choose not to go through the SSN based background check whether they don't have a social security number they might feel uncomfortable with using Internet and plugging in that level of personal information.

We would still be able to refer them to the fingerprint based background check process.

So they'll continue to have that option.

Mack.

Does the company that we're contracted with do they have some sort of privacy security statement or assurance.

Yes we have.

We have those documents in place.

We reviewed them when we originally signed up with them.

I also wanted to thank you for the additional in committee we talked about the reality the reality that we have lots of other volunteers not just the coaches but there's volunteers that are in our schools doing lots of different things at different levels of contact with students and this phrase here around having The superintendent or designee provide a basis upon which the frequency and levels of volunteer background checks will be performed is responsive to our concerns there.

And so I really appreciate the conversation and committee about to capture that as well.

Thank you.

Any other questions comments concerns.

Thank you.

Protecting our students obviously is our very very first goal.

OK.

We are now at number 7 which used to be number 8 since we dropped the reduction in force our acceptance of gift of Ms. Smith Brooks property and that the gift be earmarked for use by the Seattle Public Schools.

This came before Audit and Finance April 22nd for.

Consideration.

Approval of this item would approve excuse me would provide authorization for the superintendent to accept Ms. Smith Brooks personal residence which was bequeathed to Leschi Elementary School and that the gift be earmarked for use by the Seattle Public Schools.

Chief Chief operating officer Fred Podesta please take it away.

Good evening.

This is a good opportunity for the district.

A longtime neighbor of Leschi school as the bar says bequeath single family single story house across the street from the school.

We think this came for consideration there were questions at committee about any environmental assessment.

We will treat this as if we were buying the property.

So we have a standard practice of doing a phase 1 environmental assessment which looks at the land uses of the property through its history and gives us indications if we have anything to be concerned of.

It's a fairly straightforward process.

Director Geary please.

And I the discussion was around the fact that many of these old places have the oil tanks.

This does.

It's been appraised.

It has an oil tank.

It's an oil fuel heating.

But we'll we'll examine that as well.

OK.

Because leaky oil tanks can cost lots of money.

Absolutely.

Director Patu.

So will this place actually be used for classes.

It's zone it's a its own single family in a residential neighborhood.

I think taking housing stock out of housing is a tough thing to do.

It would be a use change.

So I think we'll we'll look into what how to leverage this asset in the next step.

Right now we just really want to talk about how honoring the estate's request that we move quickly and accept the property and then I'm sure the discussion about what to do will be its own entertainment.

And at some point it will probably cost more than two hundred fifty dollars and it will be two hundred fifty thousand dollars that will come back to us when decisions or menus are applied.

When we repurpose it or whatever we do.

Absolutely right.

OK.

Of course you may.

I guess I guess I just want to make sure that we're both on the same page here.

So does that mean that the Seattle Public School own this property.

Seattle Public School will own this land and this house.

So if anything that it's actually in that property it would be Seattle Public Schools responsibility.

Yes but we will ensure it and treat it like all our other real property.

OK.

Thank you.

OK.

Number 9 BTA for resolution 2018 19 dash 23 acceptance of the building commissioning report for the Roxhill at E.C.

Hughes Elementary School modernization project ops April 18th for.

Approval.

Approval of this item would accept the building commissioning report for the Roxhill at E.C.

Hughes Elementary School modernization project in accordance with Washington Administrative Code 3 9 2 dash 3 4 4 dash 1 6 5 as required to complete the office of superintendent public instruction S.P.I. Form D dash 11 application to release retainage approval of the resolution meets identified requirements.

There's an engineer's report that accepts the work.

We have several actions tonight that are all contract acceptance or a commissionary report.

The project's been complete.

An independent engineer has reviewed the work and found that we meet our requirements for state funding to commission the building and move forward.

Questions comments concerns this is more likely a compliance item and has already been through several several several layers of review.

Is that correct.

That's true.

OK.

Number 10 BEX IV BTA IV approval of construction change order number 17 for the Lincoln High School modernization and addition project.

This came before Ops April 18th for.

Consideration approval of this item would authorize the superintendent to execute construction change order number 17 in the amount of one million two hundred ninety thousand six hundred eighty six dollars and one cent.

Can we start rounding these census please.

Let's call it one point three plus Washington state sales tax with any minor additions deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to take any necessary actions to implement the change order.

So this is a change order consisting of 26 different work items at the Lincoln High School project which is under active construction right now.

It did go through Ops and thank you Director Geary who reviews all our change orders in detail.

These vary from five hundred ish dollars to a couple hundred thousand dollars so that it's a variety kinds of work some things affecting every window in the building some things affecting a door jam.

So.

And we need to keep the project moving along because we're opening the school in the fall.

Director Mack.

And if I remember correctly some of this is adjustments that are being made so that the what are they the east buildings where the auditorium is. that wasn't originally going to be updated so that was more usable that these this this some of that is helping to make sure that when we open the school those buildings will be usable and refreshed.

Yes these are smaller components that allow us to get more usable space out of the building.

I think part of the previous change order may have supported some of that as well.

And these are again varying sized pieces of work that support that and many many other things as well.

Yeah.

And I kind of want to make a point for our colleagues here as well that the original proposal quite a while ago that was turned down was substantially larger for a full remodel of these buildings as opposed to updating them and making them more useful in their current state.

What they've done is they're going to make it so it's going to be beautiful and usable.

The auditoriums and the gym and so forth at a reasonable cost to taxpayers.

Just kind of want to make that point.

Thank you for that.

Are we still on budget.

Yes.

Terrific.

Of course you may.

Director Patu.

Are these buildings that actually are not in use right now or it's it's presently used.

Lincoln High School was used as an interim site for many many years.

Most recently a couple of years ago for Cascadia Elementary as well as Licton Springs they were in the building and I believe also one of the special ed programs was in there until it was correct until it was closed to start the reconstruction and it'll be opening as the high school next year.

And so the building that the buildings that I'm mentioning the auditorium and the gym had been in pretty poor shape and weren't planned to be remodeled but they're actually going to have a refresh.

And a great deal of community pushback that they weren't included in the initial project.

OK moving on.

Thank you.

Number 11 BTA 3 resolution 2018 19 — 24 final acceptance of contract K 5 0 8 0 with Mike Ehrlich construction Inc. for the Blaine K8 water mains and fire sprinklers.

Project this came before Ops April 18th for approval of this item would adopt resolution 2018 19 dash 24 and accept the work performed under contract K 5 0 8 0 with Mike Werlich construction Inc. for the Blaine water mains and fire sprinklers project as final.

Is this also a compliance issue sir.

This is a contractual issue just to close out the Contract release whatever project retainage remains the works been complete the fire suppression systems have been improved as well as the water mains

And those have all been inspected by third parties if I recall correctly under state laws.

Absolutely.

OK.

Questions comments concerns seeing none.

Number 12 BTA 3 BTA 4 resolution 2018 19 dash 25 final acceptance of contract K 5 0 7 4 with Field Turf USA Inc. for the synthetic turf replacement not crumb rubber.

track resurfacing and field lighting infrastructure at Roosevelt High School project came before Ops April 18th for.

Approval.

Approval of this item would adopt resolution 2018 19 dash 25 and accept the work performed under contract K 5 0 7 4 with Field Turf USA Inc. for the synthetic turf replacement track resurfacing and field lighting infrastructure at Roosevelt High School.

project as final.

Yes.

Again as turf track and lights the turf was installed in 2017. This is the final close out of the project and the contractual close out again.

All these bars are about things that have gotten done.

And that's very exciting and I also want to point out and give props to my colleague Director Geary that reviews these purchase orders.

I'm so impressed that you have the stamina and the fortitude to do that.

Some folks aren't good at it.

I certainly would not be and I appreciate your doing so.

I enjoy it.

I think we have great project managers.

I've enjoyed the opportunity to bring some consistency in how the information is reported out so that one can go easily now into those reports and determine whether they were owner asked city required unforeseen conditions or errors or bidding problems.

So like all things we do.

It affects our kids it affects our budget.

It's important.

It's interesting.

The enthusiasm that team has for their work is kind of infectious.

So there somebody else should try this after Director Geary.

BTA 3 BTA 4 resolution 2018 19 — 21 final acceptance of contract K 1 3 0 3 with Aries Building Systems LLC for the purchase and installation of portable classroom modules project ops April 18th for.

Approval.

Approval of this item would adopt resolution 2018 19 dash 21 and accept the work performed under contract K 1 3 0 3 with Aries Building Systems LLC for the purchase and installation of portable classroom modules project as final.

Director Mack.

Where I'm sorry I'm just not seeing it in the title here and I didn't open it up where where's where's where are these portables.

There are multiple locations there are Coe Robert Eagle Staff and Ingram.

And this is a final acceptance.

So these were done last year or the year before.

Yes over multiple years I believe.

We ended up doing quite a bit fewer than was originally planned to spend about half the amount of money that was originally in the budget.

OK.

Closing in on the finish line.

Last introduction resolution BTA 4 resolution 2018 19 dash 14 final acceptance of contract K 5 0 8 8 with Wayne's Roofing Inc. for the Ballard High School and West Seattle High School roof replacement project.

This came before Ops April 18th for.

Approval of this item would adopt resolution 2018 19 dash 14 and accept the work performed under contract K 5 0 8 8 with Wayne's roofing Inc. for the Ballard High School and West Seattle High School roof replacement project as final.

The West Seattle roof project was a project that would not die.

Poor poor Mr. Best had to come talk to us all the time about this because of the historical significance.

Is that your recollection as well.

We're done with this.

Yes.

Done with this and Ballard.

Hallelujah.

This meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.