Corresponding procedure 14 30 board procedure.
Public testimony rules are one person speaks at a time.
Comments need to be addressed to the board.
Please adhere to the time limit.
You'll get a 30 second yellow caution light warning and two minutes goes very very fast.
The focus of the comments should be on the issues and solutions that you signed up for.
The majority of the time must be spent on the topic you signed up for.
No racial slurs personal insults ridicule or threats will be allowed.
And this one's important.
No comments regarding personnel matters or naming Seattle Public Schools personnel.
If you've come with a righteous complaint figure out a way to do it respectfully without breaking the rules because I will gavel you down and ask you to leave the podium.
Please don't make me use it.
No comments regarding those.
All signs brought to the meeting are also subject to these ground rules and I see no problem with beautiful signs in the front row.
What a surprise.
Librarians.
Could you please.
Call the first three speakers and if the speakers could line up once they are called it would assist us in moving this meeting along.
Thank you so much.
First up for public testimony this evening we have Ronan Axtell followed by Chris Jackins followed by Sabrina Burr.
Hello I am here on behalf of Ingram high school and I am a freshman there I am also a member of the associated student body.
Through my three quarters of school at Ingram I have absolutely loved it.
The inclusivity of the school is amazing as my co school goer Liam talked about.
We have all gender bathrooms and all kinds of people whose interest and all people's interests are respected and given a voice with over 60 clubs.
I went out for golf a sport I'd been playing for less than a year and got varsity opportunities.
I got varsity opportunities with tennis and basketball as well.
Ingram has a culture of inclusivity.
This does not always reach the classroom though.
Of the 112 IB diploma candidates in the class of 2018. only one is African-American.
17% of Ingram is African-American yet African-Americans are only represented in the IB program at a rate of 0.89%.
This is unacceptable.
We are however making strides.
Through the tireless work of our administrators we have established the SSC or student success center.
This is a center strictly for freshmen where they can come in and get snacks if they're hungry during or after school.
They also offer tutoring after school every single day.
The fact that students somewhere and the fact that somewhere students always feel welcome and can go get help with their homework is an anomaly is not good.
Ingraham High School is one of the.
if not only the high school in Seattle with this program.
It is designed to stop people from falling through the cracks in our school system.
I do not believe that this is enough.
I believe that all people should be able to rise up through the cracks and that all demographics should be equally represented in all of our programs.
Thank you very much.
My name is Chris Jackins Box 8 4 0 6 3 Seattle 9 8 1 2 4. On the guiding principles for the BEX V capital levy five points.
Number one the principles refer to quote preservation of district investments unquote.
Number two this contrasts with the district's proposal to demolish a school building at Wing Luke that the district paid six million dollars to construct only 12 years ago.
Number three the district also needs to preserve playground space.
Instead the district has been approving numerous projects that shrink playgrounds.
Number four by such actions the district is inviting the public to vote no on the proposed February levy.
Number five the board report states that quote formal community engagement was not conducted to develop these principles unquote.
Please slow down.
Please vote no.
On the superintendent employment agreement six points.
Number one on May 20th 2015 the school board voted to accept a 2.7 million dollar anonymous athletic program matching grant.
Number two the board has not asked the finalist candidate for superintendent to give a public pledge to not accept employment from this secret donor.
Number three the current superintendent gave such a public pledge as did all board members present at the May 20th 2015 meeting.
Number four however all current board members except for one have not given such a pledge.
Number five this appears to be an ethical conflict of interest to then not be requiring the same pledge from the finalist candidate for superintendent.
Number six I asked that these six board members recuse themselves from the vote today until they have resolved this matter.
Thank you.
Mr. Jackins I'd like to respond to the latter part of your testimony.
Each and every one of these board members disclosed their potential and real conflicts of interest in January 2018 which I think addresses your concerns.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And as you know I followed that and I don't think that covered it.
So that's why I'm bringing it up again today.
Thank you.
Next up after Sabrina Burr we will have Anna Marshall followed by Emily Mitchell and Lexi Well.
Good evening.
You guys do a lot of hard work and I don't think often enough we thank you for what you do right.
When we were on the superintendent search a lot of people gave you pushback as to how you weren't listening to community and yadda yadda yadda.
You were very clear that you were listening and you heard but you were firm in the process and what you guys decided as school board directors.
The process that you did gave the outcome that I think that was your intent.
And I just want to thank you.
The other thing that I noticed is this process as our school board directors has brought you guys closer and that's something that benefits the whole district.
So first off I just really want to applaud you.
Thank you for finding a great future superintendent for us.
And thank you for the tireless work you do often not getting.
Thank you for the things that you get right.
So I wanted to say that.
The other topic I want to talk about is our family support workers and I believe for our families they are glue.
But I do not believe that they are valued in this district for what they do.
And I also believe that there is a racial overtone And we're not following our own equity policy.
Most of the people who are family support workers are people of color.
Most of the people who they serve are people of color or people who are in lower economic means or crisis in their life.
And we don't put the same value on them.
But summer before last at Roadmap when we had 60 people from this district not only did we recognize the great work that they do in buildings the great work that they do for our district.
They need to be teaching a lot around family engagement and how they engage with our critical families and we need to use an equity lens and take the racism out of that position and make sure we have them in as many schools as possible because they're a critical part of the great work that this district's doing.
Thank you.
Thank you for your service.
I'm a Thornton Creek parent with a first grader and a middle schooler who graduated from Thornton Creek and I'm here to request an audit of the district's process for hiring our new principal.
This could be done and addressed in the corrective action plan for past employees.
The hiring process was not aligned with board policies nor with the email that parents and staff received describing what would happen.
Here was our process.
Some parents and staff received an email on March 9th kicking off a timeline that had started in mid February.
We had only days to pull together an interview committee and some selection criteria.
We had no meaningful guidance from the district.
Next parents received a very confusing and off putting survey from the district.
We were not allowed to submit any interview questions although other schools hiring principals this year were.
The interview process was expedited and opaque and there is no evidence that Thornton Creek specific needs were considered at any point in the process.
It is not clear that our staff on the interview committee felt safe during and after the process.
I understand that they have requested a meeting even before the hiring decision was made and that they've sought union representation.
The district's Tone Deaf email announcing the hiring decision listed their generic priorities but none of our community's specific needs.
Rather than provide clarifying information district staff called a parent on our site council and said tell your parents to stop calling and writing.
Whoever becomes Thornton Creek's new principal will be welcomed.
But before then we need the district to address this very rogue process and at a minimum we need to answer to these two questions.
How is a man with less than five years of certified experience more qualified than a woman with two decades.
Why is the selected candidate the right person to lead our large and growing creative approach options school.
Thank you.
Emily Lexi after Lexi we'll have Matt Mitchell followed by Manuela Sly and Christine Cornell.
Hi I'm Lexi Ralph.
I'm a parent of two middle middle schoolers and a PTSA president at Eagle Staff Middle School and I'm here today to express my concerns about overcapacity issues that are now upon us in our well first year and second year of operation.
The building was originally designed for a thousand middle school students but as a result of a post design decision to co-locate Licton Springs K-8 in one wing we have 160 K-8 students in one wing 720 middle schoolers in the other two wings and shared common spaces.
It's been tight this year and sharing has not been as smooth as one would like.
Next year we anticipate to have another 100 students in the middle school.
We will be over capacity.
It's going to be very squishy.
There's not much else we can do.
probably looking at portables on site.
Nobody's very happy about that.
I'm sure there are other suggestions that are going to arise in the next little while and we're looking to the board for guidance on those.
The following year we're going to have probably another 100 students coming in which means we're going to be looking at some student reassignment plans again we're going to be looking at maybe boundaries or HCC pathways or something.
I'm here today to implore you to start the process now.
We know this is going to be an issue.
And it doesn't have to be something that we wait until a week before next year's open enrollment to address.
There are a lot of people wondering what's going on.
We just went through this we just went through the boundaries issue we just went through the assignment plan.
Please I'm asking you I'm begging you communicate openly engage families engage staff.
Let's figure this out as soon as possible so that we can get the ball rolling and make sure everybody knows where things lie.
Because we do not have space for a thousand students at our school.
We're going to have a thousand students this year and it's going to be tight.
We definitely won't be able to have any more than that going forward.
So please help us both this year going forward so you don't make the staff all have to decide who's going to get what and then going forward.
Let's get the plans going right now.
Thank you.
Mack.
Manuela.
Christine Cornell.
After Christine we have Marty Breck Hutchins and Tuesd Chambers.
OK so our testimony is a joint testimony but our spots are not next to each other so we're going to have a fun little intermission in there for you guys.
Hi my name is Christine Cornell and my name is Isabel Dunaway.
We are seniors at the center school and we would like to speak to you on the subject of educational tracking.
School tracking is inherently unjust.
It is de facto modern day segregation.
Aside from its immorality tracking is also an ineffective educational policy for improving student performance because it fails to serve students of all racial and class backgrounds equally.
As a high school senior who is heading to college next year to become a teacher issues of education are very important to me.
I have been paying attention to my own experiences and observing what seems to be working or not working for my fellow students.
We are here today to share our experience and encourage you to consider that instead of trying to make gifted programs more inclusive you should focus on making all of our classes more effective for a diversity of students.
As you know in recent years tracked programs such as the highly capable cohort program HCC have not reflected the diversity of Seattle school district as a whole.
Although black students make up approximately 16 percent of the district's population in 2017 only around 1 percent of HCC students were black.
While there are many causes of this racial disparity they certainly include some pretty fundamental flaws of educational tracking.
Although all students technically have the opportunity to test into the program.
Sorry.
Test into the program.
Students growing up in traditionally more enriched educational environments will naturally have an advantage in early years.
Using that early advantage to track those students into the educational fast lane locks in and expands their privilege.
The result is the disturbing racial student performance gaps we are seeing in the Seattle School District today.
This unofficial segregation is a vicious cycle of oppression.
The racial disparity is in track programs make them an unwelcoming or unattractive choice for underrepresented students who do test in.
If the goal of such a program is to challenge the most academically capable students but many minority students don't feel comfortable accepting the opportunity.
The district isn't doing its part to help said students achieve their full potential.
We'll be back.
Marty.
Hello my name is Marty Brekke.
I'm a parent and I chair district relations along with Cassie Condon who chairs communications for Thornton Creek site council.
We're here speaking on behalf of our community because over the past month there has been unnecessary confusion frustration and animosity at the hands of the district over the principal hiring process.
The district promised transparency, community involvement and a dedication to finding a candidate that would uphold the inclusive values and programming that has made Thornton Creek Elementary the most popular elementary option school in the district.
What we received from the district was a confusing survey that didn't align to community value and when we asked if we could rewrite it we were told no.
When we asked for two interview questions to be added to the interviews we were told no.
We were told an email by the district that the district would meet with our community to determine desired characteristics and standing here representing our community tonight I can tell you that didn't happen.
Yet for Bryant, View Ridge and Wedgwood elementaries all of these basic asks were allowed.
At our site council meeting last month we discussed what we wanted in a principal and it was clear.
We hope for a principal that valued a diverse and creative population and program.
A principal who didn't just work on IEPs but worked on a community of inclusivity.
One who saw and valued option schools as a way of meeting all students across the district and closing the achievement gap.
One who was ready to invest in expeditionary learning and responsive classroom as a way to meet kids where they are and helping them go beyond their potential.
One that knew how to harness the power of an engaged parent community and embrace our shared support model through our site council.
One that would challenge and grow our teachers and one that would continue to fight for expeditionary learning through curriculum curriculum waivers and allowing grades to loop.
What we received from the district was an email announcing our new principal highlighting that he had worked abroad but the email was completely tone deaf to the values of Thornton Creek community had put forward.
So the district has dug a big hole for a new principal to climb out of but we're here to help.
The silver lining in this whole process is that we have galvanized over our community as a community over our values and our community stands united in our core principles.
We want our new principal to be a success.
We want our option school to welcome him.
We want our option school to continue to flourish and we we totally welcome him.
So thank you.
After that will be Cassie Condon followed by Todd Richard Bowers and Isabel Dunaway.
My name is actually Tuesday.
My name is Tuesday Chambers and I'm the Ballard high school librarian and I'm here because of kids.
I serve almost 2000 students at my school and I'm here because I believe in the power of libraries and we know strong school libraries build strong students.
Studies have proven that when spending for school libraries rise better reading scores follow and test scores at schools with full time certified librarians are significantly higher.
This means that schools are not supporting all of our students in the Seattle school district.
We have schools right now without librarians.
We have elementary schools with part time librarians even though their size is bigger than some middle schools.
We have middle schools and high schools without funding for books or technology.
We are not serving all of our students not even close.
What happens if you have resources?
Resources like a full time librarian.
Resources like equitable funding for all students regardless of where your geographic location is.
Resources like technology for all students to meet 21st century skills and due to budget cuts in the past services and support to libraries has been slashed.
But we can change this.
You can change this.
If we want to build strong students we have to build strong school libraries.
So today I'm inviting all of you to come to Ballard High School.
to meet with the students to meet with the teachers to come to the library and to have these conversations to be part of this plan and to be part of us moving forward to build strong schools strong libraries and strong students.
Will.
Cassie.
Marty and I gave a joint statement so I'm giving my time up.
Thank you for your time.
Todd.
Good afternoon.
My name is Todd Bowers.
I'm the parent of a first grader and a third grader at Thornton Creek Elementary School.
Thank you for the microphone.
Sure.
Usually people don't have to say that to me but sure.
My name is Todd Bowers.
I'm the parent of two small children that go to Thornton Creek Elementary School.
I'm a proud supporter of our public schools.
I'm here to speak tonight about the principal change at Thornton Creek.
What I'd like to do is read into the record an email that all of us parents received this afternoon from assistant superintendent Mike Starosky and I think it's important to read it into the record.
I'm not sure you have heard this.
So.
Excuse me.
I'm out.
Please.
Are you going to be naming any of our personnel?
No ma'am I will not.
OK thanks.
We've got to be really clear on this.
Understood.
Thank you sir.
And I can tell you that we have in fact received the email this afternoon.
Each and every one of us.
Then what I'll do is just read a couple of highlights if I might.
Thank you sir.
Sure.
Thornton Creek Elementary has become a leader in SPS for its expeditionary learning focus under the leadership of Principal John Miner.
Mr. Miner, along with past and present staff, has worked with the parents of and community of Thornton Creek to create a great culture and curriculum we expect to continue.
The hallmarks of Thornton Creek, such as expeditionary learning, will continue to be supported by central office leadership.
We have heard concerns from some in the community and want to clarify the following.
First, there are no plans to shift away from the expeditionary learning focus.
Second, the district has no plans to close Thornton Creek as an option school in the Northeast region or make it a neighborhood school by getting rid of expeditionary learning.
So I want to thank Mr. Starofsky and the district for going on the record and committing to continuing Thornton Creek as an option school and continuing to support the expeditionary learning model that we use.
That's the why is it important.
It's important because.
As a group of parents we were extremely concerned about the principal change.
We've seen what's happened with principal changes at other option schools when they've lost their programs.
So it's critically important for us to have received this reassurance.
We're very appreciative of that.
We would also ask the school board members to commit to continuing to support our model at Thornton Creek as an option school.
And the last thing I'd like to say is, of course, if Mr. Gaspar is our principal, we will gladly work with him and support him.
That's what our community is all about.
So thank you very much for your time this evening.
We're back.
So if educational tracking is unjust then what's the alternative?
By having one untracked set of standards for grade level performance all students will have the opportunity to learn together.
It is true that not all students will have the necessary skills and background knowledge to meet grade level standards.
And in those cases gaps need to be identified and addressed holistically and ongoingly from K through 12. It is also true that some students will find simply meeting their grade level standard to be unchallenging.
And these students need to be pushed to find more interesting, challenging and engaging ways to apply the material they are learning.
By identifying where each student starts out relative to the standard, it is possible to engineer a classroom environment and curriculum that can both challenge and support its students as needed.
A truly integrated classroom has much more promise for reducing and eliminating the achievement gap between different racial and socioeconomic groups.
It better engages students who are gifted in some subjects but may struggle in others.
And perhaps most importantly it allows all students to experience and benefit from a diverse.
Sorry.
It allows all students to experience and benefit from the full diversity of backgrounds that are.
and perspectives that are found in our district student population.
Though this approach we are through this approach we are creating not only academically capable students but successful well-rounded citizens.
Thank you.
Next up we have Brian Terry followed by Cecilia Lehman and Rebecca Wynkoop.
Good evening.
Thank you for supporting equity in advanced learning.
Today a white student is 20 times more likely than a black student to be identified as highly capable.
This is because the program is based on an outdated definition of giftedness that excludes underprivileged students.
The resulting highly segregated classrooms send a clear message to all of our students.
White students are more capable and more deserving.
This is nowhere obvious than at Thurgood Marshall where HCC classrooms sit next to neighborhood classrooms.
I have heard that on the playground students from the mostly white HCC classrooms are referred to as the smart kids.
One can only imagine what they call the students from the mostly black neighborhood classrooms.
District staff complained that they cannot unbiased the program because the service model is too rigid.
The solution seems simple.
We asked teachers in all of our neighborhood classrooms to serve students with a wide range of academic needs by asking HCC teachers to do the same.
Our program can expand to include highly capable students who are underprivileged twice exceptional English language learners those advanced in only one subject and those who excel in art or music.
This will allow us to desegregate our HCC classrooms.
Once we do this our students of color will get a very different message.
All of our students are smart kids and we are doing our best to help each and every one of them to reach their full potential.
Thank you.
Hello my name is Cecilia Lehman.
I'm a parent at Pathfinder K-8.
I signed up to speak about some of the many issues that our parents are experiencing due to transportation busing issues.
First I want to start by saying that we did have some district staff reach out to us and come to our PTSA meeting last night talk to our parents.
This is very meaningful to our parents who are experiencing problems and they appreciate that the district is reaching out to us.
And while one meeting does not solve this very large issue we do have parents who are now asking OK what is the next step and being able to look forward.
I want to highlight some of the greatest concerns our parents have some of the issues they've experienced.
We have routes at our school that are chronically late.
One parent said that their route is cursed.
Many parents have given up.
Parents are understandably upset when the district goes on and on about attendance but they can't get the buses there on time.
We understand that the root of this problem is largely the driver's driver's shortage.
But this is a great issue to our families who depend on the busing to get their kids to school so they can get to work and where they need to be.
Safety is also a very great concern.
Recently one parent had a child who missed their drop off and instead of returning to the spot to let her off they just stopped a few blocks past her stop and had her walk home on an unfamiliar route.
Training of drivers is a very big concern to our parents.
With the driver shortage it seems that new and untrained drivers are being set out on routes unprepared.
They may technically be licensed to drive a bus but they are not ready for a solar route.
Last night a couple solutions were floated.
One was possibly the idea of opting out and some of these solutions may require board policy changes.
Opting out was the idea that if parents don't need bus service they could actually opt themselves out.
So to help consolidate the routes and make them shortage shorter.
I did talk to a couple parents at our school and why I can't talk for everyone.
Parents who use consistently before and after school care five days a week may be open to this idea.
One option that parents were not happy with was an idea of optimatic opting out.
There are many more things that I can't get into this two minutes but we do look forward to looking working with the district in the future to help us solve this problem.
After Rebecca Winecoop we will have Kimberly Lois followed by Amanda Roach and J.K.
Burwell.
Good evening.
I'm Rebecca Winecoop and I'm the librarian at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School.
I have the absolute honor of entering a school building and teaching in a library each day that was built as a palace.
Our library sits physically and pedagogically at the center the heart of our school.
I work for a principal who had the wisdom to hire a librarian to the design team.
I work collaboratively with teachers who understand that multimodal literacy is at the core of all of our learning and I get to spend each day with passionate curious students.
Our library is full of more than 18000 brand new books.
Our 730 students check out an average of over 3000 books each month.
We have one to one iPads two to one laptops 3D printers collaborative LCD screens a maker space plenty of comfortable and flexible furniture and we have a full time librarian.
Our library in our library will see co-taught lessons across all disciplines you'll see student led book clubs and students clamoring to the front of the room to feverishly grab new books.
You'll see that this year over 25000 votes were cast in our first ever March book madness and that the 57 bus was overwhelmingly chosen to represent the reading lives of our Ravens readers.
A devastatingly true story of a terrifying attack that speaks to our human desire to find right through restorative justice.
You'll see students working independently and in small groups.
You'll see over 200 students each day choosing to spend their lunchtime in our library.
All SPS students need and deserve the same level of new and engaging literature flexible and appropriate technology and facilities and a full time trained and educated librarian.
We already know that gross inequities exist in our libraries across the district.
I'd like to leave you with this paraphrase from one of my favorite writers.
We don't need little changes.
We need gigantic monumental change.
Our school libraries should be palaces.
The competition for the best teacher librarians should be fierce.
Our libraries and all the resources they provide should be incredibly expensive for our school district and absolutely free and accessible to our students families and teachers every day and every hour our schools are open.
School libraries serve every student teacher and family.
Libraries are the silver bullet.
Our libraries are everything.
I would say that instead of working for your principal you work with your principal.
Words matter.
Thanks.
Kimberly Lois.
Amanda Roach.
After Amanda we have J.K.
Burwell followed by Craig Seasholes and Naj Ali.
Good evening.
My name is Amanda Roach.
I'm a Daniel Bagley elementary parent and the school's teacher librarian.
Last May I applied for and was offered my dream job.
I work in my neighborhood and at my child's school.
I walk to work most days and I enjoy the beauty of Green Lake from my library windows.
Most importantly I'm doing what I love.
I connect students with books information and learning by engaging with their interests and opening up their choices.
I see each and every student in our school on a weekly basis and most more than once a week.
I learn their names and their reading habits their stories and their struggles.
For example I know that many of our students are unable to access their local public libraries for a variety of reasons.
By underfunding school libraries our district is showing that closing the achievement gap is not a real concern.
My positions FTE some of which is supplemented by our PTA has been cut for two years in a row now despite the fact that total FTE in the school has gone up dramatically this year.
When my principal asked the district if she could use the new K through 3 class size reduction funds so that I could specifically serve K through 3 students with my additional time the answer was no.
It didn't have to be used for classroom teachers or even just K through 3 students but it couldn't be used for more librarian FTE.
It's demoralizing that solutions for funding libraries continue to be rejected.
Despite having my dream job and loving my school community I'm already looking elsewhere for a district that shows it loves its librarians by funding full time librarians in every school.
According to my recent research Shoreline Edmonds Lake Washington Mercer Island Renton Tukwila Highline and Bashan all employ full time certificated librarians in every elementary school.
It's a problem that this district's excellent experienced teacher librarians have to keep fighting each year to provide library services to SPS students.
I'll see you soon.
Hi my name is Craig Seasholes I'm a teacher librarian too.
And as you say let's look do solutions oriented work.
Last time we at the beginning of school library month we were able to hear from everybody about the importance that libraries play in individual students lives and also in the life of a school and for solutions oriented the legislation that did pass the legislature 63 62 will be a major piece of financial planning on the part of the district.
because the legislative intent is line item clear.
Twenty dollars per FTE for school library materials period.
And so I know that takes a lot of work downtown.
But what a solution to a problem and an equity oriented solution for every student in Washington State.
I would like the board and the administration to revisit the gold book decision the weighted staffing formula decision that removed the teaching of educational technology as a PCP option as schools have lost those positions in PCP funding.
They may only be reinstated as art or physical education And as every bit as important as those two aspects of a student's life is success and academic achievement in 2018 may involve information technology and additional instruction and a point five PCP would solve the halftime elementary librarian problem.
put information library and information technology programs on a full time basis in our schools.
And please readdress the gold book problem that cropped up for good reason but has created a problem for our students.
Thank you very much.
Have you met with our.
Assistant Superintendent for budget and finance regarding the gold standard regarding the apportionment of those dollars.
I've appreciated the invitation two years ago after testimony but that did not happen in that summer.
And I know that our new library supervisor is speaking with finance about some of those implications and I'm helping advise her according to what the library association perspective is.
So I'm trying to participate and I welcome the invitation.
If if you could spend some quality time so that the board gets the feedback back as to those conversations it would be very much appreciated.
And as you say this is a with conversation.
Yes it is.
Thank you very much.
Naj Ali.
Eric Curtis Feeney.
After Eric we will have Essence Robeson and Jennifer Allen.
My name is Eric Feeney from PGA from Green Lake Elementary.
This is my first such meeting.
It's very energizing.
A lot of great work happening here.
So super exciting.
Are my issue feels a little localized but it's still important to my community.
We've sometimes got a little bit ahead of ourselves.
We've raised a decent sum of money to improve our playfield facilities.
from the community and sport and physical health is very important to us.
Our grass area where we used to have has been replaced by portables.
Now we only have the sea of asphalt.
We understand it's the current policy of the school system that turf fields are not allowed for elementary schools but we are willing to assume current and future costs and hassles associated with the project.
It is our ask that the system come to the table in a capacity to help us figure out how to make it work not with a list of reasons why it can't.
You know we are an educational facility and trying to teach people how to solve problems and take things forward.
So we are a very engaged community.
We will have a part of our fundraising that is meant to apportion to proportionally to give to other districts that aren't so fortunate as we are.
So you know I think that there's a way to engage the community keep the money in the school system things of that nature.
So I'm just asking for your help and to kind of help the policies and the guidance for the employees to kind of look for solutions not for citing the reasons why things are challenging.
We understand that there's a lot that you're working on so we understand.
But we're we're willing to do work.
We're willing to help.
Please just help us find a way to accomplish our goals.
Thank you.
Could you and associate superintendent Herndon and community engagement Mr. Bush go out and exchange information so that you can start that conversation.
Thank you.
Essence.
You have to forgive the sunglasses I'm slightly concussed.
I'm here to support two agenda items.
One is the renovation of Rainier Beach High School.
We will attend every meeting and plea with the directors to keep your central office accountable for keeping us on the BEX V and first on the list.
They make the decisions before it gets to you.
We need to get every word they've displayed on their proposals as it seems to spew inequities and then they blame the directors for their injustices.
They have not done a good job in facilitating the BEX V meetings in the southeast because they cannot explain how they are using an inequity lens when deciding which schools are built first.
The parents are very disappointed that they could not come prepared.
Second the family support specialist position under the family support program who created senior pods has served all of our students and families for at least for the last seven years at our school and is at risk of being cut because the school district is trying to do away with the program.
The services this position provided to all our seniors are responsible for the increase in graduation rates at Rainier Beach High School.
I mean why would you take that away?
Why would you take something that valuable away from our community?
It doesn't make sense.
In addition she has helped a lot of families who were homeless or on the verge of being homeless with valuable resources.
She serves as the McKinney-Vento liaison as well.
There are too many amazing things this position has blessed our students with and I will be sending letters from the supporting families, students and community members.
We the students at Rainier Beach High School and its community are asking the district to save the family support program by placing them on the district baseline budget or ensure this program is not being closed by central office in Seattle schools.
The central office has recreated the will by creating other job titles that are very similar to the family support workers or specialists.
And just a reminder repaint does not equal renovation.
Thank you.
All right.
That concludes a public testimony list for this evening.
OK with indulgence of my colleagues we're going to continue with board comments.
Then we're going to take a short break.
Then we'll move to action item and including but not limited to signing a superintendent contract.
Would you like to go next Director Geary.
I would then Director Burke.
Thank you.
And I wanted to catch Essence before she left and remind it's still our policy to allow students when they identify themselves as speakers to be moved to the top of the list so long as they called in within that first 25 people.
So when you call in students and you want to speak to us identify that you are students.
We don't do that.
In the top 20 not so essence.
And when students want to testify you should identify that you are students testifying and if you call within the first 20 you will be moved to the top so you may speak first.
We recognize that you may need to.
go home get going on your homework and that sitting late into these meetings isn't necessary.
But that is a policy and I wanted to let all the students here because I'm so happy to see you and I want you to know that we extend that privilege to you to show our appreciation for your participation.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Thank you for speaking.
OK so thank you everybody for coming.
I want to thank our Ingram representatives.
I think I think they're gone.
And Isabel and I wrote down your names here.
Isabel and Christine thank you for coming.
This is Isabel and Christine's third year coming to testify to the board.
And I just I mean I get I seriously I get emotional seeing them.
I feel like I've watched them grow up.
I can't believe they're going off to college and they probably won't be here next year.
It makes me kind of weepy.
And then this year you're not fighting for the saving your school which we've always loved but you're here fighting a battle that I think as you heard Mr. Terry is one that is really it's becoming important to everybody here.
that we recognize equity in our educational offerings is important to you our students that you even even the students from Ingram said it.
Everybody says it who goes to our high schools.
They don't like to see those divisions.
They do recognize that that is an institutional problem that is not a problem inherent in our people in our students.
Every student can learn.
We heard that from Mr. Perry from Nova.
You have to have that relentless belief that every student can benefit from a great education and you are going out becoming teachers with that belief.
It kills me.
I love it so much.
Anyway thank you for coming.
All right.
Well that gets through a lot of what I wanted to say because I It is so important the inclusion piece and the non-tracking piece.
And I want to say this we are forming task forces and we see that and I want to make sure that we are including students in our task forces and I want to make sure that we are not just saying a student.
Because I don't think it's comfortable for a student in a district of 54000 students to have to come into a room of adults and teachers who are well versed in the process.
Nor can you probably as one student attend every single scheduled meeting because you may have midterms tomorrow.
You may have a sporting event that you need to be at.
We need to create for our task forces cohorts of representative students from around our district to communicate on their own away from the group to create a message that you then feel empowered and supported.
in speaking to the power that you see before you that we in the structure that we have created.
It's time for that change.
We are on the cusp of a huge change between the people that were and the people that are going to be.
And you see that you feel it you want it and you have to lead it.
And so we need to make that structure for you and I I will just say anything that comes before me that says task force I will say.
How are we going to structure this to be realistic in incorporating a student voice.
So thank you.
And that's my pledge to you.
I visited Eckstein middle school and have been doing so regularly.
I think middle schools are a great place.
Mr. Principal Perry mentioned how ninth grade is a real indicator or no the African Advisory Committee mentioned how ninth grade one of the other how ninth grade participation is a real indicator of what's going to happen.
And let's face it.
What's happening in ninth grade was greatly informed by what happened in middle school.
And so I think sometimes we forget that we look at statistics that start at ninth grade we look at statistics that talk about third grade.
But what's happening in middle schools is a time that we all have to really wrap our ourselves our mind around those kids to make sure that they're entering high school not to feel alienated.
So I've been spending time going to my middle school and to that end Dr. Jones and I are going to visit Eckstein this week on a listening tour where we're going in and asking questions of the students and allowing them to talk to us pretty open endedly.
And we're pledging to do that as as one of our initial steps and really trying to figure out the best way forward.
And I know I know our board members all celebrate that work.
So stay tuned on that.
Thank you to our passionate librarians.
for coming and talking to us.
We so appreciate what you do and we we will continue to look for ways and I I encourage you to keep showing up because top of mind seems to get things done.
Thank you for the Thornton Creek community for coming and acknowledging that you received a letter that reassured you.
I apologize for the tone deaf letter that went out because I think that Thornton Creek is a community that I personally love and I'm so proud to have it in my district as a place that has really fought for a very inclusion perspective around kids of all different kinds of abilities.
And and so to get a letter that doesn't acknowledge You as a community when you have fought so hard to maintain that sense of identity.
I understand how that feels.
It feels like if you cannot be acknowledged for who you are then what was the process that was used was were sincere.
Did people do what they say.
Do they know who they're talking to.
Do they know how important expeditionary learning is.
Since you showed up at my meeting on Tuesday I have had several long conversations with staff.
And yes it is important.
And yes that letter was a mismatch.
And so we all extend our apologies for that.
And what I would like to do and I'm so thankful that you're saying you're going to welcome your new principal because everything I've heard about him he should be an easy person for you to welcome and that he is indeed very excited about expeditionary learning.
And Helen Young is very excited about your project based learning environment and looking for ways that we can support it and potentially grow it throughout our district.
It is a model that works.
And we're excited about at least fostering it at Thornton Creek.
So know that.
And then maybe as soon as the new principal is installed I would like to come and visit with Helen myself and the principal talk about our commitment to expeditionary learning and then take questions from you to see if we can continue that conversation about how We continue to make Thornton Creek the best community for all of your members.
So that's my that's my my thing for you.
OK.
And then I'm continuing to have my Tuesday morning meetings.
Thank you for everybody who shows up.
And I think the only other thing is that we do have only a couple months left until Seattle is going to be sponsoring the National Special Olympics.
We have things posted now on our website.
And so please go on and look for ways to volunteer and participate.
We're being called Seattle is the city of inclusion.
And so there are lots of opportunities there's choir there's rooting there's volunteering.
We're going to have a great thing for the second through two year old through seven year old at the Seattle Center that everybody can participate in that will create a lot of community for our families with very young kids with this developmental disabilities but a great networking opportunity for them to get supported and understand what it means to be part of a greater community in support of our kids.
So look for that and please go online and please.
Volunteer join in.
Thanks.
Director Burke.
I will also go through the thank yous and maybe repeat a couple of them, but quickly.
Dr. Mark Perry from NOVA.
It's always great to hear about the successes and the values that underlie them.
Liam and Ronan from Ingram as you know the comments that they made around the inclusivity and just the general feeling of welcome at the school.
As a parent who's put three kids through Ingram I can I can concur my kids all had really positive things to say about the school and having it not be as clicky as as others that.
was how they called it out.
One of the concerns that Liam had raised was around the counselor caseload.
And I just want to emphasize that that is something that we are taking on as a district putting career navigators in each high school.
You know that work is underway right now.
I believe that most of them have worked in the process of selecting.
I don't know exactly when that will implement but.
Thank you to the librarians as well.
It is good you know to have your your your message in front of us and continually reminding us not just of the challenges but also specific solutions and how we can leverage state funding and our funding formulas and you know finding finding the ways that we can we can work the couch couch cushions properly.
I want to I want to give a special shout out to the AMAC and Mr. Anthony Shoecraft for his inspirational words.
You know Director Geary said afterwards it feels like a party and it truly does.
I've said this a couple of times that before I started as a board director a former school board director from a different district told me. that if you want to do anything in education you have to be insistent consistent and persistent.
And the African-American male task force has has done that in a way that is also just super inspirational.
So I want to I want to thank you for that because it's it's helped me get up to speed on a lot of issues that you know as a middle class white guy.
I honestly say I did not have the.
perspective or insight.
And I'm trying to come along on that journey so I appreciate that.
As far as activities it's been a busy month with with the superintendent work the BEX work high school.
We had a meeting.
Mayor Durkin hosted a meeting last week at the Seattle Central College.
around workforce development and career readiness.
And it was interesting you know the city is uniquely positioned sort of at the hub of industry and also as a partner with us in education to how do we get our kids into career pathways.
How do we get their interests early.
And and so creating that bridge is just been an ongoing conversation.
And what was fascinating there were their representatives from employers from labor of and our partners at Seattle College Port of Seattle just a variety of different stakeholders and what was fascinating is as they're conversing with the mayor about recommendations for how to engage students and build career pathways.
The vast majority of the things were actually in the K-12 to do list.
And so this is an important area and people are really passionate about it but it's one we're not funded for.
So I want to just call that out.
Important work.
Lots of exciting work.
Necessary work.
Unfunded work.
And this is where we're looking at partnerships and trying to build that out in a lot more robust fashion.
I another another sort of CTE plug.
I went to the Roosevelt High School vocational advisory committee meeting.
This happens every month or so.
And I want to put I want to call out some staff and thank Jane Hendrickson for coming to that meeting and helping us helping the Roosevelt team with some of their facilities challenges for about five or six years they've been trying to take down a wall.
to combine two rooms.
One is a is a shop space and one is more of a storage space and they want to combine them to make a single safer space.
But it's been sort of one of those projects has been stuck in the middle and so I really think Jane for helping understand how to navigate that through the processes and I'm hoping that that's something that can yield some progress in the next year.
Whatever your name is director Mack sort of sort of stole my thunder with the Lincoln community meeting.
So I just want to say 16 months to opening and it's true.
So it's going to happen.
It's you know 16 months and we've got Linc's gear.
That's I was going to wear it but I thought you know for the photos it might just be too too too high school.
And so you'll see it in rotations honestly.
So Principal Metzger shared update on some of the vision some of the work that's happening.
Staff has been identified.
Select staff for I believe language arts social studies Spanish music front office.
These are people that are currently working in other other buildings that are helping out on a stipend basis to get things off the ground.
She shared preliminary course offerings.
And and there's a lot of excitement in the community.
So I just wanted to thank staff for that support and to principal Metzger for helping get that going.
And a heads up to the C&I team that it's pretty likely in the next year that will need to be some work done around course approval.
I think some of the things that are being talked about will be probably need to be courses evaluated by the board.
My next community meeting Saturday May 5th 330 to 530 at Fremont Public Library.
Hope to see you there.
Director Patu and then Director Pinkham.
Thank you to the African-American male for their presentations.
It's actually great to hear that there's a lot of great work that's going on in that area.
I also want to congratulate Franklin High School for their librarian Quinn Longhurst.
for her partnership with Xbox robotics.
I think that's great.
It's when you think about robotics you think of all kinds of way of creativity in terms of actually creating a robot.
and and more power to her.
Also I want to say thank you to Nova school for sharing your work on EOG and positive adult beliefs.
I think it's always great to hear that there's great things happening in connection with EOG in various schools and I really appreciate what the students at Nova share with us today.
I really am wanted to say that there's a question that's been asked by many students at Rainier Beach High School which is when is Rainier Beach going to be renovated.
That's an ongoing questions and actually I was down there visiting yesterday and that students asked me that same question and I have told them I said well at the board meeting I will ask that question.
When is Rainier Beach going to get renovated.
That's something that we've talked about.
for months I think for years and hopefully that that we can get an answer soon.
I don't know who actually I need to talk to in terms of getting that answer but I would like to know when is Rainier Beach High School going to be renovated and looking forward to hearing an answer so I can share that with our communities and our students who are waiting to find out to see when is that going to happen.
My next community meetings my community meetings are usually at the end of the month.
It's on a Saturday at the end of the month the last Saturday of the month and usually I have it down there in Seward Park and it's usually at 9 o'clock to 11. Anybody who wants to come would love to have you.
And it's a.
Usually we have breakfast in the morning and then we get on with our meetings.
So because we usually start early in the morning and it's always wonderful to actually to be able to share a meal with community members and we can actually be able to be calm while we're eating and share what they have in mind in terms of moving forward in various areas in our community.
I'm really excited about Franklin High School and their Xbox robotics.
I'm not really into that but you know it sounds really exciting.
So hopefully that I can go down there and visit and see how that all comes together.
But my next community meeting actually will be the end of this month.
It's usually on a Saturday and.
Oh I did.
I just want to remind them.
And usually it's it's not very long.
Usually we talk about what's more important and then we move on.
So if you're not doing anything on Saturday I would love to see you.
Have a great day.
Good evening.
First of all I definitely want to give a shout out to the African-American male Academy for the work that they did because I know there's a lot of people that are not how many people but people I heard is like what are they doing what are they doing when we're going to hear from them.
But it was great to see the number of people here that was representing on the board.
And one of them is a co-worker of mine which is kind of scary because he brought our boss here to this meeting and.
It's like I snuck out of work to get here and now he's tracking me down.
But again just wonderful work.
And I think a lot of people were thinking that they're just going to concentrate on African-American males.
But what they shared tonight.
No it's going to go beyond that.
We're going to impact all our students and particularly happen to underserved students to get them the.
attention and respect that they deserve.
You know I think that's what our students miss sometimes as we're saying if they don't have a teacher or an adult that believes in them.
They're going to fall through the cracks.
So having someone a teacher to believe in them African-American handed thank you for all the work to be done look forward to the future work.
And yes what let's see what we can do to get them on a work session for the board here and we very much appreciate it.
Thank you to Neil and Ronan from Ingraham high school and other high school speakers.
Keep sharing your voice.
And thank you for wanting to become a teacher.
All right.
Hopefully you can stay here in the Seattle area and say yes this is where I grew up.
This is a school I went to and walked the halls and share memories with your students and Keep it going and encourage other students to think of education as definitely a profession.
I know that's actually where I was leaning towards when I was going to school but unfortunately I had parents that said education doesn't pay anything.
Don't if you're going to become a math major go be a computer programmer and get paid for it.
But I took the long way around now I'm back in education.
But as I said keep up share your voice and if you see changes that need to be made you're in the classroom seeing what's happening.
You're just being aware of the demographics that you see in your classrooms.
Let us know.
You know we'll hear some anecdotal things but when you come and tell us.
Thank you.
It's appreciated.
So when you graduate still come back.
OK.
Let's see.
Also I want to make an announcement.
Kind of in line with African-American Academy the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity at the University of Washington celebrating their 50 years of existence and they came into being after the assassination of Martin Luther King and they said we need some services for underrepresented students.
So just want to let people know on May 17th Dr. Emila Petrie will give a brief talk on the history of the Office of Minority Affairs.
I think it'd be a good event for people to attend.
During the spring break the Clear Sky Native Youth Council did have a good medicine conference April 12th and 13th at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School.
Thank you to the principals at Robert Eagle Staff and Licton Springs for letting us in there to use the resources.
Matika Wilbur I got to see her listen to her speak.
But Miss Slick Watson and his son they were there the day before but it was a good turnout about 80 to 100 students or not students but 800 people attended that two day conference and I appreciate the efforts that they go through there to do that.
Coming up on the campus as well for our Native youth here in Seattle the Society of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science University Washington chapter is having a Native youth mentorship day.
That's May 7th.
Again if you need more information on this just send me an email.
I'll get you connected with that group.
Thank you to those that definitely come here about the issues with Robert Eagle Staff and I.
Do not want you to forget Licton Springs is there too.
And yes that's something that we're going to have to address and see how we can make sure the space is being treated right.
You know did the boundaries not adjust accordingly when Licton Springs went in there.
What other opportunities do we have to make sure that both schools feel safe there and with Cascadia next door it is a site that is going to be capacity strained and what can we do to address those needs.
So yes that is on my things to do to follow up on.
Librarians keep it up.
I know that when I was in grade school in high school the library was kind of sometimes a place to go and hang out and get the information that you needed.
But back then it was the Dewey decimal system.
So going to libraries today it's like go to the computer type something in the title.
Definitely things that we need and it is you know how do we get that into our budgets how do we make sure that we have the funding and resources we need to provide full time librarians full time counselors at our schools.
My next community meeting will be this Saturday from 1230 to 2 p.m.
at Northgate library again.
So if you can have any issues don't have to be in District 1. Please come out wherever you're at and share your perspectives and I'll be sure to pass it on to our district staff and see what we can do to get some answers and clarifications that may be needed.
I also need to announce I guess I can do it here that I will not be able to make the May ops meeting I mentioned at the last one I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it or not.
The May 10th I won't be able to make the May 10th ops meeting.
So I'm looking for any other directors that might be able to fill in for me because I'll be traveling to New Mexico.
Thank you.
Qeˀciyéẁyéẁ.
Director Mack.
Hi again I took a time before testimony to speak and I wanted to take a bit of an opportunity to respond to some of the testimony.
I it's my favorite part of the meeting is hearing what issues are going on for folks and where they.
What they care about and how they want to improve things since I really appreciate you coming.
The invitation to the Ballard High library.
Ballard's in my district and I need to make a visit.
So if you could please send me an email with some potential like appropriate times that would work.
Eden dot Mac at Seattle schools dot org.
I'd love to set that up on the request around the guiding principles.
We are going to have a longer conversation about that so I won't touch on it here but I appreciate you know issues being raised.
And to the issue of the capacity at Eagle Staff and Licton Springs.
We haven't sent an email back out to the emails we're getting around this issue and I appreciate it coming here and want to reiterate that we are starting those conversations and that conversation starts May 1 at 430 at our work session where we're going to be talking about capacity issues that when that's one of them and we're going to start talking about the process by which we will.
What do we need to do for next year is the first question and the second question is how do we start the planning and process for ensuring that every student has a quality learning environment at that building and not being overcrowded.
So.
We are starting the process.
Thank you for your advocacy around it.
And please come in and watch the work session on May 1st.
So thank you.
OK.
Last but not least I'll speak fast and I'll try and keep my comments short.
I ditto all the thank yous especially to the African-American male task force.
This work is so important.
It is so profound.
And the fact that our community members are holding hands with us and we're lifting up it matters.
It matters greatly and the targeted universalism addresses some of the criticisms that were made when this task force were started because it does in fact lift all boats.
And it is not right to be in such an extraordinarily wealthy city.
With these inequities.
Every day.
Every school.
Every student.
It's just not right.
My community meetings this Saturday April 28th Saturday May 26 both 3 to 5 at Delridge library.
You have a 50 percent chance now of getting lasagna.
And.
Staff are welcome.
There used to be some kind of a meme or canard that staff were not to go to community meetings.
That's been dispelled.
Quite vociferously.
We are paid our buck 25 for going and having those meetings as part of our community outreach.
It is not political.
Can't have it both ways.
You can't say it's political and then pay us for it.
We did have a staff member Michelle Aoki who's been working with the international schools and the dual language programs come to my last one and she had a blast and she brought her mother.
And we talked about things like instrument repair, SPED issues, IEP issues, capital facilities.
We talked about how do we address the Alki school that is conjoined with the Alki community center and has a very small footprint and has security issues.
And the Whaler.
We talked about playground enhancements.
Most of all we had a very good rowdy time and my community members are generous enough to bring coffee and treats.
So if you don't like lasagna you get coffee and treats and you get darn good conversation.
May 10th we turn this room into a rocking celebration for the Seattle Public Schools scholarship event.
Every year the scholarship committee with the very generous bequests of other folks give out scholarships to two young people from each of our high schools and the stories that they tell of overcoming huge adversity.
And I triple dog dare you not to be extraordinarily moved.
It is a celebration.
It is a wonderful thing and I'm pleased to report to you that the scholarship fund now has one million dollars in it.
And we're always looking for more.
So we have.
Pay point on our Web site.
Please contribute.
Cities and family partnership as referenced before we met with the mayor Monday a week ago and then Monday the city council select committee.
Those meetings are all online the testimonies online the feedbacks online.
There's a great deal of concern about whether or not K5 funds are going to be cut back while at the same time we triple the number of preschool.
slots and we enhance high school counseling career technology and the Seattle promise 13th and 14th year.
There is perhaps some understanding that McCleary has solved our funding issues.
I would submit to you that is fake news.
I would submit to you that the conversation continues.
If you care about this sort of thing and I submit that everyone should be in touch with your city council member.
And I see you back there Mr. Shoecraft working for the city and I thank you for helping us there very much.
Also spent some time with Southwest Youth Family Services juvenile King County Courts presiding judge of the King County Court Seattle Public School Seattle Police Department.
On April 5th and it was a profound and deeply disturbing evening.
Regarding.
Drugs.
Guns.
Gangs.
Couple of recent murders just across the line.
In.
Unincorporated King County.
We can and we must do better.
All of the conversation surrounded story strength and need and relationships.
and whether or not we're willing to put out and make sure that our most vulnerable are protected.
Last night.
Career Technical Education Expo at West Seattle High School.
I saw one of those incredible printers that builds things.
I saw some of the most extraordinary artwork.
I saw some of the most extraordinary young people and I saw.
really terrific marketing materials for our career and technical education.
We have arrived.
And thank you.
I see you Caleb.
Thank you for your help on that.
The summer programs are exciting their credit bearing some of them even include college credits.
It is opportunity gift wrapped.
It's exciting stuff.
With respect to Rainier Beach High School.
Rainier Beach High School is expected to be on the BEX V list.
I believe that it's always been expected to be on the BEX V list which we will finalize I believe in August.
I'm looking at Associate Superintendent Herndon.
August September.
We don't have enough change in the couch cushions.
to redo Rainier Beach High School and this board and the administration has been very very consistent about that.
And short of a national natural or national disaster both would work.
I believe that Rainier Beach isn't the front of the line and I'll fight like.
Is.
Is I S is and I'll fight like the.
person that I am to make sure that that stays correct.
It is expensive.
It's even more expensive to build it side by side so we don't destroy the community and ship folks out of the community which I know is a high priority.
The young people that have come here and spoken time and again.
I applaud them.
I agree with them.
They are articulate and they they are right.
It's been too darn long.
And.
I'd like to thank make a thank you for the thank you.
Sabrina our president Seattle parent teacher student organization.
Thank you.
This this job sometimes truly sucks.
But but I have to tell you.
It also is an honor to work with these good folks.
It is an honor to work on behalf of your students.
It is an honor to work with very talented staff.
Are we a thousand percent every day.
No we are not.
We make mistakes but.
Grace is an important thing and.
And that thank you means a whole heck of a lot.
And I for one hugely appreciate it.
And on behalf of the board thanks for the thanks.
We are now taking a 15 minute break.
We'll reconvene at 7 0 5 so we can sign a superintendent contract we hope.