The rules for public testimony are on the screen and I would ask that speakers are respectful of those rules.
I note that the board does not take public comments on items related to personnel or individually named staff.
I also note that each speaker has a two minute speaking time and at one minute 30 seconds the yellow light comes on to warn you to conclude your remarks.
We will remind you at two minutes to conclude your remarks and Ms. Shek will read off the testimony speakers three at a time so you can position yourself so we can keep this party rolling.
Hugely appreciate your coming.
Thank you so much.
We're here to learn and listen.
Ms. Shek.
Shek.
First up for public testimony we have Sharita Bradshaw followed by Husan Kim and Avery Wagar.
Am I good to start?
Okay hello I'm Sarita I use she her pronouns and I'm a senior at the center school.
Last April I sat on the board in Siobhan's role who I'm super proud of and I testified on behalf of center and I implored you all to grant more funds to our school and I think you all listened because you acted.
This year our school is flourishing because of your generosity and your capacity to listen.
I hope that these traits can be applied to what I want to talk to you all about today, ethnic studies.
I wanted to start by commending your resolution passed last July supporting ethnic studies in Seattle public schools.
This is a huge first step in creating racial equity in our deeply segregated school system which has historically benefited people who look like me.
For that I applaud you but it's not enough.
This resolution and the black lives matter resolution you were discussing later tonight display your investment in the lives and well-being of students of color.
But I must ask why if you truly care about these livelihoods you've not done more to promote ethnic studies in Seattle Public Schools.
I am white and I cannot speak on behalf of students of color.
I'm merely here to talk about my experiences as a white person enrolled in ethnic studies course.
The effects of this curriculum have been profound.
On the surface, the course I'm in right now is the first class I've really looked forward to since fifth grade, where my class spent the whole year putting on a play with life-size papier-mâché puppets.
On a deeper level, facilitated discussions with my peers and probing questions from my teacher have forced me to seriously reconsider my role in society as a white person and as an oppressor.
As Beverly Daniel Tatum said, I've been learning how to walk against the racist conveyor belt of our society instead of passively letting it carry me forward.
I'd like to believe that I'm becoming an active anti-racist.
My class pushed me to make this transformation not only because it was the right thing to do, but because I care.
This inspired me to stand before you all today.
Once again I cannot speak on behalf of students of color but the data you reviewed in your ethnic studies resolution can.
I can also say that I think that ethnic studies have been vital to my development as a white person.
I'm here to encourage that you pass the black lives matter resolution later tonight and follow that by sending ethnic studies as a graduation requirement in Seattle Public Schools.
I'm here to encourage you to make this world a better place for all of your students.
Thank you.
I am Heesun Kim and I want to ask for your support on amendment four and for the substitute resolution.
I am a seventh grader at WMS and have been on the Garfield pathway since second grade HCC at Thurgood Marshall.
Resolution 10 would have an extremely negative effect on my cohort especially because it suffers from lack of planning and has no guarantee financially or logistically to provide the fair education it promises.
Resolution 10 is especially detrimental to minorities like me.
Being in the HCC program has given me the chance to meet other exceptional minorities and make friends that I never would have met otherwise.
The diverse environment has positively impacted me.
The program has also shielded me from more blatant racism which I directly experienced at my neighborhood school.
Not only that but it would be a huge blow to all the people who are affected by the split.
These dozen kids from West Seattle who decided to make the decision to attend the Garfield pathway for all the benefits only to find so much more with the diverse atmosphere and the other kids who they can relate with.
These kids who I've gone to Washington with have experienced being two to three years ahead in math and the majority of them are in the music program from beginning band to senior jazz and orchestra.
We would be repeating the same classes that we are taking now which would be a horrible experience.
It would also mean we would not be able to continue the traditional Washington to Garfield band tradition which is one of the best in the nation.
Right now we are thriving in this diverse challenging environment that is so important to us.
In the HCC program there are many people who would not be accepted at normal schools.
These people depend on the HCC program to feel integrated and safe which is a huge part of having a fair education.
Since I personally took the test to get into HCC when there was an age restriction I was put in the second grade HCC when I should have been placed in third grade.
This means that some of the people that I knew from before are now going to Garfield and some are even already there.
This is painful for me personally as I should have been with these students yet even though I've had to read just since then I've managed to find an awesome group of friends in my grade.
Now you're telling me that I will have to start over again.
and make a whole new group of friends while being forcibly separated from my lifelong companions.
Please support amendment for an up to date resolution.
Thank you.
After Avery Wagar we will have Hayden Wagar followed by Shireen Ariana and Julie Gregg.
I am Avery Wagger a ninth grader at Ballard High School and I urge you to vote yes on the FV 4.3 boundary map along with amendments 1 2 4 and 5. Additionally I hope you vote yes on the substitute resolution number 10 and no on amendment 1 for all the reasons I've emailed about previously.
Please also support the black lives matter resolution and I now cede my time to Athena Frederick.
I am mom to a 7th grade HCC boy from West Seattle attending Washington Middle School.
I ask to approve amendment 4 that allows a small group of friends from West Seattle to continue on their path to Garfield.
Twice exceptional kids like my son are some of the most forgotten students in Seattle Public Schools.
I'll be back soon to advocate for special education for them.
Today is about academics and peer groups.
Most important thing for these HCC kids is the social emotional piece.
They have more challenges with anxiety, making friends and many who are labeled and unlabeled with disabilities that make school more challenging.
They have different needs and learning styles.
My son stayed in the neighborhood school in the spectrum program and almost immediately the teachers approached me to move him to HCC.
It wasn't because he was creating great language arts pieces and doing well in math it's because he wasn't connecting he wasn't making friends.
We took a leap of faith in fourth grade and moved him to Fairmount Park and it changed our lives.
At the end of fourth grade he made a friend another twice exceptional child.
By the end of fifth grade he had four or five friends and he was no longer the only quirky kid in the neighborhood classroom.
When we were making our decision about middle school we were deciding between Madison the new offerings and the traditional pathway Washington middle.
We thought about the offerings at the school the history that we had in our neighborhood with my child being labeled as the problem child.
The group of children choosing Washington middle school and a path.
He went with his best friend who was also a twice exceptional learner.
The experience of HCC teachers was one of the reasons 2E kids need experienced teachers.
And I talked to other 2E parents.
Please conclude your remarks.
Thank you.
So no two minutes or.
Thank you very much.
I'm Hayden Wagger.
I've been well I've been well represented in my community but and brother who just spoke to make less represented voices to make sure less represented voices are heard.
I now cede my time to Julie van Arcken from South Seattle.
Hi.
My name is Julie Van Arcken.
I'm the mixed race daughter of immigrants.
I'm a Southeast HCC parent and I'm the nerdiest person here tonight except for maybe director Mack who is so wonky.
Anyway anyway when my when my parents came to this country my mother was a caregiver and my dad worked in a cafeteria.
They saved their money and they moved us to a white suburb of white Portland.
At school I was picked on because my parents had funny accents and I had darker skin than the other kids.
And as I was saying I was a total nerd.
In sixth grade I joined the D&D club so I didn't have to go to recess.
I read the encyclopedia for fun.
In my senior year I skipped prom to go to nationals for academic decathlon.
And there was a lot that sucked about being a nerdy tan kid in a white high school.
My saving grace was that the school encouraged my insane appetite for learning.
I took six AP classes every single semester.
At the time I took it for granted that I could take AP biology, AP calculus BC and AP US history but now I realize that even in a progressive city like Seattle those classes are only available at some north end attendance schools and no southeast ones.
So I'm here today representing all the Southeast HCC nerds like my daughter who would lose access to these AP classes if the original resolution 10 passes.
Instead please vote for the substitute resolution 10 and only vote for amendments that would ensure curriculum equality for the Southeast before dissolving any pathways.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is Sheree.
Hello my name is Shareen, currently I am a 7th grader and my brother is a 6th grader and we both go to Washington middle school.
I am here today because I am concerned about our future high school.
We would like to continue on our path to Garfield high rather than West Seattle high or neighborhood high school.
We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to attend our choice in middle school Washington.
With the encouragement both at home and at school we have not just been able to meet the expectations of the rigorous program but thrive in it.
As a family we are on a journey together and have taken none of these opportunities for granted.
The community we have among my friends and peers at Washington have also been a critical reason for what makes all the hard work worth it.
As the amazing programs and classes provided and we hope to continue at the same academic pace in high school at Garfield.
If we are not allowed to continue we would definitely be impacted and not in a positive way.
As moving to a different high school will not only be disruptive to the quality of the classes and options that we would have but it will be detrimental to our academic progress.
I earnestly request the board to vote for amendment four and substitute resolution 10 which requires that this change have a well thought out plan and get parent and student input.
Further it implements this change in a manner that is least disruptive to the students that are midway through attending their school of choice like my brother and I.
Thank you for this opportunity to express my concerns and address all of you.
After Julie Gregg we will have Rishi Merchandani followed by Eric Muzz and Beth McKelvie.
Hello my name is Julie Gregg.
I am a 20 year Ballard resident and a lifetime Seattle resident.
My family still owns the bicycle business my great grandfather started 86 years ago.
I'm here tonight to thank you for adding Amendment 2 to keep reference area B in the Ballard high school attendance area.
I urge you to vote to approve Amendment 2 when you vote on the new high school boundaries later this evening.
Both Ballard and Lincoln high schools are projected to be over enrolled soon after Lincoln's opening.
Ballard's principal has emphasized that Lincoln cannot exceed capacity because its tiny footprint leaves no room for portables.
As director Burke has pointed out Ballard has the flexibility to absorb extra students until additional long term solutions can be implemented as has been demonstrated by current over enrollment at Ballard.
Ballard's enrollment will decline as Lincoln becomes fully enrolled further improving Ballard's numbers.
When Lincoln is made the north end HC pathway school it is more likely that many HC students will choose to attend Lincoln due to the closer proximity to their north end neighborhoods and because of the draw of the state of the art programming.
This will only add to the projected Lincoln overcapacity issues.
My family lives on Northwest 67th and is within a 10 minute walk and a five minute bike ride to Ballard High.
If my son is rerouted to Lincoln he and the other kids in our neighborhood will be required to take a two bus transfer route to school.
Because of overcrowding of the five and 44 buses it often takes 45 minutes to an hour to do this commute.
This is not speculation as some of our kids are currently experiencing this drain on their daily schedule as they commute to and from Hamilton.
Thank you for listening.
We appreciate the opportunity to be heard and for our position and experience to be valued.
I'm asking you to consider all the factors I raise in making your decision tonight.
Our community strongly values proximity to school safe walk and bike routes and minimizing transportation time.
Your decision tonight will have a tremendous impact on our families daily lives and sense of connection to our community.
I urge you to vote to approve Amendment 2 and keep West Vinnie at Ballard.
Thank you.
Good evening.
My name is Rishi Mershandani.
My two daughters are SPS students, one in HCC at Cascadia.
You have multiple resolutions before you tonight that seek to establish an equitable vision for advanced coursework in high schools.
I urge you to adopt the substitute resolution and to reject Amendment 1. While the original Resolution 10 and Amendment 1 are both admirable in their desire to establish an equitable vision for advanced coursework, they are misguided in the assumption that creating this vision is predicated on localization and that localization should be pursued regardless of its impact on the current HCC program and population.
This is a foundational decision that will impact thousands of students and one that should be evaluated carefully.
The district conducted a survey in the fall and received feedback that parents want more advanced coursework in all schools.
Of course they do.
If you ask parents for feedback in class size they would say they want them significantly reduced.
That doesn't mean it's possible.
Parents also voice concerns about supporting advanced learners fully funding schools stability in the HCC program and having enough teachers to meet demand.
Delivering on a vision for advanced coursework is about more than the student assignment plan and pathways.
It's about balancing these issues to determine what is possible on what timeline and with what tradeoffs.
A key consideration around whether or not localization makes sense is the distribution of the current HCC population.
If we localize in 2021 would we be able to deliver the same experience to the 38 HCC students in Rainier Beach that they currently receive through an optional pathway?
Would they receive the same experience as their peers in Ballard or Roosevelt that would each have approximately 200 HCC students?
If the answer is yes and that critical mass doesn't matter then why do we need localization in the first place?
Why can't we deliver for current the current student population in Rainier Beach today?
Isn't it possible that maintaining a pathway might still be consistent with a vision of improved equity and deliver the greatest good across all our students?
We should be able to answer these questions before establishing that localization is the goal.
Substitute resolution 10 builds on the equitable vision of advanced coursework that was articulated in the original resolution and adds a critical framework to develop a plan including what that plan should look like.
Critically, it doesn't presume that localization is the right answer without having done the due diligence.
I encourage you to support substitute resolution 10 and to reject amendment 1. Thank you.
Good evening my name is Eric Moose.
I teach physics and astronomy at Ballard High School.
I've been teaching in public schools for more than 30 years the last 16 of them in Seattle Public Schools.
I have national board certification and have taught nearly every science and math class.
that a comprehensive public high school offers.
Directors I urge the school board to support substitute resolution 10. The resolution contains specific language which requires that there is collaboration with principals educators and parents to create a comprehensive plan and requires that the district collaborate to develop the implementation plan before determining any student assignment changes.
The original resolution predetermines a large-scale assignment change without requiring engagement with principals, instructional councils and communities, without doing analysis of the costs or assessing the impacts on boundary changes that may be required.
This new resolution requires community engagement and a detailed plan before adoption of student assignment changes.
Yes, that's the way to do the business of this enterprise.
We serve families.
Within the last 60 days science teaching staff across this district were presented with a mandatory non-negotiable plan upending existing science courses.
This plan in implementation right now as students and families choose classes for next year sweeps many existing classes away entirely and threatens existing upper level science electives.
Fancy wordsmithing by staff describes this as an alignment to avoid board school leadership and community engagement.
Nevertheless it is an adoption.
New course numbers course names and curriculum are being touted.
Sidestepping the board and the instructional councils of school and most of all parents district staff presented this plan as urgent and inflexible and with as little notice as possible.
That is just wrong.
I urge the board to continue to push district staff to a higher sense of duty to engagement with our clients parents students and their families.
And Black Lives Matter.
Good evening.
I first want to thank you for all the work you do on behalf of the students in this district.
This is the closest I've come to working with any members of the board and I truly don't know how you do it.
Truly.
Do you have any idea.
How they do it.
You stay so calm in the face of so many parents with strong opinions.
I do want to briefly state my support for decentralizing HCC.
Both of our kids are HCC students and I love that you're trying to decentralize that program.
But I am here today to ask you to vote yes on amendment two.
It's the right thing to do for the district.
As Julie referenced overcrowding at Lincoln is a very real possibility and it would pose a lot of problems for the district.
Also the principal at Ballard has expressed his support for returning our neighborhood area B to Ballard high school.
My entire family is hoping that you will keep us in the Ballard boundary.
So our son is a ninth grader at Ballard and he's playing ultimate in the band and also in the robotics program.
So how many times a week do you think he walks the 0.8 miles from our house to Ballard high school?
17. He has robotics three nights a week Saturday and Sunday and as long as it's daytime he walks.
He walks to school every day he walks home every day he walks to robotics and on Saturdays and Sundays he also walks home from robotics.
So it's really important I think for this neighborhood who actually can walk to Ballard be allowed to go to Ballard.
The second reason that we are hoping you'll let us stay in the Ballard boundary is so that our children can be together.
A lot of families in this neighborhood already have a kid at Ballard and have a second kid or maybe more in middle school and we all would really like our kids to have the option of going to the same school.
And then I think so in sum I would say it's better for the kids health.
It's better for the environment for us not to be driving them and it's better for the district not to spend money on ORCA cards.
And our kids have one thing to say.
Thank you.
Next up for public testimony we have Rebecca Madden followed by Cohen Stewart and Molly Hooper.
Hi I'm Rebecca Madden and I'm here to demand equity in advanced learning.
As we've seen from the science debacle we really need a coherent plan in place for our programs to function well along with community engagement and effective communication about those plans.
And I'm going to see the rest of my time to the venerable Astina Devante.
Hi my name is Austina Devante I'm the president of Northwest Gifted Child Association our Washington state association for parents and families of highly capable students.
Some of you may remember that I came to brief this board at a study session last June on the topic of equity in the highly capable program.
Since then I've been working on this issue in Olympia.
We have a bill in both the house and the Senate that would provide for universal screening for students at or before second grade and require testing to happen during the school day no more Saturdays.
It just passed the house education committee unanimously yesterday.
We have 11 bill sponsors strong bicameral and bipartisan support.
More information is in front of you on this handout.
I would counsel that it is too soon for Seattle to have a thoughtful conversation about high school highly capable.
Pathways.
Federal Way made the same mistake almost 10 years ago trying to fix their equity issues and achievement gap by placing more kids in AP classes in high school.
What they found was it didn't work.
Kids floundered.
They weren't prepared.
What Federal Way is doing now is spending a lot more focus on rigor in elementary and middle school including an expanded high cap program where they do universal screening in second grade.
They realized they needed to build a pipeline of kids who are academically prepared for advanced classes.
That pipeline actually starts with identifying and nurturing talent in elementary school.
As you can see on the charts in front of you federal ways racial balance and high cap is the best in the state but it took a lot of missteps and course corrections for them to get there.
It would be good for Seattle to build on their learning.
My home district of North Shore is working with Federal Way as well as national experts.
We are screening every single student kindergarten through eighth grade using the Naglieri nonverbal abilities test which is fully nonverbal and culture neutral.
It's a huge effort involving 16000 students and we're finding a lot of kids.
I'm giving a free community talk tomorrow at Cascadia Elementary at 7 p.m.
I encourage anybody who wants to hear more research about this population to attend.
I agree that the ultimate goal is high cap in every high school but until you have a critical mass of kids ready at every high school sending kids to their neighborhood schools right now will just increase the very disparities you're trying to solve.
Thank you.
Hello my name is Cohen Stewart, this is Joe, Arden and Leif.
They graduated from Loyal Heights with me and also live in this tiny area that is being split up from the rest of our classmates.
In the audience there are a few more kids who will be affected in future years.
I came back tonight to ask you to make an amendment reinstating all Loyal Heights Elementary graduates into the Ballard high school boundary.
If you look at my visual you can see that the Loyal Heights elementary boundary line goes up 28th and zigzags out to the water.
When the three of us started kindergarten at Loyal Heights this whole area went to Ballard high school.
This isn't a lot of houses.
It's actually mostly ravine and hillside.
In fact in 2019 only five kids you're looking at four of them from Loyal Heights boundary will be going off to Ingraham instead of Ballard like the rest of our friends.
Over five years there are only 27 of us.
I know you are trying to do the best for everybody but please consider what it's like for us too.
We know that we can and will eventually make new friends but it's not the same.
I walk to and from every school every day with my friends.
I walk with three kids from my kindergarten class.
Really I do.
I'm not that old but kindergarten was a long time ago.
I still consider those guys my best friends.
It doesn't make sense to separate us when keeping us together makes such a little impact on the number of kids at Ballard.
It does create a big impact on our lives though.
Please redraw the boundary line for Ballard High School to include our Loyal Heights neighborhood.
Thank you for your time.
Good evening directors.
My name is Molly Huppert and I'm here with the racial equity in HCC group to recommend taking decisive action to increase the increased access to advanced learning.
I have a fifth grader highly capable student at Thurgood Marshall.
And while I feel very privileged and excited that she has access to this wonderful program is become very evident to me over the past three years that not everyone does.
We know that 72 percent of the population of Seattle Public Schools are nonwhite and yet only 28 percent of those children are advanced learners.
There's a couple issues that I feel really passionate about and I know that a lot of these are woven into the resolutions that are on the table.
And I don't think any of them are perfect but I really think that we need to address and completely revamp the way that advanced learners are identified from the very beginning as the speaker two speakers ago mentioned.
Everyone needs to be tested.
They need to be tested at a place that's accessible.
They don't need to go somewhere else on Saturday.
You're going to it's it's biased against people who have lower socioeconomic places in their in their life and it's racially biased.
Make it accessible to everyone.
Second thank you.
Second offer advanced learning options in local schools.
Whether this starts in the high school or it starts in the elementary schools it needs to happen.
Nobody should have to bus their kids 40 minutes away to a neighborhood school that they know nothing about and cannot participate in on a on a day to day basis.
It needs to be localized.
The current approach has created an extremely divisive environment at Garfield Elementary School.
Parents that have children that are there in the non HCC as well as the HCC program don't like the divisiveness and people are thinking about not sending their kids there on both sides of that learning environment because of the divisiveness.
We need to take action and we need to take action now and set a goal and work towards it.
No more planning for the sake of planning.
Thank you.
Next up we have Colette Langley followed by Andrea Toll and Phyllis Campano.
Hi my name is Colette Blanche and I'm in my 24th year as a Seattle Public School teacher.
I've been at Loyal Heights Elementary for the last 11 of those years.
During that time I had the pleasure of teaching all of those boys and one girl who you just saw.
One of the boys who spoke to you is mine but the others are mine too.
And I want to see them stay together.
I also taught their classmates the kids you're separating from them if you don't reinstate our neighborhood.
When those boys started kindergarten at Loyal Heights our Loyal Heights boundary area was still assigned to Ballard High School.
In first grade.
I'm sorry.
In first grade they moved that boundary to go straight across 85th knocking us out of Ballard High School.
I was concerned but I knew that we would eventually reopen Lincoln fixing this issue.
Well here we are.
Lincoln's opening in 2019 and you have the opportunity to right a wrong tonight and reinstate the boundary line that keeps Loyal Heights elementary students together.
It's simply not fair.
It's not smart and it's not a best practice to separate a cohort of kids.
I know that this boundary issue has been tedious contentious and hostile for you.
I appreciate the complexity of what you're deciding but this amendment is a no-brainer.
Reinstating the boundary line to keep Loyal Heights elementary students together has the tiniest impact on Ballard high school at only five or six kids a year for the next five years.
But it will have an enormous impact on the lives of these boys and their friends on the other side of 85th.
Additionally my neighbor started a petition yesterday that she sent out to each of you.
It was signed by 122 Loyal Heights parents and families regarding reinstating our boundary and move.
Thank you for your work on this.
Hi again.
I'm Andrea Toll.
My son Nicholas is a freshman at Ballard high school.
My daughter Natasha is a seventh grader at Our Lady of Fatima.
We are a Magnolia family.
I wrote to you on October 19th 2017 because I had seen the three proposed future high school boundaries which would send my children to Lincoln high school.
I testified before you in November as I stated in my letter and testified to Lincoln will be a fabulous school and will be a nightmare for my children to commute to and from Magnolia to Wallingford.
Putting them on the road for over an hour each way with three transfers on public transportation.
This is not in the best interest of any of our public school students.
I passionately testified again in January about my son's experience at Ballard High School as a student with an IEP and how important it is for him to stay at Ballard High School with the same counselors and in the same pathways he's in engineering and video production.
I believe it is critical for him not to be forced to leave Ballard High School his junior year when he's looking for guidance from his counselors that he has established relationship with in applying for colleges.
Thank you for listening to me again.
Thank you for listening to all the parents and the students from Magnolia, Loyal Heights, Finney Ridge and other surrounding neighborhoods.
We are all passionate and care about our children so much.
Thank you for listening and we realize not everyone will be happy.
But I will go back to my original testimony in which I urge the board to vote for high school boundaries that balance proximity and transportation is least disruptive to all public school students and emphasizes the walkability consistent to north south boundary boundary lines.
This map is F V 4.3 with amendments and substitute resolution 10 without Amendment 1. Thank you again for your time.
After Phyllis Campano we will have Kenny Stewart followed by Brad Halverson and Katie McVickers.
Good evening directors my name is Phyllis Campano and I'm a special education teacher and the president of Seattle education Association.
And standing with me is Aaron Okuno the executive director of Southeast Seattle education coalition.
There's actually two things I'd like to address tonight.
First I would like to say thank you to Director DeWolf for putting forward the resolution on the black lives matter.
We are as educators feeling supported by this resolution in our black lives matter week talking about history of African-American history but also understanding from an educator's perspective how important the culture of all of our kids are.
There has been a tremendous amount of collaboration between SEA, SPS and NAACP on ethnic studies.
And we are rolling that out next week but our hope is this isn't a weak conversation that ethnic studies needs to continue throughout the year and throughout our lives so that we have a better understanding of each other.
So the second issue is around transparency and the lack of input on the superintendent search.
I think Director DeWolf hit it right on the head with the expedited process that this has happened.
We have 53,000 students in the five focus groups that we had we had 80 people voice their opinions.
80 people.
In the survey you noted there were 2100 people that responded to the survey.
Out of 53,000 students.
Here's the other issue, we had four people that needed translated services.
How does that relate to incorporating our communities of color, our immigrant communities and our refugee communities?
If you look at the survey 69 almost 75% of the responses on the survey were white.
Oh really already?
So slow down, show some transparency, adding meetings at the end of the search just shows us you did not hear our concerns.
Slow down the process, show some transparency and get authentic community input.
Thank you.
Hi my name is Kenny Stewart and first of all I'm really impressed with all the kids that came out tonight.
I never went to a school board meeting when I was a kid and I didn't know what I was missing.
So my son Cohen got up here he spoke I'm really proud of him and one of the reasons that he has the courage to get up and do that is the stability and the consistency of his longtime classmates.
My wife Colette also spoke as a dedicated teacher in the Seattle Public School District for 24 years.
She knows more than most what makes kids successful and how this decision will affect this very small group of students.
I'm biased but I'll tell you that she's an incredible teacher and an asset to Seattle Public Schools.
And if you decide not to listen to me you should really listen to her.
I'm here tonight to urge you to offer and support an amendment to reinstate the boundary line that zigzags up 28th to keep all of the Loyal Heights kids together.
This decision will have a significant impact not only on my boys but just a few of their classmates.
These kids are Ballard.
I also want to thank you for serving on the school board.
I appreciate the challenges that you face.
regarding high school boundaries as well as other issues.
I also know you understand how important your decisions are to students and parents.
I know it can be a thankless job and a stressful job.
I also know that you have guiding principles to shape your decisions as well as using common sense and other factors to play a part in those decisions.
In addition to being a parent I'm also a Seattle firefighter and Ballard on ladder 8. I'm also the president of the Seattle Firefighters Union.
As a fire officer I regularly make tough decisions based on very little information with little input or discussion.
As union president I often face difficult decisions that involve debate and discussion and competing interests and perspectives.
I like you rely on guiding principles and stakeholder input.
However I never forget my mission.
My mission is taking care of the citizens and firefighters.
Your mission is to serve the students.
You're charged with the responsibility of making the best decision for our children.
What I want to tell you is that the change that we are asking for is the best decision to serve these students.
It adheres to your guiding principles.
It makes sense.
Unfortunately it only directs just a few students to Ballard High School.
Please serve our kids by making this common sense decision to keep them together with their lifetime classmates.
I urge you to remember your mission.
and make this change that best serves this small group of students.
Thank you.
Good evening directors I'm Brad Halverson I have a ninth grader at Ballard High School and a sixth grader at Catherine Blaine K8.
Tonight I'm here.
I just want to highlight and applaud your hard work in particular for the last two weeks.
Namely what I've seen in person and many others have.
Directors Burke Pinkham Patu Mack and Harris I've attended and many have been at your meetings in the community sometimes with 30 plus people in the room.
Many voices express strong concerns.
You listened collaborated and worked on reason solutions.
Every one of these solutions will be the better for the betterment of all students.
This collaborative effort with the community is a model for going forward.
And so thank you.
You came up with substitute resolution 10. I ask you to vote yes for that.
And so I urge you to vote.
With my remaining time, I want to cede my time to David Shepard.
Thank you again my name is Dave Shepard.
I'd like to urge you tonight to vote no on Amendment Amendment 1 to substitution resolution number 10. And here are four reasons why.
Decreased choice for all.
HC pathways at the high school level create more choice for all students.
When an HC student chooses the pathway school over his or her neighborhood school it opens up a choice seat at the student's neighborhood school.
This allows a greater number of students to find a school that best suits his or her particular needs.
Number two less diverse schools assigning all students to their neighborhood school will decrease diversity at our city's high schools and result in high schools that more clearly reflect the segregation that is unfortunately the reality of the city in which we live.
Number three it sets a goal without a plan.
We need an appropriate analysis before we set our goal.
And number four it negatively impacts Lincoln and West Seattle HC pathways.
Amendment 1 would result in temporary HC pathways at Lincoln and West Seattle which would not attract many students from outside of their attendance areas.
Lincoln High School in particular needs to attract these students to increase its likelihood of getting off to a strong start.
So please vote vote no on Amendment 1 and please support the unamended substitute resolution number 10. Thank you for your work on behalf of our children and our city schools.
Thank you.
Next up after Katie McVickers will be Caroline Platt followed by Devin Bruckner and Simon Napas.
Hi my name is Katie McVickers.
I have a junior and freshman at Ballard High School and a middle schooler at Catherine Blaine.
The bus drivers for Seattle Public Schools are on their second strike of the year for who knows how long which will add about 12000 students to Seattle traffic.
Traffic has been escalating with 1100 new Seattleites per week per the U.S.
Census Bureau which was 57000 new residents to the Seattle metro area last year and predicted to continue to grow.
I appreciate that the board listened and considered people's concerns regarding transportation and worked to find the best solutions.
Thank you and I hope you vote to approve the FV 4.3 boundary map.
I also urge you to vote for substitute resolution 10 and oppose its amendment 1. Eliminating HC pathways to decentralize HC high school students adds to our growing capacity and budget problems.
The current HC pathways do provide access to excellence in education without displacing others.
I can empathize with the families of HC students who if HC is localized localized wouldn't have a neighborhood school for their children.
I can empathize because I know how it feels.
Students who live in Magnolia do not have a neighborhood school.
Amendment 1 to the substitute resolution 10 jeopardizes SPS students by displacing them from their current high school.
Please maintain the Seattle Public School mission of predictability for Seattle families.
Please don't establish a precedent of displacing students who have worked hard to achieve momentum in their current high school during their preparation to graduate for college preparation for careers and preparation for life.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Good evening my name is Caroline Platt and first I want to thank you for your engagement and for adding amendment 4 to tonight's discussion.
I want to address West Seattle highly capable pathways and amendment 4. Since 2014 the district has been building highly capable pathways located in West Seattle.
These pathways have been building permanently and actually today there are two pathways.
There is an optional pathway to Fairmount Park Elementary and to Madison Middle School and a guaranteed pathway to Thurgood Marshall and Washington.
Having two pathways is problematic.
For example Fairmount Park is approaching capacity and newly newly eligible highly capable students in West Seattle in 2018 19 will be bused over to Thurgood Marshall.
This undermines the very idea of having a West Seattle pathway and until there is an end to end pathway located within West Seattle you will continue to run into issues around access and equity have cost inefficiencies and cause disruption and uncertainty for families.
So what does this have to do with amendment four?
Well the West Seattle HC kids who currently attend Washington middle school are caught in the middle of these problematic pathways and transitions.
In most cases they enrolled in HC prior to 2014 on the only pathway at the time to Thurgood Marshall and to Washington.
Under the proposed 2019 to 20 high school pathways they will be required to attend West Seattle high school.
The rationale being that these 18 kids are needed to form a viable cohort at West Seattle.
But the fact is enabling these students to attend Garfield with their cohort will in no way jeopardize the opening of West Seattle high school's HC pathway as there will be a sufficient number of students over 30 from Madison middle school to form that inaugural cohort.
Like other elements and amendments and like our Loyal Heights families that you heard from this evening Amendment 4 is about minimizing disruption and about keeping cohorts together.
Now you might think it's only 18 kids it doesn't matter.
You've heard stories from you've heard these kids.
You heard from Loyal Heights, it matters.
So again, I thank you for your engagement and I really thank you for adding Amendment 4 and I'm asking you to consider the stories and all of the factors that were presented this evening and say yes to Amendment 4. Thanks for your time.
My name is Devin Bruckner my son is in HCC and I've lived in Southeast Seattle since 2001. Please set a goal to localize highly capable services in high school either by approving resolution 10 or approving amendment one to the substitute resolution.
HC is 10 percent of our district.
If we succeed in diversifying it could raise to 17 percent.
Given these large numbers we should serve these students in their local high schools.
This would improve access for all students including those we failed to identify and spectrum students.
Other districts assign HC students to their neighborhood high school including Federal Way North Shore and Spokane.
Putting off the goal of localization in the name of planning tells missing HC students mainly students of color that we won't serve them until we're sure we can meet the needs of current HC students who are disproportionately white.
The HC program serves to increase segregation.
In Southeast Seattle I see predominantly white families leaving to be in HCC.
I'm very interested in the voice of families of color.
I wonder what families of color not in HCC are saying especially since they are missing from the program in large numbers.
Localizing means that families in the program have to give up access to a pathway that was just for them and go to their local school.
This can be hard for many families but what is best for our district as a whole at a systemic level.
I agree with many good points in the substitute resolution but we should set a goal to localize and create a plan to achieve that goal.
Organizations do this all the time.
Without a goal we will spend two years debating and lobbying like has happened in the last three months instead of working towards a strong plan.
We may need to make adjustments but that's fine.
But a goal will guide us.
The substitute also says that changes to the assignment plan should minimize disruption to all students but minimizing disruption supports the status quo.
We need change even if change is hard.
This sentence should be deleted from the substitute.
Six of seven board members voted for localization in December.
There's broad support that this is where we want to be.
Let's claim that goal boldly and work to get there.
Please support Resolution 10 or Amendment 1 to the substitute.
It's not too soon for our kids.
After Simon Knapphaus we will have Joanna Noonan, Susan Stahl and Christine Shigaki.
Hi my name is Simon Knapphaus and I'm the parent of a highly capable child who is mixed race at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School.
We live in the Franklin attendance area and I really hope that he is going to have the opportunity to attend Franklin High School with a robust AP program with all of the other brilliant children of all races in our neighborhood.
I don't think that this is too much to ask and I think that to have a fully localized HCC program by 2021 would be the best for all students.
I would like to cede the rest of my time to Makari Duggar.
Hi my name is Bakari Dysart I'm a senior at West Seattle high school and I'm here to tell you that taking the initiative to endorse the black lives matter resolution is a great start to supporting students of color but I must emphasize it is only a start.
We have data to show how underserved students of color are and the injustices will no longer be tolerated by the student body.
We must better facilitate student involvement in internship and career exploration, better train our staff on race related issues and make ethnic studies mandatory curriculum within Seattle Public Schools.
As a biracial student I am tired of being the only representative adult or adolescent for my rights for equal education.
I've witnessed too many students be singled out and targeted by teachers and I've witnessed too many people fall through the system.
At West Seattle high school students of color make up the majority of the people in the tuning center because they feel unsafe within classroom environments and that can no longer be tolerated.
We don't feel like you hear or care for us but it's time for you guys to start listening.
It starts with getting students specifically students of color involved in the selection of a new superintendent.
It is time for not just endorsements but policy and the NWCB youth coalition have plenty of ideas.
Thank you.
Good evening.
My name is Dr. Noonan and I'm a parent of a second grader at Pascadia as well as an incoming kindergartner at Olympic Hills.
Our family lives in Lake City one of the most racially diverse areas of Seattle.
As a member of the Hispanic community it is important to me to be here today to advocate for the HCC program.
Being a part of a historically underserved community my oldest daughter is an example of a student whom the district is working hard to identify.
She joined the court in first grade and I can tell you she's excelling in the program.
I urge you to vote no on resolution 10 as the decentralization will negatively affect families like ours who live in an area where H.C.
eligibility heat map has no shading.
Having a pathway provides flexibility for students to accomplish equity in ways that go beyond school boundaries.
Neighbors like ours wouldn't have enough HCL students to offer comparable AP coursework to Ballard and Roosevelt.
If you overlay the demographics of these non shaded areas you will find that they overlap with the clustering of underrepresented communities.
To eliminate the pathways in the name of equity will only exacerbate segregation in our city.
Until the district has enough funding to provide high rigor coursework equally across all high schools inequity will persist.
Additionally the district does not have a good track record of implementing changes in the name of equity.
If you remember when Spectrum was dissolved it was done in the name of equal access for all but in reality now advanced learning is only offered in a handful of schools that offer walk to math programs and they are limited by your attendance area so unless you live in that neighborhood you have no access to walk to math.
Our district claims that 90 percent of the students in AB and AP classes do not have an HC designation.
So if you're making data driven decisions dissolving the HC pathway will have no effect on AP class demand.
Again I urge you to please vote no on resolution 10 and support the substitute resolution as written without the amendment.
Every child in the city deserves a high quality education disregard no matter what their address is.
Thank you.
Hi my name is Susan Stahl and I'd like to thank board member DeWolf for the Black Lives Matter resolution and I'm going to cede the rest of my time to Aneesa Roydad.
Hi my name is Anisa Roydad I also want to thank director DeWolf for spearheading the black lives matter resolution and for reaching out to the NAACP youth coalition when doing so.
I'm a student at Ballard high school which is a predominantly white school and star club students and teachers against racism club.
has been trying to initiate conversations about race by presenting discussions every week during advisory.
The teacher who facilitates the discussions in my room told me she doesn't want to start out with the outline discussions.
She wants to start out with easy and light questions like where is your family from and what traditions do you participate in at home?
This is part of the problem.
Issues of race and equity are real.
They exist in our community.
Schools are faced with these problems on every level from disproportionate punishments to discrepancies to unfair treatment in classrooms.
Black students and other students of color can't succeed if they're trapped in these cycles of racism.
If no one makes a serious effort to change the injustices they face how can they feel like their education, future or lives matter?
We can't make the aforementioned problems easier or lighter.
They need to be directly addressed so we can work towards solutions.
This resolution loudly and proudly declares that black lives matter and that the lives of students of color matter.
which shows students that educators are invested in their successes and in their fundamental right to an education.
The resolution urges participation in the black lives matter at school week where we can learn about the issues of race and racism in our country community and schools in order to make change.
170 years ago Horace Mann said that education was the great equalizer of the conditions of men.
We are still fighting to make this great equalizer equitable.
The Black Lives Matter resolution brings us one step closer to doing this to giving all students to giving all students the education they are entitled to.
Thank you.
Next up we have Christine Shigaki and Brian Terry.
Christine Shigaki native Seattle resident SPS alumni Cleveland high school and product of the DSEG program tells you how old I am.
Southeast parent of two students grade 3 and 5. I'm a strong believer in support of Seattle Public Schools as I attended South End schools K through 12 and was raised by a mother who dedicated her 35 year career to Seattle Public Schools.
I appreciate all whom I met and worked with across the city the last several weeks.
It's been empowering to work with a community of people who are willing to help each other and stand together to be one voice for our kids.
I thank the board for the positive actions, sponsored resolutions and amendments that reflect that you are listening, hearing and truly care about our community of students.
Southend parents do care about our schools.
We as all parents we want what's best for our children.
And we want sound choices and options that our kids for our kids so that we can decide individually what's best for our children.
I agree that Seattle Public Schools needs to move towards more equitable opportunities for students.
This disparity in our schools is mostly present between the division of the north and south.
Given the social economic makeup of Seattle's neighborhoods resolution 10 will worsen the disparity allowing for academically strong schools to flourish in the north and struggle in the south.
This would limit options for south end students many who are underrepresented minorities.
South end kids should have access to the same on par options and programs and same level of rigorous coursework that those have in the north.
Substitute 10 allows for time for planning for strong sustainable and successful programs.
This also allows for the growth of the critical mass of students needed to sustain a high level program in all schools.
This resolution is complete and is supportive of all students.
Amendment 1 to substitute resolution 10 disrupts all students in all programs.
It does not allow choice and differentiation differentiation that all students need.
I thank you directors Mack, Director Patu, Director Pinkham for the substitute resolution 10. I'm asking the board to please vote no on the original resolution and please vote yes for the for the substitute resolution no to the amendment 1 and also to.
to vote yes for the amendments that allow continuity of pathways for children.
So amendment 2 4 and 5 please vote yes.
Thank you.
Good evening.
In our schools a white student is more than 20 times as likely as a black student to be identified as highly capable.
This creates segregated classrooms that send a clear message.
White students are more capable and more deserving.
This is institutional racism.
I appreciate that many both in and out of this room have worked hard to address this inequity and yet despite all of our efforts the opportunity gap in advanced learning has grown every single one of the last six years.
Strong forces in this system are working against us.
I see three primary obstacles to equity.
Number one we have grown complacent and accept a 20 to 1 racial inequity as a fact of life.
Number two we are disproportionately moved by the demands of powerful privileged families and the needs of their students.
Number three we are afraid of the backlash from privileged families that desegregation would cause.
If we want to end this racial oppression we must change the service model to support one to one racial parity.
We must listen carefully to the voices of marginalized families especially those not in the HCC program and recognize the size of the population they represent.
Kerry Campbell your chief engagement officer has done this work for you.
Listen to her.
And finally we must accept that ultimately privileged families will need to give up some of their privilege to end more than three decades of gross racial injustice suffered by our students of color.
Thank you.
This concludes the sign up list for public testimony this evening.
Thank you.
OK.
We have an opportunity as board members to respond to some of what we've heard.
Does anybody wish to do so.
Excuse me.
Director Burke.
Well I want to commend those that came before us for their testimony.
I think it's a it's a powerful restatement of a lot of the things that we heard as individuals a lot of things that we read in our messages and it runs the gamut from reducing disruption maintaining commitment to our equity mission our value that we keep restating for us to actually act that instead of just say it.
And for us to honor the black lives matter work that we've spoken about and the ethnic studies curriculum in which we approved a resolution in support of.
So I want to restate that the.
the positions that I've taken in the past around all of these topics remain unwavering.
And that I will touch on them as we go through the individual items that we're going to be talking about today.
But I want to truly share my gratitude with the community that has given me a perspective around this work.
You know the for us as directors we we have our own personal experience to draw on.
And we have the data that we collect as a district some of it is aggregate data and so it's hard to really pull out individual stories.
And then we have the candid one on one interactions around the personal impacts of our decisions.
And the challenge that we face that many of you recognize and I appreciate the acknowledgement of that is that there isn't a set of solutions that checks every box for every family.
And I think that's the hardest part of this job is even if we had enough money to do this I think there's still not a set of solutions that checks every box for every family.
So we we we've incorporated a lot of input I have in my thinking and I think it's helped shape Some of the work that we've done around the amendments and around the way we communicate those amendments and around how we engage with our staff.
On the work which actually happens within this policy work because we can pass a policy.
We can make decisions but the thing that impacts the students the most is what's happening in your schools what's happening with your educators what's happening with your family experience.
And so some of that is not particularly at the policy level.
And so the conversations that you share with us and that you share here for public consumption help shape the work of us and our staff.
So I know that's super generic.
I'll keep the specific stuff for subsequent comments but I just want to again thank you for the input.
Other directors would like to make comments about our public testimony.
Director DeWolf please.
Yes thank you.
President Harris.
First of all I just want to thank the NAACP youth coalition.
Do I have that right or do I keep saying it wrong?
OK I kept saying council before so I just want to make sure I got that right.
But thank you.
I think certainly at a couple weeks ago during the MLK Day festivities celebration and honoring ceremonies that we had at Garfield High School.
One of the things that really struck me and certainly speaks to me as someone that's worked in youth development work in Spokane here and Seattle King County through all home.
What really resonated to me was making sure that we're elevating the voice of you.
And so I just want you to know that this is step one in that process for me as a school board director and making sure that we're including your voice.
I'll be in touch with you after tonight.
Hopefully we can.
I'm fairly certain because we've all co-sponsored it that it's pretty much a go.
We need to get through the formality.
Is that legal to say or can I ethically say that?
But.
This is step one in our in our in building the trust and working together and making sure their district does both value and see and make you visible.
So thank you for being here and thank you for your leadership.
I just you know I want to address certainly don't want to get into specifics similar to Director Burke but I think the elephant in the room is that this is a really hard decision around our highly capable services.
And please hear that every single one of your e-mails like I said comes up on my iPad.
I do see them.
And I want you to know that what is most important about this conversation is that our hearts are all in the right place around trying to make sure that we're doing things based on our values and around our commitment to equity.
So please know whether we agree on how that looks whether we disagree on how that looks We are absolutely here to serve all of our students and making sure that we're not leaving any kids out.
So I thank you for the folks that disagree with me and the resolutions I put forward and the amendments I put forward.
I appreciate your advocacy and I'm grateful for you coming out and making sure that your voices are heard.
But particularly I think what's important is that for me what I wanted what I'm committed to and what I ran on when I was running last year was around racial equity in our schools.
This is why these I brought these forward.
I feel very strongly that this does that.
If we disagree on that that's OK but that my work is making sure that my values align with our commitment to equity.
And this feels like getting us there.
We'll get into some specifics later but.
Hope you've heard if you've heard anything it's just immense gratitude for your advocacy and making sure that you show up here tonight.
But just make sure to look around.
A lot of the folks here that came tonight and a lot of the folks that I got in my email today particularly at 2 o'clock as we posted the final agenda are the same parents.
And who's not in this room.
And often we're not in the room when we're not at the table.
The phrase were on the menu and I just want to be really cognizant of the fact that there's a lot of folks not in this room who didn't get to speak up who don't have access to speak up who have two jobs who don't have access to a computer and they don't have an ability to speak up.
And so I'm trying to be mindful of them as well.
Thank you for being here.
Other directors.
Director Patu.
I want to thank you for everyone who actually came tonight to speak on behalf of what is happening in our schools.
I really believe that it's we're in 2018 and a lot of things have been going on in the district has really we made some improvement but I think we have a long way to go.
There's still a lot of equity in terms of the district wide.
I believe that we need to continue to look at all our individual schools and provide opportunities for all our kids.
When we look at our students within each school we need to look at all students.
And what is it that we as a district need to provide all our students so every one of our students can be successful.
I believe that we're not doing that, that we really need to do more work in terms of providing better opportunities for our students of color.
There's more that we need to do.
Yes you know we're still finding better ways of how we can be able to serve all our kids but you know it takes time but at the same time I think that at this era right now we need to really look at what do we need to do to provide better opportunities for all our kids and be able to you know to not be able to come up with you know when we have to say black lives matter all our kids matter but at the same time I feel that we need to do more in terms of really providing opportunities for all our kids of color.
and that every one of them deserves the right to excellent education.
But we need to look at that from you know from a perspective that all our kids deserve to have the right education so they can have a better life.
And as a board director I believe that you know we need to do more.
We need to really look at what is it that we can actually be able to look at our schools individual schools because all of us have different districts and for my district continue on the look at what can I do better to actually provide better opportunities so every student in the southeast district would have that excellent education they deserve.
And what is it that we need to do to look at curriculum?
How can we actually be able to provide a curriculum that's going to actually be able to move them to the next level?
So those are things that you know that I continue on to look at and what improvements do I need to make in order for me to be the best that I can be at the job that I am.
The people in the southeast and people of Seattle put me here and I feel like I need to do more in terms of what is it I need to do.
to be a better board director to actually to provide that education that all our kids in Seattle Public Schools deserve and how do we actually come together as parents and community to be able to do that.
So I thank you for you coming tonight and telling us what is it that we need to do and how can we actually work together because we can't do it by ourselves.
We need your advice we need your opinion and be able to help us to be able to do our job better so we can provide that opportunity to your children and to the students of Seattle Public Schools.
Harris other board directors.
Director Pinkham.
Thank you all to the public comment and boy I'm kind of feeling nervous here that cameras are here and I skipped work today because I was sick so.
We'll write you a note.
Thank you.
But yeah.
Coming here and sharing your voice again that's one thing I think I felt that you elected me because hopefully I can represent your voice here and that's still definitely what drives me to be up here on the dais and I just again want to thank you for being here.
Just want to address the high school boundaries.
One thing that kind of stood out for me I were looking at this.
We say that we have these list of items but nothing would really take priority.
Yes we want to see neighborhood proximity and stuff but we've got to balance those out.
But unfortunately I think when we did the bell times changes when we said we're going to stress the importance of starting later schools but now we're then asking students to commute so much of a distance we need to find a balance there.
You know OK we said we're going to start schools later but now we're just going to make the students commute longer.
That doesn't seem quite right.
So I would be looking at OK we need this.
We said something with bell times and we also need to follow that up with how we're going to make sure students go to their closest neighborhood school so that they all get the same advantage.
With the highly capable cohort and localization you know that's the vision but we don't want to take away anything from our students that are highly capable and on that track right now so that's where we want to come up with a plan first and not jump right into localize and hopefully we can get to that vision where yes all students will have what they need at their schools.
And we still have other programs we have to consider along the way you know CTE programs that might be at certain schools but not at all.
So there's a lot of things still to be you know I think into consideration for this.
We want to make sure wherever we go to I was fortunate to go to a high school district where There's only one high school.
You know there wasn't a choice of going to Ballard or to Roosevelt or not necessarily how much of a choice you have but there is a smaller school district where there's just one high school.
You know being in such a large city with over 100 schools there are choices that have to be made and I want to be hopefully guided that it's going to be a choice that takes into all consideration that's best for the school district as a whole.
And I believe that diversity and ethnic studies is best for the Seattle schools.
With the Black Lives Matter resolution that Director DeWolf brought to our attention I said yes I'd be willing to help co-sponsor this as long as I also acknowledge that you know all lives matter.
You know we had Native American month African-American month coming along Hispanic heritage month.
Unfortunately these are just months for some people that come from certain identify with but it's something they carry with them throughout their lives.
It's good to take time and acknowledge them and just like we have Mother's Day Father's Day we have these times acknowledge those people that do certain things.
But for those that carry something with us every day of our lives we need to reaffirm them that it's OK to be who you are.
So when we say black lives matter yes it matters every day.
All lives matter every day.
And it's been a kind of a thing people may think that you know the United States have come such a long way that you know racism is a thing of the past.
No it's unfortunately still still in our systems and still.
in some people's ideals.
And I'm going to go to a quote from an author Nicole Hannah Jones and she was talking with a person about actually private schools and how that's been in fact affecting our students where there's still segregation going on there where people feel if I don't get what I have in my school because I have to include other students I'll create a private school so I don't have to follow public guidelines.
And she was talking that she was asked about how far we've come as far as a country in regards to racism and making sure everyone has equal access to education.
So while there's more progress and then we move back we're clearly right now moving back.
So yes we get the Voting Rights Act and now we get the gutting of the Voting Rights Act.
We see a wave of voter suppression.
We get Brown versus the Board of Education and now black children are more segregated than they've been since the 1970s.
We never made any real progress on housing segregation outside of the South and the West even though we outlawed housing discrimination in 1968. The wealth gap for black and white Americans is the largest it's been since we started really recording this in the 1970s.
And this is key part right here.
There are more black men incarcerated than there were men enslaved during slavery.
There are more black men killed by police than were lynched in a year.
We have a long ways to go.
Director Geary please.
Thank you everybody for coming.
I obviously have really strong feelings around the highly capable issue because it just feels so too late and to not have a firm deadline two years out that acknowledges that there are brilliant kids who live in poverty that live on the edges of our city that are black that are Hispanic.
that are Native American that are Pacific Islander that clearly are not in the numbers of our highly capable to me is heartbreaking.
And the fact that there is not outrage every day in my mailbox breaks my heart.
But I wanted to speak because I didn't want to not be silent because I feel like we have to make a firm goal for ourselves and commit ourselves as the smartest, richest, most capable city in this country to make this happen.
And that we believe, we have to believe in our hearts that there is a robust cohort for our kids in every school and you will find that cohort in the poor kids who cannot commute to school because they have to take care of their siblings because they have to get to work.
They cannot be riding a bus across town to get to the HCC cohort that they too need.
And so they just keep their head down and they help out their family and they think well you know this is what I get because this is what I've always been told I get.
It's for the twice exceptional students who aren't identified.
And I know we're going to do better jobs at testing but they will fall through the cracks and they have anxiety and they may not want to be in an HCC cohort the way we have currently constructed it.
They may not want to travel hours in buses.
They may want to just be able to stay close to home but have really smart kids really smart programs for them.
For the kids who are gifted in one area math or language arts but do not get to go to the HCC cohort.
But they need people who can talk to them about geometry and physics or want to dress up and go deep into plays.
For the kids you know these are the kids that and also for the kids who just don't have the identity safety in the way we have structured it.
Because when you go into that program and you look at it there are a lot of kids that are missing that won't feel safe there.
And I'm going to talk about identity safety because we did have an expert come and talk to us about HCC.
And the one thing they couldn't say is why power structures tend to be the powerful dominant culture tend to have the highest numbers.
That was a specific question asked.
And to me that triggered identity safety.
Here in Seattle we have a disproportionate enrollment of white children and in the Bellevue area there's a disproportionate enrollment of the Asian and over enrollment and the other groups aren't there.
Why?
Is it because they don't feel safe?
Is it that there aren't smart white people in Bellevue so they're disproportionately represented?
Or is it that this program is fundamentally not safe for every smart student that they have to choose between their intelligence or their culture.
And for a lot of kids who come from minority cultures they feel absolutely pressured to stay with their culture.
So that's why I brought my amendment to say it's too late but in two years we're going to do this and we as a city are going to embrace it and we're not going to hide behind testing and we're not going to hide behind planning because trust me it may not be you but it will be the exact same voices that are here that will say not yet, not ready, not good for my kid.
And are you saying that it's not good for your really really smart kid to be educated with really smart black kids that might be angry, might be a little, might have some real hard questions for them about what this country looks like?
And hopefully we will have ethnic studies well in place so that there will be fascinating classes around that.
And we already are rolling out social emotional learning all through elementary school and I'm hoping that our future kids will bring those sensitivities.
We have that curriculum.
That is what it is there for.
It is to allow kids to talk to each other.
even when it's awkward and to express when they're feeling unsafe.
So hopefully that will be there.
So I just need us to look that every kid needs to feel safe.
Don't conflate the different needs of students into one and think that my student who needs rigorous social emotional learning rigorous music and rigorous intellectual programming deserves to have the perfect program.
Because there are kids maybe who aren't up for intellectual rigor but are musically gifted and they should have a robust music cohort.
and the kids who have social emotional learning needs they need probably other kids with anxiety around them and they shouldn't be stranded behind in an environment because they didn't get into HCC.
So that's my that's my spiel and I will vote accordingly as we go forward.
I hope that we all embrace the idea that our kids are smartest kids.
The kids that get so much from this district already can either one make room in their experience for some different voices and for the opportunity to grow around not being in living in a segregated society as we are definitely on a path towards or that they can also embrace the social emotional needs of the people around them.
So thanks.
OK thank you Director Mack.
I would like to finish up this rotation by saying thank you by saying thank you to our teachers to the Seattle Education Association to the NAACP for Changing the frame of black lives matters for making it robust for putting your heart and soul in to working collaboratively for age appropriate curriculum.
I have to admit last year I felt very uncomfortable because it didn't feel well planned.
It felt reactionary as as many things do that spring from the ground up.
And this year it it warms my heart that we have the courage to open these conversations.
that our teachers some of whom have been frankly I'll say it mistreated in the past for bringing forth so-called radical ideas that now are being embedded in our curriculum.
That excites me greatly and it excites me that our partners Come back to the table even if they feel less than respected or well treated in the past.
To collaborate and move forth on the on behalf of our students and our families and.
Big props to you all.
Thank you ever so much.
I think it'll make a difference and I can't wait to see what we do with even a longer runway next year.
and we learn from what we're doing next week.
Thank you.
It is time check 6 55. Mr. General Counsel how do we handle the financial disclosures kind sir.
Conflicts of interest statements.
This is an annual exercise and it's an enhanced exercise this year if I am correct.
Yes.
Treat general counsel.
I believe in the past at this point in the meeting the president has simply noted that those have been completed by directors and central office staff and that they're posted for public viewing.
OK I just reviewed them and I didn't see one for our.
esteemed superintendent.
Is that an oversight?
Or am I just incompetent in reviewing these on a quick basis?
I don't know the answer to that but if it's missing from the ones that were posted we'll make sure that we work with Andrew Medina to get that posted.
OK folks.
Well it's here somewhere and we'll post it if it's not there and I missed it.
My apologies.
Those are available on the website in the interest of transparency.
We invite you to look them over.
And if you have questions.
General Counsel Noel Treat is who you send them to.
And if you copy Leslie dot Harris at Seattle schools dot org we'll track it and get back to you on a timely basis.
I suggest that we take a 10 minute break.
Come back ready for action.
And good work.
Do I have consensus.
I do indeed.
We will reconvene then at 7 10.