I've been told that whistling to start meetings is inappropriate and tacky.
So if we could quiet down.
I'd like to welcome you to the February 6th 2019 legislative regular board meeting.
As we begin the board would like to recognize and honor the first peoples of the Puget Sound territories by acknowledging that we are on the land of the Coastal Salish tribes.
We would also like to welcome Dina Pasha who is joining us on the dais this evening.
Ms. Pasha will have a chance to give comments later in the evening as if you were a regular board member after you have the opportunity to give your comments and engage in some give and take with board members.
We'd love for you to stay as long as you can and ask questions of the audience and staff along with the other board members please.
Roll call please.
Director Burke present Director DeWolf present Director Geary present Director Mack here Director Patu here Director Pinkham present Director Harris here.
Everyone would please stand if you so wish for the Pledge of Allegiance.
We have students here from our career and technical education program showcasing their visual presentations at this time.
Who is leading us off on this presentation.
Should we stay up here or come down to the cheap seats.
OK thank you very much please.
I'm Jane Hendrickson the CTE program manager and I'm excited to be celebrating National CTE Month with our award winning staff and students.
Career and technical education has been a part of American education systems since its founding.
It has taken many forms over the years and for much of that time was referred to as vocational education and training from woodworking drawing and operating gas engines in the 1960s at Lincoln High School and Roosevelt to today's courses in construction trades recording arts engineering and computer science.
Our mission has remained the same to provide all students access to high quality rigorous career focused programs with skills to be successful in high demand careers.
Please watch our staff and students in this short video on CTE in Seattle.
The biggest thing I've learned from this is that I really enjoy genetics.
I mean, this is what I plan to do for hopefully the rest of my life.
For nursing, you really have to put your all into it.
So I joined this class because it's like a preparation class to help prepare you for the CNA official test, the state test.
I want to have my own food business one day.
And so if I start off learning all the ways to cook food, it will be easier.
I think probably the biggest thing I've learned from this is that I really enjoy genetics.
I mean, this is what I plan to do for hopefully the rest of my life.
For nursing, you really have to put your all into it.
So I joined this class because it's like a preparation class.
to help prepare you for the CNA official test, the state test.
I want to have my own food business one day.
And so if I start off learning all the ways to cook food, it'll be easier.
I want to be an engineer at Boeing or NASA.
Career and technical education courses prepare students for college and career through unique applied learning experiences.
What makes these classes unique?
They're a blend of classroom instruction based on industry standards and applied learning experiences involving hands-on, project-based learning, and technical skills.
Plus, these classes extend the learning beyond the classroom and into the workplace and community.
These modes of learning are the foundation of CTE courses.
So if we put the head on black, what do you think we should put the feet on?
Taught by teachers with diverse industry experience, Seattle Public Schools offers a wide range of courses and programs.
These courses are designed as career-connected learning opportunities, which provide students with leadership experiences and 21st century skills.
When I first came to this school, I was really anti-social.
I couldn't really talk to people.
But I learned in this class that if you want to get stuff done, you're going to have to bounce ideas off each other.
You're going to have to collaborate.
Something I've learned in this class is being able to just go out and communicate with people.
It's allowed me to step out of my little comfort zone and be uncomfortable for a couple of seconds to get a story that I need.
I really learned a lot of team building skills, like working as a team, working with people.
I think taking CTE classes is probably one of the best decisions I've made in high school, to be honest.
When I'm up here teaching horticulture, I feel like I am managing a business as opposed to teaching a class.
When things run well, the kids are learning as they go.
So I get to be the guide on the side, and I really love that part of being a CTE teacher.
In this learning module, you will find important information to help you as a CTE teacher.
The course covers obtaining and maintaining your certification, understanding and following safety guidelines, a review of CTE-specific operational procedures, including who to contact in the central CTE office, and creating engaging
Good afternoon.
My name is Teresa Scribner and I'm a CTE teacher at Cleveland STEM High School where I teach graphic arts and journalism.
I've only been teaching for seven years but this is my 10th with Cleveland.
I started as a volunteer in 2009 just before the school implemented the STEM program.
I worked as a visual journalist for the Seattle Times when Cleveland requested help restarting their newspaper which had been dormant for about 12 years.
I worked in the journalism industry for 17 years before becoming a teacher and for four of those years I was teaching during the day and working at the Times at night.
My philosophy was if I was going to teach kids about the industry I needed to be in it.
Eventually working two demanding jobs became too much to juggle and teaching one out.
But it was my time in the newsroom and the industry connections I've made that have helped me build a successful journalism program we have today.
CTE classes are important because they are one of the few chances where a student gets to learn from someone who has walked in the path they are trying to navigate.
Not only are they learning an actual skill but they are being taught time management collaboration and professionalism.
When my journalism students walk through the doors of my classroom they are no longer students they are employees of Cleveland Publications.
They set their own hours lay out the goals for the month and successfully produce a newspaper a yearbook a TV broadcast all while juggling their other classes sports and extracurricular activities.
Several of my colleagues have commented on how professional my students are during interviews.
Their writing skills improve when they come into my class and they are able to discuss relevant topics with perception and an unbiased viewpoint.
What I love about being a CTE teacher is that students are able to see themselves reflected in a profession they might not have known was available to them.
Cleveland is 93 percent students of color.
I am one of two black female teachers on staff.
Representation matters.
For students to see two strong women of color in their classrooms who had successful careers both in and out of the STEM field, both become teachers, is important.
At Cleveland, where the focus is science, technology, engineering, and math, it is hard to get kids to see themselves in a profession like this.
But once the students are in the class, they find it's the one place where all their studies collide.
Hello.
My name is Drew Brennan.
I'm a senior at Ingram High School.
And to give you a little bit about my background, I'm taking IB classes at Ingram.
I'm a varsity tennis captain for this upcoming season.
And I'm very excited to say that I will be attending Santa Clara University next fall.
But if you'd asked me as a small crew cut freshman four years ago, What I wanted to do after high school, I would have probably freaked out.
But when I went to my first marketing class and joined DECA, that's when everything really changed.
I am currently the Area 2 President and Vice President of Career Development for Washington DECA.
And today, I'd like to give you just a quick look into how DECA as an organization has shaped my high school experience and the experience of all of our members.
So first of all, what is DECA?
Well, DECA is an international organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management in high schools and colleges around the world, not just North America.
While DECA is business oriented, students with various interests can actually come and pursue involvement in DECA.
For example, one of my very close friends is very interested in automotive services and this year he wrote a business growth plan in DECA that then allowed him to start his own business called Nick's Mobile Detailing and DECA really made that dream of his a reality.
We are very excited this year to have 11,000 members in Washington DECA, many of which qualified for our upcoming State Career Development Conference.
Now, whether it's a member's first year or their fourth year in DECA, there's one thing I am certain every DECA member walks away with, and that is confidence.
DECA encourages members to push out of their comfort zone to pursue their passions and strive for success.
I am very glad to have been part of such an amazing organization and I'm ecstatic to see it expanding in Seattle Public Schools.
Thank you.
Hi I'm Michael Adams.
I'm a senior at Franklin High School.
I want to become a nurse practitioner and go into medicinal activism.
The medicinal part of my goal established when I learned a friend of mine was taking a CTE skill center nursing assistant course.
She told me they combined patient care with medical study.
As I started researching the course more, it only became more intriguing.
This class sounded like it could launch me into my career path and offer some stability in my choice.
I took advantage of this opportunity.
In my young life, I've never been more inspired, intrigued, or compelled to explore a passion.
Our curriculum is very intensive.
We study topics such as diseases that affect the community anatomy and patient care.
I always take the extra time to engage in our curriculum.
We have clinicals in the spring at Providence Mount St. Vincent in West Seattle.
In clinicals we will take our learned skills to the real world.
This experience will further my understanding of patient interactions.
This class has allowed me the opportunity to not only explore my projected career field but also prepares me for nursing school.
I intend to study nursing and this course has solidified that choice.
By the end of the school year we will take the state's test to become certified nursing assistants.
I will be able to work as a CNA right out of high school.
I'm very thankful that I can work in my career field while in college.
This program has allowed me a foundation for my career in nursing early.
Throughout my experiences I've developed leadership skills I will carry into all my future endeavors and morals I will always stand by.
As I progress my path I am continually thankful for all those led me to where I'm headed.
This class has set me up for success.
I recently was accepted to Seattle University's nursing program and I'm a semi finalist for their full ride scholarship.
Thank you to my CTE teacher Nurse M for opening my eyes to medicine and facilitating an atmosphere where my intellect can thrive.
Thank you.
Hello everybody.
My name is Logan Webster.
I'm a senior and I am the student director of the Academy of Business over at Chief Sealth.
I would say the biggest life lesson and takeaway from the past few years with the academy was definitely being given the opportunity to apply and get accepted into an internship.
The academy makes it very easy for students who are interested in either finance or hospitality to get their foot in the door with substantial companies that are looking for young and driven individuals.
I myself spent this last summer working as an accounting intern at Costco Travel in Issaquah.
Through this I learned a lot of valuable life lessons like getting really good at Excel adapting to a schedule and commute because Issaquah is pretty far away from West Seattle and overall just communication skills.
Costco Travel had an open door policy where I could talk to all of the higher ups and directors and managers of all the departments.
and I got to learn and understand their lifestyles while also getting a grasp of what I do and don't appreciate in a workplace.
Overall I was just very appreciative of that internship and getting a glimpse into the business world.
But I really have to thank my teachers over at Chief Sealth for preparing me for these things via the classes of entrepreneurship and business management.
They prepared us both mentally and physically by telling us what to expect and say with interviews and got us prepared with resumes and cover letters and business attire.
On top of learning real world skills I personally consider the academy to be a fun escape from the core classes of high school as they appeal more to my career and future interests in business.
And now it is a great pleasure for me to introduce David Watkins.
Mr. Watkins is the general manager of the Sound Hotel Belltown Seattle.
David has been involved with the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism for the past three years.
We really appreciate his support and the Seattle Hotel Association.
Thank you.
Good evening directors.
Wow this is a big moment for me to be here and to present a check on behalf of the Seattle Hotel Association to the Seattle Academy Foundation in particular Chief Sales Hospitality Program for four thousand five hundred dollars.
So Logan thank you.
And I can't tell you how thrilled our industry is to be partnering with CTE and Seattle Public Schools.
Our industry needs individuals that are coming out of these programs and I can attest the students that have come through the hotels and interned are fabulous.
Look at the graduation rates out of the academies in the past few years.
One hundred percent.
Thank you for all your support and I look forward to continued partnership with all the hotels in Seattle to help make this a great program.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for allowing us to present tonight.
Awesome sauce.
Thank you all for coming down.
Thanks to our staff.
Thanks to our community members.
We to a board member I oftentimes I'm not brave enough to speak for all of my colleagues but to a very board member up here are huge fans and supporters of CTE.
We want more of it.
We want more robust of it and we want more community members helping us do it.
Thank you ever so much.
I believe that it is the superintendent's comments.
The floor is yours madam.
Well I really don't want to follow that.
That was awesome.
So thank you students.
Thank you teachers.
Thank you business partners.
We really appreciate all of your support.
And yeah I echo our board president about our love of CTE and hope to figure out a pathway to make it more robust so.
So I haven't shared about school and community updates since before winter break.
So we have a few things to catch up on.
I've been out visiting schools.
I got to brush up on my basketball skills at Viewlands Elementary with the Edmond Community College players who were there mentoring for the day.
So go Tritons.
I need to practice.
That's what I did find out so.
I don't know if you saw the King 5 special on this women in power thing but Mayor Durkin played Sue Bird a little bit.
I'm about as good as Mayor Durkin was so.
I worked on my letters letter sense with the students at North Beach.
These Greenwood stars gave me a school tour and these first graders were acknowledged for their reading growth so I got to hand out some pencils and certificates which is always fun and the group on the left are leaders who know all everything about their school and pointed out all the great things happening there.
Nova students and I discussed literature race and social justice.
McGilvra has two students in each room that welcome visitors as they work their way through the thing so they're like classroom ambassadors.
Very informative kind of gave you the lowdown of what was being taught that day and just talked about how great their classes were.
So that was a lot of fun.
I was greeted at Wing Luke by this powerful group of young women.
They recited a poem that they had read for their Martin Luther King Jr.
Day called Hey Black Child, which was very, very powerful.
And then we all decided to do our power pose.
I was pulled into a literature class with the middle college students at Seattle University.
They were very thoughtful.
They were reading through I think fences the play and and having good conversation about that staff.
Our last.
of four foster award winners was at Eckstein and she was shocked by the surprise.
So that was a lot of fun.
I think Jill you went to that right.
Yeah.
So thank you to the alliance and the foster family for these awards for the school leadership that's happening across our district.
They're really meaningful and I'm really glad that good leadership gets recognized.
After basketball Principal Kleiner showed me around the rest of you lands and they are so thankful to be on the BEX V list.
If you have not been to that school they certainly deserve to be on BEX V. It's they need a lot.
They need to be remodeled.
So but a great school.
Everybody was happy to be there.
Kids were awesome and I got a lot of good partnerships going on.
Principal McLean showed me around North Beach and shared their work that they were doing around math.
Oh you see that they're the SEALs and so the SEAL joined us.
Principal Stoll and his Greenwood team are focusing on tier 1 during this during year 1 and then they'll move on to tier 2 in year 2 and so a lot of professional development professional growth with the educators in the system there.
Visited middle school and there's always so much energy in middle school.
Principal Otis is building a very strong Meany middle school and a lot of good things happening there.
And as I travel around there are just like so many great leaders in our school.
Principal Browder now Dr. Browder was a teacher at McGilvra and she now leads that school.
Dr. Brown is so very passionate about leading South Lake High School.
Her focus this year is family engagement.
I always look like I have huge eyes in these selfies.
No it is true.
I have to learn how to do better.
Martin Luther King principal Dr. Thomas continues to build strong systems to support students there.
Principal Mendoza showed her excitement for the new Wing Luke building that will open in 2020. So thank you to our voters again for providing all those all the great learning spaces for our students.
Principal Pearson is working with Montlake community to build their cultural competency doing really good equity work there.
She's also excited to be on the BEX V list.
This is the custodial engineer and the second oldest boiler in the city.
He keeps this beast running so students at Montlake stay warm.
But look how huge that is.
And he's there every day.
And so it's good that they are also going to get rebuilt.
I did.
Well did we go to that.
We heard about the Harry Potter attic.
Jeanette I met she's one of our 72 crossing guards across the city helping our students get to school safely.
She keeps the students at Van Asselt at African-American Academy safe and doing great work out there.
Dr. Geary took me to lunch at Madison Middle School.
Very very loud but good things happening there as well.
Principal Chaput is thrilled to be at Lafayette.
She couldn't say enough about the volunteers who keep the gardening projects running.
I was teasing her like Lafayette like there's no place like Nome.
Principal Deese showed me around Elkeye.
I was so impressed with the data books that the kindergartners shared we walked in and they all were able to open these data books these binders and say here's where I was the first day of school I knew these letters and these numbers.
And then first day of the new semester opened up like now I've learned all these and I keep those right at their desk.
So very impressive learning going on.
They're tracking their own learning their own growth.
Also another BEX V school and it also needs it.
So I'm sure that you know when it passes we're going to be thankful to the voters again.
And then just out in community I popped in to visit the advanced learning task force and I just want to thank everybody who's participating on that and giving up their time and providing us ideas to make Seattle Public Schools a better place for all students.
This team shared with the media the needs at Northgate Elementary.
So a little press conference up there.
A huge shout out to Chief JoLynn Berge.
She's given over 70 informational sessions about the budget and the levy across the city and so we owe her a great amount of thanks for being out there working with PTAs and making sure that information gets out across the city about the importance of the levies that are coming to a vote soon.
But when I was with her JoLynn let me kick off this session at Rainier Beach High School and so you can see that there's good audience attendance and people learning about what the levy means to their communities.
And as you know our partner supported us in seeking feedback on the draft strategic plan.
So I did another round of engagement on our draft strategic plan and I just want to give a huge thank you to everybody who participated in those efforts.
Huge thank you to our partners and staff who supported this work.
The Haida Heritage Foundation welcomed me at Graham Hill Elementary so that was really nice.
Somali Moms Night Out and Horn of Africa discussed the strategic plan at New Holly Community Center.
The Chinese Information and Service Center hosted us as well for another event.
The African-American community hosted us.
This was down at South Lake again.
Our Latinx community gave us some powerful feedback that was really helpful to shaping the draft strategic plan.
One thing does remain clear even through the second round of engagement across the city that the people in Seattle want our students to be successful.
And I always think that's a really good platform to be on.
It continues to be true.
And I think you know this board and the leadership in this district is not afraid to talk about the challenges that we are facing and not afraid to confront those and figure out a way to do to make us better with community.
And I think those efforts will continue.
I also met with Sealaska about supporting our native Alaska students and so have some good things maybe bubbling up from that.
Superintendent Reykdal and I talked about special education transportation and levies.
And I visited him in Olympia and last I met with William Bell from the Casey family programs.
They do a lot very supportive of our Seattle Public School students have really good partnerships and so it continues to be a really good learning experience for me to reach out to our partners and visit with them about what's going well where can we do better and how can we continue these powerful partnerships so that we can continue doing good work on behalf of Seattle Public Schools.
And then I just want to end, I know that there's continual frustration with our families and communities around transportation and our failure to continue to Timely deliver students in an effective efficient way.
And as I've been telling a lot of people there are factors outside of our control like driver shortages and things that we really can't control.
But I also know that as a district we need to do better.
We need to fix that problem.
We cannot continue telling parents to get their kids to school when we are failing on that front.
And so I am taking action and.
Towards the end of February we are pulling some business partners together parents putting everybody in a room and just trying to figure out presenting the problem presenting our challenges talking about funding talking about our routes and how we can maybe do some mixed model efforts at delivering students.
And I think if we can get this right.
of figuring out a way to build on systems that are already present in the city and how do we get better at making sure that all students are getting access to transportation and being delivered to school so that they can learn.
Seattle can actually be a leader in the country around this effort.
So I'm excited to have this transportation innovation think tank come together and so stay tuned for more information on that.
But thank you.
Could you also say a few words about the student advisory committee work that was done over the weekend.
So I as you know have a new student advisory board.
It's a couple of students from each high school across the city.
Very very powerful.
We just had our second meeting last weekend and they are helping us with conversations around a potential.
district dress code.
They're very powerful and I continue it's like if we are producing students that are as smart as creative and are already leaders like this group of students are we are doing a great job.
To sit in community with them and hear their thoughts and hear how they talk about things and how engaged in social justice they are and how deep their knowledge is around racial equity and all those issues.
I just continue to be a proud superintendent and I think Seattle Public Schools I would put those students up against any other students in this country as far as their knowledge around those issues.
They are just really they're a powerful group to be around.
So they're helping us with district dress code.
They gave us feedback on the draft strategic plan which will help us refine and strengthen that conversation as well.
And so just continue to be impressed by the young leaders that we are producing.
Thank you.
I had the privilege of stopping by for about 10 minutes listening in and saying thank you and then getting the heck out of there because it wasn't my space.
But holy smokes what a 10 minutes.
Mind blowing.
And anytime you hear high school students talk about sex contraception education misogyny They're pretty real and they're pretty well concerned about their world and and where they're going and how they're going to get there.
OK.
We are at board committee report.
Who would like to go first.
Director Pinkham please.
Good evening.
Chair Audit and Finance Committee.
We haven't had a meeting since our last regular board meeting where you gave an update and I think because of the closures we experienced I have not seen the A&F schedule for our next meeting which will be this coming Monday.
So my update is that I don't have an update to share with you this evening.
Director Mack you want to talk about what's coming tomorrow at Ops.
And other issues that you'd like to address like legislation liaison.
Legislation liaison.
OK.
Oh yeah.
So Director Geary and I share the legislative role and she graciously is taking that one for me. today operations committee's meeting tomorrow the agenda is posted.
We've got a full agenda which includes the regular discussion around our work plan kind of looking forward to making sure we're talking about the things that we need to be talking about in a timely fashion to be doing the work we're doing.
We have a number of board work sessions that are going to be coming forward as part of that.
On March 6th a work session around community workforce agreements had that conversation with the full board in April and in May there.
I don't actually have the titles in front of me but there's a couple more work sessions coming forward related to capacity planning and enrollment and all of that.
complicated and challenging processes that we go through.
We are going to be getting the financial report as normal as well as updates on the levies community engagement.
February 12th ballots are at your house.
If you're a registered voter please vote.
We have action items around purchasing some computers.
Thank you BEX V BEX IV voters and other technology issues that we need to pass to serve our students and our schools.
And we're going to have a conversation around the facilities planning policy and what we currently have is the levy planning policy.
So that we can get a little bit more robust going forward potentially adopting a new policy that is drafted by WSSDA and gives us a little more focus on overall facilities planning is not just looking at the levies as the only financial source.
And a number of special attention items.
We're going to hear a little bit more about specific capital grants that have been provided through the legislature and other areas building security.
That's a big topic for a lot of folks around our schools are what are what are we doing to upgrade those facilities.
So we're going to get an overview of what's already happening and what's going to be happening.
So I think that's going to be really good information.
The asset preservation program talks about what we're doing to preserve the buildings that we have.
And there's a big report that comes with that.
So it's important work.
I want to learn more about the transportation innovation think tank.
So I believe Mr. Podesta is going to kind of give an overview of what that is looking like and have conversation around you know what comes next after that if there is potentially another task force or ongoing work and have that kind of conversation about what we can do to improve the transportation situation because it's one of our biggest challenges and I appreciate that the superintendent is taking that head on.
And so it's a full agenda.
You're welcome to attend and I'm looking forward to it tomorrow 430 next door.
Director Geary C&I and legislation.
And and strategic plan steering committee.
Indeed.
OK so C&I February 12th 430 to 630. So after you get done making sure your ballots been posted you can tune in.
Our bars will be and I believe I covered this in the last meeting but I'll run through it just in case.
you haven't seen it and the agenda is posted but we'll be doing the final year of our contract with Herff Jones for yearbooks and then there will be a bar coming through on library collections and I'll just take this opportunity to say that we're hearing a lot from librarians And it's not always just the issue of funding and scheduling or making sure that we have full time FTEs that they're advocating for.
But oftentimes those librarians are advocating for an equitable distribution of good materials and that's something I think we on the board all would like to come up with a better plan for our new schools.
Get those out of get materials out of the capital fund but our old schools.
don't have access to updating their collections with the same fidelity and ease that we find that we can do when we buy a new a new collection.
Our standing agenda or special attention items will be ethnic studies and our the committee work plan.
One of the things that we're going to continue to look at is ways to align with the operations committee and meet with their team to make sure that the curriculum and instruction work is aligning well with the operations committee in terms of where we see intersections in our work.
So I'm looking forward to that and hopefully that will make everything work with more consistency and we will break down silos best we can.
Our standing agenda will be receiving reports on our SMART goals particularly MTSS implementation and then high school revisioning which if anybody was here to see the CTE production oftentimes we are talking about how to make sure in our revisioning of high school that we're giving our kids lots of opportunities for real world engagement.
So that's exciting too.
And then we're going to do the instructional materials update and I know last board committee we heard from folks particularly our natives about since time immemorial and I appreciate Director Pinkham's comment on that.
We will be also looking at.
The work in terms of policies around adopting instructional materials and how that process can move forward so that we have the ability to adopt our own instructional materials as they are presented to us.
That can be things like since time immemorial ethnic studies and even as we are being asked to implement a civics for all curriculum.
It's important that we do that work with fidelity to our own policies.
And it's not just as easy as saying that we're going to do it but make sure that we're doing it well and not in violation of of what we have said we will do in terms of vetting the materials that are going to be asked to be implemented district wide.
So those are some of the things we'll be talking about at C&I.
Moving on to our legislative committee staff met with the Seattle delegation went down this morning and met with the Seattle delegation to present our legislative agenda.
It's my understanding that it was well received.
Director Mack and I had planned on going but I Due to inclement weather and late start times and the need to care for children we collectively decided it was safer for us to stay home and make sure that our children were taken care of.
And I think it turned out to be a good call because we think we both ended up dealing with sick children last night.
But.
In spite of that hardship our Seattle staff went down met with delegation so that was good and then Director Mack and I will be in Olympia next Monday to meet with the delegation and present from our perspective the current current concerns of Seattle Public Schools.
Other than that legislation is still being proposed and our staff is vetting that and keeping us apprised of anything that appears to need further attention.
And I know JoLynn Berge has been to Olympia several times to testify on our behalf which is great.
Where isn't she and what isn't she doing for Seattle schools is all I can say.
Then finally the strategic plans steering committee we were to meet on Monday but because of the weather were unable to do so which is unfortunate because it's been a great experience to get that community input on the plan.
But we will we are looking to schedule some type of remote or electronic gatherings such as through Skype so that we can have an opportunity to look over the community feedback and consider that in developing the final steering committee recommendations.
Look over different KPIs and goals that are being set and then the board itself will have an opportunity to review any final changes and make any tweaks in our retreat in early March.
And I just want to take this opportunity to thank everybody for the input they've provided.
We did discuss it last week at a work session.
I think that the board was very conscientious of all the hard work that went into it.
was very respectful of that work and I think the suggested changes were reflective of that respect and the concerns that each one of us brings on behalf of our constituents.
So stay tuned.
Thank you.
Yes.
Yeah.
I'm excited to recently be appointed to the levy oversight committee for the family education preschool and promise the city's levy.
It's a newly reconstituted.
a body the previous levy had a different body and so there's all new members.
First meeting was a couple of weeks ago and Superintendent Juneau also sits on this.
They're right in the middle the city is right in the middle of drafting what's required in the ordinance of the levy the implementation plan which is a hundred and forty page document and has a lot of important information in there.
And we're providing feedback to that.
I won't be able to attend the meeting on Thursday but I have a separate meeting set up with staff to kind of go over some of our concerns and Director Geary is going to be at that meeting in my stead.
So because I have operations tomorrow I can't do can't I can't split myself and be in two places at once.
Right.
So excited about that work and it's moving along.
One point of personal privilege.
We also have two esteemed folks in our audience that are also on that oversight committee.
That would be Seattle Education Association President Phyllis Campagna and former school board director Stephon Blanford.
Thank you.
And where else.
Mr. Donald Feldman I believe.
I'm so sorry.
Thank you sir.
I'm Felder.
Dr. Donald Felder.
You betcha.
We are very lucky to have people this interested helping us.
Thank you.
Other committee reports liaison report seeing none.
We are going to student comments.
Dina Pasha.
Ballard High School.
Dina is a senior at Ballard High School.
She's been a member of the ASB for the last three years and is currently serving as Ballard's ASB president.
Congratulations on that.
She's also involved in Ballard's unified basketball team DECA model UN and link crew.
Dina grew up in Atlanta Georgia and she anticipates returning back to the East Coast for college with plans to study business.
Take it away.
Tell us what you like.
Tell us what you don't like.
Tell us what we need to hear.
Tell us what we need to hear and we don't want to hear.
All right.
Thank you guys for having me today.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak on behalf of the students at Ballard High School.
So I just want to start off by saying thank you guys for the athletic field lights that have recently been installed at Ballard.
I've heard a lot of student athletes that are really pleased about that.
We've had a lot of situations where we have up to like three sports teams practicing on the field at the same time directly after school so this will definitely help alleviate some of that.
Also just to kind of let you guys know of what we've been doing at Ballard this past year.
Just a couple of school wide things we've done at the beginning of the year.
We were able to get our first ever back to school assembly as an ASB which had like a big focus on kind of creating a school community and not doing like competitions between the different classes.
I think that it was really a lot of like a freshman welcoming type of thing and a lot of people seem to really benefit from that.
Also in the fall we had an awareness week we have two of these a year.
And we focused on educating students on the harms of nicotine in the form specifically of like electronic cigarettes because we know that's a problem that a lot of high school students are having.
So we worked with a local nurse practitioner and she helped us out a lot with that and we were able to hold an assembly at the end of the week just to kind of educate students about something that they're using but likely don't know very much about.
Also just a few weeks ago we had a really awesome MLK assembly.
We had Elmer Dixon the co-founder of the Seattle Black Panther Party come and speak to our whole school.
It was a mandatory all school assembly.
We also had a panel of students from a variety of clubs at Ballard.
We had some students from BSU and our multicultural club and they kind of shared their experiences.
with racism in Seattle and in Ballard and kind of how the students at Ballard can be allies of this and what they can do to kind of help that.
But looking forward a little bit I think that kind of all big talks surrounding The future of Ballard really heavily involved talking about the reopening of Lincoln in the fall.
So I think a lot of students particularly upperclassmen are really excited for this because they've seen the school become increasingly more and more crowded each year.
And this will definitely help out with that.
There's of course a lot of concerns about the budget cuts and what the school is going to be losing as a result of this.
So I know Ballard has a lot of really strong and specific programs.
The Academy of Finance or Jasmine are just a few that come to mind.
These programs you know they allow students to kind of find something really specific and develop their passions in that.
But there is one program at risk that I know Practically all Ballard students use on a very regular basis and that's going to be our library.
And I know that the school board has agreed on a proposal that would cut the librarian time in half and a lot of students have expressed concerns about how that could have negative impacts on their academics or on their extracurriculars.
So just last year we got a new librarian and she's made a lot of really awesome changes to our library and it's now not just a place where people can go and check out Books or textbooks, but she's made it like a collaborative maker space where students can do so many different types of things I know she has done things where people can learn how to sew she regularly has Kind of crafts or puzzles that people can do it's a little bit of like a stress relief thing or they can just do it during lunch She also does regular reading challenges that I know a lot of people get really excited about.
And just this week, she's doing two things.
One of them is going to be screen printing Black Lives Matter t-shirts for Black History Month.
I know that every month she kind of focuses on something.
And this month she's doing a lot for Black History Month.
Also she is beginning a Valentine's Day reading campaign.
It's called Follow Your Heart Into a Great Book and it's just kind of like a way to get people excited about reading and hopefully kind of carry on during midwinter break.
It's also a place for a lot of clubs to come to.
We have a Ballard virtual reality club and they hold meetings in the library with the help of our librarian.
There's other clubs like Girls Who Code and they'll hold workshops in the library during lunch for anyone to join in on and these types of things are really helpful for people who want to like learn about clubs but not fully commit to them.
This kind of gives them an opportunity to try out something new.
Also a lot of students are using the library's technological resources on any given day.
So you can find students in between classes during lunch or for hours after school using the library computers to print things out work on group projects.
And this is particularly helpful especially for students who may not have regular access to a computer at home with the librarian there after school they can kind of get help with these things or use the resources if necessary.
And so many or most of these things would just not be possible with a librarian who's only working half time.
And a lot of students are just really concerned about how the accessibility of the library will change next year and how that can have a negative impact on extracurriculars or just their academics in general.
But that is all that I have for you guys.
So.
Thank you for allowing me to speak with you and sharing the perspective of Ballard students.
I really optimistic about the changes that are occurring next year and hopefully they will be really beneficial for Ballard students in the long term.
Thank you.
So board directors probably have a few questions for you.
Absolutely.
Director DeWolf please.
Thank you President Harris.
First thank you so much Dina for being here today.
I particularly as a queer kid myself growing up I remember that the library was a place of great refuge for me so I certainly have.
heart for that.
And I really I remember I dressed up as Cat in the Hat one day in junior high which did not score me any cool points but I definitely love reading and I strongly understand the pinch that comes with just even talking about the issues with our with our librarians in the hours.
My question is who has influenced you the most in your life and how has that person influenced you.
So I'd probably have to say my dad.
I think that me and him are really similar.
And he grew up actually in Cairo, Egypt, and definitely had a very, very different childhood than I had.
But he just did a lot of things throughout his life.
He was the first in his family to go to college, and he studied engineering, and just was a really big shift for his family.
And when he moved to Atlanta when he was around 20 and he came all by himself, with none of his family all of his family still lives over there and I think that like his hard work has just kind of been a really good role model for me that I can hopefully follow in the future.
Yeah.
Thank you.
I've got one looks like you're going to go back to the East Coast.
Yeah.
Do you have a college or university picked out plan of study if you want to share and if you don't that's cool too.
Well I am still waiting to hear back from most of my colleges.
As of right now though I've gotten into Villanova though I'm in Philadelphia so I might consider going there.
I've also gotten into the University of Texas in Austin but I definitely want to study business wherever I do decide to go.
Likely marketing.
But yeah I'm really excited about that.
Director Harris.
Any other questions comments.
Director Burke please.
Thank you for joining us.
I myself I'm a graduate class of 86. Go Beavers.
It's been a little while.
Yeah.
So I had at my last community meeting I was going to talk about this in my comments but since as a Ballard student I had a family that came and they were talking about the civics for all basically the mock election process.
I was curious from from a person who's in an ASB role and did you feel that that was a good pilot.
Did it was it fun.
Did it engage the students.
I think it was really engaging and really awesome.
Like I was able to vote in the last election but just like having that whole like environment at school where everyone was talking about voting and really getting engaged in this thing it made me like really make sure that I was going out and voting myself too.
And I definitely do think that it will help maybe the younger people that weren't able to vote in this midterm election when they are of age.
I think that having that kind of environment before they can vote is really helpful and definitely was really beneficial for kind of the political environment.
People were talking about elections in ways that they usually don't because I think sometimes in school there can kind of be this thing about like avoiding politics sometimes.
But just by encouraging students to vote I think was really beneficial in that way.
Yeah.
Thanks.
And good luck in your future.
You're going to do amazing.
Thank you.
Thanks so much.
And again you are welcome to stay till the very bitter end and ask questions when we do.
Thank you.
OK.
We are at the consent agenda and the time check is looks like we're 5 10 20 minutes till public testimony and we will start that exactly on time.
Do I have a motion for the consent agenda.
I move approval of the consent agenda.
Second.
Approval of the consent agenda has been moved and seconded.
Do directors have any items they would like to remove from the consent agenda.
I just have a quick question.
When there is testimony on the consent agenda we can't hear it if it's something that's on the consent agenda.
And I think I see the personnel report here.
So I think out of recognition to the.
ability to speak to an item that hasn't already been voted on.
I would like to move to remove the personnel report.
Which is your right to do so.
Do I have a motion for the consent agenda as amended.
I move I turn the microphone on.
I move approval of the consent agenda as amended.
Ok.
All those in favor of the consent agenda as amended please signify by saying aye.
Aye.
OK.
So we will take up the personnel report after public testimony for the rest of our action items.
OK.
So everybody's on the same page.
So we have 20 minutes for board comments.
Who would like to go first.
Director DeWolf.
Thank you President Harris.
First as a Chippewa Cree as a citizen of the Chippewa Cree Nation of Rockbow Montana I want to also recognize that we are on stolen indigenous land.
I'm honored to live work and serve in the Coast Salish territories in the city of Chief Sealth who is a descendant of the Suquamish the Muckleshoot and the Duwamish.
I'm really excited about tomorrow.
Just recently joined the operations committee and really excited to begin really formally having the really I would say exciting conversations around community workforce agreements so I'm looking forward to that conversation tomorrow.
And I know we have a lot of folks in our community who are interested in this discussion so I hope folks will turn out for that.
Also wanted to say just before we get there that I am super excited for our board goals conversation later today.
Tonight excuse me.
We've had some really great conversations internally about those board goals but the one I'm mostly excited about particularly around community engagement is a commitment to move officially.
A few of our work sessions out into the community really trying to make those more accessible.
That is something I'm super excited about.
And then also just a preview.
Today we're doing doing both an introduction and action on affirming and recognizing this week as Black Lives Matter week's school week at schools.
So really excited to introduce that and and.
Besides that I did want to say one thing I think particularly as we think about CTE in the future I hope we are mindful that while I was grateful to hear the three stories we did hear it would have been really exciting to hear stories from one of our students of color sharing their experience about CTE here at Seattle Public Schools and I wanted to end with a.
I got a book for my birthday it's called Tomorrow I Will Whisper Your Name.
It's writers in the schools it's a program Seattle Arts and Lectures and one of the schools I worked with was Washington Middle School.
And just to be very clear to folks I am following the conversations and the concerns that are being raised about Washington Middle School and I know that we are working to resolve those and we'll have more clear and explicit answers about how we are working to resolve that shortly.
So I want to read a poem by Selah Harrison at At the time that this was written this person was in sixth grade at Washington Middle School.
I just want to read this really great piece that they wrote.
It's called a slow week.
I was joyful when I had no homework or little homework.
A new luxury.
It helped to take a moment to be a kid.
I slowed down for the little things this week.
I didn't run to class to get maximum time on a project due in three days.
I did not fret I was going to miss the bus because I had stayed up finishing homework.
I slowed down and thought about my day ahead of me.
I talked with my friends to check up on their life.
I kept myself my best and better, and every second I spent was well spent.
I climbed up a new ladder to reach a new goal, but this one was slow.
All this to say is I know we have a lot of work to do to mend some of the pain and the inconveniences and the frustrations and the harm that have been caused for Washington middle school families.
And I want to make sure that students like Selah can get back to just being a kid.
So I promise we are we are working to address the issues at Washington Middle School.
That's all I have.
Director Mack please.
Good evening.
It's great to see so many folks out tonight with us.
I wanted to give that a friendly reminder about open enrollment going on right now.
School choice if you're interested in applying to a school that's different than your attendance area school.
The.
Option to do so is open now through the 15th.
Informations on the website.
I also know that staff has been working hard to reach out to community and support the registration process and they have a number of events going on.
Tomorrow at Cedar Park Elementary from 5 to 7. There's a registration event also Tuesday February 12th at El Central de la Raza 5 to 7 and Wednesday February 13th from 4 to 6 at New Holly.
So those are opportunities to engage directly with staff on the process for enrolling in Seattle Public Schools.
And also on the website is school tour information.
I know that some of those had to get rescheduled because of the school closures in the last couple of days so it may not be perfectly up to date.
I would recommend looking to the specific schools but those opportunities are there and we have lots of great schools in Seattle Public Schools and I hope that the process goes smoothly for folks this year.
February 12th.
Is election day.
So I just want to ping.
Please vote if your ballots on your counter.
It needs to be filled out and.
popped in the mail.
No postage necessary.
I want to apologize to the Magnolia community for not being able to be at the information tonight tonight about Magnolia Elementary which will be opening up next year.
It was scheduled for last night and then got rescheduled tonight and I'm obviously here and not there.
So again can't be two places at once.
I haven't managed to schedule my next few community meetings it's been really really crazy busy and I will do that soon.
So stay tuned.
Super excited about the Black Lives Matter schools week recognition again.
And remember when I was on Seattle Council PTSA a good few years ago and we were engaging in this as well.
So I'm I'm excited about that tonight.
I wanted to touch base really on the strategic plan.
I really appreciated our work session that we had and the ongoing work to focus the language and get community input.
I'm particularly excited about priority 2 operational systems because that's one place where it feels like we often inadvertently let down our families as things that they don't Things don't work as well as we want them to.
Our systems are not as robust and responsive as they could be.
And I know we have so many well-meaning intelligent amazing folks in this district and we have budget shortfalls which cause problems and our systems are complex.
So I'm just excited that we are continuing to focus on that in the strategic plan that it is actually a priority to is drafted right now to develop operational systems that result in Seattle Public Schools providing a predictable consistent high quality experience for students and families that allows them to focus on learning.
And I just want to reiterate my commitment to you to help support that through the work of the board and working with staff on those things.
Thank you Dina for being here tonight.
Ballard High School is in my district though.
Director Burke likes to talk about a lot more.
He is a he is a graduate.
I'm not.
I just I really do appreciate you talking about all the great stuff that's going on there.
And I want to also thank again all of the parents and community members that put their volunteer time into supporting all of those programs.
I know that it wasn't mentioned but I know that there's a volunteer program after school for mentoring and tutoring that goes on at the library as well.
And I know that happens in other schools as well.
But you know thank you to everyone who steps up every day to support our students.
And that CTE video was amazing.
Staff is gone but it was really great to have all of that pulled together.
So I really appreciate that.
And I'm looking forward to hearing from you all tonight with your concerns and hopefully we can support making changes to improve things.
Next up Director Burke.
Good evening everybody.
I hope you're having a warm and safe slightly cold slightly icy season.
Some of the kind of looking back over the last couple of weeks definitely the CTE presentation that we just got was really it sent chills down my back.
There were just hearing from the students it's it's truly When I think of CTE, I think of the intersection of education and personal passion.
And it's just, it's like when a student really finds their voice and their passion and what really motivates them, and it happens to coincide with their education.
It's a very cool thing.
I want to publicly thank Mr. David Watkins for his generosity.
And I've had the pleasure of working with Mr. Watkins for the last couple of years and I know that he's a passionate advocate for the Seattle Academies Foundation and the hospitality and tourism.
So I want to publicly express that gratitude.
I also want to thank staff internally Wyeth Jesse gave me a wonderful walk through some of our MTSS data tools to really help understand what it looks like from system level down to student level.
That was really informative for me when I think about how we're doing our governance.
And I know that he likes to fly under the radar but I want to just share some kudos for Director DeWolf.
I was pointed out today a joint editorial that was posted on Crosscut.
And I read it and I thought wow that's the best unpacking of basic education.
When you hear basic education it's just a buzzword.
But that editorial was really good and so I want to publicly commend you for that.
Other stuff that's going on.
The science adoption K through 12 is ongoing.
Materials have been selected at the finalist level or.
The first round materials have been selected and those materials were on display last Saturday at Nathan Hale along with district staff and will be on display next Saturday at Rainier Beach along with district staff to answer questions so I encourage people to to go and look and experience and share their their their thoughts.
My last community meeting was just about a week and a half ago.
We covered some great topics the civics for all discussion that I mentioned before librarians was was a lively topic and history scope and sequence of history.
I know.
I had somebody come to my meeting they wanted to talk about scope and sequence of history.
It was amazing.
We had a wonderful conversation.
So again everybody's invited and my next meeting has not been booked.
I'm looking for a space and time the end of this month or the very beginning of March.
And I did a themed meeting last year around CTE.
I'm going to do another themed meeting.
This one's going to be around science in honor of our science adoption.
So of course people can come with any topic but we're going to reserve some space to talk about science and how the science experience is going and how we can keep making it awesome.
So that's about it.
And if there's anything else I'll reserve a little time after public testimony.
Thank you all for coming and we have a lot of work to do and you all are helping us identify it.
OK.
We have according to my computer six minutes before we start public testimony.
Let's take a stretch break and we'll start public testimony at 530. Thank you.