Seattle Schools Board Meeting Nov. 19, 2024

Good afternoon.

The board meeting will be called to order in a moment and SPS TV will begin broadcasting.

For those joining by phone, please remain muted until we reach the testimony period and your name is called.

All right.

Staff, are we good to go?

OK.

This is President Rankin.

I'm calling to order the November 19, 2024 regular board meeting to order at 420 PM.

This meeting is being recorded.

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

Miss Wilson-Jones the roll call please.

Director Briggs Director Clark Director Hersey Director Mizrahi Vice President Sargent

Director Top.

Here.

President Rankin.

Here.

Student member Bragg.

Here.

Student member Ilyas.

Present.

Student member Yoon.

Present.

Thank you.

Superintendent Jones, if you have comments to offer, please do that now.

Yeah, good afternoon, board directors and those watching.

We have a number of critical items to discuss today, and I'd like to briefly outline some key topics on our agenda.

We'll begin by examining the progress of our students with a particular focus on ninth and tenth graders as part of our progress monitoring update.

Then later in the meeting, we'll provide an update on our school closures and mergers and the impact these changes will have on our students learning environments.

And finally, we'll discuss the direction we want to set for our students, establishing goals that will guide us moving forward.

What we are working hard to achieve inside of our school buildings.

Before we dive into these important discussions, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude for everyone who has joined us for public comment today.

I also want to thank the many community members we've had the privilege of engaging with over the last several weeks during our community meetings.

Those voices and feedback are invaluable as we move forward together.

Let's be clear that we are listening and I will continue to listen because nothing is more important right now.

We know that the strength of our school system is not something that we can take for granted.

It's not simply passed down from one generation to the next.

It takes us to fight for it.

And we have to protect our services and programs.

And so in doing so, we need to make sure that we secure the necessary resources for the short term and into the future.

And as you all know, we are facing a $90 to $100 million structural deficit for this upcoming year.

And our path to closing this gap involves a three-part approach.

First, we have $30 million in flexibility from the repayment of our capital loan program.

Second, we have $40 million in state funding that we're looking for, which we are actively working to secure in collaboration with our legislative partners.

I'm pleased to report that we've had productive discussions that have been underway, and we thank the legislature for their support in advance.

I want to thank the community also for recognizing that vital role as we move forward.

Third, we have $30 million that we're looking at for internal savings through our efficiency measures.

And so these ongoing decisions to delay necessary fiscal action have gotten us into this predicament.

So we need to take action now.

And that smart, strategic fiscal action compounded over time will get us on the right track.

So part of that picture involves continued and hopefully expanded support through our levies.

And we are asking our board this evening to authorize placing these levies in front of voters early next month.

These levies are critical components in our effort to ensure the long-term fiscal stability of our district.

So our partnership in making that happen is indeed critical.

I'm pleased to have engaged in productive conversations, as I mentioned, with our legislature, and we're going to have opportunities to talk to others to join us in this collaborative effort.

But before we begin today's agenda, I must take a moment to acknowledge a loss that has deeply affected our community.

On November 3rd, we lost a true national and local hero, Quincy Jones.

the legendary artist whose remarkable legacy is forever woven into the fabric of our schools and our school system.

We are proud to remain and always remain the school system of Quincy Jones, a place where students have the opportunity to excel in academics, the arts, and athletics at the highest level.

President Rankin, back to you.

Thank you.

We've now come to the board comments section of the agenda.

This week, a portion of the board and all three of our student board members will be attending the WASDA conference in Spokane, which is the Washington State School Director Association, and also why we're having our meeting this month today on Tuesday instead of our usual Wednesday.

THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR STUDENT BOARD MEMBERS TO CONNECT WITH OTHER STUDENT MEMBERS ACROSS THE STATE.

WE HAVE A LOT OF PEER DISTRICTS WITH LONG-STANDING, LONGER-STANDING STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES, AND THERE'S A GREAT NETWORK THERE, SO I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT YOU ALL HAVING THAT OPPORTUNITY.

IT IS ALSO A REALLY KEY TIME TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER SCHOOL DIRECTORS AND STAFF FROM ACROSS THE STATE, ESPECIALLY AS WE PREPARE FOR COLLECTIVE ADVOCACY HEADING INTO THE 2025 LEGISLATIVE SESSION.

ON TONIGHT'S AGENDA, WE HAVE VOTING ON THE LEVEES TO BE PLACED ON THE FEBRUARY BALLOT.

WE'LL BE VOTING ON OUR LEGISLATIVE AGENDA, WHICH WAS INTRODUCED AND DISCUSSED LAST MONTH.

ONCE APPROVED, WE WILL SHARE IT WITH OUR LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION, AND IT WILL BE POSTED ON THE DISTRICT'S WEBSITE FOR EVERYONE'S INFORMATION.

FOR PROGRESS MONITORING THIS MONTH, WE WILL HEAR ABOUT OUR CURRENT COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS GOAL.

THIS IS A LOT.

We'll have a work session to finalize our language for 2025-2030 goals.

The guardrails will be discussed in another session.

And we will also have an update from the superintendent on the school closure and consolidation process.

We have presently scheduled public hearings at each of the four schools recommended for closure in the beginning of December.

That is part of the process as having received initial recommendations from the superintendent.

Does any other, or do we have any liaison reports from any board directors?

ANY STUDENT MEMBER COMMENTS?

YES.

DIRECTOR YOUNG, GO AHEAD.

SO WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON MANY OF OUR INITIATIVES THROUGH OUR ZOOM MEETINGS AND WE'VE BEEN TAKING MANY OF THEM INTO ACTION.

FIRST, WE'VE BEEN WORKING TO KEEP THE SPS STUDENT BODY INFORMED ABOUT OUR ACTIVITIES AND INITIATIVES.

WE POSTED A SUMMARY OF the previous October 19th board meeting on the SPS student board Instagram account.

This was part of our effort to improve communication and transparency with our fellow students.

Second, we're planning school visits in early December.

Our first visits will be to Ballard, Franklin, and Lincoln High Schools.

THIS INITIAL PHASE WILL SERVE MORE AS A TRIAL RUN AND MOVING FORWARD WE PLAN TO VISIT THREE SCHOOLS AT A TIME ENSURING A BROAD AND GEOGRAPHICALLY DIVERSE REPRESENTATION ACROSS THE DISTRICT.

THANK YOU.

ANY OTHER STUDENT DIRECTORS?

NO.

OKAY.

LET'S SEE, WE'RE GOING TO BE MOVING INTO PROGRESS MONITORING.

I WANTED TO DRAW FOLKS' ATTENTION TO THOUGH SOMETHING THAT'S IN THE BOARD MEETING PACKET, WHICH MAY, IT'S KIND OF BURIED, MAY BE HARD TO SEE.

WE DO, AS IS PRACTICE FOR SCHOOL BOARDS, HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO, WHEN WE'RE NOT MEETING, WHICH IS WHEN WE MEET HERE IS THE ONLY TIME THE SCHOOL BOARD EXISTS AS A BODY, WHICH IS OUR ONLY AUTHORITY.

SO BETWEEN MEETINGS, WE INDIVIDUALLY SUBMIT QUESTIONS TO STAFF TO HELP US PREPARE FOR ANYTHING FURTHER, ANSWERS WHICH ARE MEANT TO BE PROVIDED TO THE FULL BOARD.

AND ONE OF THE WAYS THAT THAT HAPPENS IS IN THE BOARD DIRECTOR QUESTIONS AND STAFF RESPONSES.

I'M HIGHLIGHTING THIS JUST TO NOTE THAT I RECEIVED A FOLLOW-UP ON SOME OF MY QUESTIONS, BUT ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I DIDN'T RECEIVE WAS A QUESTION ABOUT AND THIS IS NOT A SURPRISE BECAUSE I ASKED IT YESTERDAY IN ADDITION TO A WEEK OR TWO AGO.

WHEN THE BOARD WILL BE RECEIVING AN UPDATE ON THE AMENDED POLICY 2190 ABOUT HIGHLY CAPABLE SERVICES, WE APPROVE THAT PLAN ANNUALLY.

THERE ARE CERTAIN ITEMS IN THAT THAT ARE REQUIRED BY STATE LAW THAT DID NOT USE TO BE PROVIDED TO THE BOARD THAT HAVE BEEN, OR THAT WE NOW REQUIRE BY OUR POLICY TO BE PROVIDED TO THE BOARD.

DO WE HAVE ANY, WELL, I GUESS I JUST WANT TO STATE PUBLICLY, AGAIN, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHEN THAT UPDATE IS COMING TO THE BOARD.

IT IS INFORMATION THAT IS REQUIRED TO BE PROVIDED TO THE BOARD ANNUALLY.

AND I HAVE NOT RECEIVED A RESPONSE ABOUT WHEN WE WILL SEE THAT PLAN THIS YEAR.

SO I WOULD JUST LIKE TO NOTE THAT.

PUBLICLY AND PLEASE PROVIDE THE ANSWER TO THE FULL BOARD WHEN THERE IS ONE.

WE WILL NOW MOVE TO THE TABLES FOR PROGRESS MONITORING IF THERE ARE NO OTHER FURTHER COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS FROM BOARD DIRECTORS.

We have a question, right?

You need a reliever?

All right, our progress monitoring session today is on our college and career readiness goal.

Superintendent Jones, please go ahead.

Thank you, President Rankin.

As part of our regular meeting today, I'd like to pivot to our progress monitoring conversation.

Today we will discuss goal three, college and career readiness.

I'm grateful for the time we have to discuss this important work we're doing to promote college and career readiness.

This is our sixth formal opportunity to review student outcomes in this area using the formal progress monitoring framework.

I'd like to take a brief moment to recognize the work done by many people who have helped us reach our target goals for the college and career readiness from our last strategic plan.

They include Executive Director Pat Sander, Dr. Mia Williams, Dr. Kayla Perkins, their teams, and of course, the many secondary leaders and educators who support students every day in getting ready for life beyond high school.

Next slide, please.

So now let's turn our focus of tonight's conversation to how our current high school students are doing on their path to post-secondary readiness.

As a reminder, our college and career readiness goal is the following.

The percentage of black boys and teens who graduate having successfully completed at least one advanced course will increase to 62% by June, 2024. We focus on this goal given the strong correlation between completion of advanced coursework in high school and post-secondary success.

I want to repeat that.

That's why this goal is really important, that there's a strong correlation between completing advanced coursework in high school and post-secondary success.

The good news is that we've already reached our target for this goal for the class of 2023. And as we have significantly increased the percentage of black boys and teens graduating on time and having completed advanced coursework over the past five years.

Now let's turn to our future graduating classes.

And given the positive correlation, again, between post-secondary success and students graduating on time with advanced coursework, we monitor how our students are doing in 9th and 10th grade.

Is there technicals?

Sorry, no, I just was, I'm so sorry to interrupt.

I was just remembering that I didn't turn it over to Evan to chair the progress monitoring, or Director Briggs.

She's our progress monitoring lead, so I'm sorry for the distraction.

No worries, no worries.

So specifically I'll be reporting on two of the interim goals in supporting achieving our stated goal.

Interim measure one, the percentage of black male teens in ninth grade that earn at least six credits with a minimum of one credit in ELA, MATH AND SCIENCE AND .5 CREDIT IN SOCIAL STUDIES WILL INCREASE FROM 57% IN JUNE 2019 TO 85% IN JUNE 2024. THE SECOND INTERIM MEASURE 2, THE PERCENTAGE OF BLACK MALE TEENS IN 10TH GRADE THAT HAVE EARNED AT LEAST 12 CREDITS WITH A MINIMUM OF TWO CREDITS Each in ELA, math, and science, and 1.5 credits in social studies will increase from 39% in June 2019 to 68% in June 2024. So after reviewing newly available data regarding our 9th and 10th grade students, I'll provide that detail on what it means in relation to our stated goal before discussing the strategies we have in place to continue growth in these areas.

I will also be presenting a few slides to help illustrate our lessons learned.

I think this is going to be the meat of it where we illustrate the lessons learned.

You all have received a memo last week, and as a result, I'm going to proceed with sharing the data and discussing what we are seeing from our interim measures.

Is it okay to proceed?

All right.

Next slide, please.

Let's start by me reading our theory of action for helping students graduate college and career and life ready.

IF SPS CENTRAL OFFICE, SCHOOL LEADERS, AND EDUCATORS PROVIDE HIGH QUALITY TIER ONE INSTRUCTION, REMOVE SYSTEMIC BARRIERS, AND LEVERAGE SEATTLE'S MANY ASSETS, THEN AFRICAN-AMERICAN BOYS AND TEENS WILL EXPERIENCE IMPROVED ACCESS and success in core courses, advanced courses and graduation pathways.

This will increase their likelihood of success in a variety of post-secondary pathways and career after graduating from SPS.

So SPS has engaged in five broad strategic areas in its college and career readiness work.

Those would be excellent teaching and joyful learning, strong relationships, equitable measures, opportunity pathways, and expanded learning over the past three years.

And more recently, we focused on the following specific levers to improve college and career readiness student outcomes with the five broad areas of inclusionary practices, curriculum embedded assessments, use of CCR data, the continuous school improvement plans, or CSIP aligned school strategies, and grading for equity.

These five are directly connected to the 9th and 10th grade credit data in this memo, particularly with respect to improving Tier 1 instruction in these grades and will be the focus of the analysis for this progress monitoring update.

There is positive correlation between the work being done in our schools in these five areas in our interim measures for 9th and 10th grade.

We track these five measures through input, output, and outcome data, essentially our planned work versus our intended results.

Next slide, please.

So in summary, I will now quickly review our executive summary before we look at the data.

As stated earlier, we focus on how our students are doing in ninth and 10th grade in particular, due to the connection between credit earning in those grades and post-secondary readiness.

SPS data for our interim measures, ninth and 10th grade credit earning show we are maintaining post-pandemic progress, but not fully reaching the targets that we've set.

The data shows that the greater number of African-American students are significantly off track in terms of earning the credits they need to graduate on time.

The data also indicates that African-American male students need additional support in ELA, math, and science.

We are providing specific supports in these subject areas through support for inclusionary practices and the use of adopted instructional materials, including curriculum embedded assessments.

Finally, since we just received our graduation data while this memo was being developed, I wanted to share briefly our overall graduation rate for the class of 2024. There is a small decrease of 1.5% that we've seen in comparison to the class of 2023, which indicates that both we are maintaining the progress we have made over the past several years, and we also need to be aware of the trends in our ninth and 10th grade data that may hinder this progress.

We will have much more detail on this graduation data as well as our graduation data in our CCR top line measure in January when we come back to you for progress monitoring.

So now I'd like to go over the data and highlight some key points before we discuss what we're learning and what next steps we need to take.

On this slide, if you could take the the pictures of the folks off the right so we can blow the slide up a little bit so folks can see it.

That'd be great.

So this particular slide, number five, shows that for last year's ninth graders, the 2023 semester two on track rate for ninth grade African-American students is 68.4, 68.4%, which is 1.6 points lower than the result at the end of last year.

And the overall trend for the last three years for the class of 2025 to the class of 2027 is flat for students of color furthest from educational justice and slightly negative for African American males.

Next slide, please.

This slide shows that for last year's 10th graders, the 2023-24 second semester on track rate for 10th grade African-American students is 52.9, which is 2.5 percentage points lower than the result from the end of last year.

The overall trend from the class of 2024 to the class of 2026 is slightly positive for the students of color, furthest from educational justice, and African-American male student groups.

Next slide please.

So this slide, we're looking at 10th grade by content area.

Slide 7 here indicates that for 10th grade African-American male students, the last three years show a decline in meeting credit requirements for ELA, down from 76% in 2021 to 70% in 23-24.

And in math, down from 71% in 2021 to 64% in 23-24.

Of the students who did not meet the interim goal, the lowest accumulation credits were in math, science, and then ELA.

One more data slide, please.

While you can't see the numbers here because of the small print, This slide is for 9th and 10th grade credit detail.

That's where our students are off track.

And this indicates that last year's 9th and 10th grade African American male students who are off track are further behind than previous cohorts.

And this is missing the second semester interim goal is increasingly due to multiple criteria rather than one.

So I want to go quickly to lessons learned, and then we'll have some opportunities to answer some questions here.

So when we look at lessons learned, which I think is really important, the data shows that we are maintaining progress we've made over the last few years in credit earning at the ninth grade level after returning from the pandemic.

For 10th grade, we are beginning to see more of a decline, but we are still well above pandemic levels.

Regardless, for both groups, we still have a lot of work to do in terms of ensuring our grading and data usage are aligned with our efforts to help all students graduate ready for a range of post-secondary opportunities.

The following summarizes some of the lessons that we've learned and next steps that we need to take in the five areas.

So in the area of curriculum embedded assessments, we have learned that students need improved tier one instruction.

In particular, areas of focus on our curriculum embedded assessments will help with this effort, particularly in math and science.

As a next step, we plan to provide school leaders, educators with guidance on how to use the algebra, geometry, algebra two curriculum embedded assessments and in science curriculum embedded assessments during our school leaders engagement sessions over the course of the year to simply improve tier one instruction in ninth and tenth grade courses.

In the area of grading for equity, we have learned that the retake policies are part of a high quality tier one instruction and are enabling students to have more opportunities to reach proficiency and more opportunities to earn credit.

As a next step, we need to study how schools retake policies specifically impact 9th and 10th grade credit earning and determine whether district guidance in this area needs refining.

In the area, finally, of the college and career readiness data, we have learned that school staff continues to heavily rely on Atlas reports to help students stay on track with credits.

And as a next step in that area, we need to expand a centralized credit recovery system to better support schools with credit recovery and considering a focus on 9th and 10th grades in addition to our current focus on 11th grade.

So, uh, thank you for the opportunity to orient you to the data.

Uh, and now I think we have an opportunity for the board to ask, ask questions.

And I think I'm pushing this over to director Briggs or president ranking.

Yes, please.

All right.

Um, so there's a couple of questions on the back of here that were submitted electronically.

Should we start with those or um, What do you think?

You have a question.

Yeah, I mean, these are actually questions that I submitted.

So I'd love to get answers to them, but it doesn't have to be right now.

So do you want to kick us off, President Rankin?

I flipped that off, put this up because I was going to say that some of these questions actually, because they were submitted in advance, are in the board packet.

Oh, OK.

And Director Briggs, are you going to be doing the discerning from strategic questions?

Yes, I will do my best to discern between those categories.

Fantastic.

Okay.

I guess I actually do have a question.

Okay.

I'm wondering what has been identified.

Well, okay, so it says that the downward trend is located in credit accumulation during second semester.

AND I'M WONDERING IF IT HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED WHAT THE REASON FOR THE DECLINING CREDIT.

IT FEELS LIKE AN OUTPUT WAS IDENTIFIED FOR AN OUTPUT, BUT STILL NOT THE SOURCE OF WHAT IS CAUSING THE DECLINE IN THE CREDIT ACCUMULATION, WHAT'S PREVENTING STUDENTS FROM ACQUIRING THOSE CREDITS.

That sounds like a strategic question to me.

I feel this is so weird.

Am I really supposed to be strategic, technical?

Should we just assume the questions are strategic unless they are clearly not?

I think technical questions we can get in a document.

We don't have to spend time talking about it.

It's not that we can't ask them, but we don't need to spend time.

We have limited time together.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So this is our learning in public.

Yeah, learning in public.

Whatever we need to do, that's fine.

And President Rankin, if you could ask your question one more time, please.

So in the information provided to us here, it looks like the one-year downward trend in meeting credit requirements for ELA was identified as being attributed to lower credit, like, so it says that the decline in meeting credit requirements was that they didn't earn the credits.

In particular subject areas.

And particularly during second semester.

So have staff identified why that is.

So.

And what might be done to address it.

Please go ahead.

So good evening, everybody.

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about this data.

So I think the key pieces that Dr. Jones highlighted is that what we have determined are there particular subject areas where students are struggling more than in others.

And so that's part of the issue.

The good news on that front is that math, which continues to be one of the areas where students most commonly do not pass their classes, we've adopted new instructional resources that this board approved in the spring for algebra geometry and algebra 2. So we're hopeful that we're going to be able to address that.

Overall, the trend is relatively flat in terms of credit earning, but we are seeing concerning trends in those particular subject areas.

So what's going on there?

The hypothesis is that we need to continue to improve the inclusionary practices that we've been talking about to ensure that that's reaching all students.

And the second hypothesis is that some of our students are falling further behind.

There are current 11th graders that are further behind than prior 11th graders, and they're going to need more intense supports than just the Tier 1. They're going to need Tier 2 supports, things like credit recovery options that we don't currently have.

So those are the things that we've figured out to date.

as a brief summary.

And some of those opportunities for tier two, tier three are really having summer supports, having small group instruction, working through our care coordinators, our case managers, all those are opportunities when we identify where our students are at risk of not obtaining credits.

Thanks.

Any other questions?

Looks like no.

Well, I mean, I have a second question.

Oh, sorry, sorry.

I don't want to, yeah.

Please.

It might be in here and I just missed it.

The graduation rates for last year that you said we just got the final numbers, what is the...

accounting uh how are waivers we had a lot you know increase of graduation waivers during covid and i know those have continued what impact on last year's graduation rates did waivers so we had a half what we've seen is a 1.5 percent decrease from last year to this year and waivers have played a part in that i'm going to ask

Dr. Perkins to speak specifically to waivers.

This is a conversation we've been having internally, and you gave me a really good response earlier this week.

If you would please provide that.

Yeah, so the two waivers that COVID produced in terms of the state provided were around the pathway, the graduation pathway requirement, and then waiving up to two core credits.

And so, yes, we saw significant use of that waiver for the class of 2022, the class of 2023, and the class of 2024. The overall decline is relatively small, so it doesn't really explain that exact decline.

But it is something that we need to keep an eye on because they are going away.

They're officially done for this year for the class of 2025. You need to meet your pathways.

You need to meet your core requirements.

And we need to go back to some of the things that we learned pre-pandemic where our graduation rates were already going up.

So short answer is there doesn't seem to be a reason for the 1.5% decline from the waivers.

We significantly relied on them though both last year and the year before.

So do you think that that might mean that as waivers stop to be used, might we see...

Sorry, this is a future question.

But a decline from this year to next year if fewer waivers are used?

Yes, I think we could see that.

That's why we have to double down on some of the...

Exactly.

actions such as curriculum embedded assessments and training for our newly adopted material and making sure our grading policies are effective and that we're really using our data to track our students in terms of ATLAS so that when our students are starting to fall behind we can have earlier and more relevant interventions and so The waivers would probably technically knock our numbers down if we don't use them.

But if we can make up that ground with some of the strategies that I just listed and others, I think we can make up that gap.

Which would definitely be preferable.

Yes.

And so the good news is that we have amazing staff across our high schools.

I'll just name one in particular I was talking with today, Rachel Evans from Chiefs South High School, who has already baked in plans to address the fact that there won't be those waivers for those students.

It does have a ripple effect.

It does have a challenge in terms of resources.

They've had to shift credit recovery more towards 12th graders so that they make sure of that when they, in the past, they've been able to serve more students.

So there's still things to work through, but the good news is that we do have some amazing staff that are getting ready for this bigger challenge.

Thank you.

And I have one technical question, and then I will zip it.

Similar to the technical question I asked last session, which we haven't received an answer to yet, I asked about what happens after the identification of a child through...

I'm just blanking on the...

DIBELS, WHAT HAPPENS?

SO I HAVE A SIMILAR QUESTION ABOUT THE RETAKE POLICIES, WHICH IN THEORY, YOU KNOW, GIVING STUDENTS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO DEMONSTRATE LEARNING IS GREAT, BUT NOT IF NOTHING HAS HAPPENED BETWEEN THE TIME THEY DIDN'T PASS THE TEST.

LIKE, JUST SAY, TAKE IT AGAIN.

I WOULD LIKE TO REALLY KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO SUPPORT THE STUDENT BEING ABLE TO FULLY GAIN WHATEVER UNDERSTANDING THEY MAY NOT HAVE HAD WHEN THEY TOOK THE TEST THE FIRST TIME SO THAT THEY CAN SUCCESSFULLY RETAKE THE TEST.

THE ACT OF RETAKING THE TEST IS NOT NECESSARILY GOING TO HELP IF THEY HAVEN'T BEEN GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO ACCESS THE LEARNING.

THAT CAN BE ANSWERED OFF.

ANY INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS ELSE?

GIVE A SUMMARY OF WHAT WE'RE STUDYING IN TERMS OF RETAKE POLICIES AND CENTRALLY HOW WE'RE TRYING TO SUPPORT THAT, PLEASE.

Yeah, so with each of these issues, there's sort of what should we have non-negotiable centrally?

What should all high schools do?

So what we've required all middle and high schools is to have a retake policy to ensure that all students have access to that.

What we've allowed schools to figure out is exactly how they're structuring it.

So the good news is that we do see places like Chief Sealth that I was talking to today have regular times where they use Wednesdays as a chance for where they have a specific block of time for students to go work with their teachers before they take the retake.

We need to learn from those strategies to figure out what systematically we should make as non-negotiable because we do see these greater challenges with 9th and 10th graders not earning all of their credits.

And just real quick, our staff continue to rely heavily on Atlas reports.

And so we're starting to make sure that we're having real-time responses to when a student starts to get behind.

And so we're trying to have a much more comprehensive approach catching the opportunity for an intervention prior to a student slipping too far behind.

And so it's not just a retake of a test, but it's actually understanding where they are in their credit retrieval and kind of a holistic picture of our students.

And so you hear me talk about fidelity of implementation all the time.

How do we have all of these interventions, all of these strategies working in concert?

Really, it's kind of the power of it.

And I think when we see Chief Sealth or other schools start to see the needle being moved, you could probably bet that they're doing a lot of things in combination, and they have a good alignment with their implementation.

Director Briggs, thank you.

We're done?

No more questions?

Nobody has any questions for staff about how students are doing, we are done.

Thank you.

All right, it is 4.57.

By what we posted in the agenda, public testimony cannot begin before 5 p.m., which is only three minutes from now.

So leisurely directors, make your way back to the dais.

Please take your microphone and we will start public testimony at five.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have now reached the public testimony portion of the agenda.

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

I will summarize some important parts of this procedure.

Testimony is taken today from those individuals called from the public testimony list and if applicable the waiting list.

which are included on today's agenda posting on the school board website.

Only those who are called by name should unmute their phones or step forward to the podium and only one person should speak at a time.

Listed speakers may cede their time to another person when the listed speaker's name is called.

The total amount of time allowed will not exceed two minutes for the combined number of speakers.

Time will not be restarted after the new speaker begins And the new speaker will not be called again later if they have already had time ceded to them.

If you do not wish to have time ceded to you, you may decline and retain your place on the printed list.

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

The board expects the same standard of civility for those participating in public comment as we expect of ourselves.

As board president, I have the right to and must interrupt any speaker who fails to observe the standard of civility required by board procedure.

I also...

WE'LL JUST QUICKLY MAKE A REMINDER THAT THIS IS PUBLIC TESTIMONY IS REQUIRED BY LAW.

IT IS ONE WAY FACING.

OUR SILENCE DOES NOT SIGNIFY AGREEMENT NOR DISAGREEMENT.

THIS IS REQUIRED TIME OFFERED TO THE PUBLIC TO PROVIDE US WITH YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THINGS THAT ARE TO BE CONSIDERED FOR VOTE OF THE BOARD.

FOR TWO-WAY OPPORTUNITIES, THE BOARD HELD A NUMBER OF OPPORTUNITIES IN THE SPRING AS WE DEVELOP OUR GOALS AND GUARD RAILS.

WE WILL BE BRINGING THOSE BACK OUT.

I'LL TALK ABOUT THOSE MORE LATER IN THE MEETING.

WE WILL ALL BE TALKING ABOUT THOSE.

BUT FOR TWO-WAY CONVERSATION, WE WILL BE SCHEDULING TIME WHERE WE WILL BRING OUR DRAFT GOALS AND GUARD RAILS BACK OUT COMMUNITY TO DISCUSS AND HEAR FROM YOU ALL IN A TWO-WAY OPPORTUNITY ABOUT THE DIRECTION THAT THE BOARD WILL GIVE TO THE SUPERINTENDENT FOR THE NEXT STRATEGIC PLAN.

THANK YOU AND PLEASE CALL THE FIRST SPEAKER.

Good afternoon.

For those who are providing testimony today, a few additional quick notes.

First, we do have a Spanish interpreter joining us today.

Do we have our Spanish interpreter here yet?

Oh, Lorena is right in the front row.

So if you requested Spanish interpretation for testimony, please find Lorena, who has the red scarf in the front row.

And she can support you with the logistics of that piece.

For those who are joining us remotely today, please press star six to unmute on the conference call line when your name is called and also make sure to unmute on your device.

Finally, I'm not going to get the pronunciation of everyone's names correct tonight.

So please do take a moment to reintroduce yourself to the board.

We do want to hear your names pronounced accurately.

So first on today's list is Steven Smith.

Steven will be followed by Samantha Fogg and then Melissa Pailthorpe.

Hi, I'm the parent of two SPS students at Cedar Park, the spouse of a third grade SPS teacher, and a soccer coach from a team of kids from our small community school.

And I think the vast majority of us, and certainly the large crowd that was gathered outside before the meeting, agree that small community-based schools are the best way to build equitable and diverse communities that give all of our kids the best chance for success.

And because you are a part of a small community, when you know all of the kids, when they play sports together, when they go to each other's birthday parties, you build strong and diverse and inclusive communities.

Now I recently had the chance to talk with President Rankin about the school closures and she told me that one reason that we need to close schools is that we've overbuilt.

That we've built these huge five or six hundred person mega schools and now the collateral damage of this mistake is that we need to close our small schools.

And we need to disrupt our kids' educations and disrupt these communities that we built and all for a cost savings of less than five percent of our budget deficit.

It just doesn't make sense.

Please check out the flyer that I've emailed to you, which highlights that these mega schools actually have fewer staff per student and details how special ed and low income students may lose existing support and resources.

So I'm here today to ask you to put an end to this cycle of school closures and to ask that as you plan the next school levy and the next round of construction projects, Don't overbuild more of these mega schools, buildings that are optimized for the best cost per square foot, but not for building strong and diverse communities.

Instead, replace our aging small schools with new small schools and keep our communities intact.

Seattle can afford it and our children deserve it.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Samantha Fogg.

Samantha Fogg.

Samantha I think you need to press star six on the conference line.

My name is Samantha Fogg and I'm speaking tonight as both a board member of Schools First and as a parent of three students in Seattle Public Schools.

I urge you to invest in our future by voting to pass our levy.

As parents when we drop our kids off at school we expect them to be in buildings that are safe accessible and designed to support their learning.

We want facilities that empower students to learn alongside their peers, equipped with technology that meets the demands of a 21st century education.

We also want to protect their future by ensuring these buildings use clean energy solutions and contribute to a sustainable environment.

Unfortunately, the McCleary decision did not include school buildings as part of a basic education.

Senator Peterson has reminded us that here in Seattle, our district pays more in sales tax for updating and building schools than we receive from the state for those very projects.

This is why we rely on building excellence levies such as the upcoming BECCS VI to provide the safe, innovative facilities our students deserve.

By passing BECCS VI levy, you are investing in safety upgrades, energy efficient improvements, and the future of Seattle's children.

These funds directly support the environments where our kids learn and grow every day.

Please vote to pass our levies.

Together, we can ensure our schools reflect the values and aspirations we hold for our children and our community.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Melissa Pailthorpe, who will be followed by Suzanne Del Esti and then Chris Jackins.

Good evening.

I'm Melissa Pailthorpe.

I'm here on behalf of Schools First.

Schools First is a volunteer-led group that rallies every three years to help get out the vote in support of our levies, and I'm back again.

This is actually my third campaign, and all my kids are almost through college, so why am I here?

FOR MANY OF THE REASONS THAT SAM UNDERSCORED.

THESE LEVIES ARE ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL TO FUNDING OUR SCHOOLS, FUNDING THE SUPPORTS THAT WE NEED FOR OUR KIDS, MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES, ARTS, SPORTS, ALL OF THAT, PARTICULARLY THE EP&O LEVY FOR THOSE PURPOSES.

WE ALL KNOW WE HAVE A FUNDING PROBLEM CURRENTLY AND FURTHER UNDERMINING WHAT WE HAVE WOULD NOT BE IN OUR BEST INTEREST.

Secondly, these are replacement levies, and we've got to sustain what we have and invest in our future.

And so, absolutely, we need to approve these levies again to keep investing in our buildings and investing in our community.

And then lastly, I would say over my time, I've really had the privilege of seeing the process up close over a number of years, and I'm just forever impressed with the thoughtfulness that goes into a lot of the work behind both renewing buildings and creating new ones.

Communities are involved, neighborhoods get excited, and all of that is really super important to the future of our schools and our communities and for all of our children in those schools.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Suzanne Della Esti, who will be followed by Chris Jackins.

Good evening, I'm Suzanne Dale Esty, a proud K-12 graduate of Seattle Public Schools and a parent of one recent graduate and one junior at Ballard High School.

I'm here as a community member, a supporter of Schools First, and a parent to encourage you to pass the Educational Programs and Operations Levy and the Beck Six Capital Levy.

As you know, these levies replace expiring levies.

They fill critical funding gaps and fund essential programs to ensure safe and healthy learning environments for all students.

As the president of the Ballard Athletic Booster Club, we are acutely aware that the state provides zero funding for extracurricular activities and the operating levy helps level the playing field for all schools and students citywide.

Your job to balance the district's budget is already challenging and if these levies don't pass, it will be unbelievably difficult and the impacts will be stark.

I'm also here on behalf of 20,000 construction workers and their families across the region and the 19 affiliate unions in the Seattle King County Building Trades Council.

You'll hear from a couple of our leaders shortly.

We want to call out that the levies include a student and community workforce agreement, that we're very grateful for, which is opening doors and creating economic opportunity in construction for thousands of working people, including students and families from the Seattle Public Schools.

The SCWA promotes access to construction careers for community members, women, people of color, veterans, and students with social and economic disadvantages.

It provides pathways out of poverty for countless individuals and families.

These are thoughtful accountable and community focused proposals.

Thanks so much for your consideration.

Next next is Chris Jackins.

After Chris Jackins will be Billy Hetherington and then Laura Beckwith.

My name is Chris Jackins, Box 84063, Seattle 98124. On the operations levy, two points.

Number one, the resolution cites amounts well above the OSPI amounts.

Number two, this is presumably to collect more money if the levy limits change, but there is no such explanation in the document.

ON THE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE AUTOMATION SYSTEM, CONCUR.

THE COVER PAGE STATES THAT THE ITEM IS FOR POWER SCHOOL PLATFORM SUPPORT.

THIS IS APPARENTLY THE WRONG COVER PAGE.

ON CONSENT ITEMS NUMBER 6 THROUGH NUMBER 12, TWO POINTS.

NUMBER 1, EACH ITEM WOULD APPROVE AN INCREASE TO ORIGINAL CONTRACTS THAT WERE BELOW THE $1 MILLION THRESHOLD THAT WOULD HAVE REQUIRED ORIGINAL BOARD APPROVAL.

number two so the contracts got in the district door without board approval and once in large amounts are being added on the seattle parks foundation grant this action involves synthetic turf and thereby forever chemicals please vote no On school closures.

Please do not close schools.

I am including a detailed letter which notes that the school closures process appears to be violating state law and school board policy.

Please stop the whole school closure process right away.

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER 18 The next speaker is Billy Hetherington.

Billy Hetherington.

Good evening, Seattle School Board members.

My name is Billy Heatherington.

I'm a proud member of Lionel Level 242 and worked with Schools First on past levies.

I wanted to strongly urge the board to pass the resolutions on tonight's agenda to place the EP&O and BEX levies on the February ballot.

Until we see meaningful changes in how our education is funded at the state level, the levies provide, the levy funds are critical to ensuring that Seattle Public Schools can continue to provide essential services to our students.

epno levy is critical to maintain and improve day-to-day student services including support for our teachers special education and extracurricular activities without these funds our schools would face devastating cuts that would harm our students learning experiences overall well-being as a coach of youth sports i see the value of these programs instill in our youth and play a huge role in their ability to become successful upon graduation as pathways to graduation expand beyond a college focus these funds are needed to maintain cte program funding and facility upgrades that a passage of the bex levy can provide additionally the bex levy is vital for the modernization and safety of our schools our children deserve safe well-maintained learning environments that foster growth and success the bex levy will help fund these critical upgrades to school facilities and enhance our student safety, which should be the top priority for our community.

Please consider the long-term impact on our students and families as you decide on these subjects tonight.

These levies are necessary to provide us a strong foundation for our students' futures and ensure that they have the opportunities they need to succeed.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Laura Beckwith.

Laurel, if you're online, please press star six to unmute.

I'm not seeing Laurel online, so we will come back a little bit later.

Peggy Fu.

Good evening.

My name is Peggy Fu, and I am the parent of three children at SPS, including one at North Beach, which is slated for closure.

Tonight, I urge you to reject plans for creating mega elementary schools in the upcoming BEX levy.

A no vote today can break the cycle of parents like me constantly needing to advocate for their schools to stay open.

SPS did not proactively plan to fill buildings from BEX 5, and now our children and communities bear the cost of their poor planning.

If there had been transparency during the last BEX levy about merging North Beach and Viewlands, we wouldn't be in this position.

The district could have worked with both of our communities, selected a walkable location like Whitman Middle School for the new building to minimize transportation costs, and redrawn boundaries to ensure that the new school wouldn't be overcrowded from day one.

I firmly believe that if the district had engaged with the North Beach community five years ago with a thoughtful and transparent plan, we wouldn't have just tolerated it.

We would have embraced it.

Instead, we are now dealing with the fallout from these painful decisions that prioritize real estate over the well-being of our children.

The district owes families transparency, accountability, and stability before including elementary schools and future BEX levies require the district to demonstrate the need for mega schools with updated boundary maps and collaborative engagement with impacted communities.

For now, Beck's Love Fund should just focus on upgrading middle and high schools and essential maintenance at our neighborhood schools.

Parents will support well-planned, long-term decisions that prioritize children.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Robert Cruikshank.

Robert Cruikshank.

Robert will be followed by Aaron McDougal.

I'm honored to cede my time to Rochelle and Nalani.

Hello, my name is Rochelle Carrillo.

I have two children at San Isidro, a second grader and a kindergartner, and my second grader would like to say something to you guys.

I am so sad that, I'm so sad you are wanting to close my school.

When I heard my school might close, I was frozen in shock.

I was like, why, why?

closing my school, I was scared.

San Isidro is a beautiful school and I don't want to see everybody, everyone leave.

Thank you.

Our school definitely promotes students like her having a voice and I wanted her to have her voice heard.

And we really hope that you will vote no to not closing our schools.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Erin McDougal.

Good evening I'm Erin McDougal and I cede my time to Anders Hammersborg.

Thank you.

I'm Anders Hammersberg, a parent of a second grader at Sacajawea, sitting in the back here.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to listen to us, and thank you, Director Topp and Director Rankin, for recently touring Sacajawea and engaging with the community.

I hope that will be a sign of a long overdue change of leaning into public engagement rather than blocking it out.

I hope the takeaway from this and other recent public engagement sessions isn't just that SPS parents and caregivers care about their schools.

I hope you're also listening to why we're all here, and it isn't just because our schools have been proposed for closure.

It's because the entire closure process has been fraught with half-baked ideas that can't be explained or defended and shrouded in misinformation and vague shifting objectives.

After all this time and effort, there still is no plan.

This board needs to recognize that SPS hasn't delivered what it was requested a year ago, that this latest closure plan will bring us no closer to the financial stability that was originally intended, and will instead cause great harm to our students that we say are the focus of our efforts.

We've lost track of the original intent behind building larger schools, which wasn't to have them be completely full on the first day they're opened.

Instead, they were built larger because the cost was roughly equivalent to building smaller schools, and it would build extra capacity into a strained system, providing flexibility to move programs between schools and lessen the impacts of temporary closures of other schools while going through the rebuilding process.

There shouldn't be any perceived pressure to fill large schools as soon as they're open.

Instead, there should be a phased approach with a combination of rezoning, beginning with incoming kindergarten cohorts intended to minimize disruptions to students, prioritize stability as one of the planning factors, continue to maximize caregiver choice requests, and as part of a larger strategic multi-year plan that includes a 20-year forward-looking school rebuild plan.

There are way too many PhDs walking around this building to not expect this level of basic leadership to manage $1 billion organization like SPS.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Megan Hamilton.

Megan Hamilton after Megan will be Riley Alimas.

Hello, I cede my time to Heather Barker.

Hi, I'm Heather Barker, and I am a 14-year teacher at San Isidro Elementary.

We always call it the little school with big ideas.

And in the time that I've been there, I've seen that community grow and become a truly welcoming place for all of our families, as some of those from behind us here.

We're a very tight-knit community and close.

And we also have a population of about 80% people of color and those furthest from educational justice.

Our school has fallen into some disarray.

The school building has.

And it has been sort of a neglected school.

We've had the Stanislaus Pond that was finally fixed.

We have the pickup area that is a big mud hole that our families are expected to drive their cars through to pick up their kids.

We have been sort of neglected and left alone, and our families have felt that neglect.

It's very difficult to see them now trying to rally together to save our school and keep that community and that sense of a neighborhood place.

By closing a school there on Delridge as a part of the community is devastating for our families.

And I would really ask that when you take this vote, you really think about the trauma and the harm that you are causing these families who are already suffering and struggling.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Riley Alimas.

After Riley will be Jane Tunst and then Stacy Woodlake.

Hi, this is Riley Aliamis, and I am a long-term substitute at Graham Hill Elementary in one of their kindergarten classes.

I'm here to speak on behalf of Graham Hill and the students at Graham Hill in our kindergarten classes in terms of class sizes.

Both kindergarten classes have 24 students with one teacher and no aid there full-time.

It is very difficult for us to manage 24 students as one teacher and I'm urging the board to really consider adding a third teacher at Graham Hill Elementary.

I know that this would be a great opportunity for students to engage in learning in smaller class sizes as I will help them learn and become successful academic students and also Learn to be able to engage with social emotional learning, which is so important at the kindergarten age and small class sizes is going to help students overall and everyone will be successful and more successful.

Thank you for listening.

The next speaker is Jane Tung Stemmel and then Stacy Woodlake.

Hello, my name is Jane Tungstamil and I cede my time to Rachel Kubiak.

Hi, I'm an epidemiologist and a mom of two Sacagawea students.

SPS showed no differential impact of school closures by race or ethnicity, which is essential.

But this should have been just the start of their analysis.

As an epidemiologist, I analyze data every day.

So I looked at the OSPI data and found that proposed school closures disproportionately impact children experiencing homelessness.

English language learners, low income families, and children with disabilities.

This matters.

Research clearly shows that closures have outsized long lasting negative impacts on vulnerable children, like children in low income families, like children with disabilities.

And this is true for children both at the closing and receiving schools.

So why?

Why are we so focused on consolidating schools that serve the children most at risk of being harmed?

There is so little to be gained, negligible budget savings, no new school resources, and so much to be lost.

I'm not always against school closures, but I am strongly against these.

Sacagawea is a great school, serving children who frequently fall through the cracks at SPSS, and they are falling now.

There is no clear plan for children with disabilities, like my son.

Do you know the struggle to adjust to change for a child with a disability?

To make friends?

Avoid being bullied?

Their plan is to send kids like mine to John Rogers or quote unquote nearby schools.

We're told the whole community will be kept together, but apparently SPS doesn't include children with special education needs in that community.

This is blazing ableism.

End this plan now.

Seattle must do better.

The next speaker is Stacy Wedlake.

After Stacy will be Alice Appleton and then Annie Becker.

Hello.

My name is Stacy Wedlake and I have two children at Sacajawea.

I'm here today to strongly oppose the closure plan.

First, the district has not shown us a clear path to improve student outcomes.

Second, this is only a skeleton of a plan, and even the process seems to be developed on the fly.

The district holds meetings with these four schools with as little as three days' notifications and emails only in English.

The meetings promise clarity, yet cannot provide concrete detail, which just leaves us more confused.

We received no indication of when and how we will get our answers.

I want to also speak specifically about Sacajawea and John Rogers and why consolidation will not provide a stability.

First, these are not adjacent schools.

All of Sacajawea's tourist area is on the other side of Lake City Way and will need to be bused.

Next, most critically, the new school risks being over-enrolled shortly after consolidation.

The district's expected enrollment for John Rogers this year was 190 students, but the actual enrollment was 242. If the two schools have the same enrollment next year, the new school will only have capacity for an additional 64 students.

As the district moves from opening new buildings, more families will choose their neighborhood school over enrolling elsewhere in the district.

Between these unplanned enrollment increases and new development in the area, many of these AIM students will be impacted by yet another boundary change in the near future.

When I brought up this concern to the district, I am told that those students will get to stay at John Rogers.

But what's left unsaid is that those students will lose bus service because of the boundary change.

And for many families, some that live as far as two and a half miles away, that will mean staying there will be impossible.

please stop this hostage plan restore dr julia to the levy and work with us to address the district's challenges thank you the next speaker is alice appleton alice i'm please press star six if you're on the line

I'm not seeing Alice, so we will come back later.

Moving now to Annie Becker.

My name is Annie Becker, and I have been an SPS parent since 2009. At that time, I was a kinship caregiver to a justice-involved youth, a youth with immense unmet special education needs, a youth who was unable to get into interagency due to waitlist constraints.

At that time, the district was far more well-resourced.

We found a school for him, but he was only able to attend for six months.

The school he was eventually able to get into closed as part of the 2009 closure round.

School closures are part and parcel to the school to prison pipeline.

The youth that I was raising at that time fell into and stayed in that pipeline.

I currently have four children in Seattle Public Schools.

I've watched committees dissolved and public engagement cut in my time at SPS.

An ideology has taken over the governance structure of the school board that creates a top-down system that prevents true engagement and understanding with what the community needs.

Student outcomes don't change until adult behaviors change.

Prior to this closure plan, school communities tried to meet with President Rankin and the rest of the board to make our voices heard and ask for real engagement.

It has been made clear to us that no one is interested in co-designing a future with our communities.

I do not take the recall effort lightly, and I really wish that we didn't have to do this, but I am part of the recall plan for President Rankin.

I am asking that we all engage in a meaningful way.

so that we can truly understand what the outcomes will be for our children if this happens.

Thank you.

Hi my name is Alex Rouse I'm a Dunlap parent and SPS alum.

I've got my Ballard sweatshirt and altogether for Seattle schools co-chair schools closer closure should be the last resort.

I implore you as a board to insist the district pursue publicly other options to close close the budget.

Why are there 89 directors or supervisors in the central office?

What does the $150 million in purchase services and consultant contracts buy?

I know some of that bought enrollment projections that were wrong by 800 kids.

This closure plan could cost us money, families, will harm kids, are not justified, and will hurt our city.

Why tear apart the fragile social bonds we're starting to forge in a post-pandemic world?

What family would choose a neighborhood where the closest school has been boarded up and fenced off?

These mega schools will be less resourced.

I'll give you documents afterwards.

The four consolidated schools will serve more students with eight less FTE.

Two schools may lose their Title I status and funds.

Two schools may not have room for all their special ed kids.

And enrollment projections and assumptions are wrong.

We are growing.

Families live here.

The kids are here.

You should be concerned the SPS cannot execute this without causing harm, even if you like the plan.

They didn't listen to Rainier View families and educators for years.

They threatened school leaders if they spoke with families about the school closure plans.

They only shared information about school closures in writing on a website.

Black and brown and immigrant families at Dunlap at my school told me they were never invited to any of the affinity group meetings.

No one has listened to our community or come to us.

How will the district be accountable if this plan fails.

The stakes are too high for our kids families and educators.

There's a tidal wave of caregivers and educators across the state including us going to Olympia.

Don't make this risky decision before we know what money we get from the state.

Please hold the district accountable to ensure school closures are the last resort.

Thank you.

Next is Andrew Brunninger after Andrew will be Mike Dash and then Alexander Bradbury.

I have lost my voice, so I yield my time to Jennifer Markovits.

Hi, my name is Jennifer Markovits, and I'm the PTA president at North Beach.

SPF staff have talked a lot to us recently about kindergarten enrollment.

Dr. Marnie Campbell referred to kindergarten as the starting place for understanding future enrollment in an elementary school, and she said that once students start in SPS in kindergarten, they tend to stay in SPS.

So I want to show you a chart of kindergarten enrollment at all schools in SPS, and especially North Beach and its two neighboring schools, Viewlands and Loyal Heights.

This chart tells many stories and I want to highlight a few of them.

North Beach is not a small school.

Our kindergarten cohort this year is larger than three-quarters of elementary schools in SPS.

Viewlands is not particularly small either.

Viewlands current kindergarten enrollment is very close to the average for SPS.

North Beach and Viewlands are both growing.

Kindergarteners at both schools have grown 25% over the last two years.

If you merge North Beach and Viewlands school communities together, you get by far the largest kindergarten class in SPS, significantly larger than Loyal Heights, which is already the largest.

as this kindergarten enrollment is growing fast.

This will produce by far the largest elementary school in SPS, and it will keep growing.

If the goal is to fill a 650-student school to 85% capacity, this, Loyal Heights, is where you want to be, not here, the Combined Viewlands North Beach School.

And you certainly don't want to be here when you're growing as rapidly as we are.

It is clear that this plan will cause us to rapidly run out of room at Viewlands, and then what?

What is your plan then?

The only way this consolidation makes sense is if you plan to redraw enrollment areas in the near future and move kids out of Viewlands.

This goes against everything you were saying right now about merging whole communities together and minimizing disruption.

You can't do that with these two medium to large size schools.

You just don't have the space for all these kids.

So please be honest with us now.

If the plan is to move kids out of ULINS, tell us now and be honest with us.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Alexander Bradbury.

Alexander Bradbury.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I skipped over Mike Dash.

Do we have Mike Dash on the phone?

Alexander, we'll come to you next.

Apologies.

Okay, this is Mike Dash.

And I would like to cede my time to Mr. Ann Perry.

Thanks, Mike.

Hi, I'm Ann Perry, and I'm a school nurse both at Roxhill and San Jose, as well as a Delridge community member.

I want to begin with an excerpt from a poem written by Joy Harjo, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings.

Number one, set conflict resolution ground rules.

Recognize whose lands these are on which we stand.

Ask the deer, turtle, and the crane.

Make sure the spirits of these lands are respected and treated with goodwill.

The land is a being who remembers everything.

You will have to answer to your children and their children and theirs.

The red shimmer of remembering will compel you up the night to walk the perimeter of truth for understanding.

As I brushed my hair over the hotel sink to get ready, I heard, by listening, we will understand who we are in this holy realm of words.

Do not parade pleased with yourself.

You must speak in the language of justice.

There is a current running below the proposed consolidation of San Islo and Highland Park elementary schools, and the land and spirits remember.

No one can deny we're in a difficult moment, and yet this moment does not stand separate from all the moments before or after now.

Over the past 12 years, three of Seattle's most culturally and linguistically diverse schools have been consolidated, displaced, or closed.

In a pattern that echoes settler colonialism, children from families with the least institutional power have been separated from schools rich in land, history, and community.

These schools span the Delridge corridor, which falls within the Longfellow Creek watershed.

Longfellow Creek begins at Roxhill Park near the original Roxhill School, passes by San Islo Elementary, and then Pathfinder K-8, which was previously Cooper School, before emptying into the West Waterway and out to the Duwamish River and Elliott Bay.

Unsurprisingly, the lands and waterways of the Longfellow Creek watershed have also suffered the effects of institutional neglect and harm.

in the powerful work of restoration that is happening through community partnerships with the Duwamish people, neighbors, nonprofits, businesses, and government.

hope for healing is alive.

We must shift our focus instead of asking how do we ease the bitter pill of school closures.

I call on Seattle Public Schools administration and board to step into this moment with values and actions aligned in restorative justice circles.

Let us turn to each other and boldly say how do we meet this moment together.

What does just this justice look like now.

The next speaker is Alexandra Augustine.

Alexandra Augustine.

This is Alexandra Bradbury.

Am I next?

I combined two names.

I'll get back on track here.

Alexandra Bradbury, and then we'll go to Allison Augustine.

Apologies.

Thank you.

I cede my time to Najeeb Hashim.

Hello.

Hope everybody is doing well.

Thank you for giving me this chance.

My name is Najib Hashim, and I'm a parent to Sunnyslaw School of Students.

I have two kids, and my third one is on the way.

I'm the only one working for my family, and my wife don't drive.

Sunnyslaw School is a block away from me.

My wife takes my daughter to school by walking, putting her one year and two old baby on her back while she's pregnant, because nobody's at home.

This is the only school which is close to my apartment.

If this school is closed, it is going to be harmful to my family and it will be harmful to my child.

My wife can't walk more with a small baby on her back while she's pregnant.

My daughter is doing good in school.

She likes the teachers and the staff there and her friends.

The school community felt bad for my family because of my situation.

How will I tell my daughter that she will be separated from the San Isidro community that was supporting her?

How do I explain to my wife that she can no longer safely walk our child to school?

How do I forgive myself for trusting that school board district would provide stability for my family.

Please don't close Sunnyslaw because it is connected to my life.

Who knows, maybe in the future, one of the Sunnyslaw school students might be the president of the United States of America.

So please don't close Sunnyslaw.

Thank you so much.

The next speaker is Allison Augustine.

Hi, my name is Allison Augustine.

I'm from Stevens.

I'm also the advocacy chair of the PTA.

Hey, Michelle.

So school is the people, right?

And the people are the school.

You cannot have a well-resourced school without community.

It doesn't matter if you have 150 kids or 500 kids.

If you don't have community backing and trust, it's not going to be a well-resourced school.

So you don't have that trust right now because we're missing some pretty critical things, which is transparency, clear communication, and accountability.

I think, Director Mizrahi, you said that you need to have time and listening.

We're missing the accountability piece in a couple of different areas that we still need from you to believe in a plan.

We also need the plan.

We need to see the plan so that we believe in the plan going forward.

A fellow Stevens parent just said to me outside in the hall, a black parent just said, you're trying to be stewards of a budget, but you're not being good stewards of the community.

I think that's a really important point here because kids are needing our support, right?

They don't always have a voice.

Some kids have very good voice up here today, but we have to do better by them and we have to come together in better ways than just open meetings where people are angry and rightfully so.

But we have to have meaningful conversations and answer questions.

And if you don't have answers to those questions, let's try to answer them together.

Because we're a resource, definitely.

We're a smart, committed group of people.

I believe that you guys are here for that.

I don't feel like this is a totally This might be somewhat of a thankless job at times.

So if we could work together, that would be great.

Ways we can do that and that we can build trust is if you show your work.

We know OSPI is bringing in $3 billion.

Is $75 million going to come to us?

Senator Jamie Peterson sent his kids to Stevens.

He's a very pro-public education advocate.

He's aware of what's going on.

January 13th, they're going to meet at the state level.

Why aren't we advocating there?

Why aren't we trying to get more state funds together?

Enrollment.

Why haven't you tried to increase enrollment?

Like, where is the completion of that enrollment study that came out of the 2024 supplemental budget?

That would be really useful.

And the last thing is, where is that long-term plan and the student outcomes?

Gina and Michelle, you both asked for those.

I know.

So we'd love to see those, too.

Please help us help our kids.

Thanks.

The next speaker is Olinda De La Fuente.

Hi, my name is Olinda De La Fuente.

I have three beautiful daughters, 26, 22, and 7 years old, who is in San Islo.

My experience with my two older daughters on East Lake side of Seattle at Emily Dickinson, Luis May Alcott, Everlyn Junior High, East Lakes Amamish High School, Interleague High School, and Highland Middle School, Redmond and Bellevue Schools.

I just want to say this, nice buildings don't make good education.

Good education depends on good teachers, good morals, principles, and human values.

All these schools have beautiful buildings, technology, and material things.

But they are full of oppression and discrimination, racism to children of immigrants, bullying on their values, and lack of human values.

I finally found a beautiful school with a passion for education, which is what a school is for.

Sun is low.

A school that still loves education, where they still form good citizens with principles and confidence in themselves.

where they don't feel judged for how they dress, where they are from, what they eat, how they speak their English.

You can talk the home way and feel the respect and love for our kids.

Then this evil plan happens, runs out of the earth of the education.

Suddenly, the school district, where they are supposed to promote education, and strain up the vocation and lift up the vocation.

Don't break the carrot down and fail.

Our vocation does not allow you to stay there.

and our communities and immigration families.

Even in a third world, our country's schools are highly, highly valued.

It's not how it is right here.

Education matters to us.

It's not about buildings.

It's not about money.

You can put a price to education in the good schools.

As the parents, fathers, mothers of Stanislaw, Stephen, and Norwich, we refuse and rebuke your plans to transition our children to other schools.

It's not acceptable.

We want a solution for us.

Stop all this chaos.

Make a difference in the right way for our children.

Make the right decision for our communities.

We're really sorry for you guys.

If it's the first school board to remember your names, how close are schools in Washington state?

Thank you for your time.

The next speaker is Andrea Ornelas.

After Andrea will be Emily Bryce and then Chris Myland-Beck.

And then I'll go back to a couple of folks we missed earlier.

Good evening members of the board and thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

My name is Andrea Ornelas, mother of five and LIUNA Local 242 member.

I'm here to express my strong support to vote to have the educational operations and capital levy on the ballot.

With levies expiring, it is critical that they are renewed levies to address the critical needs that directly impact our students, families, and teachers.

By voting in support of having the levies on the ballot, we are investing in the future by reducing long-term expenses and preventing costly repairs on the road.

It's not just about buildings and infrastructure.

It's about investing in the people who make our schools great.

By strengthening our educational systems, we are building a stronger, healthier community, schools who are the heart of our neighborhoods.

When we support them, we invest in the well-being of every member in our city, opening the doors to career pathways that will directly benefit our students, especially those from historically marginalized communities.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to give our students the tools that they need to succeed in a rapidly changing job market.

SCWA ensures that our workforce development efforts are both equitable and inclusive, providing opportunities to underrepresented students and members of our community, including those from low-income backgrounds and communities of color.

Continuing these efforts is a must.

These apprenticeships provide students with a chance to develop practical skills, gain professional experience, and secure employment in fields such as construction, technology, healthcare, and the trades.

These programs not only benefit the students who participate, but they also help build a more skilled and diverse workforce that will strengthen our local economy for years to come.

These resolutions are not just about classrooms and test books.

It's about creating a pathway to success for every student regardless of their background and ensuring that all students in Seattle have access to opportunities that empower them to build the lives they want to lead.

I urge the board to support and approve the resolutions and move forward with the levies on the ballot.

Thank you.

Next is Emily Bryce.

I'm Emily Bryce, Stevens parent, and I cede my time to Jamie Harper.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Jamie Harper.

My son is currently in kindergarten at Stevens Elementary.

I'm here to strongly oppose the closure plan.

I understand the difficult place the district is in with the current budget deficit, but I want to make sure the needs of the students are the top priority during these discussions.

My special needs son currently holds an IEP.

He was at Lowell Elementary for two years, then moved to Stevens as they can better meet his needs.

This was a traumatic move, but Stevens offers what he needed.

Stevens offers a program called Extended Resource.

This program is to meet the social and emotional needs of kids and exactly what he needs.

This has been a crucial program for my son and is helping him grow.

He is making friends and has a community that understands his needs and wants to see him excel.

This has been a game changer for him.

He has found a home at Stevens.

With this current plan, he is looking at his third elementary school by the age of six.

not to mention another traumatic change.

This will greatly affect the progress he is making and set him back again.

My biggest worry is moving him to a larger school with less resources will result in him being lost in the system.

As you know, all kids need stability and structure.

Kids with disabilities hold an even higher need.

Changing schools at such an early age affects them the most.

When reviewing the top schools in Seattle that support kids with disabilities, Stevens falls number three on the list of public schools and number four if you include private.

Montlink isn't even listed.

Obviously, I'm worried about my son.

Like other schools on this list, there's no plan for kids with disabilities at Stevens.

This is detrimental to these kids and I urge you to reject the proposal and put all kids first.

Thank you.

Next is Chris Meilenbeck.

Hi, I'm Chris Milan back and I'd like to cede my time to Quan Shay Maxwell.

First, I want to start with God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change and the courage to change the things that I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

I SAY THAT BECAUSE I'M NOT ONLY A SINGLE MOTHER OF FOUR CHILDREN THAT ARE IN THE SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, BUT I'M LOW INCOME.

SORRY, I'M NEW AT THIS, SO BEAR WITH ME.

You guys haven't given us no reason to trust you.

I'm asking that you guys don't close the school.

I wrote some stuff, but hey, I got to do it my own way.

At first, when I found out that I had the opportunity to come up here and speak in front of everybody, the first thing that I felt was, wait a minute, I don't look like a lot of people.

And a lot of people in these rooms that I come in, I've been with Stevens Elementary for 11 years.

I have a daughter that is in 11th grade at Garfield.

I have a son that is at Meany in the seventh grade.

I have a fourth grader that is at Stevens that has a learning disability.

With Stevens, without Stevens, I would have just thought that my son didn't like to read.

But with being at Stevens and the teachers and the staff, they helped me find out that my son was just dyslexic.

But now they've worked with my son.

I come home.

I come home and I get to see my son sitting and reading a book without any problems.

And he's happy to read them.

He's happy to sit with me and say, hey, mom, want to listen to me read?

And I have no stumbles.

I also am a parent that needs transportation, that needs childcare.

And those are not the things that they talked about.

You want to talk about equity, but we're not talking about childcare.

I have to let my kids know that they already have to, let's say, my boys already have to live their life with dealing with day-to-day things on just simply being young black boys.

But now I have my nine-year-old fourth grader asking me, Mom, are they going to close my school?

It takes him a lot.

to form relationships, trust.

We started as a family, started at Tent City.

I don't know if a lot of you even know what that is, but let me just enlighten you just real quickly.

Tent City is for families that are homeless that don't have a place to stay.

They give you and your family a tent to live in.

We started there.

and then we moved into transitional housing, and then we got permanent housing.

And all doing so, we were at Stevens.

Stevens for me, I cannot speak for no one else but myself.

But what I can say is Stevens is not just a school to me and my kids.

Stevens is a family.

And breaking this up, I can't say that no, this school's not better than this school, but what I can speak for is my own school.

Stevens has helped me and my children come out of a lot of dark, hard places.

And it's not just me that I'm worried about because I've been, I've went through school.

I was, I went to school at Rainier Beach High School.

class of 07. So I've been through school, and I'm one that grew up with a learning disability, ADD, attention deficit disorder.

I got the resources that I needed when it was my turn.

Now it's me stepping back and saying that I have children that need resources that we're getting at Stevens that we may not get at another school.

So I'm asking you guys not to make the decision based on how adults feel, but how every single little one, not only my kids at my school, but at the other schools too, because it's not the adults that are affected, it's our children.

So please, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, please think about that decision before you make a decision.

Because it's not just us that are going to be affected by it.

It's our babies.

And our babies are our future.

Dr. Martin Luther King stated that he wanted us all to be treated as one and equal.

Don't break us up.

Let's all come together, one school after another, and do it together, and show our kids that even when something is uncomfortable and doesn't feel right, or you feel like you don't fit, that you join hand in hand, and we as a team can do it.

Again, my name is Quan Shay Maxwell, and this is not gonna be the last time that you hear my name.

We're going to go back one more time to a couple of speakers earlier on the list who we were unable to hear from.

I don't believe that they're on the line, though, so let me check, though, if Laurel Beckwith is in the room or on the phone.

If so, press star six to unmute.

Laurel Beckwith.

While we are waiting to hear from Laurel, I'm gonna also ask Alice Appleton to unmute.

Or is Alice Appleton in the room?

I am not seeing either of them.

So we're gonna go to the wait list.

If you had time seated to you earlier, your name will not be called if you're on the wait list.

If your name is called and you already spoke, even if it was for a partial testimony, please just let us know and we'll move to the next speaker on the wait list.

There's only one speaking spot per person.

So I'm going to skip over Jamie Harper, who we heard from, and we'll go to Max Drews.

And after Max, we're going to skip over Rachel, who we heard from, and we'll go to Josh Doherty.

So it's Max Drews and then Josh Doherty.

Is Max in the room or on the phone?

Okay, we're going to go to Josh Doherty.

Is Josh here?

And then after Josh, we'll go to Claire Swayhart.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name's Josh Doherty I'm from North Beach I have a first grader there.

I'm here to ask you as a board to pause and take a beat.

I want you to reject this ill-conceived plan.

Earlier this fall or this summer right we had a 21 or 17 school plan.

Now we have a four school plan.

This new plan was originally presented as a well resourced plan.

It is not.

Staffing will be reduced at these new schools.

This plan was reduced or presented as a budget savings exercise.

It's not that either because at most with your numbers it'll save six point two six percent of the deficit.

At the numbers that I trust more from other people who have put them together it might save one point three percent of the deficit.

This plan was presented as a solution to decreasing enrollment.

It's not that either.

Two of the schools on the list as some of my fellow parents presented have increasing populations of kindergarten students who will likely stick with the district and therefore will likely have increasing enrollment.

Plus all the history all the research which I know you guys have seen shows that closures lead to decreasing enrollment because more families leave which leads to less funding.

The current data presented does not make a convincing argument for closing schools.

Not only that conversations about student outcomes have been conspicuously absent in every engagement.

There aren't details about that.

The current plan should be rejected because our kids deserve better than short term plans that solve no problems.

I urge you to drop the school closures and come up with a solution to the budget crisis that is different because I'm not denying there's a budget crisis.

Just come up with a different plan.

And if you're going to push forward as I expect you will regardless of the feedback you receive please instruct the district to develop a detailed multi-year plan to guide the process in partnership with us the community.

During feedback you've asked us what will rebuild trust.

Taking time to truly build a detailed plan will rebuild trust and make our children's needs and education outcomes the priority.

That would be a good start.

But first please exhaust all efforts to keep our schools open our communities together and make the transition plan as smooth as possible for our kids.

It's clear from outreach that this plan isn't fully thought through.

Our kids are not an experiment.

Stop treating them like one.

Let's take a beat.

Let's pause.

Let's see what funding is available from the state and then let's work together as a community as a school board as a district and develop a real strategic plan.

Please put our kids first.

Please reject this plan.

The next speaker is Claire Swihart.

Is Claire in the room?

I don't think we have any more speakers we haven't heard from online.

So is Claire going once, twice?

OK.

Moving on, Mary Dixon.

Is Mary Dixon here?

Mary Dixon.

OK.

Moving to Amy Hallman.

Is Amy here?

And Amy will be our final speaker tonight.

Hi.

I'm Amy Hallman, and I cede my time to Ken Beadle.

My timer already started.

All right.

Hey, I'm Ken Beadle.

Nice to meet you all.

I'm here representing Sanislo yet again.

I'm a disabled vet with four kids, three of which have gone through the SPS school system, and I've got a third grader currently going to Sanislo.

I want to talk a little bit about physical responsibility, and I want to echo some of these thoughts that have been shared tonight.

How can we trust a superintendent who has taken a pay increase when we're almost $100 million in debt?

How can we trust a lack of transparency in this current situation?

Because I don't know about you all, but I'm mad.

I'm upset.

I'm going to keep it civil, but I'm upset.

There's a lot of people that are going to be affected by this.

We're not talking about a school closure.

We're not talking about money.

We're talking about destroying communities.

That's what's happening.

And I promise you, there are children who are not just at risk, they're in danger.

I volunteer a lot.

That's why I look like this, because I came from James Baldwin Elementary teaching traditional native athletics.

I'm not native myself, but my family is.

And I promise you, there are kids I work with that are in genuine danger from this school closure.

I promise you, OK?

So I need you to think about it when you vote.

I need you to look real hard and think about those kids who might not make this transition successfully, not just in the school district, but in life.

I was driving along Aurora.

Some of those people I see on the side of the road they're they're they're children they're somebody's kid.

They ended up on Aurora looking the way they do doing what they do.

And you know what I'm talking about because somebody failed them.

Please do not fail our children.

Thank you.

RANKIN.

That was the 25th speaker for tonight.

I'm sorry did you say the speaker.

The 25th.

Thank you.

I was good until someone talked about their kid being six and changing schools three times already because we don't have a system that welcomes all kids at every school.

We don't right now.

A year ago.

We went into this process knowing that it was going to be really hard knowing that we were facing another year of deficit.

What we said as a board at the time was that if we focus on the needs of the kids the solutions will make themselves apparent.

If we center on what our children need to succeed Even if we come up against decisions that are hard, even if we come up against solutions that include considering consolidation, But if the community can understand the challenges and see that at the center are kids, they can be brought along and they can actually help us come up with stronger solutions.

And I'm so angry to be right here in a completely preventable place.

And I'm so sorry that you all have to take your time to come down here.

WHEN FOR A YEAR WE HAVE ON BEHALF OF YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN AND THE ENTIRE SEATTLE COMMUNITY DEMANDED THAT WE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE UNDERSTAND THAT THERE ARE ISSUES AND DEMANDED THAT WE GET A PLAN THAT CENTERS STUDENTS.

NOT THAT FOCUSED ON A NUMBER OF SCHOOLS THAT CENTERED STUDENTS.

AND WE UNANIMOUSLY VOTED AND AGREED THAT IN MAY THAT WE UNDERSTOOD THAT SUCH A PLAN COULD INCLUDE MANY CONSOLIDATIONS.

Your questions haven't been answered.

Our questions haven't been answered.

Gina and I had the great experience of touring Sacajawea the day after I attended the community meeting there.

That building is at the end of its life, but the building's not the school.

And the school, the community, and the program, they're not the same.

And I know that I've said this, but this is not new, these are not new words out of my mouth.

And I'm crying also just out of frustration.

And full disclosure, as a neurodiverse person, it takes a ton of masking to be here and try to be professional when I don't really know what that means.

And I can't take, five years of it has been too much for me. to continue to believe in a system that keeps letting so many of us and our kids down.

I still have hope that we can change the trajectory and that people up here and around the corners of the room want what's best.

I can't see how the plan that we have right now is in alignment with any of the things that we've asked for.

We had an opportunity.

Sacajawea because of historical segregation and special education.

and the placement of students with disabilities in programs in pathways that don't allow every kid to attend their school.

Literally you can you can live two blocks from your school and they can tell you I'm sorry we don't have that service here.

A neighborhood school.

And so, Sacajawea has a higher percentage of students with disabilities.

They have a 40%-ish student with disability population.

Not because there happened to be a lot of kids with disabilities in that area, but because a lot of those kids weren't allowed to go to their assignment school.

And so, SPS created A SCHOOL WITH A TWICE HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES.

BUT BECAUSE OF THAT, THEY HAVE ONE OF THE MOST INCLUSIVE INTENTIONAL SCHOOL COMMUNITIES IN OUR WHOLE SYSTEM.

AND THEY ARE EMPLOYING THE PRACTICES THAT WE WANT TO SEE MORE PEOPLE EMPLOY.

They have a developmental preschool.

I don't think we should have those.

I think SPP plus, everything should be plus, but we got to talk more with the city about that.

Any kid should be able to attend preschool.

But because they're small, they have split classes.

Their principal is a former second grade teacher.

He understands the importance of preserving those early learning spaces.

He doesn't have split classes, kindergarten, first, and second grade.

I'm sure somebody with a sign back there could probably say how many kids are in a class.

But they're small because there are not a lot of kids at the school.

They put the split classes in the upper grades.

So they've got, I think, fourth graders in three different classes.

They have two 4-5 splits and a 3-4 split to balance the numbers so that teachers don't have huge, huge class sizes.

But because of that, they have this really close community.

And then...

When it's time for math, the fourth grade, they teach math at the same time.

So all of the fourth graders can come from their split classes to one classroom with two teachers.

So it protects the caseloads for those teachers.

And they do grade level fourth grade math together.

And then they go back.

And they have, out of necessity, had to do all of these things with their master schedule.

The heartbreaking thing is that they're doing the practices that we're trying to say will be more able to do in a school with more teachers, which I do believe to be true.

But I think there was a real missed opportunity.

If we had started the conversation where we did start it, what does it mean to have a school that's well-resourced?

What does it mean to have a school that can serve every kid?

It would have been recognized that Sacajawea had something that needs to be replicated.

And we could have even built, and I think still can.

And it's not up to me to have ideas, but you know what?

I got nothing to lose at this point.

We haven't missed the opportunity.

We have an opportunity.

Why not make Sacajawea, the school building, yes, beyond its use.

But what if we learned from them, intentionally kept a school that, like the experimental education unit, preschool and kindergarten, at the University of Washington Haring Center has a higher proportion of students with disabilities.

What if we kept that model that they have that's so incredible?

And what if we use it as an asset to train more educators in inclusionary practices?

What if we built that school?

What if we rebuilt that school at 300 or 350 so that educators could go there for two years and then take those best practices out into other buildings?

When we visited Santa, I visited Santa slow.

Their outdoor space, that's an asset.

That's not a deficit.

That's something that people in wealthier areas of the city wish they had access to.

What if that was an environmental learning center that could be accessed by more students?

What if it became, if not an elementary school, again, an after school program that focused on environmental learning?

I don't know.

I don't have a lot of authority as president actually except for to dominate the microphone.

But one thing I am allowed to do is postpone meetings that have been scheduled at my authorization not regular board meetings but special board meetings.

I'm open to hearing from what other directors think, but I am highly inclined at this point to suspend, delay, whatever the four hearings that we have at buildings as I just can't imagine we're going to hear anything at those buildings or between now and January that would allow us to vote yes on this proposal.

So it's not an official vote.

It's a temperature check because I have the authority to say to say that we are going to delay the meetings unless unless the update later this evening has new information.

And I'm not saying we don't need to consider consolidation still.

I'm just saying I can't imagine that we get to the place where everybody feels good about voting yes in January with what we have now.

So I appreciate Liza losing it.

Because what you're witnessing is that there are seven humans on this dais who made a decision to be a public servant.

And I'm looking at my emails right now.

I have so many bullying messages from parents, from people who I thought were my friends.

And we are doing the hard work.

This is not easy work.

And unfortunately, what's about to come after January 20th, 2024, five is going to be devastating to this district because we actually didn't do our work that we needed to do before that.

And so I'm saying to parents, What you need to understand is this board is not trying to just close your kids school.

We're not trying to break up communities.

What we're trying to do is save a system for all of your kids.

We want high quality public school education for every kid in this district.

So we're not in a place.

I'm not saying anything that I didn't say down there at the last board meeting.

If you want to watch riveting TV, go watch it.

I wanted to see a plan.

There isn't a plan.

We can't do this closing of schools unless we can assure parents that we're not going to damage their children.

that we're not going to once again have a child who's gonna be on their sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th school.

That's not healthy.

It's not healthy for adults to change jobs that often.

Why do we think it's healthy to do that to kids?

And so here's the deal.

We will take a public vote.

We are going to do this in public.

We are gonna take an aye vote for school closures or no.

That's what we're gonna do in public.

That's what I'm challenging.

I'm not interested in just abandoning this.

I want an up or down vote.

We need to speak to the community because we haven't been speaking to the community.

They feel like we're hiding behind the desk.

I'm gonna tell y'all, I'm a normal human middle-class person like most of you sitting in this audience.

I go to work at King County government every day.

I'm a public servant.

I do my job.

I ran for this office for kids and I have not been able to lean into that.

This job shouldn't be political.

It shouldn't be hard.

It should be 100% focused on kids.

Instead, we have weaponization.

We have parents attacking parents.

We have parents attacking school boards.

We have school board members attacking school board members.

This is ridiculous.

It is not the model we wanna be modeling for our kids.

We need to refocus and we need to buckle down.

Do we need to close schools?

The answer to that is yes.

I see you shaking your head.

We do, but we need to do it in a way that is going to benefit all of our kids, not just some of them.

And so that's our work.

That's our work.

And closing schools doesn't just mean closing schools.

Liza gave an example of replicating a model.

But right now, we can't even have that conversation because it's so political, it's so weaponized.

So we will take, I'm telling you all, we're gonna take an up or down vote, period.

I don't know how we're going to do that, but we're going to do it.

We're going to state to you all what our vote is on the current situation, not future, the current situation.

I can make a motion.

I'll hear when you do it.

Legal check.

Do I need to move to amend the agenda?

Can you go to the microphone?

Thank you.

Everybody needs to hear.

Because we're, I mean, we weren't being asked to take a vote on this at the moment.

It would be in the future, but.

Right.

There's no action item on the agenda about this.

What is the vote you're looking to take?

I would like to recommend a motion to, I guess, now.

rather than in January, reject the current plan, not all school closures, all consolidations, because we don't know what that might look like or need to look like, but to reject the current plan that has been proposed via initial recommendation by the superintendent.

So we have a policy 6 8 8 3 that lays out the process that is supposed to happen triggered by presentation of preliminary recommendations, which requires things like the site based hearings that have been scheduled.

As you noted as board president with the power to schedule special board meetings as you did for these,

So powerful.

I can schedule meetings.

You can schedule special board meetings on your own.

You also, as I advised, have the power to delay those meetings.

We have two things in place that require meetings as long as there are preliminary recommendations on the table.

One is board policy 6883. I do not believe it would be appropriate for the board to come to a final vote tonight when that process has not played out.

That's when we would be acting, I believe, contrary to our stated policy.

The second thing is the board in October passed a resolution that directed the superintendent to come forward with preliminary recommendations with certain parameters And as part of that resolution said, following receipt of those, there would be these site-based hearings.

So I do not believe it can be put on the agenda tonight to come to a final vote.

What you can do right now is, or at any time, postpone those hearings, although the sooner the better, because notice of them has already gone out and is in the Seattle Times.

But as long as there are preliminary recommendations on the table, that does dictate a certain course of actions that the board is supposed to take.

So if I were to, in my authority as president, postpone those hearings, the preliminary recommendations could be rescinded and that would halt this current process?

Well, that's a question I would advise the superintendent on.

The process is set up so that the first action that's taken as part of school closures is the responsibility of the superintendent.

I am his attorney as well.

He has not asked me for advice, and he has a right to have confidential attorney-client communication, so I don't want to...

And I'm also happy to take a recess and come back, but I guess I'm not seeing any objections from anyone.

As word president, you also have the incredible power to declare a recess.

Drunk with power.

Okay.

I am going to propose that officially in this moment we are delaying the scheduled hearings AND POSSIBLY YOU NEED TO, I GUESS IN CONSULTATION WITH THE SUPERINTENDENT WILL DETERMINE IF THE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE GOING TO CHANGE OR BE RESCINDED.

BECAUSE I CAN'T, WE CAN'T VOTE NOT TO ACCEPT THEM.

Correct.

That's not how 6883 is laid out.

And I want to make sure we are following that process as long as...

We have to have the hearings.

Thank you.

Yeah, as long as there are preliminary recommendations, we have to hold the hearings.

So what I can do now...

Well, what I can do now is delay the hearings that have been scheduled.

Delay them.

Okay.

Okay.

CAN YOU USE YOUR MICROPHONE?

AND THE PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATIONS COULD BE WITHDRAWN, IN WHICH CASE THE HEARINGS WOULD THEN BE CANCELED.

SO AGAIN, LEGALLY, WITH THE RESOLUTION IN OCTOBER, THE OTHER THINGS ASKED FOR ARE REQUIRED IN THERE.

BASICALLY, THE QUESTIONS HAVE ON- I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THE DIRECTIONS GIVEN IN THAT RESOLUTION HAVE ALL BEEN ADDRESSED OR MET.

And so I also don't anticipate that would change by January.

Okay, let's recess.

Let's recess and have everybody consult with their legal.

How much time should I recess for?

How long do y'all want to stay tonight?

And also I am concerned about, I have to say I am concerned about people's safety with the storm rolling in.

My husband just texted me that power's out in Lake City.

I'm supposed to go to the airport after this.

All right, if director, directors can hear me, clap once.

If you can hear me, clap two times.

Okay, everybody in the room, I think, can hear me.

Unfortunately, it's not all the directors.

So I need at least two more people to emerge.

Here we go.

Oh, wow.

All right.

We are resuming here at six forty six.

See the next item on our agenda is action items but we're going to take something out of order.

And here the the update on the superintendent's recommendations for school closures and originally on the agenda towards the end of the meeting.

We're going to address that now and then we will continue on with the agenda as as is.

Dr. Jones.

I WILL BE BRIEF.

THIS WON'T BE THE PLANNED UPDATE.

WHEN WE TALK ABOUT A SYSTEM OF WELL RESOURCED SCHOOLS, THE SCHOOL BOARD GAVE ME DIRECTION TO DEVELOP A PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATION.

IT IS NOW CLEAR THAT THAT DIRECTION IS SHIFTING.

AND I AM CONSIDERING WITHDRAWING MY PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATION.

I WILL NEED TO GIVE IT MORE CONSIDERATION AS TO WHEN IT WOULD COME BACK, IF IT DOES.

AND AS YOU KNOW, WE HAVE SCHEDULED MEETINGS.

I WILL NEED TIME TO CLARIFY THE PROCESS AS DRIVEN BY POLICY.

BUT MY INTENT IS TO RECONSIDER THE PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATION.

THAT CONCLUDES THAT AGENDA ITEM.

THANK YOU, DR. JONES.

WE HAVE NOW REACHED THE CONSENT PORTION.

MAY I HAVE A MOTION FOR THE CONSENT AGENDA, PLEASE?

I MOVE APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA.

I SECOND.

APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA HAS BEEN PROPERLY MOVED AND SECONDED BY VICE PRESIDENT SARJU AND MEMBER AT LARGE BRIGS.

DO DIRECTORS HAVE ANY ITEMS THEY WOULD LIKE REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA?

NO.

ALL RIGHT.

SEEING NONE, WAIT, SORRY.

ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF APPROVING OH, I THOUGHT YOU WERE, OKAY, SORRY.

ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA, PLEASE SIGNIFY BY SAYING AYE.

AYE.

AYE.

AYE.

AYE.

IT'S DIRECTOR CLARK.

DO WE HAVE DIRECTOR CLARK?

SHE SIGNED OFF.

WHAT?

SHE SIGNED OFF.

OH, SHE SIGNED OFF, OKAY.

ANY ABSTENTIONS?

OR ANY NO'S, SORRY.

ANY NO'S, ANY ABSTENTIONS?

NO.

OKAY.

THE CONSENT AGENDA HAS PASSED WITH A VOTE OF SIX TO ZERO.

IS THAT RIGHT?

YES.

ALL RIGHT.

NOW MOVING ON TO ACTION ITEMS.

BECAUSE THERE HAS NOT BEEN ENOUGH ACTION ALREADY.

LET'S SEE.

ACTION ITEMS.

WHERE ARE WE?

I think I'm missing a...

Page nine.

Page nine.

It's this one.

You want mine?

Oh, it's mine's blank.

Thank you.

Oh, we do?

OK.

Thanks, Evan.

Action items.

OK, the first item is approval of resolution 2024-25-3, replacement for educational programs and operations levy.

May I please have a motion for this item?

IS THIS 2024-25-3 REPLACEMENT?

YES.

YES.

OKAY.

I MOVE APPROVAL OF THIS.

MY TALKING POINTS AREN'T ON HERE.

TOO MUCH PAPER.

OKAY, SO NOW THAT I HAVE MY POINTS HERE, I MOVE THAT THE SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD ACCEPT THE PROPOSED REPLACEMENT FOR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND OPERATIONS LEVY AND ADOPT RESOLUTION 2024-2025-3, WHICH REPLACES A THREE-YEAR LEVY TOTALING $700 excuse me, $747 million on the February 11th, 2025 ballot as attached to the board action report and that the school board appoint the individuals named in section 4A below to committees to prepare statements for the King County's voters pamphlet advocating for approval and for rejection of the educational programs and operation levy.

How do I advocate for approval and rejection at the same time?

As part of the submission on the ballot, school districts have to provide to the public statement pro and statement con.

Got it.

OK.

This is my first time doing that part.

And is there a second to consider this item?

I SECOND.

THANK YOU.

THIS APPROVAL OF THE REPLACEMENT LEBBY FOR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND OPERATIONS HAS BEEN MOVED BY VICE PRESIDENT SARGIO AND SECONDED BY DIRECTOR BRiggs.

DO DIRECTORS HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?

I HAVE ONE.

IT'S MORE OF A CLARIFICATION.

SINCE I KNOW THERE'S CONCERN ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT GOES ON TO THE BALLOT AND THEN WHAT PROJECTS ACTUALLY GET IMPLEMENTED, CAN YOU JUST BRIEFLY EXPLAIN HOW THE SELECTION OF ACTUAL PROJECTS IS?

I BELIEVE THIS FRED PODESTA CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER, I BELIEVE THIS MOTION IS ABOUT THE

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Yep.

You're right.

You're right.

I'm so sorry.

That was my question for the next one.

All right.

All right.

Apologies.

Let's see.

Do we need to have you call?

Do I call?

Yes.

Ms. Wilson-Jones, please call for the vote.

Director Hersey.

Director Mizrahi?

Aye.

Vice President Sarju?

Aye.

Director Topp?

Aye.

Director Briggs?

Aye.

And then I do not believe Director Clark is on the line.

President Rankin.

Aye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

Thank you.

The next item is approval of resolution 2024-25-4 building excellence or BEX 6 capital levy program approval.

Sorry may I have the motion for this item.

I move.

number one, that the school board adopt resolution 2024-2025-4, placing a six year capital levy on the February 11th, 2025 special election ballot for voter approval to fund the building excellence six capital levy program.

And number two, that the school board appoint the individuals named in the background section 4A below to committees to prepare statements for the King County voters pamphlet advocating both for approval and rejection of the capital levy.

I second.

Two directors besides me have the question I already asked.

All right, same, well not same question as before, that was intended for this, but can you explain, please, a little bit, or confirm the approval of the scope of the levy versus the actual projects that are carried out?

And again, I'm still Fred Podesta, Chief Operations Officer.

There is an implementation plan that's approved by the board as part of implementing the levy.

We built some flexibility into this proposal, knowing there was a discussion about potential school consolidations.

SO THAT WILL BE DECIDED AS PART OF THAT.

THE BOARD ALSO APPROVES INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS IN THE CONTRACTING PHASE.

CLEARLY IN THIS DISCUSSION ABOUT SCHOOL CONSOLIDATIONS, WE'LL HAVE TO STEP BACK AND THINK ABOUT HOW WE DESIGN SCHOOLS, WHAT STUDENT ASSIGNMENT PLANS NEED TO LOOK LIKE, AND WE WOULD DO ALL THAT BEFORE WE GET TO THAT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN THAT WE WOULD SHARE WITH THE BOARD.

AND THE BOARD APPROVES THE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN AS WELL?

OKAY.

THANK YOU.

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?

All right, Ms. Wilson-Jones, the roll call, please.

Director Mizrahi?

Aye.

Vice President Sarju?

Aye.

Director Topp?

Aye.

Director Briggs?

Aye.

Director Hersey?

Aye.

And President Rankin?

Aye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

ALL RIGHT.

THANK YOU.

AND THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO ARE SUPPORTING THIS.

THEY'RE BOTH CRITICAL SUPPORTS FOR OUR DISTRICT AND OUR STUDENTS.

NUMBER THREE, I GUESS I INTRODUCE THIS AS THE CHAIR.

AUTHORIZING THE DISTRICT TO PAY THE NECESSARY EXPENSES OF DEFENDING SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DIRECTOR LIZA RANKIN AND JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS TO DETERMINE THE SUFFICIENCY OF RECALL CHARGES.

MAY I HAVE A MOTION PLEASE FOR THIS ITEM?

I move that the school board authorized the district to pay the necessary expenses of defending director Liza Rankin in judicial proceedings to determine the sufficiency of recall charges that were filed with the King County Department of Elections on November 8, 2024. Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.

I second.

We have Chief Legal Counsel Narver at the podium.

Is that on?

There we go.

Good evening, General Counsel Greg Narver, General Counsel, introducing this bar for intro and action this evening.

This action is similar to one that came before the board three years ago when there was another set of recall petitions directed at six then members of the school board.

There's now another set of recall charges filed.

They were filed with King County Elections.

State law authorizes a process for the district to pay the costs of defending a director against whom recall is sought.

There are three steps to that process under statute.

First, the director requests that the district fund the defense.

That has happened.

Second, the district's legal officer approves that request, and I have approved it.

That's the second.

And then the third is that the board has to approve the district providing a defense to Director Rankin.

The process is one where the charges are filed with King County Elections.

It then goes to the King County Prosecutor's Office, which prepares a summary of the recall charges and sends those to King County Superior Court.

If this board approves this bar, the first thing I will do is formally retain outside counsel who will handle the defense of the charges, they will appear in the court action and then be responsible for filing a responsive brief and appearing in court.

The hearing is supposed to be set within 15 days of the court's receipt of the recall charges and the summary, so this is on a very expedited process, so I'm hoping this can be approved this evening so I can get counsel in place to represent Director Rankin.

Are there any questions I can answer about this?

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I am abstaining from this vote for hopefully obvious reasons.

Now ask for the roll call please.

Vice President Sarju.

So I'm I'm I means I approve this.

Correct.

Aye.

Director Topp.

Aye.

Director Briggs.

Aye.

Director Hersey.

Director Mizrahi?

Aye.

And President Rankin, you are abstaining from this vote, correct?

I am abstaining.

This motion has passed with a vote of five yes and with one abstention.

All right.

Thank you.

Does anybody know what the weather is looking like?

It's bad.

OK.

I think that the goals, I think all that's left is goal setting.

And I think that we've had a lot happen tonight.

I think we should no goal setting.

Pause on that.

We will have to schedule an additional meeting to do that.

OK.

We'll figure it out.

So I don't know if somebody needs to move to amend the agenda, if I can just state that.

WE WILL NEED TO SCHEDULE ANOTHER MEETING JUST TO SET THOSE GOALS.

IF WE MISS THIS WINDOW FOR SETTING THE GOALS AND BRINGING IT BACK OUT TO OUR COMMUNITY, WE RISK NOT HAVING THEM IN PLACE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 2025-26 BUDGET AND THE START OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN.

SO TOTALLY UNDERSTAND TONIGHT HAS BEEN A LOT AND WE MAY NOT ALL BE IN THE BEST PLACE TO HAVE THAT CONVERSATION NOW, BUT WE CAN'T DELAY IT TO THE MEETING THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE INTRODUCED.

We canceled a bunch of hearing dates so maybe we can use one of those dates.

Hey, our schedules just got a lot more free.

Just simply a motion to postpone consideration of this agenda item until a future meeting to be determined.

I move we table the 25-30 goal recommendation work session.

And then somebody seconds.

You going to add that?

No.

OK.

I second that motion.

All right.

All in favor of the roll call vote as a roll call.

Oh you do.

Yeah.

Consent agenda is the only one you get to do like that.

Thank you.

Director Topp.

Director Briggs.

Aye.

Director Hersey.

Aye.

Director Mizrahi.

Aye.

Vice President Sargent.

Aye.

President Rankin?

Aye.

This motion is passed unanimously.

Thank you very much.

And there now being no more business to come before the board, this meeting stands adjourned at 7.03 PM.

Everybody, please get home safely.