for public testimony are on the screen and I would ask that speakers are respectful of these rules which they are going to be on the screen.
Here they are.
All right.
The rules for public testimony are on the screen and I would ask folks.
And I would ask that speakers are respectful of these rules.
Please make sure that the majority of the speaker's time be spent on a topic that he or she has indicated they wish to speak about.
I would also like to note that each speaker has two minutes speaking time when the two minutes have ended.
Please conclude your remarks.
I will kindly ask you.
Once and then remind you with a little extra nudge.
So if I could have staff please read off the testimony speakers.
First up for public testimony we have Miracle Patu Jackson followed by Chris Jackins and then Heather Kelly.
Obviously it's my first time up here.
My name is Miracle Patu Jackson.
I am a senior at Rainier Beach High School and also a member of the NAACP Youth Council for Seattle Public Schools.
Today I'm here to ensure that Seattle Public Schools continues to support Black Lives Matter at school actions for the last two years.
The Seattle Public School Board passed a resolution in support of Black Lives Matter movement in its second year.
In contrast during the movement's first year the district refused to publicly declare that Black Lives Matter.
While this resolution represented progress it expired last year.
Though the egregious racial disparities in Seattle Public Schools persist today the demands of this year's Hashtag Black Lives Matter at school action include end to zero tolerance policies excuse the passion in my voice mandate black history and ethnic studies hire more black teachers and of course fund counselors not not cops.
We insist that Seattle Public Schools support this movement and this year.
and in the future.
In brief we insist that district's support of the Black Lives Matter school actions continue indefinitely.
Thank you.
That's all.
Thank you Mayor Cook.
My name is Chris Jackins Box 8 4 0 6 3 Seattle 9 8 1 2 4 on cycling and pedestrian safety education four points.
Number one school playgrounds are a longtime location where children learn to ride bicycles.
Number two the district has been methodically shrinking playgrounds at schools.
That is not good for safety.
Number three at the October 2nd board meeting board members discussed.
A desire to have as part of environmental review an explicit evaluation of changes to playground size in terms of both a percentage and in square feet.
Number four right now this is not happening for Magnolia.
On the Carpenters contract.
Please discuss the effects of language related to a Supreme Court decision regarding union dues payments on the joint operating agreement between Seattle Public Schools and Technology Access Foundation.
TAF five points.
Number one page four states that Washington Middle School will be quote co-managed by the district and TAF unquote.
Number two section 3.5.1 states that quote the superintendent and TAF's executive director will make the final selection of the Washington Middle School principal unquote.
Number three.
Section 4.3 states that quote assignment of staff will be determined by the Washington Middle School principal and the TAF director unquote.
Number four.
These measures are reminiscent of charter schools which would seem inconsistent with the board's previous resolution opposing charter schools.
Number five.
Instead please reopen the African-American Academy and Indian Heritage High School.
Please vote no.
Thank you.
After Heather Kelly we will have Jeremy Manzer followed by D.J.
Yu and Hugh Kim.
Hello.
My name's Heather Kelly and I'm here on behalf of the board of the League of Women Voters of Seattle King County to express our concerns about the changes to Washington Middle School proposed for this fall.
The league advocates for transparency and accountability in government.
We know the board made efforts in those areas when considering the partnership with TAF but those efforts did not keep pace with the preliminary decision making on this proposal and an entire group of stakeholders the teachers at Washington were excluded at a critical stage of this process.
The league's concerned that in an effort to speed along the changes others are being left out of the conversation as well.
In its proposal to the board TAF cited metrics suggesting social and educational needs of the students at Washington aren't being met but missing from that presentation were the underlying reasons for those numbers and how TAF the TAF model will address those root issues.
For example recent significant changes in the student body and frequent turnover in leadership at the school would seem to explain some of that data but staff turnover would likely increase under TAF at least under the short term.
Is that instability for the students truly worth it.
And it may be.
But if that's the case the community at Washington should have that reassurance grounded in data before a final decision is made.
On a related note people are still confused about how TAF will handle the dismantling of HCC.
or at least the cohort model.
Now the subject of an amendment tonight for instance TAF proposes to divide student support staff in math classrooms or provide student support staff where students are learning at multiple levels.
But how will those staff members interact with the teachers.
To make sure that the basic needs of the students are met.
Aren't teachers still ultimately responsible for teaching two curricula.
And finally the league is troubled by how TAF would operate seemingly as a quasi charter school within the walls of a conventional school.
The league seeks clarifications on that issue and the role of TAF at Washington in that regard.
Thank you for your time.
I know you're working hard on this difficult issue.
Hi I'm Jeremy Masner I'm a parent of an eighth grader at Washington and I'd like to ask I've been up here before I'd like to ask again for your support in finding a way to experiment with TAF while maintaining the HCC program that works for the students who are in it.
I am fully supportive of trying new alternatives to get closer to educational justice.
I think TAF might be a potentially excellent program but it might not be the right program for everyone and it's very hard to call it an experiment.
when you're tearing down the cohort model in a way that cannot be rebuilt if that experiment doesn't pan out the way that you would expect it to.
So a few things to ask.
First thing please listen to the teachers.
I find it deeply disheartening that when I talk to my teachers at Washington Middle School at Thurgood Marshall and at John Muir they say they've been completely cut out of the conversation.
can't represent the students that they know best and can advocate for them.
So I really encourage that.
Second please don't make it a zero sum game.
I think there are plenty of options for supporting a TAF model that don't require the dismantling the cohort.
I understand there will be some potential discussion today about giving families an option to stay with an HCC cohort even if it's not at Washington.
I strongly support that model.
And really just think through the metrics and what the success is going to look like.
If you're going to frame TAF as an experiment you should have a very clear idea of what success would look like because when you look on the OSPI school reports for both Washington and TAF based on those numbers you wouldn't see any difference.
And so please really be thoughtful about how to structure as an experiment and make sure you're tracking it the right way.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi my name is DJ and last June the TAF founder said for us community is very important and part of the reason why we choose Washington.
Further what we want to do is get a full understanding of what families want from their kids.
There hasn't been any outreach to us.
Only two real engagements October 19th and December 19th to express our concerns with no answers.
Many parents and community members reiterated poor communication.
Now is it worth it to farm out public education.
When will teachers parents and kids matter enough to be heard.
At Thurgood Marshall the slide read no teacher changes unless they choose to leave.
These are certified experienced teachers who really care about their community and TAF only has 56 percent certified according to the slide.
Also on December 16th.
The SBA report on page 8 read that HCC families can decide to opt out of SPS for local private school education.
Impoverished families of color cannot opt out.
We need to create universal testing with basic neutral tests bring rigor back to the curriculum and effectively for once and for all close the gap at K-3 education.
At Thurgood Marshall K-3 students are three grades below.
And these students go on then to Washington Middle School at SPS.
I didn't learn to read until I was in second grade.
No one was there to teach me and I had to teach myself or fail.
Instead of taking the necessary steps to eliminate these gaps because success in elementary school means success in middle school and high school.
The South End is kept an educational desert.
One spectrum was taken away schools like Rainier Beach never regained its prior success.
South end schools cannot afford to lose any programs.
And yet by placing TAF to Washington Middle School you're also taking away HCC.
North end schools are HCC schools are thriving.
Taking away the rigor which builds success and continually changing world economics is wrong.
Division by separating.
Division by separating and pitting communities against each other is reprehensible.
We need real foundational education that technology can't replace.
Thank you.
I would ask you to please conclude your remarks.
And no on the TAF.
Thank you.
My name is Hugh Kim.
I cede my time to my son Hewson.
Hi I'm Hewson Kim.
I'm a ninth grader at Garfield High School.
Can you tilt your mouth.
My name is Houston Kim I'm a ninth grader at Garfield.
The fact that the district is trying to dismantle the HCC program is unacceptable.
Refusing to collaborate with teachers and students in matters that will affect them every day for the rest of their lives is not a fair process.
The only reason I can think of why the district can do this without any communication is because you don't have any skin in the game.
If the board really cared about us then they would consider the repercussions of their actions.
We the students now and in the future have too much too much at stake to not care.
Listen to the teachers who have been teaching at Washington Middle School for years who you have told to leave if they disagree.
Together we are trying to tell you that demolishing the program will not help us.
The disparity in HCC could be remedied by modifying the testing processes but instead you try to tear it all down but only in the south end.
Signing up in advance for a 10 year contract with an unproven program TAF is even worse.
Your job is to provide every student with the tools they need to do the hardest work they feel comfortable with.
And computer education is not the solution.
I personally have to help my brother as he struggles to understand math concepts that he cannot learn from his computer curriculum.
Not because he has a hard time learning but because he needs to have interaction with his teacher in order to learn properly.
You're letting the rest.
You're letting the responsibility of teaching fall back onto the students who have to learn on their own because TAF won't teach them at their level.
One last thing.
You called my school a slave ship.
Come give us a visit.
Come give us a visit.
Communicate with all of us.
We are the community you serve.
This is why I ask you to vote yes on the amendment and no on the TAF joint operating agreement.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Next up we have Cliff Meyer followed by Brian Terry and Max Rivera.
Thank you directors for your dedication to all of our children.
Thank you directors for your dedication to all of our children.
I'm here to ask that you look at the facts as you make choices for the children of Washington Middle School.
As a parent at the school for five years I can tell you that adults through actions and words have caused multiple traumas that have hurt these children.
Stop hurting these children.
Here are just three examples.
When Washington was downsized, 40% of the staff left because 40% of the children were sent to another school.
That was trauma.
Friendships were ended because children went elsewhere.
Teachers no longer had mentors and role models who had been there for years.
Number two, as you've heard many times, last year Washington was brutalized by the imperious and ineffective leadership of a new principal who may have had some good intentions but did not in any way help this school.
Number three, In the board report that you have before you, Washington has been portrayed as ineffective using academic and climate data that have been corrupted by these and other traumas.
I'm not here to defend Washington as the perfect school, but these staff members who you have said were ineffective do not deserve that at all.
Take a look.
at the fact that Washington has consistently been robbed of Title 1 dollars provided to other schools with similar attendance area populations that have the needs that Title 1 is there to fund.
Doesn't happen at Washington.
OK.
Let's look to the future.
Let's make this the clean break and start looking ahead.
Technology Access Foundation has a wonderful program.
Is it experienced in the needs of the HC population.
No.
It has some great options for other children.
Please conclude your remarks.
I will very soon.
You have options here tonight to make sure that the.
Two minutes have ended.
Please conclude your remarks.
Cliff — has the ability to get the services it needs.
Thank you.
I'm going to ask you to make things work in the future.
Other people have gone way over their — Ms.
Shek please invite the next person up for public testimony please.
Thank you Cliff.
Brian.
Good evening.
In Brown versus the Board of Education the Supreme Court ruled the racially segregated classrooms are inherently unequal because of their psychological impact.
They concluded that to separate black children from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be outdone.
The court cited a number of psychological studies that showed that segregating black children made them feel inferior and interfered with their learning.
In line with this district policy 0 0 3 0 defines a clear mission.
We will raise the achievement of all students while narrowing the gaps between the lowest and highest performing students.
We will eliminate the racial predictability and disproportionality in all aspects of education.
For example advanced learning.
We will ensure all students regardless of race or class graduate from Seattle Public Schools ready to succeed in a racially and culturally diverse local national and global community.
And yet we continue to place mostly white highly capable classrooms next to mostly black neighborhood classrooms sending a clear message of white supremacy.
Black families have testified about the psychological damage that this segregation causes.
Their students complain that even if they get straight A's they are stuck in the dumb classes because they are not white.
Please show that you are committed to ending racial segregation in our schools today by supporting TAF at Washington Middle School.
Thank you.
Thank you.
After Max Rivera we'll have Joanna Cullen followed by Yvonne Hubbard and Dr. Mary King.
Hi I'm Max Rivera.
I have been in the HCC program for three years since I moved to Seattle.
The HCC program is important because it provides challenging learning environments and a cohort full of students that are ready and willing to do advanced work.
It has its flaws.
However you have the power to change it.
You can make it equitable and accessible.
Please do not dismantle the HCC program and send us back to gen ed.
The promise of multi level learning is a false promise.
I do not want to go do the same things I did two years ago.
I know for a fact that it doesn't work because I came here after spending a year in the San Francisco Unified School District where they voted away all the gifted and talented programs.
All of the schools are gen ed.
In theory they were teaching us to all the levels of the class but in reality they are struggling to even teach at grade level.
It is unrealistic to ask ask a teacher to prepare lesson plans accommodating three or five and sometimes even more grade levels.
It is unimaginable to send us back to repeat what we've already learned and waste our higher learning potential.
Please help make the system more accessible to all by simply making the test an opt out test instead of an opt in test.
I am sure that you will measure significant and immediate changes.
Please keep these programs of academic excellence for my brother and sister and all gifted students throughout the district.
Thank you.
Joanna?
Hi.
I'm Joanna Cullen and I'm here to ask each of you to consider showing the families of the central and southeast Seattle the same consideration and care that will be shown to other areas of Seattle as changes to the HCC program are implemented.
We deserve the same opportunity to ensure that HCC services are delivered and accessible to our community.
It is a false choice to present this as TAF or the status quo.
Various recommendations and resources have been presented to SPS in the past that likely would have resulted in greater diversity in the program.
The Washington staff would appreciate the opportunity that has been afforded other schools in the district to create a model that they believe would work.
During community presentations TAF made it fairly clear that is it expects ongoing additional funding beyond the usual school allocations with this type of support.
I am confident that the staff at WMS could create a fantastic model instead of SPS has put WMS at Washington Middle School through a series of quick and disrupting changes to the student assignment patterns and population numbers without respecting what the staff has to offer.
If this contract is approved.
Then how does the district plan to sustain the extra funding of around three hundred and seventy thousand dollars per year.
Data sharing with non SPS with non SPS employees would not be necessary if the students if the student if if those employees were also Seattle school employees.
So they should be the specialists should be Seattle School employees.
Why not.
Please institute more ability of the board to hold TAF accountable for delivery.
Hello, my name is Yvonne Hubbard.
This is my second time speaking, and I just want to say I'm a parent, and I'm also an HCC parent.
And I've been to several different meetings, and one of them, it's been really interesting.
I went to the CSEC meeting, and they were talking about, OK, you know what?
We need to do something about HCC.
We need to make it more equitable.
We need to make sure that there's more children of color, more black students in it.
Yes, I agree to that.
But there was a plan.
There was a long conversation on it wasn't going to be right away.
We were going to have a plan.
Then I hear I didn't know this because there has been no outreach outreach and I know other parents of color who who also didn't know about TAF or didn't know about what was going to happen in HCC.
I also want to say that I stood here the last time I stood up here and I testified along with other people of color.
After we were done there was a board member who said you know what HCC just serves white families.
Part of the problem is is that no one is willing to admit that children of color black students in particular can be gifted.
So as long as you keep this narrative we.
Our children are suffering.
If you send children you want kids to go get advanced learning in their neighborhood schools and they don't have those courses that they need.
These teachers are the teachers that aren't identifying them to begin with.
How if you're not doing training on biases.
on even how to do that.
How are they going to do it.
How is it equitable to make this change here in the south end where most children of color are and not in the north end.
That is wrong.
You guys really should think about this.
And also I support the I hope you guys support the amendment because then at least there can be TAF and HCC that these kids should still have a choice and a pathway.
What happens when my daughter goes to high school.
My neighborhood shouldn't determine my child's success.
Thank you.
After Dr. Mary King we will have Rita Green followed by Sabrina Burr and Alex Zimmerman.
Dr. King is not able to come tonight.
Thank you Rita.
Rita Green is on an international business call and will not be.
My heart is heavy by what I see so much white privilege.
We as a district has a strategic plan that focuses on African-American males but we don't recognize the black family.
We don't recognize what black women have done since.
400 years since we were brought to this country.
What I'm hearing about TAF and HCC lets me realize that you don't understand it.
Is it because the leader is black?
Decades of excellence.
Please know that.
Right now we have an exhibit at the African-American Museum that I talked about, Ain't I a Woman.
A salute to iconic black women.
Other districts have come.
They have brought their students but not one classroom.
From Seattle Public Schools has been there.
Why is that.
We have it in the strategic plan but we don't have it in action.
I have a letter.
Rita and I just finished 11 week program.
We probably had about 80 families there last night.
When I read the testimony of these mothers one of our mothers who pulled her kid out of Seattle Public Schools who's in private school right now who's trying to bring her grandchild to Seattle Public Schools talked about HCC.
She was told what's only for white kids where her child in third grade was doing early algebra.
My niece Yvonne's friend went to Garfield and she was isolated.
Luckily she was a neighborhood kid.
My nephew in Tacoma who got rid of HCC who's frayed four grade levels ahead.
My niece is so glad because she is worried about the whole.
Child.
Seattle Public Schools.
You need to recognize beloved blackness.
Thank you.
What you're doing is dangerous.
Please recognize brilliance of 400 years.
Thank you Sabrina.
Alex.
Michelle Merriweather.
After Michelle we will have Rachel Stewart followed by Frida Powers and Dionne Mollis-Testa.
Good evening I wrote down my remarks so I make sure I stay on point.
Happy New Year to everyone.
And it's an honor to be here and represent the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle and over the over 5000 families that I have the privilege of representing.
Most are poor.
Most are black and all live within King County.
I have to say that partnership works and the work that TAF Academy is doing is remarkable for our students and it has been a privilege over the last few years to partner with TAF Academy and to see their work firsthand and what it is doing for those students.
And we the Urban League has had the privilege of working with them for several years and for the last few years we've taken a cohort of kids to the national conference to compete on a national level against students all across the country, and this year they won first place.
And that is a true testament to the work that is happening at TAF Academy and Federal Way.
And we have a unique opportunity to bring that rigorous curriculum and the brilliance of Trish Millines and her faculty to Seattle Public Schools and I pray that we take advantage of that and utilize her experience and expertise and what is working and has been proven for the for many many years.
And I have personally visited TAF Academy on several occasions and talked to many of the students.
and the faculty and the love that they have for their school and the fact that they get to be a part of their development their personal development their curriculum and the teachers are so happy and the faculty and staff and everybody works together to create an environment that is remarkable for those kids.
And I also have had the privilege of visiting many Seattle public schools because we partner with them as well.
And although Seattle Public Schools are good I must admit that many of our kids that we work with do feel left out.
We work with primarily black boys and the difference is amazing and I pray that you guys make the necessary action today.
Thank you.
Director Harris.
Good evening I'm Rachel Stewart representing Seattle Housing Authority.
As a note 10 percent of the students in Seattle Public Schools are supported by Seattle Housing Authority's housing subsidies and they are found across the city.
What we know when we look at that data is that students who are supported by Seattle Housing Authority and attending Seattle Public Schools have lower outcomes in pretty much every single measure and that is not different at Washington Middle School.
What we know as well at Washington Middle School is that there is a strong and thriving opportunity to be able to build a community that normalizes academic excellence in STEM and in reading.
What we've also seen at Technology Access Foundation in Federal Way and in all the preceding programs before joining into a public school partnership is that students of color and low income students thrive in the classrooms that they run.
There were a couple of years ago that students who would be going into Washington Middle School participated in a summer robotics program taught by a TAF employee.
Young people who had never touched a robotic system just came alive in that summer program.
They began to build and learn with one another.
And what was beautiful about this was the normalization of excellence.
You saw young people encouraging one another and sharing with one another how amazing they were.
And that is the difference that you've heard other people describe in the HCC isolated segregated space.
You find people encouraging one another who look like them and you don't have the benefit of integrated encouragement and being able to see and understand the value that people have with one another and being able to do so in an institutionalized way.
This partnership would offer an opportunity for Seattle Public Schools to make that a reality not for some but for all young people at Washington Middle School and in particular for those supported by Seattle Housing Authority.
Thank you.
Freda.
Dionne and after Dionne we will have Sheila Edwards-Lange.
Good evening.
As you consider the joint operating agreement with Technology Access Foundation please ensure that these questions are answered.
Where is the one hundred eighty thousand per grade per year over and above standard school funding coming from.
If these funds are available.
Why are they not being given to Washington Middle School right now.
There are currently classes of 40 or more kids in both programs at the school.
Will Washington Middle School still qualify for levy funds if this extra money is given to them.
There are other things that are funded through levy funds that aren't classroom classroom oriented.
What will happen to the two classes that are at Washington but will not be part of the TAF program.
Will they also get the one hundred eighty thousand per grade per year for the duration of their time there.
How will the shrinking of class sizes for those in the TAF program impact the students who are not in the program.
When TAF is a 6 to 12 program Seattle Public Schools will be giving them over a million dollars a year.
What happens if state education funding shrinks.
$180,000 per year going up $180,000 per year for every grade added would pay for a lot of instructional aids and other supports in feeder elementary schools with more support.
Could we get kids to grade level before they get to middle school.
And a last note no matter what happens with HCC kids still need to be identified so they can get their needs met.
Please implement more equitable identification practices immediately.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good evening.
I'm Sheila Edwards Lang.
I am a longtime educator in Seattle and an advocate for closing equity gaps in our schools.
I have to say that I've had a partnership with the Technology Access Foundation when I was at the University of Washington and they were one of the few programs where students would come and not just in computer science, always admitted, always doing well.
TAP has been highly successful in closing equity gaps in other places.
Their school their students are going to college and they're earning the post-secondary credentials that we so desperately need in this region and particularly for Seattle's kids.
But we're not benefiting from this expertise here in Seattle and I have watched us squander many opportunities in Seattle to bring this expertise here.
We have a new opportunity now in this partnership with Washington Middle School.
The Seattle economy and our kids demand that we not let this opportunity pass us by again.
I've watched TAF grow from an idea to a program in the Rainier Valley to now a national model of excellence in educating youth of color and other kids.
Other school districts around the country are routinely bringing them to the table to learn how they are having such success.
It's working in federal way and it is not a charter school.
I would also emphasize that the HCC model is not racially equitable and that's a whole nother story.
As you all are thinking about that we have already said in this country separate and unequal is not fair.
So I urge you to think of the greater good for all of our students as you have said in your strategic plan when you consider these proposals.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This concludes the sign up list for public testimony this evening.
Thank you and thank you to everyone for coming out tonight and being a part of our work and contributing public testimony.
I want to offer directors to use this time to finish board comments from before the public comment period.
So if there are directors that do want to speak I know Director Mack and Director Rankin didn't get a chance to speak before public comment so I'd love you to do that now if you'd like.
Hi Happy New Year everybody.
I am not feeling well so I'm going to try to be as brief as possible and as coherent as possible.
I getting back from break aside from being sick it's been sort of a rocky transition.
I don't know if everybody else's kids cried on Monday morning just having to get up and all of that.
It's just a tough transition and you know Locally nationally internationally there's a lot of things going on that are causing a lot of people a lot of stress.
So schedule a change.
So I brought seven puppies into my home to foster which is helping a little bit as Director Hampson mentioned.
So.
I'm going to focus my comments I think on responding to the public comments.
One thing I wanted to say is the the student mentioned that the board or superintendent somebody called Garfield High School a slave ship and I just want to be really super duper clear that I It has been called that by students since the time I was a student in Seattle because of how they saw it.
It's not a name that somebody up here gave it.
It's what the students recognized when they saw that the.
Advanced classes were on the upper floors were mostly white students and the gen ed classes on the lower floors were mostly black students.
That is where that name comes from.
It comes from their super super horrible unfortunate observation that students made about their learning environment.
So I just want to be super super clear that that is it.
That is a student experience reflection that goes back at least 25 years.
It's not something that came from anybody up here.
And it's something that the people up here and hopefully out here also are trying to fix because we just cannot have that continue.
Another thing that I want to mention is that I keep hearing people talk about HCC being taken away in the south end.
Washington Middle School is not in the south end.
Washington Middle School is in the central district.
There is no cohort in the south end and whether that's.
Please.
Thank you.
Whether that's whether that's by design or by I don't know but there are I there are multiple in the north end.
There's the one in the central district and there is none in the south end.
I just want to be super duper clear about that as well.
Even though kids go there from the south end.
Yes.
Thank you.
It's but it's not located in the south end.
Yes I do.
I do.
It's not located there.
OK.
And so and that in and of itself.
Why are there multiple locations.
This is my I'm not even a month into being a school board director or if you don't count the break but there are two two pathways in the north end one in West Seattle one in the central district and none in the south end.
And that is not because gifted students don't exist other places.
That's because that's where they've been placed.
So I just want to say that we have a really really unfortunate and coming in as a new school board member into this decision is super fraught and frustrating because we have the really unfortunate confluence of TAF and HCC and that as I mentioned at a work session the the path the path forward towards racial equity and advanced learning and highly capable has been set out as a long timeline.
And at the same time has been changed immediately or proposed to be changed immediately at Washington Middle School.
And I think that's really understandably really frustrating and confusing for community members as a board member.
It's it was it's confusing to me also I've had a lot of questions about that how we say on one side It's a long slow process.
It's going to go down gradually and then make a change on the other side.
And I think it's it's too bad that we're having the conversation around TAF with it being conflated with HCC and I'm trying to.
be clear headed about that because it's a really unfortunate confluence that is precedes me.
But it's making this conversation understandably very emotional and challenging for a lot of people.
Anyway that's the mostly that's mostly what I wanted to say.
Sorry I don't I don't totally have all my faculties with me today.
A term I think in general in the conversations about highly capable going forward since there is a longer timeline that I.
would like to ask people to reconsider is dismantling because it's very very fraught and negative and implies that things are only being taken away.
And as we build a system as we work to address all needs across all spectrums as we work to center students of color as we work to make sure that students with that are that are of color and not of color that are also academically advanced that they are sufficiently challenged.
We need to be thinking about it more whole in a more whole way and talking about dismantling something is coming at it from a just super negative something being taken away.
What what comes to mind is when a room is cold.
And we are where we have some people fighting over limited sweaters and instead we could just raise the temperature in the room.
So I want to think about that as we're going forward.
This dismantling and the idea that some kids are going to be pulled down is certainly not.
I don't think anybody's goal up here and nothing that I've heard in any any meetings or any committees.
The other thing I want to hear it heard a lot about in e-mails as pitting groups against each other.
And I'm going to say something that's not going to be super popular.
I think you can only be pitted against each other if you insist on remaining separate from the rest of the group.
So something about being pitted against each other is when refusal to take part in.
kind of a larger conversation.
I'm really not phrasing this well and I apologize but this is just some things that I'm hearing a lot that I think are keeping us keeping a lot of us from moving forward with a solution in general about advanced learning and in all of Seattle Public Schools that's going to lift up all of our students and lead us to better academic outcomes for everybody is if we can start thinking about.
that we all have needs that may or may not be met and how can we meet those needs in a way that is equitable and that will move us forward to something that's going to look different.
It's going to look different.
So I just I don't know.
I just encourage everyone to start thinking about restructuring instead of dismantling my long rambly.
Thank you Director Rankin Director Mack.
And thank you and thank you for the actually a good segue.
I really appreciate the focus on solutions and when when and equitably considering those things and building as opposed to tearing down.
I appreciate that focus and.
I know that that's where I am as well.
I also want to give a public appreciation for the number of folks that have come to testify here in particular leaders in our community in various ways.
So thank you for taking the time to come and speak your mind and to share your thoughts on issues in front of us.
As Director Hampson was saying earlier.
We get so much email it's it's physically impossible to actually respond to it it's really challenging.
But I know that I do read every single one and I'm considering it in all of the machinations around the decisions that we're making up here and I know that my fellow board directors do as well and I appreciate hearing from you.
I will reserve kind of my conversation around some of the topics to the actual items that are going to be introduced and we can talk about them there because we'll be having a robust discussion just a little bit.
But I also wanted to thank the Blaine orchestra for coming out and the music instructor.
It was really exciting to see that.
I didn't know until today that they didn't have electives at Blaine in their middle school until two years ago.
And now they do.
So that's excellent.
And it's excellent that we have robust music education happening at the other elementary schools as well.
And I want to thank Tierra I know he's already left but his personal story about the impact of interagency and how that has really helped him was was moving and it you know continues to fuel me in terms of knowing that we need to continue to support alternative education in our district.
I did hear the comment about the environmental review on playgrounds and I'll be checking into that.
And I don't have any community meetings scheduled at this point.
I will get some scheduled.
I we've talked about doing some joint meetings and I do like that format.
I think it's helpful to to to go outside of my neighborhood as well.
And with that I will end my comments.
Thank you all for speaking to us today.
Thank you Director Mack.
Tansi oki maupii sim niti si nikason means welcome.
My name is oki maupii sim which means young buffalo leader in Cree and thank you for being here.
I had an opportunity yesterday to visit the ASB club from Meany Middle School yesterday and these were some of the coolest kids.
Certainly leadership nerds just wanted to do as much as they could for the school and trying to figure out how to build up their ASB club.
It's their first year they've kind of been able to focus some time on that.
And a couple of really big things came up that I at least want to just reflect here today.
They were too really.
Pretty important topics.
They have a sexual assault and sexual harassment club support club just to both advocate in their school to make sure that the teachers know about the training how to be an ally and advocate with their peers.
And they also asked us to consider.
including LGBT curriculum history into our curriculum and so I think it behooves us to be really thoughtful about listening to our students who are literally in our schools who identify as LGBTQ asking for that.
And so I have a meeting next Tuesday with Lisa Love and some of our folks from our health department to think about how do we get creative about that and is the ethnic studies process a model for that.
So I just want to.
At least publicly let them know I heard them and I'm really really grateful for their just these just young kids just sitting around a table wanting to do the best for their school and potentially might be able to go on a field trip with them to Olympia to advocate for the things that they believe and so I'll hopefully have an update in February if they invite me to go and I've told them they don't have to feel pressure to.
I don't have any community meetings coming up but I will have a meeting in February.
I think I'll be invited by the downtown Seattle Association and some other groups from downtown to just talk about kind of downtown education in general and so I'll keep you posted on the dates for that.
I will reserve the rest of my comments for the portion we about we're about to head into which is action items and intro with board directors like a 10 minute break.
Is that OK.
Our last one was like three minutes.
Yeah.
Sure.
Right.
Really quick.
Apologies I was very remiss and not noting that today is also the birthday of a very special Eckstein middle schooler named Josephine Pikia Shannon and I will be leaving the board meeting a little bit early to go celebrate her birthday with her because she's my daughter.
And with that the board meeting will now recess for a 10 minute break and we'll reconvene at 630.