Okay this is Director Hampson.
I'm now calling the June 2nd 2021 Regular Board Meeting to order at 330 p.m.
This meeting is being recorded.
We would like to acknowledge that we are on the ancestral lands and traditional territories of the Puget Sound Coast Salish people.
Ms. Wilson-Jones the roll call please.
Director DeWolf present.
Director Dury here.
Director Harris.
Vice President Hersey.
Do we have Vice President Hersey.
Here.
Director Rankin.
Here.
Director Rivera-Smith.
Present.
And President Hampson.
Here.
Thank you Ms. Wilson-Jones.
Superintendent Jones.
is also joining us for today's meeting and additional staff will be briefing the board as we move through the agenda.
As we begin the meeting I would also like to welcome Naya Corcoruto who is joining us as the student representative from Lincoln High School as well as fellow Lincoln High School student Laniyah Flight who will be leading off our public testimony list.
This meeting is being held remotely consistent consistent with the governor's proclamation on open public meetings.
The public is being provided remote access today by phone and through SPS-TV by broadcast and streaming on YouTube.
To facilitate this meeting I will ask all participants to ensure you are muted when you are not speaking.
Staff may be muting participants to address feedback and ensure we can hear directors and staff.
While the board continues to generally meet remotely we will be holding work sessions next week in a hybrid in-person and remote format.
Those hybrid meetings will be the June 7th work sessions on the Capital Programs Semiannual Report and Student Assignment Transition Plan and Boundaries and the June 9th work sessions on the Annual Enrollment Report and Capacity Evaluation and Budget.
Limited in-person attendance at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence will be available for each meeting by advanced online registration with new health and safety protocols in place to meet state and local requirements.
Agendas for each work session will be posted to the board's website this Friday.
To register to attend in-person visit the agenda posting and follow the instructions for pre-registration.
Again that's Friday February February June 4th.
In-person registration will be first come first served and will close at 1 p.m.
on the day of the meeting or when capacity is reached.
Details for joining remotely online and by phone will also be provided on the agendas.
I will now turn it over to Superintendent Jones for his comments.
Thank you President Hampson and Board of Directors.
I'll be brief today in my comments.
We have completed one month.
It's been it's been fantastic.
We spent much of this month really clarifying the mission and focus.
We're getting the good news out about Seattle schools and we're representing partnership as often as we can.
Board President Hampson Seattle Council PTSA President and I were on the Seattle Channel together this week talking about current issues really showing the collaboration and the partnership and that was hosted by Brian Callahan.
That's that's being aired right now.
I want to also thank board members for showing up to the various activities.
Your presence is very meaningful.
One of those it was the fact that we kicked off our Pride Week this week and we had 3 board members show up at that.
This was our effort to acknowledge and affirm our LGBTQ plus community students and staff and family.
It was a fabulous presentation.
This this Friday is we're recognizing the first excuse me recognizing June as National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
I will be a co-signer on the proclamation and finding orange to wear on Friday in representative of that day.
Our partner DEEL Department of Education and Early Learning is hosting a Spring Institute on Children Race and Racism Elevating the Brilliance of Black Boys.
And I understand that's a fabulous program and that's happening today tomorrow and Friday.
One of the challenges that we have and I want to acknowledge it is the experience the homelessness on our property.
It continues to be a challenge.
And the challenge frankly is not about finances.
However it's about finding the right service and ongoing support to help find suitable housing outside of SPS property.
Please know in the meantime we're paying attention to the issue.
We've taken measures to make sure that our our students are stay safe our staff are safe while we figure out remedies.
But we are actively looking for partnerships and coming up with again remedies to to that situation.
And lastly we continue to clarify our message about in-person full-time return to school.
And as of today we have 90 days until start of school.
And at the start of school on September 1st we will initiate 180 days of excellence.
So thank you and appreciate it.
And back to you President Hampson.
Thank you Superintendent Jones.
Okay so once again I would like to welcome Lincoln High School student Naya Corcoruto and please tell me if I did your name justice Naya.
Naya is a junior and the first LHS Associated Student Body President since 1981 and is active in a variety of activities including theater and dance as well as holding down a job as a barista.
She is passionately committed to inclusion and creating a culture at Lincoln that allows all students to feel a strong sense of belonging and connection.
Over to you Nya.
Thank you for your time today.
Since reopening in 2019 Lincoln High School students have worked tirelessly to create a community within Lincoln that represents us and our school.
The students at Lincoln have been given a special opportunity to create something new and everything that we have done as student leaders has centered around making our high school a place where everyone feels loved included and that they belong.
At Lincoln we have shifted away from the traditional high school structure.
We have broadened the definition of student leaders increasing the amount of officers that make up our student government.
We consciously work to increase to increase student participation by bringing students outside of ASB and putting them on committees to help plan events.
We also have made our events such as assemblies and film festivals available online so that all students get to enjoy them.
Finally we have built a strong sense of community not only within our school but in our Wallingford community that we're a part of by working with the businesses that surround our school and developing a strong and positive relationships with them.
Our student body wants to continue making these positive changes in our community by spending more time learning about the current events and the factors that cause them.
Educating ourselves and others on what it means to be better advocates and allies.
and committing to a curriculum that is inclusive including an ethnic studies course.
As we transition back into full-time in-person learning our student body believes that these changes will create opportunities to accomplish these goals and create the space for us all to continue to spark positive change.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your time Nya and for being here with us.
And please feel free and welcome to stay and participate with us as a non-voting member of the board while you're here today.
Okay.
So next we have a proclamation on today's agenda recognizing the first Friday in June as National Gun Violence Awareness.
And we'll go first to the sponsors of this item for a motion and a second.
Over to you Director Rankin.
Director Rankin.
Yes.
Thank you.
Before we talk about this item I my understanding is that the motion needs to to come first is that right.
Yeah.
I just asked for the motion.
Oh I'm sorry.
I was looking for my my talking points.
Thank you so much.
Shoot.
Where's the.
Sorry I can't find the I don't see.
Okay.
I apologize.
I had the wrong file brought up.
I move the approval of the proclamation recognizing the first Friday in June as National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.
This item has been moved by Director Rankin and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.
I will now pass it back to Director Rankin to introduce the proclamation followed by Director Rivera-Smith to read from the proclamation and student speakers will be addressing the board.
Thank you so much.
We're really pleased to be able to bring this before the full board today.
Gun violence.
is an issue that touches every every corner of the city every community in some ways.
And it is also something that through community effort and commitment is is preventable.
As the legislative chair for Seattle Council PTSA I co-authored a resolution in 2018 in support of state and federal legislation to reduce gun violence to advocate against the arming of educators or staff in schools as was being talked about nationally at the time and to endorse the student-led March for Our Lives movement at the time.
And that was passed and supported by Seattle Council and there continue to be some amazing advocates in that area that have carried on that work.
Since then I've been really fortunate to be connected to advocates in and representatives from the Alliance for Gun Responsibility Moms Demand Action Washington Seattle Council PTSA and King County Public Health.
Their advocacy and support to protect our communities from the preventable tragedy of gun violence is is invaluable.
And thank you so much in particular to the group of advocates who met with Director Rivera-Smith and I regularly this winter and spring.
and to bring this proclamation forward in support also of specific district priorities.
Gun violence is is over-represented.
It has an has an over over-represented impact on on students of color on communities of color.
And as we've been speaking with In particular King County Public Health one of the best ways to protect our kids and our schools from experiencing the devastating effect of gun violence is safe storage.
And I believe there's somebody from King County that will speak to that in the in the comments or in the in public testimony.
So I really encourage everyone to commit themselves to doing what you can to prevent gun violence in your community.
And I will pass it over to Director Rivera-Smith to read some excerpts from the proclamation.
The complete proclamation is in meeting minutes and she will be reading those reading that now and then we'll take a vote.
Director Rivera-Smith.
Thank you.
Thanks for the instruction.
I'll be reading parts of the proclamation.
The entire read is about 6 minutes so I won't do the whole thing here.
I'll touch on some of the main highlights from that.
So this is a Seattle School District Number 1 board proclamation recognizing the first Friday in June as National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
This proclamation recognizes June 4th 2021 to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day in the Seattle School District to honor and remember all victims and survivors of gun violence and to declare that we as a community must do all we can to reduce gun violence.
Whereas since the onset of COVID-19 the United States has seen a rise in gun violence.
Increased gun sales particularly among first-time owners along with millions of children atypically home from school have greatly increased the risk of child gun suicide and unintentional shootings.
Whereas every year in the United States nearly 350 children under the age of 18 unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else.
That's roughly one unintentional shooting per day and 77 percent of these incidents take place inside a home.
Whereas every year in the U.S. another 590 children die by gun suicide.
Most often using guns belonging to a family member.
And over the past decade the firearm suicide rate among children and teens has increased 59 percent.
American Indians and Alaskan Natives have the highest suicide rate among youth.
Whereas in the state of Washington an average of 61 children and teens die by guns every year and Black children and teens are two times as likely as their White peers to die by guns.
Whereas in incidents of gun violence on school grounds 79 percent of active shooters are current students or recent graduates and 80 percent of shooters under the age of 18 obtain their guns from their own home or the home of a relative or friend.
Whereas evidence strongly suggests that secure firearm storage is an essential component to any effective strategy to keep keeping students and schools safe.
And research shows that secure firearm storage practices are associated with up to an 85 percent reduction in the risk of self-inflicted and unintentional firearm injuries among teen women children and teens.
Whereas the National Coalition of Organizations has designated the first Friday in June as National Gun Violence Awareness Day beginning in 2015 to honor Hydea Peckleton a teenager who marched in the Presidential Inaugural Parade in 2013 and was tragically shot and killed just weeks later who should be now celebrating her 24th birthday.
And the more than 100 Americans whose lives are cut short every day and the countless survivors who are injured by shootings every day.
Now therefore in recognition of National Gun Violence Awareness Day on the first Friday in June June 4th 2021 the Seattle School Board renews our commitment to reduce gun violence and pledge to do all we can to keep firearms out of the wrong hands and encourage responsible gun ownership to help keep our children safe.
Now therefore we encourage all schools to support their local communities efforts to prevent the tragic effects of gun violence and to honor and value human lives and help educate their communities about safe gun storage of firearms safe storage of firearms in the home and to support this campaign by pledging to wear orange the color worn by Hunters for Safety on June 4th the first Friday in June 2021 to raise awareness about gun violence and honor the lives of gun violence victims and survivors.
Thank you.
We have I think two students on the line who were introduced to us by Moms Demand Action and by Alliance for Gun Responsibility.
Daisy and Lily are you on the line.
Hello.
Yeah I'm here.
Hi is this Lily.
Yeah.
Hi this is Director Rankin.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
Do you want to speak for a few minutes.
Okay.
Okay go ahead.
Hi my name is Lily Hessler.
I'm an 8th grader at Jane Adams Middle School.
I contacted the Alliance for Gun Responsibility for a school project called Be the Change.
I chose to research gun violence.
I didn't have any personal experiences with gun violence.
Thank goodness.
And I thought I would honestly be mostly talking about mass shootings and school shootings because that's what you hear about on the news and that's what you learn about when it comes to gun violence.
But I was wrong.
In America gun violence kills three children every day on average and most of those are suicides.
Most of those deaths could have been prevented if someone didn't have easy access to a gun.
Women and children die every day because of an abusive family member with a gun.
Any of those kids could have been one of my friends or classmates.
I support this proclamation and I hope that it will help more kids in Seattle grow up in a safer and healthier environment.
Thank you for your time.
Lily thank you so much.
Thank you so much for adding your voice to this important issue and for being a leader in your school community and for taking some time with us today.
I'm not sure if we have Daisy.
on the line.
Daisy if you're there you may need to press star-6 to unmute if you're calling in.
There was a question on whether she would be able to make this time.
So it's possible she's not here.
But if you're here Daisy we'd love to hear from you.
If you'd like Director Rankin I can go to questions from directors or comments and then if she gets on we can go back to her.
Yep that sounds good.
I was just going to make the same suggestion.
Okay.
So let me just very quickly run through directors.
Director DeWolf did you want to add anything comments or questions to the discussion.
Thank you President Hampson.
I don't have any questions but thank you directors and our community for bringing this forward.
Looking forward to supporting this.
Director Dury.
I don't have any questions either and I would like to ditto Director DeWolf in thanking the community and our directors for bringing this forward.
Director Harris.
Huge props to my colleagues and to the students and the community-based organizations that helped make this happen.
If there's any chance that we could flag and reference the previous revolution that was by a previous board be most grateful.
Thank you.
Director Hersey.
No additional questions just immense gratitude for bringing this forward.
Thank you.
And I would just add thank you Directors Rivera-Smith and Director Rankin for making sure that this came forward.
I know and the community for keeping honest about making sure that this came forward.
I know that the focus is on gun safety and I appreciate the ways in which you highlighted the the immense impact on the lives of children and particularly certainly something that in terms of suicide rates among American Indian youth has been very painful and recent decades within our community.
And but I also especially wanted to highlight one thing that I appreciate about the Alliance for Gun Responsibility is their acknowledgement and the critical notion that police shootings are in fact a form of gun violence and police shootings disproportionately of our Black relatives is something that we are continuing to grapple with.
unfortunately every single day.
And so again just my gratitude for bringing this forward.
And then if you either of you would like to add anything additional and then we can check on Daisy again.
Director Rivera-Smith or Director Rankin did you want to add anything more.
I'll just add a special thank you to the board office and to our Chief Legal Counsel when this came.
And also apologies Director Harris.
for overlooking the previous board's resolution in that was similar to that was in support of certain legislation.
But the the last year we we had a superintendent proclamation to recognize National Gun Violence Awareness Day and that required a lot less procedural requirements So big thanks to the to the board office and Chief Narver for helping us get this through and and and letting us all bring it forward for a vote.
Okay.
Thank you both for bringing this forward and thank you to our students and to all the community members.
I assume Daisy hasn't popped up yet.
But to all of you that helped develop this proclamation and this will be circulated for signature by directors and Superintendent Jones if if approved.
So let me go ahead and ask Ms. Wilson-Jones to call for the vote.
Director Dury.
Director Harris.
President Hersey aye Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye Director DeWolf aye President Hampson aye.
This motion is passed unanimously.
Okay.
So once again thank you for your recognition of June 4th.
2021 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Okay we've now reached the consent portion of today's agenda.
May I have a motion for the consent agenda.
I move for approval of the consent agenda.
Second.
Approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Vice President Hersey and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.
Do directors have any items they would like to remove from the consent agenda.
Hearing none.
All those in favor of the consent agenda signify by saying aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Opposed.
The consent agenda has passed unanimously.
We have now reached the public testimony portion of the agenda.
We will be taking public testimony by teleconference today as stated on the agenda.
For any speakers watching through SPS-TV please call in now to ensure you are on the phone line when your name is called.
Board Procedure 1430BP provides the rules for testimony and I ask that speakers are respectful of these rules.
I will summarize some important parts of this procedure.
First testimony will be taken today from those individuals called from our 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 and only one person should speak at a time.
Speakers from the list may cede their time to another person when the list listed speaker's name is called.
The total amount of time allowed will not exceed two minutes for the combined number of speakers and time will not be restarted after the new speaker begins.
In order to maximize opportunities for others to address the board each speaker is allowed only one speaking slot per meeting.
If a speaker cedes time to a later speaker on the testimony list or waiting list the person to whom time was ceded will not be called to provide testimony again later in the meeting as there is only one speaking slot per person.
Those who do not wish to have time ceded to them may decline and retain their place on the testimony or wait list.
Finally the majority of the speaker's time should be spent on the topic they have indicated they wish to speak about.
Ms. Wilson-Jones will read off the testimony speakers.
Thank you President Hampson.
Speakers please remain muted until your name is called to provide testimony.
When you hear your name please be sure you have unmuted on your phone and then also press star-6 to unmute yourself on the line.
Each speaker will have a 2-minute speaking time and a chime will sound when your time is exhausted and the next speaker will then be called.
The first speaker on today's list is Linnea Flight.
Linnea Flight.
Hello, my name is Linaya Flight and I'm a sophomore at Lincoln High School.
I am an IEP.
Today I'm going to be presenting to you about how COVID is impacting students and their learning.
I did some informal research on Snapchat about how students all over the district are being impacted by online learning.
Some things I found is that most students are being impacted by failing classes, not learning anything.
And the biggest thing students said was they're not getting enough help and they feel depressed.
My personal concern with hybrid instruction, when teachers are teaching online and in person at the same time, is very hard for students.
They can't focus and it's hard to get help because teachers can only help so many students at once.
Students who are not getting enough help often leads to them getting incomplete and getting off track for graduation.
Here at Lincoln, I have done some research and got some stats of how many students that have incompletes.
We have 946 students and there are 74 incompletes total in the first semester.
33 incompletes for students of color.
19 incompletes for students with IEPs or special education services.
Six incompletes for students with 504 plans.
In conclusion I would like you as the school board to support in-person learning for summer school opportunities for students to make up learning and get back on track academically and emotionally.
At Lincoln we are planning a small in-person summer school for students with incompletes.
I think it will help students more than remote learning opportunities being offered.
I also want to make sure that you are working with the district office to make sure we open in-person strong in the fall.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you so much Laniyah.
The next speaker on today's list is Helen Taskeson.
Helen Taskeson.
Hi.
Okay.
Hi my name is Helene Halim Tashkesan or Halim.
I go to Cleveland High School.
I'm half Kurdish half Arabic born in Turkey and immigrated to the U.S. when I was 5. The reason I'm saying all of this is because on my SPS transcript I'm known as White or Caucasian which I don't identify as.
This brings me to what I came here to talk about.
MENA students need a voice in our community.
Many of you have probably never heard of the term MENA.
MENA stands for Middle Eastern North African.
The North is pretty generalized to many parts of Africa.
People of MENA background have to select a different race to put themselves with.
This is sad of course but why does this impact you Seattle Public Schools.
Whenever you conduct a survey or any other data yielding activity this information is inaccurate and I can say that with 100 percent certainty.
We the MENA people do not have the recognition and the ability to speak for ourselves but are grouped with others.
I'm in the middle of conducting a survey with Cleveland staff and students to gather data on what the community thinks about this.
And I will send all of this out as a final email.
But from the data we've gotten 98 percent said that MENA students adding MENA to the survey would positively affect them or not affect them at all.
Here are 2 quotes from what people have responded.
Maybe 3 if I have time.
A staff member said our MENA students deserve to have more accurate choices to describe their identity.
I wish to work in an inclusive district so even though I don't identify as MENA this change would positively affect me.
A student said because if others are accurately included then change throughout the school system can be more accurate and helpful to the community as a whole which includes sorry which includes me.
And one more is inclusion is important.
This is by a student.
Inclusion is important to students and people so they should be allowed to state what their exact identity is because that is who they are.
They shouldn't have to conform to some similar identity because that's not an option.
Giving representation to MENA students and staff will help create a positive change for those who are MENA and also who want more diversity in the school district.
Thank you.
Go ahead.
Go ahead and finish Helene.
Yeah I was just going to say this would help support everyone and it won't just affect MENA people but it will help create very positive change and outcomes for everyone in the school district.
So it's not just MENA-based.
But yeah.
Thank you so much.
Thank you Helene.
Thank you so much for speaking today.
The next speaker is Chris Jackins.
Chris Jackins.
My name is Chris Jackins.
Box 84063 Seattle 98124. My compliments to the first two speakers.
On today's board agenda the majority of items are scheduled to be voted on before public testimony is heard.
This is poor board practice.
On the Satterberg grant why is the district spending generous grants at certain schools without comparing the results to other schools.
On the Wi-Fi upgrade how about buying books instead.
On the Rainier Beach educational specifications please publicly answer the question does the district plan to demolish the Paul Robeson Performing Arts Center.
On the constructability reports for Kimball Northgate and Viewlands the district should not be proceeding with these projects which destroy history and shrink playground space.
Please vote no.
On the plan for next fall the plan includes both in-person and virtual options but does not address how resources will be allocated to support both instructional models.
On the West Seattle Elementary parcel exchange.
Three points.
Number one at the May 19th board meeting I appreciated one board member asking district staff to respond to my questions and I appreciated the Chief Operating Officer responding to some of my questions.
Number two the property to be received by the district is encumbered by a condition.
Was the appraiser aware of this condition.
Number three the appraisal was to be made public by April 23rd.
The district is now refusing to make the appraisal public until after a land swap is approved.
The district indicated that both the city and the district prefer to conduct their business away from the public.
Please vote now.
Thank you.
The next speaker on today's list is Sherri Garmon.
Sherri Garmon.
And Sherri you'll have to press star-6 to unmute if you're on the line.
Sherri Garmon.
President Hampson I'm going to move to the next speaker because we were not totally sure on whether Sherri was going to make it.
But if Sherri joins us I'll call her name again.
The next speaker is Janice White.
Janice White.
Hi I'm Janice White.
President of the Seattle Special Education PTSA.
Special Education Recovery Services.
Once again.
Parents are getting confusing and inconsistent messages from schools.
There has not been a full partnership with community and we are concerned that students with IEPs are not going to be able to receive services that they're entitled to.
According to OSPI recovery services are additional to those services in a student's IEP to address the ongoing impact of the pandemic.
Every IEP team must consider the individual need for recovery services.
for every student with an IEP from preschool to age 21. And parents are supposed to be key partners in determining the need for recovery services.
The PTSA wrote to you on April 26th about the need for community input in development of the recovery plan that was submitted to OSPI on June 1 and we gave specific suggestions about funding needed for special education recovery services including summer services.
But families have not seen the recovery plan that we know the board has been told in public meetings exists and have not had an opportunity for meaningful input in developing the plan.
In the last week families have gotten emails from their schools telling them that the school team not the IEP team had already decided that their student did not need recovery services.
They were given the opportunity to email back if they disagreed with the email due right after a 3-day weekend.
Other families have received emails saying that they need to wait until the fall to discuss recovery services making it impossible for those students to access recovery services over the summer which might help them prepare for the fall.
And these emails are not consistent with the OSP guidance.
We have to ask is this really what it looks like to prioritize students with IEPs.
Where is the accountability to ensure that recovery services are being implemented properly by schools.
Our students don't need empty promises.
They need the services and instructions they're legally entitled to.
Thank you very much.
Next for testimony is Brian Duncan.
Brian Duncan.
Brian Duncan.
You need to press star-6 to unmute if you're on the line.
Hello yes.
Brian Duncan here.
Yeah I just want to thank the board for taking the vote earlier on the Gun Violence Awareness Day proclamation.
Thank you very much.
And just the only thing to add to that is just to add some context to let you know that the various PTA groups have been very supportive of this the last several years.
With the Washington State PTA and the Seattle City Council this Seattle Council PTSA and also individual school-level PTAs have been uh, you know, passing resolutions and, um, particularly the state level, there's been quite a bit of activity on the legislative front, um, lobbying the legislature over the last several years to, to, uh, pass stronger, uh, you know, gun sense regulations, uh, including ultimately, uh, you know, assault weapons ban, high capacity magazine bans, making it harder for people to do stock purchases, all, all manner of things to help, um, curtail the gun violence crisis which is many faceted and takes many different approaches and safe safe storage is a very important one.
So I'm very glad to see us moving forward on that and to just generally raise the profile of gun violence prevention in our public schools.
I'll cede the rest of my time to Karin Brown who I think is on the call as well.
Public Health.
Thanks.
Karin is the next speaker on today's list so I'll just call that name now so that she's got the full 2 minutes.
Karin Brownson.
Hi my name is Karin Brownson.
I'm part of the Violence and Injury Prevention Program at Public Health Seattle and King County and I'm also here to speak in support of the Proclamation for National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Last year, King County Executive Dow Constantine declared racism a public health emergency in response to the work of community activists and data showed stark health disparities, including around the impact of gun violence.
King County loses over 150 people a year from firearm injuries, disproportionately young men of color.
To build communities where youth of color can be happy healthy safe and thriving our Zero Youth Detention Program is rolling out its King County Regional Peacekeepers Collective which is focused on intervention prevention and restoration for young people and their families impacted by gun violence.
This begins this week with in-person events and safe gun storage device distribution in Kent and Skyway.
Executive Constantine and the County Board of Health have declared June 4th 2021 as King County Regional Community Safety and Well-Being Day.
I run the Lock It Up program which promotes safe firearm storage.
1 in 5 King County residents report firearm ownership with more added and becoming first-time firearm owners during the pandemic.
Safe storage lets gun owners be part of the solution to firearm tragedy protecting children from injury suicide interpersonal violence and the influx of stolen guns into our streets.
We have materials promoting safe storage available in many languages on our website at www.lockitup.org.
school systems are of critical importance in our children's lives perhaps especially during this strange and tumultuous school year.
And I thank you for adding your voices to the calls for firearm safety for all of our children and families.
We especially appreciate that the proclamation addresses both the human impact of firearm tragedies and the issue of where misused firearms come from.
Thank you so much.
And one last check.
Has Sherri Garmon joined.
Sherri Garmon.
If you're on the line you need to press star-6.
President Hampson I don't I don't see Sherri's number so I think that was the final speaker on today's testimony list.
Okay.
Thank you Ms. Wilson-Jones and thank you to all our speakers for taking time to be here with us today.
We now move to the action items on today's agenda.
And there is one.
It is Action Item Resolution Number 2020-21-29 Signatures of Authorized District Personnel for State Aid Programs.
May I have a motion for this item.
Hey just a heads up Director Hampson if we could get someone to read that motion my computer just crashed and I'm on my phone.
Do not have it handy.
I heard it.
Thank you.
Director let's see Director Rivera-Smith do you have the motion or should I.
pass it along to you.
I think I got it.
Let me see here.
This is Resolution 2020-21-29 correct.
Yes.
So I move that the school board adopt Resolution Number 2020-21 slash or slash 21-29 superseding Resolution Number 2020-21-29 dash 21 dash 26 in order to authorize Dr. Brett C. Jones Interim Superintendent Robert Dannen Deputy Superintendent JoLynn Berge Chief Financial Officer Fred Podesta Chief Operations Officer and Richard Best Director of Capital Projects and Planning to sign state funding assistance documents per WAC 392344 1-0.
Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.
I have a second.
Second.
This item has been moved by Director Rivera-Smith and seconded by Vice President Hersey.
This item did not go through committee though a very similar item went through the Executive Committee and was approved by the board in April.
Chief Operations Officer Fred Podesta I believe he will be briefing us on this item.
Certainly.
Thank you President Hampson.
As part of the state funding process there are many administrative steps along the way.
The board approves many things constructability reports educational specifications.
There are some similar states more minor in nature that can be approved by district staff.
But in order to do so we are required to certify the board is required to certify which district officers are authorized to sign those documents.
And this motion just recognizes the current staffing that we have and will include a resolution that we can provide to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction that that authorizes the 4 named individuals to sign or the 5 named individuals to sign for documents.
Purely an administrative step.
Thank you Chief Podesta.
Do any directors that have questions can you please raise a hand or Director Harris I'm calling you directly since you're on the phone.
No questions from Director Harris.
Thank you.
Do any other directors have questions comments or concerns.
Okay.
Ms. Wilson-Jones will you call for the vote.
Director Rankin aye Director Rivera-Smith aye Director DeWolf aye Director Dury aye Director Harris aye Vice President Hersey aye President Hampson aye.
This motion has passed unanimously.
Okay we now come to the board comments section of the agenda.
We will start with Director DeWolf.
Thank you President Hampson.
I'll keep my comments brief but I wanted to just give a special shout out and gratitude to Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones you President Hampson Director Rankin Director Rivera-Smith for raising the ultra-inclusive pride flag yesterday.
Thank you for doing that.
Really appreciate that and just one of the really exciting ways that we illustrate our commitment and our value of our LGBTQ students staff and community.
So thank you for doing that yesterday and looking forward to the retreat on Saturday.
Okay.
Next up Director Dury.
I just want to say thanks for the proclamation that we did at the beginning of the meeting and happy Pride.
Director Harris.
I can't wait to be back in person and see all of my colleagues smiling faces and all of the non-verbal facial recognition prompts.
I have missed you desperately.
And I also cannot wait to restart community meetings and start lasagna every third meeting.
Hot luck.
I can't wait for graduation to celebrate our extraordinary students that have come through this pandemic with grace and elegance and often wonder whether we won't be referring to this generation as the pandemic generation much like the greatest generation of World War II or many of our parents and grandparents that lived through the Depression and I hope and understand that there's been an enormous amount of pain and anxiety but that we come out of this much better and much more aware of our fellow human beings.
Thank you.
Director Hersey.
I will keep my comments short.
Just again very much so recognizing all of the work that went into the resolution on gun violence earlier so just an extreme amount of gratitude for bringing that forward.
And just as we are heading into summer just wishing everybody a wonderful wonderful opportunity to get some time with their family.
I know we've got a few more meetings before that but as an educator I can tell you already that a lot of families are are getting ready to go out with their with their kids and just enjoy some time they've certainly earned over the past year.
So again just an immense thank you to everyone who has been putting in a ridiculous amount of work this year.
And we're very close to wrapping it up.
So hold strong and thank you again for all of the all the time that's gone into all of the projects that.
Director Rankin.
Thank you and happy Pride everyone.
It was truly a joy and an honor to be part of the flag raising yesterday in no small part to see people in person.
Like Director Harris said I'm I'm really looking forward to the work sessions next week where we will all be in the same room even if we We'll only be able to see this much of each other's faces.
I'm still really looking forward to that.
I I just wanted to note one thing that's been top of mind top of my inbox bottom of my inbox all through my inbox and a lot of time over the last couple of months is Broadview Thompson School and the encampment on school district property.
And I wanted specifically to mention in light of some recent comments mention our our billion-dollar budget and with the constraints that that brings.
In spite of that the ways in which this school district has stepped up tremendously over the past year our billion-dollar budget is intended for the education of children.
It runs 104 schools and employs about 8,000 staff.
It serves 54,000 students and it is still not enough to cover counseling nurses full-time librarians and more at each and every school.
We have to ask voters to approve local levy dollars to cover special education services that are underfunded by the state.
And we do all that and more much much also on the unpaid labor of women and people of color as well to cover the many many needs of a school district that are not accounted for in the in the provision of finance of funding by the entities that make this all possible.
During the pandemic SPS fed students and their families with hot lunches takeaway lunches dinners to be heated up students and adults for months.
The district also provided laptops and tablets and in many cases internet access to a city's worth of children.
SPS provided childcare space while community centers were closed for first responders children at the beginning of the pandemic.
And next month we will be approving the 2021-22 budget.
Approving a balanced budget is one of the four duties of a school board director of a school board.
Has to be balanced.
Has to be approved.
And we'll be doing that after a year of very difficult conversations and budget work sessions that included how to prioritize funding for the many many needs of our students and schools including mental health support recovery from the year academics of course and how to address a millions of dollars shortfall in state funding in addition to uncertain enrollment projections emerging from a global pandemic.
And for those of you that may not may not be aware the way that school districts are funded in Washington State is based on enrollment projections.
We have a certain amount of money per student allocated to us by the state legislature that is for the provision of education to those children.
So we don't have funding in excess to divert to rehousing adults living in Seattle.
That being said we do have a lot of funding relationships and resources and we have also the very firmly held belief of being good partners and good neighbors.
We also have the in the last month as was noted at the beginning of this meeting the fresh leadership of Superintendent Jones and Deputy Gannon.
And I just wanted to note my my gratitude to them for coming into A whole bunch of things that are unusual for a school district to have to manage and taking on this issue as well of where property and people kind of conflate over several jurisdictions.
That being said we continue to be open and willing to partner with any and everyone who wants to support the district in the compassionate rehousing of people in our community who deserve much better and in also support of of access to the school community and neighborhood to open park space.
So I'm sure more to come.
I don't see that ebbing anytime soon.
But I am I just wanted to sort of make note of the fact that we're we're exploring any and all options especially ones that don't don't require or expect that money for the education of our children would be diverted to filling another civic responsibility.
So thanks to everybody for for staying with them staying on the importance of compassion and care of people in our neighborhood.
And we will just keep at it.
And thanks to everyone also who has offered support and is trying to come up with solutions.
And have a great rest of the week.
Okay.
Director Rivera-Smith.
Thank you.
So we're going to start.
So as as Dr. Jones mentioned DL is hosting the Spring Institute on Children Race and Racism Elevating the Brilliance of Black Boys.
I am thrilled to be attending this institute as are many SPS educators who I've seen in the in the room this morning and I'm sure they'll be bringing the information insights and brilliance learned there into our classrooms to benefit all of our students most especially for our Black boys and teens.
We're looking forward to the next two days of that institute.
As Director DeWolf mentioned a few of us were out with Dr. Jones to proudly raise the Pride flag but he too should be thanks.
Thank you Director DeWolf for putting out the call for that event and making sure that it happened.
I'm sorry you couldn't you weren't able to join us but you were there in spirit so thank you for that.
And speaking of Pride Month I'm not sure if other countries do this too but it seems like in America we really like to dedicate months to causes.
And for good reason there are a lot of Well a lot of important causes to recognize and it only makes sense to give ourselves a month as opposed to a day or a week to celebrate bringing awareness to or to sit in remembrance of the many significant causes that we get a care at months to.
In June as has been mentioned tonight we mark both Pride Month and then Violence Awareness Month.
And there there's actually a really significant intersection there.
rather than make their words my own I want to read something from the Alliance for Gun Responsibility that they sent us this month that really encompasses encompasses it.
So they said the pride was born out of protests in response to police violence led by Marsha P. Johnson a Black trans woman.
More than 50 years after the Stonewall riots we are reckoning with the racism and violence knit into our institutions.
We are still faced with a society where violence is too often wielded against Black and Brown LGBTQIA people and too often carried out by a gun.
A combination of easy access to firearms and bias leaves the LGBTQIA community and in particular Black and Brown LGBTQIA individuals especially vulnerable to gun violence.
Every year more than 10,000 hate crimes are carried out with a gun and nearly one-fifth are based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The tragedy at Pulse nightclub in Orlando Florida five years ago was a devastating example of the deadly combination of hate and guns.
It was the largest ever attack on the LGTBQIA community leaving 49 people dead and 53 others wounded.
Pulse rightly captured national attention but every day members of the LGTBQIA community fall victim to acts of gun violence that rarely makes headlines.
That is especially true for trans people and Black trans women in particular.
So that was part of what they sent us.
So I just want to say thank you to all who have joined us in support of both Gun Violence Awareness Month and Pride Month.
And thank you to directors for the unanimous approval of today's resolution.
Thank you.
Okay so just a reminder to everyone our retreat is this Saturday where we will continue our very important work on student outcomes focused governance.
For those of you listening if you'd like more information about that I'm happy to speak with you directly and or send you resources.
There is some there are some reference materials and a little tiny bit of homework to be done ahead of time that you should have received my fellow directors so please Take a look at that before Saturday.
And I know we do have a busy day I mean a very packed day ahead of us on Saturday.
And so I just want to say in advance thank you to staff and board for giving up that Saturday to do this very critical work that I believe is one of the final most critical components of fulfilling operationally the promise that we've made in our strategic plan that we now call Seattle Excellence and our attempts to move beyond aspirational notions of racial equity to the operationalization of racial equity.
And all in the spirit of our board goals which is around best practices.
And this is arguably the best practice right now amongst urban school districts and so we're we're in very good company.
I'm working very hard along with boards and staff from throughout the from throughout the country.
And so for those that have nothing more exciting to do on a sunny Saturday feel free to to listen in as we take on that work and do that hard work of professional development mending and growing our functional functionality as board and staff together for all to see.
And again AJ Crabill will be joining us and leading us for the bulk of that work.
And again thanks as everyone has already said for bringing forth the the gun violence proclamation.
It is so obvious and critical that and gun violence is such an everyday occurrence and has been particularly in our Black and Native communities and as has been called out in so many disproportionate ways and that it feels cheap to just repeat it and yet the weight I think we all feel very very heavily.
And so it's important that we still do these take time to acknowledge these things and raise raise awareness.
And again just to point out that my appreciation that police killings police shootings are in fact a form of gun violence that we need to always remind ourselves and folks of that.
And then happy happy pride.
I really am grateful to staff for showing up in support of the flag raising.
It's an example of ways in which we can virtually embrace our LGBTQ plus Two-Spirit relatives and show very openly to our students that they are seen and heard and that they are welcome in this district.
And I couldn't have been more appreciative and proud to have been a part of that.
And thank you Director DeWolf for your leadership on that day and in so many ways as it pertains to raising all of our awareness at fine operational detailed levels with respect to issues impacting LGBTQ plus students and staff.
And with that I just want to say hey kids out there thank you so much to our student speakers.
Helene and Laniyah you just made my week with with your words and we had another speaker and I apologize because I'm forgetting her name that we had 2 speakers from Lincoln.
And I just have Helena and Laniyah in my in my head right now.
But you you all inspire me to keep doing this work.
And so students hang in there just a few more weeks.
Teachers administrators just a couple of more weeks.
We almost got it there and then we and then we can take a breath and start looking at that 90-day clock that that Superintendent Jones so accurately and unfortunately now has set before us to make clear how little time we have to do the work that we still have yet to do.
I think folks don't realize how that we get a break but there are many folks in central office and elsewhere that just keep going.
So with that I'm grateful that we can say on this particular day we've managed to keep this relatively short and at 433 p.m.
there being no further business to come before the board this regular board meeting now stands adjourned again at 433 p.m.
Pįnagigi and I'll see you all on Saturday.
Thank you.