Go ahead and restart.
Mr. Liggett, you're welcome to take your two-minute time slot if you'd like.
And then you'll be followed by, I understand Mary Patterson has arrived, so we'll go back and pick Mary up.
And then if Sean Harris-Kampf has arrived, he would be welcome, he or she would be welcome to speak after that.
So why don't you go ahead and start, please?
During contract negotiations, my wife noticed the administration's attempt to sway public opinion by stating they were diligently and tirelessly negotiating with the union the entire summer.
We all know this is not true and it showed a lack of respect to our educators, our families, and to our school district as a whole.
It was not coincidence nor insignificant that the focus of district op-eds was money.
The strategy was to misdirect the public into believing this was only about funding.
The district is mired in its own bureaucracy.
Parents and educators are beating our heads against the wall trying to get something done.
I've been dismayed to discover that top officials in the administration with whom I had a good working relationship have consistently treated our educators and community members with arrogance and shocking disrespect and now realize I was only treated well because they needed something from me.
The school board had a real stake in this game beyond the desire to maintain the status quo.
Many came into the office years ago on a platform of changing the culture at SPS but this hasn't happened.
If anything it's worse.
Thankfully a board member who stood up against their colleagues refused to support litigation against our striking educators.
I hope we can count on her to be a leader who will continue to stand up for what is right.
and be a part of the solution for ensuring an environment of mutual respect and collaboration between the educators, parent community and administration at Seattle Public Schools.
The current leader came out of retirement after a 45-year career to run this district however it is clear he is not the person to take Seattle schools where it is needed to go.
He has neither the energy nor the wherewithal to make the kind of change it is going to take to turn our district into something to be proud of.
I think it is reasonable for the school board to accept his resignation so that he may return to the retirement he definitely deserves.
Seattle Public Schools needs to do a national search for someone who wants to come here and make their career and not end it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, let's go back and pick up Mary Patterson, please, if she is here.
And it looks like she is.
And I'll let her come up to the podium and call off Sean Harris-Kempf.
And then we have one last speaker signed up, and that's Laura Gramer.
So I'll let you go ahead and start when you're ready.
Hi, Mary Patterson.
I work with the community organizing group No New Jim Crow Seattle.
We are a spinoff of the book by Michelle Alexander.
the new Jim Crow mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness.
I see a nod or two.
Thank you.
I want to thank the welcome that I got from the young woman at the table over there, a warm smile, genuine, went a long way at easing a bit of nervousness about my lateness.
I'm here to speak in favor of the and to strongly urge the school board to support the moratorium on out of school suspensions for elementary school students.
Like a lot of people my age were surprised to learn that we actually were suspending elementary school students, children that age.
There was no other way to handle the disturbances, the trauma that they experience, the violence.
that is in their lives that they bring to school at times then to out of school suspend them.
Shocked to learn that so I am encouraged that the school district is going to possibly take this small but important step.
And I want to add on a positive note that we're moving in the right direction when we do that.
There are schools all over the country, Oakland, California as we know from their recent visit to us here in Seattle, Denver, Colorado and all the schools of Colorado understand.
Many schools in Massachusetts and all around the country experimenting with restorative practices.
peacemaking circles, and other restorative practices that bring people together, students, teachers, administrators, parents, family members, community members, to sit down together, listen to one another, and find out alternative ways of handling conflict and harm when they happen.
These practices build up school communities, teacher attrition rates go down, student satisfaction rates go up, even test scores, which don't matter much to people like me, go up when we start practicing.
So I'm very encouraged that the school board is considering moving in that direction.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I should have told you that you could tip that down.
I realized late you were craning to get up there.
I may do.
Anybody's welcome to move that down whether it's close to their mouth.
Thank you.
And so Sean Harris Camp and then I missed Elizabeth Fleck.
That was another name that we missed.
So why don't we go ahead and have Laura Gramer speak and then I'll do one last call for those other two folks.
Okay well I'm sorry I don't have an interpreter today.
I didn't hear the communication breakdown.
It's kind of ironic because this week it's deaf awareness week.
That's why I'm wearing this shirt.
Can you hear me okay?
We can.
You're going to need to keep that close to your mouth and go ahead and if you could restart her timer please.
Okay.
I'm going to keep this shirt because I have another meeting that I need to go to.
I just want to let you know that I'm still invested in coming often to your meetings to remind you to fix the deaf hard of hearing program as well as other issues that are happening in Seattle Public Schools.
So far I know that there have been some bumps in the road trying to get the deaf program going this year but I still don't feel that it could be ready for my son when he goes to kindergarten this year but I'm going to be involved and I'll be communicating with you with kind of what's happening with the program.
I also want to talk about recess.
I've been following a lot of the different issues on Facebook and different blogs.
I am concerned that I'm seeing that teachers are using recess as a form of punishment.
I think that's very wrong to do that.
Kids need to have an outlet.
We all have an outlet.
You guys just didn't by walking out of the room when you got frustrated.
We can't do that to the children.
We have to provide them recess.
If the teachers do not know how to help the students deal with their frustration or whatever, issue that they did to cause that they need to have punishment, the teacher should have mentored or maybe use the OT, PT, psychologist to help them figure out how to deal with the issue.
Also, I missed what a lot of the comments, I don't know what people were saying during the public testimony since I really couldn't follow, but I do know that I'm aware that there's something about You're thinking about providing some money to a consulting business for special education.
I don't know much about it, but I hope that you'll have open questions later to ask, so people can ask questions about that.
I'm kind of concerned that you're spending so much money on consulting when you're not providing direct services.
So I hope that you'll keep that in mind.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, last call for Elizabeth Fleck.
And last call for Sean Harris-Kemp.
All right, so that brings us to the end of public testimony for tonight.
And we will, if I can find my notes here, we will move to board comments.
And so I will look to my left and right and ask if there are directors that have any comments they'd like to make.
Director Patu.
First of all, I actually would like to iterate that since I've been on our board for almost six years, and as long as I've been on the board, we've always allowed two minutes for each speaker.
And we've never given a speaker more than one, two minutes.
And it's been like that.
And I just wanted to say that it's a rule that we've had for quite a long time.
I would also like to acknowledge Principal Jennifer Wiley for sending me a great story on a courageous student at the Tanta Franklin High School.
Her name is Kayla Espinel.
She has been chosen as Franklin's social justice advocate for the week.
As we all know, there has been so many ways for kids to show and say what they think on social media.
More times it is bad than good, but I want to focus on the brave young woman who from Franklin who did the right thing.
And I actually wanted to read the letter that she had sent.
What happened is that on the media, one of the students from one of the private school actually had a, she had her face painted black on her little video that she made.
And then she's made some, terrible comments.
So what happened is when this student saw what was happening right away she sat down and wrote a letter.
And the letter says hello my name is Kayla Espinel I am a senior at Franklin high school in Seattle.
I am emailing you because I am completely outraged by a photo I saw of one of your students.
This photo honestly made me sick that someone would make fun of skin color and a word that oppressed the African-American race for so long.
Putting on blackface is completely racist and disrespectful.
As far as the use of the N-word goes, that is never okay, along with blackface.
Not only for anyone to say, but for a young white female to say on social media.
Myself being mixed with African-American find this photo completely offensive in so many ways.
I do understand that you are not responsible for the choices your student chooses to make outside of school but I would hope you are responsible for taking action in the hateful discriminatory behavior that is portrayed by your students.
This should not go unnoticed or unpunished.
Not only has this outraged and offended me, but dozens of other high school students as well.
I believe a student's name is.
This behavior is never acceptable under any circumstances.
The future of this country and its people are very important to me.
The children of this generation are the United States of America future leaders.
It scares me to think that someone like her could potentially be an important figure.
figure to our country in the near future.
Racist behavior or racist remarks should never be told, especially with all the current police brutality towards African-American people.
African-Americans have been an oppressed race for far too long and it is time to put a stop to the negativity or the stigma that surrounds African-American people.
Thank you for your time and I hope to hear back from you soon.
Now I read this because this happens a lot and I really congratulate this young woman for taking the ability and the courage to actually to contact the principal of this school and made a big deal over it because you know kids a lot of times do things and doesn't realize what effect they have on other kids and other races and I really want to congratulate this young woman from Franklin, continue your work and continue to fight the fight that we were able to all kids have the opportunity to at quality education and our job as a district is to make sure that all our kids are treated fairly and that this will never happen and should not happen to any school.
So thank you very much to this young woman, really want to congratulate and thank you for your courage.
Thank you.
Others that might like to say something?
Director Martin-Morse.
Just as an update, it is not on the agenda for tonight but I will be having a meeting in October, a community meeting at the Northwest Public Library on October 17 and it usually goes from 10 to 12 but I will confirm that and we will get it updated on the calendar as quickly as I can.
In the next month, October is usually a busy month for educators around the country.
There are many many national conferences coming up in the next few weeks.
Council of great city schools which Seattle is a member of and Dr. Nyland and myself will be attending.
that meeting as representatives of the Seattle Public Schools along with other staff members as well.
The Council of Urban Boards of Education which are 100 school districts from around the country that share urban-like characteristics.
We have some districts that have 1000 students.
We have some districts that have 250,000 students.
That conference also will be in October, at the beginning of October and Ken Gotch will be there at that meeting presenting and showing other districts and training them on how to do budget planning and processing and everyone is looking forward to seeing how Seattle does it because Seattle does have a good reputation when it comes to the processes that we put into place around budget planning.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Others that might want to speak?
Director McLaren.
So thank you all for being here tonight.
It's always important that members of the community come out to advocate on behalf of improving education for our schools.
I have a bunch of things that I wanted to mention.
There were many, many points brought out tonight.
I will not attempt to deal with all of them.
I'm overjoyed that we had a good settlement for the teacher's contract and that we've come to an agreement that's been well received by so many educators.
Our teachers are the most important employees in the district and they deserve a good contract and it's unfortunate that a few still feel unsatisfied but my hope is that this contract signals a new era of cooperation between the district and teachers and a new era of community involvement.
I was privileged last summer to attend the Harvard Family Engagement Institute with a group of parents from the Seattle area as well as representatives from community-based organizations, several people from the school district.
And there is really a new thinking that is spreading over the country about family engagement.
There's a document called the dual family engagement structure.
that, or the dual framework, I've lost the name of it.
You'll be hearing about it.
This is a new way of looking at family engagement that has to do with empowering schools and teachers to empower parents to be really effective partners in our students' engagement.
I also wanted to comment on the resolution by the news organization of which Seattle is, the Seattle school district is a plaintiff at part of the news group that sued the legislature and the McCleary decision We were one of the plaintiffs on that and so I'm hoping that the new resolution by news will come through soon.
I look forward to seeing it in executive committee and also here before the larger board.
One comment about the apprenticeship utilization, I appreciated hearing about that.
That's a very important movement for the economic health of our city and the parents and community members who are involved with the school district.
And it's very positive that our union organizations are promoting The utilization of apprenticeships in our school construction processes.
I'll close it there and invite anyone who would like to continue in more dialogue to come to my community meeting which is next Monday evening at the Delridge branch library from 6 to 745. Thank you.
Thank you.
Let's go to Director Peters.
Okay, well a belated welcome back to school to everybody.
You know, even though it was a very difficult time with the bargaining agreement process and the strike that ensued, I think a very important conversation was begun.
And there are a lot of forces that converged to bring forth a lot of different important issues.
Part of it is the fact that we simply do not have the funding we should be getting from the state.
And then also how we prioritize the funding that we do have I think was one of the main topics that was really undergirding a lot of the discussions.
And I was sad to see the level of antagonism that was encouraged in this discussion because frankly I don't see it as an antagonistic discussion.
I believe that the teachers, the educators, our paraprofessionals brought forward a lot of issues that we all support.
very important issues about healthy educational practices for our children.
We all agree our children need recess and we have to make sure that that happens.
We have excessive testing going on.
It's stealing time from our children's learning, it's stealing instructional time, it's not allowing our teachers to do what they do best.
So, no matter what the scores are that our children got, the fact is they lost hours and hours of instructional time on these tests and that's still something we have to address.
And again, it comes back to the state because a lot of these are state and federal mandates.
Fair wages, that is definitely something that we want to support and that was another issue that came up.
Reasonable caseloads, more time for students and teachers, instructional time, prep time, these are all legitimate issues.
The question is always how do we provide everything we need to provide with the resources that we are given as a district and it's a real bind.
So I hope we can move forward.
in a positive direction with all these conversations opened and these discussions that we can continue so that we can come to greater resolution on a lot of the issues that were brought forth.
So onto some other issues that are brought up tonight I wanted to appreciate the comments that were made by Carol Simmons pointing out that the issue of disproportionality goes way way back and we are long overdue in addressing this issue.
I would also like to add that we do need to provide supports for our teachers.
If we change the way we do things we have to make sure that we support our, we have supports within the schools so that we do not have to have suspensions and so that we can find an alternative that doesn't put all the responsibility on the shoulders of one or two people.
So we have to have some sort of supports for our teachers and our principals in the schools as well.
on the matter of lunchtime and the task force and the language that came out of the task force versus what came out of our policy.
I would turn to staff and ask if we could have a clarification perhaps in a Friday memo or perhaps a conversation I can have with staff and report back to the community about the language because I too would like to understand the technical and legal difference of will versus shall and what that exactly means and whether the strength of the language was sufficient in our policy and if not what we can do to strengthen that.
The apprenticeship participation is another issue that I would like to know more about and perhaps staff can address that in a Friday memo.
What are our requirements?
Are we meeting them and if not what can we do to meet those requirements?
Because those are fantastic opportunities.
I also am very interested in the resolution being brought forth by the news board and so if that does go to executive committee I hope that it will come to the full board soon.
And then the other issue that came up that troubled me is this matter of the practice of withholding recess as a punishment and I appreciate the whole comment that was brought forth by David Posner with the with this use of field trips, art, recess, withholding that as a form of punishment that doesn't go reported.
It's a practice that I think we have to look at and it doesn't sound like something that that I would support and so this is another issue that I would like to talk to staff about and superintendent about and find out what exactly is going on and if we do have different practices from school to school then clearly that's not right either.
So I thank you all for bringing forth these many issues tonight.
My, I just had a community meeting and I chose a larger room because I booked it back when the strike was still going on and I was expecting heavy turnout.
Only one person showed up.
So next meeting will be in October.
I haven't picked a date yet but I'll switch back to the Magnolia library and I will post the details as soon as I can.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Others?
Director Peasley.
During the strike, we received hundreds, maybe thousands of emails.
I lost count.
It was impossible for us to respond to them.
Many were form emails, they were just the same thing sent out by many, many people.
Many were, shame on you, finger-shaking emails chastising us for all manner of laziness and stupidity.
So, I'd like to respond to some of the main points and I'll start by assuring you that Seattle Public Schools is run by highly competent people.
We are on top of all the issues.
We have been bargaining since the end of May.
We were bargaining 24-7 in the last two weeks.
This was a negotiation with teachers, not against teachers.
We reached an agreement, a mutual agreement that the SEA supported 83% in their vote whether or not to ratify it.
So this is a very good contract.
It is very good for our teachers, for our students, and for our district.
We all agree that everybody deserves more.
Our teachers and our students deserve more.
Unfortunately, we don't have more money to spend.
The final agreement which will, the details will be discussed at our next school board meeting exceeds our budget in all three years and it exceeds it more and more as the three years go by.
So in order to cover the cost of this contract we will need more money from the state.
So this is where everyone should be directing your advocacy at this time.
We reached a We reached agreements on quite a few issues in this contract that the district and the SEA were very much in support of.
We were in agreement on recess and we reached that agreement very early in the negotiating process.
We were in agreement on the testing issues and in fact the school board passed a resolution on testing on July 1 expressing all of our concerns with excessive testing and the misuse of testing and so on.
And it also addresses the mandates that come from the state as well as the federal government.
That testing resolution is on the Seattle Public Schools website.
It's not easy to find but you can contact the school board office by email or phone and we will send you a copy of it if you want to take a look at it.
As far as the McCleary court ruling, as I think two board directors mentioned, Seattle Public Schools is a plaintiff in the lawsuit that resulted in the McCleary court ruling requiring the legislature to fully fund K-12.
We have signed several resolutions demanding that the state meet this constitutional mandate.
We signed resolutions in 2005, 2012, and 2014. So we are very much in support of this and we will be looking at the resolution that has just come to us and we are most certainly in support of all of the issues that are raised.
We also make this a legislative priority every single year so we are on it.
As far as the length of the school day we received quite a few emails from parents saying that there is no need for a longer school day.
Seattle Public Schools elementary schools have one of the shortest instructional days in the state at six hours and 10 minutes.
The only district that's shorter is Spokane at six hours.
We all want more time for recess.
The state requires more instructional time.
High school graduation requirements go up to 24 credits in 2017. The only way we can meet all these needs and demands is with a longer school day.
So that's why that was a part of our negotiations.
I'd also like to address questions that we received as to why we were canceling meetings, why we were incommunicado, why we seemed to be not unwilling to communicate with the public.
There were several reasons for this.
First of all, the board did not want allegations raised that it was attempting to directly deal with SEA represented employees on issues being bargained at the table, which could be a possible unfair labor practice.
We wanted the process of bargaining to take place between the designated bargaining members for both SEA and SPS.
Secondly, the board president was the liaison for the SEA contract negotiations, and we honored that appointment.
The board president made comments to the public at appropriate times including public interviews and an op-ed piece in Seattle Times.
which I also was a signatory to.
And thirdly the school board under policy 5020 authorized the superintendent to appoint a chief negotiator to represent the district in negotiations.
The school board provided parameters for the negotiations with SEA and got updates on proposals.
But the board deferred to the superintendent and his team to negotiate with SEA.
The SPS chief negotiator was the chief spokesman for the SPS bargaining team.
And lastly, staff was completely, their time was completely taken up by the contract negotiations.
And so we decided that it was in the best interest of staff and the district and the teachers and our students to cancel all meetings so that the contract negotiations could be brought to a successful resolution as quickly as possible.
So, I just wanted to clarify those things.
I will be having a community meeting this Sunday, September 27 from 3 to 445 at Northgate Public Library.
Thank you.
Any other speakers?
Alright I'll go ahead and make a few remarks.
I'll start by maybe asking our superintendent if I'm hearing feedback about a lot of confusion around the 9th of October and whether schools are on or off.
Various websites say different things.
I think if we could get a really clear message out there what the message is so that everyone's singing from the same sheet of music it would be great.
I understand that there's going to have to be some conversation with our bargaining partners what we do with that day, but at least get everybody baselined.
That would be really helpful.
I wanted to, I won't duplicate the remarks that have been made, but I do want to address the speaker that spoke on the paramount duty and just maybe emphasize the remarks that others have made here.
We're absolutely aligned in our thinking with what you have described as your mission.
And I would tell you that the op-ed piece that was published in the Seattle Times was intended to serve two purposes.
One, to really educate the readers of the piece, the broader electorate and community and parents about what the issues are as it relates to McCleary and the dysfunctional and broken funding system that we have in this state for K-12.
But also to send a message to our state legislators that this is what it looks like.
What you saw play out here is absolutely a symptom of a broken funding system at the state level.
And so we're absolutely aligned with your thinking from a perspective of paramount duty.
They have heard from us many times.
They see us coming, they know the first words out of our mouths.
Who they need to hear from is you.
So to the extent that you can bring to bear your energy and passion around this subject and help them understand that we have to have this fixed.
and that the time to fix it is now, not two years, three years, five years down the road.
They have a responsibility to the one million plus students in the state to fix this problem and they need to do it sooner rather than later.
So, right there with you in terms of our thinking and again, call to action for everyone to please let our legislators know our thinking on this and call them to action.
And the last thing I wanted to do is just take a moment, I know he's not here but to thank Ron English in his absence for his service to Seattle Public Schools.
He was one of the few remaining staff members that got here, was here when I got here eight years ago and as was pointed out in testimony he passionately supported the policies that were put in front of him and worked to change the ones he thought were broken and was never afraid to run to the ball and take on the harder assignments that wasn't always easy to get people to raise their hand and take.
So I wanted to publicly say thank you to Ron English for his service and wish him the very best in his retirement.
And with that, we will go ahead and move to the action items and start down that process and we'll see where we are, how quickly we get through this and figure out where we take a break.
Action item number one was removed, amended from the agenda to be removed, so we will start with number two, which is the City of Seattle Families and Education Levy Community-Based Organizations contracts with the YMCA of Greater Seattle.
And this is coming out of Audit and Finance.
I move that the board authorize the superintendent to execute contracts for a total of $371,000 with YMCA for school year 2015-2016 for the purpose of providing families an education levy funded activities in selected elementary, K-8, middle and high schools with any minor additions, deletions, and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to take any necessary action to implement the contracts.
I second the motion.
All right thank you and this came out of Audit and Finance we will hear from our committee chair please.
Indeed it did come through Audit and Finance with a recommendation for approval by the entire board.
Thank you.
Alright so with that let's open it up this is for action so we had the overview at the last meeting so are there questions from directors that have come up since the last or has this been amended since intro?
Okay.
Questions from directors?
Director Patu.
Do we have any data that actually, that comes out of YMCA in terms of what they do with our students?
Because I haven't seen any.
So, good evening.
Carrie Campbell, Director of School and Community Partnerships.
I'm here on behalf of Michael Stone this evening.
So they provide through this contract in school and out of school academic supports.
They are assigned to students who are in focus groups of students who need intervention, academic intervention.
I would also add I think it's a requirement of the families and education levy to have metrics for any of the providers work.
So I think that's part of the overall grant obligation.
Have these been sent to us?
Let's go to Director McLaren.
Yes, they have been sent to us.
This is part of the reporting that the Family and Education Levy Oversight Committee sends to us and so I know there's a lot of stuff in there but in fact every year and intermittently throughout the year we look at the metrics that the providers need to measure against.
So it's it's very closely monitored and the work continues to be quite outstanding which is why the YMCA continues to have these contracts through the family and education levy.
Did I see other hands?
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Other comments or questions from directors?
No comments?
All right so I think with that I will take it to the roll if we could do the roll call Ms. Pham.
Director Martin-Morris.
Aye.
Director McLaren.
Aye.
Director Patu.
Aye.
Director Peasley.
Aye.
Director Peters.
Aye.
Director Blanford.
Aye.
Director Karr.
Aye.
This motion has passed unanimously.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right so the next item for action is the city of Seattle families and education levy community based organizations contracts with communities in schools in Seattle.
Communities in schools in Seattle of greater Seattle.
That's coming through the executive committee.
This item is for introduction and for action tonight.
I move that the board authorize the superintendent to execute the contract for a total of $267,755 with communities in schools in Seattle for school year 2015-2016 for the purpose of providing families an education levy funded activities in selected elementary K-8.
Middle and high schools with any minor additions, deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to take any necessary actions to implement the contracts.
Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.
I second the motion.
Thank you.
So since this is being introduced we will have you walk us through it and then I will report out from the committee.
Carrie Campbell director of school and community partnerships here on behalf of Michael Stone.
So we are asking for intro and action this evening to allow services to start as soon as possible at each of the seven schools that have selected communities and schools as our levy funded partner to support intensive case management specifically around attendance.
Those schools are Aki Kurose, Concord, Denny, Highland Park, Pathfinder, Roxhill, and Wing Luke.
The total request is $267,755.
Again as I mentioned they will be working closely with each school to provide support to students who have high chronic absenteeism.
In addition, they'll be working collaboratively with family support workers to align family resources and support to families at each of the school buildings.
They'll work collaboratively with other community-based organizations to provide a continuum of service and reference families to outside agencies as needed.
Thank you.
And this item did come through the executive committee which was not its originally intended destination.
It was intended to go through A&F I believe.
But given some of the meeting cancellations we can't accommodated it in the executive committee so that we could get it moving forward given the importance of what it means to our students.
So and we did move it forward with a recommendation for approval by the full board.
OK.
So with that what questions do directors have.
Director Peasley.
Why is it being introed for action on the same night?
That's a great question.
It really is to ensure that the services for some of our most challenged students get to them as soon as possible.
So communities and schools provides an intensive case management structure at these schools, which means that students are getting a variety of supports beyond just academic.
So it's really to ensure that we get the work moving as soon as possible.
Director McLaren.
And I think I recall that this was to have been introduced at the meeting in earlier, early in September or am I off on that?
Ken.
Ken Gotch, assistant superintendent for business and finance.
Yes, this was originally scheduled for the audit and finance committee meeting.
Unfortunately it had been delayed because of the strike.
I was talking about the legislative meeting.
I think the issue was this one didn't hit the intended timeline, the ideal timeline to get it ready for start of school so we were playing catch up with it regardless of what committee.
Okay.
And so the staff's recommending interim action because if we don't do that then it's going to be the end of October before students start receiving services and I think the consensus was we didn't want that to happen.
Sorry to introduce added confusion.
No that's all right it's a good question and we should be able to answer it so thank you.
Director Peters.
Okay so does that mean that if we don't take action tonight services would be suspended?
Correct services haven't started.
Oh they haven't started.
Okay.
Alright.
We can't provide services without a contract.
Okay.
So can you explain the funding flow and the funding source because when I look under the recommended motion it says the superintendent will execute the contract with communities and schools in Seattle but will provide family and education levy funded activities.
So can you explain what is the source of the funding for this?
So the source of funding is the Families and Education Levy funds.
Okay and those come from the city of Seattle to the district and the district is managing those funds.
Correct.
And directing a portion of them to communities and schools in Seattle.
Correct.
Is that what this flow is?
Okay.
The school when they put forward their proposal, their levy proposal and the array of activities or interventions that they are going to provide often include community-based organizations because of their proven effectiveness with our students and so the flow goes from the city into the school district to the community-based organization.
And do these community-based organizations apply for these, are these considered grants?
These are contracts.
apply for them, they are on a preferred provider list, they have to go through a very rigorous review process and they have to demonstrate that they actually can meet the academic attendance and discipline objectives of the families in education levy.
And who selects them?
So the city of Seattle.
Along with the review board.
But I would need to get you additional information on who sits on that board.
Does anybody from the district have a say in who the CBOs are?
I would need to gather additional information.
I would like to know that actually.
Does anybody else know the answer to that?
Director McLaren.
I'll take a first crack and then Director Blanford.
Thank you.
The schools that utilize the services put together a plan for the family and education levy and they submit a proposal to the city and that plan will include specific providers that they have selected from the list of approved providers.
So the school will have made an agreement with the specific provider as to exactly what kind of services are requested and will be provided.
Do you need to add more?
I would only add and I think the reason for the public to know why the two of us are in this role responding to this question is because the two of us have served as members of this body serving as representatives of the family and levy oversight committee and so we have a role in assuring that the committee and the community as well as the school district is adequately represented when those allocation decisions are being made.
Other questions?
And I would only add that to my knowledge there is no change in the process by which these allocations have been made.
This is standard procedure.
This is a continuation of prior practice.
Thank you.
Other questions?
Thank you for the explanation on that from our directors.
All right any comments from anyone?
All right so with that let's go ahead and have the roll call on this item please.
Director McLaren.
Aye.
Director Patu.
Aye.
Director Peasley.
Aye.
Director Peters.
Aye.
Director Blanford.
Aye.
Director Martin-Morris.
Aye.
Director Karr.
Aye.
This motion has passed unanimously.
Thank you.
Alright let's go to item 4 approval of employee benefits contract and that's coming through audit and finance.
I move that the school board approve the attached insurance plans and rates with group health options Inc., group health cooperative, Primera Blue Cross, WEA Select, Delta Dental of Washington, Standard Insurance, and Northwest Administrators and authorize the superintendent or his designees to make payments to the plans based on the selections made by district employees understanding that such payments are estimated to be $69,570,402 of which about $55,399,317 dollars will be from the general fund and $14,171,086 from employee payroll deductions.
I further move that to the extent a contract is required to be entered into Between a plan provider and the district the board authorizes the superintendent or his designee to enter into such contracts or ratify any contracts for the 2015-16 plan year that may have been previously entered into by district staff with any minor additions deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent.
I second the motion.
Thank you.
And let's hear from our committee chair from Audit and Finance on this item.
This did come before the Audit and Finance committee with a recommendation for approval by the entire board.
Thank you.
So this item was talked about during introduction so we're to action.
Have there been any changes that you need to address?
Good evening Adrienne Byrd Pena Executive Director Talent Management and no there have not.
All right so are there any residual questions that directors have?
Or comments?
Any comments from directors on this item?
All right I think you got off easy.
All right why don't we go ahead and take it to roll.
Director Peasley?
Aye.
Director Peters?
Aye.
Director Blanford?
Aye.
Director Martin-Morris?
Aye.
Director McLaren?
Aye.
Director Patu?
Aye.
Director Karr?
Aye.
Aye.
This motion has passed unanimously.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right so that moves us to item number five approval of compensation bulletin for management staff and this is also coming out of audit and finance.
I move that the school board approve the compensation bulletin for management staff dated September 1, 2015 and authorize staff to increase salaries on the attached salary schedules by 1.8% starting September 1, 2015 and an additional 1.2% starting September 1, 2015 through August 31, 2017.
Can I get a second on that motion?
I second the motion.
Thank you.
And then let's hear from audit and finance if we could please.
Yes this too came before the audit and finance committee with a recommendation for approval by the entire board.
All right now this one is for action so we had an overview.
Has anything changed since introduction?
There have been no changes.
All right so let's open it up to questions and I know Director McLaren has a question or comment.
So yes on the agenda it talks about an additional 1.2% starting September 1, 2015 through August 31, 2017. Was that supposed to be 2015 on the first?
September 1st there I mean 6 anyway we're doing 1.8 starting on September 1st 2015 and an additional 1.2 starting is September 1st is it 2015 or 16?
It's the same year it's just the way the state funded it this year the 1.8% was reflective of the traditional COLA amount for the year and the 1.2% was kind of a catch-up amount from the prior years the state hadn't funded a COLA.
Thank you.
Do directors have questions on this item?
Which I understood to be reflective of the state COLA so we are approving what has been given to us by the state.
Correct.
Any comments from directors?
All right why don't we go ahead and take the roll call please.
Director Peters.
Aye.
Director Blanford.
Abstain.
Director Morris.
Aye.
Director McLaren.
Aye.
Director Patu.
Abstain.
Director Peasley.
Aye.
Director Karr.
Aye.
This motion has passed by a vote of 5-0-2.
Thank you for being patient.
Thank you.
All right so item number six resolution of 2014-15-35 moratorium on out of school suspension for elementary grade students.
This is coming out of OPS and more specifically from Director Martin Morris.
So this one is also for action.
Why don't we go ahead and have it read into the record please.
I move that the school board approve resolution number 2014-15-35 as attached to the board action report.
I second the motion.
All right.
Thank you.
So this is an item that has changed since introduction and so before we go to the changes I think actually why don't we hear from the Ops Chair.
You can share what was discussed at Ops and what the recommendation is.
This came to Ops and it was recommended by the committee to move it forward for consideration because at the time we didn't get all the information that we needed.
Great and subsequent to that we've had a work session and I'll turn it over to Director Martin Morris if he could speak to the changes since introduction.
The key element of change since the introduction is more, being more definitive around the behaviors that we are putting as part of the moratorium.
What's in there right now are the D offenses that have been classified as subjective behaviors that were the majority of what those out of school suspensions that I wanted to target as part of this.
So it really is more of a clarification of my original intent of the resolution itself and so that is why I am supportive of it.
Thank you for that.
So are there questions from directors?
Let's go to Director Blanford.
Questions or comments for that matter.
This one will be a question I may have a comment later on.
I'm just asking for clarity on the implementation of this resolution.
My read on it is that it is immediate this year.
So, I will apologize to the people who listened to me speak about this this morning at a community meeting who were very interested in this subject.
I was led to believe that we were putting supports in place before we actually implemented.
I'm glad to see that we are moving forward with implementation.
and concurrently doing the support work.
But I misspoke this morning and so I want to publicly apologize for misleading folks in the room.
So I heard a question in there, did you want that answered from, I thought I did.
Sure.
Dr. Nyland.
Let me start and then we will hear from staff.
So yes this is for immediate implementation however it does include supports for staff.
And it has some creative ways to provide that support at less cost than originally anticipated.
That said, the cost is somewhere between $800,000 and $1 million.
I guess given our enrollment and given the strike, the cost of implementing the collective bargaining agreement, we are going to have to scramble over the next few weeks to figure out how we are going to make all of those pieces put together.
But yes, this is for immediate implementation and Pat Sanders, Michael Tolley and others have done some very creative work to figure out how we can support schools.
and how we can stand this up and do justice to it.
Can I ask a follow-up question?
Please.
So I appreciate that response, but it raises for me a fundamental question, which is the day after implementation, the day after we put the policy in place, if a child is suspended or would be suspended, no longer can be suspended because of the policy, I assume that the the supports are not yet in place and so I wonder about that window where the thing that we're most interested in which is providing the supports to prevent the suspensions from happening.
That doesn't seem to be in place right?
Right, we can't do the prevention instantaneously.
However, the details look something like this.
Out of 60 elementary schools, 20 of them had no suspensions in the category that is included in the updated resolution.
30 schools had somewhere in the range of 1 to 3 suspensions.
And 10 of the schools, maybe less, had many many many suspensions and they tended to be places where we had behavioral programs.
So the creative work that Pat has done is to try to figure out how we could partner with special ed for the schools that are most heavily impacted.
And to have maybe some added district support added to that special ed support so that there would be onsite alternatives to at least out of school suspension.
May still be in school suspension and loss of seat time in a classroom and that's one that we'd like to work on longer term.
And then Pat's figured out a creative way to lift up some staff that would be essentially on call for those 30 schools in the middle.
So if they just positively absolutely are stymied with an issue that they can call and get support to deal with the immediacy of that issue.
A pretty good share of this funding is preventative to lift up RULER, PBIS and some other programs to over time.
provide more preventative support so that we don't get to that stage with students where it's an altercation that's escalating.
How do we provide ourselves with skills to deescalate those subjective issues that are called out in the resolution.
Pat any.
She's conferring.
Does Pat sound.
Oh did.
Anything that I didn't get quite right that you want to clarify?
I think the other thing that we can be aware of is that up until now the D110, 120, and 130 has three levels of school-based actions that take place first.
So usually those suspensions were after multiple times so it does also buy us some time to be looking at how we can get those supports better in place.
All right let's go to Director Peasley.
So we had a work session on this as I recall unless I'm misremembering.
Senior moment there.
And we were presented with three options and this looks like the one that was preferred by staff.
But it looks as if you've enhanced it by making it immediate.
Or am I just misremembering?
Was it always intended to be an immediate process?
It was always intended to be an immediate process.
It was to take a look at, last year we had 200 D offenses at the elementary schools.
And of those, 146 were of the D110, which is misconduct.
D120 rule breaking and D130 disobedience.
So we were going to suspend if you will the suspensions from occurring for those three.
We were offering that option immediately.
Okay but there was also a longer range part of this right?
There was, the second option was to build the infrastructure over this current year and look to reduce suspensions K-12 going forward next year.
So is that a part of this plan?
We will be working on moving to a different level the next year but we would do the immediacy of the elementary suspensions.
The resolution addressed elementary students.
Okay thank you.
Other questions or comments?
Director Martin Morris and then after that we will go to Director Patu.
I think Director Paisley where you are confused there were three options but you have to look across and option one said this takes effect immediately.
here's what we would be doing and here's how much it would cost and included in that was the supports that were necessary to do option one at this cost.
Then there was an option two which is not do it this year and build some the infrastructure over time and implement in 2016-17 and then option three which was I think the kind of barnbuster $2.5 million option was doing even more and doing it across not only elementary school but across the entire system.
So you have to look across this way as opposed to down this way in terms of the options.
Thank you for that.
Director Patu.
I just want to make a comment that as Dr. Simmons has spoke before this has been discussed, looked at, written up at least for the last 30 years.
And just looking at this right now and it's about ready to be voted on.
it's a step forward for all of us and if we're looking at closing our achievement gap this is one way, a step closer to what we need to do because you have to realize the percentage of students that are suspended are kids of color and we want to keep them in school and educate them and I know we don't have the funds.
But we can be very creative in terms of how we deal with our kids.
These are our kids and we need to save them and need to help them do whatever we can to make sure that they stay in school and get educated.
So I'm really excited that we're actually making this a reality.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Director Blanford.
blank on your name.
Sorry.
I too am glad to support the resolution and I was particularly pleased that one of the comments that we heard in public testimony referenced the Michelle Alexander no new Jim Crow or Jim Crow no new Jim Crow.
My read of that, one of the strongest, most potent messages I heard when I was going through that book was the connection or the correlation between kids being kicked out of school and then that feeding into the school to prison pipeline.
And you know that's something that I think there's unanimous support for interrupting.
Figuring out a way how can we break this cycle.
How can we stem the tide and prevent kids from falling into one end of that pipeline and ending up in prison in the other end.
And this seems to me to be one of the serious steps that we control to actually make that happen.
My hope is a kind of a researcher, a person who thinks about the best way to implement a policy or a practice is that we actually had all of the support in place before we changed the policy.
as a father and as a community member who has observed over years the number of kids who have been suspended from school.
I want it to happen yesterday.
And so I'm grappling with kind of the rub that comes when I know that it would be better to have the supports in place but I'm more than happy to support it.
You know in many ways what we do up here is sausage making and it's very imperfect and we do the best that we can and it seems to me that this is the best that we can do at this point and so I'm glad to give it my support.
Thank you.
Let's go to Director Peters and then to Director McLaren.
Well I'm also happy to be able to support this tonight and I'm also glad to hear that speaking of support that it will include supports for our schools in order to implement this successfully that we're not just telling them okay we're completely changing things do it.
You know they do need help in that transition.
At the high school and middle school level I guess mostly at our middle school level This is why we also need our alternative schools, to help students who might not otherwise be following the same path, or who might be not treated the way they should have been.
And in an effort to keep them in school, it's important to offer alternatives for all of them.
And so that's where we have schools like Middle College, Interagency, even Cascade Parent Partnerships, Nova, And these are other ways that we can address achievement gaps.
There are ways that we can help our students stay in school and complete their education.
And so this adds another piece to that and I'm very happy to see us finally have something that we can support like this.
Thank you.
Director McLaren.
So it's a tremendous joy for me to see us considering this resolution tonight.
I really want to thank Director Martin Morris for bringing it forward and I want to thank Superintendent Nyland.
our principals and our staff because I know that behind the scenes Superintendent Nyland has been working with our principals to craft an overall action plan to reduce disproportionate discipline and improve academic achievement for our African American males and for all of the students who have been disproportionately affected by these discipline policies.
So it's huge and I especially appreciate your work, Pat Sanders.
It sounds like you really were the one who was thinking outside the box in order to put the supports in place to make it really feasible to enter into this new, this moratorium starting tomorrow, hopefully.
So thank you all, to everyone who has worked so hard.
And, you know, we're really, I believe we are showing our commitment, finally.
Thank you.
We will go back to Director Peasley.
So I have one more question and I did raise this in the work session but then you had some additional information afterwards so I just wanted for the benefit of the public for you to explain how our policies and practices around addressing bullying where they fall within this.
So the bullying is a D offense, and it on our chart is like the other D110, 120, 130. It has on our chart of practices that we would expect schools to put in place for first, second, and third offenses.
It does not call for out of school suspension.
However, we've left the bullying discipline action open for suspension so that if there's the need to have a safety plan put in place that a student may be sent home while that safety plan is put in place and can come back into the school later.
So it would still be part of a suspendable offense at this point.
But will we be addressing bullying in more constructive or preventative ways?
That will be part of the approach as we look at all of the D offenses and as we move towards trying to eliminate the suspension for everything that is not a health and safety violation.
Thank you.
Director Martin-Morris.
So this is more of a comment.
First of all I want to thank Michael Tolley and Shawna Heath and Bernardo and you Pat as well for the work that you did on making this happen.
I mean I presented something to you and instead of going running and screaming from the room you stood up you said we think we can make this happen.
And I want for the public to understand that this resolution is really more an extension of what we are doing already.
There is nothing really new here.
If you look at a lot of the schools that are suffering from the largest amount of disproportionality They have begun that work already, they are ruler schools already, they are doing it.
What we are trying to do now is systematize that effort so that it is not a luck of the draw that you are in a school that is a ruler school versus a non-ruler school and that conversation isn't happening.
So I want to thank you, all four of you for all of the work and effort that you put into making this happen.
Thank you.
Anyone else?
So Director McLaren said everything I was going to say right on down the line I won't even try to repeat because she said it better than I ever could.
So I will just generally say thank you to each of you and to Director Martin-Morris thank you.
Thank you.
Well done my friend.
Let's go ahead and have the roll.
Director Blanford.
Aye.
Director Martin-Morris.
Aye.
Director McLaren.
Aye.
Director Patu.
Aye.
Director Peasley.
Aye.
Director Peters.
Aye.
Director Karr.
Aye.
This motion has passed unanimously.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Item seven authorization for settlement.
This is coming out of executive committee and it is for intro and action.
I move that the school board ratify the agreement in the amount of $500,000 plus sales tax with Apsher.
Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.
I second the motion.
All right and why don't we go ahead and have you speak to the motion and then I will circle back.
Great good evening John Cerqui Acting General Counsel and with me is Flip Herndon and Richard Best to answer any technical questions about the construction project at Nathan Hale.
So what you have before you for introduction and action tonight is a request to approve a tentative settlement agreement.
This involves a construction dispute.
That happened at Nathan Hale High School.
If you recall there was a series of projects that went on at Nathan Hale.
Students were in the school building and that made the construction project rather complicated with some electrical work.
So this is a claim by a subcontractor, Prime Electric.
They wanted $1.3 billion for what they felt were their damages related to some delays and some work that was done.
We felt that they didn't deserve that amount of money but that there was some money owed.
So we went into mediation.
We had an executive session prior to the mediation to discuss with the board the pros and cons of continuing this claim.
And then went to the mediation, we spent approximately about 13 hours on a Friday, which is a great way to spend a Friday, debating the merits of this case and we came to a tentative agreement where we agreed to pay Absher, that's the general contractor, half a million dollars to resolve the claim.
They will then pay the subcontractor and then we will close out all the construction issues with the school board at a subsequent school board meeting probably later in October.
So what you have before you, the only new additions, we're going to have this at a board meeting that was cancelled.
So between that cancellation we did come to the executive committee and discuss this at the executive committee on September 17th.
We believe it's in the best interest that this be acted on and approved tonight so that we can make the payment and close out the claim.
And there was a comment I just wanted to highlight that in the settlement agreement it is tentative.
This is not a valid agreement until it is approved and ratified by the school board but we obviously want the plaintiffs to sign and they won't sign if we don't sign.
So it is signed by a staff member but it is contingent and only valid if you approve it tonight.
Thank you for that and as was pointed out it did come through the executive committee and we moved it forward to the full board with a recommendation for approval.
And so again we did cover some of this in executive session.
I will open it up to what additional questions directors might have or any comments.
Director Blanford.
I'm just wondering if you could share a little bit more about why it is in the best interest of the district for us to approve it tonight.
So with the settlement agreement, we agreed.
Normally, a plaintiff wants to get paid within 14 days after a tentative settlement agreement is reached.
That's kind of the standard.
Here, we said we need to go to the school board and get it approved.
So they were like, well, how quickly can we get our money?
And we said, well, we've got to get school board approval.
And then after that, it's going to take time for us to process the check and the paperwork.
So we'll agree to do it within 30 days.
So there was pressure from the mediator on our team to try to get a very fast turnaround in payment on the claim.
So that is based on the pressure we're feeling from the plaintiff to try to resolve it.
For a lower dollar amount, we're willing to make a quicker payment, which will require intro and action tonight.
So if I can follow up, is it our normal practice when we are negotiating a settlement that we would take intro and action on it in the same meeting or normally would we, would the person that we are negotiating with realize that our normal process is to intro it in one meeting and take action on it in another?
So historically we have done intro and action on settlements.
We had a recent one that involved the hiring of a position.
That was the consent decree.
So that one we did want the public to have more opportunity to opine on that and say whether we should be hiring a position, what that should look like.
So we did do intro on that and then delay it two weeks for action.
Generally once we have a tentative settlement agreement there's really not a lot of input outside of is the dollar amount appropriate to decide on there.
That's the decision that the plaintiff and the plaintiff's student or the plaintiff's lawyer or the family is going to make.
So having a lot of public input on kind of the terms of the settlement hasn't justified, in my opinion, the intro and action.
But if there's complexities and it's raised at the committee and you want to have an intro and then a subsequent action, I'm more than willing to address that on a case-by-case situation.
Director Peters.
So John just for the sake of clarity I wonder if you could explain why the district is paying for this because if it's the district hired the general contractor which is Apsher right and then the subcontractor is prime which filed a lawsuit against the contractor.
Am I following this properly?
Yes.
So the dispute really is between the subcontractor and the GCCM the general contractor so why does the district step in and settle this lawsuit rather than the
So I'll let Richard answer part of the question.
I'll just answer preliminarily that by law our contract has to be with the general contractor.
So the subcontractor, I think it's under a Burscheps-Phillips lawsuit decision, cannot sue us.
So the sub, the electrical contractor, can't sue us for the work that they perform.
They can only sue the general contractor.
And then the general contractor would then have to sue us for the money.
So the claim right now is from the The electrician saying I did way too much work on this.
I have all these extra costs.
You owe me additional money.
General contractor and the general contractor is now saying to us you need to pay us.
So is there anything else you'd like to add?
And then just to note Director Peters that there were significant unforeseen conditions that were encountered during the construction of the project.
The contract documents indicated one thing when they opened up walls because this was a renovation project, a significant renovation project, some of the items that were anticipated to be there were not there.
It required that the general contractor and their major subcontractors kind of regroup.
So this is really an inefficiency claim for their labor because their labor was having to sit and wait until we resolved or provided clarity as to the action the general contractor needed to take.
So that's the basis of their claim, Prime Electric's claim.
Just one final point, and the district is liable for these claims because of why exactly?
We are asking the contractor to revise the work.
in which they are performing and so we're making a request to that contractor to change the work that's in the contract documents.
You negotiate that through change orders.
Sometimes subcontractors have or contractors have inefficiencies and those are usually resolved in claims.
They submit a claim amount of 1.3 million.
We say no, that's way too high.
We believe you may be damaged but not at 1.3 million and so we were able to mediate this to a settlement of 500,000.
So the origin of some of the claim orders was the district?
Could I ask you to repeat the question?
The origin of some of the claim orders was the district?
Correct.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Other questions or comments?
All right, I'm not seeing any other questions or comments, so why don't we go ahead and go to the roll on this one, please.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Yes, I did forget to ask for the committee chair's recommendation.
I'm sorry.
Oh, wait.
No, this one came out of the exec.
And I think I said it right after John Cerqui did the overview.
I know.
We're still in a little bit of cleanup from some of the missed meetings.
So it's understandable why you would have thought that came through ops.
All right.
So with that, let's go ahead and call the roll.
Director Martin-Morris?
Aye.
Director McLaren?
Aye.
Director Patu.
Aye.
Director Peasley.
Aye.
Director Peters.
Aye.
Director Blanford.
Aye.
Director Karr.
Aye.
This motion has passed unanimously.
Thank you.
Alright so next would be item number eight and that's BEX IV Cascadia Elementary School and Robert Eagle Staff Middle School approval of amendment to the existing MOU with Seattle Public Utilities for the Licton Spring flood reduction project from Ops.
Let's go ahead and read the item into the record and have a second first.
I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to execute amendment number one to the existing memorandum of agreement number 14-126-A between SPU and SPS for the Licton Springs flood reduction project in the amount of $1,482,911.
In the form of amendment number one to agreement number 14-126-A attached to the board action report with any minor additions deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to take any necessary actions to implement the contract.
I second the motion.
Thank you.
And this one is again interim action so we'll go to an explanation first and then we'll go to the Ops Chair for a recommendation from the committee after that.
So yes we had hoped to bring this to the board for introduction on September 9 and then for action on September 23. The contractor is wanting to commence with the phase 2 work.
Your action tonight will allow him to commence with phase 2 work on this project.
So that's why we are requesting that it be both intro and action tonight.
And if we could hear from our ops chair please.
This actually was discussed at our operation committee meeting on August 20 and the committee recommended that we move the item forward for board approval.
All right and with that we will open it up to questions.
The only one that I had was the one that I sent the note about when I looked at the contract the part that included the commitment from Seattle Public Utilities that they would pay for the additional cost the document didn't have signatures at that point and I said gee I would really like to see those signatures so where are we with those signatures?
Seattle Public Utilities is asking the school district to sign the document first then we will send this document to them and all their representations to our representatives they have said that they will pay the costs.
I will also say the board was very clear in their meeting of April 22 when you approved this, Director Patu was very clear in saying we want to make sure that Seattle Public Utilities pays all the costs associated with this project.
All right, any other questions or comments?
I'll just continue to echo my message that I'm very grateful that this problem is being fixed.
It is a perennial, just a constant problem when we have rain.
So I'm very grateful that this problem is getting fixed.
So thank you.
And I do want to compliment both Eric Becker who is the senior project manager and Justine Kim who brought this project to our attention and took the initiative to reach out to Seattle Public Utilities and have this problem addressed so it didn't impact construction if we were to have a significant stormwater event when we were building Cascadia Elementary School or Robert Eagle Staff Middle School.
Thank you both, well done.
Director Patu.
I just wanted to say that when they had brought this forward to all three of us we definitely said this has to be done before we started anything.
So I want to say thank you.
You guys actually moved forward and it's now on its way.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
Alright I'm not seeing what looks like any more questions or comments so let's go ahead and go to the roll please.
Director McLaren.
Aye.
Director Patu.
Aye.
Director Peasley.
Aye.
Director Peters.
Aye.
Director Blanford.
Aye.
Director Morris.
Aye.
Director Karr.
Aye.
This motion has passed unanimously.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right item 9 BEX III excuse me BTA III and BEX IV final acceptance for renovations at Northgate Westwoodland and Graham Hill elementary school projects coming from Ops.
And this is intro and action as well.
I move that the school board accept the work performed under BTA III and BEX IV public works contract K5052.
with Big Rock Construction Inc. for renovations at Northgate, West Woodland and Graham Hill elementary schools as final.
I second the motion.
All right and since this is intro and action we will hear from Richard Best and then we will go to the Ops Chair.
So I ask that this item be intro to an action tonight because contractors historically wait a significant amount of time for their release of retainage.
After your action tonight on this item we will have to submit closeout documents to the state of Washington and they will at least be waiting another 45 to 60 days to get the closeout documents that authorize us to release retainage.
And so I asked that this item be introduced into action tonight because we had initially planned to introduce it at the September 9 board meeting and then take action tonight.
And I just didn't want the contractor to have to wait for his release of retainage any longer than you know the system already has in place.
Thank you.
Director Patu.
This item also was discussed at the operation committee meeting and the committee recommends that we move forward for full board approval.
Thank you.
So we will open it up to questions from directors.
Questions or comments from directors.
All right I'm seeing none so why don't we go ahead and call the roll on this item please.
Director Peters.
Aye.
Director Blanford.
Aye.
Director Mara Morris.
Aye.
Director McLaren.
Aye.
Director Patu.
Aye.
Director Peasley.
Aye.
Director Karr.
Aye.
This motion has passed unanimously.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Alright so item number 10 boards of distinction application and this is coming from the executive committee and so we will go ahead and have it read into the record please.
I move that the school board approve the submission of the application for Washington State School Directors Association's boards of distinction.
Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.
I second the motion.
Thank you.
And so this item is for both introduction and action and it's coming through the executive committee.
Today the board's distinction application is being introduced and acted upon due to the cancellation of the last board meeting and the need to submit the application as soon as possible to the Washington State School Directors Association or WASDA.
The application is based on the principles of the five Washington School Board Standards to help identify the knowledge and skills that high-performing boards demonstrate.
The Executive Committee discussed the item at the August 13, 2015 meeting.
And then the board had a work session on August 26, 2015, to review the application and get director input.
Additional input was taken from directors after the work session as well.
The narratives in the application were based on feedback from directors and developed in collaboration between myself, Director Peasley, Superintendent Nyland, our Chief Communications Officer, Jackie Ko, and our Board Office Manager, Teresa Hale.
The application was submitted in draft form to meet WSSDA's September 21 deadline with an understanding that should the school board approve the item this evening, the final version with the approving director's signatures would be sent to WSSDA tomorrow.
And WSSDA will announce the award recipients during their November annual conference.
So with that, what questions do directors have?
Director Martin Morris.
It's more of a comment I guess.
It's fine.
There was a question about attendance at WSSDA conferences as being one of the elements.
Speaking from experience and being part of WSSDA for as long as I have been.
There has always been a member of the Seattle school board that attends those conferences every year whether they are in eastern Washington or western because they flip twice a year.
And so that is really not an issue for any of us because we always appoint.
one of the members of the board to be the liaison to WASDA and that is one of the roles that they perform is to be participants in the organization.
Thank you for those comments.
I would just add that membership in WSSDA is required by the state legislature.
School districts do not have an option not to be members.
So we are members as required by law.
We pay dues in alignment with the student enrollment in the school district.
And so participation in the events at that point is really more about Ensuring that we're getting the benefit out of the service that we are required to subscribe to so I And I would just add, this is not a new process.
The opportunity to apply for Board of Distinction has been available for many years.
We have not in the past participated, but definitely saw some benefit from thinking through some of the things that we're doing and helping us understand where we may have opportunities for improvement.
So Director Peasley.
Well I just want to say that I think that this board is most deserving of this award and I do hope that our application reflects how challenging the job is to be on the school board in Seattle, how complex our work is, the demands that are on us, conflicting demands, competing demands, and The progress that we have made as a board in the last two years is enormous.
We used to be, it used to be the narrative of the media almost every week there was some story about the dysfunctional Seattle school board.
We have worked very hard to change that narrative and I think we have.
I have not seen those allegations even in the midst of the strike.
And it does not mean that we all agree.
We frequently disagree.
But what it does mean is that we put the interests of Seattle Public Schools ahead of our petty differences and disagreements.
And keep the focus on what is best for our students.
And I am extremely proud of the progress that we have made as a board.
We have worked for this and we deserve recognition.
Director McLaren.
And I echo Director Peasley's sentiments and I just want to give a little overview of the value of WASDA.
The WASDA events that I've attended, the conferences in particular, present a gold mine of information and mentorship from other districts and from people who are highly knowledgeable in a whole range of matters that are of great interest and value to us school board directors.
Thank you for those comments.
All right I'm not seeing anyone else's hand raised so why don't we go ahead and take this one to a vote please.
Director Patu.
Aye.
Director Peasley.
Aye.
Director Peters.
Aye.
Director Blanford.
Aye.
Director Martin-Morris.
Aye.
Director McLaren.
Aye.
Director Karr.
Aye.
This motion has passed unanimously.
Thank you.
All right, and I just want to reiterate the thanks to Jackie Ko and to Teresa Hale for their work on this as well as Dr. Nyland, so thank you.
And along with my next door neighbor here.
We have an active role in it as well.
All right, so we are at 7.15 according to the clock on the wall.
And why don't we take, is 10 minutes okay, 10 minute break?
So let's reconvene at 7.25.