We have now reached the public testimony portion of the agenda.
Thank you.
As we have now reached 530 p.m.
we will next go to public testimony.
So that we may hear from our speakers tonight.
I ask that speakers who have concluded their testimony and members of the audience take conversations into the lobby if you so choose.
The rules for public testimony are on the screen and I would ask that speakers are respectful of these rules.
We have a lot to get to in our agenda and I want to be thoughtful about time.
I do want to make sure to call out one of the specific points up there.
It says the majority of the speaker's time must be spent on a topic he or she or they have indicated they wish to speak about.
I would also like to note that each speaker has a two minute speaking time and when the two minutes have ended please conclude your remarks.
If you don't I will kindly ask you to do so.
So can I have staff please read off the testimony speakers.
First up for public testimony we have Adam Billin followed by Angelina Riley and then Krista Chan.
Adam.
Hello.
Evening.
My name is Adam Billen and I'm a senior from the center school.
Thank you for having Lucy and I here this afternoon.
I've been here since my freshman year and our small size has given me the opportunity to become incredibly close with both my peers and teachers and become a part of a community that not only pushes me forward but has become a safety net for me to fall back on.
And that small tight knit community is incredible but it comes with its own struggles.
We often attract students who may need or want extra support from their community.
And as a result we have a student body with far higher rates of students with mental health drug or alcohol issues and also have a far higher rate of students with 504s and IEPs as compared to other schools in the district.
As a smaller school we also run a tighter budget meaning that we struggle to provide those students with the resources that they need.
We lack a full time nurse mental health counselor or 504 coordinator as powerful as our community can be for much of our student body.
It can't go so far as to replace professional help.
We need funding for a nurse and 504 coordinator slash mental health counselor as soon as possible to meet those needs.
With a smaller student body we also struggle to fund AP and art classes.
When funding an AP or art class we have to enroll nearly 12 percent of our student population in the class to have a full class of 30. A far cry from the 1 or 2 percent that Ballard or Garfield may require.
When classes like that are cut due to low enrollment students often turn to running start to fill the space in their schedule leading to a lower headcount and even further even further lowered funding resulting in cuts to even more classes.
This has quickly become a vicious cycle and to get out of it we need your help.
There is truly something special about the center school but without proper support and the budget for both the well-being of our students and the backbone of our advanced classes we run the risk of losing that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Angelina.
My name is Angelina Riley and I'm a junior at Rainier Beach High School.
I've learned so much about black history online on Instagram.
Like let me tell you the accounts that specialize on black history is where I've learned the majority of the history I know about my people.
I've learned about my people from personal research that I've had to do on top of schoolwork simply because I'm curious.
Now I'm not even going to get into the comparison with my white counterparts but I need to share my story about why ethnic studies is relevant and important to the advancement of students that look like me.
To our new school board members I'm here on behalf of the NAACP youth coalition to push the importance of ethnic studies in our district.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Krista Chan.
After Krista we will have Erica Ayojama followed by Kittis Habbat and Anessa Rodad.
Hi my name is Krista Chan and I'm a sophomore at Nathan Hale High School.
First off I would like to tell you my story of being an Asian-American in high school.
I have experienced many microaggressions in class like students in class have made jokes about my eyes or yelling things saying Chris is going to eat my dog.
So loud my teacher heard and looked at me but stayed in silence knowing no one that looked like me.
I felt alone.
I tried talking to one of my teachers but all they said was to brush it off and ignore them.
After that I felt no one could understand the hardships I was going through the hurt I'm coming from or no one cared enough to hear the point of view and where I came from.
The only teachers I've had that looked like me have only been my math teachers and that has made me feel like the only thing I can be good at is math because that's all the representation I get in school and I'm not even that good at math.
I feel every time I ask for help or I'm confused on a problem teachers assume I can do the math problem or the essay on my own because I am an Asian woman.
It is very hard to get through in class knowing your teachers are holding such a high expectations without knowing you.
I am not smart or successful because my race I am smart and successful because of my hard work.
Representation matters.
Words matter and efforts matter.
It is important to have staff of color to be role models for students of color.
Students of color should feel like they can make connections sharing culture with teachers and understanding but it's also important to work with the teachers you've got to teach.
diversity to increase the cultural acceptance to allow teachers to be empathetic to the experiences and stories of others.
We need to train teachers on racial equity and how to be allies to students of color.
Too many times I've experienced or witnessed times students deal with microaggressions or racist comments in a classroom and see the teachers stay in silence.
Silence doesn't help anyone but the oppressor and we need to train teachers how to speak up and when they see injustice in a classroom.
What is your concrete plan to address our demands.
Thank you.
We'll be back February 5th.
Okay my name is Erica Ujoma and I'm a senior at West Seattle High School as well as a representative of the NAACP Youth Council.
Later today the resolution supporting Black Lives Matter at school will be voted on and we all anticipate its passing.
This will be the third year of Black Lives Matter at school week with district support.
The third year of putting pen to paper the third year of wards with no action to hold them up.
At my school students of color have been targeted using racist slurs are seeing white supremacy pop up in our school and are feeling the implicit and the implicit bias in classrooms.
The passing of this resolution simply encourages staff to support black students encouraging staff to be non-racist is not enough.
The resolution will not teach staff how to deescalate racial disputes hold white students accountable or solve the racial inequities in our district.
Thus it is not revolving resolving much is it.
In the classroom teachers are constantly asking things of students sit down take your notes pay attention and we listen.
We come in respect our teachers and do our work.
It's necessary that this respect is paid back to the students in the form of Black Lives Matter at school week.
It should not be a choice for teachers to support their black students.
Furthermore people learn by example.
If our teachers display this respect to our students of color it will be reflected throughout the school and our student body will follow suit.
I am here looking for action action beyond passing a resolution action that will be felt in classrooms and rippled throughout the district.
Expand the ethnic studies department and mandate ethnic studies reform discipline practices and incorporate restorative justice practices train all staff on issues of racial equity.
These are actions that will enact change in our district.
Our students and staff of color deserve to not only be supported but to be respected year round.
Thank you.
Kidist.
Hello my name is Kidist Hopte.
I am a junior at Rainier Beach High School.
To close the opportunity gap you would expand ethnic studies a curriculum that would not only center oppressed groups who have had to spend their most of their lives learning from a Eurocentric perspective but also help all races improve academically.
When we demand ethnic studies we demand that ethnic studies be implemented in all aspects and subjects of learning.
It's clear that our demands have not been yet met.
And it's unfortunate that the NAACP Youth Council has to repetitively show up at these districts meetings to sing the same tunes.
But as long as our demands are not met and true equity in this district has not been implemented.
Expect to see us again.
I cede the rest of my time to Israel Pressley.
Like my friend previously said every day every second that goes by without ethnic studies the opportunity gap widens.
We're about prioritizing education is what I was told about the Seattle Public Schools.
If we truly value our students if we truly value the families that put in the effort to put their kids into these schools you would give these students the same opportunity as these as their peers their peers get the opportunity to learn not just one version of their history not just American history with their always in power but they also get to learn about history in Europe.
Yet I got numerous classmates that don't get the opportunity to learn about their history learn about who they are let alone learn about how to love other people learn let alone how to be a human being.
I think it comes down to us really addressing the elephant in the room is about who really cares.
And if you really do care you would really provide the opportunity for these students to take leaps and bounds towards success.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
After Anessa we will have Julie Popper followed by Cliff Meyer and Tanya Davis.
Hi my name is Anissa Roydad.
I'm a senior at Ballard High School and a member of the NAACP Youth Council.
Two years ago I gave my very first testimony at a school board meeting which called for the school board to pass the Black Lives Matter at school resolution.
Guess what I'm here to talk about today.
The same thing.
Although the BLM resolution passed in 2018, it expired in 2019. The 2019 resolution expired on Friday, and if this new resolution passes, someone is going to have to be here next year advocating in my place to get another one passed.
This pattern perfectly exemplifies the district support of black and brown students half hearted and short lived.
What we need is concrete and lasting action instead of just passing the BLM resolution.
We urge you to pass a resolution in support of the national demands.
This means committing to those demands, which includes mandating black studies and ethnic studies.
Although a resolution of support for ethnic studies was passed in 2017, there is still no well-defined plan to expand the ethnic studies department.
It's unsustainable to ask Tracy Castro Gill, an educator of color, to keep doing the amount of work she does, and it makes me question just how committed you are to doing what you say in the strategic plan, that is, retaining educators of color.
In the testimony I gave two years ago, I quoted Horace Mann, who said that education was the great equalizer.
Currently it's the great oppressor and it will stay that way unless you take steps to change it.
This new school board has the potential to advance racial equity further than it has ever been in this district.
So I ask you what concrete plans do you have to advance our demands.
Will you support the national BLM at school movement.
Will you create a plan to expand the ethnic studies department or will you do nothing.
We'll be back on February 5th to find out.
Thank you.
Julie.
Hi I'm Julie Popper I cede my time to Chris Lyburn.
Hello members of the school board.
Thanks for your time.
I'm here to speak on behalf of the HCC program in particular access to minorities.
My request is that you please consider the disservice that you would be doing to the minorities that are already in the HCC cohort program.
I would argue that the HCC cohort program does more for black children particularly black boys than it does for their peers because back in his neighborhood school my son is acting his behavior was treated and would probably be treated with punitive measures isolation and the recommendation for medication far higher rate than their white counterparts.
So please consider the kids that you would be doing a disservice to if the program is dismantled.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'll also say I support Amendment 1 taking the cohort away from just South Seattle is a huge equity issue.
It's where a lot of our diversity lies and it's not right to take this option away from some children in the South End when everyone else in West Seattle and the North End have that option.
There's also an ongoing problem with teachers seeing black children and brown children as.
You know discipline problems while white children are gifted and need to be tested.
Getting rid of the cohort will not solve that problem.
It will not.
Having a cohort where the teachers recognize everyone as being able to do accelerated work gives black and brown children in the cohort the opportunity to do that work without having to prove themselves day in again.
So I think for for equity and for.
The south end.
Please.
Amendment 1 needs to pass and we need to keep a cohort.
Hi I'm Cliff Meyer a parent at Washington Middle School and Garfield High School.
I'm here to speak about the situation at Washington over the past few years and in the next few years.
What you're looking at doing is attempting I think legitimately to repair a school that has gone through a lot of turmoil and where the district's racist approach to highly capable education has been on display in its worst possible way.
However as you've heard from other people here tonight the way to defeat racism is not necessarily to ignore the needs of the children who do have needs that are different than are currently possible to be served in our neighborhood schools.
I appreciate that you'd like to try this idea in neighborhood schools but history has shown that the Seattle Public School District does not provide advanced learning in neighborhood schools.
If you don't have the money to do it in the neighborhood schools it's not going to change.
Let's move forward though to thinking about Washington next year.
Let's say you approve TAF which is a wonderful organization that could make a huge difference for kids especially given that it's going to be spending perhaps 30 to 50 percent more per child next year than the current budget would allow.
You're putting a lot more money in their pocket that they're going to spend I'm sure in great ways.
But what about grades 7 and 8. Right now, we know the weighted staffing standards, that formula that most of us have no idea what it does, really does not support the school that tries to both educate advanced students and folks who need some remedial work.
Next year, it's going to be far worse.
You're going to have grade 6 in one program if TAF is approved and grade 7 and 8 in another.
Yet, you're providing mitigation funds only to TAF.
Think about Washington Middle School for next year when you approve if you approve this proposal.
Make sure the money is there for grades 7 and 8 and those kids who are furthest from educational justice as well.
Thank you.
Thank you.
After Tanya Davis we have Monique Adams followed by Milad Misbahi and Christine Tang.
I'm Tanya Davis and I'm going to cede my time to DJ Yu and to Chris Lombard.
Hi my name is DJ you have three kids in the HCC program obfuscating by hate mongering to separate communities is wrong.
After our last testimony here my son was verbally attacked by a member of an audience that you support and know.
Then being told that it was my fault that I should have walked away or that you've seen worse here is not OK.
You need to have a code of conduct just like an Olympia outside that says these are the things that you are required to do when you come in here.
Minority kids work hard because they have to.
They live in a white world.
And those that look white are in power.
This determines whether you get the job, the grade, and go to college.
And as a person of color, I am outraged that you're placing or farming out public education instead of ending the K through 3 gap.
Yes, I demand more.
Instead of keeping programs like HCC, which provides rigorous academics, you claim that African-Americans and Hispanics cannot test into this program if we tried universal testing.
Yet you haven't tried it.
20 years, no changes, only more obstacles in testing.
A 2007 report focused that disadvantaged kids found that they were more likely to fall from the ranks of high achieving students over the course of their school careers and they rarely rise to the rank of high achievers.
Your actions are copiously impacting the needs of students of color who are the most economically and social sociologically disadvantaged and two year perversion of equity.
My 10 year old is sitting in a learning math by himself at a laptop with 43 other HCC students at Thurgood Marshall.
In contrast the general ed class has 16 students and the teacher teaches math.
You are knowingly and actively neglecting the needs of the HCC.
And these students appear like pawns in your political strategies.
Public education is public education for all.
For all.
Many of our black and brown youth with so-called cognitive or behavioral challenges are gifted children who have never had their giftedness affirmed.
Those are just straight up facts.
Y'all know that.
But once more the district continues to ignore over 50 recommendations from the latest the latest advanced learning task force to make advanced learning accessible and equitable for black and brown children like our children.
The people who are standing behind me. whose children were failed by teachers with low expectations of them because of the color of their skin and what they believe they could and couldn't do time and time again.
It is traumatizing.
I recently looked over my son's second grade report card.
He was testing at a fourth and fifth grade level in math and his teacher was assessing him with twos.
It was insulting.
And when we asked them why they couldn't give us an answer.
But we already knew my husband and I what that answer was.
It was it was because of the color of his skin and the low expectations that these teachers had for what my boy and other boys and other girls who look just like him can and can't do.
Adopting many of these reforms.
by the AT by the advanced learning task force would see an immediate surge in black and brown enrollment in advanced learning as it has in other districts.
But instead of expanding access to advanced learning the board is seeking to eliminate the south end pathway for black children.
That is what you are doing.
I'm talking about the black kids.
I'm talking about the brown kids.
If you eliminate the south end pathway you are eliminating the pathway for them.
So understand when you go to vote today what you are voting on and what you are going to do.
I am not about to give you.
You can cut my mic but I'm not giving it up.
This is why.
I'm concluding my remarks.
This is why we support Amendment 1. Neighborhood schools did not or could not support our children's needs.
And to be clear we are not in opposition to other black and brown families advocating for their children's needs.
We reserve.
Our righteous anger.
The fire in our bones.
For the district who is setting up this false dichotomy of either.
of either HICAP or TAF further perpetuating this painful division.
We reject these false narratives and myths.
We call on SPS to mandate and support all black and brown third graders reading at or above grade level by 2025. We call on all board members to support Amendment 1 and the continued south end HICAP pathway for black and brown children.
When the meeting is reconvened we will start at the next speaker.
Five minutes.