We have reached 530. Rachel can you.
I'm going to give the intro and then you can start reading your names.
We have some rules to follow and we truly appreciate if you do follow those rules.
Last thing I want to do is rule anyone out of order.
This is in accordance with board policy number 14 30 and the corresponding procedure board procedure 14 30 BP.
One person speaks at a time.
Comments to be addressed to the board.
Please adhere to the time limit on testimony.
You have two minutes when you have 30 minutes left you'll see a yellow light.
Please keep that in mind and wrap up your comments.
The focus of the comments should be on issues and solutions.
The majority of the time should be spent on the topic he or she has indicated they wish to speak of.
No racial slurs personal insults ridicule or threats will be allowed and no comments regarding personnel matters or specific personnel that you have issues with.
All signs brought to the meeting are subject to these ground rules.
Could you please read the first three folks.
Thank you.
We're going to have 25 folks tonight because so many have signed up.
First up for public testimony we have Ariana Phillips followed by Israel Presley and then Arianne Rosario.
Hi my name is Ariana Phillips.
I am a student at Middle College High School along with Garrett.
I actually thoroughly enjoy my high school but something that I am sure you guys are aware of as you've spoken about earlier is the marketing and getting that out there.
I feel like if I would have known about Middle College when I was in eighth grade, I could have saved a lot of teachers and myself a lot of frustration and pain.
I we have sponsors at the school that I previously went to Roosevelt High School and we also had a lot of things that I didn't realize weren't required in a school like laminators and that sort of stuff.
And we don't have that at Middle College which is not necessarily bad because we are learning to work.
towards speaking to the public and our goals of just really getting the students out there more.
But it would be very helpful.
I'd also like to address the fact that when marketing middle college.
Let's try and make it really clear that it is not a school for special needs kids just because some of us may have anxiety or maybe struggling to get with all the credits we need.
I feel like it would have been a lot easier to transition as well.
The main things I heard when I was transitioning and told people I was going to an alternative school was oh wow you must be like really really special.
And the answer is no.
I mean we all have our issues but.
We're not special needs.
We're just a great school that works a little differently.
Thank you.
Israel.
I'm here to represent Rainier Beach to express how it is inequitable to move us from the number 2 spot and place us in the number 10 spot, being we have yet to receive a full occupied renovation, similar to Nathan Hales.
I say occupied renovation to prevent gentrification in a community so rich with culture and history.
Not only will this preserve the culture but according to Penn Penn State's evaluation and education policy analysis it will have a profound impact on both teachers and students outcomes.
School facilities affect teachers recruitment retention and commitment and effort without adequate facilities.
It is extremely difficult for kids of color and ones with complex needs.
To succeed.
So by allowing Rainier Beach to be renovated it will improve productivity and this would uphold your mission statement which is excellent education for every student.
You know I just would really appreciate it.
You know just coming from a coming from a school just you know it's not the best environment.
You know and it will show that you guys care about us.
That's all I'd like to say.
Thank you.
After Ariane Rosario we will have Chris Jackins followed by Melissa Pildrop followed by William Becker.
Ariane.
Chris.
My name is Chris Jackins Box 8 4 0 6 3 Seattle 9 8 1 2 4. On the distress schools grants at Coe and Magnolia.
I raise specific questions about these projects as the district provided responses.
On the facilities master plan according to page 32 voting yes would approve Schmitz Park as closed.
This would be illegal as the board never held a state required closure process.
Please vote now.
On the proposed capital levy eight points.
Number one the board and superintendent recently asserted that the district will soon be making decisions that will not make everybody happy.
The superintendent noted that all issues will be on the table including low enrollment schools.
Number two does the district plan to get the levies passed first and then start talking about closing schools.
Number three rather than closing schools the district should reopen the African-American Academy and the Indian Heritage High School.
Number four the levy will demolish community history at schools.
Number five the levy gives ADA requirements too low a priority.
Number six the levy will shrink playgrounds.
Number seven the capital levy is listed as one point four billion dollars.
This is twice the previous levy.
Yet the citywide enrollment dropped this year.
Number eight the levy resolution tells voters that All levy funds will be used for school facilities.
Quote unquote.
But the capital levy contains 10 million dollars for debt service on the district headquarters.
I oppose the capital levy as it is currently proposed.
Thank you.
Melissa.
William after William we have Virginia Bethia followed by Sean Jaden Thomas and Lavera Brown.
Hello school board directors.
My name is William Becker and I am the PTSA facilities chair for Asa Mercer International Middle School located on nearby Beacon Hill home of the Mustangs.
My son is now in his third year at Mercer.
Over the past couple of years, I've become aware of the dire facilities needs at Mercer, and I am here today to briefly speak in support of BEX V funding to build a new campus at Mercer.
For those of you who have visited Mercer in the past few years, you will have noted that the original vintage 1957 school buildings are surrounded by school portables to the north and to the east.
These portables reflect the very large student body size relative to the space available.
Some of the unfortunate repercussions of such a large student body include limited sight lines on the grounds due to the many portables extremely crowded hallways between classes numerous teachers forced to share classrooms.
and instructional specialists forced to use non-classroom spaces such as the gym stage and the entry to the auditorium.
Additional facilities constraints include insufficient power supplies resulting in tripped electrical circuits and disrupting class presentations and no room to add much needed computer technology hookups.
Many of you are aware of the impressive academic accomplishments made by the combined efforts of the Mercer students and staff.
Unfortunately, the existing outdated and limited campus at Mercer makes additional progress an uphill battle.
I recently met with Director Patu to draw attention to Mercer's longstanding need for an equitable response by the school district to Mercer to to Mercer's need for a new campus.
And I appreciated the attention to the issues we discussed.
In closing please include Mercer in BEX V funding in the upcoming levy.
Thank you.
Hi my name is Virginia Bethea and I'd like to concede my time to one of our prominent leaders in the black community, Pastor Carl Livingston.
Thank you Virginia, it's my honor to address you, Superintendent Juneau and the rest of the distinguished board.
Many of you have done wonderful things and continue to do wonderful things in the community.
I want to thank you for that.
I have taught now approaching about 10,000 students as Seattle Central Community College main political science professor on the American side.
I've been a volunteer, kind of like chaplain, for the football team down at Renner Beach around 2005 when Rick Neuheiser was assisting as well.
I have a student that one of my foster kids that I helped raise that was a student there and I'm here to respectfully and strongly and adamantly and proudly request that the rating system that moved Rainier Beach down to around 10 be changed so that Rainier Beach be the next school that will receive a full occupied renovation.
You know that this school is so distinguished in terms of teaching children and young people, young men and women that are sometimes seen as at risk and doing such a good job that many of them go on to do amazing work.
And it's because the full team that they have there at that school that does that work.
And they're requesting support.
Sometimes things kind of get lost, I think, in the middle management part of the central office.
And whenever a rating system changes things so that primarily African-American Latino Native American Pacific Islander schools and other institutions get addressed that should be an item of absolute concern.
And so I am.
Respectfully urging.
that this not happen.
Remember whenever the Supreme Court looks at what happens to ethnic minority communities they impose their most exacting scrutiny.
Don't change the rules at the end of the day to hurt that school that has not been renovated now.
So thank you.
Good evening everyone.
My name is Jaden Thomas.
I'm 17 years old and I'm a junior at Franklin High School.
I've been in Seattle Public Schools since 2007. I started off at T.T.
Minor and then moved to Lowell and then to Mercer Middle School my eighth grade year and now at Franklin for my past three years of high school.
Through my years as a Seattle Public Schools attendee I have been at Rainier Beach a few times.
I spent a whole summer there doing a culinary arts program and during my time there I noticed that there was a I noticed in the school that there was old window shutters.
I noticed that there were still blackboards and not projector screens.
I noticed that there was exposed wiring within the school and I noticed that there was.
that there was bathrooms without mirrors and it just basically instill a brick building and it felt as if I was walking into school during the times the 1960s when my grandparents were in school.
And what I've also noticed is that there were 800 students of color within that environment of the school and that they have not been given the same opportunities as our schools in the north end system.
And I feel that they're in desperate need of a renovation within the school.
And I also feel that I don't understand how I don't understand how children will learn in a in an environment where they don't feel safe and in terms of safety I mean in terms of heating which also is an issue at my school.
We at times during the winter we can walk into the school and we can see our breath.
because it is so cold.
And then also there are times in the school year when we can see the frost on the windows and my school is recently remodeled.
I believe our last remodel was in 93 and so I can only imagine what Rainier Beach is feeling with their.
Not as remodeled school.
And so I feel that they do deserve to get a remodel within the next few years especially because they were at number two and then moved to number one.
I don't know what made the move to number I mean from number two to number 10. I don't understand what made the move but I do feel like they need to be high on the list.
Thank you.
After Lavera Brown we will have Saul Patu followed by Thomas Jamil Foster and then Michael Bethea.
Hi good evening board.
I am the PTSA president for Rainier Beach High School and I'm here in support of the renovation of the school.
I'm just here I'm here to support the renovation of the school and to just speak about how imperative it is that our school be renovated now.
We have been pushed back and pushed back.
Your BEX recommendations are really confusing.
There is a lot of green lines.
We were we went from being 1 to being 10. We just want to ensure that Rainier Beach is a priority.
There's a lot of things that were used.
to drop us down a list such as enrollment.
But you have to remember if you build us up they will come.
We have had steadily increase in enrollment within the past five years at Rainier Beach even though it was projected that we were not to have an increase in enrollment.
So that right there speaks for itself.
We have made.
excellent strides in our graduation rates the curriculum that we have there.
It's working and we just really need we're asking for your support.
We're asking for your support not only just for the school within itself but just make it an environment where our kids can thrive.
If Garfield can look like it looks.
If Roosevelt can look like it looks you have the new renovations up at Cleveland Chief Sealth why not Rainier Beach.
And it's this time.
Now is the time.
We don't want to push it back another year or you know on another levy.
Now is the time and we're just demanding that the students in Southeast Seattle be treated fairly.
Where is the equity with that.
We want to be able to live and we want to be able to send our kids to a school that is newly renovated.
And they will come.
Hello board directors.
My name is Saul Patu.
I'm speaking as a parent volunteer and community advocate for Rainier Beach High School and renovation.
Like you've heard you know I'd like to add more to what you've heard in regards to wanting to expedite the renovation of Rainier Beach.
I wrote down a couple of notes because there's so many things going on down at Rainier Beach.
We have a very rich history of producing championship people there at Rainier Beach High School.
I'm a former alum and a parent of Rainier Beach students graduates.
I have two kids in the school now and one kid getting ready to be in there.
That's in middle school.
And so it's it's a problem for me when I go to the school after over 20 years traveling the world in the country and seeing other education systems across the United States.
And I come back to my old high school and I see some challenges in the high school just with the structure the design of the building.
It's still the same building but some of the issues and I'll and I'll mention some of them because they're they're they're unacceptable.
You know as a student athlete there I was we didn't take showers because the showers were broken.
So at the time I never thought to you know I didn't I didn't have the words I didn't have the critical processing skills to articulate to the leadership that we need new showers right.
We need the showers to actually work.
It was just something the kids just didn't do because it was really that simple.
Are you taking a shower.
No showers are broken.
OK I'm going home.
All right.
And so, but to go down the line and be an adult and be able to look back and see how that impacted how I felt about myself socially, emotionally, and all the other things that it impacts.
We have 70 student athletes squeezed into a locker room that only fits 35. We have broken showers.
Over 20 years, they've been broken.
20 years, broken showers.
It compounds the issues of insecurity public and social issues inadequate layout and design of locker room that forces female students to walk through male student athletes areas to get supports that they need from athletic medical training areas inadequate training facilities to support the student athlete talent that happens to the happens to be above average across the country.
Please wrap up your comments.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm sorry.
It's not a championship learning environment yet.
We have produced, over the last 25 years, more Division I student athletes, NFL, track and field Olympians, Major League Baseball, NBA players, and Mr. Olympia champions combined than any high school in the state.
But yet we don't have championship facilities.
We have championship people.
And so we really need your support in giving us the facilities that we need to expedite and to continue to support the talent that we do have in the area and that we've been mobilizing to ensure that we can have provide the future and the resources and supports that the kids need.
Thank you very much.
Sorry for going over.
Hi I'm a freshman at Rainier Beach High School and my name is Thomas Jameel Foster.
I'm here to speak on the lack of renovation and how it has affected our image.
Before I came to the school I had people tell me that the school is very outdated hood and overall just terrible that I shouldn't go there because it's an unsafe environment.
When I first came to school I was shocked at how our school looked into comparison to Cleveland and Garfield especially how we don't have any mirrors in our bathroom.
Our boys locker room ceiling is breaking piece by piece and that some of the teachers literally have to make desks from old broken tables.
It is very disappointing to see that we are the only school that hasn't received a renovation.
And because and because of that we get talked down by other schools from our district and other districts.
It has such a negative impact on us and especially the students and how we view our own school until we get our much needed renovation.
This will not only show how you treat students in more urban areas it reflects the inequities in our city.
Board members I ask that you stop forgetting about Rainier Beach and give the same respect that you give to Rainier Beach and give the same respect to Rainier Beach that you give to any Northwind high school.
Thank you.
After Michael Bethea we will have Amina Adams followed by Sarah Igawa and then Martin Cortez.
Good evening everybody.
Again my name is Michael Bethea.
I've been at Rainier Beach High School for over 25 years as a basketball coach and.
We're sitting here tonight in the John Stanford building and I'll never forget my first championship in 1998. General Stanford gave me a call.
Hey Mike come on down.
I want to talk with you.
And he just talked about his vision for the Seattle School District.
He talked about his vision for Rainier Beach High School.
And a short time after that I reached out to him and I said, hey, why don't you come on by and let's just walk through and look at the facility.
I took him into a classroom and his words to me were, Mike, totally unacceptable.
That was 25, that was 20 years ago, 1998. You know, I know everybody up here has a good heart.
I know that you guys really want what's best for us.
And unfortunately you know it comes across to me which is supposed to be a community advocate.
It comes across as typical politicians rhetoric.
I mean I'm just being real right now.
I mean you know we sit here and we we talk about resurrecting a high school in the north end of Seattle.
but yet and still will bust over 2000 kids high school kids out of the south end of Seattle out to those schools instead of doing doing what's right and renovating Rainier Beach High School.
You know, it's a shame.
I've been there, and with all the success I have, you know, I'm sharing my office with three rats.
And that's just being real.
That's just being real.
I'm not trying to make it a joke or anything.
Every day I go in there, I got to check around and see what rats are in the trap so I can take them out of there.
I'm just asking you, look in the mirror, And do what's right for Rainier Beach.
It's time to quit passing this over.
And I'll wrap this up.
I know I'm kind of long with it.
I'll wrap this up.
But I've sat with several of you, and you looked me in my eye and told me, said, it's time for Rainier Beach to have a new building.
Follow through with that is all I'm asking.
Thank you.
Hi my name's Amina.
I'm a senior at Rainier Beach.
I'm part of the NYC program and I'm here for the renovation for Rainier Beach.
And the fact that Rainier Beach High School hasn't got renovated since 1957 really concerns me.
And my question to you all is why.
Why is it so hard for a so-called liberal city to remodel all these schools except Rainier Beach and Rainier Beach being a minority school.
But it's easy money to remodel schools up north.
Seattle Public Schools is about equitable access and keeping.
Oh wait sorry my bad.
We need to keep these cabinet members accountable as they've been here as long as their equity has been here.
And Seattle Public Schools is about excellent education for every student and students receiving high quality education.
But this ain't a quality to me being that Rainier Beach still hasn't got Rainier Beach being a black school.
And us Rainier Beach students really want to learn in a flourishing safe environment because roses can grow on concrete and roses need soil and that's foundation.
For Rainier Beach students it all starts at the school.
Beauty is our foundation.
As soon as we step foot into that school we need to know that we're in an environment that's safe an environment that's flourishing an environment that's just more comfortable and we can't learn in an uncomfortable environment.
So that's what I had to say.
Hi my name is Sarah Igawa.
I'm a Maple parent and elementary ELL specialist in SPS.
I want to talk about the boundary change for Maple Elementary.
Maple is a thriving school with many languages and cultures represented which is one reason I was excited for my multiracial children to attend school there.
Maple is currently over capacity by about 100 students.
Nobody wants to leave because it's a great school but Maple can no longer accommodate its neighborhood children.
There are two options for change areas and my family will be impacted by either one.
Both options will split neighborhoods displace students into a school over two miles from their home.
In fact Van Asselt is the eighth closest elementary school to my Beacon Hill neighborhood.
I wish we could all stay but you the board have to make a decision based on the finite resources that we have.
Knowing that hard decisions must be made I ask you to prioritize our most vulnerable students.
These are not the voices that you will hear at a school board meeting but those with barriers to advocating for their children.
In my community these are often cultural economic and linguistic barriers.
I'm a person with privilege and I choose to use that to advocate for those who cannot be here.
As you'll see in the table I provided the original boundary change approved in 2013 disproportionately displaces students of color ELL students and those receiving special services.
It displaces over three times less white students than the Maple student population.
Our schools are already highly segregated and enacting the 2013 plan will further exacerbate this problem.
This plan also displaces many students in the district created Maple walk zone.
Since the board voted the board voted on the boundary change in 2013 you have adopted a racial equity policy.
If you are truly committed to racial equity I ask you to adopt the alternate boundary change proposed this year.
It displaces a similar student demographic to the Maple population and fewer students in the walk zone.
It allows more vulnerable students to stay at Maple and benefit from the services there.
Your your guiding principle with boundary changes is to do what is least disruptive to families.
Please honor full grandfathering of current Maple students and keep the change year at 2020. Thank you.
Martin.
After Martin we'll have Rebecca Aldridge followed by Flo Beaumont and Machiko Momi.
Hello board.
You guys are doing great.
Keep hanging in there you look great.
My name is Marty Cortez and I am from Georgetown.
I'm here for my daughter Penelope.
She's a Mexican-American student at the school.
She's actually underrepresented as a person of color which is which I think is important because I'm looking at this graph on New York Times and it says that white and Asian people are like over represented in the top colleges.
and and latinos and blacks are really underrepresented uh...
in in the top colleges i just think that's an important distinction uh...
i wanted to actually think the board you guys have been really receptive and open-minded uh...
completely so i really appreciate that thank you uh...
specially thank you to directors uh...
de wolf and harris for hosting uh...
community meeting at uh...
delbridge library uh...
recently uh...
i got there late but i heard the lasagna was delicious uh...
my wife had two pieces Director Harris, we'd love to have you over to Georgetown to visit for a tour.
I've extended an invitation, can't wait to hear back from you.
But Boar, these have been...
Someday, awesome.
These have been some really...
Someday, okay, someday soon, hopefully.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.
OK great.
Awesome.
I hope I get a few extra seconds.
So boards here so this is these have been some really agonizing times for me lately and it's not just because I missed out on the lasagna last week.
I'm actually really worried for the future of our children at Maple.
I kind of think of the narrative of how we got here and I think that the proposals on the table it's in my opinion based on an abuse of policy 0 0 3 0. It's based on data that SPS itself says it shows no significant difference between the demographics of either impacted area.
I'm worried that our children are impacted in such a way in such a singular way and I'm nervous for the future of them.
I know I got a few seconds left here.
I just wanted to counter this these this false narrative with some facts.
We talk about vulnerability of our populations actually in Georgetown.
You can you're not going to live as long as you would anywhere else in Seattle.
You're going to live eight years less.
Also in Georgetown we're exposed about three times the amount of diesel exhaust that Beacon Hill might be exposed to.
And another fact 72 percent of us in our zip code are actually 200 percent below the poverty line.
So I applaud the board for being so open minded and receptive and I really I think you believe in equity and I think you believe in a really broad and multifaceted conception of equity.
I think you believe in social economics.
I read the policy and it's great.
Thank you for supporting it and standing behind it.
Please take the time to get this decision right.
Keep Georgetown and Maple.
Thank you.
Hello my name is Rebecca Aldrich.
I'm an artist small business owner Georgetown resident and the mother of a Maple Elementary student.
I'm here today to ask the board to consider the impact that moving the Georgetown community away from Maple would have on its diverse families.
Georgetown is the smallest neighborhood in Seattle surrounded on all sides by industry and pollution.
We have the highest ratio of sex offenders to residents in the city as well as the highest crime rate.
We have to travel at least 15 minutes by car and longer by Metrobus to get basic amenities.
We have no grocery store.
We have no health services.
We have no preschool or daycare.
We have no community center or communal space to gather together, which makes it harder to connect with our neighbors and build community.
Maple School is the closest communal amenity that we have and the easiest and safest for our kids and their families to access when crossing I-5.
Georgetown doesn't have a school walk zone and we need yellow bus service wherever we are assigned.
But yellow bus service only gets our kids to and from school.
If a family without a car is running late and misses the bus or wants to attend a community building event or after school activity metro or walking is often the best option.
The Metro to Maple takes 10 minutes while the ride to Van Asselt is two buses a 40 minute bus ride with potential 30 minute wait to transfer at an uncovered bus stop next to a park which has become a haven for people living out of their RVs and cars.
A place where multiple parents in our community have been approached by park workers warning us not to have our children play there because they've been finding hypodermic needles.
Walking to Maple takes 20 minutes and there is a safe route.
The walk to Van Asselt is more than double the time and our children would have to walk alongside huge semis and fast moving vehicles with unsafe sidewalks.
I'm asking the board today to please consider the unique risks Georgetown children's face on a daily basis and acknowledge that within equity there are many intersecting hurdles to success for our kids.
Thank you.
Good evening board members and superintendent.
My name is Flo Beaumont.
I'm a parent to two children in the South End language immersion programs first at Beacon Hill now at Mercer Middle School.
This is my son Denny and these are a bunch of kids from Mercer.
Thanks for turning out tonight.
High school was planned as a continuation of the immersion program in the South End but for two years now for two classes it has not happened.
Better late than never.
Success of that program though depends on numbers.
And since Franklin is not an option because of its academic model only Cleveland High School makes sense as the pathway for the South End language immersion program.
When surveyed parents overwhelmingly chose Cleveland and it's because it's the neighborhood school.
I was really blindsided by the board's recommendation that the pathway be to Rainier Beach which is a fine school but it's twice as far away as Cleveland is.
As an example of the impracticality of locating the program too far away the temporary pathway was to Chief Sealth.
Last year only one kid out of the immersion program chose Chief Sealth.
This year as far as I know nobody did.
It's just too far away for families to be practical.
We should not let the language immersion program drop after middle school because these kids have worked really hard to learn in Spanish to learn in Chinese and they can accomplish so much more in high school.
They can take AP classes they can get college credit and they can have amazing career opportunities.
So please don't send this program to where it's going to wither for lack of attendance and then lack of support because Seattle Public Schools can't put a bunch of money into a program if kids don't attend it.
Please send it to Cleveland where it will thrive.
Thank you.
After Machiko we will have Pamela Chin followed by Xinwan Chow and Chow Ma.
Hi my name is Machiko Momi.
I have a child at Maple who is in kindergarten.
I have come before you before the board before for this issue to this issue and today I come again to ask the board to keep in mind some key factors.
First I'd like the boundaries decision to be more equitable to the whole Maple sorry the whole Maple community which is comprised of Beacon and Georgetown.
Sorry I'm not very tall.
Second I asked the board to consider how these changes impact the ability to be able to walk to school.
I live only one point one miles from Maple.
On a good day I can walk to Maple.
On the last the last thing I'd like to conclude is that I would like the board to consider how this impacts not just my child but other children.
I understand that there's two communities involved but I would like you to balance that decision based on both communities and how it impacts each other in Georgetown and in Beacon Hill.
And if there's a chance that my daughter has to go to Van Assel you know I don't want to be just the parent from Beacon Hill that has to send their kid to Van Assel.
I want to divide it among all of us because we are a community and it should be equitable fair.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi my name is Pam Chin and I have a second grader and a kindergartner at Maple Elementary.
I'm here today because my children love attending Maple Elementary and they are the third generation in our family to live on Beacon Hill.
I grew up in a Chinese speaking household and seeing how well Maple serves its Chinese family has been amazing for me to observe.
And I believe that a big part of it is because Maple is attended by 90 percent of the SPS students in the attendance area because the staff is so awesome at communicating with families in their home languages.
And so this year Maple is the most over capacity school in the district with 548 students in seven standalone buildings which total a right size capacity of just 460. So in 2020 there's a scheduled boundary change as you've heard about tonight to move over 150 Maple students to Van Asselt.
My home is within this change zone called Area 73. According to the data shared on the boundary change Web page 41.7 percent of the change area students are English language learners.
The percentage of ELL in the Maple attendance area is 34.4.
So school board directors help our Maple community find a permanent solution that will build up our school and create the physical space for our Beacon Hill students who need the very specific resources available at Maple.
Please place Maple on the shortlist for future capital projects.
If you decide to proceed with the boundary change honor grandfathering of our current students to provide minimal disruption in their studies and in our school community.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Good evening.
My name is Erica Chow.
I have been living in Beacon Hill neighborhood for over 15 years.
I have two sons.
Jace is four and a half years old and Owen is two year old.
I'm planning to enroll Jace in kindergarten in Mabel Elementary in 2019. In 2013 the board approved for my neighborhood to be rezoned to Vanessa.
I have been living in this neighborhood since 2010 and I did not know about this boundary change until five months ago.
While I use the address lookup tool from the district website it still say we are zoned to Mabel Elementary.
Earlier this year because of an overcapacity problem at Mabel that the district has failed to address in a timely manner.
There was a proposal to move the boundary a year earlier.
This impacts us as a family.
But again there was zero notification from the district to either give us a heads up or to engage us in a community conversation.
We found out through friends and neighbors who set out their own time and resources to print maps and flyers translated into different languages.
That's right, there's a lot of different languages in our neighborhood.
It is very diverse and I'm proud to raise my family here.
After the Chinese Exclusion Act was finally lifted in the mid-40s, a lot of Chinese people started coming to Beacon Hill and started owning homes here because this was the only area we were allowed to live.
Even though we are here because of wetlanding, We have established a community here with a lot of Chinese businesses because of the established community.
Many new immigrants from China still look too big and hill.
I think that is one of the reasons why the ELL program at Mabel is so excellent and specific to Chinese student.
I'm so proud of this.
That is why I feel a sense of distrust toward the district that they have excluded our family from being in the conversation about this boundary move.
Our family and many many immigrants families around us in the neighborhood needs a stability and excellence program offered at Mabel.
It is our neighborhood school.
I ask that you would not rush the decision about this boundary move and carefully examining whose voices you have not heard from.
Have we been given a fair opportunity.
Thank you.
Hi my name is Chow Ma and I'm a first generation immigrant.
I got it when I first got here.
I don't know any ABC's.
I was very lucky to attend a school like Maple Elementary School.
I graduated from Seattle Public Schools and I later got a degree from UW.
As we heard tonight there is a boundary changing from Maple Middle School.
My family was in the affected area.
I've been living here for 20 plus years and in the current address for over 10 years.
I have never received any notification in English or in any language that about this changed.
My my neighbor across the street who doesn't speak English and they know nothing about this.
My parents live a few blocks away and they got nothing.
It's a shame.
Our kids are not in school yet.
So we have no no notifications.
We can't we cannot engage in this conversation and.
You have talked you have talked about equalities but for the people who don't know how to speak the word or don't know how to spell the word equality where where they were.
I'm sorry they can't spell the word in English and we have no place for it for it for them.
And they have give us you have given us no place to talk about this.
Isn't this ironic.
I hope that my my sons could attend Maple and we can easily walk to Maple.
We had tried that many times.
It's seriously it is seriously our neighbor school.
But for because of the poor planning you have tightening the borders and send our neighborhood kids further and further south.
So I ask you who get to go to Maple.
Only the people that who speaks English.
Who.
I just want to wrap up that we want to be part of this conversation.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Next up we will have Greg Ramirez followed by Brian Terry and then John Persak.
Hello how's it going.
So my name is Greg Ramirez.
I am the chair of the Georgetown Community Council Board of Directors.
I'm a lifelong resident of Georgetown.
I'm here again to speak about the proposal that would change the boundaries at Maple School.
Last, late last week you should have received a letter and you should have actually, we turned in some hard copies today to make sure that you have them, signed off by not only the Georgetown Community Council but other concerned community groups.
We have the Georgetown South Park People of Color Coalition, the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, the Georgetown's Merchants Association, the Manufacture Industrial Council, and then a representative from our homeless population from Nicholsville in the Georgetown village.
Basically this letter outlined some of the concerns that were brought forth by our community members today talking about basically the myriad of equity issues that that we face as a community that we don't believe at least at this time have been on your radar.
Right.
And I think some of this stuff is coming to light after we've been presenting and trying to meet with all of you.
And those range from, you know, disproportionate health impacts, lack of community space, the issues that our community faces around just the geography that we live in, the socioeconomic status of our community, and then just the impact on our special needs students that live in Georgetown that attend Maple.
The unfortunate reality is that Whatever decision is going to be made is going to have an impact on whether it's Georgetown or Beacon Hill.
It's pitted our communities against each other, right?
Two communities of color against each other.
And honestly, I hate saying this, but it makes me feel like we're saying, who's got it worse, right?
I got it bad, so I deserve to stay.
And that's not a good place to be.
It's not a good place for our community.
So what we're asking at this time is that you don't make any rush decisions, that you postpone any changes, and that you actually sit down and bring both communities together, really do this right.
We believe in equity, racial and otherwise.
And we want to make sure that both communities are brought to the table to figure out a long-term solution and not to rush into anything.
So thank you.
Good evening.
Today a white student is 20 times more likely than a black student to be identified as highly capable.
This is because we have not made it a priority to find and serve low income students.
Once we do make it a priority we will find that identifying these students is relatively simple.
The challenge is to serve them equitably.
Not only do they need help catching up to their peers but we must also consider the rigor of the schools that will serve them.
Today highly capable programs co-located at schools in low income neighborhoods are struggling to meet student needs after losing their Title 1 funding.
Fortunately the state provides funds for our advanced learning program.
Today those funds are squandered on unnecessary cognitive testing by applying school local norms to achievement data grades interim assessments etc.
We can identify students effectively without the need for costly cognitive tests.
Once we do this we can focus these funds on delivering better services especially to the students and schools who need the most help.
This would be a major step toward meeting the needs of all of our highly capable students equitably and in accordance with state laws and district policy.
Thank you.
After John Persak we will have Jingwen Li followed by Cassandra Garcia Stokes and then Irvin Daniel Leon Cruz.
Good evening.
Thank you for the opportunity to address you tonight.
My name is John Persak.
I'm a parent in Georgetown.
We have a 7 year old attending Maple School.
Maple School.
First I want to say that we're in complete agreement with the letter that's been written and hoping that.
At least in my testimony we can look at this through the equity lens of ability.
Maple has been a lifeline for our family.
It took us a year to get into launch however but you know we worked through that and we're OK.
It took a year of very aggressive advocacy to get an IAP for our son which you know we still have some ways to go but we're thankful that you know we can have that service.
In any case it's been the first stable learning environment that our son has been able to have simply because two previous institutions that he went to both preschool two of them asked him to not come back.
And it's basically because neuro atypical kids are sort of in the other category when it comes to the hidden curriculum of social learning.
And it's been a struggle for our family.
Our son relies on the stable social ties at Maple.
So that includes having a staff that's educated on his issues as well as his community of peers from the neighborhood.
And we're being placed in a situation where we may have to choose between one or the other.
So we're impacted by this decision.
However it goes.
I realize from a policy perspective it might be about numbers but there's there's real consequences for us.
So I would hope that we could have a community conversation about this about the impacts for everybody.
And in order to do that we need some time.
We probably need a little bit more time than December or January so appreciate the opportunity to address you tonight.
Thank you very much.
Good evening board members.
My name is Jingwen Li.
I am the Mandarin immersion teacher at Mercer International School.
I'm here tonight to voice the concern from the dual language immersion families that are here tonight and those who are not here tonight because they are working or they simply just don't speak English.
After the students and parents learned the decision of making Rainier Beach as our high school pathway for the dual language immersion program the families are deeply disappointed and concerned because the decision does not reflect the feedback from the community survey submitted to the district last fall to choose Cleveland as our high school pathway.
The purpose of dual language immersion program is to help our Latino and Chinese students to maintain their mother language and also open the door to all students to be a multicultural perspective student and also being bilingual.
The families and the community Strongly request the school districts to reconsider the decision and value the family's feedback to provide a strong and successful high school programs to the students who have been working really hard since kindergarten and dream to achieve higher in high school program.
Thank you very much.
Hello my name is Cassandra Garcia Stokes and I teach at Asa Mercer International Middle School.
I'm the seventh and eighth grade dual language Spanish dual language immersion teacher and I'd like to talk about the other concern that we have which is really that because Franklin is our neighborhood school our students choose Franklin.
So our little cohort of immersion students already get split as it is right now among Cleveland High School that they choose and then Franklin High School.
So what happens is we are concerned that our Our language growth is going to end at eighth grade because if we add a third option at Rainier Beach we're going to split that small cohort into three different strands.
If you understand we already have a small smaller cohort.
We want that to grow and our concern is that that's going to weaken our program overall.
The next thing is about feedback and student feedback and I think it's really important to have our students voices.
We provided that feedback last spring families and students and then we've also created a poster for you that we'd like to leave with you.
Our students have indicated their choice and you can see there is interest in Rainier Beach as a location.
The number one or the number one and two reasons students are choosing Cleveland high schools as mentioned before is that closeness to school.
It's the other neighborhood option.
And then second you can see on the far left over here we have students that are leaving the immersion program and entering and going to Franklin because that is their neighborhood school.
And that's already a huge competition for the emergent immersion program.
And then over here we still have students that are interested in Rainier Beach because they it does those students or that student lives in that area.
So what we ask of you guys is that you reconsider your decision to have the southeast dual language immersion pathway go to Rainier Beach and consider Cleveland again.
Thank you.
Hi my name is Irvin and I'm an eighth grader at Mercer Middle School.
And first of all.
So I would like the immersion program.
Graham to be at Cleveland for two reasons because it is a STEM school in which you can focus more on education than sports for example students who want to be more successful in school.
and focus in like their grades and stuff then focusing in sports they could get like a higher education.
And it's yeah.
And for like the second reason is it's closer to like most of the homes.
So because Rainier Beach is really far away from like where I live and then like you it's more accessible for me to go to Cleveland for the distance.
So yeah.
Can I say this in Spanish?
All right.
Me llamo Irving y yo quisiera que el programa de inmersión siguiera a la preparatoria Cleveland por dos razones.
Una razón es porque es una escuela de STEM que se enfoca más en estudios que en deportes por ejemplo para niños que quieren estudiar y no enfocarse más en deportes sería una buena preparatoria.
Pero también por la distancia porque está más lejos que está Cleveland está más cerca que Rainier Beach y por ejemplo donde está más cerca de mí y sería más accesible llegar a Cleveland.
Gracias.
Thank you.
That concludes public testimony this evening.
Thank you.
OK because we have a not because we have an audience here we're going to go around to the board and get feedback from the board before we take a break and move to our action items.
I do want to take a point of.
Chair's privilege and read an email that I received this afternoon from Richard Best who works our capital programs with respect to Rainier Beach High School.
I'm not quite sure where the rumors got started that Rainier Beach High School somehow fell out of our BEX V levy.
A whole lot of misunderstandings on that because it's still up there and it's still in there.
And I think I can vote count here that everybody on this dais is absolutely in favor of a renovated Rainier Beach High School.
So.
So let me let me read this from Richard Best because frankly he's far more eloquent than I am.
With the successful passage of the BEX V capital levy we will immediately begin design efforts for Rainier Beach High School.
Our first step will be to work with the superintendent Juneau district and school leadership to identify Rainier Beach High School design advisory team that can help us select architects engineers to design the school.
We are currently estimating the project will take two years to design permit.
and three years to construct due to the planned construction phasing.
We desire to procure this project utilizing the services of a general contractor construction manager construction manager G.C.
slash C.M.
to help us achieve our project objectives cost schedule quality in the safest manner possible for staff and students consistent with our high school educational specifications we are planning a comprehensive high school of sixteen hundred students.
In addition we have included the facility spaces identified in the career and technical education CTE and skill center facility requirements documented provided by our CTE leaders.
Hope this helps provide some clarity surrounding Rainier Beach High School.
The board has been very clear that this project is a priority for our students.
Richard Best.
We have to pass BEX 5. We got no money to build a new high school if we don't pass BEX 5 in February.
This board has heard you loud and clear and this board was not the board that didn't put Rainier Beach on BEX IV.
Enough said.
Who would like to go next.
Director Geary.
Thank you everybody coming out.
It is it is wonderful seeing communities coming together rallying around your students.
We have hard decisions to make and we make them very carefully weighing equity first but also.
Keep in mind that we're trying to make every single one of our schools a great environment a great educational environment.
And when I see communities coming together to support their kids I know that wherever you go wherever your students are assigned if you continue to show up.
on behalf of your students in their buildings and telling their teachers that you respect them and will support them and telling their kids that they are telling your kids that they are getting a world class education and holding us accountable for providing your kids a world class education wherever they are.
Your kids will do great.
So continue to support, continue to come here, continue to hold us accountable, and know we have to make hard decisions.
And as you can see, there's a decision out there today that if we were to make it tomorrow, there would be a group that's very unhappy.
But you can find a great community in your new school or in your school if you come together and you work for the betterment of your children and continue to support them in their education.
So my profound thanks my profound and deep thank you for taking the time to come here and advocate on behalf of your students.
Please continue to come and make sure that we are doing our best for them.
Director Mack.
And thank you both for the clarification on the Rainier Beach.
Yes it's on BEX V and it's prioritized.
But I was really grateful to see all the kids coming out and speaking so eloquently.
I love that folks can find their voice and speak up and also I am incredibly heartened by the communities coming forward on the Maple.
boundary changes in support of the community and in support of finding a solution that is equitable and supportive of the entire community.
We're going to be having an update on the growth boundaries at operations on November 1st at 430 where I believe staff is going to bring forward some additional data about you know what would be the impact if we decide not to.
implement something for 2019 and continue this conversation to have the best outcome potentially for 2020 as everyone was talking about.
So I think that's that conversation is still ongoing and we're hearing you and I just want to say I really appreciate all of the willingness to speak up and also to be collaborative with our other community members and recognize that it's a larger issue and it's not just us individually and it's about the kids.
I appreciate the comment about Schmitz Park and the facilities master plan.
There's also a couple other small I think typos that may need to be corrected and we'll deal with that when we get to that part of the agenda.
But I always appreciate the detail orientedness of things of testimony.
So thank you.
The comment about the address lookup tool and the no direct notification to families about boundary changes.
I appreciate hearing that because I think we might need to do a better job in terms of making sure that our families are aware of things that are coming up around the boundaries.
We have all the boundaries that were implemented back in 2014 and having families be updated and knowing what's actually happening into the future is helpful.
But we're also going to be going into hopefully another round of boundary conversations around all that is on BEX V. That's likely to start another series of potential boundary changes around those schools and those.
And so you know we're going to continue having changes as we continue growing as a district.
And we can do better I think on the notification aspect and so I appreciate hearing that and hopefully we can circle that back into our process a little bit more effectively so that families do know before and aren't surprised.
And again also I really appreciate the comments around that you know this is impacting kids and community and we're mindful of that and taking your comments into consideration.
So thank you very much.
Director Burke.
I second third whatever my my colleagues comments expressing gratitude for for you taking your evening to join us to listen to us talk but also more importantly to share your stories and input and feedback because it really helps shape our our actions our understanding of what's actually going on in the in the schools and in the city.
I'll I want to concur with the Rainier Beach messaging around that location on the list is not an indication of.
Whether it's number one or number three or number 10 it's a tool to help us identify the schools that we're putting into this this round.
There's a lot of other factors to determine when they go into.
when they go into a remodeling cycle.
But I want to concur with President Harris's comments.
Rainier Beach we see you we hear you.
You have moved the needle.
For me as a director it's not my area.
I visited the school I believe three times now.
And for those who might see Rainier Beach as a lesser school.
or as something that historically was not a destination.
Know that Rainier Beach is the reason that high school kids all across the city have Orca cards.
Know that Rainier Beach is probably also the school where Mayor Durkin has spent the most time.
Know that Rainier Beach has the only and best aerospace manufacturing course in the district.
Know that Rainier Beach is unique in a whole lot of ways in terms of how they have built advocacy around social justice around equity around actually using data to back us up to back us up essentially hold us accountable for delivering on our policies.
So IB we can't say thank you.
So yeah amazing destination.
I'm super excited and proud to be able to support Rainier Beach on the BEX levy and I think the language immersion I hear you what you're saying I understand the concerns we have a challenge with all of our high schools with our high school programming.
So much of it is about the master schedule and some students want to pursue language some schools want to or some students might want to pursue Some of the STEM content some students might want to pursue more of the you know other types of electives.
And it's really really challenging to offer all of them in all the schools.
So I think the the input you're providing is really helping us understand the concerns.
We'll try to.
Capture that be responsive as much as we can.
The I think we're seeing that in other areas around our language immersion pathways that we need to be more intentional how we reach out to communities how we create those path pathways and how we communicate.
I want to thank the Maple communities for coming out and.
The what I heard the gentleman who testified about feeling like having to make the the worst case that really resonated for me because it's.
When we don't do this right we pit communities against each other and when we do it right we build community.
So I'm hearing seeds of community being built between the Beacon Hill and the Georgetown areas.
I hope that we can figure out how to how to firm that up as well through ongoing conversation.
Thank you.
Director DeWolf.
Thanks President Harris.
Just thank you again for everybody coming out for especially the students that is always my favorite part to see you coming and advocating for your schools and being so excited about attending SPS.
I hope particularly that we listen tonight to maybe slow this down and one of the things I'm curious about is if we've considered the impacts of environmental racism particularly as it pertains to the families in Georgetown just as we think about racial equity.
The other thing I wanted to say was particularly as it relates to Mercer I think especially the concerns that Brian Terry brings up with the equitable access to advanced learning is that I'm really concerned about Washington Middle School's boundaries and I think that there's while Mercer's on the list for BEX there's also some relief that we can do with some boundary changes so I'm looking to those in future probably 2021. So thank you for everybody for coming out again tonight.
OK we are going to take a 20 minute break so we can get some dinner so we can stretch and again folks thank you ever so much for being here.
Keep those e-mails coming.
Keep the ideas for collaboration coming and please also to the extent that you can put a fiscal note on it.
What will it cost if we make the changes you want because everything in this district has a price and we don't have enough money.
Thank you.