Seattle Schools Board Meeting March 16, 2022

We will be calling the board meeting to order in a moment and SPS-TV will begin broadcasting.

Okay.

This is President Hersey.

I am now calling the March 16th, 2022 regular board meeting to order at 4.15 p.m.

This meeting is being recorded and we would like to acknowledge that we are on the ancestral lands and traditional territories of the Puget Sound Coast Salish people.

Ms. Wilson-Jones, the roll call, please.

Vice President Hampson.

Vice President Hampson.

Looks like not yet.

Director Harris.

Present.

Director Rankin.

Director Rankin.

Here.

Here.

Sorry.

Looking for the unmute.

Present.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Present.

Director Sarju.

Here.

Director Song-Moretz.

Present.

President Hersey?

Yo.

And circling back, Director Hampson?

Looks like she has not quite yet joined.

OK.

Would someone just notify me when she does?

Thank you very much.

This meeting is being held remotely consistent with the Governor's proclamation on open public meetings.

The public is being provided remote access today through SPS TV by broadcast and streaming on YouTube and by phone consistent with the Governor's proclamation on open public meetings.

For those joining by phone please remain muted until we reach the testimony period and your name is called.

I will now turn it over to Superintendent Jones for his comments.

Thank you President Hersey and Board of Directors.

I would be remiss if I didn't begin by acknowledging the tremendous honor that you've given me.

Thank you for appointing me to serve as superintendent.

Thank you for your faith in me.

I am humble but excited by the mission that we share and I promise to serve this district and our community with the best interests of our students as my guide.

I also want to thank you for being with me last evening for the 2022 State of the District Address.

Together we acknowledge the toll of the remote learning through the pandemic and of keeping schools open through Delta and Omicron surges.

We also celebrated the joy of learning and the promise of focusing on student outcomes And in the state of the district address, I made my commitment as superintendent to fulfill the promise of our students of color furthest from educational justice, knowing that if we can make our system work for them, it will serve every student well.

So thank you.

Now, if you indulge me, I'll revisit one thing I said in my address last evening about education and public health.

At Seattle Public Schools, our mission is teaching and learning.

And we will continue to implement public health measures to keep our students and staff safe and healthy.

When Seattle-King County Public Health asked us to require universal masking, we did so.

And as of last week, Seattle-King County Public Health told us to not require masks, so we shifted to strongly recommended masks.

We have followed public health guidance since the emergence of COVID, and we are following that guidance today.

and we'll continue to follow our local public health agency's guidance on masking and other COVID mitigation measures.

So finally I'll provide an update on working on our implementation of student outcome focused governance and you know as a board you've laid out three clear academic goals and our values in the five guardrails and how we do our work towards those goals.

And the clarity around this is becoming crystal clear for us.

My cabinet is engaged in a series of working sessions to map out our goals and guardrails within the 22-23 budget.

And we've developed strategies to improve the teaching and learning in third grade reading, seventh grade math, and college and career readiness.

And now we're weaving those strategies into the budget.

So this is your governance model, and we will implement this strategic plan with fidelity.

So I just wanted to check in on that.

And thank you so much.

And back to you, President Hersey.

Thank you, Superintendent Jones for your comments, and I'd like to acknowledge that Vice President Hampson joined us at 418 PM.

All right, we have now reached the consent portion of today's agenda.

May I have a motion for the consent agenda?

This is Director Hampson.

I move approval of the consent agenda.

Second.

Approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Vice President Hampson and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

Do directors have any items they would like to remove from the consent agenda?

Director Harris, I see your hand.

Thank you, President Hersey.

I would like to remove from the consent agenda numbers five and ten, which are the city funding.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

May I have a revised motion for the consent agenda as amended?

I move approval of the consent agenda as amended.

Second.

Approval of the consent agenda as amended has been moved by Vice President Hampson and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

All those in favor please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All right, this passes unanimously.

Okay, we will now move into items that were removed from the consent agenda.

We'll begin with item number five.

So let me go ahead and make the motion.

Go ahead.

I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to accept families and education for preschool, wait, what's this?

FEP stands for Families in Education and Preschool Promise Levy Grant from the City of Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning totaling up to $9,818,144 for the 2022-23 school year with any minor additions, deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent to take any necessary actions and enter into service agreements to accept the grant funds.

Can I get a second?

Awesome, thank you.

So this has been moved and seconded.

We will now go to Director Harris for comments and then if any other directors have any comments they'd like to make, we will cycle through you as well.

Thank you, President Hersey.

Beyond grateful for the FAP funds, beyond grateful for the Seattle Preschool Promise programs, What I do have issues with and have been consistently stating is the 25% hold back, aka merit pay, or otherwise known as being the city's bank.

We are not a community-based organization.

We are a governmental entity that has not missed the mark yet.

And it would seem to me that now that we seem to have extraordinarily good relations with the city of Seattle, and thank you for that, Superintendent Jones, very much.

It would seem to me that we could fashion a respectful relationship where we are not the city's bank.

My comments also go to number 10, so I'll give those to you now without needing to do that.

I will be voting for it.

I could not be more pleased that the voters have endorsed and renewed this levy but nowhere in any of that enabling legislation is the 25 percent hold back that the Seattle School District number one should be the city's bank.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Director Harris.

Do directors have any additional comments on this?

Please signify by raising your hands.

All right, seeing none, Ms. Wilson-Jones, will you please call for the vote?

Director Sarju.

Director Sarju.

Sorry, I was trying to find the button.

I'm not clear on what we're exactly voting on.

Yes, I was read.

I was trying to read the item, so it took me a minute.

I was looking for the document in the agenda.

So can I get can I get some clarity around what exactly are we?

What is the?

Yeah, what are we voting on?

I like I haven't heard.

Emotion stated or clarity.

I'm sorry.

I read the motion and it.

We were we reviewed.

It was an information item last.

Time so you would have looked at it last time and it was on the consent agenda, and I got pulled.

And so, um, that was the motion that I just read.

Okay, so.

Can you number five?

Okay Can you read the motion as it stands again, please?

As Director Hersey said, the approval of the, sorry, President Hersey said the approval of the Families Education Preschool and Promise Levy funding.

I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to accept the Families Education Preschool and Promise Levy grant funds from the City of Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning totaling $9,818,144 for the 2022-23 school year.

with any minor additions, deletions and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to take any necessary actions and enter into service agreements to accept the grant funds.

Thank you.

And I think my confusion was Director Harris's, um.

Comment.

But yes, I vote yes for this.

Okay, as well.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Dr. Song-Morantz.

Oh, are those thumbs up?

My computer froze for a second.

It wouldn't let me unmute.

I vote aye.

Thank you.

Vice President Hampson.

Aye.

Director Harris.

Aye.

Director Rankin.

Aye.

Director Rivera-Smith.

Aye.

President Hersey.

Aye.

This motion has passed unanimously.

Fantastic.

And with that, I am super excited that we will be returning to in-person meetings next week.

So no more mute buttons.

We will now turn to item 10. Vice President Hampson, do you have the motion prepared?

Yes, I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to accept grant funds totaling $3,247,405 from the City of Seattle's Family Education Preschool Promise Levy for Middle School Athletics and Out-of-School Program Transportation, Northgate Elementary Transportation and Summer Learning Transportation and to take any necessary actions and enter into agreements to accept the grant funds.

Second.

Okay, this was moved by President Hampson and seconded by Director Rivera-Smith.

Director Harris, would you like to make a comment?

I don't need to restate my comments from number five.

I indicated those also pertain to number 10. Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other directors would like to make comment on this particular item?

I have a question.

Please.

Related to Director Harris's comments, which is What's the remediation for that?

Or I guess, can I just state for the record, can we have a placeholder of some kind or something to discuss what it would take to address that?

To receive the performance pay?

Yeah, absolutely.

I know it's come up a lot, and if it's something that's just like no way, no how, That's one thing, but if there is an avenue to take to address it, we should do that.

Yeah, so whoever, what committee did this come through?

Can someone remind me?

Did it go through committee?

Is it SSC&I?

Number 5 came through SSC&I.

Yeah.

Number 10 did not.

Okay, so yeah, I would say that that is a conversation that the chairs of the committee should have and then just report back to us whenever y'all figure out the solution.

Thank you.

All right, awesome.

No, thank you.

Okay, we have now come to the board committee report section of the agenda.

We'll hear briefly now from the chairs of the board's four committees.

President Chrissy, we have not yet called.

I'm sorry, I'm moving too quick.

I think we're good.

All right.

So Miss Wilson Jones, would you please call for the vote on item number 10?

I'm calling on consent.

Item 10. Director Song Moritz.

Hi.

Vice President Hampson.

All right.

Director Director Arju?

Yes.

President Hersey?

Aye.

This motion is passed unanimously.

Thank you.

And again, huge thank to our partners and revived friends over at the City of Seattle.

We really appreciate your support.

Okay, so now we will move on to the Board Committee Report section of the agenda, and we will begin with the Audit and Finance Committee Chair, Vice President Hampson.

Yeah, so I don't have any updates because we haven't met since we last met.

However, we do have a meeting.

Coming up on the 21st of March at 8 a.m.

And we will be discussing the We should have, there should be two by twos actually in anticipation of that related to the sexual harassment and assault policies.

And as well, we will be discussing drafts of those in that meeting.

As my understanding, the agenda has not yet been posted, but I believe that that is in the works.

Unless I hear otherwise, we will also have some preliminary discussions about our work plan for the year, including policies 6110 and 610, which are the.

School funding model and the, um.

It's policy and a number of other related policies, including a couple of others that cross over to SSC and I Fortunately, Director Rankin is also on Audit and Finance Committee, which will help facilitate that crossover, and it will be for 6146. that's it for me.

Awesome Thank you, Director Hampson.

We will now move on to the operations committee.

Director Rivera Smith.

Are you prepared to give your comments?

You are talking, but you're on mute.

Look at that.

We have not had another meeting since our February 10th operations committee meeting, and I put it on that one at our March 2nd regular board meeting, so I already told you about that.

Our next operations committee meeting is tomorrow.

March 17th at 4.30 p.m.

We have several bars we'll be looking at.

I think probably, well, actually pretty interesting.

One of them is about renaming and amending board policies 6970, which is naming of school district buildings and actually going to repeal board 6971 policy on mascots and nicknames.

So there's a lot of talk about that just so we get clarity on when and how we rename buildings or schools.

We're going to talk about that.

We also will be getting an update on the kind of a broader upscope picture on the MOU with the City of Seattle regarding the Memorial Stadium and kind of the work that's been going on to reimagine what we can do with that space.

We'll also be getting a transportation service standards update and we'll be starting our dive into the student assignment transition plan.

I think I mentioned this last time too, how we're going to be taking it apart, kind of looking at it piece by piece to figure out the best way to give those a deep dive and a look at and deciding which of those actually belong under the board program, which really are superintendent decisions.

So that will be an ongoing process over the series, over a series of several operations committee meetings, but it kicks off tomorrow.

So anybody wants to join us at 4.30 p.m.

Thank you.

Thank you, Director Rivera Smith.

We will now have an update from the Student Services Curriculum and Instruction Committee Chair Director Rankin.

Thank you.

We have our March committee meeting next next week.

Yes, next week.

And let's see, things to note, we have several standing agenda items that are updates we always like hearing about.

And our special attention items are inclusionary practices and an assessment update.

So I encourage anyone interested in those topics to listen in.

and I want to thank the Seattle Special Education PTSA for their very collaborative and letter written to the board and the superintendent in partnership and looking forward to engaging with them more on this work that we're going to hear more about from staff and really now that a lot of the you know, COVID is, even though it's a big presence in our lives, it is thankfully starting to take less of our board time and attention in terms of reacting to new things.

Not that, knock on wood, not that that won't change, but it's allowing us a little more space to get back to some of these really foundational important things about that we have.

We have a lot of.

Student experience in our district that that our community is really interested in.

And I know we're interested in educators are interested in so I am excited about this body of work moving forward, and I'm grateful to partnership from the community members who are.

Interested in helping us all move coming up next committee meeting.

And so, yeah, please join us on.

Oh, actually, President Hersey, you said we're returning to in person next week.

Will people still be able to call into committee meetings to listen?

So we're only returning into person for legislative meetings and for work sessions.

Committee meetings, since, you know, engagement has been so high for those, I'm inclined to keep remote.

That's fantastic.

I love the option of people being able to call in from home to listen in.

So that's great news.

Thanks.

Did you want me to do a legislative update now?

I'll go ahead and do an executive committee update really quickly and then you can slide right into the legislative.

Perfect.

There is no update for the executive committee.

We meet next week Wednesday March the 23rd at 8 a.m.

Please feel free to join us.

Go ahead Director Rankin.

All right thank you.

Yeah legislative update the 2021 2022 legislative session of the Washington State Legislature has ended.

Um.

Which means now we get to shift our focus immediately to what we want to talk about and hope to see you next session.

Um some really positive news actually coming out of the session now that it's over.

You know, we K 12. Community other districts, you know, went in with, um some pretty substantial asks and support that's needed right now, especially as we all recover from COVID and are thinking about how to support our students and our educators, what we need to maintain supports that have put in place, what we need to address things that didn't happen or that we want to strengthen as a result of the pandemic.

There's federal ESSER dollars versus what's coming from the state.

So there were a lot of big pieces that were being asked for in this session, which was a non-budget session.

So not new money coming, but money and resources really needed.

And there was K-12 The statewide K-12 community really came together and brought it this session.

I just have to say, like, it was really like an honor and because I'm a nerd, a big thrill to be part of seeing that happen and seeing people really come together and not just talk about their district and their issue, but really talk about the students across the state in a way that I haven't seen as much in other sessions.

So that was really, really exciting.

And I want to particularly give a big thank you to the tremendous amount of work, as always, of our own Joanne Berge and her partnership and collaboration with the Seattle Council PTSA in particular, Sam Fogg, who's the legislative chair, and the two of them have done If you ever see either of these women out and about, just thank them because they're doing incredible advocacy for all of our kids and our teachers.

And their partnership is so critical to helping inform families.

There's so much information out there all the time.

It can be really overwhelming.

And between Sam and JoLynn, they've had conversations that they've allowed parents to access that's just really helped that.

Broaden the understanding that parents have of how they can plug in and affect change.

And then another huge thank you to Greg Narver.

I know he was more behind the scenes, but.

There were some critical things that he really gave some support on that helped.

Help districts time together and share with legislators what we really need right now.

So the great news is that the three major things that increases in staffing allocation for support staff.

What's also known as the and it was an adjustment to the prototypical school model.

And then, um, lab hold harmless.

So these were three big big ish buckets that will Help us a lot Seattle with the budget deficit that we're that we're up lookbacks that you can find online, so I won't go into it too much, but to just really briefly with enrollment stabilization, enrollment everywhere is down.

And our enrollment in Seattle was projected to decline even before the pandemic hit.

And as you may or may not know, the way the state allocates money out to districts is based on student enrollment.

So if student enrollment declines, so does funding.

And as I'm sure you also know, it doesn't necessarily reflect the actual cost.

So there's always a juggle between how many students, what services, and whatnot.

So the good news is that enrollment stabilization came through to help us maintain some of that additional staffing that we have in place right now, even as enrollment has declined.

Not to the full level of the 2019 enrollment numbers, but it will help bridge a gap between students in seats and needs of our district.

So that's really great news.

And then the staffing allocations also increases designated funds to go to school districts to pay for things like nurses, counselors, social workers, that type of thing.

And then the lab hold harmless means that districts can use data for levy and lab funding from 2009 because that's also collected at a rate of how many students you have.

So it doesn't solve all of our problems, but it's really great news and a great outcome for us.

very, very welcome results.

And we are having a budget work session next week, which is open to the public.

So I'm sure there will be more detail about these things and how they will impact us that we will hear from staff.

So I encourage everyone to join us for that.

And in the meantime, I will be speaking with legislators and with my fellow directors and hopefully with community and we'll figure out, you know, a strategy for what we need going into the next session and get some of those conversations going.

So I'm feeling, you know, it was nice to have to have something to celebrate in the midst of everything.

for our students and for our teachers and our buildings.

So again, doesn't solve all of our problems, but definitely welcome and needed.

And I think that's good for now.

Well done.

More information than anybody wanted.

No, that was perfect.

You did great.

Huge, huge thank you to Director Rankin and Director Hampson for tag teaming under Director Rankin's leadership.

Our legislative presence this year.

Y'all did an absolutely fantastic job and as a former legislative I don't even know what the word is, legislative appointee for the board.

Y'all crushed it, so good job.

Another huge thank you to our legislators.

Again, it's very clear that under the leadership of Dr. Jones and the incredibly diverse and talented board that we have right now, that we are moving quickly to rebuild and re-foster relationships not only with the city but also with the legislature.

and even in the county in some respects.

So I'm just incredibly excited about the the inroads we've been able to make and what those outcomes are going to mean for our children.

So everybody keep up the great work.

Y'all are doing a good job.

Go out there.

Keep making friends.

Director Rankin, I see that your hand is up.

Thank you.

I apologize.

One quick thing I wanted to add is we've got quite a few members of the legislature that are that have announced they're not running again.

Yeah.

And some of those are Seattle delegates.

But in particular, I wanted to say a big thank you to Senator David Frocked outgoing for his one of his sort of last parting gifts was ensuring some secured funding for a distressed school grant for some classroom additions for us.

So thank you.

Thank you, Senator Frocked.

Thank you, Senator Proct.

And I believe in my district, Senator Kristen Harris-Talley is also stepping down.

So thank you.

She's been an education champion for a very, very long time.

So we appreciate your work.

Okay, so moving on.

If my computer will cooperate.

We have not yet reached the public testimony portion of the agenda because it is not yet 5 p.m.

To keep the meeting going, we will begin board comments now and we will begin testimony promptly at 5 p.m.

and we'll come back to board comments at the end of the agenda if we have not finished.

So do this dance every time.

If there are some board directors who would not mind making their comments at this time, please raise your hand.

Look at that.

Director Rivera-Smith, feel free, take it away.

Thank you.

Hi, I usually like to go at the end after public testimony, but I really want to get my comments said before.

I really want to speak to something that so many of you know earlier this week and I mean early, as in between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m.

on Sunday, I wrote a letter which I called Just Say Why.

And while I'm sure I did not invent this term, I used those words as a reminder to myself that people just really want to understand why we make the decisions we do, decisions as a district, as a board, as individuals on this board.

families, educators, community members, they just, you know, really want and deserve to know the why behind the decisions that we make, both actively and passively.

So the term is just like a voice in my head reminding me to just say what.

So I did my best to put in, to put my thoughts down admittedly into a longer form than I would take here on the virtual dais or in anywhere else that I have a chance to speak with people.

So over the course of about six pages, I laid out why I stood by my personal vote for Dr. Jones as our next superintendent, and why I believe that Seattle Public Schools has not violated the MOU in our decision to lift the masking mandate, as is being claimed by some.

So I wrote it all out.

And I ended it, though, with an acknowledgment that I probably still forgot to touch on fill in the blank.

And of course, surely enough, I did.

And I was reminded of that actually last night.

As I was visiting with people at our Seattle Public Schools State of the District Address, I was reminded that even when we're right, we can be wrong.

And it made me reflect on all the energy I put into that letter where I worked so hard on analyzing both the superintendent search process and the district decision to lift the mask mandate, and in, you know, what I thought was the most objective way I could, I took the position that we hadn't done anything wrong, technically.

And so I dissected the MOU, and I found the verbiage that justified the path we're taking, and from what I could tell, like I said, we had not violated the MOU.

But what I left out, and because I'm getting to that, was pure and simple empathy.

because whether or not we have technically violated the MOU, that was separate from the fact that many are hurt right now by the change, and trust has been broken for many people again.

So I don't think I spent nearly enough inches in acknowledging the hurt and anxiety that many of our educators and families share right now.

I personally have some really good friends who are teachers in our district, and I am feeling like a really bad friend to them.

Because, like I said, in my rush to defend and stand by our district, I also diminished their concerns and their experiences.

I very much regret that.

Right now, I suspect I don't see any, I can't see it, but I hear that there's a lot of people down at the Joan Stanford Center.

Well, I'm really glad to hear we're going to get back to ourselves.

And they're there voicing some really big, really valid concerns.

And even if we did make, you know, what we believe is the correct and honest decision about masking, there are some incredibly important partners out there whose worries don't just go away because we follow the MOU.

But the good news is that I'm pretty sure that our district administration is a step ahead of me in this realization.

because the person who had those wise words for me last night was Superintendent Jones himself.

So I think we picked the right guy.

And thank you, Superintendent Jones, and thank you all for your attention.

Thank you, Director Rivera-Smith.

We will now move to Director Hampson.

I'm sorry for having my camera off.

Internet connection just doesn't want to cooperate lately, so I'm just trying to save on bandwidth when I go off.

But I just wanted to briefly say that, and this is to fellow board directors as well, but our policy director, Julia Worth, is helping me set up a weekly student outcomes focused governance community call on Thursdays at 11. I don't anticipate that will be the only call that I will make but per some really important, I mean the only time frame that I will want to be doing around student outcomes focused governance because that's not going to meet everybody's time requirements in community but it's just a starting point because 11 o'clock on Thursdays has been a standing Um, so thank you for taking the time for me in the past pre pandemic, or at least sometime during the pandemic.

Um, for some great advice that, um, Director Sard you and I got earlier this week from our.

Fellow student outcomes focus governance coaches and training.

Um and staff.

I would really love to have one other director with me.

Um, so if you can just think about doing that, you know, maybe doesn't even necessarily have to be once a month, but once every.

five weeks, right, on a rotating basis, then I'll come up with the topic based on a lot of the work that Michelle and I are doing in our cohorts.

I'll have some materials and some things ready to share, so I'll take care of that part of it.

It's going to be on my board web page, so Julia is helping me set that up as we speak.

I'd hope to have it already posted, but it should be posted by Friday and starting next week, so that's all for me.

Thank you.

And I will invite you all and then you can attend, you can accept based on who else is already accepted.

Thank you.

Okay, any other directors looking to give their comments at this time?

I can go ahead and give mine.

I just want to give a huge shout out to everybody who engaged in our superintendent selection process.

We really appreciate the feedback that you've given.

And if you were not able to attend the State of the District last night, I think it will just give a resounding sense of comfort for a lot of our folks out there about the leadership that we have in front of us and the leadership that is going to be required to get us through the next couple of years as we aim to do a lot of things.

I've had the pleasure of speaking with Superintendent Jones on a weekly if not daily basis for the past few months and would just imagine that those conversations will become more frequent as we put together a plan to do things dramatically differently.

He and I often talk about the concept of deep engagement and coming to an understanding of what engagement actually is.

This is not just in context of the superintendent process, this is in context to everything that Seattle Public Schools does.

And I want to be very clear, one way and even in most cases two way communication is not engagement.

It's not deep engagement.

What we are looking to do is to rebuild the lanes of trust that for so long by so many people who are not currently occupying the seats that we sit in, have eroded because of all the trauma that the city has placed not only on black and brown people, but especially on the folks in our school system who are furthest from educational justice and quite frankly everyone because everyone is impacted by the way that we communicate, by the way that we engage, by the way that we treat each other and it begins quite frankly at the top.

And so I am inspired and excited about the leadership that Dr. Jones continues to bring in this area And what I'll say is for directors specifically, prepare to do things a lot differently.

Be prepared to dive deep into not only realizing the way that we as a board do community engagement, but how are we setting the example for the rest of the district, senior staff, management at the John Stanford Center, our educators, administrators, and from those people we have so much to learn as well.

And the only way that we are going to be able to do that effectively is by sharing space often with folks in our communities, right?

And so I just want folks to be prepared to roll up their sleeves because we heard loud and clear that the engagement that we've been doing as of late was not as robust as it could have been.

And while folks can debate that backwards and forwards, what I would just say is that I hear you.

There's always an opportunity to improve and there's always an opportunity to do better.

And what I can commit to you as this board president is that we are going to launch a campaign to do exactly that.

Now, we don't necessarily know what that looks like.

I don't think that we have the wherewithal to be able to say right now that we have a clear vision of what community engagement needs to be.

But what I can say is that we are committed to figuring that out and not only figuring that out, developing a solid playbook so that boards that come after us can do that same work and improve upon it, right?

It's a consistent, a consistent criticism of the district.

and it is a well-placed one more often than not.

That said, we are prepared, we hear you, and we are ready to do this work, not for you as community, but alongside you, hand in hand, together, and no matter what come our way, no matter what challenges present themselves, I guarantee you we will be better for the experience because we will see each other in the lights that we truly live and exist in.

And at the bare minimum, if we can't give each other that, then we have no business sitting in the seats that we're occupying right now.

So with that being said, thank you for the time.

We still have about four minutes Before we head into public comment, if there are any other directors that would be prepared to give their comments within that time, I would be greatly appreciative.

Director Sarju, thank you.

The floor is yours.

I initially didn't have a comment, but, um, I wanted to, um, sort of extend President Hersey your words, um, around community engagement because you hear you hear me talk about it a lot, and I'm not a community engagement expert.

I have been a participant, and I know what it looks like when it's done well, and I also know what it looks like when it's not done well.

And, um, I'm sorry.

Chandra, uh, Vice President Chandra mentioned that she and I are in the student outcomes focused governance coaching cohort.

S O F G coaching cohort.

Um.

And the aim of that is to actually build capacity within the holders of the framework to do this And as part of this, we have to do a lot of reading.

And it's, you know, it's as if, you know, where are the hours coming from, right?

I mean, school board and now we have an additional 25 to 30 hours that we are having to put in to do this work.

That's an additional hour every single night.

And even before I went to, can you hear me?

Okay, I got a bad network quality, so I'm having some issues too.

Even before I went to the first meeting, I had asked President Hersey if he would be willing to have a community session with me because I really believe we're stronger together.

And I don't just represent my zip code families.

We represent all kids in our district.

Since asking, and we are going to host a meeting together in April, we've had to do some reading.

And President Chandra, I mean, Vice President Chandra, I don't know if you read this, but one of the books talks about the importance of going out in twos.

And there are lots of reasons, but one of which, it shows unity in voice amongst board members, and it also eliminates The sense that some parents have in our district that only certain people are being listened to.

And so we're engaging with a community-based organization, a person who has held me accountable for at least the last 15 years.

And it's a good accountability, right?

Like, she keeps me honest.

And so I would just encourage anyone listening and other board members to consider doing it this way.

I think there are lots of benefits and it models what we're trying to do is truly engage with our families and not come with our own agenda.

I mean, this first meeting may be about we may have one topic and that's most people don't understand what the role of board members are, right?

We don't have a magic wand.

We might seem powerful and it might look like some decisions are ours, but that's not always the case.

And I think it's important for our community to understand what is it that, what did you elect us to do?

Like, what literally did you elect us to do?

And so that will be one of the first things we talk about.

And then the rest of the meeting will be, you know, about the concerns of or the praises, right?

The praises, concerns of the families who choose to attend.

And so I just I wanted to highlight that because we are going to get this right because our families are asking for it.

And if we want something different, we actually have to be willing to do something different, which is the premise of SOFG, our behavior has to change if we want outcomes to change, right?

And this is just not just about students.

This is about life.

And so I'm excited about what's ahead now that we have a superintendent who is all in with this.

That is not the case around the country.

That is not the case.

This framework holds our superintendent accountable.

We are accountability shy in our culture because it has a bad rap.

And so we are blessed and we are fortunate to have a superintendent who is not just buying in, quote unquote, buying into this framework, but has actually looked at it and studied it.

He's got the terminology down way better than I do.

I'm like, OK, guardrails.

I got to look up the definition.

I don't do well at memorization.

That was not my strength as a student.

I failed the multiple choice test, Chandra, that we took, right?

Because that's not how I learned best.

Didn't fail, but I didn't pass in pass-fail scenarios.

And so I'm excited about the future.

I believe we are actually going to set the new structural foundation that we need in order to get where we all want to get to.

And that's having our students prepared for whatever their next step is in whatever their grade they happen to be.

Thank you for your comments, Director Stardew.

Okay, we will next go to public testimony.

We will be taking public testimony by teleconference today as stated on the agenda.

For any speakers watching through SPS-TV, please call in now to ensure that you are on the phone line when your name is called.

Board Procedure 1430BP provides the rules for testimony, and I ask that speakers are respectful of these rules.

I will summarize some important parts for this procedure.

First, testimony will be taken today from those individuals called from our public testimony list and, if applicable, the waiting list, which are included on today's agenda posting on the school board website.

Only those who are called by name should unmute their phones and only one person should speak at a time.

Speakers from the list may cede their time to another person when the listed speaker's name is called.

The total amount of time allowed will not exceed two minutes for the combined number of speakers and time will not be restarted after the new speaker begins.

In order to maximize opportunities for others to address the board, each speaker is allowed only one speaking slot per meeting.

If the speaker cedes their time to a later speaker on the testimony list or waiting list, the person whom time was ceded will not be called to provide testimony again later in the meeting.

as there is only one speaking slot per person.

Those who do not wish to have their time ceded to them may decline and retain their place on the testimony wait list.

Finally, the majority of the speaker's time should be spent on the topic they have indicated they wish to speak about.

Ms. Wilson-Jones will read off the testimony.

Um, sorry about that.

Good afternoon.

Um, so I will be calling today's test, um, testimony speakers.

The first on today's list is Yousef Abdekadir.

When I call names, please press star six to unmute.

Um, and then I'll start your time.

First, sorry.

The first speaker is Yousef Abdekadir.

Hi, hello.

My name is Thomas, but I'm stepping in for Yusuf, he's not here today.

But hi, my name is Thomas, sorry again.

I'm a student at Rainier Beach High School and I also represent NAACP Youth Council.

And I just had a couple of things in mind that I want to talk about.

First, there have been a ton of shootings in south end of Seattle and killings of majority black men.

And my first question to the board is, what are you going to do to secure safety for students and families attending schools in the Southeast?

Secondly, it's just come to my attention that community members have requested the naming of our new RBHS Athletics Complex after Coach Mike Bethea.

Coach Mike has placed a great deal of Black boys in college and has done it with little to no resources.

He's an icon in our black community and is deserving of the naming of our BHS gymnasium after him.

We've asked the board previously, but we haven't had any past or we haven't had any updates about that.

So I was also asking for that update.

But after that, that's all.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Lucas Gallarneau.

Lucas Geller now.

Lucas, if you're on the line, please press star six to unmute.

We can hear you, I think, Lucas.

Okay, hi.

My name is Lucas Galano.

I'm a student at Nova High School, and I would like to talk about the system of punishment at school.

Our society functions on violence as the problem and the solution in many things.

Punishment is used from the get-go in our society.

For me, it's everything, including our school system.

Failing to complete work can result in punishment and ridicule.

If a child struggles with completing work and isn't giving support to fix this, it can lead students to giving up entirely.

I've certainly had my fair share of this growing up with undiagnosed ADHD and struggling with focus and motivation and eventually giving up classes when I got too far behind.

My middle school at Seattle Public School wouldn't allow me to change out of a class that was causing me immense stress.

Can you really be surprised that this leads to students skipping or not trying?

The students are avoiding class so much, which should be examined and the root cause identified.

Punishing struggling students for lashing out, especially by taking them out of school, just further pushes them behind in a way they often can't recover from.

Problems in the school system disproportionately affect black students.

And according to a 2021 article from the Seattle Medium, in Washington, black students were given in-school suspensions at least twice the rate as white students.

The solution isn't just fairer discipline.

Taking steps to focus on restorative justice in schools, focus on students' needs, and decenter punishment is essential to supporting students and dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline.

This includes having staff whose students can relate to.

According to the IDA Institute of Labor Economics, Assigning a Black male to a Black teacher in the third, fourth, or fifth grade significantly reduces the probability that he drops out of high school, particularly among the most economically disadvantaged Black males.

Exposure to at least one Black teacher in grades three to five also increases the likelihood that persistently low-income students of both sexes aspire to attend a four-year college.

Students deserve respect and understanding regardless of their background or individual needs.

Punishment just leads to further resentment and failure.

We need to put the work into giving students what they really need to succeed.

Thank you.

The next speaker on the testimony list is Chris Jackins.

Chris Jackins.

My name is Chris Jackins, Box 84063, Seattle 98124. On the March 4th minutes on hiring Superintendent Brent Jones, 11 points.

Number one, the superintendent is a talented and nice person.

Number two, the board wanted to hire a compatible superintendent, but compatible with what?

Number three, the school board deliberately votes on the consent agenda prior to allowing public comment.

Number four, the district deliberately excludes from its native curriculum any mention of Board Resolution 2016-17-1, which supports treaty rights and benefits for the Duwamish Tribe.

Number five, the district refuses to reopen the African American Academy and Indian Heritage High School.

Number six, the district refuses to resume publication of the annual Data Profile District Summary Report.

Number seven, the district has ignored conflicts of interest on construction contracts at Rainier Beach.

Number eight, the current superintendent weakened protections for Duwamish Tribe subsurface cultural resources at Rainier Beach.

Number nine, the district misled the public on plans for Memorial Stadium, implying that it would be renovated when the superintendent and board knew otherwise.

Number 10, the board failed to provide an opportunity for public input at the March 4th meeting.

This appeared to violate state law and board policies.

Number 11, I do not want the superintendent and board to continue to be compatible in going along with poor results and illegal actions.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Jennifer Motter.

Jennifer Modder.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you now.

All right, this is my name is Jennifer Modder and I'm speaking to you from the rally that we're holding in person outside the John Stanford Center where we would where I stand here proudly as president of SBA proudly representing educators in SPS who work most closely with our students every day.

When SPS values and collaborates with its labor partners, we all win, especially our students.

That is what happened on January 3rd.

Due to the hard work of SPS, SDA, and PASS working together, we were able to offer voluntary COVID testing for all students and staff.

We appreciate that the district is following through on its commitment and support the waiver application.

All year, we have successfully negotiated joint health and safety agreements with the district.

In August, we negotiated the health and safety MOU.

Next, the vaccine mandate.

After that, our COVID screening testing.

And most recently, the January 3rd MOU.

We are committed to bargaining in good faith over the new DOH guidance.

Unfortunately, the district is not and has unilaterally implemented new protocols and policies without educator input.

What changed last week?

And why is the district not valuing educator voice and honoring its duty to bargain in good faith?

We never would have scheduled bargaining starting on Friday had we known the district was unilaterally announcing Monday would be mask optional.

To the extent this year has been a success, it's thanks to the 6,000 plus educators we represent.

Voters overwhelmingly approved the levies last month because they understand how hard educators have been working this year and that we need support.

As the elected leaders for this district, we need the school boards to commit to true collaboration with educators and to hold the district accountable.

Yesterday, SPS held a private State of the District event, and notably, key voices were missing.

Your labor partners.

Why?

Why were we intentionally excluded or just forgotten?

You can't say you listen to educators if you don't collaborate with their representatives.

So today we're holding our own event and listening to the voices of all educators and we call on SPS to listen to the voices of educators who are in school buildings every day supporting students and families.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Angela Graham.

Angela Graham.

Dr. Jones, President Hersey and Board of Directors.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Angela and I have a student at Roosevelt High School and I'm concerned because our principal, Walker Joel Hollins, is missing in action.

He literally vanished.

And we're not being given any information.

The official information that we have is that PT or PTSA says that he's on personal leave and won't be back this year.

But on your personnel report for March, it has him as separated in June.

And I'm here to say that we need him back because he is exactly what Roosevelt high school needs.

I don't know why anyone would want this job, but he said he did.

And he was vetted and found to be qualified.

But when he showed up, he immediately engaged with the students.

And for him to be taken away is very upsetting.

He proved himself to be perfect for us.

And he was right on time.

He is thoughtful, caring, transparent, humble, warm, and engaged.

His fans call him a breath of fresh air, and his critics accuse him of toxic positivity.

If anyone has anything worse about him than toxic positivity, then I would encourage you to do everything you can to stand by him and support him and return him to Roosevelt High School as soon as possible.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Tom Graf.

Tom Graf.

Good afternoon.

This is Tom Graf.

I am the chair of Beltown United, a community group in Beltown.

And I've been very involved in land use planning around Seattle Center and in Beltown for 30 years.

I want to say there is no one that wants Memorial Stadium redeveloped more than Tom Grass.

I think it is long overdue and I encourage the school board and the superintendent to work with the City of Seattle and Seattle Center to redevelop that stadium and make it a great asset for the city and the school district for the next 50 years.

But this idea that Jenny Durkin and Brent Jones came up with in October to somehow trade your parking lot for the battery portal open space is nonsensical.

The community wants that piece of property to stay open space.

The community, and I think it's best for the school district too, that your school If you do a school in Center City, be at Seattle Center and use the Memorial Stadium redevelopment to do a school with it.

The SETI program of 2019 had a great idea to include a redo of the stadium with a school.

If you just rebuild the stadium without a school there, we will not have a school of any size with an all-city draw at Seattle Center, which is the natural place for the school district to put a center city school.

The community strongly encourage you, when you take up your operations meeting tomorrow and look at this MOU, that you drop the desire to put some kind of school on the Battery Portal site.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Jennifer Vasquez.

Jennifer Vasquez.

Jennifer Vasquez, if you're on the line, please press star six to unmute.

Oh, I believe we can hear you, Jennifer.

All right.

My name is Jennifer Vasquez.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Excellent.

I'm a special education teacher in the district.

I have been listening to the words of the superintendent and the board in response to the concerns regarding the exposure of myself and other members of the disabled and health compromised community caused by the district's sudden reversal of the mask mandate.

There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding by otherwise informed persons as to why we as educators are upset about the unilateral decision the district made to drop the mask mandate.

Let me read to you from the MOU between Seattle schools and FDA that remains in effect until August 25, 2022. For your reference, this is a direct quote from page 12, subsection W.

If DOH or PHS KC guidance is updated that reduces when and how long people should mask.

The parties agreed to meet and bargain these changes.

The district did not meet and bargain these changes.

They went directly to families and the media and unilaterally declared the ending of the mask mandate without any bargaining or discussion.

They knew that if they did this, the power dynamic would allow them to get away with it.

This is shameful behavior and this is a violation of the legal agreement they signed with educators.

That leaves those of us who are most vulnerable to fend for ourselves.

This is not the action of a district who strives to protect the medically fragile student or the educator with immune compromised family members.

This is not the action of a district who cares to protect their educators with serious health conditions like myself.

They have left me, my family, and my students to fend for ourselves with their actions.

How dare they be so dismissive.

How many other members of the STS community are visibly or invisibly disabled and are sitting silent and worried because they no longer feel their safety is being taken into consideration?

Take my word as the voice of the invisibly disabled community.

Reinstate the mask mandate per the written agreement with STA.

Be accountable.

Negotiate in good faith.

Keep the mask mandate in place until at least two weeks after our community returns from spring break.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Kaitlyn Bramble.

Kaitlyn Bramble.

Hello my name is Kaitlyn Bramble and I am a K5 music teacher here in Seattle Public Schools.

First I want to start by acknowledging and thanking the students and educators who are speaking up and out right now, even outside of the John Stanford Center, though this meeting is being held remotely, regarding this extremely large and for many disruptive change in our district's masking policy that began on Monday.

For my elementary students, they are uncertain about why this change occurred so quickly and seem confused, distressed, and in some cases elated on Monday because they think that COVID might be over.

As an employee, educator, and supporter of public education, I understand that my expertise is not in infectious disease, public health, or pandemics.

I understand, however, that we are in a state of transition in this pandemic.

A transition, however, is just that, a transition, a gradual shift in practice.

I personally feel, and many other educators have voiced this concern as well, that we were not adequately prepared to process this abrupt rather than gradual shift in our practice.

Our students deserve better.

Our community deserves better.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Leanne Hust.

Leanne Hust.

Leanne Hust.

If you're on the line, please press star six to unmute.

Moving to the next speaker, Manuela Sly.

Manuela Sly.

Is that Manuela?

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Manuela Sly, Seattle Council PTSA board member and proud parent of a student at West Seattle High School.

Communities across the district are eager and in dire need to engage with district leadership and elected officials.

We hear students, teachers, and families' disappointment of the lack of real, authentic, inclusive family engagement in Seattle Public Schools.

We have been historically disengaged, not by choice, and we will hold you accountable to change this and get it right.

Family engagement is a critical component of our strategic plan, Seattle Excellence.

As Dr. Jones pointed out during his State of the District address last night, the number one indicator of student success is family engagement.

So I'm here today to offer the support of Seattle Council PTSA for a robust, collaborative family engagement.

While we strive to advocate for all students, We are aware we do not represent all their voices and those of their families.

Because of this, we want to offer our partnership in creating space for parents, teachers, and students to elevate their voices and bring their concerns to the forefront.

Just earlier today I sent a letter to Director Harris signed by almost 30 West Seattle families eager to meet with our District 6 Director.

We hope soon we can sit down and discuss with Director Harris the most pressing issues in our region.

Let us continue working together and once and for all solve the engagement challenges in our district and center our students and their future.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Christopher P. Bemis.

Christopher P. Bemis.

Christopher P. Bemis.

Christopher, if you're on the line, please press star six to unmute.

Moving to the next speaker, Christina de Carafel.

Christina de Carafel.

Christina, if you're on the line, please press star six to unmute.

Moving the next speaker, Sabrina Burr.

Sabrina Burr.

Yes, we can hear you.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Okay, thank you.

Sabrina Burr, Cleveland High School parent.

I'm a member of Seattle Council Board, but I am speaking of a parent and a member of the Black community.

When I watched the school board meeting to vote for the negotiation contract for Interim Superintendent Jones, I heard the board talk about the lack of engagement, followed by individual board members talking about their personal engagement.

That is not how the community you serve needs you to move.

Not as seven individuals, but as a collective body of seven working together.

We have an opportunity to do great work, but that will not happen in silos.

As far as family engagement, when people do not like the outcomes, too often they point at the lack of engagement.

It is a lot of lip service, and we need to define what authentic family engagement looks like, feels like, and the outcomes true engagement brings.

and we must remember that the events are not the actions that create outcomes.

It brings valuable information, but after we get the information, we still need to build relationships and buildings and bridges.

We will not build relationships unless we create spaces for healing and healing-centered engagement, work that Dr. Jones brought to this district in his previous job.

As far as our children, are we loving them and teaching them for who they were created to be or just who we want to see them be?

Relationships go at the speed of trust, and the anti-blackness that I am witnessing is eroding trust and partnerships.

and we spent a lot of money finding Jose Banda and Denise Juneau.

Where did that get us?

Furthest behind.

There is no one more prepared or qualified to lead us than superintendent Brent Jones.

So let's stop the black attack and have respect for his leadership.

When you can't discredit his credentials or work, you attack his character, and it must stop now.

We have a great opportunity to get to where our students and teachers need us to go and be, but to get there, we must work together.

We must do it in truth, And what is taking place in social media is harmful to students, families, and teachers in the communities we serve enough.

We must do better.

SPS is not the governor.

OSPI is the Department of Health.

They made the decision.

So if you don't like it, talk to them.

The next speaker is Jacqueline Wilson.

Jacqueline Wilson.

We can hear you.

Hello.

My name is Jackie Wilson and I have been a science teacher at Roosevelt High School for more than seven years.

I am a mom to a 20-month-old son and I am married to someone with an autoimmune disease that requires immunosuppressant medication.

This pandemic has not been easy on us to say the least.

The sudden change in masking policy without warning and in violation of the existing MOU has added insult to injury after two challenging years.

I was shocked when I received the mass notice at the same time as students and families in the middle of my teaching day.

At lunchtime, my colleague, who has two kids under age five at home, was crying in my room.

Students were confused about why teachers didn't know this was happening.

Five days is not enough time to manage anxiety, understand protocols, and request changes in working or learning conditions.

Indeed, yesterday teachers received a notice from HR which said that staff cannot in any way suggest that students wear masks, nor can we group students based on their choice to mask or not.

However, we have received no communication about how to protect our staff members and students who are not yet comfortable being around unmasked individuals.

Studies have shown us that masks are most effective when everyone wears them.

Likewise, social distancing is physically impossible and impractical in our crowded classrooms, despite what has been communicated to families.

Ventilation can only do so much and some of us, like me, don't even have windows in our classrooms to assist with air flow.

During the Omicron surge in January, I had students testing positive every day.

I truly believe the only reason that I managed to stay healthy and protect my family is universal masking.

In this rushed process, many students, staff members and families have been left behind.

We know students can't learn when they don't feel safe and have their basic needs met.

Teachers can't teach effectively if we don't feel safe and respected.

Listen to educators, listen to students.

The bargaining process and existing contract language need to be followed.

Please call on district negotiators to work with SEA to bargain safety protocols that will protect and center the needs of those in our community who are immunocompromised, pregnant, under age five, or who, like me, live with or care for someone in those categories.

Please stand up for us.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Atina Gunawan.

Atina Gunawan.

Hello can you hear me.

Yes we can hear you.

Hi.

I'm Atina Gunawan and I am an instructional assistant at Seattle Public Schools.

My.

I am very frustrated with the district and the school board for unilaterally dropping, just dropping the mask mandate because I feel like this is more than once that the district has go around us instead of bargain with our labor partners.

And with that in mind, I am also equally frustrated besides The whole mask mandate issue, I'm sorry, the whole mask mandate issue is just the tip of the iceberg of the ways districts are not honoring our contracts and it kind of indicates a pattern where the district always tries to go around us regarding every decision from special ed staffing to special ed staffing changes back in the fall and now back in the spring.

The SPS and the school board believes in community engagement.

I would I I beg the district and the school board and the district to to bargain in good faith and not very and not try to go around us especially go around teachers and other staff.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Hui-Ling Yang.

Hui-Ling Yang.

The next speaker is Hui-Ying Lang.

If you're on the line, Hui-Ling Yang, please press star six to unmute.

Moving to the next speaker, Jen Fernandez.

Jen Fernandez.

Oh, is this Jen?

Hello, I'm Jennifer Fernandez.

I'm a parent of Seattle public students, school students for 22 years.

First, I'd like to extend gratitude to all of you for the part you played in making masks optional for our children, teachers, and staff beginning this week, restoring the freedom of personal choice.

Thank you.

Tonight I'm speaking as a member of the Washington Parents Alliance.

This statewide grassroots movement of parents has a mission to educate ourselves on the Washington laws that create and govern our school system so we can effectively act to make positive difference in our school district and community.

We have a goal of working together with you, our school board, to get educated alongside you and to help restore your local authority.

Tonight I'm asking, who is the primary stakeholder in a child's future?

It seems obvious that most would answer the parents.

However, due to language that has been seeded into Washington revised and administrative codes over the past several decades, this authority has been blurred and instead suggests the state shares authority with the parents over their child's future once a child enters the public school system.

I repeat a request made in the cover letter enclosed with the public disclosure request documents you all received in February 2022 and stated during public testimonies at the February 9th, 2022 school board meeting.

I request you pass a resolution acknowledging and affirming that parents are the primary stakeholders in their child's future.

Tanaska school district already passed this resolution which can be found online.

school districts in Washington have already followed their lead.

I'm asking you as our school board, Seattle School Board, to restore your local authority and leadership and recognize that parents are the primary stakeholders in their child's future and responsible for what their children are taught as a part of cooperative effort among the school, parents, and community.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Marla Rasmussen.

Marla Rasmussen.

Hello my name is Marla Rasmussen and I am the proud paraprofessional president with Seattle Education Association.

In the MOU you are voting on in this meeting there are a number of items listed in that agreement.

After dishonoring our health and safety MOU and not following the process, I question which part of this MOA you will uphold and honor.

We are beginning a full bargain this year, something that takes significant time and energy, both from staff and the district leadership.

Just as the MOAs you are discussing here took time and effort to put together, we built trust in that process.

something that had been tenuous in the past at best.

We'd begun to have shared interest conversations.

That trust was broken with a stripping of our agreement.

We had a bargain meeting scheduled for Friday, and instead of honoring that process and continuing a buildup of that trust, it was shattered.

sit in this space where we have no trust in false promises from the district and how that may be reflected in our future bargaining coming up.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Elizabeth Ward-Robertson.

Elizabeth Ward-Robertson.

Elizabeth, please press star six if you're on the line.

I'm going to go through those we were not able to hear from earlier one more time.

So please press star six if you were on today's testimony list and have not provided testimony yet.

Beginning with Leanne Hust.

Leanne Hust.

Moving to Christopher Bemis.

Christopher Bemis.

Christina de Caravel.

Christina de Caravel.

Dekarafel.

Hui-Ling Yang.

Hui-Ling Yang.

And finally, Elizabeth Ward Robertson.

President Hersey, that concludes today's testimony list.

Thank you, Ms. Wilson-Jones, and thank you to all the folks who took the time out of their evening to speak with us.

We really appreciate it.

Okay, we will now move into our action items.

We only have one on today's agenda, which is approval of the OSPI emergency school waiver application.

May I have a motion for this item?

You may.

I move that the school board approve the superintendent's application to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, which requests permission for Seattle Public Schools to not make up missed school days for November 9th, 2021 due to power outage December 15th, 2021 due to security concerns January 3rd, 2022 due to district wide COVID testing January 10th, 2022 due to staffing and safety issues in February 14th, 2022 due to power outage.

Immediate action is in the best interest of the district.

Second.

Thank you.

This item has been moved by Vice President Hampson and seconded by Director Vera Smith.

This item is on the agenda for introduction and action today and did not move through committee.

Assistant Superintendent of Operations Fred Podesta, I believe you will be briefing us.

That's correct.

Thank you, President Hersey.

As everyone is aware, districts in Washington State are required to offer at least 180 school days over the course of a school year, but are also allowed to apply for waivers of those days for unforeseen emergencies that make schools either unsafe, unhealthy, or inaccessible.

Those circumstances have existed on a variety of occasions over the course of this school year and so we prepared applications to send to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction covering the five days in the motion and I'll briefly go through the circumstances of each of those five days and the rationale for requesting a waiver.

So, on November 9th, there was a serious windstorm that passed through our region, causing widespread power outages that affected tens of thousands of power utility customers in the metro area.

The district is used to dealing with power outages, and in prior years, schools without power were not always a reason to close schools, but our COVID safety protocols really rely on enhanced ventilation, which is impossible to manage without power.

We obviously need our main HVAC systems, which are bringing 100% fresh air into buildings.

We've installed enhanced filters into those systems and then have deployed thousands of standalone air filters into classrooms and other occupied spaces to increase air quality.

Without power, none of that equipment is working, and so we've established a threshold of if we believe a building or an occupied space is not going to have adequate ventilation for a period of two hours or longer, we don't occupy the space.

On that date in November, we had five schools that Seattle City Light was not able to restore power and did not project power would be restored during the course of the school day.

So we recommended in superintendent, he closed, canceled classes at View Ridge Elementary, Decatur Elementary, Thornton Creek Elementary, and West Seattle High School.

And I'm skipping one, but Wedgwood Elementary was the other.

Thank you.

I know because that's my kid.

Perfect.

Thank you for the assist, Director Rankin.

On December 15th, we had a security concern at Franklin High School.

Overnight, just before midnight, we were alerted to social media threats that were very specific in nature, named specific students.

We were working with the Seattle Police Department immediately to try to investigate the situation.

And then this was compounded by a significant level of staffing absences that year.

Again, it's winter, we are in a pandemic, and so we were expecting 13 substitutes on campus that day, and as well we had nine unfilled positions.

And given the nature of this threat and the need for enhanced security, we didn't feel that that level of staffing that was not intimately acquainted with the security procedures in the building.

Given the high level of substitutes and unfilled substitute positions, we decided that we weren't sure that the building could be operated safely on that date, so we recommended again to Superintendent Jones that we cancel classes on that day.

On January 3rd, we was the first day for planned instruction after winter break but as we know we were in the height of a high infection rate for COVID and had recommendations from local public health agencies that given winter holidays and a lot of congregate activity that occurs over holidays that as much testing as possible was recommended before return to school.

But this again was problematic since there was a New Year's holiday right before the start of school and locally a lot of testing was not available at the state and county level with a lot of test sites operated and available to the public.

The district fortunately was able to acquire its own cache of 60,000 antigen tests and was able to stand up district-operated testing sites on January 2nd, a couple, and then use the January 3rd day to operate 12 sites at a variety of school locations and were able to provide a lot of testing on that day and that week.

And we felt that January 3rd day allowed for staff to allocate resources to provide for the testing and then gave scheduling flexibility to families so they could take advantage of the testing that we offered.

And so that waiver is a district-wide waiver that we're asking for all schools for that day.

On January 10th at Franklin High School, there were a significant number of staffing shortages that came to light very late in the hours the day before and early morning.

We were going to have 28 positions absent that day among faculty and classified staff and 16 we're not going to be able to be filled.

And in addition, the three school building administrators were going to be absent that day.

And we felt that while Franklin has juggled absences during the course of this school year, without the administrators in place and substituting administrators without their having the regular knowledge of the building, didn't feel we could operate safely with that level of absences.

This came to light fairly late in the game, so there was not really, and given that staffing were absent, there was really not an option to try to switch to remote because there wasn't time to make that switch, nor were there staffing levels available to actually operate remote learning.

And then on February 14th, we had another power outage at a single school at Nova High School that city power was not available prior to the start of school and City Light advised us that it would be well past our two-hour threshold for power to be restored and us to be able to operate the building safely.

So that's a quick summary of circumstances that are causing us to ask for these waivers and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Mr. Podesta, do we have any directors that have questions?

Go ahead and raise your hands now.

I see one.

If you're thinking that you have a question, please go ahead and raise your hand.

There we go.

C2.

All right, so we will begin with Director Rivera-Smith.

Hi, thank you.

I have a question regarding Lincoln High School also was closed both January 13th and 14th due to staffing shortages, so I'm wondering are those two days being made up in another way or do we need to get waivers for them as well?

We are not requesting waivers for those days for Lincoln High School.

OSPI and the guidelines are very clear that any kind of labor dispute is not a legitimate reason to request a waiver.

And there was a feeling at the time and evidence at the time that there was kind of an organized effort for staff absences at Lincoln on those dates.

Okay, so are we aware of how those days are going to make up?

We are working on scheduling that now.

That's, and I should have added this, that's the reason for asking for introduction and action on these applications so we can settle which days as early as possible.

We're asking for waivers for and so that the logistics and that scheduling can be completed.

Okay and what does it mean for these schools who are basically they're losing a day they're getting 179 days is that you know they like to believe that each day is important so how is this how is this going over with the schools as far as not being able to have that you know additional day or that that given day they should have had?

I haven't spoken with every school leader, but given similar circumstances in the past, you know, make up days at the end of the school year are not seen as, you know, the best way to augment instruction, so I think different educators and schools have their own recovery strategies in the time they have, but given the attendance and the level of engagement that make-up days get in June, it's really not the preferred strategy.

Yeah, no, I think I agree with that, but I'm just fine.

You know, I'd like to make sure that all of our students are getting all the days they deserve to be getting to school, and so I'm just curious about that.

And I get that you don't have that answer right now, but I think that's something you should be aware of.

I think, you know, there are absences and other things that happen for individual students.

I think our educators are creative and have strategies to try to make up the time as best they can.

Thank you, Director Rivera-Smith.

We will now go to Director Rankin.

Thank you.

Yeah, I had a similar question about I've had a couple people reach out and ask, so is the last day of school the last day of school?

So in the event that OSPI, wait, so we're voting to approve asking OSPI for approval for these dates, is that right?

That's correct.

So we still have to get approval from OSPI before there's a final determination?

Yes.

Okay, thanks.

So, yeah, I've had a few people reach out and wonder if their school is impacted if the last day of school is still the last day of school.

And it sounds like we're saying the last day of school is the last day of school for everybody.

and that this time gets made up in other parts of the calendar or do we not say that at this point?

No, there were some school closures where we are planning make-up days.

that I'm not bringing waivers for today.

Director Rivera-Smith brought up an example at Lincoln.

That full schedule has not fully been mapped out or at least to my knowledge but we're working on that right now and then this is a factor and of course as we all know we're not done yet with this school year.

Anything can happen.

Yes.

But we're trying to build those plans now.

And actually, you know, there's cascading effects with graduation ceremonies and a lot.

So we're trying to put that plan together.

Yeah.

And then, of course, just people who are farther ahead planners than I am are starting to think about what they're going to do in the summer.

I'm still thinking about what I'm gonna do in April, but and then I had the other question you said, and I can probably look it up on the OSPI website and see about their criteria.

And so I'm happy to have this question answered another time.

But I'm wondering, I know when districts are required to provide 180 days of instruction, that the instructional hours that they require is averaged across the whole district.

So depending on scheduling, some schools might have a little bit more instruction, some might have a little bit less.

But as long as we meet the, I can't remember the number of minutes, but that number of minutes it averages out.

But for the days, is it that each school must provide 180 days?

It's not an averaging out.

It's not an averaging out.

I think the 1027 hours, if I remember the number correctly, is managed that way, but the days are the days.

The days are the days, not by the district, but by the actual school building.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, fantastic.

Thank you, Director Rankin.

Ms. Wilson-Jones, seeing no other questions, would you please call for the vote?

Director Rivera-Smith.

Aye.

Director Sarju.

Aye.

Director Song-Moretz.

Aye.

Vice President Hampson.

Aye.

Director Harris.

Aye.

Director Rankin.

Aye.

Director Hersey.

Aye.

This motion is passed unanimously.

Thank you, Ms. Wilson-Jones.

We have now come to the board comment section of the agenda.

We only have a few directors left that need to give comment and we will begin with Director Harris.

Are you prepared at this time?

I am indeed.

Thank you, President Hersey.

I appreciate it.

A couple of things I want to bring to the fore.

I want to express my extreme condolences to the Chief Sealth International High School community.

For the loss of Stedman Mathis who died in a fire earlier this month.

He was the tennis coach and he was the access one of the access instructional assistants.

He leaves behind two children that managed to escape to say that that is tragic.

is an understatement and he has held in such high regard.

So your thoughts and your prayers for that family and for the Chief Sealth International High School and Denny International Middle School communities, please.

Also would like to give my huge thanks and props to both Senator David Frock and to Senator Reuven Carlisle who have stood behind this district for many, many, many years and arm twisted and probably threatened some of their fellow legislators.

And we have a number of buildings and wings from the distressed school grants that they have delivered over the last 20, 25 years.

I'm probably far more liberal than Senator Carlisle, but that has never stopped us from having a friendship and learning opportunities going both ways, which I immensely appreciate.

My own state representative, Eileen Cody, was not particularly focused on school issues, much to my extreme chagrin, and having a 40-year friendship, close friendship with her, but she chaired the House Health Care Committee for many, many years and did such good work for our families and for our students and changed the laws on reimbursement and made it far more available for health care and for quality assurance in health care.

So huge props to her as well.

Perhaps as well tonight, the West Seattle High School PTSA is holding a forum on the concept of consent.

And I could not be more thrilled to see that happening.

And that is, in my worldview, my personal view, what parent teacher student associations are about not auctions and plugging holes and budgets.

So huge props to them.

Last, I will be at the operations meeting tomorrow.

I am most disappointed in the letter of intent that former Mayor Durkin and Superintendent Jones signed.

regarding Memorial Stadium.

Some may recall that I spent a fair amount of time with Mr. Burgess, former council member, former mayor for a month or two, working out a memorandum of understanding.

And if you had told either former Mayor Burgess or myself that we would learn to appreciate each other negotiating that MOU for Memorial Stadium and for the Fort Lawton land.

I think both of us would have spit in your eye.

Huge respect.

Not happy with the current plan for Memorial Stadium.

I am beyond thrilled for the $66 million and that we could potentially make Memorial Stadium ADA compliant.

But I firmly believe and in past boards and a fair amount of money has been spent doing research for public private partnerships for legal fees.

for appraisal fees that seems to have disappeared that history.

And that's highly disappointing to me.

And again, one of the reasons that continuity is so very important.

And I appreciate all that.

We have lost some of that.

And I think we can and we must do better.

I also think that the Battery Street Tunnel scenario is awed at best, and I plan to be fully engaged, and I appreciate anybody calling me.

And Dr. Jones, I'd like some time with you, kind sir.

Thank you.

And to all, it's an honor and a privilege to serve.

Thank you.

Thank you, Director Harris.

We will now move on to Director Rankin.

I think I took up enough air time with my legislative update, so I will reserve comments for now.

Thank you.

Director Song Moritz.

Hi, good evening, everybody.

I am going to reserve my comments for our next meeting because I've got four unsupervised children downstairs and it feels like I'm tempting fate.

So they have been very obliging up until this point, but it sounds like I need to go down there.

So thank you, everybody.

No worries at all.

Totally understand.

Okay.

And I have already made my comments for tonight.

So there being no further business to come before the board, the regular board meeting stands adjourned at 6 o'clock p.m.

Sorry.

I thought there were more minutes than that.

All right.

Thank you all.

Really appreciate it.

Be safe.

Have a wonderful evening.

And we will talk to you soon.

Take care.

Thank you all.

Good night.