School Board Meeting Date 8242016 Part 1

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our new Director of Policy and Board Relations, Mr. Nate Van Duzer.

Nate grew up in Seattle Public Schools.

He joins us from the City of Seattle after working for seven years for Councilmember Burgess.

Welcome Nate.

So Ms. Ritchie the roll call please.

Director Peters.

Director Harris.

Here.

Director Patu.

Here.

Director Pinkham.

Here.

Director Burke.

Here.

I would like to say that Director Peters and Director Geary are both stuck in traffic and they will be here a little later.

Thank you.

Now we are up for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Everyone please stand.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which we stand, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Tonight we do not have any recognition or student presentation because it's earlier in the year and school haven't started yet.

So now I will turn it over to our superintendent for his comments.

Well, welcome back.

It's been a while since we had a board meeting.

Lots has been underway as we get ready for the start of the school year.

I'll start with a commendation.

Joseph DeJuan Bland, longtime educator at Garfield, diagnosed with stomach cancer in the spring and passed recently and they had services for him today.

And wow.

His impact will be measured in years and generations.

Knew the community, knew the students, knew the staff.

Couldn't get away with anything with him around.

And made a big difference in many many lives that he touched.

So commendations and thoughts and prayers for his family and for the school community.

Well, as I say it is the start of the school year.

I've got five segments of work that's underway for the start of the school year.

With each passing day we have dozens and dozens and dozens of more individuals so we've got a lot of our classified staff that have been at work all summer long.

Getting ready for transportation and custodial and cleaning buildings and taking care of grounds and delivering supplies and doing all of those kinds of things.

Monday we started jumpstart for 56 schools so 56 of our schools are already active with young people in them and good things happening and underway.

So that's kind of part one.

Part two is many years in the making.

We have five schools that are opening in a few days.

We'll have ribbon cuttings on September 1st.

for Thornton Creek and Hazel Wolf on September 2nd for Seattle World School and on September 6th for Arbor Heights and Genesee Hill.

So there getting ready is even more intense with all of the boxes that were packed up at the end of the year and moved over the summer and now being unpacked.

and made ready for a whole host of teachers and educators and students and parents.

Part C is in addition to five new schools, my notes here say that we've opened 65 added classrooms and we had a difference of opinion and we went and counted and there's 90 new classrooms that are being added.

Either through portables or adding something in the library or moving something into the staff room and the staff room somewhere else.

All of the things that have happened to try to create space where space is really limited and hard to come by.

So again, just a lot of hard work by a lot of people to make all of that happen.

Part D is that we have new legislation so the good news is the legislature has provided for all-day kindergarten and for smaller class sizes in grades K-3 which is awesome.

It also means that we have to have more classrooms and that more money comes with more strings.

So, all day kindergarten will start three days late because part of the requirement of accepting the money is that we spend that first three days getting to know parents.

So we do understand that that creates a hardship for parents for daycare for those three days and we are working through that process.

Likewise for K-3, K-3 is long overdue.

We were at one point in time I think 48th in the nation in terms of the largest class size in the nation.

And so thank you to the legislature for making class sizes smaller.

However then they expect that we actually use the money where the money came which is in K-3.

So most of our elementary schools have had a little difference but probably a similar class size in lower grades as well as in upper grades and now that will have to look very very different.

So, our class sizes need to be in the range of 20 to 22 at the primary levels and closer to 27 at the intermediate levels.

And we have to meet those targets in order to get the money that the legislature is providing.

So that will create some challenges for us and probably create more split classrooms, multi-grade classrooms than we are used to in the past.

And, along those lines, part five is staffing and I would invite Steven Nielsen to come and talk a little bit about some of the things that are underway with regard to staffing to try to mitigate or soften some of the impacts that we oftentimes see at the start of the school year.

Board there we go and we have one slide if we could put it up please.

In recognition of the need to try to maintain as much balance as possible in the least amount of disruption as we open schools it's worth noting that we don't know for sure how many students show up at any particular building until school starts and oftentimes we don't know a really better number within a few weeks of school starting.

And of course that varies by year and there are many variables involved.

So I wanted to provide a brief overview to help you understand the tools that we have at hand to help address the changes in enrollment and therefore staff adjustments that would be done accordingly.

Earlier this year you approved $2.3 million of mitigation resources to be transferred to.

particular and individual school budgets that was approved again by you in June that action has taken place and those mitigation dollars were based upon school requests and based upon our recognition that in some cases the WSS the weighted student staffing model didn't necessarily reflect the needs of the school so that has already been done.

Once school begins we also know that other variables will exist so as you can see from the slide there is an additional total of about $3.8 million set aside to address under enrolled schools and other staffing challenges including splits based on the K-3 requirement Dr. Nyland just mentioned.

It's best to think about those as a grouping of dollars and we will use the dollars accordingly to meet the needs.

It's possible that we won't need to spend all of those dollars and we will speak more to what that might look like at the September 10th board retreat and If we were good at predicting our enrollment and we never are and that isn't because we're not good it is because it's an imperfect science we may find that we need more than this or we may need less than this but we will do our best.

The timing on all of this matters.

the adjustments for staffing cannot be made until we have relatively accurate student counts and because of the new requirement with kindergarten starting later we won't have accurate counts until eight days after school begins.

So we will immediately start monitoring the rumor mill and the reality mill on the first day of school and then we will be able to make technical adjustments after the eighth day count to help us address the changes in staffing.

The timing of that also matters.

And it's worth noting here that eighth day plus time to get information from the schools puts us probably in the last week of September, three weeks after school has started, before we're able to address all of these needs.

We deeply appreciate that can be disruptive to families and to staff and everyone in between, including you as elected officials.

So we want you to know that we are moving as fast as we can.

We will not move however without data and we will do our best to balance our expenditures with our revenues based on student enrollment.

Any questions?

Dr. Burke.

sort of spur the moment but would it be possible to provide the board and the public a best estimate in terms of what percentage of our certificated staff budget this $6.1 million would be?

We can easily do that for you.

I could do you back of the napkin right here but I won't do that.

We will be more precise.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So moving on to partnerships, I didn't number these parts but there's many of them.

Had the opportunity on last Saturday to join some of the churches in West Seattle at some of our school sites.

Had the opportunity to go to five of our school sites.

There were 21 schools that had church work projects in them over Saturday, Sunday.

Some of them were moved to another date.

And West Seattle has been doing this for five years and it showed.

They were amazingly well organized with lots of tools, lots of supplies, lots of places to put all of the weeds and trash that were hauled away.

And so yeah I was just so pleased with the support from a thousand church participants across the district over the last weekend.

Seattle Housing Authority has been working with us on many things over the last several years and one of those coming up is a partnership campaign on improved attendance.

12% of our students reside in some form of public housing and Seattle Housing Authority knows where they live.

So they're going to be working with them and with us to make sure that we can convey the idea of how important it is for students to be in school.

One of the other issues that they're working on is that they came to us and said that they had identified I think it was 35 students that attend the Gatzert area that were homeless and so they're working specifically to find public housing for those families in the Bailey Gatzert attendance area so that the students can stay where they kind of have a school family and are known and welcomed.

The mayor's summit work continues.

I think we are down to two more meetings that are scheduled for September and then I guess they keep threatening to put us in a closed locked room until we come up with a recommendation.

I won't read them tonight but I think at the end of this, maybe I didn't print them all for you.

Yeah at the very end of the document here that I have for the board and that will be posted are about a dozen or so emerging recommendations that we will be asked to prioritize at some point in time.

Those are lumped under four work groups.

The first one is improving access to high quality learning opportunities.

More time.

Second one is creating positive supportive high quality teaching and learning environments.

I think that one includes the mentoring and after school programs.

Third one is providing authentic family and community support and engagement.

Health, transportation, safety, family support workers.

And the fourth one is strengthening postsecondary access and attainment.

So, the group continues to be strong and build good relationships and staff, city staff working together with our SPS staff has done a nice job of trying to consolidate all of those recommendations and put them into a format that can be, that we can make some decisions from.

Thank you to Director Patu for being our representative.

Thank you to Director Peters for sitting in when she needs to.

And then we've had several of our principals and teachers participating as well.

Schools Out Washington is our partner with us in a Wallace Foundation grant and we had about 50 individuals from Schools Out Washington as well as the Seattle Public Schools staff working together on how we could partner if given the opportunity and the money to look at social emotional health for students in afterschool programs.

Thank you to Director Blanford for joining us in that presentation as well.

So if we can read body language we thought that they went away very impressed and we are down to one of 13, we are down to 13 school districts across the country that are in consideration for 8 to 10 planning grants.

So we have little bit better than a 50-50 chance of moving forward and as I said the meeting went well.

Team Read will be on the agenda later this evening and they'll have a brief presentation for us but I wanted to call out their work and that they are one of many of our great partners.

They go out and raise funds specifically so that they can help us with our literacy goals and they operate in quite a few of our schools and utilize older students to come in and work with younger students.

So it just seems like a win-win all the way around.

Oh yeah, and pay the older students.

Family Engagement Institute, board members have heard this report in previous years.

Typically we've gone back to Harvard where we've participated in the work session and several of us have been asking for, hmm, Harvard's nice but why can't they come here?

So, this year they came here and that meant that we had 60 of our parents and our staff involved as opposed to the dozen or so that we typically send to Harvard.

And boy were they pumped up and enthused.

That also meant that myself and the other superintendents in the region were able to join our team and hear their enthusiasm for things that they wanted to do as a result of the three days of training and I won't read all the comments that I have in the in the comments written comments here but They echo a lot of what we've been talking about in goal 1 and goal 2 and eliminating the opportunity gap and building positive partnerships and relationships.

In terms of family connections, school messenger is our electronic communications vehicle and for the last year we were severely limited in how we could use it.

And we're very grateful that the Federal Communications Commission has changed their ruling to allow us to use school messenger again.

So we do have restrictions on it but that's a huge asset for us particularly for reaching families that don't have English as a major home language.

So that's really good news.

Likewise, translation services have been enhanced for our top five languages and know that that won't be nearly enough either in terms of number of languages or number of services but it does represent a major step forward.

And then the Seattle Council PTSA participated in our summer leadership Institute and actually Sabrina Burr the council president was also a major participant in the family engagement Institute.

And they again pledged their support for the weekend backpack program and challenged principals to participate, to use what PTA has identified as Outstanding school characteristics, they brought a winner of the state award to us to make the pitch and urged principals and PTAs to participate in the good learning that is occurring nationally through the PTSA.

And then a variety of community engagement opportunities have been underway.

JoLynn Bourge our assistant superintendent for business and finance held a session here in this room earlier in the week to talk about budget revenues and we will be talking about expenditures in a session coming up.

Dr. Flip Herndon had their first task force meeting with regard to capacity management.

Carrie Campbell and Director Harris convened our community engagement task force earlier in August and the African-American advisory committee meets tomorrow.

Enrollment planning has had a series of meetings and have more meetings scheduled coming up to deal with some of the fine-tuning that needs to take place in some of the boundary revisions that have been preplanned but now with new data may need to be tweaked some.

Current issues, I guess that follows right on with that one.

So our capacity challenges continue as I've mentioned a couple of times tonight districtwide and so we are aware of the fact that Cascadia, Green Lake, Westwood, Woodlawn have enrollment that exceeds the capacity of their buildings and that also creates issues with regard to the number of students in the highly capable program at Lincoln and their ability or lack of ability to move in total to the new building when it opens up a year from now.

So staff has been looking at those numbers and looking at alternatives and that will be part of the community engagement process that's coming up.

And then two of our schools Garfield and Thurgood Marshall have proposed changes that would provide greater inclusion for highly capable students.

Garfield is planning when school opens this fall to have all of the ninth grade students engaged in their honors program.

And I've been working through that with a variety of parent groups and they had a community meeting a few days ago.

And we'll be working with students to figure out how they can provide the support needed for all students to have those high aspirations.

They are unable to be here tonight due to the events during the day for the passing of Joe Bland.

However they will be here on the 7th of September to share what their plans are.

At this point the other school is Thurgood Marshall and they've been working with their school community on integrating social studies for highly capable and regular education and I would invite Michael Tolley, associate superintendent for teaching and learning to introduce Thurgood Marshall and talk a little bit about what they are hoping to put in place.

Thank you.

Michael Tolley, associate superintendent for teaching and learning.

As you may be aware we have made revisions to the superintendent procedure that supports the school board policy 2190 which oversees how we provide services to students who have been identified as highly capable as well as our advanced learning program.

Those procedures typically have included A model where students identified as highly capable have been served in separate classes for language arts, math, science and social studies.

What has come forward from Thurgood Marshall is a request to make a revision to the procedure to allow for a blending if you would of those class populations within the social studies.

classroom.

So in response to that we have made revisions to the superintendent procedure to allow for a waiver process of the procedure itself.

So I've asked Katie May who is the principal of Thurgood Marshall to join us this evening so that she could provide some background information to the board and the broader community as to the process that brought the Thurgood Marshall community to make this request for this change in the procedure.

And so I would like her to come forward this time to share that information with you.

Thank you I'm Katie May principal at Thurgood Marshall and I want to thank Dr. Nyland and the board for allowing me this opportunity to tell you a little bit about what's happening at our school.

Imagine being eight years old and seeing that students at your school who are African-American are together in one classroom and students who are white are in the classroom together across the hall.

Imagine being the parent or teacher of that eight-year-old and trying to answer the question why.

What impact might that have on your beliefs about your own capability if the students across the hall are known as highly capable?

Thurgood Marshall is a unique elementary school serving three different programs in one building.

We have our Peace Academy which serves students who need a great deal of academic and adaptive support throughout the day.

Our general education program which serves students who are almost entirely students of color.

About 40% of these students qualify for English language learning services and about 70% qualify for free and reduced lunch.

Our highly capable cohort which is about two-thirds of our school enrollment serve students who are mostly white and Asian largely from mid to upper income families.

Our demographics make us a microcosm of Seattle and the differences are highlighted by the division of our programs.

When I became principal of Thurgood Marshall in 2014 our staff was ready to make changes to enable our school to become one learning community while serving the unique needs of each of our programs.

We started a school equity team and we participated in the first district race and equity training cohort.

We began to meet regularly to review and address disproportionality in our discipline and to look at ways to help our students get to know each other across programs.

The following year in 2015 Dr. Nyland stated that eliminating the opportunity gap is the educational issue of our time and he challenged schools to find ways to do better.

The Thurgood Marshall community of parents and staff believe that each of our children are capable of excellence.

We know that their mindset truly does impact their achievement.

To us equity is making sure that each of our children has access to a rigorous and enriching education regardless of the program they are enrolled in.

We see the disparity between achievement scores of our students of color and our white students and we see the disproportionality in our discipline and we know we can and must do better.

Our staff began equity work to look at our own practices.

We read Carol Dweck's mindset together as a school community and then followed up by reading Blindspot, the hidden biases of good people.

Our parents began to ask how they could get involved and our staff race and equity team became equity action teams comprised of staff, parents and even a couple of students.

Everyone agreed that we should find ways to better connect as a community and to give our students experiences in working together.

The idea of blending students together for social studies was raised at one of our equity meetings.

Our team supported the idea because social studies is an area of the curriculum where all of our students are learning the same essential standards versus in a subject like math where our highly capable students are two years ahead.

In addition we teach social studies to our students in part to prepare them to engage in respectful discourse with others who may have different beliefs and to develop a respect for the values of a diverse and democratic society and to safeguard their rights and the rights of others.

Our staff believes that the best way to prepare students for a diverse society is to teach these skills not in separate classrooms but in a diverse setting.

We believe that social studies is as much about the process of learning to work together as it is about the content that we teach.

Our students have much to teach and learn from each other and all have a richer and more rigorous experience when they are challenged to think critically about ideas that are different from their own.

Our staff and parents are strongly in favor of this proposal.

We have been in close communication with our families through each step of this process through regular updates in our school newsletter, through equity action team meetings which are open to everyone, updates on our PTA website and my letters to the school community.

I've received many supportive emails from families about the equity work that we are doing.

As I discuss our equity work on school tours a number of families both gen ed and highly capable both white and families of color have told me that they would not consider sending their child to Thurgood Marshall except for the work we are doing in this area.

They worry about the message we send to children when we separate students along color lines albeit unintentionally.

This year our professional learning communities will revolve around social studies learning.

Our PLCs meet weekly and will be examining not just state social studies standards but also the framework for 21st century skills and common core standards related to social studies.

Each grade level team will determine the essential skills for their grade and design common assessments.

As they review student data from assessments they will design interventions for students who need more support in reteaching and for students who need enrichment.

Our teachers are skilled in differentiation as there is a wide range of ability in each of our classes regardless of whether they serve highly capable or general education students.

Should our waiver be approved each grade will mix classes three times per week for 30 to 45 minutes depending on grade level.

One quarter to one third of each class will be general education students.

We want to support all of our students in this endeavor and so we will be creating norms and charters for our social studies groups in line with our ruler program.

Teachers will collaborate to create structures for accountable talk, teaching students to respectfully disagree with, to challenge and to build on each other's ideas.

These skills benefit all of our students and will support them both in their mixed groups as well as when they are with their respective cohorts.

One result we have already seen from the equity work we are doing is that people have begun to have open conversations about race and equity.

Parents are willing to raise issues with us when they see something that doesn't sit well with them.

We notice who is participating in an event or opportunity and who isn't and we question that and try to find ways to solve it.

We see who is achieving or not and we try to find ways to remove obstacles.

Our plan to evaluate the results of the change to our social studies program is to look at several types of data.

The first, feelings of belonging and self-efficacy as measured by our student climate surveys and shorter surveys based on the climate survey questions that will be given to students at more frequent intervals.

The second is academic outcomes.

We will be carefully monitoring student progress on our baseline classroom assessments and on our SBA scores in English language arts.

Third, attendance data, knowing that our students who feel a strong sense of engagement with school are less likely to be absent.

And finally, parent survey data as we solicit parent feedback about our progress.

We have created a social studies steering committee made up of staff and parents from both highly capable and gen ed programs and will meet monthly to review our process and progress and to create a plan to respond to any concerns or unintended negative consequences that arise.

These stakeholders will ensure that this plan truly does benefit all of our students.

When the advanced learning department asked for community engagement regarding the proposal to create a social studies waiver the 60 community members who responded were overwhelmingly in favor of the proposed change.

Our goal is to do what makes sense for and is supported by our community based on the unique structure of our school and what we know about our students.

I have some parents and staff with me today that can add their perspective and I would like to thank all of our Thurgood Marshall contingent for showing up in their support today.

Angie Jenkins who is a parent and a member of our building leadership team will have a few comments.

Good afternoon my name is Angie Jenkins and I'm the parent of a third grader well going into fourth grade at Thurgood Marshall Elementary and so I just have a few things to share.

So while we generally had a satisfactory experience at Thurgood Marshall Elementary over the years it has been clear that the three programs are separate and certainly not equal.

When I asked my son about this idea of blended social studies, he thought that it would be good to work together as a team and solve all kinds of problems, is what he said.

So yes, he initially questioned the space and logistics of doing it, but he quickly responded that it would be a good idea.

As a parent, especially that of a capable African-American male in this public school system, it is my desire to see my son receive a strong education and thrive, not merely survive in a stagnant environment.

So as I was looking at an excerpt something that Katie sent us about what social studies means from the school district page.

I noticed the description where it said that social studies comprises the study of relationship among people and between people and the environment.

It recognizes the challenges and benefits of living in a diverse cultural and ideological society.

And that based on investigation and reflection, students develop distinctive skills and critical awareness of the human condition and emerging spatial patterns and the processes and events that shape them.

So, that all sounds great.

However, if we're trying to teach students this in isolation, we're not practicing what we're preaching.

And so, I feel like education is not just about theory, but it's about application of that theory and practice.

So, being able to have those kids practice and apply in a diverse environment is a huge learning tool.

It's not just what they're receiving in the books.

I really feel like it would be beneficial to not only my child in the gen ed program but to all children across programs.

And just hearing from in different situations where students see the benefit of these blended areas, I realize that they, the children recognize it and it's my hope that we as adults catch up.

Thank you.

Thank you Angie.

I'd also like to ask Cora Glass to come up and she's a teacher of highly capable students

Hello my name is Cora Glass and I have taught third grade in the HCC program for two years at Thurgood Marshall and I am also a member of the race and equity team at our school and I am in full support of the social studies integration efforts at our school.

Social studies is often an overlooked and forgotten subject in elementary education but I argue that it is one of the most important domains that helps prepare students to enter a world as critical thinkers.

What better domain to blend our students than one that celebrates and explores the human experience?

By using vital academic time to blend our students between programs, we are giving our students the clear message that we value this time.

This invaluable message will resonate with students for the rest of their lives.

I've already seen the power of our PLC work at Thurgood Marshall.

In my two years, I've had the great honor of collaborating with my colleagues to explore language and reading.

We developed curriculum, compared student work and we collaborated in ways that made every student in our school feel like my student.

Our school came alive in our PLCs and I expect that the work that we do in social studies to be no different.

Our staff is deeply committed to the success of all of our students.

In terms of how we will best serve all of our students in this blended environment I propose that this is already an area that the teachers in our school are well-versed in.

In the HCC program each year I receive a wide variety of students.

Some are strong readers, some excel in math.

I differentiate my instruction every day through engaging lessons, providing student choice, small group work, and explicit instruction of skills that can be applied for independent exploration.

These elements will be key in making sure that all students are provided with meaningful opportunities that allow them to grow.

For HCC students, the social studies blending of programs will be a powerful experience.

We know that students in this program will go on to be successful academically and go on to have great influence in the world.

We also know that, from the book Blindspot, that one of the best ways to tear down detrimental biases concerning race is through spending meaningful time and getting to know people who are unlike you.

I want to provide this opportunity for all of our students.

I want our students to be people who are not afraid of people who are unlike them, but rather they see them as people that they can solve problems alongside.

Thank you.

Thank you we have prepared a frequently asked questions document to inform the public in terms of this change in the superintendent procedure.

Copies are provided in the back of the auditorium here as well as a draft copy of the procedure around the waiver request itself.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate the background information.

So where we are with this particular item is that the superintendent procedure has been modified after discussion with the board C&I committee and input from Thurgood Marshall as well as from the highly capable advisory committee.

I guess maybe now the hard work begins or maybe not, maybe you've already done it.

But now the waiver process needs to work its way through for approval.

I would say that I would like to compliment the board curriculum and instruction committee.

They spent quite a bit of time and had a lot of deliberation trying to balance I think The needs of wanting to be responsive to the good work being done at a particular school and at the same time recognizing that a decision like this has implications across the district.

And so they have asked that in our work study session on I believe it's October 5th that we continue this discussion not so much I guess about Thurgood Marshall or Garfield.

But those will provide background information as the board makes considerations as to where we go as we go forward.

Are there any questions that the board wants to engage in at this point before I move on with the rest of my comments?

Thank you.

Again thank you to Thurgood Marshall.

So moving on to our focus on instruction and illuminating opportunity gaps.

We know that effective school boards, my little speech, I don't know if I can quote chapter and verse but I keep saying it.

Four goals, four years, student achievement.

I know I can find the research on it.

I don't know that it's quite that specific.

The idea is particularly for a big school district that the longer you keep the focus on goals the more momentum that you build up as people figure out what the goals are and what's expected and how to move toward them.

So thank you to our board.

We're still in the tentative stages for the goals going forward this year but so far the board is saying let's continue with three of the goals that we've been on.

now for a third year in a row which are excellence for all of our students, our MTSS process, equity, elimination of the opportunity gap, and community engagement.

In addition to that the board is tentatively set in place goals with regard to the budget.

It's a McCleary year.

and with regard to program review.

So that's kind of the work that the board has been teeing up for us and appreciate we're also in the process of moving that timeline forward from November to September to June.

So that means that we've been able to move forward with administrators calling them together in August and having 200 of our administrators present.

Thank you to Director Patu and Director Harris for being present at part of those deliberations.

And the comments that we heard from principals at the end of that session was wow, more coherent, more aligned, more together than we have been before.

So principals are noticing that the arrows are lining up and we are more aligned in the work that we are doing.

Specifically with regard to our plan to eliminate the opportunity gap, we know that despite our best efforts, despite having that as a goal for the last three years, we have not yet moved the needle.

district wide much at all.

We do have 12 of our schools that are outliers and are showing the way and doing better than the rest of the district and the rest of the state.

But we still have things to learn in that regard.

We are working on four Ps.

The first one is positive learning and that is our MTSS work and we want to continue that work.

It hasn't ever been fully funded.

Thanks to the board it will be a little bit better funded this year than it has been in the past.

Positive beliefs is the other area and the board was supportive of that last year and again for this coming year with regard to RULER and PBIS and our trauma-informed instruction that we now have.

I think half of our teachers have been through that particular training.

So, added to that for this year is positive relationships.

The idea that in addition to the academics, how do we let students know that we know who they are, that we care about them, and that we believe that they can excel.

So, in our partnership with SEA and with PASS, our principals association, great work has gone into planning our tri-day, time, responsibility, and incentive.

Our professional development days before school starts and so there will be, yeah, not quite how to describe it, kind of a webinar although it's more interactive than that.

It has several of us on video.

All of our partnerships including district level and SEA and PASS and students and parents and teachers with some poignant voices and thoughts and then facilitators have been trained districtwide.

So we aren't going to try to navigate Seattle traffic and get 3500 educators together but we are trying to provide a common educational experience and common terminology and SEA particularly has said and when we do this we want the schools to each set a climate goal and we want each teacher to set a goal for building a positive relationship with a student.

So, just a lot of good work and again Betty Patu did a great job of launching us with that work with our administrators group telling about her 35 years in Seattle Public Schools and that idea that students just aren't going to learn as well until they know that somebody loves them and cares about them and is in their corner.

So, a lot of good work is underway and we have a retreat coming up with the board on the 10th of September where we'll have the opportunity to go through kind of a little bit more, well a lot more in-depth about what that might look like.

Bernardo Ruiz and his team are moving into phase 3 for our race and equity teams.

We had 20 teams last year and we are adding 10 teams, 10 school teams going forward this year.

And then the president has had for the last two years something called my brother's keeper.

It started out as kind of a broad brush, big ideas about what could be done to eliminate opportunity gaps.

And then midway through last year they doubled down on a pretty simple idea that I think is pretty powerful and that is that if we can provide that positive relationship through a success mentor for every student that's chronically absent we can move the needle.

So Aki stepped up and said yes they would be willing to pilot that program.

So, and they did.

So they identified many of their IAs who were African-American and they identified 60 African-American boys that were not proficient on the state test.

And for six months actually less than that because the state test was given kind of in the middle of that six month time period.

94% of the students met the attendance target which meant that they missed less than five days of school for the second semester.

Virtually all of them made substantial growth about 20 percentile points on their benchmark assessment and almost half of them achieved proficiency.

So it will further reflect moving the needle for the number of African-American students who are proficient at Aki.

So, on the strength of that, Seattle was asked by the White House initiative for My Brother's Keeper last week to promote how the pilot worked and what some of the results were for the next 30 school districts, major urban cities that have signed up to launch that work.

Mia also made that presentation to her colleagues at the summer leadership Institute and it was standing room only and so we have quite a few schools that are eager to learn from Aki and the President's White House initiative has done a nice job of providing really rich and deep resources both for attendance and for what good mentoring looks like.

So I'm winding down here sorry to go so long here.

So ending on good news Eric McCurdy our executive director for athletics for the district has been elected as president of WIAA by his colleagues so kudos to Eric.

President of the board?

Of the board of directors for the WIAA yes.

Yeah he's not leaving us.

He just gets to do that in his spare time.

Garfield received a $100,000 grant from Microsoft and I don't think they knew they were getting it until that moment they were hosting the event and they were pleasantly surprised to get that recognition.

As I've continued to say we've got a lot of partners that are looking at us in addition to Wallace and Casey and Gates and I believe that two, not two of those but two in addition to those are very close to fruition with regard to continuing the Nesholm idea of our three middle schools and working on the feeder pattern and I think we have a big arts grant in the works as well.

And then finally.

Not often that we get a positive shout out for the behind-the-scenes work that goes on here at the John Stanford Center but Anita our coordinator for family partnerships and working together with our family engagement institute sent a nice note in for the accounting office that I'll read and I'll close with that.

I want to honor and celebrate the work of Marlene Fuller in the accounting department.

Marlene went above and beyond the call of duty to understand what was needed to register everyone for the family engagement Institute.

She used her specialized knowledge to elevate and instruct me joyfully and respectfully.

She followed through in a timely way and sent me regular communication.

I'm moved by people who give sincerely of their time.

Marlene's actions made an impact on so many of our families and staff.

She demonstrated our highest ideals.

Thank you Marlene.

So I'll close on that.

There are more comments in my endless set of comments here but we'll settle for having those posted on the website.

So thank you.

Thank you Superintendent Nyland.

I'd like to welcome Director Geary and Director Peters who just joined us.

So tonight we do not have any recognitions or student presentations.

And we do not have any student comments for this evening also.

So we are going to move into our consent agenda.

We have now reached the consent portion of tonight's agenda.

May I have a motion for the consent agenda?

I move approval of the consent agenda.

Second the motion.

Okay approval of the consent agenda has been, does anyone have anything that they would like to remove out of the consent agenda?

So since no one has anything to now motion to approve the consent agenda.

Hold on for a minute.

Wait a minute.

I suppose I read this.

Before we actually approve the consent agenda I would like to note for the record that I will be abstaining from the vote on the consent agenda as a member of my family is listed on the personnel report.

So per policy number 5251 ethics I need to recuse myself.

Do directors have any items?

Does the director have any questions?

Okay we are going to move forward on approving the consent agenda.

Can I have a motion?

So moved.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

We have now reached the public testimony portion of the agenda.

So we are going to go ahead and have the board directors actually do their board comments.

Dr. Blanford.

Thank you it's good to see my colleagues back after a nice hiatus.

I have community meetings scheduled for September 7, October 15, and November 12. The first one at the Capitol Hill branch of Seattle libraries and then the second and third at Douglas Truth libraries and my community meetings have been spirited affairs lately and that ties in very closely to the next item that I want to share which is an appreciation for the delegation from Thurgood Marshall who attended my last community meeting and shared some information on the change to the superintendent's procedures.

We had rich conversation at that meeting to understand in much greater depth what had been proposed and it's nice to see that that has evolved since the meeting in what was it May or June?

Yeah, somewhere around there.

It's nice to see how that has evolved.

I hope my colleagues can appreciate the kind of unique synchronicity of this moment in that we are talking about Thurgood Marshall.

named after the Supreme Court justice whose most famous case articulated the notion of separate is inherently unequal.

And what we heard principal May talking about and the teacher and the parent who are part of that community.

What they are talking about is the inherent unequalness that we see, we still see in our schools and particularly we see at that school and schools like it where we see students of color and their white peers go in separate directions.

I am remembering this time last year when we had another principal also from the community that I serve.

from Leschi Elementary that was talking about a similar phenomena with the Montessori program that she has at her school and how too many of her students head in different directions in different wings of her building and how in the same way that we are seeing at Thurgood Marshall A combination of teachers, administrators, and parents have come together to say that this is inherently unfair and does not live up to the values that we in Seattle profess to have.

And have uniquely figured out an innovative way to address those.

those inequities while still serving our students well.

And so I look forward to hearing the progress that's being made.

I'll be paying particular attention to the waiver process and hoping that that goes smoothly.

And again I want to thank the delegation for being here and speaking so articulately to the issues that are faced in your school.

And I think I will end on this note I believe that this is a phenomenon that plays out in many of our schools so I hope that we are able to use this as a test case and then expand out beyond there.

Thank you.

Director Burke.

Thank you all for coming.

A couple of comments.

I'd like to also welcome Nate Van Duzer to our team.

Game on.

It's a good time we'll be had in the future.

We're excited to have you.

I want to put both a rave and a request out there.

The rave is for our SPS staff, central staff who worked over the summer.

I see many of the faces over on the table there when I would make the small talk of oh how was your summer vacation?

to find that maybe there wasn't one or that it was a long weekend.

There are a lot of folks within the machine that have worked over the summer to catch up, to reinforce the foundation and to prepare for the start of school that's looming.

So I want to express appreciation for that.

And then build on that with a request that we maintain more of a human presence in the enrollment office over the summer.

Because some of the feedback that I got from constituents and the signs that I saw on the door that said sorry enrollment is closed and if you're a parent and you have a child to enroll and it's summertime and you think well when do I enroll?

What's the information?

There's nothing quite like the human touch so that's going to be my ask that we figure out how to have a human presence throughout the summer.

Recognizing that there's a cost to that.

But if we can figure out how to reinforce that.

I've had the chance to tour a couple of our new buildings, Genesee Hill and I got to see Seattle World School today.

Great workmanship, exciting, engaging designs and my hat is off to the capital projects team to open five new schools, same year, same time.

I sit on the BEX oversight committee so I got to see firsthand when problems would come up.

Things about the wettest December in recent history when we are trying to put roofs on buildings and poor foundations.

And what that does to our schedule and what that does to our project costs.

and how deliberate the teams have been to try to keep things on schedule at best value for our tax dollars.

So I really want to publicly appreciate that because Seattle is in the height of construction mania so for us to get enough people, enough subcontractors to put five schools online I think is commendable.

I want to thank the Thurgood Marshall team for coming.

I've had a chance to talk to Principal May briefly and I think as this has been a lively topic in the public eye and for the board and will continue to be.

I think it's a healthy topic for us to discuss and I'm excited about the October 5th work session where I think that my goal is that we can talk about some of the history, some of the research and figure out how to combine our instructional philosophy policy, our equity policy and boil our highly capable and advanced learning programs down to what we consider core principles as a board.

When we don't provide clarity in central leadership the schools have to innovate.

And we hope that they innovate anyways but In lack of clear guidance the staff in the schools have to do the right thing by their kids.

And I commend the team at Thurgood Marshall for pulling together just a broad swath of representation of staff, students, administrators and taking a thoughtful look at this equity situation.

My ask, one more kudos and that is the way that you presented your justification touched on many of the questions that I had around You know, what level of community engagement has been done, what are the drivers for this, what is the training to support this, because the pathway that you've charted for yourselves is something which is going to be more work.

And potentially quite a bit more work than some of the other pathways you could choose.

On the board we talk about new programs and changes and we use the word sustainability we use the words continuity so this commitment is a big one and I ask you not just to maintain the commitment to the equity but you think about the every student commitment of our district and that that you maintain high ideals for all students and that you identify the risks and the fears of the community and address them head on and keep us informed.

I think this conversation is going to get a lot deeper and I look forward to it on October 5 but I'll stop there.

I have no meetings set up yet but I will have something posted for September shortly and I wanted to close as a board director.

You get this unique soapbox opportunity and so I want to share a comment that I got from a constituent that really resonated with me and it doesn't strike to the heart of solid education which is really why I ran for board director.

But it does relate to some of the things that we do as a district and the effects, being good stewards of our environment and good stewards of our neighborhood.

So this comment is about one of my favorite topics, leaf blowers.

So this community person saw a two-person crew doing grounds work at one of our schools And we got a lengthy email about their concerns which were I would say extremely eloquent and persuasive.

A couple of specific questions that were brought up.

Did this crew collect debris at the school?

Not one speck.

How much cleaner is the neighborhood?

Dirtier from particles flung in the air plus harmful emissions and the noise pollution which is real.

Nothing was cleaned.

In a crowded city like Seattle you can no longer consider dusting with exhaust an option for cleaning dozens of public properties where children with respiratory problems go to learn, grow, and play.

And also we want to be thoughtful about our operators, our staff, and their protection against fumes and dust.

So I bring that up because I have a personal thing against leaf blowers as well.

It's like taking your problem and moving it to your neighbors.

So I'm just going to put that out there publicly and challenge our facilities team to find a better way.

Can we eliminate our use of leaf blowers?

Can we look at electric technologies?

Something that is not gas powered.

I just put it out there as a challenge.

Thank you.

Director Geary.

Okay make sure I am here.

We are back and it is good to be back.

I think I am still a little trying to get out of the groove of summer on such a lovely afternoon.

It is nice to see that anybody has come for this process.

I want to make sure that as we go into our new year that all the people who are approaching our district for the first time know that we as a district value each and every one of their children that we want to hear about their hopes and dreams for their children every family and I know that there was a posting on our website that may have given the impression that that isn't the case and that we are still under an attitude, an atmosphere where we are treating different families different ways and I assure you on behalf of myself and certainly this board as I know it that that is not what our district wants and it is not what I hear from our staff and that the message is that every child is first and foremost a Seattle Public Schools student to be treated like every other and that what we do to differentiate for those students is merely a service but doesn't speak as to any attribute that is inherent to them that makes them lesser than our other children.

and our other students and so I know that that may have been an impression given very briefly and I think our staff for recognizing that an erroneous posting was not how we wanted to convey the message and that it was removed and the correct message was placed up there.

And that leads me to also thank Thurgood Marshall contingency for coming in and trying something, I'm going to start this just by saying I do recognize from the comments that when our board policies aren't followed it erodes the faith that the public has in the board with regard to our own policies.

And so we need to be mindful of that and we need to make sure that we are staying on top of our policies.

But there are policies that become outdated or that practice shows aren't working for our kids and if we are going to live up to what we mean about you know valuing every student that sometimes there's going to be a shift and maybe sometimes practice is going to lead the way for the policy changes that are to follow.

And so as Director Burke commented we are going to have more discussion about our highly capable program and our advanced learners and it's going to be A very important discussion it's not going to be quick we're not going to just shoot something off and it may be hard and we're going to hear a lot of different opinions.

So I guess what I think on top of everybody else's comments I thank you for taking this step and taking the responsibility for doing this because it's a huge responsibility.

You are going to be what everyone is going to be looking at as to what changes we can make that are better for our students.

And so the care that I know that you are going to take and the responsibility you feel, I feel it very heavily for you because I'm counting on you.

I'm counting on you to show us a way that we can do things better in all of our schools consistent with the comments that I made in starting this.

So thank you very much it's very very important work.

I want to thank our capitals group and all the work that they've done on our buildings.

I've also visited now Arbor Heights, Genesee Hills and the new world school and I'm taking this opportunity though it's out of my district to visit these schools so I can get better acquainted with all the different regions and what our schools are offering and I will say It is amazing to walk into these buildings and to be a student who gets to walk into these buildings that have been so well thought out, are so beautiful, so full of light, so full of the promise of science and art and music and theater, all built in, all built into the building from day one.

And so thank you so much for all the work that our staff has done.

director or assistant superintendent Flip Herndon especially because I know he has been associate superintendent.

I know he has worked so hard all summer and worried and Richard Best as well and all the teams that have gone in the project managers And even now the people who are on these buildings working so hard I just have so much appreciation because I know what it's going to mean to our kids and our families to walk into those beautiful buildings and know how they are valued that we put together such beautiful atmospheres for them.

So I'll leave it at that for now except that I do have meetings.

I have a meeting this Saturday at 11 o'clock at the Montlake branch library.

And then my next three meetings will be at the Northeast branch library on September 24, October 22, and November 12 at 10 a.m.

Dr. Pinkham.

Do you mind if I say my comments after public testimony?

We can go ahead then.

You have three minutes.

Is your conversation more than three minutes?

We're just going to move on then.

Okay.

We can do that then.

I can fill three minutes.

But I will speak afterwards as well.

I just want to say I want to apologize for my tardiness.

That is an all-time record for me.

It took me an hour and a half to get here today.

Normally it takes me about 15 minutes.

I got caught in I think it was the Mariners traffic.

And so I would just like to make a suggestion to the city planners to look into pedestrian overpasses between our stadiums and our other main streets.

And then on the subject of sort of housekeeping type matters I will be having my next community meeting at the Magnolia library on Saturday September 3 from 11 o'clock until 1230. And so I'm going to reserve the rest of my comments until after I listen to the rest of the community.

Thank you all for coming out tonight.

Thanks.

That's pretty good.

It's not quite 530 yet but we're going to go ahead and get started.

We have now reached the public testimony portion of the agenda and it's not yet so I will now offer, never mind.

The rules for public testimony are on the screen and I would ask that speakers are respectful of these rules.

I would note that the board does not take public comments on issues related to personnel or individually named staff.

I would also like to note that each speaker has a two-minute speaking time.

When the two minutes have ended please conclude your remarks.

So we're going to call three names at a time if I can find my list.

What's my list at?

I can't even find my list.

In the back?

We have one more minute.

It is now 530. So our first one is Chris Jenkins, Mary Griffin, and Janice White.

My name is Chris Jackins Box 84063 Seattle 98124. On Bagley Elementary School why is the district leasing school playground space for church parking?

On E.C. Hughes three points.

Number one the district analysis notes that Rocks Hill is currently racially imbalanced and will occupy the E.C.

Hughes site.

Number two, the district would thereby be creating a racially imbalanced school at E.C.

Hughes.

Number three, closing the Roxhill site violates board policy and state law because no school closure process has been held.

Please vote no on these items.

On Magnolia, the district analysis notes that the areas from which enrollment will be drawn are racially imbalanced.

It is improper to claim that opening Magnolia will not create a racially imbalanced school.

Please vote no.

On Ingram, cutting trees at Ingram previously got the district into trouble.

On Loyal Heights, three points.

Number one, the board has waived board policy that prohibits play use in the school internal courtyard.

Number two, state law RCW 28A 320-0152 requires public notice of such changes to board policy.

This did not occur.

Number three, parents and community members have asked a court to review the issue.

On resolution 2016-17-1 memorializing the school board support of federal recognition of the Duwamish nation.

I very much support the resolution.

My thanks to Director Pinkham for bringing it forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Mary Griffin.

I am the parent of a student with disabilities as well as a legislative chair of the Seattle Special Education PTSA.

The Seattle Special Education PTSA opposes approval of the contract with NWSoil for several reasons.

Firstly, in July you voted not to approve the contract because you wanted to review the procedures and communication documents.

In your action report packet you have a virtually unchanged behavior management policy acknowledgement that parents must sign on admission as before.

This document wants parents to acknowledge that the school will engage in acts unauthorized by state law and Seattle Public School policy.

Specifically the use of undefined quote physical guidance unquote for such acts as disruption, defiance and poor modeling Even the very act of signing the document is an act which is forbidden by the WAC itself and by reference which references WAC 392172A which provides that it's a definition of consent.

Parents understand that the granting of consent is voluntary.

on the part of the parent and may be revoked at any time.

Here the consent on this form is clearly not voluntary.

Secondly, the assurances made in an unsigned, undated letter which is labeled draft that N.W.

Soil abides by the law ring very hollow.

as they appear to have made no changes in either their policy or their procedure including the training around the use of prone restraint.

Thirdly, the draft letter as well as the statements by Mr. Jessie refer to a report labeled coordinated success plan.

I have made public record requests to both SPS and OSPI as well as to Mr. Jessie.

I still haven't seen it.

If I were you, I would want a copy of that report.

Please ask for it.

Lastly, The administration claims it cannot place these students in the district because it doesn't have a therapeutic day school.

Well it does.

It has a therapeutic day school at Old VA run by Seneca called In Tandem.

Once again I ask you on behalf of the Seattle Special Education PTSA to vote this contract down due to lack of compliance with state law, lack of compliance with district policy.

Please wrap your comments up.

Lack of true voluntary parental consent, lack of transparency and lastly availability of a suitable program within the district.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon I'm Janice White.

This is the second time you are being asked to approve the contract with Northwest School of Innovative Learning.

The board action report before you this evening states that progress has been made in the collaborative work between Northwest School and Seattle Public Schools to revise their behavioral management policy and procedures.

Significantly the board action report does not say that Northwest schools policy and procedures are in compliance with state law.

That law has been in effect for over a year and unless you hear a clear statement that Northwest has changed its policy and procedures and trained its staff to ensure that their practices comply with state law and Seattle Public Schools policy you should not approve this contract.

Compare the old physical management policy with the new behavior management policy acknowledgment that students and parents are apparently required to sign.

The school still plans to use physical guidance when a student refuses to cooperate or provides poor modeling for other students.

The new policy states that physical guidance is not physical restraint, but what is it?

And why is it necessary when a student with a disability is refusing to cooperate but not posing a danger?

A new policy states that the use of physical management will be outlined as a supplement to every student's IEP.

This is despite state law that aversive intervention plans, the planned use of physical restraint and isolation is now prohibited.

Does this really sound like progress has been made to ensure that this school complies with state law?

I ask you not to approve the contract tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you.

David Sandler, Patricia Bailey and Devin Victoria.

David Sandler, Patricia Bailey.

Good evening.

The most harmful fad in education today is calling on principals to be instructional leaders.

This shift not only comes at the expense of the principal's time away from managing a well-run school but it devastatingly impacts the classroom as well.

Is it really reasonable to expect a principal who taught social studies or maybe music in past years to be an instructional leader when it comes to teaching math or reading?

Teachers are the true instructional leaders as they have the experience and training and how to exercise their professional knowledge, judgment and creativity.

So why is there a push to insert principals in these roles?

I know some principals simply smile the slogan and wisely carry on managing the school so teachers can teach.

But unfortunately too many principals naively take on the role of instructional leaders.

They pretend to know better than teachers but the best they can do is demand an off-the-shelf program be taught with fidelity.

Unfortunately this comes with a cost to the students.

Demanding fidelity of implementation over teacher judgment makes a teacher into an assembly line worker lacking adaptability, creativity and soul.

Good teachers use their imagination and experience to understand the mind and heart of the students they teach with a watchful eye to engagement.

The by the book cookie cutter method takes teacher empathy and critical thinking out of the equation and leaves sterile and perhaps deadening lessons.

When principals manage the big picture and teachers are free to be themselves and openly exchange ideas with each other families and children win.

please do not allow this destructive fad of principals as instructional leaders to continue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Janice White.

Okay.

Devon Victoria Brunchner.

Thank you.

Hi my name is Devin Bruckner and I am the parent of a third grader in the highly capable program Thurgood Marshall.

I am here to share my enthusiastic support for the Thurgood Marshall social studies proposal and I support it for three reasons.

First I believe it will enhance the learning outcomes and experiences of all students.

Today the real world and real jobs require engaging with diverse people and broadening who our children learn with will benefit all students.

Research is also showing that learning in diverse environments increases complex thinking and improves problem solving.

Second I believe this plan will help address in a small way the downside of having multiple programs with vastly different demographics in one school.

The racial differences in our programs have subtle but negative effects on our students reinforcing implicit bias which isn't good for these young minds.

Research has found that experiencing bias inhibits executive functioning.

Blending social studies can help kids build deeper friendships across programs and reduce some of these downsides.

Third, the Thurgood Marshall community is overwhelmingly in support of this proposal.

Nearly all parents I've talked to, both HCC and Gen Ed are supportive.

The divided nature of the programs is honestly a real concern for parents and this helps address that.

I'd also like to address the bigger picture.

This proposal I believe is consistent with board policy which states that a self-contained cohort option is available in grades 1 to 8. It doesn't say all subjects and there's precedent that in grades 1 to 8 some subjects are blended.

Thurgood Marshall HCC students will still be in a cohort they'll just have the added benefit of learning with other students in social studies.

Also I think we are all aware that there is a major racial and socioeconomic disproportionality in the composition of the HCC program.

Addressing this is critical and I am actually leading a subcommittee at Thurgood Marshall developing recommendations to increase HCC equity and diversity and we will be sharing with you more about this soon.

In short blended social studies is a step we want to take for our community and our unique environment.

Thank you for all the work you do on behalf of all children in Seattle Public Schools.

Thank you.

Casey Summers and Max Summers.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

As a parent of two HCC students at Thurgood Marshall for the past five years and as an educator I would like to share my strong support for the social studies plan at Thurgood Marshall.

Both of my boys have benefited from the rigorous academic program at the school.

I know that with the combined need of classes for social studies my fourth grade son Max's younger brother We'll continue to read text at his level and be pushed to think hard about what he's writing.

This is what our excellent teaching staff has been doing and has been developing and supporting through their PLC work these past two years.

Combining social studies classes will allow my child and other families children to be challenged to listen and think about others perspectives to become more thoughtful and educated citizens of the world.

Thurgood Marshall students are in a unique situation.

Attending a school that reflects the many communities in our city.

Combining classes for social studies will not only provide the opportunity for students to be challenged academically but also learn from each other and create a stronger and more cohesive school community.

I know that our teachers along with the strong leadership of Ms. May and Ms. Storley are excited about this change.

Have been working on the best ways to implement with the support of the district and are eager to embark on an opportunity to come together as one school in social studies and civics learning.

Our family initially chose Thurgood Marshall for the academic program but we've stayed over the past five years because of the community.

that makes up the school.

I want my children to be able to benefit from both and I'm confident that the social studies proposal will allow that to happen.

Thank you.

Hi my name is Max Summers I am going into 6th grade at Washington Middle School.

As a Thurgood Marshall student for the past five years I would like to share my opinion on blended social studies from a student's point of view.

Social studies is if not my favorite, one of my favorite subjects and I think keeping it contained in separate program classrooms doesn't give you a perspective of someone from another race or culture.

At Thurgood Marshall in math and reading and writing I felt challenged but what I valued more is what I took away from experiences at the school with kids in other programs.

This helped me understand what it's like to be them and it helped me in my own life.

In my fifth grade social dilemmas class I experienced working with kids of all different backgrounds, cultures.

When I was working with our school's autism program, the Peace Academy, being with the students I realized that this experience had helped me not only be more comfortable with them but helped me grow as a person.

Having social studies together with students from across the school would bring different points of view from people from different backgrounds.

Also fifth grade is where I felt I was connected to the world the most in my life.

Mainly because of the knowledge I gained about current events in the world and when I started thinking of ideas of what's right or wrong.

Social studies is like the perfect place to share your background and ideas and in social studies I saw all kinds of different opinions and I probably would have liked it more if there were even more different voices.

I learned valuable lessons when working with other kids that I believe will help me in middle school and beyond and I hope that future students at Thurgood Marshall will be able to learn together in social studies.

Thank you.

That is the end of our comments unless somebody out there still would like to speak.

We still have opening.

Don't all come up at once.

That is the end of our comments and now we are going to go into the board comments.

Director Harris.

Welcome back and happy summer to the Thurgood Marshall contingent.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for working so hard.

Thank you for pushing the boundaries.

I have some distinct concerns about the way our policies are written.

I think many of them are clear as mud if that.

I think that we need to ratchet back come October 5 as a starting point and I hope even before then to actually define advanced learning and to do it without jargon that only the people in this building and in our educational community understand.

I think that we need to own the fact that spectrum and AOL, ALO excuse me, is for all intents and purposes dead.

I think that we need to address issues like professional development.

that maybe should be required for differentiation techniques so that our teachers who are getting increasingly fuller classrooms actually have the tools to meet these enhanced needs.

If I were a teacher or community member at Thurgood Marshall I do exactly what you're doing.

No question about it.

But as a board member I have very significant concerns about how we work through policy and procedure.

I used to tease Shawna Heath on a regular basis and ask her when we were going to set the other 98 places at the table so we could have 98 different programs that address the needs and the wants of each school.

And that brings into that whole site-based management and accountability from downtown.

Maybe I'm dense maybe I just haven't seen the memo or I missed it.

But it's clear as mud.

And as leaders, as elected officials, we have to do, I think, a better job of defining those programs so that they can be interpreted, policy, law, baselines, on a fair basis.

And to meet the needs of all the kids in this city.

I absolutely respect and applaud your efforts.

Please hear me clearly there.

I'm troubled by how we're doing what we're doing here and also at Garfield.

It's a question of notice to our communities.

Do we do it in the middle of the summer?

Is a doodle poll in the middle of the summer about the AAL program appropriate?

Is that effective community engagement?

I would argue very adamantly it is not.

I would argue that our advanced learning issues are tense and that we need to drill down and get it right.

Community engagement.

Subject very close to my heart.

Director Campbell, Carrie Campbell is not here but we did have the first meeting a week ago.

Very successful, very rich and deep conversation.

I am very much looking forward to fleshing out those tools and setting up the training schedule for schools, staff, etc.

So that we embrace the concept of making those bigger circles.

on the notice of community engagement.

We might not have done such a grand job on advertising and inviting folks to the budget meeting that was held yesterday by good people with great intentions.

Please understand that the budget bill this year is going to have more opportunities for education and input.

And I think that's a beautiful thing because in the past it has been, there you go again, clear as mud.

And for folks to understand which dollars are restricted by which grant, federal dollars, state dollars, etc., I think makes a very big difference when we're reading the big goal book which is online and which is an extraordinary resource to do your own research.

Schmitz Park school.

It's my understanding we still do not have a contract with the city and the Associated Rec Council to offer childcare.

It pains my heart greatly since we knew this issue was coming for three years.

We started engaging with the different players back in April, May.

My understanding is the current The current contract is sitting at the city's desk at this point.

It's my distinct hope that we can offer daycare for a very much needed population in Northwest Seattle for over 300 kids.

We can do better we will do better.

I'm distressed by the testimony I heard about the Northwest soil program.

I understood it differently.

I'm very disturbed that if we don't vote for this seven to nine families will not have a place to land when school opens is what we've been told as board members.

I'm very distressed that we have such extraordinarily passionate and gifted community members.

that we're waiting until 530 on the board meeting to hear this information there's just got to be a better way to educate us up.

Whether it's via emails or phone calls or what all.

Hopefully it's not some of the less than elegant slamming that goes on on some of the Facebook and blogs.

Because I can tell you these colleagues up here are working real hard and it hurts like heck to be slammed on a regular basis.

If you've got ideas we want to hear them.

We want to return your phone calls and your emails.

And feeling the need sometimes to correct the record sets up not a nice, what's the word I want to say, it sets up an ugly tension.

And being somebody who's dense enough to tread where angels fear to, I'd much rather be proactive than reactive.

My community meetings are not yet scheduled.

They will be by the end of the week and uploaded.

I try for the third Saturday of the month and at 330 to 5 to make it available for folks to ride circuit if there isn't a particularly big issue.

and to the capital team and especially the Arbor Heights and Genesee Hill building builds.

Truly extraordinary work.

Those places were not fit for human consumption let alone good education in the past and they are light filled, they are beautiful.

The passion for which all members of the team and what was really lovely yesterday on the walkthrough was the fact that we had all kinds of different folks on the team and it was really obvious that people cared about what they did and the results show and I thank you in particular Associate Superintendent Herndon.

Way to go.

Thank you.

Dr. Peters.

Okay thank you all again for coming out tonight.

I'm going to first address the issue of the soil contract.

I was really troubled by the testimony we had tonight because we were presented with an update in the Audit and Finance Committee last week and we were told something a little bit different.

So when it comes time to discuss this particular matter I hope staff will be ready to be able to answer some of the questions that were brought forth by our speakers tonight.

Because clearly I have a hard time getting behind a contract where the provider may be in violation of state law and proper treatment of our students.

On the subject of principals as instructional leaders, that's something that's also occurred to me as I've seen it seems to have evolved as a role for principals and you know as far as what it takes to become a principal there are certain qualifications you have to have and I believe I was told once that you need to have been a teacher for only I think it's three years, can anybody Verify that, is it three years?

So they say that to become an excellent teacher you don't really hit your stride until about the fifth year.

So I find it a little bit curious that a principal with only three years of teaching experience would be put in charge of all of our teaching staff.

And so I know this is a much bigger issue but it's something that has occurred to me as well as something perhaps we should be looking at in terms of what we expect from our principals and what our principals can learn from our teachers.

Especially when we have teachers who have a lot more experience than the principals themselves.

And that is something I have witnessed in our schools.

All right.

On the subject of Thurgood Marshall and Garfield, I have also given this a lot of thought and I greatly appreciate the thought that is being put into this by the community members at Thurgood Marshall and also the teachers at Garfield.

And I think the intentions are sound.

What we have to look at carefully though is are we solving the real problems?

And are we doing this in a process that is clear, transparent, engages all the necessary stakeholders and follows what we set up as board policy.

I think the main issue for me is whether we are actually solving the main problem.

And the way I see it is we all are not happy with the fact that our advanced learning programs and services are not reaching all the students in our district who may need them.

And that there is a disproportionality of representation in our highly capable cohort.

And we are certain that that cannot be a valid representation of all the highly capable children in our district.

So, it seems to me that the main problem is how do we identify more of those students?

And I think our advanced learning staff has been trying to do this in multiple ways.

They've been testing a lot more students.

They've been trying different forms of testing because we know that a lot of tests have inherent bias in them.

And that a single test cannot tell you what a student can or cannot do.

It is my understanding that the advanced learning department has been trying to meet this challenge.

So my concern is simply removing advanced learning services and saying okay we will just teach everybody in the same group and we will teach them perhaps the same thing doesn't really address that issue.

And so in the case of Garfield what they are proposing to do is have an honors class for all students.

And what that does is say to all these students, these were students who already could be in this class, there was no barriers there other than any kind of barriers of lack of emotional support or any messages that anybody ever gives any student that they don't belong in a class.

And of course we want to break down those barriers.

What concerns me about Thurgood Marshall is it seems like what is being proposed is to remove a class and remove a service and that troubles me.

I'm also concerned about the manner in which this is being addressed and Director Harris did touch on this already.

For example, both the Thurgood Marshall and the Garfield proposals came to us at the end of the school year or during summer.

And so there was not the opportunity to do the proper community engagement with all the stakeholders.

And we have talked a lot as a district and as a board as to what it means to do proper genuine community engagement and how you define stakeholders.

And in the case of a program like Highly Capable there are as many as 3,000 to 5,000 stakeholders if you count all the students who have been identified.

and their families.

And then you could add all the other children who would be impacted by any of these changes.

So to do a simple poll over the summer or to just talk to members of one school or one class doesn't really amount to complete community engagement.

And so that is another concern.

I also have, I am worried about the precedent that could be set by allowing a waiver of board policy.

because then what calls into question is what a policy means.

And then we run into a problem of having inconsistent application of policy throughout the district.

It could then become a case where we have an arbitrary and capricious administration of policy and to do this through a superintendent procedure is not a very transparent way to do it and I think it is problematic.

And I don't think any of you want your efforts to be undermined by any question of illegitimacy.

So anything we do we have to do right.

And we have to do transparently.

And so I am happy that we are going to have a work session on October 5 where we will discuss advanced learning.

Because it seems like we are overdue for discussion of what it means to meet the needs of our children in this district.

What it means to make our district more integrated in every sense.

And we are not doing a good job on that.

So this is a bigger discussion and that is what I look forward to having.

I also want to remind people because there has been some fairly ugly conversation out in the blogosphere and social media about this topic.

I want to remind people that highly capable services are not a privilege.

They are an intervention.

This is a means to serve a need of students who have been identified as having a specific need.

And these students are not identified solely by race or socioeconomic status.

These students come in all different colors and backgrounds.

So if we were doing this right we would not even have this issue because there wouldn't be a difference between the kids in one group and the other group.

They would be all different.

There would be a variety of students in each group.

I would also ask us to take a look at history because it is incredibly frustrating to be in this position that the district was in in the past when APP at the time was located in Madrona.

I don't know how many of you remember that.

But that was problematic as well.

There was a division between the school of the classrooms.

The classrooms looked different.

And John Stanford, the superintendent said this cannot stand.

We cannot have classrooms where you look in the window and you see completely different kids.

And his solution was to move APP out of Madrona and put it in Lowell.

He recognized though that we still needed to meet the needs of our highly capable students but he also recognized that if we create schools where there is going to be these optics and these separations that that is poisonous and we can't do that.

I also want people to know that the district's current HCC program and even the former spectrum program was based on research, studies, task force, best practices.

So a lot of thought went into these.

So if we want to change them then we need to do it equally as thoughtfully and follow again the proper process so that everyone can feel that this was done in the most forthright proper manner so we can all feel good about what we are doing.

And so I thank you all for coming today and I think this conversation does need to continue because it is a complex one.

Thank you.

Director Pinkham.

Good evening and Qeˀciyéẁyéẁ thank you.

First of all thank you to the SPS staff yes I get this comment too working at the University of Washington so what did you do during your summer you had the time off?

No.

We still have to work we've got things to do and yes our staff works year-round and I appreciate it.

Welcome to Nate, looking forward to getting to know you better and working with you and also do want to give congratulations to a former Olympic Hills principal that now will be the executive director of schools in the Southwest area, Helen Young so congratulations to her.

Wish her the best in what she's doing.

My condolences to the Joseph Bland family and friends.

Losing anyone is definitely a difficult time and I lost two family members over the summer and it's tough.

You know, you'll get through.

Keep them in your thoughts and memories.

Thank you Director Harris actually too for being the co-sponsor of the Duwamish resolution and presenting at the executive board committee I thank you for allowing me to do that.

I must say that the person that was helping with this resolution with the Duwamish nation Thomas Spears has been sick but hopefully he will be able to show his presence at a future board meeting.

We also got other communications via email about Lowell Elementary and possibly a need to look at how maybe just the grounds are laid out that may allow for people to come there, the homeless, yes we have a huge homeless problem here in the Seattle area.

I guess you want to call it a problem and more just an issue we need to address to find space for our people that are looking for homes.

Striking that balance where unfortunately it seems like an unsafe situation is occurring at one of our schools where there is vegetation for them to set up tents and places to sleep under protection of some shade but there is supposed to be a school going on there.

So maybe we need to look at addressing those issues along with the City of Seattle to see how we can join solutions.

As far as the Thurgood Marshall and the highly capable cohorts you know they are talking about the issue where yes you look at one room with the highly capable who is predominantly white and Asian and the other classrooms are predominantly students of color.

That to me seems like an issue with how we are saying who is highly capable, what tests are we giving them, these students if there is that bias in these tests we've got to overcome that.

I do want Agree that yes, we need to have a good mixture.

We need to have diversity in our classrooms.

And so how we measure and identify students that become part of these highly capable cohorts, I think that's one of the issues right there.

To make sure that it isn't just one single test as Director Peters is saying that boom, this is it, you're in or out.

Because I see a lot of students that are coming up and not even students but families that are asking basically you know may I put my child in the highly capable and we'll give them a test to say if they can or cannot.

You know I battle this with my kids very much about when they say can I do something I say what do you mean can you?

Yes you can but may you?

And unfortunately we've got to come up with a way that we can say yes more to people that can I be part of this highly capable classroom?

Yes.

That needs to be our answer is not saying no. too many times because then that does decrease the diversity unfortunately.

Loyal Heights is definitely again it's in my district has been an issue for me and did notice that there was a briefing put in the Friday memos that I hope that our board here will look at that issues that are being brought up there.

There are some points that were made in the briefing that I have some issues with when they say kind of hint at it would be unfair to Hazel Wolf given that it's the same kind of lot size.

I would just say well if I feel that putting a building on such a small, a large building on a small lot size was wrong to begin with and to say compare those two doesn't make it more right or less wrong if we still proceed with the Loyal Heights at the current capacity.

We need to work somehow to make sure we're not shrinking the land usable land, unbreakable ground in a sense for our schools.

With the courtyard in particular with Loyal Heights where it says it was vetted that yes they can use a courtyard but again school board policy, school board we said no if we do have a courtyard that will not be used as play space so there is still more discussion that needs to go on and I hope we can have that as a board before the vote comes up on October 5 for the Loyal Heights contract.

My committee meetings are still to be determined.

I don't know how many of the board members but I'm unfortunately a diehard Husky football fan and Seahawks football fan so usually those Saturday Sunday meetings, uh oh I've got to find another time.

But especially when the Huskies haven't set their times yet for their games that makes it difficult.

But no, but my priority will be the district so I will be setting those meetings up.

I'm just going to have to miss a few games, oh no.

But again I just want to thank everyone for being here tonight as we get ready for this 2016-17 school year.

Thank you for being here and the board, the executive committee for pushing ahead the Duwamish resolution and Qeˀciyéẁyéẁ.

Thank you.

I would like to thank all the people that are here today to let us know about your concerns.

I would also like to thank the Thurston Marshall team for giving us a presentation of what is happening at your school.

I do support Director Harris and also Director Peters in terms of what they were talking about what's happening right now at Thurston Marshall.

So I'm not going to add any more other than I believe that there has to be a thorough community transparency engagement meeting to happen so we can all be on the same page.

This has been an ongoing conversation about advanced learning in terms of reaching students of color.

As long as we talk about it and not able to really sit down and decide what direction we are going to go we will never be able to bring in a mixture of the various students that we want to be part of this program.

And I look back at the international baccalaureate program that is now in existence in three of our high schools.

And what they do at Rainier Beach is that they allowed every student that comes through that building to take one IB class which is considered an honor class so they can be a part of the program.

And I know at the advanced learning it's a little bit more different.

Kids have to be tested in order for them to be qualified to be part of those programs.

So hopefully that with the meetings that are coming up people will come up with new ideas of how can we actually be able to bringing everyone together in terms of the benefits that all students have a right to an equity and quality education and that's allowing them to be part of an advanced learning program that some of them figure that they may never be able to get into.

So hopefully we can be able to bring that to a conclusion.

Also I would like to welcome all our board directors back into the new school year of 2016-2017.

We, you guys have done a great job in that last school year and looking forward to even a better job this year.

We didn't hit most of our marks but I believe that this year is going to be even a more greater energetic year for all of us I think.

And I want to thank the staff because without you it's hard for us to do the work that goes on here at the Seattle Public Schools.

So I thank you for all the hard work that you do.

All the overtimes and the headaches that we give you at times but we thank you for being patient and continue to support the work that's going on.

here at Seattle Public Schools and thank our superintendent for all the work that he does, the leadership that he continues to carry on and also Stephen Nelson who hasn't been here that long but even though he is an old member But continue on to be a very supportive part of helping superintendent continue on the work.

So thank you for all the work that you do and I think that the board appreciates all the work that you do because we are a team and without you we can't do the work by ourselves.

So with that note I would like to actually to ask the board to take a break, 10 minute break and then come back for our Action items.

Thank you.

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