Dev Mode. Emulators used.

School Board Meeting June 7th, 2017 Pt. 2

Publish Date: 6/13/2017
Description: Seattle Public Schools
SPEAKER_28

So I'd like to invite the board back up to the dais so we can continue with the next exciting moment in our meeting.

All right we will now move on to the superintendent's comments.

SPEAKER_13

All right that was great by Catherine Blaine.

I think maybe with that good instruction maybe I would have been successful with my violin.

All right well graduations are coming.

Graduations happen in the last week of school and so we're a week or so away from graduations and so Board members and senior staff will be busy along with the principal and the staff and the students and the parents from each of our high schools so we congratulate our staff and our students for a completion of a school year and a completion of a K-12 career for many of our students.

Well I want to share tonight a few highlights from our strategic plan, some of the topics of interest for our community and some good news and then there's also some handouts on the back table for all of the good news that we won't have time to share out loud tonight.

Under the strategic plan our first goal is in regard to educational excellence and equity.

And we wanted to feature some of our career and technical education work tonight.

A few of us had an opportunity yesterday I think.

to meet with the Seattle Port Authority who has been a good partner with us in helping us think about how we can expand our program.

And Dan Gossman has been hard at work the last year figuring out how we can continue to build and grow our CTE program.

With that I would recognize Director Burke and he has some comments with regard to the work that's been underway in CTE and some of our hopes and dreams in that area.

SPEAKER_11

Thank you Dr. Nyland.

I'm going to be brief, I just wanted to invite some of our students to share with us, we've heard from some amazing athletes and scholars, robotics, wizards, and I had the pleasure of attending an event that was hosted by the port of Seattle.

It was a working group event for CEOs and HR managers trying to identify how to connect opportunities in the workforce with our students to create really meaningful experiences for them in their high school years.

And Seattle Public Schools had the pleasure of four amazing students that spoke at that event.

And so we're trying to get them lined up for today.

We've had a couple of conflicts so we don't we don't have a full house but I want to just double check.

I see Jacob is here.

David are you out there somewhere?

I think there's there might David might not have been able to make it.

But I'd like to introduce Jacob Upsi, a student at Rainier Beach and Dan Golosman to share a little bit about the skill center program and Jacob's experience with his internship And sort of what it has meant to him, how it's helped, how Seattle Public Schools created an opportunity and really how we as a board can create that same opportunity for more students and really how you can inform the adults in making better decisions.

So thank you so much for coming and the microphone is yours.

SPEAKER_99

Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_34

Dan Goldstein, principal for the Steel Center.

I just want to introduce our student, Jacob Lukasi.

He's a senior at Rainier Beach High School, and he's been in our aerospace manufacturing science and technology course.

SPEAKER_42

And I'll let him do the talking.

SPEAKER_14

Hello, good evening board.

I am Jacob Upasai, a senior at Rainier Beach High School.

But I am not just a regular student taking regular classes.

I also participate in a career and technical education class that allows me to gain skills and information about future opportunities.

I'm in this core plus aerospace class.

This class taught by Chris Names has shown me the skills of operating a drill, lathe machine, mill machine, and TIG and MIG welding.

Being in this wonderful class is way different than being in a regular book-based class.

I get hands-on training and gain valuable information.

I get opportunities to attend job fairs and go on field trips to explore work sites and colleges.

Being taught all types of skills by Chris Names made me hungry to keep furthering my education on what types of jobs are out there.

With the knowledge and wonderful assistance from Chris Names and Tori Guerin I was given the opportunity to an internship through the Port of Seattle at Vigor industry.

I'm grateful for the CTE classes.

It has been so helpful and I appreciate everyone I've worked with.

The only thing I feel like can make CTE better is if there were other career choices that allowed students to be more open-minded and more understanding of what kinds of jobs there are out there.

Thank you for letting me come and speak tonight.

It means a lot that you guys care about my experience.

Oh, did you want to talk?

SPEAKER_11

Thanks, Jacob.

The way we roll here on the board is whenever somebody is at the podium, we all like to really grill them with questions.

So since you've been just nailing everything so far, I'm going to hit you with one.

What does the future look like for you after this month?

SPEAKER_14

I plan on heading to South Seattle to get my A&P license and hopefully get a job at Alaska Airlines.

I have a tour with them tomorrow so hopefully it all works out.

Brilliant thank you.

SPEAKER_23

So it sounds like a really exciting future for you.

So if you were to actually to tell a student about the best experience and what you gained from this, what would you actually say to a student in terms of where you are at right now?

SPEAKER_14

I met a bunch of great people, like all the CEOs of businesses, and I'm here because of these people.

So all the time it's a great way to get out there and expose yourself to the big people, big companies, and feel more confident and stuff.

Anything else?

Or any other questions?

SPEAKER_13

Jacob has done an awesome job in front of CEOs and a lot of community leaders so congratulations and best wishes to you.

Thank you.

We have 500 students enrolled for summer skill center learning opportunities from aerospace to digital arts and animation so work goes on and we continue to try to grow that program.

MTSS and EOG are goal one and goal two for our SMART goals and staff have been working diligently to prepare for a progress report to the board on June 14 a week from tonight.

And thank you to the board and staff we had a retreat here in this room for the board on Saturday.

We had some racial equity training from Dr. Stephanie Freiberg.

Board members reported on their SMART goal in terms of community engagement.

A lot of partnership activities and tag teaming to figure out how to expand awareness and understanding across our communities.

So thank you to the board for that.

And then Austina Devontae, president for Northwest Gifted Child Association gave an overview on highly capable programs statewide and in some of the other districts around our area.

Our second goal is with regard to improved systems and that's been part of our 74 and now $50 million budget shortfall.

The legislature is in their second special session which will end just before the end of June.

We are hopeful that they will, we keep hoping that they will get done early.

But that hasn't happened for a number of years and probably won't happen this year.

None of those plans under consideration come close to closing our $50 million shortfall but we do expect to get a little bit of additional resources.

Right now we are planning on doing a work session at the beginning of the board meeting on the 28th and then we will bring to the board for a first reading the budget for the 17-18 year on July 7 and then I don't think I have the right date.

Fourth, fifth, July 5 and then second reading later in July.

So we will be talking with you about restoration 3.0, 4.0 and trying to, I don't know that we will be able to read many tea leaves on the 28th of June but try to at least outline the likely areas that have the greatest board interest for restoration if and when more funds are forthcoming.

One of the highlights for improved systems is the infamous data profile.

Our data profile was something that was published in booklet form for a number of years and then hasn't been published for the last three or four years.

Partly because of staffing issues and partly because of budget issues.

Nevertheless our staff has continued to work on that concept and now has it uploaded in a digital format so much or all of that information that used to be available in print form is now available on our website.

Third goal for our strategic plan is school family and community engagement.

Seattle Seahawks Michael Bennett has collaborated with interagency on a garden project and then many of us had the opportunity to meet with the Seattle Council PTSA big meeting, we meet with them every month, their executive board, and we met with representatives from I don't know about all, but many of the school leaders at world school recently.

And they celebrated the recognition plaque that the school board had presented to them and we did a group picture with I don't know 70 or more people.

And then JoLynn Berge and Kerry Campbell and James Bush presented some of the work that is underway with regard to the website and with regard to budget.

And we had the opportunity to thank them for their work along with many others in carrying the message to Olympia and getting the levee cliff at least partially restored.

So moving on to topics of community interest, our last day of school will be June 26 due to our snow day and coming up on the agenda tonight is board approval of the calendar.

We do have key dates posted on the website.

We will have a report for you later.

We got a report in cabinet today on the summer staircase program and a very thoughtful and intentional and focused program to help students close gaps during the summer.

So our staff does a wonderful job of doing part of that work and then the city partners with us in similar efforts.

So lots of great opportunities for students over the summer.

In regard to waitlist moves and again I think we have many parents here tonight who want to comment on that.

We have been able to provide about half of the students parents who have requested choice moves about half of those have been granted.

about 3000 out of the 6000 requests.

The next update for waitlist for attendance area schools will occur after a June 15 enrollment projection update and board interest and concern in this area will also be addressed at a work session on the 28th of June.

Bell schedules are also tentatively well they're not tenants what are they?

They're tentative all right.

But they're on the board action agenda tonight and we're recognizing the fact that we have already approved a three tier bell schedule.

But we did make a request to the city for funding to see if we could move to two tiers since that was the great preference from our families.

So The city I believe takes that issue up on Monday and I don't know whether they will be able to find the funds to do that or not but we certainly appreciate their support in so many areas and this is just one more area where they have at least been very willing to consider the request and see if there is something that they might do to help move us to two tiers.

Rainier Beach high school I think we also have somebody here tonight wanting to comment on Capitol and when Rainier Beach might be up for remodeling.

Our staff did meet with the Rainier Beach high school community on Saturday May 20 for a full-day conversation about some of the needs that were there and some of the possibilities and what that might look like going forward.

Nothing is imminent in that area but we continue to plan for the next round of construction and Rainier Beach has made it clear that they certainly want to be part of that.

We also have some here tonight with regard to Japanese concerns and I don't know if Michelle will still be around for that or not.

We are not intentionally making any reductions in our dual language programs but I do believe that we have some challenges in terms of teach either student enrollments that are sufficient to support the teachers or teacher positions that we haven't been able to fill.

So we will continue to work on that area.

And then finally in terms of some good news, congratulations to our athletes tonight.

We've got a few more listed in my notes.

We only recognize state champions, often times we recognize those who have made it to state and that would be a much longer list.

And yes we have one of our executive directors who has a son that he is very proud of in terms of named 2017 Washington State Bob Scott award winner which I believe is a national award for so John Half Hiker is extremely pleased and proud of his son.

As board members know we have heard I suppose not recently but often from our librarians that that's yet another one of the areas that we find it difficult to support in the way that we would like due to insufficient state funding.

However, the board did get a report recently on the libraries that we are purchasing for our new schools and one of the things that Eric Caldwell has been able to do by working with the facilities group is to identify with our vendors lists of multi-ethnic books that would be representative of our school communities.

And that list will be made available, I mean we will buy those books for the schools that are new but we will also make the list available to all of the rest of our schools that are also trying to add to their collection to make sure that we are representing the students in that school.

Seven of our schools have been awarded refreshing school libraries grants so congratulations to Dunlap, Emerson, Franklin, Mercer, Thurgood Marshall, Wing Luke and Beacon Hill international school for getting their application turned in and being successful.

Also in the news recently was a national story I believe or at least a state story about shaming students for not having lunch money.

We do not do that in Seattle however we do occasionally have students that need a lunch and haven't been able to pay for a lunch.

So, we had an enterprising individual who started a GoFundMe campaign and helped us take care of that debt and then recently singer John Legend donated $5,000 to that campaign to help cover the cost of student school meal debts.

Congratulations to Whitman middle school symphonic band and senior orchestra.

The senior orchestra received a superior rating, the symphonic band also received a superior rating so good work on their part.

And then the college bound work.

College bound is a fascinating program.

It's a state promise to seventh graders to say if you are low income and you are the first to go to college in your family, if you keep your grades up the state will provide tuition free college when you reach your senior year.

The program has been around long enough that so far this year 726 of our low-income seniors have completed their financial aid forms and are hopefully on their way to college this fall.

So great state program to help keep dreams alive and make dreams come true.

So lots more information on the back table about staff visits, my visits to different parts of the community and lots more good news but I will conclude my remarks at this point.

SPEAKER_28

Thank you very much Dr. Nyland.

So we do not have a student to offer comments this evening.

So we will move on to the consent portion of our agenda but before we do I want to welcome Director Pinkham.

So we have now reached the consent portion of our agenda.

May I have a motion for the agenda?

SPEAKER_21

I move we approve the consent agenda.

SPEAKER_28

I second the motion.

Approval of the consent agenda has been moved and seconded.

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

Seeing none.

Ms. Shek roll call please.

I'm sorry all in favor of the consent agenda say aye.

All opposed.

Thank you.

The consent agenda has passed.

We are just about up to the public comment part of the evening we have about four minutes before we start so I am going to see if there's any director who would like to begin his or her comments in these four minutes before we begin with the public comments.

Does anybody have any preliminary comments they'd like to offer at this point?

Okay thank you Director Patu.

SPEAKER_23

First I wanted to go ahead and congratulate again Gail Morris for her recognition from the Nan Indore Spirit Award.

Well deserved.

Also I want to congratulate all the student athletes who actually won state champions job well done.

And also I would like to recognize congratulate and thank you to the seals of my literacy for all the students that actually received that.

And also really excited to see the Ballard robotics team for winning the world champion Viking robotics.

That's really an amazing achievement.

item that they built.

And also I really wanted to say thank you to the amazing band from Catherine playing K-8 school.

Not everybody can play violins and they actually did a wonderful job of having different violin players on their band.

So it's really great.

I also wanted to thank the various schools that I actually had visit.

very impressed with everything that was going on and went to visit Mercer middle school and also I visit Rayer Beach, also I visit Orca and just observing and went into some of the classes and observed the various things that the kids were doing and it's just amazing just to see the work that's going on in the different schools and kids really engaging and learning and I think that as a board director it's just amazing to go into the different schools and see all the various things that are happening to make, to really realize how successful that things are going in all the various schools.

And just wanted to say thank you to those principals for taking the time to be able to allow us to be able to visit them and just talk about what is successful and what is it that as a board director that we can do more to help to be able to support the various successful things that are happening in their schools.

And so I just, it's just a wonderful thing to do is just trying to actually to be able to visit all the schools and I also had a chance to visit interagency, I had a chance to go visit their job site and watching some of the kids building those little houses that they actually are putting out there for the homeless.

And just watching them really engaging in building, you know we talked about skill center tonight, it's amazing to really watch kids at work and how they enjoy it.

And really you know talking about what they want to do and how they would like to design it and so I mean it's amazing when we have skill centers that are actually teaching our students the various skills that they need in order for them to move forward hopefully job sites after they graduate from high school.

So it's just I had a wonderful time just visiting and just amazing to see all the success things that are going on in the various schools.

SPEAKER_28

Perfect we are now at 530. Thank you Director Patu.

So at 530 is when we start public testimony.

I just want to explain why we don't start it earlier.

We just want to be completely transparent and make sure that everybody knows that they were not going to start anything before they get here because we know it takes a bit of effort to get down here during this time of day.

So we don't begin the public testimony until 530. So the rules for public testimony are on the screen and I would ask the speakers be respectful of these rules.

I would note that the board does not take public comments on items 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.

Ms. Shek will read off the names of the testimony speakers and thank you all for coming tonight.

SPEAKER_31

up first up for public testimony we have Audrey Sly Elias Skookin Kiera Marie Oteg.

SPEAKER_35

Hello my name is Audrey Sly I am a student at Chief Sealth International High School.

I attend the dual immersion program in AP Spanish.

When I attended John Stanford Elementary I was one of the few kids that spoke Spanish at home.

There was not a lot of diversity in the classroom.

My younger brothers are at John Stanford now and it hasn't changed much.

Chief Sealth is a very diverse school and I like that.

I learn a lot from my classmates from different cultures.

I feel welcomed and included.

I hope there are more opportunities for kids like me to attend international schools.

Thank you for your consideration.

Now I give the rest of my time to Yamora Gomez.

SPEAKER_25

Hi my name is Yamara Gomez Nathan and I am actually a parent of a student that has just been accepted to John Stanford.

And so although a part of me is really really excited and when I got the letter I probably was more excited than him.

Another part of me has been a bit concerned because my son has been in a Spanish immersion school for about three years.

And so my husband and I have been a bit troubled about the differences that we see in the program.

One being the number of heritage speakers.

In the program where he is right now more than 50% of the students are Hispanic heritage speakers.

They have at least one parent that speaks Spanish at the household and they speak Spanish amongst themselves in the classroom.

Versus in John Stanford we have a very low 15%.

The second concern, and what I want to mention about that is kids are highly influenced by other kids.

So even if the teachers are speaking Spanish 100% of the time, if their friends are speaking English that is what they are going to default to.

And so that is a concern to me.

The second really is the program.

I think the program needs to be looked at a little bit.

A 50-50 breakout is not good enough for an immersion program.

it has to start with a higher percentage in that emerging language.

And so I would ask that that be looked at as well.

SPEAKER_40

My name is Eli Susskind I'm a freshman at Roosevelt high school and I'm currently learning how to speak Japanese.

Today I stand before you to ask you to please consider fighting for and retaining the Asian language programs in our Seattle schools.

My year of learning Japanese has inspired me and educated me in innumerable ways.

I have a deeper appreciation for the people and a culture that I might have never had a connection with.

I'm actively seeking other learning opportunities in Japan and Asia because of this newfound interest and understanding.

And I am able to brag to my private school educated cousins that living in Seattle provides a stellar education comparable to their pricey schools.

It is my 15th birthday today and I have chosen to spend it here with you to ask that you consider becoming a champion of English Asian languages as I have.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_27

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday dear Elias.

Happy birthday to you.

SPEAKER_31

Shekera Marie Otek.

Sid Vance.

Honey Ahmed.

SPEAKER_42

I am here today to speak about how the Japanese program changed my life and those of my classmates and to refute the cuts being made against the Japanese programs in middle and high schools.

As an Asian immigrant I was very happy that there was an Asian language being offered.

Not only because I felt close to it but also because it gives other students the opportunity to learn not only Asian languages themselves but also their culture and mindsets that come with speaking and thinking with those languages.

The fact that Asian languages are being targeted for budget cuts is saddening.

Because it not only takes away the opportunity for students to have the same experiences that my peers and I were lucky enough to have but it also targets something that affected me so greatly.

Learning Asian Languages potentially teaches American students who may not have much knowledge of any Asian cultures about a whole other part of the world that has more than half of the world's population.

On top of that, Learning Asian Languages offers a non-Eurocentric way of thinking.

It opens up so many doors, not only in careers, but it unlocks different ways to think and operate.

Taking Japanese at school gave me so many experiences meeting foreign exchange students going to Japan and meeting my teachers who had so many experiences and stories to tell us.

There was a point when taking Japanese stopped being just a language and it became something deeper a part of me.

So many people see that.

So many people see that students learn a language in school and a few years later they won't remember it.

But Japanese has embedded itself into my life and the lives of my classmates because of the teachers the experiences and the joy they have brought me. you But it wasn't always just fun and games.

Traveling to Japan with my classmates not only brought us closer as friends, but it taught us about the culture along with humility and gratitude.

We had an amazing time and it was one of the greatest learning experiences in our lives.

Limiting Asian languages in Seattle leaves only European, specifically romantic languages in our schools.

That is unfair to students and the people of Seattle.

Language is not just the sounds you make to communicate, especially when it comes to Asian languages, specifically with Japanese and Chinese.

They delve into a history and culture that so many won't learn.

Some people may think Japanese is not very relevant on the basis that it is only really spoken in Japan.

However, learning Japanese opens up so many windows for students who are genuinely interested in the language and culture.

Japan is the third biggest trade partner of the United States, the second most technologically advanced country in the world, and despite its physical size, the seventh largest world power.

Seattle being a highly software oriented city can only get closer to Japan at this point and having a fair amount of people in Seattle that can communicate and work with Japanese companies will help Seattle and Japan.

Asian languages offer insight to a large amount of world powers and a completely different aspect of the world that European languages cannot offer.

It is unfair to deprive students the future of Seattle and the United States of the opportunity to learn of experience and be part of everything that Japan and other countries have to offer.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_31

Thank you.

After Honey Ahmed we will have Gian Rosario and Irene Rosario.

SPEAKER_02

Good evening school board members.

My name is Honey and I'm a junior at Rainier Beach High School and I will be speaking about the progress that we have made with Rainier Beach High School's renovation and some very important questions that we have.

As my peer brought up parents are worried that the district is not dedicated enough on renovating Rainier Beach High School.

We even brought this up the last time we were here that Rainier Beach High School is the only high school that has not been fully renovated.

Even Southlake and alternative school with about 100 students receive a renovation and more modern building before us.

Parents who graduated from the school say it is very identical to its original structure.

Director Patu was at the meeting when tension was building up because the parent had asked essentially how do we get on top of the BEX V list.

And it seemed like we would not be put on top of the list and be the priority.

Eventually we were given the answer that we wanted and correct me if I'm wrong we learned that the capital planning team decides which schools are priority for renovation and then the school board decides whether to pass or not to pass the BEX levy.

We need an answer from each school member.

If you vote yes on the BEX levy if and only if Rainier Beach is at the top of the list.

Will you vote no on the BEX 5 levy if Rainier Beach high school is not at the top of the list.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_27

Thank you.

SPEAKER_36

Good evening school board members my name is Sokina Kale and I will be speaking about the progress that we have made with the Rainier Beach high school's renovation.

On May 20 community members, students, parents and teachers met with the capital planning team and the Bassetti architects the purpose of the meeting was to give the architects an idea of what the community envisioned the new Rainier Beach high school building would look like.

Overall the meeting went well, community members, students and parents took part in a design charrette.

We also brainstormed the identities of Rainier Beach's high school that makes up Rainier Beach.

Two very important questions we brought up during the meeting.

The first question was when will Rainier Beach's promise get delivered?

When the capital planning staff told us that the actual renovation may not happen until 2023 which is six years from now it raised an eyebrow in everyone in the room.

With the ongoing gentrification in Seattle parents were worried that by the time the school was renovated the demographics had already changed.

The students who would benefit from a better quality learning environment would no longer become a diverse minority group and the close the gap would be meaningless.

SPEAKER_04

The second question that was a little bit more heated.

A parent asked how can we ensure that renovation will happen and that Rainier Beach high school is on the top of the list.

This is where things got a little bit heated.

The parent felt that the capital planning staff was dodging her question or that the district wasn't really interested in renovating Rainier Beach high school.

Director Patu can actually vouch for me she was there as well and Director Patu had worked in Rainier Beach high school for 30 years.

I'm sure she understands and feels the same frustration these parents are feeling.

Parents were actually a lot more vigilant than students and myself I know this is because they've waited so long for this to happen.

Eventually we were given the answer that we wanted and correct me if I'm wrong but the process that we learned is that the capital planning team decides which schools are priority for renovation and then the school board decides whether to pass or not to pass the BX levy.

Now my question is what will the district do if Rainier Beach high school is not on top of that BX levy?

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_12

Good evening school board members my name is Arion Rosario I'm a student at South Shore middle school.

I'm here tonight to talk about the Rainier Beach high school renovation.

Despite not being a student at Rainier Beach High School I'm here tonight to help advocate for them.

When Rainier Beach High School students came to South Shore to sign the petition South Shore students agreed that Rainier Beach High School was in a dire need of renovation.

South Shore students were not interested into coming to beach because of because of its looks.

South Shore students who have been in South Shore for three to eight years look across the street and they see that Rainier Beach High School has not changed.

Now Rainier Beach High School students know that by the time by the time Rainier Beach High School has been renovated they will no longer be there.

They know this yet they continue to come every day come to every school board meeting.

They do this because they know that even if they never get a chance to bear the fruit of their labor their siblings and younger generations will go to Rainier Beach High School and they will learn in a better environment.

This is not a lost cause.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_31

Kiera Otik, after Kiera will be Chris Jackins and Aliza Rankin.

SPEAKER_01

Otaki Hello my name is Kiera Otaki and I am a freshman at Roosevelt High School.

In seventh grade I made probably the best decision I've made in my entire life and I signed up for Japanese.

I still remember the day when I walked into the cozy portable on a rainy Seattle morning.

I was surrounded by mostly new faces and characters and words I had no idea how to comprehend.

Although Japanese in itself was a very complicated and complex language, I dedicated myself to it.

Through many flashcards, tests, quizzes, and study guides, I familiarized myself with not just the language itself, but the culture.

I quickly became fascinated with Japan, Japanese, and all things to do with it.

In the summer of 2016, me and about 30 of my other classmates got to go on a trip we'd all never forget.

I had the privilege to be able to stay with a wonderful family, live in hotels with futons, the Japanese style of beds, ride on the shinkansen or bullet train, and completely immerse myself in the Japanese culture.

Because of this trip my love for Japanese has only grown and I have made so many lifelong friends and met so many amazing and kind people who will always leave a footprint on my life.

If Japanese is cut in Seattle public school district many many middle schoolers and high schoolers will not be able to receive this cultural experience that has shaped my future and many more life decisions.

When learning Japanese, you are opening doors for outstanding opportunities in the future.

And by studying Japanese, students are able to have more options for business, can live overseas, and studying Japanese can also be a gateway to many other Asian languages.

So why should Japanese stay in the Seattle Public School District?

Well Japan's economy is the third best in the world and the Chinese economy is the second soon to be the first.

Because students like me will be able to make lifelong friends lifelong memories and open themselves to a world of opportunity and change.

At least 125 million people speak Japanese in the world and by keeping Japanese in Seattle schools.

students will join the Japanese culture.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

My name is Chris Jackins box 84063 Seattle 98124. On the school year calendar is the district coordinating early release days with athletic events.

This might reduce loss school time from athletic events due to changes in school start times.

On the transportation grant from the city for the move to a two start time transportation system, three points.

Number one, if the city decides to provide $2.3 million it would be a one-time grant.

Number two, district staff have noted that the state will apparently not provide these funds in the future.

Number three, please clarify the assumptions behind the vote on this item.

On the educational specifications for Lincoln, four points.

Number one, the community use section is blank.

Number two, the director of capital projects kindly posted an image of the proposed commons area.

The design seems incompatible with the historic interiors.

Number three, the district was apparently convinced to allow an outside business to continue to lease Lincoln's Northeast parking lot.

In an appeal of the environmental review the hearing examiner recommended more school use of the parking lot and the superintendent agreed.

It is not clear that the ed specs address this issue.

Number four please review enrollment projections.

Please vote no on the ed specs.

On the waiver related to the state biology exam, the board voted on the waiver at a work session rather than at a regular meeting with less than two days notice and without allowing public testimony.

This is not a good way to conduct board business.

SPEAKER_31

Thank you.

After Elisa will be Eric Blumenhagen, Justin Adam Calm and Emily Lieberman.

SPEAKER_03

Hi.

Liza Rankin.

I'm talking about bell times and I want to start by thanking Peggy McEvoy and her team so much for all the time that they've put in.

I know it's been extra essentially I feel like everybody is working you know the jobs of two or three people these days and the extra effort and trying to figure out getting the cost down to switch to two tiers figuring out the system is really really appreciated.

Flipping the times this year to three tiers to allow those later starts for the adolescents which is so needed and important unfortunately came at the expense of elementary times.

We've got super early times, super late times.

And it's been really challenging.

I know that I'm pretty sure you've been provided with the data on tardiness.

Tardiness went up 96% of our elementary schools experienced an increase in tardiness.

Greatly impacting title I schools, kids are coming late, kids are coming without breakfast, it's really hard for kids to get to school in the morning.

And I know a lot of the equity piece has been talked about with the third tier time needing to be in the first year, but there's a big piece in that first tier time being so so so early, and with the additional extended day next year, it's just going to be even earlier.

We could have kids getting on buses as early as 630, 645 in the morning.

little elementary kids and the kids that have to travel the furthest are kids with special needs who can't be served at their neighborhood school.

So I want to just imagine for a second being a parent of a kid with special needs having to get that kid up at 5, 530 just to get them on the bus.

It's pretty ridiculous.

So I am grateful that the city is considering funding the switch.

I really really hope that they do.

If they don't the combination of those extra 20 minutes, the early release day and the extreme times is going to be just really really hard for families next year.

Of course I don't have enough time to say what I wanted to say.

But basically it's pretty ridiculous that the city's or that the school district has to go to the city to ask for something as basic as getting our children to school at a safe and healthy time and having enough transportation funds to it to allow that for all of our students.

It's pretty crazy.

It's you know in the drop of the it's like 2.3 million dollars a drop of the bucket.

SPEAKER_28

So I. Peters Please conclude your remarks.

SPEAKER_03

I guess to finish up I just want to like reaffirm my commitment to putting pressure on the state and hope and ask that the city and the district continue to join us in putting as much pressure on possible on the state to fund our schools so that we can get kids to school.

Thanks.

SPEAKER_10

Hello my name is Eric Blumhagen and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight.

A couple of weeks ago during the work session on waitlists you asked staff whether the current policy on holding waitlists for budget was in line with district policy or procedure.

I was stunned when they returned it's not aligned with policy or procedure but it's our practice.

I went home fuming.

If staff don't feel it's important to follow policy or procedure what's the point of writing them?

If practice outweighs policy then is positive change even possible in the district?

As it happens this is the season for my midyear performance reviews.

I wondered a little what would happen if I told my boss during that review that I wasn't going to follow policy or procedure, I was just going to follow my usual practice.

I don't think that would have ended well.

Then I saw the solution in the form of the superintendent's evaluation rubric on tonight's agenda.

I ask you to add staff compliance with policy and procedure to the evaluation rubric.

The board really can only hold one person accountable for district staff following policy, the superintendent.

However with a little pressure at the top I suspect that change would happen pretty quickly down the ranks.

I also ask that the next superintendent contract be written to eliminate any bonus or salary increase if there are clear instances where staff are not following policy and procedure and those violations continue after notice from the board.

Otherwise there is no incentive to follow policy and no incentive for positive change.

Finally I'd like to address a comment that I've heard a number of times.

It's really disingenuous to say that half of the waitlists have moved.

Half of the choice seats, choice requests from open enrollment were granted, about 3000. Since waitlists were released after open enrollment, about 3,000 people are on the waitlist.

About 3,000 people stay on the waitlist.

They have barely moved.

Thank you for your time, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak.

And please move the waitlist.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_34

I'm Justin Calm parent of a third grader and member of ORCA K-8 PTSA board.

I'm here to speak in favor of the proposed switch from a three tiered schedule to a two tiered one.

The most serious objection that I've heard to the switch is that it might be difficult for students to get to after school jobs.

Some children are expected to work so that they can supplement their family's incomes.

And if we look at this through an equity lens then we have to be worried about a change that could harm our most disadvantaged students.

That's a strong argument, but is it strong enough to overcome all the benefits of moving to later start times?

The American Academy of Pediatrics has called early start times for high schools an important public health issue, noting that earlier start times for high schools result in less sleep, which results in higher rates of depression, suicidal ideation, and car accidents.

These health issues are in addition to decreased academic performance and increased discipline problems that have been proven to accompany earlier start times.

So we have to ask ourselves, if we send our children to school earlier, what are we sacrificing to allow them to earn minimum wage?

Their educations, their dreams, or even their lives?

There is another side that is less discussed.

Under this three-tier system we have elementary school children in tier 3 schools like Orca who are starting school at 935 and getting out at 405. This school is doing, this system is doing tremendous disservice to these two children.

By the time they get to school they have been up for hours.

They have already missed an hour of education at a time when they are most ready to receive it.

By 3 PM they are restless and their teachers have to struggle to make anything productive happen.

The two-tiered system would move the tier 3 kids to earlier times.

So when you are considering this change and thinking about how it affects high school students, don't forget elementary age children who are losing hours of instructional time every day.

We tell our children that they need to come to school being ready to learn.

But then we schedule our school for times when they are biologically not ready.

We got to do better.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_31

After Emily Lieberman we will have Molly Brown-Hupert, Nicola Arano and Brian Terry.

SPEAKER_43

I'm Emily Lieberman and we are the Stevens community of families and teachers.

While multiple policies govern student assignment, board approved policy allows choice assignments to neighborhood schools.

The board approved policies say that these assignments are made on a space available basis.

Per the student assignment plan this lets students stay at their school even if they change addresses when the school has room.

It allows families to enroll siblings together when a school has room.

For the second year in a row the district is refusing to honor these commitments at Stevens.

Families from the CD are again being told that they can't continue at Stevens or have siblings assigned to Stevens because the district wants to increase enrollment at Madrona.

This creates an unlevel playing field in which families who live in the right neighborhood have advantages that are denied to other families such as access to choice assignments.

This is a risky approach for the district given the established legal protections against disparate impact.

Last year not one child was admitted from the Stevens waitlist.

13 waitlisted kids were siblings or current students.

Stevens had plenty of room in the building and in the staffing allocation.

The district dissolved the waitlist without admitting any of those students then turned around and admitted 11 different students from outside the Stevens boundary in August and September.

This is clear evidence that the district is operating outside board approved policy.

This year we have 23 kids on the Stevens waitlist, many siblings and current students.

Our building will have 100 empty seats and will lose two teachers who know and love our kids next year if the district again refuses to let our waitlisted students in.

We fear a further chipping away of our community strength and diversity if SPS continues to drive out our families and teachers.

We implore you to direct the district to comply with board policy and admit the students on the Stevens waitlist.

In your comments tonight I respectfully ask each of you to answer three questions.

One, are you the school board allowing the district to deviate from the approved assignment policy by redefining the criteria for offering choice assignments?

Two, are you allowing the district to limit access to choice assignments based on where families live?

And three, if you are allowing these deviations from approved policy what policy are you relying on instead and what authority allows that change?

Thank you for your board service and for your answers to these questions.

SPEAKER_38

Good evening directors I'm Molly Huppert and I'm here representing the racial equity and HCC team to ask the district to find a way to end the racial injustice in our advanced learning programs.

It's not good.

The data is not good while white kids account for only 46% of the population in Seattle Public Schools nearly 72% of HCC kids are white.

Nonwhite kids account for 54% yet make up only 28% of the HCC population.

In preparation for this I spoke with Faisal Jama executive director of the East African community services nonprofit organization to understand how one underserved population thinks about this.

His comments underscore many of the issues.

First is lack of awareness.

Messaging in a culturally appropriate way is maybe not available through the right channels.

Second is they question the value.

What value are their kids getting beyond going beyond just attending their local neighborhood schools?

Even if their kids do take the test we know that privileged students do much better on these types of tests so it's unlikely that they will qualify.

Say they do get through all of this and they make it into the program, the preference is to keep their kids at home in their home school closer to home, neighborhood school closer to home rather.

As you review the program I encourage you to be bold and think innovatively.

Look at successful programs from other schools, beg, borrow and steal what you can and look at ways to identify advanced learners in different and new innovative ways.

Can advanced learning be successfully delivered in neighborhood schools?

State law and policy 0030 require that we find advanced learners across all colors.

schools, cultures and languages.

If you value advanced learning within Seattle Public Schools please help us protect these programs by making them inclusive.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_20

She needs an interpreter.

My name is Manuela Sly and I'm her interpreter today.

SPEAKER_19

I transferred my child to McDonald international school after being at school that was just in English.

SPEAKER_20

The change was very positive for everybody as a family.

SPEAKER_19

Ahora él se siente más orgulloso de su cultura y está feliz de compartirlo con sus amigos.

SPEAKER_20

Now he feels more proud about his culture and he's very happy to share it with his friends.

SPEAKER_19

Me hace feliz el hecho de que él esté expuesto a diferentes culturas.

SPEAKER_20

It makes me happy that now he's exposed to different cultures.

SPEAKER_19

El hablar sobre justicia social y diversidad del mundo en estas escuelas hace que nuestros hijos como migrantes se sientan más seguros y desarrollen sensibilidad por los demás.

SPEAKER_20

The fact that children learn social justice in this school makes it so they're more proud of their origin and also their they learn about sensibility for other kids.

SPEAKER_19

Although my family has been favored with this kind of curriculum for social justice and equity.

SPEAKER_20

I don't see this reflected in the admission process.

SPEAKER_19

With having only 15% I would like for more Haitian speakers like my children are benefited just like my family.

In my own experience as a teacher of an immersion school and a parent of McDonald international school, I am convinced that when there's children that are heritage speakers.

SPEAKER_20

The classroom becomes more rich in terms of academics and culture.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_10

I cede my time to Catherine Bashi.

SPEAKER_07

Good afternoon and thank you and thank you for your service school board.

My name is Catherine Bashi I'm a representative of the racial equity in HCC team and I'm also the parent of an African-American middle school girl.

The data shows us that in our schools a white student is 20 times more likely to qualify for HCC than an African-American student.

We've heard the numbers recently.

There's a huge gap in equity for black students in the highly capable cohort.

And that gap plays out in my daughter's daily school experience.

She's taken the advanced learning test three times in her life.

She's 12. This year she was just a few points shy in one of the areas to qualify for HCC.

We appealed the decision.

A friend and a classmate of hers since elementary school, a white boy, also was a few points shy from qualifying for HCC.

His parents also appealed the decision.

My 12-year-old daughter predicted that her appeal would be denied and that his would be accepted.

Unfortunately she was right.

He's white.

I'm black.

She said.

No other reasons were given to us as to why the appeal was denied.

And her white friend was angry too.

He couldn't understand why his appeal would be accepted and not hers.

It pains me to hear my daughter's comments about her divided middle school about the white HCC students and the rest of the student body.

I believe that all students are highly capable.

And this system that perpetuates implicit racial bias hurts everyone.

It's time to break the cycle.

The future belongs to everyone.

Will we continue to uphold the status quo?

Or will you be the school board that helps to create an advanced learning program that serves all students from all backgrounds races and schools?

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_29

Thank you.

SPEAKER_31

Next up for public testimony we have Lisa Dawson Lee Kiera Blumhagen and Casey Rogers.

Lisa.

Kiera?

SPEAKER_33

Hello my name is Kiera Blumhagen and I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight.

I'm an eighth grade student at Hamilton.

I'm here to tell you a student's perspective looking towards my future in the school system about all of the hoops students must jump through on the way to graduation in our district.

Unfortunately as you know our schools are currently suffering a capacity crisis because they are criminally underfunded by the state legislature.

When schools are overcrowded as Garfield, Ballard and Roosevelt are some students don't get full schedules yet they need 24 credits to graduate so they can't graduate on time which means that they won't get into most colleges.

The district's main solution to this is summer school which isn't possible for students who have to work summer jobs.

Another option is online courses which are often expensive and for those who work during the school year are totally unfeasible as even the best of us have to sleep.

We need to ease the burden on our most crowded high schools.

Because of this we need to take another look at the physical space available in our buildings and the number of students they can actually accommodate.

32 students are forcibly assigned to Garfield including me, 31 to Ballard and 26 to Roosevelt while all of these students remain on waiting lists for other less crowded schools.

We can move these wait lists and make our schools more equitable.

Why don't we?

Thank you for your time and consideration and have a great night.

SPEAKER_31

Casey Rogers.

SPEAKER_41

Hi I'm Casey Rogers I'm in eighth grade at Hamilton middle school and I'm currently on the Ingram HCC waitlist for ninth grade.

Being on the waitlist isn't fun.

I thought hard to decide which high school was the best fit for me.

I visited my three options Roosevelt, Garfield and Ingram.

I compared all their programs and in the end I liked Ingram's IB program the best.

It's the right challenge for me.

So I chose Ingram as my first choice for high school.

I was disappointed when I was put on the waitlist when all the years before me were let in and most years after me will be let in.

It was even more disappointing when I went from number 9 to number 11 on the waitlist.

Please figure out the waitlist and soon.

I give the rest of my time to Hannah Alemi.

SPEAKER_39

Hi my name is Hannah Elamy and I'm an 8th grader also at Hamilton International Middle School and a member of their HCC program.

I wrote a letter to Principal Flo who is the principal of Ingram once I realized that I was in the waitlist.

I am number 34 on the waitlist and I was very upset because my district does not have a program like IB and I think it's quite unfair that I should have my academic experience changed because I live in a certain area.

I would ask you to consider letting everyone into Ingram who is on the waitlist.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_29

Thank you.

SPEAKER_31

Manuela Stile and after will be Ethan Rogers and Kate Coaster.

SPEAKER_20

Good afternoon my name is Manuela Stile and I give my time to my daughter Sabrina.

SPEAKER_37

Buenas tardes my name is Sabrina and I'm Mexican-American and I also attend Denny International Middle School.

I'm very fortunate to attend Denny which is such a diverse school which has a big variety of different cultures and languages.

It helps the kids feel connected.

When I was in elementary school my mom used to volunteer in my class and my favorite time was when she came to talk to us about Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead.

She brought hot chocolate and bread to share.

I like speaking Spanish at home and learning Spanish at school because I can connect with my abuelita that lives in Mexico.

Please support bilingual schools and students in Seattle.

Gracias.

Now I give the rest of my time to Angelica DeLorenzo.

SPEAKER_17

Good evening my name is Angelica DiLorenzo I am a parent of a Concord international elementary and a Denny's middle school both an immersion program.

I believe heritage speakers enrich the immersion programs in many ways.

I see it in my daughter's classroom where students collaborate and learn from each other.

Heritage speakers are paired up with English speakers and they interpret for each other during class and support each other.

ICI diversity, where students bring their cultural values and traditions into classrooms, contributing into the aspect of international school.

I see students learning to pronunciate better because they hear conversations with heritage speakers.

Students learn colloquial terms and engage in conversations with heritage speakers during the classroom and in recess and all day long.

Heritage speakers bring a real sense of inclusion to the immersion program.

As a member of the task force for the immersion program we made the recommendation to increase the set aside percentage from 15 to 30%.

Unfortunately the way enrollment is being done does not reflect this.

I would like the school board and leadership in the district to look into this issue to make sure the heritage speakers are being represented.

Thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_09

Good evening my name is Ethan Rogers you just heard from my son Casey.

If you could reduce a problem by 34% at no cost would you do it?

I've been crunching the numbers for the eighth grade Gen Ed and HCC waitlist including the number of students who want to go to each school and where they are currently assigned.

I found that two students want to go from Nathan Hale to Garfield and two other students want to go from Garfield to Nathan Hale.

There are 15 students who want to go from Ingram to Roosevelt and there are 15 other students who want to go from Roosevelt to Ingram.

In fact there are 53 instances of these mutual swaps between two schools.

That's 106 students in the ninth grade alone who could get what they're asking for without changing total enrollment in either the sending school or the receiving school.

My handout tonight delineates these exchanges and also the number of students who would be left behind.

You will see that there are four other instances where three students could be moved in a round robin.

One student from school A to school B, a second student from school B to school C, and a third student from school C to school A.

That is an additional 12 students who could get what they are asking for.

Also there are four Gen Ed students at Ingraham who are on the Ingraham HCC waitlist.

Please ask the principal there if you have any problems converting them.

I have it on good authority that he would not.

That's 122 students in ninth grade alone who could be moved off the Gen Ed and HCC waiting list and cause no changes in the current high school enrollment numbers.

122 out of 363. That's almost 34%.

I acknowledge that some of these exchanges may be complicated by factors of which I'm unaware.

However I have a doubt that can be true for all 61 exchanges I have described.

It may not be that simple but it is also not that complicated.

We can make substantial dent in these waiting lists and do it right now.

What is stopping us?

SPEAKER_31

After Kate Coaster we will have Antoinette Angulo and Annabelle Quintero and Jennifer Johnson.

SPEAKER_15

Good evening school board.

I'm here as a parent of a kindergartner and a third grader at McDonald international.

As a white English speaker I'm privileged in many ways.

And one way that I'm privileged is that I live in Wallingford and I can enroll my son and my daughter into McDonald's dual language program by virtue of being in the geo zone.

Well every day I feel lucky that they attend McDonald international I also know that it isn't fair.

Why were my kids able to get into the school so easily while many native inherited speaking families who could benefit most from the school are being left out of the admissions process.

What breaks my heart most is that the situation could have been avoided.

Last spring SPS's international dual language task force of which I am a part submitted a recommendation that the native heritage set aside be expanded from 15 to 30%.

Had this recommendation been heeded McDonald's could have enrolled all of the siblings, all of the GeoZone and all of the native and heritage speakers who applied.

Instead families like Angie's and others who are here tonight and many who couldn't make it are left on the waiting list.

I'll give the remainder of my time to Angie.

SPEAKER_05

Thank you for having me here, my name is Angelica Esquivel and I have two kids, Mayla which is five, we want to enroll her to a young Stanford international for kindergarten for next school year.

And I want to say just a little bit of background about my family.

I'm Mexican, my native speaking languages Spanish and I am married with an Indian so at home we speak three languages.

And as you can imagine it is very important for us that our kids can keep talking the three languages not just at home but in the places they go and also when I was in Mexico I was working in public education system teaching English as a second language.

So I am all pro of this multilingual education.

making long story short we were very unenchanted about that whole process of admission in John Stanford because we were living out of the Geo zone when we applied and we made an effort to move our family to Wallingford to be inside the Geo zone but unfortunately we were like a couple of weeks short.

And now we cannot be, I mean we are still in the waiting list because we cannot use the GeoZone, neither the native language part because we are in the waiting list.

So we would like you guys to help us to see in which way you can help families like ours.

SPEAKER_28

Peters We will have to ask you to conclude your remarks please.

SPEAKER_05

not to go to a private school because unfortunately we will if we want to keep giving education in other language we will have to go to a public school.

SPEAKER_28

I'm sorry everybody has two minutes and we have to be fair with everybody.

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_31

Antoinette.

Annabelle.

SPEAKER_30

Good evening.

My name is Annabelle Quintero.

I'm the education program manager at One America.

We are a non-profit community-based organization that works to build power within immigrant and refugee communities.

I'm here today and we are here today to urge all of you to please apply for the dual language grant.

Our members have mobilized and organized across the state and especially in King County.

Our team was part of writing the original language of the dual language bill that did pass.

And in addition to applying for the grant we would also like to provide a recommendation that parents and scholars be part of the implementation phase.

One to provide equity during the enrollment process where we are now seeing our members organized for years to pass this bill and now their children cannot even get into the program they fought so hard for to make into law.

Also, to make sure that the programs are comprehensive in middle school and high school because the grant does provide funds so that we can diversify the teacher workforce so that bilingual middle school and high school students can become certified bilingual teachers.

And so there is a huge opportunity here, and so we really want to ensure that there is equity in this enrollment process, that school is no longer subtractive, and we really want a systemic commitment from the board and also the Seattle school district.

What is the commitment, what is all of your commitment to bilingualism and to really having our global community lead?

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_31

Jennifer Johnson.

SPEAKER_32

Good evening.

I am here for my little man and also for his peers.

We have enrolled to be in McDonald school and we are on a waitlist.

We are number 43 and I was not able to get any information on where he is at because he is a heritage speaker.

I was absolutely thrilled to be moving to this area and psyched because I came from a very conservative area and I was grateful for the opportunity to put my son in a bilingual program because we can't afford a private Spanish school for him.

Most of his family is in Mexico and I would like for him to be able to communicate with them.

I would also argue that he would be a benefit to these immersion programs.

It's not just him benefiting from the school, but the fact that he's bringing his culture and his love and his community to the school is vastly important.

I cede the rest of my time to Kiri Kayete.

SPEAKER_22

Hi there my name is Katie and my son Rio when he was one his Chilean father passed away.

Spanish for our family is a connection to his Chilean family and his heritage.

We applied for the McDonald international program and never heard back.

from the program.

We are just outside of the geo zone.

And I just like to express how important a bilingual education is for us and as a single mom.

It is very challenging to find the time to maintain that in the household and how beautiful bilingual education is these programs are that they are offered to heritage speakers and I wanted to share that experience that we were left without any information after doing all of the following all of the correct steps to apply for the program.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_31

Next up we have Suzanne DuRard, Catherine Rios-Martinez, and Devin Madden.

SPEAKER_24

DuRard Good evening.

I'm Suzanne DuRard and I'm here as a representative of the racial equity in HCC team and as a parent of a child in the HCC program because we need greater equity in SPS's advanced learning programs.

Research shows that students exposure to other students who are different than they are and the new ideas and challenges that that exposure brings leads to improve cognitive skills including critical thinking and problem-solving.

My kid was tested for HCC early on, but we chose to keep him at Kimball because we were bothered by the obvious racial divide at Thurgood Marshall.

Where HCC students are overwhelmingly white, and non-HCC students have been mostly nonwhite.

More importantly, we wanted our kid to experience diversity in his school environment, and to benefit from that exposure.

Not to be in an environment that reinforces harmful racial stereotypes.

Now he's at Washington Middle School, and it's disappointing to see the racial makeup of his classes.

It was clear at Kimball that there were kids who could have benefited from advanced learning opportunities who weren't getting them.

And as I asked various teachers who were not even being pushed to apply for testing, the two kids who outperformed my kid all the time were from families where English wasn't spoken at home.

Those kids should be in my son's class right now at WMS and they are not.

Whether it's because they were never tested, were tested and didn't make the cutoff, or were tested and chose not to participate in HCC because the student population didn't look like them, a known issue for kids of color who do qualify under the current testing regime, this is an obvious area for improvement by SPS.

The advanced learning programs review must support big changes in who gets identified and how they are served.

If you value having an advanced learning program in Seattle Public Schools you should be fighting much harder to fix these inequities.

To find advanced learners in all corners of the school district and raise the level of services and expectations for these students.

Please be the school board that doesn't just uphold the status quo but that breaks down the barriers and that creates advanced learning program that serves students from all backgrounds.

races, and schools.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_06

Hello I didn't think I'd get the chance to speak and I appreciate the opportunity.

I understand you have hard decisions to make on budget cuts but I wanted to talk about the Asian languages program at Seattle Public Schools.

I understand cuts are possibly coming, and I just wanted to speak from a perspective of being competitive in a global economy.

My daughter touched on the fact that the largest and fastest growing economies in the world, or some of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world, are in Asia.

China is soon to become the largest economy in the world.

It could be 20, 30, 40 years or sooner.

Japan is the third or fourth largest economy in the world.

And we on the West Coast are located very close to Asia.

You have tough decisions to make.

I would almost put them in the same category as business decisions.

It's about making decisions on which language to support, which language not to support.

I can't think of a reason why we would want to make cuts in languages that represent two of our four largest trading partners, or two of our five largest trading partners, and some of the fastest developing economies in the world.

It just doesn't make sense.

I think we need to look at being competitive, preparing our students to be competitive, and looking at where we put our resources.

Again, it's a tough decision and I respect the fact that you have to make it.

That's all I have to say.

Thanks.

SPEAKER_18

Japan's culture and language is something that I have held dear to me ever since I was exposed to it in my second year of middle school.

I have been looking forward to graduating the Japanese language course since I began it, but recent trends of dropping it within the school district threaten my dream success and the potential of success to more students who share the feelings that are synonymous to mine.

When language classes are dropped, it seems that Asian languages are often first chosen to go.

While European languages remain untouched, Asian languages do not receive the same respect as European languages, even when there is a substantial number of students desiring to learn them.

Because of this discrepancy, students not learning one of these Asian languages develop the impression that language or culture develop the impression that the language or culture of these societies are unimportant.

This lack of respect has the potential to teach students that Asian cultures and languages are not as important as Western ones, which increases the divide between the East and West, promoting Eurocentrism.

This alienation of foreign cultures promotes xenophobia and racism through ignorance.

This is an ignorance spread onto me as I was growing up.

I wasn't fortunate enough to learn about Asian culture until I had reached middle school and decided to take Japanese, while the other students who didn't decide to learn Japanese had their growth of Eastern knowledge stunted until they reached their freshman year of high school.

The majority of my life consisted of an understanding that Asia was China, Japan, and nothing else.

I even lacked a clear understanding of the differences in geography and culture the two shared.

I was only in my first year of middle school when not even to my knowledge I was discussing Asian geography with my classmate I had just befriended.

She had mentioned that her family was from Cambodia and out of embarrassment and my ignorance I had nodded and smiled.

The shame I felt in that moment over my lack of geographical knowledge helps me to recall my thought of gee that sounds Spanish from a single fleeting conversation.

I then gained the realization that I needed to learn something anything about any place within Asia and Japan is where I decided to start.

It is important that when announcing the extracurricular activities that will need to be dropped the school board should make sure that language is important to the population of the school and protected.

Thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_31

Ms. Anderson was our 25th speaker and this concludes our public testimony time.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_16

Good evening.

I am a Seattle public high school student in 11th grade and I would like to share the importance of learning Asian languages.

I am currently learning Japanese and Chinese and doing so I have learned about Japanese and Chinese culture in depth as well as the differences between them.

But why is this important?

Apart from the fact that these languages are considered difficult to learn and thus ambitious to take, which impresses colleges, learning Asian languages has broadened my worldview.

As so much of our education is Eurocentric, Asian language classes are crucial because they challenge the societal norms many of us have grown up with.

With new perspectives comes innovation, awareness and empathy to combat the systematic ignorance and fear of difference that promotes xenophobia.

Our future world ambassadors are going through school at this moment.

Think of how critical it is that they learn to be tolerant of other cultures.

Diversity a value we cherish here in the US must be upheld for not only do we live in a city with a huge connection to Asia culturally and geographically but we also maintain a rich diversity of thought in our schools that we cannot afford to lose.

It is for these reasons that the school board must not allow Asian languages in Asian language classes to disappear from the curricula of Seattle Public Schools.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_28

Thank you.

That now concludes our public comments for the evening I want to thank you all for coming and we will now proceed to the board comments and the directors typically will respond to what they heard tonight so if you want to stick around and hear what the board has to say you are certainly welcome to.

All right would any director like to go first?

Dr. Geary.

SPEAKER_26

Thank you everybody for coming.

There's a lot of issues.

We've been getting a lot of emails too.

And there's a lot going on along with the combining of the end of the school year.

I think that we're all feeling the tension of our budget coming to a head.

And so thank you to everyone.

We do listen.

We take it very seriously.

And certainly this all goes back to how we're going to define the funding of basic education.

and what our state legislature is going to give us in terms of being flexible enough to meet the needs beyond that which has been deemed a weighted staffing standard and numbers of kids that you are going to educate to meet state standards.

And if that's all we're going to fund from a state perspective it's very difficult from up here to try to figure out ways to stretch the dollars to start including the education that we as a city hold so dear in so many ways.

So I can't say that there isn't a single person up here that I would disagree with right?

I would love to give everything to everybody.

But we will get into some more detailed comments.

Gail Morris is just a rockstar in our district from the moment I met her I have just been so incredibly impressed the work she does is so important.

We were given an unfunded mandate to implement native curriculum and with so few resources she continues to move forward.

I was taken aside by people at Laurelhurst Elementary who recently went through the training that she gave and they were beside themselves.

with how wonderful it was and when I came back here Gail came up to me and it was a circle.

It was a circle of her saying how she appreciated their reception.

And so that is not a school that one would totally first think of in terms of embracing some of those culturally different ideas.

But the fact that she is out there and spreading that enthusiasm into all of our schools is wonderful.

And of course she deserves every and any award she could possibly be considered for.

I would nominate her myself.

Thank you to all of our athletes, we know how important that is, we see that in emails every day as we are talking about moving our bell times.

So these are our special people, a special shout out to my Roosevelt athletes in district three, Yahoo, I'm sure everybody will have their own to honor specifically.

Ballard robotics, that is really cool, Director Burke and I had the pleasure of going to aviation high and visit that.

An amazing opportunity, I don't want to, I could go on with that and I'm just going to say I wish we could provide such a unique opportunity for all our kids to meet their specific interests.

But I will say that they were quite jealous of Ballard High and the award that they came home with.

So you know, way to go Ballard.

A seal of biliteracy I think you know how timely that you are all here to talk about heritage speaking and our Asian dual language again this goes back to basic ed and what we are going to value.

And so we have to make sure that we are telling the people who bring us in our funding streams that these are important.

I really appreciate hearing from the heritage language folks because I think it raises questions for me I wish I was more familiar with the issue and it's one that I definitely have to study up on.

What I do know is that what we hear from the board is that it's difficult to maintain our immersion schools because there is attrition over time.

And I'm thinking that probably heritage speakers are not the ones that are leaving those schools.

And so to keep those schools strong perhaps we need to think of ways to make sure that they are being incorporated from the beginning bolstering it's such a two-way street in terms of being great for those kids who we see over time end up if not taught in a culturally relevant way end up on the fringes of our statistics.

bringing in those cultures and keeping those programs strong in their longevity.

So it raises questions for me, it's tying things together, love that.

Catherine Blaine's music program, so wonderful, just to get to sit through yet another opportunity of seeing how Seattle Public Schools is providing for the arts in our kids.

Rainier Beach students and they come every single meeting and yes I will look for the BEX proposal.

Now are you correct?

Yes and no.

We will approve that which we will request the levy be voted on.

But it is the public that votes on the levy itself.

But I think certainly we are all anticipating seeing Rainier Beach on our next BEX request.

We did have the retreat which was awesome.

I loved hearing from Stephanie Freiberg about identity threat.

That coupled with the HCC program again is tying in a lot of things that we're hearing about today.

Can't go into depth about that.

Interesting information from both students.

Here's my thought about that.

Public education is our one great opportunity in a world that is quickly self-segregating.

As adults we are self-segregating, we go into neighborhoods that we are comfortable in.

Public education is our one opportunity to expose our children to lots of different ideas.

To teach them respect of different cultures, to teach them curiosity about different people.

So that when they do finally have an opportunity to choose where they are going to be in their They may not self-segregate, they may seek out the people who are different, who present different ideas, different cultures, and they won't.

That's the way we break down the barriers and we respect and value each other.

what I'm thinking in terms of trying to meet and erase some of the identity threats.

So one of the things we saw I think in about highly capable is that the highly capable programs tend to follow the dominant cultures within the areas that they exist in.

And the more culturally mixed the area the more you will see that mixture reflected in the HCC population.

But we are a city that has self segregated so to think that we are going to create those cultures I think may be beyond us.

Because we can't control how our city has divided itself in some ways.

But what if we started to design and think about schools as having project rooms?

Rooms that accommodated arts and science in a big room and every one of those rooms in every one of those schools was staffed with a highly capable certified teacher.

And that teacher was there to support all the teachers in the school that may be grappling with issues for kids who need extra.

They haven't tested necessarily, they don't show strength in both areas but maybe one or the other.

Maybe they are language arts gifted, maybe they are creative gifted, maybe they are math or stem gifted.

But that teacher has been trained specially just like a special ed teacher to design instruction.

But then they also have a room, a special room that has resources for those kids, any kid who wants to deep dive into something to come and do project learning.

And go into that room when they are done with their curriculum in their regular classroom and they can go and work on the thing that excites them.

With an adult who has a special training to meet their needs.

In their school where they have their friends, their siblings, their culture is relevant it's close to their neighborhood and then we don't make a mandate as to who gets to go in that room.

So if a kid who hasn't tested in but would really love the opportunity to deep dive into building things or writing stories or creating plays could go into that room and find a place where they could work on their special gift.

So that's my thought.

That is how I would try to be a school board director that changed the face of HCC and highly capable education to meet the needs of our kids.

So I throw that out there.

I popped into the auditorium this week and met with Lisa Love and she was running groups of parents, teachers, directing, working on curriculum to address and teach kids about gender identity in the elementary grades.

And they were sitting around looking at the most lovely just books that were so age appropriate and they were so excited about their work.

And so I just wanted to shout that out because I think sometimes we don't know that that work is going on.

I hear about it and people write to me about how are we going to make sure that we can't stop that conversation in middle school.

We need to start it earlier.

I just wanted to let the public know we are starting that conversation.

We have teams working on it and they're really excited about that work.

So I have lots of other things to report but I don't want to take too much time.

My apologies for missing my Tuesday night meeting I was in an automobile accident that evening which sort of left my daughter traumatized and frankly I didn't think about it until I got home and saw your email so I apologize.

I'm trying to set up some opportunities to talk with parents I hope it's not too late in light of tonight's.

tonight's vote but I wanted to let you know that but I will be at Zoka Blakely tomorrow morning from 730 to nine should anybody want to come and visit me.

So and Emily as to the waitlist I can't remember the questions I think we are all waiting until June 15 because that is what we have been told is the next date But I will say to the extent that we could be making across the board swaps as was explained to us I thought it was my understanding that those were being worked on.

So if that is not the case we need to continue to look at moving the waitlist for those types of impacts.

As to the bell times.

I think Liza Rankin, there's just so much going on.

Liza Rankin said it well, that to have three tiers and then to extend the day for our elementary students on both ends starts creating a really complicated system in our city for our families.

We have little kids who are getting out very late and getting to school very early.

We have transportation safety issues and then we have the opportunities potentially for extracurriculars in the afternoon trying to coordinate all those for those kids.

In terms of also finding daycares that could service multiple elementary schools with such broad needs becomes more difficult.

Certainly families with resources are going to be better able to ameliorate through those changes or through that consistency.

But our families that don't have resources will be hit harder.

I understand at the high school level there are extracurricular concerns and jobs concerns too.

But I think we need to think about our elementary families and who has the resources to overcome that for the kids who absolutely need to be supervised as these changes are taking place.

I know everybody else will have comments but those are some of my thoughts as well.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_28

Director Blanford.

SPEAKER_00

Much like both directors Patu and Gary I'd like to thank Gail Morris for her educational leadership and just leadership in general.

The athletics teams the language students that were appreciated and robotics world champions.

That's a quite a gift to give to Seattle.

The bling K8 orchestra I found myself as I was listening to them thinking back to when I was a violin student in like 2nd and 3rd grade so I have great appreciation.

They played far better than me and my gang of students back in the day so I have great appreciation for their work.

And finally to Jacob Apasai.

who spoke very passionately about career and technical education.

To all the folks who came this evening to speak I particularly appreciate the fact that you brought your issues to us, the Rainier Beach students, the Japanese learners, those who spoke about the waitlists.

and in particular the Thurgood Marshall highly capable equity team.

I've had a couple of meetings with those folks and appreciate the fact that they continue to bring that issue forward, make sure that we as board members are aware not just of the theory and all of the studies that tell us but what the actual impacts are in the classrooms.

And I've talked to many people in my community who speak passionately about the fact that they choose not to enroll their students in the program and others who are in the program who decry the fact that it is not, it is a much more homogenous population than our general education population and so it speaks powerfully to the notion that we need to create some reform that will allow all of our students to reach their potential in particular our kids in our highly capable program to be able to reach their potential.

I have a community meeting that is scheduled for the 24th of June and it will be at the Douglas truth library at 23rd and Yesler.

It starts at 10 o'clock and goes until 12 and as usual we will have a raucous affair there so I'm hoping that lots of folks have the opportunity to come to that meeting.

Director Blanford.

For those who spoke about the international programs and particularly those who spoke about the necessity of having native speakers be enrolled in those programs I appreciate also the fact that you came and shared that information with us.

My child has been enrolled in immersion programs since she was kindergarten or she is now an And I can speak passionately about the impacts that that program has had on her and all of the kids who are similarly enrolled in those programs and even before I was a school board director back when I was a candidate I said if there were one thing that I could do as a school board director it would be to insist that we provide those kinds of programs for all the students in Seattle Public Schools because I believe it has a profound impact on their lives for all the reasons that you raised.

I think we have a challenge as there is a theme that you will hear frequently this evening around having sufficient funds to be able to pull off the expansion of programs that we know Give great access to quality education for all of our students and also close our achievement and opportunity gaps.

And I have struggled with how do we in this tight budget situation that we find ourselves in continue to double down on the things that we know work in our community while we are dealing with decreased amounts of funding.

And so I encourage you to keep the heat on us because it is essential so that we don't get distracted because frequently I think we get distracted by the squeaky wheels and we lose sight of The bets that we've made long before any of us were on the school board that are actually starting to show results and how important it is to stay true to that goal long enough that we can actually see the results pay off.

And so I want to work with I want to know a lot more about the 30 percent set aside because I believe that's something that can go a long way to helping us to achieve our goals.

And then finally I will say that one of the nicest things that has happened to me as a school board director happened this weekend and I just wanted to publicly share the fact that my child and I were decided that we would go to the Garfield play this year.

My daughter is about to enroll in Garfield next year and has some aspirations around drama.

And so we decided at the last minute that we would go and see the play at 7 o'clock on Saturday.

And we arrived there and discovered that the play was sold out.

And so we're very frustrated that we had made that commitment and then weren't able to And so as we were walking away and my child was looking at me with kind of the daggers that she does when she doesn't get, when her dad doesn't do exactly what she wants to have done, a parent came up to me and recognized me as a school board director and insisted It more than insisted would not take no for an answer that we take her tickets.

And we I after fake acting like I didn't want to take them I took them.

And we saw the play and were mesmerized by the performance of the Garfield students.

And so I just wanted to have a share and appreciation to that parent who will remain anonymous because she and I talked yesterday and she knows that I'm appreciative.

More than that I just wanted to be on record as you know appreciating the opportunities where people appreciate the hard work that goes into being a school board director was something that was pretty remarkable in that situation.

People frequently say it's the most thankless job in Seattle and I believe that to be true in many ways but every now and then you get a thanks that makes it all worthwhile and so I just wanted to share that thought with you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_28

Director Harris.

SPEAKER_21

$66.3 million.

That is today's levy for the charges that contempt fines issued by the Washington state Supreme Court against the Washington state legislature at the rate of $100,000 a day.

When we start teaching more in-depth civics we can diagram the whole systems the judicial the legislative and the unfunded mandates that our $50 million represents and that $66.3 million in fines.

And I echo and I think we absolutely have a theme from Director Blanford Do we want to do it?

Oh absolutely.

Do we have the scratch to do it?

Oh absolutely not.

And I'm going to say some things that will perhaps irritate folks.

Rainier Beach high school, will you be number one on the BEX V list?

I'm not making that promise right now that would be extraordinarily irresponsible of me as a board member to do so.

There may be other buildings out of our 102 buildings that have far greater needs that are falling apart around us.

Remember that we have a 20 year maintenance backlog.

If we have an earthquake Holy smokes we will be living down here as will all the staff trying to rearrange the farthings that we don't have enough of.

So Serena Beach do I hear your pain?

Absolutely I do.

Will I fight like heck that you're on the list?

Absolutely I will.

Will I hopefully fight that you have enough room there to build side by side so you don't have to take up an interim space for a year and a half or two?

Absolutely I will.

Will you be number one on the list?

Beats me.

Let's talk about it when we get closer there.

Let's also talk about making darn sure that this list of rebuilds and the BEX V has the most authentic community engagement we have ever seen in this district.

that people stand up and get counted.

And that we go tour these schools and we recognize how difficult moving all the Rubik's cube pieces around are.

Good segue into a meeting I attended last week on Thursday at Boren pre-K 8 at Louisa Boren site which used to be, and I want that in quotes, used to be an interim site.

except that it may be the only site that is big enough to hold school rebuilds.

Now does the Boren pre-K 8 STEM community think they've been shafted by the fact that even though we have this huge capacity crisis they might get bumped out of that school to let the rebuild schools in.

Of course they do.

And again a lot of that is about community engagement so we don't make the same mistakes on the next Bex turn.

A lot of very creative suggestions came up out of that meeting amidst the boos and amidst the misinterpretations.

And I would ask the Boren community and entire district 6 West Seattle community to hang tight so we can have that authentic communication.

We figure probably mid-August we can have an all West Seattle meeting.

We can do some good community building about what each other's needs are.

Alki Lafayette are both schools that need to be redone.

We've got Schmitz Park that has a child care center in it.

This is truly a Rubik's cube.

And to those of the good folks on social media that have suggested that I have already made up my mind I can tell you you don't know me very darn well.

So hang tight.

Help me. reach out and we can work together and not pit schools against each other.

During the closure wars that happened those scabs are still raw.

It divides community.

We have to work together.

The thank yous, I echo what I've heard so far.

Gail Morris is truly a rock star and so is Boo Balkan Foster who did her introduction.

It's amazing to know people that can make such extraordinary change and I feel very grateful both to have their leadership and their friendship.

The young people that we saw tonight to get recognized right on, and Leslie's fantasy yet again, every student, every day, music.

That will take care of your math scores.

Where we get the scratch?

To be determined.

I did however go to the Newport high school end of the year concert.

three weeks ago for my niece and it was beyond extraordinary.

And they have a couple of things there that we didn't.

In their program they thank The building maintenance staff and office staff by name and I just thought that was just way too cool.

And additionally they have a foundation that assists them in their extraordinarily successful program and we don't.

And that's not okay.

And we need to have one.

And we need to have one yesterday.

With respect to native speakers thank you for those folks that showed up at Director Burke's meeting that I crashed and I couldn't agree with you more and I would suggest to you that the student assignment plan next year is fair game.

We have big changes to make at least certainly in terms of transparency and in terms of how our waitlist work and move.

That's where it belongs as a student assignment transition plan.

And let's keep the T in there because it is still obviously transitional.

To the Stevens parent that asked about the board what are we going to do about the redefining of policy into practice etc etc etc.

We are working pretty hard on this board having conversations and trying to come up with collaborative solutions and I can assure you I am very unhappy at how this is working out.

But again instead of throwing rocks and people under the bus I want collaborative solutions and I want to look towards next year's student assignment plan to fix some of these endemic issues.

determining the weighted staffing standards and the number of students in a school before open enrollment seems a little ass backwards to me and maybe I'm just not smart enough to get it.

But I think that we have some systemic change to do and I think that if we approach it the right way we can get there from here.

It's certainly my hope.

To Chief Sealth international high school and West Seattle high schools I am devastated that I cannot attend your graduation ceremonies.

Director Burke will serve in my stead.

I'll be back in DC taking a week's worth of depositions in a really critical anti-discrimination retaliation case for a federal agency.

I'd much rather be here celebrating those graduations because they are near and dear to my heart.

I do have a place for a community meeting.

July 15 at the Southwest library from 3 to 5. We serve treats we get rowdy and we invite you.

With respect to the retreat many many thanks to Dr. Stephanie Freiburg and to Astina De Monte.

I learned a great deal.

I like where Jill's very creative mind is going in terms of braiding those issues together.

I'm hopeful that Dr. DeBonte will or Ms. DeBonte will allow us to use her PowerPoint slides and we can get those uploaded to our website or at least get a link to her site because she had some extraordinary research to share and we need again to figure out those creative ways to have access and also meet the needs of every child in this city.

And to do it in a way that does not discriminate against folks because of their socioeconomic background or their culture or their ethnicity that's it ain't right.

And we need to change it and And it's going to be a long tough year.

It's also going to be one of those situations this summer where you've got an election going on.

And I encourage you all to be very interested and engaged and ask the tough questions.

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_28

Director Burke.

SPEAKER_11

Thank you very much.

I would like to start with sort of my own repeating what I've heard many of my colleagues say but I'll try to be brief because I recognize times ticking.

Captain Blaine musicians it was such a fun arrangement it was really really neat.

When I think about when I learned violin I'm channeling some of my My fellow young violinists up here behind the dais that no longer play and we bring it up every time somebody comes it's better than we ever were and younger than we ever were.

Careful with that.

Director Harris is going to be holding a concert.

And then I want to congratulate our student-athletes, scholars, the role models that they are, the coaches, the families, it's a team effort.

And you know, the synergy between athletics and academics, you know, it's already demonstrated, it's something that, another one of those things we have to figure out how to fund, how to support, how to fit into our schedule.

Um...

I want to also put out a special word of thanks to Gail Morris.

I had the pleasure of meeting her as chair of curriculum instruction committee and learning firsthand about her work.

She brings regularly to the C&I committee what that work in supporting native education looks like, and continues to blow my mind.

And as you've heard from others, her humility and commitment are inspiring.

And it brings me to think of something that a former school board director told me when he heard that I was thinking of running for the school board a while ago and he said well Rick if you want to do that you're going to need three things.

And Gail reminds me of that.

You need to be persistent, consistent, and insistent.

And I think that that's been one of Gail's strengths as well.

Our speakers today were passionate, eloquent, collaborative, and I really appreciate hearing the different perspectives that come out and the ideas that come out because there are so many different issues that we try to crosswalk here and sometimes it can feel like there's like it's just a stalemate and the arms length perspective that's provided by our people in the community gives us that common sense, wait this just doesn't look right, this just doesn't fit with the common sense filter.

And if we can't explain why our internal processes don't match common sense, then we can't reconcile them.

That's really an important sort of self-reflection that we look at transparency, we look at our processes and policies and procedures, and they should resonate with common sense.

Some of the activities that I've had the pleasure of doing since the last board meeting, I attended the governor's summit on career connected learning.

And it was a room with a lot of talk, some amazing people, inspired, 400 attendees, it was simulcast to I believe 24 sites across the state, reached another 900 people.

And it was you know the governor Inslee was there speaking, our state superintendent Chris Reykdal was there talking about his vision for career connected learning which is the new phrase for CTE depending on who you talk to.

And so I was inspired by that enthusiasm at the state level but at the same time I'm sitting in the room thinking we are struggling with cutting our CTE educators to 0.5.

And so while we have our state leaders and you know really impassioned people thinking about how to build a statewide framework, we have some very on the ground problems of practice that we have to resolve here about how we put students in classrooms, how we maintain our educators.

And so it was a little bit of a cognitive dissidence but it was still inspirational and I just wanted to share that.

Director Geary mentioned the trip to aviation high school.

That was a really neat trip because we got to go with Bassetti architects who is working on the Lincoln project but they were the architect for the aviation high school.

And so it was really neat to get the inside scoop from the architect.

We had some student ambassadors that provided us a tour and also went with some folks from the capital and operations teams.

So it was a neat exposure.

I had a community meeting on May 27 which was crashed by Director Harris with permission.

And a couple of the topics that came up there, one of them was equity and PTA funding which I think has come before us, we've heard in public testimony.

And I think there is a desire to figure out how to balance the hard work and commitment of our families that are doing fundraising.

with the disproportionality or the inequity of what some PTAs can do and what others can't.

And I think it was a rich conversation and I just wanted to reaffirm that from my perspective it's something that we have to have a long-term goal on and we can't be dismissive or we can't put up a barrier for families that are contributing.

We have to provide a long-term glide path that allows our PTAs to continue to raise money, continue to support the education work and not alienate the people that are doing that hard work on our behalf.

Another topic that came up at the community meeting was our language immersion schools and our set aside for heritage speakers.

And I've learned a little bit about this.

as a director that has several of these sites in my district with John Stanford and McDonald and Hamilton and potentially others in the future.

And so learning about the 30% set-aside that was recommended by the task force and recognizing that our current student assignment plan is half that 15% looks like a really great opportunity to build out some of the things in this program, these programs that I think can help them continue to operate, continue to be strong, continue to maintain their numbers.

So I'm really interested to follow up on that and learn more about it.

There was a comment from a speaker around the dual language grant.

And I guess I would like to look to staff and put out an explicit request that we could look at the feasibility of that and if you could provide an update to the board in the Friday memo if that's something that we can do how we can do it and what we can do to support that work.

Just to wrap the language immersion I want to provide a personal story.

In my in my work I travel all around the world to visit customers and a fair amount to Asia.

And so we have customers in Japan and the culture is amazing.

The people are very cool and it's just a I'm what I'm hearing from the students is really mirroring my own experience.

But I wanted to say as a as an adult with a brain that is not it's no longer really open to language acquisition.

I had an opportunity to do a videotaped recording of at a trade show for some of our Japanese customers.

And for about two hours I tried to rehearse two lines of Japanese.

And it was a train wreck.

I'll just say it was a train wreck.

So for students that can do can master the language and especially Japanese and Chinese simultaneously.

My hat is off to you and I think that getting it while you're young is amazing.

You will have opportunities to use it.

I wish I had planted more of those seeds.

Okay I will no no no Just to quickly close that, I had a Lincoln meeting on Monday, the third community meeting around that.

We had the opportunity to introduce principal Ruth Metzger to the community.

Other updates at C&I committee next week, we have three really interesting and lively topics.

We are looking at our ethnic studies resolution, our assessment policy, and the career and technical education annual report and plan.

I do not have any community meetings booked for this summer but I will try to look for something shortly and get that posted.

And in closing I just want to commend our students, families, support staff, educators, administrators, school board directors for another great year of education commitment and thank you very much.

SPEAKER_28

Thank you Director Burke.

So Director comments will have to continue after our break.

We are required to take a break at this time.

We'll be for 15 minutes for technical reasons.

We actually have to change the tape.

So we'll be back at 7 27. Thank you.

7 30. Come on.

SPEAKER_99

you