I saw you beautiful music.
Thank you so much.
OK.
Welcome folks to the September 5th regular legislative session.
As we begin the meeting we have a new tradition.
The board would like to recognize and honor the first peoples of Puget Sound territories by acknowledging that we are on the land of the coastal Salish tribes.
And thank you Superintendent Juneau for that suggestion.
I've never known quite how to say it.
I've always wanted to and I didn't want to step in it so much appreciate for the script.
Ms. Ramirez the roll call please.
Director Burke here Director DeWolf present Director Geary here Director Mack here Director Patu
If everyone would stand if you're comfortable remain seated if you're not for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible
We do not have recognitions this evening.
So that rolls us into student presentations.
Oftentimes the best part of the meeting.
The students of Eckstein Middle School senior jazz band will perform tonight.
Directors please take a seat in the front row.
We have one more piece for you and this is called Montecca.
Okay.
Okay.
you you
Thank you very much.
We're from Eckstein Middle School and we're the senior jazz band there.
Now we'll do a very quick introductions.
My name is Leah and I'm a 7th grader.
My name is Anna and I'm a 7th grader.
My name is Chloe I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Lily I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Charlie and I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Hugh and I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Jacob and I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Matteo and I'm a 7th grader.
My name is Mark and I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Eleanor and I'm a 7th grader.
My name is Lucy and I'm a 7th grader.
My name is Oliver and I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Ruby and I'm a 7th grader.
My name is Carter and I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Maya and I'm a 7th grader.
My name is Lucas and I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Bradley and I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Wyatt and I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Jack and I'm a 7th grader.
My name is Sam and I'm a 7th grader.
My name is Elliot and I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Owen and I'm an 8th grader.
My name is Josh and I'm in 7th grade.
My name is Nicholas and I'm in 8th grade.
I'm Lila and I'm in 8th grade.
I'm Linus and I'm in 8th grade.
I'm Yoshi and I'm in 7th 8th grade.
My name is Alden and I'm in 7th grade.
My name is Nora and I'm in 8th grade.
My name is Max and I'm in 8th grade.
My name is Naomi and I'm in 8th grade.
My name is Cole and I'm in 8th grade.
My name is Saban and I'm in 7th grade.
My name is Nico and I'm in 7th grade.
My name is Isabella and I'm in 7th grade.
Awesome sauce.
You don't get away.
Who are you.
How long have you taught with us.
Tell us about your teaching career.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I started teaching elementary music at the EIM level of fourth and fifth graders.
My very first job was at Wedgwood Elementary and then I had five schools at that time.
Concord Cooper Van Esselt Adams and Wedgwood and eventually I started teaching at Green Lake and then someone asked me would you like to teach the next time.
Sure.
And I applied for the job and I got it and I've been there.
This is my 25th or sixth year since 94. So lots of kiddos.
I appreciate everything that you guys do here.
All the work and I know you're my wife and you're my my my wife's dad my father in law knows your father very well knew him very well.
Thank you.
My fantasy every student every day music and our math scores will go through the roof and if you all have spare instruments out there in video land bring them on down because we've got students that could use them.
It's an equity issue.
Thank you very much.
We're going to give you an opportunity to disengage here and continue on.
Our program again.
Thanks very much guys.
You guys rock it.
Ms. Ramirez let the record reflect that Director Patu has joined us and we've come to that portion of the calendar to hand the mic over to Superintendent Denise Juneau.
She has lots to talk about.
She's been very very very very busy.
All right.
So I thank the band that was here and thank you for being here was really awesome.
I played saxophone in middle school and was not point one percent as good as that.
But thanks for being here.
It's pretty cool.
So students and families started out today visiting some families around first day of school.
It was a great first day of school for Seattle Public Schools.
A lot of exciting things happening across the district.
I'll show you what I did but I know that our schools across the city really were engaged inviting families and creating welcoming environments for students and doing the work that really matters to student learning and so really proud of how the first day went and how things looked to be rolling out really well across the city.
So I had first day of school fun.
I rode the bus this morning.
That was really awesome.
I.
But I gave high fives to all my new friends at John Rogers Elementary and thanks to Director Pinkham principal Mary Bueno Bueno and the awesome staff students and families there.
It was a lot of fun.
Great morning.
Thank you to Director Harris principal Fraser Hammer and staff and students at Chief Sealth.
It was international and we had a great time there handing out Orca cards and kind of learning what the school was about.
And it was a really good time to see the health clinic there and.
The international schools the world languages it's really robust learning that was happening at Chief Sealth High School.
I enjoyed visiting with these parents after listening to Principal Carter welcome families to Mercer.
And so that was also a great visit.
And so thank you to Director Patu who was also there and Go Mustangs.
Staff a little bit about staff.
This is the amazing SEA SPS bargaining team after our tentative agreement on Friday.
They grew to know and to like each other.
One SEA member in fact tweeted on Sunday that she was having withdrawals from the team.
I don't think they want to enter into that room again but she was missing her colleagues.
And so I just want to give a really sincere thank you to this group.
for getting the job done so that we could start school on time and push that forward to their membership.
Kudos to Tracy Gill.
She was the regional teacher of the year.
She teaches social studies at Denny International Middle School.
She looks fun.
I bet students would like to be in her class.
Last Friday I met with cafeteria staff from across Seattle and all of our schools.
It brought back memories of my grandmother who was a school cook for 28 years and so school nutrition staff will always have a big place in my heart because I know that the work they put in you know she was up at 4 a.m.
every morning going to work making sure that students got fed and.
looking out for them and advocating for students when she saw that they were having a rough time during the day and making sure she brought that kind of stuff to the attention of the principals.
And so I just want to thank not just the school nutrition staff but all of the support staff that help our schools operate and make sure that students have a good learning environment to go into.
I'm on our journey today we saw students and staff participating in circles.
So big thanks to Pat Sanders and her team who trained all of Seattle Public Schools teachers in this relationship building strategy.
These circles were happening all across the district and it was really cool to see them.
talking doing relationship building on the first day and really visiting with each other about who they were what they wanted to learn this year and so I just thought Tri-Day was awesome.
The way that they brought this circle idea into the classrooms and then to see it actually being used in classrooms across the district was pretty powerful and community.
This is the Seattle Public Library head librarian Marcellus Turner.
We visited about ways that we can increase access to information for all students in the city.
So I look forward to being a strong partner to better serve Seattle Public School students.
He's he's excited about all kinds of things you know library cards for all creating community public school sort of partnership.
So a lot of exciting ideas there that I think that we can make progress on.
Last Wednesday my small cabinet and I met at the Seattle Art Museum and as learners we appreciated the tour of the exhibit double exposure by the curator.
It is a sort of a Native American experience exhibit a photo exhibit that.
sort of brings to life not just history but also contemporary lives of American Indians.
And so it was really great to be able to see that.
And one day I was walking through the Seattle Art Museum and in this exhibit I got all the way through the end of the timeline and at the end it has 2018 Seattle Public Schools hires its first Native American superintendent Denise Juneau.
And so we posed by it and you know that part of the exhibit was pretty fun.
We had two ribbon cuttings on Tuesday.
Principal Patrick director Harris and I proudly display our ribbon here from the newly renovated Roxhill at E.C.
Hughes.
That was a lot of fun.
And we were also at the beautifully renovated and expanded Loyal Heights.
We're so thankful to our voters who invested in providing Seattle Public Schools students these new learning spaces.
People were super excited about them and I know the students will have a great year being involved with them.
This guy this morning as we were meeting families we had some coffee out.
He was so impressed that I was in charge of over 100 schools and over 50000 students that he just couldn't believe it.
It was like you are the boss of all the schools and then he told all his friends and so yeah.
And so that was it was a great first day.
And I just you know when I get into classrooms and I see what's going on especially days like this as I said the first day of school always brings hope hope and optimism for the future and for our present and knowing that these young scholars will be learning a lot this year is just really exciting and.
It just reinforced that I made the right decision to come here to Seattle Public Schools and I'm just really happy to be here.
So thank you board for hiring me and putting me in this position.
I really do appreciate it and today was just a real good.
It was good to be a part of it.
So to conclude I would like to call up Gail Morris who has something to debut I guess.
Hello directors and Superintendent Juneau.
I am really excited to share this video with you.
But first I'd really like to raise my hands to Carrie Campbell.
Carrie was the one that helped us to create this video.
It's called I am Native and it's a.
beautiful 7 minute and 28 second video of our Native American students and Alaska Native students in Seattle Public Schools who are doing so incredibly well.
First you know I would like to say that I left my gown at the cleaners.
So here I am but I still would like to thank all the people who were part of this film.
Jacques Pugh who is a producer and writer and Valerie Bozo who is a videographer and the editor.
And she went back to edit a couple of times for us.
And then Patrick Peo who is audio and grip.
And this took several days to shoot and several hours.
I can't even imagine how long it took in the editing.
And actually I think it was Denise's first day when and you'll see she introduces the film.
So I don't have anything else to add if you would like to play it.
Hello, I'm Denise Juneau, Superintendent for Seattle Public Schools.
I'm an enrolled member of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes and I grew up in Indian Country in Browning on the Blackfeet Reservation.
Seattle has amazing students.
One of my personal goals is to ensure that the unique strengths and gifts of our students are recognized and affirmed.
Many of our Native American students are thriving.
They are leaders in their school communities, the broader community, and most importantly, their Native community.
We need to be ever vigilant about putting young people at the center of our work and empowering them to raise their voices.
I am so excited to celebrate these students' accomplishments and to share their stories with you.
They are the next leaders of Seattle and for our future.
I am Princess, I am Crow, and I am Seattle Public Schools.
I'm Juan Betancourt, Old Chief.
I'm Squamish, Yakima, and Blackfeet, and I am Seattle Public Schools.
I'm Jada Standing Rock.
I'm Chippewa Cree and Assiniboine Sioux, and I am Seattle Public Schools.
I'm Gail Morris.
I'm the Chalmuth First Nations from the west coast of Vancouver Island.
I lead the Native American education program here in Seattle Public Schools.
We have many outstanding students here in Seattle Public Schools.
Many of them excel in academics, athletics, and even the arts.
We're more than just what we learn in textbooks.
We're more than just a stereotype.
And we're more than just a perception that was created for us 100 years ago.
I play football and I'm a captain of the football team and having like a 3.2 GPA and I think I kind of go against all stereotypes that anyone's ever made.
Well, I love playing.
It's a way of expressing my mind.
Like, I thought it's soothing for me too.
When people first look at me, they don't see Native American, but when they really get to know me, they'll truly find out that I am Native American.
I pushed myself, and it's only got me to a 3.6 GPA, and I feel like I could've done better.
I do my work, and I do my schoolwork, and I make sure that I'm on top of my grades before I can have fun.
I did girls basketball, and I also am in track right now for the spring.
I play linebacker and fullback.
They asked me to be the football captain, too.
And it's a lot of leadership.
We all come together and dance.
I dance the chicken style dance.
Like, when I learned how to walk, that's what I did.
It was chicken dance.
It originates from Montana, the Blackfeet people.
It's kind of like a love dance, pretty much.
It's like how birds show off to try and get the girl and, you know, you show off all your moves.
One thing that I do for my culture is that I participate in powwows.
Ever since I was younger, I always danced, and so I picked jingle dress dancing.
I like the sound of the jingles, and I designed my first dress.
I'm from the Makah reservation.
Everyone there is just so hardworking.
When I go there, I like to fish and just do traditional things with my tribe.
I would say being in the Haida lost dance group, you gain your roots.
You get to learn your language and dance the same dance your ancestors did many years ago.
The name Shikachi means raising of hands and everything that we do in this classroom in Shikachi is to lift up our students.
As educators, we don't know what we don't know.
And so we're really lucky that we have a strong educational department through Native Ed that is giving people the opportunity to increase their understanding about who Native people are, what true Native history looks like, but more importantly, Not just our history, we're too often relegated to the past, but what we look like now as alive, vibrant, contributing members of general society and our tribal communities.
Many of our students bring their unique gifts to school every day, despite the systemic challenges they may face.
I absolutely believe these students can achieve their dreams.
They have it in them.
I'm going to Western Washington in September.
I want to study behavioral neuroscience and go into pre-med.
I want to make a difference in somebody's life.
If I can't change the world, then I want to change an individual's world.
So I'm taking a trip to Guatemala to help build schools.
For two weeks, I'm going to be learning about social injustice.
I want to study music and maybe physical education or business as a dual major at Eastern Washington University.
And after that, I may want to teach music or become a performer.
You know, I'm proud to be Native.
Every day, I'm proud to be Native.
My name is Morgan Blackton.
I'm Blackfeet, and I am Seattle Public Schools.
I'm Kareem Masha Masawi.
I am Native, and I'm the captain of Ingram High School's football team, and we are Seattle Public Schools.
I'm Frederick Brown III.
I'm from the Makah tribe.
I'm a student-athlete.
I am Seattle Public Schools.
Come on.
Come on.
I don't know how many times I've seen this, but every time I'm so emotional.
A little background on the film.
We used sacred water.
Canoe family, they're an intertribal canoe and they reside over in Suquamish and Baron O'Coyote wrote that.
It's a love song.
This is the music you heard.
The artwork was from Sean Peterson.
He's enrolled Puyallup and Tulalip tribal member.
We used Superman because Prince's uncle is Superman.
And so we thought that was really great and it really reflects where our students are.
And I you know every day I'm so lucky to work with so many students who are succeeding and three of those students are off to college and two of them have full ride scholarships and one's going to be a starting point guard for the Grizzlies.
Could you guess which one.
So we're pretty excited and we're happy to share this.
We want to roll it out.
We're going to share it with everybody and just show that we are here.
We're not invisible.
So thank you.
OK.
We're at board committee reports.
Who would like to go first.
Director Mack operations.
Good evening.
We have a lot on our agenda coming up and a lot of work going on.
Today was a great day with school starting yesterday with the ribbon cuttings I got to be at both of them and it was amazing to see the buildings are beautiful and I'm incredibly proud of staff and students and everyone who's who's worked to bring those buildings online.
It takes a lot of work and.
It was just really great to be able to celebrate that yesterday and have today be the first day of school.
And we are already moving into planning for next year.
So at Ops we had a meeting a couple of weeks ago.
We will be having our next Ops committee meeting tomorrow evening.
The agenda is already posted.
There's a lot on it because we're starting to plan for potential student assignment transition plan changes.
Some potential boundary changes for 2019 20 to help resolve some of our capacity challenges around the district.
We'll have an update on the waitlist movement and some other items some dates to make note of.
Next week we'll actually be having a full board work session on boundaries.
So that'll be the first taste of the potential changes for the 1920 school year.
September 26th we'll be having a work session on our levies including BEX V which is our capital levy.
The last meeting of the facilities master plan task force is going to be next Monday next week and the week after their community meetings around the district for the levies.
There's six of them I believe five or six spread across the city.
I hope you can make those if you're interested in learning about the levies and what may be on them.
And.
I think that's about it.
So lots going on.
But feel free to drop in tomorrow and listen or send me an email if you have any questions.
Director Mack could you update us on the progress of the task force please.
The facilities master plan task force.
Yes ma'am.
Yes.
So the task force will be having their last meeting next week Monday.
They've already submitted to us the preliminary recommendations that they had agreed upon at our work session.
two weeks ago and they have also done a survey to finalize the recommendations and those are in draft form back to the leadership of the committee which will be coming out to y'all soon.
Definitely prior to our work session on the 26th and hopefully prior to.
The 3 by 3 meetings will be having to start next week I believe.
So you know I have to say and give.
Great thanks to the folks that came forward and stepped up to this task force is amazing intellectual capacity and those folks understanding of capacity and buildings and really grateful for their expertise and willingness to come over the summer to seven meetings during the day when it was beautiful outside.
And I think that the information that they've provided the recommendations that they're provided have been really helpful and that's what I've heard from staff as well.
So I want to give thanks to them for giving their time for this and.
Thank you.
Which other committee chair would like to go next.
Director Pinkham Audit and Finance.
This is.
When I said present.
Qeˀciyéẁyéẁ Audit and finance.
We won't have our next actually committee meeting until this coming Monday.
But we did have our quarterly audit meeting yesterday.
And.
Just give you some updates on there.
We had completed our will bring wrap up three internal audits which included Franklin High School Hazelwood K-8 school and our central administration office and some of this surrounded our new adoption of school pay and making sure everyone knows how to use it.
And so since it is a new system I'm glad that we're going out there and let people know hey.
We got this new system for a reason.
So yes if you still like doing it by papers or other things we need you to transition on to the school pay system.
So I know I'm kind of also you know I still have a S4 for my Samsung Galaxy.
They're up to number nine.
But I know people have issues with transferring technology but I think this will be good for the school and as we get the people trained on how to use it and become a little bit more easier for them to enter the.
what we need for receipts and tracking.
We did also approve the next annual risk assessment and audit plan that Andrew Medina presented to us and Director Mack was surprised to see that school board members have a certain number of hours and.
And so our audit people can help us out if we have some needs as individual board members or hopefully we'll come together.
And I think one of the things we're looking at is make sure we're not too individual but we're doing things that will better the school district as a whole.
And then other issues that we talked about that various audit response that we've had going on dealing with Franklin Hazel Wolf Center school and coming to where we're at with those and.
I'd hate to bore you with all the details but they were in the board meeting minutes and those should be posted as well.
See the next Audit and Finance meeting will be this coming Monday.
So if you do have anything that you'd like to hear about please attend.
Thank you.
Director Harris.
Curriculum and instruction please.
Greetings.
I'll start by thanking Director DeWolf for sharing a report from the last board meeting where I wasn't able to attend.
So appreciate that.
Upcoming C&I policy meeting is September 11th is the next one.
They come so quickly.
Got to keep the pace going.
And some of the things that we're going to be talking about there.
There's going to be a bar coming forward around purchase for technology relating to our high school Revisioning and block scheduling and some of the transformation work that's going around there and the associated professional development.
Good conversations on that.
We're going to be talking about school board policy A02 and the more we kind of try to unpack what that is you know it's a longstanding policy on performance management but it really relates to district wide performance management meaning.
At the school level at the district level at the staff level and it intersects in a lot of places.
So it's being worked on jointly by C&I and the exec committee.
But it also crosses over into strategic plan work.
And so there's some question about how we sync all that up.
So know that the work is starting but we haven't completely put it in a box yet to know when it will end or how it will end.
We also have a policy 2023 on electronic learning.
Specifically this is around digital citizenship.
And then we're going to be revisiting policy 2019 which came before the board recently.
So you know if directors have particular topics they want to touch on there.
That one's going to come back to committee as well.
Looking forward from that we have a scheduled work session on September 26th around instruction materials adoptions and then.
I just want to emphasize that our committee meetings are public meetings.
Want to continue to restate that and that that is kind of where the magic happens and where the sausage is made.
So if people enjoy watching sausage make made however that goes please do come to committees they're public and we love to have people there to watch the process and.
Give us our feedback.
I want to highlight another community engagement thing that's coming up at five of our high schools around the city.
September 4th through September 13th our community meetings on Naviance.
So this is a tool that we've talked about a lot as a district and as a board.
There are five meetings they're posted on the website.
You can either look under what's new and scroll down a little bit because there's lots of new things or you can go on to the calendar again September 4th through September 13th.
Great place to go to learn about the tools how to support your high school students in their high school and beyond planning and also understand how we're protecting student data privacy and the options for families who'd prefer to opt out.
Parting thing to my colleagues and a challenge But also to staff and the public celebrating our formula for success.
I learned today that we have also a description of the formula for success and some drill down information on our Web site.
So if you go to the home page there's a there's a there's a link to formula for success and I would maybe suggest that we get a poster in here if we've got some free wall space.
And because I might be going around and asking people what are the three pillars of our formula for success.
Just be warned there might be a test.
That's all for C&I.
Director Geary please.
Well on behalf of myself and Eden Mack I would like to just give an update on the legislative component of our work.
We'll be putting together the legislative agenda for the district.
That is something that we normally vote on in November.
We hope to have a draft circulating in October.
But before then.
I would like to have any thoughts that any of you or any of you out in the public have around our legislative agenda.
Be sure to send those in either to myself or Director Mack or Erin Bennett who helps us with that work here in the district.
And Erin will be reaching out to the small cabinet as well.
And so just want everybody to be thinking about where we feel pinch points that we think our legislators can help us with other than the clearly obvious ones which are budget.
and capacity.
But if there are things as we go into the year policy fixes or legislative fixes around work that you would like us to take a look at and include in our discussions.
Think about those and reach out to Erin and get that information to her so that we can work together to fix that up.
and make our work easier.
We always want to get rid of roadblocks.
And to that end having that information before we go to the Washington State School Directors Association legislative I believe it's the assembly on September 21st and 22nd in Spokane if we have that information.
Before we go then then we can look within their agenda for things that line up as well.
And that allows us to partner with the other school directors all over the state to make sure that we are working as a unified body on behalf of Washington's students.
And so Director Mack and I will be attending that as well and we will report back on how that goes.
It's really a lot of fun to meet with other directors hear about their concerns.
It's eye opening in terms of.
getting to hear about the concerns of our more rural districts and figuring out how we can align our arrows as former superintendent Nyla would say to make the most of the budget that we have been given for our kids all across Washington.
And then the other piece is that I think it's time that we get together again with Seattle's legislative delegation.
And I know.
Thank you.
Superintendent Juneau that you'll be meeting with them individually and then we will resume our group meetings.
We're working to get something set up early October hopefully get our schedules so that we can all sort of.
Give the update on that point.
We will have settled in under our collective bargaining agreement.
We can let them know how that went what the realities are in terms of our budget and they can let us know they what they're seeing as they're approaching their legislative work next year.
So that'll be something to look forward to and we'll report back.
All right.
OK.
So executive committee has met.
We are working on getting our retreat set for September 15. The public is most welcome.
We'll be talking about communication between staff superintendent.
We'll also spend an hour talking about what kind of race and equity cultural competency systemic bias training this board needs.
We are behind the curve.
We've asked everybody else to step up but our plate has been so full we have not had that chance.
But we will be doing so and we'll make up for lost time.
I'd also like to introduce if I might Ellie Wilson Jones.
Can you wave please.
There you go.
She's our new director of policy and board relations.
Some of you all may remember Nate Van Duzer who is now firmly ensconced in Notre Dame's graduate school for international peace on a full ride scholarship.
And he's one of three North Americans with a international bent and we're so proud of him and I know he misses us and I know he's probably watching the streaming as we speak.
Hi Nate.
We're excited to have Ellie join us at the district.
She was most recently a senior policy analyst at the Sound Cities Association an organization of 38 cities in King County at Sound Cities.
Ellie worked on regional policies related to children and youth human services and housing.
Ellie is an attorney and a former journalist and her policy experience also includes work at the city of Seattle and at the Council of State Governments Justice Center.
And I'm very happy to tell you that she turned down working for the King County Council to come join us because we are more fun.
Please help me welcome Ellie.
Thank you.
The other lift from the executive committee is a resolution you will see on today's agenda about the superintendent's contract and her goals.
And much rich discussion.
And again I I will parrot what my colleagues have said.
There is magic that's happening in the boardroom back here.
And that's where the real action is.
That's where the conversation is.
That's where the pushback is.
That's where the rowdiness is because we have to be more well behaved here on the dais.
So come on down.
All those meetings are publicly noticed.
And you are really welcome.
So next up is the consent calendar.
Do I have a motion for the consent calendar.
I move approval of the consent agenda.
I second that 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.
Director Pinkham.
Yes I'd like to remove consent items number 3 and 9 due to that we have some public comments testimony on those items.
Those items are removed and we will move them down the agenda at a later time after public comments.
Do I have a motion for the consent agenda as amended.
I move approval of the consent agenda as amended.
I second the motion.
All those in favor please signify by saying aye.
Aye.
Thank you so much.
OK.
We are not yet at 530. So I would like to ask board members to give their comments.
You will have the opportunity after public testimony to revisit what you hear in public testimony.
Who would like to go first.
Director DeWolf please.
Thank you President Harris.
I don't have much today so I thought that's why I could go first.
I just wanted to again just happy first day of school to all of our students our staff our families and our community today.
Special thanks to Principal Rhonda Claytor and one of our executive directors of schools Kim Whitworth.
We were we went to Leschi Elementary this morning and so was really grateful to have a tour and a visit and to be able to greet students today on their first day of school.
One really exciting thing particularly as a queer person on this school board one of the teachers you know just kind of giving a tour getting the first graders acquainted with the halls and where the bathrooms are and one of the teachers said if you feel like or identify as a girl this is your bathroom.
If you feel like or identify as a boy this is your bathroom and I think even the small stuff like that that maybe you don't get to capture in our big annual reports or even in the pictures just a really meaningful things the small things that I think particularly for queer students that really make them feel included.
So I was just really grateful to be there for that small little moment.
Looking forward to Friday hanging out with President Harris and Director Geary as well as Nova Principal Mark Perry will be visiting the Black Prisoners Caucus on Friday evening.
And then the last thing is today just just as a note here as we're all in Seattle King County dealing with the homelessness state of emergency the King County Council today voted to give Safeco Field one hundred thirty five million dollars and I only mention that because four thousand two hundred eight students were identified experiencing homelessness in Seattle Public Schools in the 2016 2017 school year.
Four hundred four of those were American Alaskan natives which means that's 10 percent of the population.
708 of those students are unaccompanied minors and the rest 125 are unsheltered so they don't have a safe place to sleep tonight.
All that to say is just please pay attention to what's going on in your community particularly as we have a homeless state of emergency.
I personally believe that that money would have been better spent serving and supporting particularly at least our students experiencing homelessness here in Seattle Public Schools.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Director Geary please.
Well happy first day of school.
So awesome to have all of our kids back in school.
I know it's really exciting time for everybody.
I think I stated last time that my daughter is starting middle school at Eckstein Elementary or middle school obviously.
And we heard the band earlier and it's such a treat for me and such an honor that she's now part of that community and going to be taking music with Mr. E. So I'm just thrilled and she was thrilled and I took her picture this morning and was just shocked at the young woman that I saw.
I can't believe that my baby's gone.
So just one of these transitional times.
Enjoyed going to the ribbon cuttings and hearing from our principals and seeing our communities and knowing that the work that we've been doing in the district is just reflected in how our principals are talking to our families and presenting at the head of our schools.
And I'm just so excited for this year.
I know we're going to do great things.
And I am so excited to have Superintendent Juneau and I want us to bring us back to the idea that we're really going to make this year about being a student focused year and working really hard to get the students voice into every level of our work.
And so I just hope we're all mindful of that continuing to work towards that goal reaching out to each other.
And please let's all just continue to use each other as a resource create our relationships create our partnerships with that in mind and figure out how we're going to get kids here to talk about us in a way that they know that they will be respected and heard.
And certainly what better than to look at that beautiful video that was made for us where the students were at the center.
I saw a few directors crying and I can cry again just thinking about it.
And we just need to know.
I think we want our students every student to watch that video no matter who they are and know that whatever their circumstance that they are cherished and respected within our district and that was reflected in that video.
So thank you Gail Morris for that beautiful video.
And just let us know when we can all post it wherever we can so that the whole world can see it.
So again welcome to this beautiful new year and let's go and do great work.
Director Burke.
Echoing the the welcome to the first year first day of a new school year.
It's a little bit bittersweet for me both because I was traveling last week and so I had to spend it all at work and couldn't go out and visit schools but also because it's the first start of school in 17 years that I didn't have one of my kiddos in it.
So.
I don't have mine, but I've got some 54,000 other ones that I can celebrate and support, which is awesome.
Also, coming to this meeting today and being out in the hallway and hearing the Eckstein Jazz Band warming up and thinking, oh yeah, it's going to be a good meeting, was further reinforced by the wonderful video, the I Am Native video.
Thank you to everybody who put the effort into that and for sharing it with us.
Thank you for having that be your day one.
Put a stamp on something.
I wanted to also really echo the thank you to all of the folks that have been involved in bargaining.
And I think there's there's a heightened interest in it right now.
What a lot of people don't know is that this started months ago as a hard body of work and years ago as a trust building exercise.
So I really want to.
share a special shout out to Clover Codd and her team and for for helping build the environment for an interest based bargaining structure and for all of the people that you know in the district and in SEA that that rolled up their sleeves and talked about the tough issues and helped us work through to a tentative agreement.
I did have a chance to go to the ribbon cutting at Loyal Heights yesterday which was also very cool.
Given some of the previous conversation around you know there was there was conflict around it like many of our projects and it was just such a such a feeling of enthusiasm.
The playground was full because it had lots of cool stuff going on there.
They basically ran a carnival type event all afternoon.
And the new building is a great blend of the classic old that you walk through and this kind of wave of nostalgia flashes by and then you walk into the new one and it's got the it's a good tie in but it's also got that kind of spacious bright fresh feel.
So good job to all the team that designed built opened celebrated that building.
So this one's that this one's just a special note for anyone who's drilled down in the personnel report.
You'll notice there's a there's an individual in there that I want to give one last commendation to the personnel report includes the retirement of Larry Nyland.
And so I just wanted to.
If he's watching thank him again.
You know him and Nate are probably sitting in a bar somewhere watching this and saying ha ha ha.
But thanks Larry for the foundation and you know all the culture that you helped build here.
So I just wanted to.
To cap that off.
And then in closing I have a community meeting scheduled for Saturday September 15th 11 to 12 30 at Green Lake Library.
And that's not posted yet but I just got the approval this afternoon and it should be up on the calendar shortly.
I think you're going to want to rethink that.
You'll be in a retreat at 11 o'clock sir.
So like I was saying about this tentative we're going to reschedule that somehow.
Yeah there'll be an upcoming community meeting sometime but you have one of the afternoon but not in the morning.
Brutal.
OK.
Well that's it.
Clearly we're off to a good start this year.
Next.
Director Mack please.
I actually very much appreciate following that because I've made a bunch of mistakes around dates and planning recently because there's so much going on and it's really hard to get it all in.
And.
I too have not been able to schedule my community meetings because I cannot find time and I'm hoping to do that sometime soon but we have so many work sessions and board meetings and committee meetings and retreats and being away for WSSDA.
It's an incredibly busy time of year but I will hopefully get one scheduled.
between now and the next few weeks because I definitely want to be hearing from community especially around the boundaries issues that are going to be coming to the fore.
There's a number of communities that are going to be interested in what's going to be happening there and how we're going to be resolving some of those challenging issues and want to be ensuring that we're engaging well and hearing the concerns and coming up with the best solutions for the greatest number of students and families.
And that's about it.
I'm just really grateful to be back.
I'm excited to start the school year start the planning work that we continue the planning work that we're doing.
And.
Oh I want to plug my Facebook page.
I have a Facebook page that's dedicated to school board related stuff.
If you like it you'll be able to see those posts I will share out personal school board related topics but also other Seattle Public Schools things of interest and I hope I see you there.
Next up Director Pinkham.
Good evening.
First I actually want to go back in for the Audit and Finance.
One thing we also did we welcomed a new auditor Janice Hanson.
So Janice welcome to the Seattle School District.
We were missing one of our auditors for a while and we finally got that position filled full time.
And also welcome Ellie.
This should be your second meeting right?
Because I wasn't here at the last one but welcome.
Thank you to Eckstein Middle School for their performance today.
Amazing.
I played the trumpet in fifth grade and that was it.
The music just threw me off.
I just moved my fingers and got a grade for the class.
But definitely the talent that we're seeing in our schools and as Director Harris also mentioned that you know getting that musical exposure of students will improve other academics as well.
So the students have better other ways to express themselves and music is just one of those.
So I welcome back to school everyone out there parents Students teachers everyone welcome back to school and thank you to our district office and SEA that we came to an agreement and we got school started on time.
Appreciate that we did that because I would hate to see what would happen if we didn't.
I'm glad that we are on track that we were on track.
I was out in Loyal Heights as well for the ribbon cutting and got to meet one of their old alums that was there from 1939, he said, and he's chanting with me about his time in school and how it was.
He's first or third grade.
They got moved to another school, but as we're talking there, and he goes, oh, here comes my granddaughter, and his granddaughter walks up, and his granddaughter also went to Loyal Heights.
So just about that impact of generations and keeping the community together, which also may reflect about the generations of the indigenous people that were here as well, that we must recognize that in our schools, the community that is built here and the community that has been here since time immemorial.
Thank you Gail Morris going to segue into that for the I am native video does show that we do have native students out there and oftentimes many of the natives that we're not out there to say hey look at me here I am.
This is we're a little more humble.
There's amazing we'll get those students come out there and be able to say that I am native and be on the video.
Kareem I I've interacted with many a times Fred Brown the third is able to go to his graduation and saw.
Fred Brown there.
So that is the same Fred Brown people want to know from downtown Fred Brown with the Seattle Supersonics that he was there to watch him graduate as well.
I also want to thank.
How is Shquachee or Shquachee that we now actually have up at Nathan Hale High School in Georgina which Gail was here is running that portion up at Nathan Hale High School.
So what they're doing down at Chief Sealth International School is now going to be at Nathan Hale High School.
And I say let's keep the ball rolling and see how much more we can expand our services for Native Americans.
What they're doing is wonderful.
Let's keep on expanding that.
Also, I want to go back to the summer.
I got to spend a day or a few days, half a day with Lieutenant Juneau on a Navy ship with the Navy Educator Luncheon.
So that was enjoyable there.
And we had lobster and steak on there for lunch with the Navy.
pretty impressive so glad you're able to have the right connections and I also want to just acknowledge that for all our Jewish families out there that yes we know that you have a holiday coming up and I myself if I had a holiday that or religious experience that I had to be to or to be at school I'd go with my spiritual side first.
So if you feel inclined you know please do what is best for your family you know and the school will still be here when you return.
We'll welcome you back when you enter that door the first day whatever it may be.
I don't have a community meeting plan just yet.
My first will probably be in October because again we have the retreat and the University of Washington starts up and I'll be busy that weekend after that.
So won't be until October for my first community meeting.
Qeˀciyéẁyéẁ Thank you.
Director Patu.
Good evening.
It's really great to be back.
I actually wanted to.
to welcome our southeast community even though that our meeting did not go through last week.
I am hoping that we usually when that happens usually I ask community if there's something that they really want to discuss that I am open to have certain meetings that they want to actually be able to have and that's something that I've done in the past.
Really looking forward to a great year.
Had a chance to visit some of my schools and be able to figure out what can I do different this year.
Well I decided that I really wanted to visit all 23 of my school this year.
I don't know how I'm going to do that but I've already kind of working on a schedule this morning to try to figure out how that can happen.
I think that when I went to some of the schools that I've never visited last year and the year before they were actually saying yeah whatever.
So hopefully that I will be able to come up with a schedule that I can be able to visit each school.
That's my goal is to visit each school this year and be able to actually meet some of the school staff that I have never had a chance to meet.
So because I actually ran into one school and they didn't realize that.
Boy do you really exist.
So hey you know what.
That's my goal this year and hopefully that I'll be able to be out there at every one of those 23 schools and be able to meet the staff and the students.
And I think every school is important and the Something that as a board director I would like to be able to be as supportive as I can to make sure that every student realize that yes just because I'm not here does not mean you're not important.
But I will.
That's my goal this year is to be out there at 23 schools.
Hopefully anyway.
Thank you Director Patu.
I'm thinking that my third career will be that of an auctioneer because I can talk fast.
And Director Patu we did have your community meeting without you and I met five of your constituents and I had a ball.
Thank you.
It was an opportunity for me.
My community meetings coming up September 22 at the Southwest branch library from 3 to 5 October 20th.
At the Delridge branch library from 3 to 5. The next one is November 18th.
That is a Sunday unlike the usual Saturdays but the West Seattle libraries are packed.
At the High Point library from 3 to 5. Remember I cook lasagna for one of every three meetings.
Staff is invited.
Students are invited.
Parents show up.
We have a great time and I hope you all come on down and for those directors that haven't set up community meetings as long as we let Michelle and Ellie know if you're coming so we don't have a quorum.
Way to go.
And if we do have a quorum and you want to eat lasagna and you want to you know place your bets we'll publicly notice it as a potential quorum issue.
What a blast.
What a blast it is to be a school board director.
I said in one of the walk and talks that welcoming our students to schools.
makes all these meetings worth it without a doubt.
How cool to have your fingerprints on these extraordinary young lives and to be a member of a team with my colleagues with staff because we are in fact a team is I say an honor and a privilege.
And I really mean it from my heart.
We get to deal with a lot of yucky stuff but watching those faces come in this morning at West Seattle Elementary standing next to Mayor Jenny who can do a high five up high and a high five down low and and absolutely engage.
As though she's a born teacher and perhaps she is maybe that'll be her next career.
But partnering.
It's a beautiful thing.
E.C.
Hughes the renovation of and welcoming Roxhill Elementary there just can't be finer.
Loyal Heights again seeing the coming together of all that hard work.
was was beyond and a beautiful thing.
Hanging out at Chief Sealth International High School today with Superintendent Juneau with Sherry Cox with Carrie Campbell with Kim was a blast as well.
And Sherry and Carrie were handing out ORCA cards looking them up having them sign off as fast as you could and we were standing up above We could not get their attention.
They were so focused and we even dropped a badminton shuttlecock on Carrie's head and she didn't miss a beat because we wanted a photo of course.
That video that we saw was beyond and I would suggest that we send it to every state office holder in the state Hello we're Seattle Public Schools and we're proud of it.
Heard a story this week from assistant superintendent Brent Jones.
I said so you went to the conference black student black school educators association.
How was that.
He said Leslie we're ahead of them.
We've already done a lot of the work that they're bringing to us.
Again prideful gratitude moment.
Thank you kind sir.
SEA and SPS collective bargaining if you read social media like I do too much of you see a certain amount of feedback if not blow back.
But what I want to say is the folks on your bargaining teams plural.
from the school district and from Seattle Education Association have worked extraordinarily hard and each and every one of them deserves respect and your thanks.
You may or may not be happy with how it all came down.
You may or may not understand some of the issues But please reach out and thank these people because they're standing up getting counted and doing the hard hard work.
Short and sweet.
And we are at 530. It's public testimony time.
Thank you.
In accordance with board policy 1430 and corresponding procedure 1430 BP that's board procedure.
One person is to speak at a time.
Comments should be addressed to the board.
Please adhere to the time limit on testimony.
You'll have a yellow light 30 seconds in two minutes goes fast.
The focus of comments should be on the issues and solutions.
Majority of the speaker's time must be spent on the topic he or she has indicated they wish to speak about.
No racial slurs personal insults ridicule or threats will be allowed.
No comments regarding personnel matters.
All signs brought to the meeting are subject to these ground rules.
Should you speak out of line we will in fact rule you out of order and instead of the gavel we're using the no button.
Please have the speakers identified and come on up.
Thank you.
First up for public testimony this evening we have Chris Jackins followed by Carol Simmons.
My name is Chris Jackins.
Box 8 4 0 6 3 Seattle 9 8 1 2 4. On board policy 32 20. Six points.
Number one the policy seems to exempt student publications from school board policy on commercial advertising.
Number two under the policy can student publications accept advertising for marijuana.
Number three according to the proposed policy the issue is does an ad for marijuana incite students to violate federal or state laws.
Number four marijuana is advertised on billboards nearby to the school district headquarters.
It seems that an advertiser could argue that such billboards do not incite students to violate the law and thereby neither would ads in student publications.
Number five commercial advertising is not an expression of student speech.
It is not something that needs protection in the public schools.
Number six please return to the previous board policy that prohibited all commercial advertising in public schools.
On final acceptance of Thornton Creek two points.
Number one the Decatur annex building at Thornton Creek is the last connection at the site to its World War 2 history.
It has been nominated for landmark status.
Number two please attach a condition to the final acceptance requiring the district save the Decatur annex.
On the Wing Luke constructability report three points.
Number one the executive summary is inadequate.
There is no implementation information.
Number two a landmark nomination for the school was submitted by neighbors of the school including Josephine Rainwater.
Number three please halt all demolition of the school.
Thank you.
Good evening.
Please vote to amend policy 31 16 students in out of home foster care.
This will remove barriers and educational disruption for these students and their families.
One of our school board directors who is a foster parent is being honored for his achievements by the University of Washington.
Board Director Scott Pinkham will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award at the 24th annual UWAA Multicultural Map Bridging the Gap Breakfast on October 20th.
He was selected for promoting diversity and equity for all supporting educational opportunity programs and for representing voices in the community that go unheard or are disregarded.
Director Pinkham is the first Native American elected to the Seattle school board.
He is married has two daughters and many foster children.
He is an enrolled member of the Nez Perce tribe and nationally recognized.
Director Pinkham has served on numerous district committees and patiently attempts to teach us his native language.
Everyone is invited to attend the map breakfast but please registered early as it has grown from 50 to over 800 attendees.
Superintendent John Stanford attended in 1995 and this year our new superintendent Denise Juneau will be present.
For 23 years the Seattle community including school board directors and district staff have attended the UW's heart and soul signature event to celebrate diversity and honor student scholarship recipients and distinguished alumni.
Director Patu had received this honor at one time.
Congratulations Director Pinkham for receiving this prestigious award and thank you for your service to our students their families and the community.
Invitations to this event are on the back table.
Thank you.
Ellie and Michelle you might as well go ahead and list this as a possible quorum.
I know I'm going.
I would never hit the no button for you Dr. Simmons.
Not a chance.
We're going to take a 10 minute break and we're going to come back for action and intro.
Thank you.