001March 13th at 602 and I call this meeting to order gavl woohoo we dive in okay um so um if you can come back bear with me three four minutes at the stage and we'll go in which is um grateful for the window window of time I actually only felt we needed 15 minutes but talking to others it was like well let's put a little bit of cushion there um and primarily what I wanted to do is affirm the processes and protocols um and whether or not there are any additional processes or protocols we should explore set in motion or have ready in the wings tied to the rapidly changing National landscape as it pertains to education um and I want to be really clear um in my estimation the meeting is not about the
002content of that which is transpiring so about any particular executive order or potential um but our our response protocols as a board um in light of the rapidly changing sociopolitical landscape we've had to respond to and prepare for significant shifts and actions potentially and or directly impacting our district the response to date in my estimation has been thoughtful grounded strong and strategic um and I feel lucky to be both within the state in which our elected officials are strategically working to protect the success of our schools and the safety and Welfare of our children and Educators and within this District a place in which I witness leadership willing to stand up for our community and core commitments um I felt it was important to meet and affirm the response practices and protocols as the unfolding
003practices have been established in real time and only believe it or not over the past s and a half weeks um and many of you might feel these practices have been effective I don't disagree um I also felt it was wise to check in and make sure we're all operating with the same understanding um I know we've each had conversations but we've not had a collective sitdown conversation about this as a board and so I think sometimes for me I assume everyone's operating with the same parameters and then in conversation find out maybe not um and just a few weeks ago two or three weeks ago in slager update that one of the updates you shared from wda an OSI and this was just two weeks ago um it said um from them quote during
004the next 90 days starting two weeks ago there will likely be legal challenges additional details and more questions that arise leading to potential changes and new developments as a result it's crucial to take measured and deliberate uh is crucial to take a measured and deliberate approach when determining your next steps um let's see the fact that the landscape is volatile and will likely remain volatile means that we can expect moments of calm and moments of active distress and I want to trust our flow of information um and our practices um as I said before I feel we're lucky to live where we are I know individuals living in with districts that are aligned with the unfolding executive orders Etc um or the state is aligned with those executive orders those districts have felt in real
005distress talking to people there um and this firewall that we have right now with you know our state's superintendent of education and um OSI and W and our attorney general that firewall has given us a buffer and I My Hope Is that buffer and firewall will stand um but right now we have a window in which we can look at what's coming our way um and a little bit of time to be proactive and so what I saw us doing was really quickly reviewing what the current practices are in regard to staying informed proactively addressing and being poised to respond if a time sensitive decision must be made um reviewing really quickly identified areas of potential vulnerability um and then finally exploring new add additional or complimentary Pathways and practices so are there other responses
006that we should consider and or other sites of responsibility that we should be looking at um and so taking kind of current practices first I want to see where this aligns with y'all's thinking if there's Parts I'm missing I me I see a couple of key pieces which is the weekly briefing um and in the bi-weekly where slate is sharing national state laws regulations and policy updates um with a commitment to send a separate email if a bi-weekly isn't scheduled if there's something unfolding um the folder that I think Juniper you set up with OPI updates um the OPI Statewide web webinars um the updates directly through parent Square which I've appreciated um and I don't know um and so I could kind of go on if there are other practices that you all see
007that have already rooted and are providing guidance for our response and being responsible in the current moment I think that's kind of question one so the question is are we currently uh is there something else to add to this list of what's currently being done and I have thoughts on that but I first it was just are there other current practices on the table that's what I'm saying yeah that that is currently being done that we haven't put on the table um not my knowled either I'm not sure I know I think Jess you were on the webinar you able to be on the webinar yesterday I I tutor every time those webinars are that Tuesday is just flat out for me um it was again um I'd be curious to hear your reflection it
008was and yours justess it felt like it was like I was like my nervous system was calmer going into that meeting but I felt like there was more to to share on his end which I thought I'm just trying to pay attention to not be in those meetings like what's going to happen now right I think part of it is because now having been to two of them I just feel I so I find him to be a a steady surefooted leader and so I I trust what's coming from him I did think it was um interesting to hear maybe this is old news to everybody the about the like USDA purchasing Grant around fresh local food so that's a thing where someone might go oh that's not Department of Education but there's going to
009be other places where we are maybe going to take hits that aren't as obviously tied to the dle um I don't know if that was money that Sierra was banking on I assume so yes there are other and I thought that was something he had brought up in the first one that I attended was there may be money out there especially if you're going after grants that may not be as obviously tenuous or um not to be counted upon because they may not have a it may be a dotted line not line to your school the way that you think it's just you have to be watching all all the lines that's a that's a very good point I was talking to Sierra yesterday um and she was saying you know that the the $30,000
010Grant isn't there anymore um and that's a shame because it reflects our values of bringing fresh good food to the the students and we you know lost that funding and I think that's why there was that extra push this week as well to fill out the free reduced lunch forms because from my understanding that would help a bit if we could get a few more more of those that was uh related to another um different fund yeah well not another fund but another um it's not a policy shift in order to qualify for um schoolwide pre- lunch and free breakfast you have to have a meet this threshold and so uh with the current enrollment projections we wouldn't meet you know we met it this year but currently what we have in our you PR
011reduced lunch percentage wise we're about a per half to 2% lower than the threshold that you need so they want to make another push um because we have until April 1st to um to to change that number and then and then appeal back the threshold hasn't changed it's our data that's changed and that is a state threshold correct yeah so that's not necessarily going to be changed at all I yeah well that's I mean partly one of the things I've on here in terms of consideration are some of these things that on the surface someone might not immediately connect to education and to ramifications in our district and yet have profound ramifications and in my estimation that there are things that we can do um to position us to mediate some of those effects which
012is my hope can you um can you say what what you mean by that yes I mean I well okay so let me ask one question first and I'll say what I mean by that are there other kind of practices we're doing to stay informed as a board right now that I don't have there or we uh the only thing that I have not done because the session isn't over but I did send you all that Weekly Standard which actually makes a lot more sense sometimes than the stuff that we get from the legisl um we haven't talked about what's passing in the state legislature partly because um we've been busy frankly because we're such a small board anyway um that our voice while I've been sending out you know weekly stuff as your representative
013to the legislature um it's what we say and what we do I think we should focus on our local economic issues because we frankly we don't have the clout that other districts do to weigh in on state law but one thing that that I would like to do um is to insert and this is a placeholder for me more than anything else uh information as it comes across as to what state laws have been passed um I see no point really uh taking a lot of time about ones that haven't because um it's too bad but that's not what we have to work with so it's become it's incumbent on me to probably do more reporting what do you think slay it's it's difficult in this period of time when we're when we're seeing those
014cut offs and so um you were talking about like you this you kind of wave of information and how do you parse it out it's really not helpful right now so I mean I read the too I have the South Sound you know I get that Weekly I know what's coming and going um and it's kind of the same message every year you know in April we'll know a lot more about the bills that will actually have any have any impact on us um because they they'll caveat everything is necessary to implement budget like you talk about nitb but it's just like um it's it's not fruitful right now spend I think a lot of our energy and time around the wood bees so yeah was there anything that went out to us about the
015$330,000 that would be cut from the food budget did I miss something there we haven't we haven't received any official word it's kind of like it's been it's widely known now that that that granting money is going to be off the table and so we did have a 30,000 you know for the next year I believe so that would just be unbudgeted now and it does also it also goes to show as someone that's involved in the local EG Community pretty deeply like that money that's real money for farmers and nonprofits in this community like it's such a clear line sometimes it's not as obvious in a in a larger setting with the economic like yeah it's a bummer for our district and that those kids are not going to have access to as much
016hyper local food which sounds like a very first world problem yes and no but it's also has an economic Ripple right um I'm assuming matsuda in particular yeah talk about a lot of that money yeah the grant wasn't um all for food it was for um you know the you know the underpinning structures you know paying for some you know people people resource at matsa you know those kind of things so you're right it's like it's it's not just a a hit to the district it's not like we now we have $30,000 less to buy lettu right you know that Grant you paid for infrastructure well it is and the community is talking about it I think goes to what river saying is having some communication amongst the group so we're all on the same
017page as to how that is affecting the school before the community is buzzing too hard about it because they are I mean I've probably been asked about it five times now and I've been at home with a sick kid for most of it I just don't know we don't we don't I haven't seen anything come from pi and they're they're going to be the ones who that's where this grant comes through and so when we get when we get that information then we can put it up but maybe we can put a placeholder for that you know since that's going to be on people's minds or maybe we could have some kind of response to the community as those things arise as a group so sted well if you say that this is uh something
018that more likely than not will happen but we don't have the official word yet um but you you know um this more concerned I mean we could say what we're saying here and be accurate we would have to and maybe this is what you're asking for to some extent is almost like some sort of our own rubric internally to what what triggers a public something you know because you don't want to cause a fuss sound like a very you don't want to cuss the f um unnecessarily you know like if it gets fix no one has said anything to me I'm just saying that's my own you know granted I'm rarely here anymore but like so it's hard to know like if we preemptively say something about something does that cause more Panic does that
019cause more uncertainty like if we had our own sort of decision making um you know like yesterday I reached out to slate about the news about the department of Ed essentially gutting 50% of their work staff now to me that's Rose to the level did I check in with everybody does this okay you know no but he and I were on the same page yeah we were we were planning something for Friday but Wednesday is a good day too exactly um so it's kind of hard to know like what is our threshold and at what point do we have a voice and at what point do we you know on the shoulder can I inter I mean because here like these are getting at a number of things and and these are some Initial Ideas
020here which is I I do think things like the parent square piece that you sent out about the federal funding right that I think that the district is reassured when they feel like we're on top of it right right and and that was very um it was just very matter of fact right um and I I guess I had a couple of thoughts which is one you know when a few minutes ago you about the state budget or state decisions that's on a pretty predictable time frame right so we know you know so you're saying okay April here's where we're going to know more here's this and the way the roll out for those decisions is somewhat predictable in its timing right we know when a decision is made it will likely be set in
021motion these months right or at this point in time part of what to me is happening right now is that decisions are coming very rapidly and they're being implemented really quickly not hey this is something that we've passed and it will be effective June 2025 you know but more with the immediacy so one of my thoughts was inserting at board meetings a time to potentially identify one area that's part of the national conversation and receive an update with time for questions um so for example you know you mentioned USDA the other English is being passed as an official language people may not see the direct connections to the district but it does have potential implications in terms of the districts for translation and other factors that that affect families and the other part I thought
022about was either having one Forum or more than you know or a seasonal Forum to have a CommunityWide like a town hall um which has been quite robust around the country now um where we're looking at what the propos kind of are what the proposals that people see coming down the pike because at the very least most of them are being articulated are you know being able to have a community conversation where we hearing Arguments for and against implications for the districts um and and part I say that because I want to make sure if we are in a position of having to make decisions that I feel not just anecdotally in touch with the community pulse but that I feel very directly and because I also see a lot of these proposals as impacting
023historically and contemporarily marginalized communities and that is a thread that runs throughout and I want to make sure that impacted communities are getting a chance to voice things so with the Department of Ed cuts for example you know I know they're not saying immediately affecting it won't immediately affect students with disabilities Etc but there are byct Ripple outs so one of my questions is do can we set something up that's not reactive that's thoughtful that engages that allows us to be in a shared conversation because I also think by that shared conversation things like the USDA cuts um and the impact on local farmers I think that's something this community would ring around [Music] and I want to be able to creatively respond if needed so River I have a question that are you proposing
024Town Halls possibly even just even just one to talk about unfolding initiatives potentially impacting the school district because I see anxiety across I don't have feelings about it when let me know if you get cold get cold your thank you since we're in winter time um and with that maybe having a you know not people on the board representing but maybe you know someone speaking to different areas I truly believe that and this is I truly believe that this is more um the purview of the vasel and Mory Council than us I'm just being honest um and that I would rather discuss things from point of view of fact rather than a point of view of what is um simply because uh the what if are ramped um I think it might and here's just
025my my sense of this I think parent Square site would be a place uh a really good place to inform people whenever we know something that impacts the school and this and to make that commitment to have it posted so that we're being very transparent when we know something being very transparent that we are watching what's going on because the questions I've been getting are very pointed direct questions about things and saying are you watching what's going on does the district have the inform information and are they getting any information and as soon as I've been able to say yes we get it from this and this and this source and uh we are we have contingencies um and federal you know loss of federal money will not crash our budget um and we are
026looking at it very carefully then all then that goes it really lowers the anxiety um I'm afraid that a town hall would do just the opposite that's just my opinion yeah and I guess I also am concerned there are there is a segment of the community who knows how to have their opinions made known um and when you're talking about marginalized folks whether it be undocumented poor whatever the the issue is you know we know we know CPAC knows how to make their voices heard right and but there are other groups who may in fact be the most at risk in our community who we will not hear from for a variety of reasons and no one can carry that water for them we can make guesses we can talk to byfs about low-income families
027we could talk to dub about gender based violence you know but we hearing directly from people about their concerns tends to happen for people like me I know how to make some noise I know how to have my voice heard um and I guess I am aligned with what I understand Martha to be saying around speculation because the flavor of what's Happening Now is full-blown chaos decisions being made and then they're walked back oops didn't mean it didn't mean to fire all the people in charge of the nuclear safety program it feels like if we were to even speak on a speculative this is what we're thinking about and then all of a sudden the next day what's her face in charge of Education you know just kidding or I mean who knows there's the
028chaos is both intentional and because I actually think they're incompetent and there are 10 to 20 injunctions right out there right now on various aspects so uh I think maybe we're being premature on this talk but I think it's I really think you're right that the community wants to know that we are listening and um the community if they want we could encourage them if they wanted to ask the board where are the resources where I could find out information even if we post it on you know parent square and on the website which we have if we just say if if you want more information about X Y and Z we can help point you to the place where you find out more about the schools um the uh I've read through all of
029Chris rell's stuff even though I couldn't I wasn't there for the webinar and I assume that's public knowledge correct it's all public yeah so um I think what they want is reassurance that we're listening and that we care I think that's really what they what our public wants maybe there is a place on the website for a tab for the national you know national news related to education or even and I know the I don't think there's a web page that um I find those I don't read every single one but the wasda daily digest I I read some fascinating things in there and it's not just all about the current crisis just some deep thinking about education that has been unbelievably to me um I don't think they make that a static web page
030that you can visit you know I've forwarded it to a couple of friends who were fascinated when I told them about how valuable I found those digests but yeah something simple on the web page that either is I think you can go looking for OPI somewhere in here but somewhere a little more obvious because that stuff is so helpful and because they have a full staff of pay smart people on the job we don't want to make extra work for our staff no attaching link is is easy I I mean I guess here's a I have zero interest in raising Community anxiety nor individual anxiety I think it's at a at an incredible high right now um and I don't have any interest in simply discussing hypotheticals right I don't think that that's productive nor
031constructive I do think think that there are things that might happen where we will be in a position to respond in one way or another so let's say this $30,000 Grant is gone that means as a board we will have to respond to that right and and whether we fund it in some other way or other pieces and I guess what I want to know is that there is an opening for conversation with the community because I think that we have a lot of brilliant talented creative people out there in the community who if they know that cut is hum cutting coming might be really motivated to be a part of a conversation and and some of these things I mean the immigration stuff has already been hitting and transpiring so we are these aren't
032all hypothetical some of them are being lived and so I'm trying to think of how to mediate between what you're which I hear and also the space for a productive conversation and one of my thoughts is partnering then with the Chamber of Commerce like you're saying or you know bashari or someone else having a space for these conversations I guess what I don't want to do is make decisions in a siloed way so I don't think the USDA thing is going to be the only thing that affects our budget and then therefore our priority decisions moving forward for the coming year and I don't I want us to be able to look in a holistic way and um and I don't want to be looking when we're having to react to an immediate moment let's
033that's my attention yeah let's hope the federal government doesn't drop some immediate thing at a time when we have to make decision I mean a lot of decisions to be made if they yank funding maybe there's some chest that we have to you know I I had a um very difficult um conversation my um I have a trans niece and we ended up having a family um conversation about safety planning and we were talking about like what are the threshold markers at which decisions will have to be made about her safety and about their family's safety and that to me was a useful exercise of like cuz there's the phenomenon of like the boiling the Frog like that they turn the heat up and we just like oh exp now we're boiling but that but
034that halfhazard and chaotic way with which things are happening at this Administration a it's hard to predict and it doesn't feel like they're going to boil a frog it feels like it feels I don't I don't know feels like dangling the Frog over the pie yeah period um and but is there but like are there whether it's a threshold for which communication goes out or a threshold at which decisions have to be made like I'm not sure I don't even know at this point it all feels I mean we've been in this for 50 days yes or at about the 50-day mark so like what is there it was a thoughtful exercise to be like okay here are some like for them for for example the pride flag comes down or they're no longer allowed
035to have gender neutral bathrooms in their kids bathroom like these are little things that may not be so little but cumulatively it violates the safety of their kid so are there things in in in our purview recognizing what is your purview and what is our purview that we would where we could imagine decisions have to be made or or we need to I don't know well our purview is financial our purview is policy that affects our students academically um primarily um our purview is also to uh reflect the community but as you say that's kind of dicey in fact it's hard to hear from all the community but I see it particularly as a board member in finan and since I I would much rather be on a school board in a public school at
036this moment than to be uh a Dean at a university because uh the cuts there I mean that's where the Federal grant uh grants are really meeting you know that's already deeply affecting both private and public universities in many departments well and the C financial aid and St loans stuff is affecting our seniors looking and they're affec and what they can for their choices um but it in the immediate role that we have as school board members we are not beholden to the federal government and we live in a very robust state with state laws that are really rep uh respect and and uh sanctify civil rights and students rights so at this point in our purview of what we have to do I don't see yet anything that's come down the pipe that is
037really a financial issue can I say one which is where I can see it coming back down the pipe soon is that our job is also to to align the budget with our priorities and that so we've got this $30,000 cut here and say for some reason the I think it was 1.4 million Federal funding that that if if we have a reduction and funding we will have to make some you know pretty impactful decisions and and I suppose that's why why I would like to know that we're engaged as a community in making those decisions but I hear you the P we have Al we have also heard very clearly in the last survey from the staff um both instructional staff classified um and across the board what are the priorities in terms of
038academic support and uh curricular support that has come to the top with the bud budget um uh committees um and I think the intent to try to honor that in a budget shortfall would be my number one goal as a school board member to be really honest because we already have data on what the community are the community of stakeholders that that know what they're talking about in terms of seeing what's going on in the schools um they've already spoken to us and so one of my number one goals financially would be to try to honor that um and I do agree that being proactive is a lot more uh productive than reactive and if we keep that sort of for at our Forefront and say yes we are going to try to continue to
039do what we have said we were going to do continue to honor what we already know the the um School Community wants in the face of possible budget cuts that should be our goal and that at the time that there is significant financial impact then we meet I I think that's the threshold where is there going to be a significant financial impact if that happens that's our threshold when we start really discussing uh the priorities the educational priorities see I consider that kind of reactive and my big thing on this Administration all along is when we have to be proactive which is what I hear you saying um would there be some type of way that we could add the hotter topics to our agenda for like a 20 minute portion of our our session
040so that the public knows that we are on top of that it's brought up in the agenda in our board meetings oh I know compromise and a pro that's our decision and and I don't mind that a bit I think that's a very good one I feel like that's a middle ground we're not holding a town hall we're not trying to change the world but we are letting the public know we we see these topics this is where the city the state the district is standing on these topics in each meeting and that should calm and qu a little bit perhaps do that's what I in the superintend that's what I said earlier was it each meeting I thought that was where you're going try to R Sor would update would provide an update and
041I got way laid into what is a threshold that's where I was at no would you like that to sit would you like that to sit and mostly I'm talking to the two of you I'm ambivalent do you want it to sit in the superintendent report do you want it to sit as it a standalone section that a board member addresses do well guess you would you like to address those things would you like us to address we're we're we're a team on that one probably it's probably not so it could be either or could be it could be you know we have the discussion section which is typically that's exactly what I thinking it's typically uh first read That's not limited to First reads yeah I would fine with yeah let's put it in
042there that sounds great as a standing item I think that's a great idea as with all things we can always say it Causes Chaos we could stop it no I don't think that that was not the intent my my pre previous no but I can see that we also don't want to add add any gasoline to the SP in any way shape re form as we move forward because it is it is becoming a thing yeah and I and I guess to me that is a part also of having the embodied experience of we are holding this right we are holding this we are attuned to it and that's an embodied expression and it allows an opportunity for an update and potentially questions okay which I think is can I ask a decision making question
043and if you don't have an answer it's fine and this may be more better directed to someone like Dr Spencer is there as we were advised by Chris R doll as people are like if you've got a Grant application it's kind of in the works and those are not an insignificant amount of work just the application they're huge huge lifts for for so many people on your team is is there your own rubric or gut check or somewhere in the middle of like I think you should let's not this this is not worth your time right now or is it feel like we still got to apply for everything because you never know like is there are there things in the works that feel like oh shoot this is probably not going to happen I
044don't think so some of the um like we have uh transitional Bilal grants that is super small but you know that that's kind of one you know a question mark but we that's a again a a state Grant so um you don't know as the state pinches where you're going to get pinched so um we have typle two which is professional development that's not so much um you know then you just kind stop doing some things that's where your parties are you know if you're going to identify we're going to want to keep you know services for multi supports higher you know at the sacrifice of you know insert ptd you something like that so um so I think we're those are still fairly um small numbers um but not insignificant because we're small so
045I think Stephanie is taking it I think Stephanie is justy you know because it's part of our just annual process of those are you know like our lap money you know which is our tier three service tier 2 Services absolutely we're going to apply for that we'll see what happens I know we're over time so thank you River for for bringing this up this is an important matter that we need to discuss what I can do is like go to Stephanie and have some information and bring that back to that discussion time sure that be helpful that would be great um if it's not too much work like I don't I don't ever want reporting to the board if it like to become information a level of yeah I know but I know she she
046I she in particular I know she has a certain expectation for herself by the way she likes to bring us information that's super I'm not going to her to share no no okay and I have a post cough everybody and I had my shingles vaccine yesterday at so I'm just letting you know I'm kind of a little little lower energy oh dude it's still a good sense of humor yikes I'm been hiding from the second one sing shoten even had one I it's weird to have like but you don't have the flue it's the only shot I haven't had I know oh my gosh I didn't think I'd have to use my mom voice with you I well I had the mom's voice use on me and that's why I went and got it yeah
047cuz I was like like ah and then know you have to yeah I know I have to well you're around kids all day yeah it's just um and you're in the elementary school where all of the kids their Chicken Box I had a very mild I didn't even know what it was I thought it was bed bugs I was like what what is over me I can see why you think that yeah stayed at my brother's place you're still on camera yeah you are he Liv in Texas he hear this he would probably agree he was a little gross at that time of his life okay well are are we going to sh GE shifting gear is here okay um is that that was it right for the work session yeah I mean there's more
048but I think we can move there's always always more so we St oh sorry yeah and at 7:46 uh we adjourn the work session public section of this 646 646 is actually the number on the analog clock and we're scheduled to end at 8:30 um so we say that we're going to adjourn the public part of this meeting for a an executive session yes an executive session until 8:15 8:15 per the Public Announcement and we will not be starting the stream again we will not be starting the stream again it's true this is all you're going to hear from us thank you for coming and good night perfect like we have to have you watch some late night shows to get sign I was just seeing I was just thinking Walter