001seat do you have another seat no no please stay there I just want to make sure you have not waiting for anyone good evening it is 6:00 pm. on April 18th 2024 uh when School District School Board is ready to get this hearing started um welcome to the second public hearing on the possible closure of Columbia Elementary the hearing is being conducted as required and in compliance with RCW 28a 33520 and board policy 6883 the board appreciates your presence this evening and would like to remind you that all public comments should to the same standard of Civility that the board imposes on itself the board will exercise its authority to maintain order in a Content neutral manner this evening this listening opportunity for the school board will be conducted as a formal Hearing in a
002civil manner in order to in order to preserve as much time for speakers as possible and maintain an environment favorable to the sharing of multiple perspectives we will be adhering to strict rules of decorum and ask that you refrain from clapping cheering booing or approaching the board table throughout tonight's proceeding please also be aware that the board is not obligated to respond to questions or challenges made during public comment and the board silence will not signal agreement or endorsement of the speaker's remarks before we begin I would like to review the guidelines for tonight signage banners and or displays are prohibited inside W high school before during and after the hearing speakers must complete a public comment form prior to speaking paper copies of the form are available at the table just outside the entrance
003of the room and should be given to Kim white who will announce your name when it is your time to address the board speakers should not hand items to the board during the hearing if you have documents that you wish to share with the board please give them to Kim white following your comment comments will only be accepted in person there is no virtual option for commenting tonight however this meeting is being live streamed for the public to view and the recording will be made available on the district's YouTube channel the board will also accept public comments via email at Schoolboard at weschools.org comments made at our regular board meetings will be included in the public testimony the board will consider in making its decision on May 14th if you need Spanish to English interpretation
004we have a certified Spanish interpreter available and seated near the podium we also have headphones available and we'll translate all English-speaking public comments into Spanish please feel free to use the headsets on the table just outside the entrance of the room English speakers will be allowed three minutes of comment time and Spanish speakers will be allowed four minutes to speak with additional time allowed for interpretation if necessary Commons are limited to one per person donating time to another person so they can speak longer is prohibited tonight's hearing will end at 9:00 p.m. or when the last comment is made whichever comes first in addition to tonight's hearing the board will uh accept written comments and comments through the email and uh last but not least I've been warned that the camera mic is very sensitive
005so if you please keep audience noise to a minimum people watching at home will appreciate it thank you for your attention uh we will first begin with a reading these announcements in Spanish and then a presentation from superintendent com [Music] V School [Music] White [Music] L board um ARA Wanachi schools.org [Music] com [Music] for for [Music] superintendent calar thank you very much Nancy thank you president Norton I appreciate that welcome to the community uh thank you school board for your time uh this evening uh to listen to testimony from our community uh we have a short slide presentation to give us a little bit of background and context as to why we are here um and Nancy will be helping me with this presentation so thank you again Nancy um so starting off with our
006uh with our public hearing tonight why does the district uh need to make budget reductions uh I don't think this information is uh new for anyone and I would encourage uh anyone who hasn't had a chance to uh look at the written analysis or the addent to the written analysis as well during uh uh the next few weeks uh the district is experiencing and has been experiencing significant enrollment decline um must make budget reductions uh to balance stacking levels and enrollment and a little bit of data behind that is this is not anything new we've had enrollment declines beginning from 15 16 um about 900 students over the last 9 years and 183 this year Alone um some of that some of the reasons for the enrollment decline are the increases in the K12 educational
007opportunities we know that we have uh we have we have our Public Charter School we also have some private opportunities and we know that there are some growth in those areas uh coming in the next uh in the next fall um we've also seen as the state and the nation as well an overall decrease in birth rates um and we know that uh all experience it that it is not inexpensive to live in wian and we have increased housing costs and lack of affordable housing in our district uh we also know that District funds are based on enrollment and when enrollment declines so do our revenues uh enrollment decline has been most significant thus far at the elementary level we know that when our second and third uh and fourth graders uh our sixth seventh
008and eighth graders will be experiencing that enrollment decline at the middle level and when those sixth seventh and eighth graders or 9 10 and 11th graders will be experiencing that enrollment decline at the high school as well the W school district has targeted a total reduction amount uh between 89 million we'll describe that uh on a slide here in just a second so [Music] um for thank you and as we look here this is the district proposal for how the budget reductions would take place the uh the first row there are the different grade levels um starting with the potential closure of Columbia there at a 2.8 million uh savings or reduction there for the budget U moving on to the middle school schedule uh with a $2 million uh reduction there as the middle
009schools uh align their schedules and reduce Staffing and then finally at the high school level uh with a $671,000 reduction there in the alignment of their Staffing and their new schedule with both the middle and the high school the idea there is the preparation for enrollment decline as it comes through our system to be uh ready and Nimble to adjust to those so that'll be savings that will also impact Us in future years uh the additional Staffing on the bottom row there we have a million dollars worth of additional Staffing reductions that we'll have plus our $2.5 million with MSO our materials supplies and operating costs for a grand total of uh close to 8.9 million thanks NY for [Music] and uh and why Columbia this is a this is a a cross cross-section of
010some of those reasons please feel free to look at the written analysis and the addendum to the written analysis for a more detailed uh composite here but Columbia is our second smallest School uh with the second smallest staff over the last eight years Columbia has experienced a decline in enrollment by 26.5% uh has resulted in many open classrooms used for non-grade level purposes and small class sizes uh both Lincoln and Washington elementaries have the space to accommodate more students uh those buildings were built in 2014 to 2016 to house the large uh large number of students Columbia's location is unique and centralized as we all know uh most students live within a one mile walking distance of either Lincoln or Washington uh those few students that will need uh Transportation can be added to uh
011existing Wan School District bus routes limiting any additional funding um and we know due to the area um there's a lack of vacant land uh for uh more homes and then the co- zoning of several sections for residential and Commercial purposes the growth in the area is minable a lot of the homes there are single family dwellings with a few apartments and numerous companies and agencies [Music] Washington 201 [Music] washingt again for uh for more information on the district's budget and documentation on the possible closure uh please see our website uh again the written analysis we have an addendum to that written analysis the Q&A that has been created for the budget and for the possible closure and then information for our Columbia families uh upcoming board meetings and public comment opportunities tonight is our
012second and final uh public hearing written testimony is accepted via email by the school board and there's the uh the school board's email address it's also located on our website and then the final decision on May 14 coming [Music] [Applause] excellent thank you Nancy uh thank you for listening and being here tonight the rest of the evening will be dedicated to uh public hearing and testimony [Music] Ron let us know when you're ready and can you read our first names f okay first tonight we have Jill reinfeld then Jennifer knon all right good evening my name is Jill reinfeld I am a parent of two a teacher and sapay it is without question Columbia Elementary is a special place staff students and families is what without question the district has failed to oversee and control
013a budget shortfall it is also without question the district did not communicate the potential scenarios for reductions in a transparent and timely manner and it is without question the board has a very difficult decision the trust in the district and the subsequent negative morale is affecting students families staff and the community at large however now is the time for change as agonizing as it may be the board must vote to close Columbia for the upcoming school year to extend another year only perpetuates the financial burden and will ultimately create greater hardships in the future for everyone without this decision the board would further undermine the trust and confidence in its ability to make prudent financial decisions the district needs votes to support future levies and bonds how can you expect taxpayers to support those Endeavors
014there's no doubt it's the loss for Columbia the devoted staff and loving families who have cultivated a special of school in the words of my friend Megan it's unfortunate to have this school or any school beyond the verge of being closed yet a school needs to be absorbed by another think of the benefits that come along with blending of two schools the gift of views of additional families cultures and friendships as a member of the Washington Elementary Community I promise you that we are excitedly awaiting the arrival of new students families and staff the district has worked tirelessly to ensure a smooth transition should the closure occur trust that while these decisions are difficult we will strive to make every child and family feel welcome supported and that their social and academic needs are exceeded
015I urge community members who desire fiscal responsibility to communicate their wishes with the district I urge the cabinet and board to thoroughly research information they're receiving to ensure that it's accurate and I urge the Columbia Community to embrace heart change and model that we can positively persevere through challenges thank you [Applause] wach School District claims to found their decisions on the big six which states we promis to build a foundation of diversity equity and inclusion from which each student emerges Future Ready however closing Columbia admin was unbled to State clearly the idea until push to do so and there's been a lack of transparency when presented it was clearly an idea not a plan one pushed to speak clearly Mr began with there's no right way to say this admin had no knowledge of rcws
016or board requirements at time of announcement when asked what outside expert advice had been sought the response was that the only advice sought was from the cabinet and the shell price at the ESD and only around the idea of if konach School District had a budget deficit in response to the question is this a done deal the answer was yes once confronted with the RC W's the team changed all stakeholders were blindsided by the announcement it was a bomb bombs create ever lasting effects what happened to the three scenarios given by Mr Eagle in 2023 open houses have been held before the decision is made the community hearings feel like a farce a box ticked off a list so it can be said that all requirements have been met the timeline is unreasonable a simple
017Google search brings up multiple resources stating that a 12 to 18 month wellth thought out planner is the best timeline the district cabinet did not do their homework before informing Colombia its stakeholders and the rest of the District of their idea they have added information to each presentation based on questions we have brought to their attention in previous meetings the numbers for how many positions to be cut did not match between Graphics the numbers of EMP classrooms have been incorrect the amount of money saved by closing Colombia keeps changing the data presented by the district keeps changing who is factchecking why was Valley Academy not added to the original table of comparing elementaries how many errors do we need to find in your work before you realize it's not well done there was never a
018plan b or c there has been no vote on what staff thinks we should do because one option has been [Music] provided Cara stry then John Price I four what has been presented as two options is really one option close Columbia now or close Columbia later the not recommended list seems limited and written in order to check off a box on a list no explanation is given for items being not recommended when teachers can explain why many of those items should be recommended and were eliminations not reductions the survey sent out in January was not feasible for staff to even do because of tech issues how many responses were you able to get and where are those responses the survey sent out in January asking District staff to make recommendations for budget cuts also ask
019for dollar amounts we did not have this information we would like to see an itemized District budget in order to make an informed recommendations the only benefit to this idea is a financial one which can be achieved in other ways this is being done too Columbia and the rest of the elementary schools not done with the stakeholders have have not been heard or consulted Spanish translation has been considerably lacking onsite and in written Communications interpreting has been inadequate voices have been silenced through poor translation shutting down Applause not providing Zoom comments and allowing signage at Community hearings healthy leadership does not result in fear of Retribution for unifying and speaking out educators are afraid to speak out and are asking outside community members like Jamie Johnson to speak on their behalf because of this the
020board is not getting a clear perspective leaders in the community have a duty to amplify the voices of the historically marginalized and silenced parts of our community keeping the peace is moral blackmail used to perpetrate silence in the face of harmful and oppressive status quo it is not right as I conclude I leave you with this thought where would you want your child to be at a school that has the highest growth rate where students are a priority and with a staff that has a unique culture within their building where students and families are a priority regardless of the adversities we all face or would you want your child to be removed from their home which is Columbia Elementary and placed at a different overcrowded school where they become just a number and a dollar
021amount to the district thank [Applause] you good evening bu Coes this is my 12 year teaching and my third in wachi at Columbia Elementary I would like to thank the school board and cabinet for allowing us to speak on this matter tonight uh wachi School District's elementaries are in the best place instructionally that I've ever experienced in my career I want to give a shout out and thank you to Heidi busk and teaching and learning for the work she and they have done for our district and for greatly helping me improve my instruction there is a Clear Vision oversight communication transparency Forward Thinking collaboration and organization around instruction why is our community District staff and I being left with a feeling of complete contrast with how this process and decision making regarding budget cuts has
022been made this year closing Columbia would ne ne negatively affect classroom instruction and the work we've done I wanted to share some of the things I've experienced during my career I not suggesting that you make any of these Cuts but I'm asking you to get creative with budget reductions um I completed my student teaching in me school district and schan they had to make budget cuts and chose to cut all the library and art teaching positions at the Elementary level uh in my previous District the title one school I worked at averaged 650 plus students and was a four to five track per grade level we didn't have a vice principal the first 5 years I was there we only have one intervention specialist my previous District does not have dedicated Elementary highly capable teaching
023positions instead a small stien is given to a teacher at each Elementary School to provide highcap support I'm asking the school board and cabinet to get creative with District budget cuts we need to keep all elementary schools open analyze positions throughout the district based on needs and necessity look for ways to make cuts that don't directly affect students their instruction or their families seek collaboration seek expert guidance seek out ideas from other districts on how they have managed similar situations please don't let opinions or egos keep you from having an open mind to what is best for our students families and Community moving forward please keep Columbia open thank you you need to stop with the disruptions please Liz kazba and then Allison how closing Columbia will harm students there is going to be a
024lack of convenient transportation to school where is the information about traffic analyses timeline and safety timelines for making changes to walking routes would you want your six or seven-year-old Crossing Fair Street or Miller Street what are the busing routes that we have available that that need no change we do know that not having Dependable transportation to school will lead to tardiness which will turn into absences which will turn into being behind in learning there will be academic harm we are moving atrisk students from the highest achieving School in The District in terms of student growth to the lowest achieving schools generally in terms of parent choice parents would choose to move their students from low to high achieving schools moving students results in a year of lost of growth academically studies show that kids only
025recover academically from their schools being closed when they are moved to higher performing schools there will be an emotional academic cost not only of the move but also the year's lost academic growth it is hard to recover if you feel like you're the one behind or you are going into a brand new school in fourth or fifth grade we have a high number of students who receive special education services putting them into a school that is at full capacity will create more stress on students and teachers and become overwhelming and there will not be enough support for students in the full inclusion model also the buildings they are being moved to We Have Been Told they were set up to serve special education students but we are not using that model anymore 600 kids in
026one building versus a small school it has been said in to the public there is power and Beauty in a small school the two highest growth schools in the district are the two smallest schools a full capacity school is not a good thing 27 plus kids per classroom in every classroom being is not okay for students or for teachers hi I'm Alison how um I teach fourth grade at Columbia um I've been there since 2000 and um I have a question about a subject that is I think extremely serious it's a very serious subject um I think it is and I would assume everybody else does too um and it involves it I'll read my question and then I'll give you a minute to kind of think about it it's it's a serious question we
027live in a modern postco culture so while there is a rise in childhood stress anxiety mental illness and behavioral and emotional issues alongside Arison autism in schoolage children Across the Nation are we really proposing to have 600 students in one Elementary School with one counsel one in one recess area uh will filling the school with postco students be better for the students when there are other options besides closing Elementary School I mean anecdotally anecdotally I can add to this I you know it's almost a regular occurrence for me that I sit my kids in the morning and we share um you know how we're feeling in the morning and it's it's regular that kids will say they they'll talk about their anxiety they'll talk about some depression it's it's a real thing it's real and
028it's there and our children are dealing with this um so this is important it's important really important this is this is a decision that is going to be um you're making history here whatever we decide this historical moment how is it going to play out in the future years for for our children and for us I just I really hope you're taking it seriously thank you [Applause] Cassie elenas and then Esther K rubius good evening School Board I want to start out by reading our mission statement as a district we promis to build a foundation of diversity equity and inclusion from which each student emerges future ready as a district we work hard to achieve all these goals through differentiation professional development and the work we do every day but it seems as if the
029focus has been lost closing Colombia does not uphold this statement in regards to equity Equity is meeting people where they are with what they needan this decision isn't equable Equitable in regards to Che pay currently in Columbia we have two TK programs that are within walking distance from a student's house these students don't have access to paid preschools like the more financially privileged counterparts in other schools if Columbia closes the district has proposed that we add a TK to Mission view Newberry and Washington but not to Lincoln one of the schools that will be majorly impacted and where a majority of our students will go displacing low-income families and not giving them an option for free early childhood education while their neighbor programs are transferred to higher economic status schools is not Equitable and I
030can speak to this myself as a first grade teacher the kids who go to TK it makes a world of a difference this decision also disproportionately affects vulnerable populations at Colombia our percentage of low-income students is 78.8% while though in at school districts total percentage of low-income students is 65% 73.8% of Columbia students are Latino while the other while only 54.2% of wachi school district students are Latino 43.5% of our students are qualified as English language Learners while only 23.3% of wsd students qualifi Seattle Public Schools took away any Title One schools out of their consideration during consolidation because of the impact it would have on students and families this is an example of equity I only have a little bit of time left but I kind of wanted to give you a first great
031example of what Equity is if you came to me with a scraped knee and I handed you a Band-Aid I'd be giving you what you need but if you came to me with a bummed head and I gave you a Band-Aid you would be very confused because that's not what you need you need an ice pack I'm urging you to think about equity in this decision and think about our families because we're coming to you as a community of people who care and love these kids and every single day when I show up to work these kids are my pride and joy I wish that training the last couple days I miss my kids so much it's not even funny I urge you to consider a mission statement and let us help you continue upholding
032that mission statement thank you so much for your time [Applause] [Music] the residence forecast col col in [Applause] [Music] col [Music] colia no solo El team [Applause] my name is EST Karas and I have worked for the wachi school district for 30 years as a parro my experience in the first few years was negative neither the recently arried students from different countries nor I were well well received the resident forecast presentation show a lot of information about Colombia but what it didn't show was one Colombia welcomes family and students with a commitment to restore and transform their lives no matter who they are and they do not and they do it in their own language two Colombia has better academic growth read Colombia understands and supports the needs of every student and has changed lives
033across generation 100 years at Colombia students trust their teachers and every day they see a message of Love and Hope fifth Colombia is a place where students can enjoy walking trips to the museum the public library the couse house the fire department making it an insirational blessing my time at Columbia has been rewarded by meeting teachers and families and I ended up making great friendships I have worked to help families so that they do not live the experience I had left at Colombia that is equity Colombia isn't only the CER team but his family Maria de la agular and Tamara lashinski your communication has confused the families of Columbia some Columbia students have reported that Brothers have been placed in different schools one family that all live at the same address has been split up
034and assigned and assigned to two different schools also there are many families who have been told they can choose between Lincoln and Washington this is not true they won't have a space in any of the classroom to allow families to have a choice your current communication has made it harder for Columbia fames [Music] col for [Music] [Applause] I am Tammy lishinski music teacher at Columbia Elementary for almost 25 years I also attended Columbia as a student grades 1 through six so my high opinion of the WAN School District goes back decades however starting on January 19th that high opinion was shattered the district cabinet has broke trust with wanci School District staff and community members this broken trust could negatively affect future bonds at levies stakeholders have been put in a reactionary position rather than
035proactively planning and cooperatively making decisions together your stakeholders were not given a chance for buyin and engagement how could stakeholders help to solve a problem if they are never asked to come to the table the district's reactive planning is not good planning and does not Inspire confidence this possible closure could lose more students from the woodan school district because fames choic into Columbia or because they are looking for a district they have confidence in I too have lost confidence in The District in how you have handled this possible closure my heart aches to not be proud of the WAN School District I have talked with many stakehold holders who feel the same the district has not offered two-way communication no discussion no committee no District appointed person to help answer family's questions in fact the
036district even scheduled an open house for Columbia families on the same night as the pack meeting where our pom pom team performed that's not good planning and doesn't show respect to the families at all if you do choose to close Columbia Elementary School our school song says we are the cougar team proud kids from Columbia we can make our dreams come true working together me and you learning growing caring sharing everywhere we go they'll know we're Colombia wanci Washington USA as these Colombia students potentially move to another school please give them the respect and consideration to keep their Colombia identity and not try to erase their years of growth as a cougar the topcat year end photos that hang on our hallway wall should be in a highly visible place for all Columbia cougars to
037look at now and in the future I tell students the choices you make today affect you both now and in the future you should have more than these two options to choose from you as a board of directors have a choice to make on May 14th that choice will affect not only you but many district students and families now and for many years in the future please keep Columbia students and families in the Forefront of your mind as you make your choice thank you for listening and thank you for your time Mercy wait and Logan patala Mercy Wright TK teacher at Colombia cutting Colombia is only a two to three % reduction of the total budget for the district in a household budget you don't sell the car you tighten up everywhere else why can't
038we cut 2 to 3% of everything else in the district to avoid this closure the budget on the website does not show an 8.9 million yearly deficit it is just this year because it includes the softball field there needs to be more administrator cuts at the district office another District's administrator recommended that they take 9 days unpaid to lower the deficit 9 days off who wouldn't want that how much does the inclusion model cost the one we're implementing but not supported by professional development or Staffing do we even have the ability to do this correctly we could reduce more element FTE by doing multi-grade classes for example academically High second graders with lower third graders to meet the academic needs of the Learners keep high school and middle school cuts and take the necessary positions
039from all the schools in the district Yakama School District laid off a 100 teachers but there were no school closures and their Union president spoke out about it asked the state to allow the school district to offer early retirement War years teaching is more expensive we have a lot of new teachers many of them bilingual and very enthusiastic and skilled and they cost half as much as us teachers who've been here for forever you can move the district office offices to open classrooms and rent out the district office there are so many options that we can do to level this budget without cutting our school and cutting our our kids' [Applause] Hearts hi hi my name is Logan I'm a perah at Columbia I work in TK I'd like to start by saying that this
040is my first year working at Columbia but it's not my first time working at a school and the environment Columbia is different than anywhere else we have something really special here and I know that all the teachers and students feel the same way that being said I've been coming to these meetings and I keep hearing the same thing which is that all other options have been exhausted and that there is no other way but to shut down Columbia if that's true then why haven't you considered using all of these open classrooms that you say that we have to rent out to other school programs such as Early Childhood programs from wach Valley College or Valley Academy those rooms could also be rented to Central Washington University to use for their education program so that their
041student teachers would would be working directly in an actual School you've also said we have low enrollment rates but we know that there is a major demand for TK classrooms in the area so we could also fill those rooms with more TK classes which would in turn raise our enrollment rates you've also stated before that there is no room for expansion around the Columbia area but an Amazon facility is being built in East wachi and that will bring hundreds of families who could use affordable housing in the Columbia area which would also raise moment rates at the end of the day we have a responsibility as the adults in this situation to do the best we can for our students because me and the rest of the staff and all of you will be fine
042either way because we're adults and the only ones who will really feel the consequences of this hasty decision is the kids and it is their future that we should be thinking about thank [Applause] you an young and Michaela Sado [Music] okay we have compiled a list of a few of the many reasons not to close Columbia Elementary one until tonight not one person outside the cabinet had stood up and said this was a good idea until tonight not one single public comment was in favor of this decision two Columbia has the highest growth scores 4 44.7% of students achieved high growth in math 54.3% of students achieved high growth in Reading Colombia is number one in growth in the district Colombia is number one in Reading growth in the entire region the cabinet has not
043acknowledged Colombia has the highest growth scores why is that four why is the school with the highest growth scores being closed instead of looking what is working and using it as a model we've heard stated that you hope to take the skills from Columbia staff and spread it to other buildings however you can't use pieces of a broken Bowl to carry soup and share it in other buildings that's not how a bowl works that's not how culture works that's not how a school Works Columbia as a whole is far greater than the sum of our individual components Staffing can be realigned to enrollment without closing schools provisional staff have already been C we could be absorbing those positions at our current schools by utilizing grade level comination classes six 38% of Colombia's teachers have ESL
044endorsements 30% of all wsd ESL certificated elementary teachers are at Columbia perhaps such a high concentration of teachers specifically trained to work with our language learning students contributes to the success Colombia experiences in regards to our student growth scores once again our sum as a whole is greater than our parts seven every school should be sharing the burden of this problem the majority of this burden has fallen directly on the shoulders of some of our most vulnerable students eight benefits of having a neighborhood school will be thrown away Parents Without cars can come to schools and attend conferences and school events teachers see parents more frequently and can have daily Communications nine need Lincoln needs another classroom to fit projected students of the if Columbia closes using the graphs provided in the written analysis Lincoln
045will need 25 classrooms next year according to their building map they only have 24 this means that in order to make the plan work as cently outlined a class will need to be taught in a room not designed for general education and that program that's currently there displaced currently the projection is for 21 classrooms to start the year in overload next year 15 of those overloaded classrooms are a direct result of Columbia students being moved 10 we are still imploring you to do what is right for our students first Do no harm I think you have heard enough already to know that it will harm students the research is clear ignoring it doesn't make it disar sorry thank you ignoring it doesn't make the research disappear [Music] 11 doesn't align with the big six or
046wsd promise does not align with students feeling like they belong because these students are being taken from a school where they feel they belong and are connected and there are many of the families have belonged and connected for Generations asking them to walk around the bus across town to a school far from home passing by the former school from which they were evicted this is this in no way promotes connection or belonging how does closing a school with the highest math and Ela growth promise students and education from which they emerge Future Ready how just closeing the school with the highest math and Ela grow aligned with number one which states that students will experience high quality instruction 12 we don't know what will happen with our enrollment with Microsoft and Amazon opening facilities in
047the valley a year from now we may find their enement predictions were off we may actually find that Washington and Lincoln are overcrowded and have no room for students within their own boundary and those added from colia 13 additional loss of of enrollments families are losing trust in the district therefore they are seeking Educational Services elsewhere larger decrease in enrollment if you close Colombia as many parents have stated they will home school see your private schools or return to their home District as they had chosen Columbia Elementary not Bach school district 14 you can't bring back a school you can be bring back programs this is a permanent decision programs can be trimmed and then brought back positions can be cut and then brought back a school cannot be CL closed and then brought back
048that is simply not how it works please look for solutions that are not permanent there are no doovers there is no rewind button 15 this decision is going against what the community has asked for you need the community in order to pass bonds and levies and we all know that we desperately need to pass bonds and levies if you choose to align your vote with the wishes of the cabinet instead of the voices of the community Community you will be doing irreparable harm to the trust the community has in the school district and you as a board we need the trust of the community in order to pass bonds and levies 16th last recent of the meting and that was quoted by Cory cahart there is power and Beauty in a small school I believe
049that is a statement that holds a lot of Truth and that truth has been proven by the fact our District's to highest gr schools our District's to smallest schools please vote to keep Colombia open and let the bright and Brilliant Brilliant Minds of our staff and Community come together to help solve this budget problem in a way that does not do permanent and irreparable harm to our students school district and [Applause] Community Joselyn flinton and Maria conas so starting Jennifer knon was points that we had collected as a staff that have been made to you from the beginning of this process it's eight pages it's actually 10 pages long now and we will be sending you that document by email so that you can see it in person with links this is the conclusion of
050that the numbers are clear when one looks at the budget shortfalls and the demographic demographic prognostications but what can be done to mitigate or null the harm to to our students closing schools is a short-term reactionary Thoughtless and singular approach to solving a long-term issue we like to think of ourselves as an Innovative and Student Center District let's walk what we talk and be Innovative and Forward Thinking second my daughter is here with me she is a colum her statement is I as a wachi school's alumni I can confidently say that having bigger classrooms does not create a good learning environment going to Colombia and Orchard Middle School where I got the attention I needed was great but after only 2 years at wachi high school I moved all the way to Waterville High School
051where I had to drive 45 minutes to school and 45 minutes home to get the attention I needed in a classroom I as a wachi school district teacher did not want to take that from this District but her experience and my sons as well who also moved to Waterville were not positive at this High School my comment from me personally is that this community deserves a superintendent cabinet and board who act transparently and without bias it's a great plan if you're only considering the financial perspective what you neglected to consider is the toll it will take on the humans in your care which in my opinion should be your first consideration I'm ashamed of you I'm ashamed of you and you don't even make eye contact I'm ashamed of the secrecy and the Strategic manipulation
052and especially the evasions that you have perpetuated on your constituents if this goes through I hope the repercussions of it haunt you so that in the future you take care you take the care that you should have taken here to do better no more disruptions please I know you're wasting speaking Time by me having to make announcements my name is mar cont I the office manager my name is mar contz I'm the office manager at columbary this is my third year as my colleagues know I have a phobia for speaking in front of people but I doing this for our students and for our families between January 19th and April 18th what are the names of the consultants and or more experienced leaders you involved in further receiving guidance about the proposal what council have
053you sought since January 19th as you are further making these decisions about solving the defent problem and possible clo possibly closing Colombia and this is a question that I'm going to take a moment for you to analyize think about out and maybe you probably will not answer me but maybe you'll think about it and be able to respond in a future time again I repeat between January 19th and April 18 what are the names of the cons consultants and or more experienced leaders you involved in further receiving guidance about the proposal who's who Council have you sought since January 19th as you are as you are furthering making these decisions about soften the defent problem and possibly closing Colombia thank you Shelby Allwood and Aon Ginger hi I am Shelby Alwood I'm a sped Pera
054for TK at Columbia um I have several thought-provoking questions in my statement that I will pause for us to think and consider and you are welcome to respond Cory I see your still writing do you want me to wait all right perfect because in our TK class we show Respect by looking at our speakers the thing that gets the attention in the community is that you're proposing to close a high performing school and placing those students in a lower performing school we have full class sizes in 50% of our grades at Columbia we have almost full class sizes and the other 50% we are a high performing school because of how we teach because of the walk to read model and the walk to math model we have established not because of our classy this
055why are you proposing what research says not to do taking kids from a high performing school to a low performing school why are you Pro proposing to close a high performing school when there are other options to reduce the district's deficit thank you sorry for whoever goes next cuz we know I'm not good at this all right good evening everyone here I am speaking into the void and hope I'm hoping that the message is going through tonight I want to point out some of the what's called them I don't know errors deceptions Shenanigans half-truths lies I don't know anyway there's a lot in this written analysis I've read it a lot of times it's doggar I have tons of notes I've poured through it and there's still a lot of questions that need to be
056addressed before anyone that thinks close is a good idea um let me take my new favorite detail that's keeping me up at night as of yet we have no idea what an empty Columbia would be used for right now it's used before school after school weekends Summers basically as much as any well-used school would and somehow it's being underutilized huh I wrote that recently I heard there was a ition of perhaps moving either Valley or CTE or both to Columbia after our current students are sent on their way really I hope that's not the case but let's imagine for a second that it is you're considering displacing 350 students from their neighborhood school to max out two other buildings so the 180 students from Valley who are less than full-time or even online use Columbia
057yeah that's a better use of the space hold on maybe I got this wrong 350 students at a school full-time is to few but 180 students on a less than full-time basis is just right it's time to get our priority straight folks let's put the equity back into our mission statement here's an idea I've got I've had it time but here's another one here's a new one leave the students and the families that belong in their neighborhood elementary schools alone consolidate that seems to be the word of the day right from your own analysis there are 10 you can look it up right here there are 10 empty rooms at Lon Clark which are more empty rooms than Columbia or so I'm told why not have two programs on the same campus move Valley to
058a wing of one of our elementary schools keep the best of both programs under one principal Vice secretaries custodians and the like sell Valley's property save the precious budget win win everyone's happy we head out into the community to share how you all did right by the kids of this Valley rainbows sunshine and votes for a future Bond and Ling Perfection let me say this clearly keeping our elementary schools open all of them available and doing their best for our students every day is the right choice from this vantage point it's the only choice I got few sentences anything else must be avoided at all costs no one here tonight believes that a 2% savings is worth closing the school vote no to closing Columbia and keep our schools open you're Ellen GS Roxanna vanana
059I just want to make sure this is the right for you before I begin you all no I'm nervous rage rage against the dying of the light you must know by now that the health of this district is fading almost having lost all of its life with no trust left no evident collaboration with lower level professionals and no transparency where is The credibility of this proposal is this postco culture no in this postco culture no elementary school should close in wanci school district closing any Elementary School would crumble the Educational Foundation these students should be receiving Elementary schools are the foundation of strong districts there is an opportunity here that no one has seized a plan C that rises up and Stands Tall we need to seize the opportunity to make Colombia a highly marketable
060school for families across our district you have to give families who are taking their children out of our middle schools due to bullying another option you have to give families who are choosing private and charter schools because they don't want their children to go to our middle schools another option plan C is a robust option make Columbia a TW track School form a two track sixth grade this next school year with students from colia and other students that want to be choiced in the next school year add seventh grades the next school year add two eighth grades the goal is to make Colombia a two track TK through 8ighth grade community school with other families in wian being able to choose Colombia Colombia would begin next year with an all School Educational focused admission for
061example columia could collaborate to make it a steam Focus TK through 8ighth grade school better yet Columbia Elementary could be a TK through 8ighth grade model of instruction for higher performance results in reading and math which we already are and add the focus of steam after the school has developed with sixth and seventh grades we can apply to the federal government to be a magnet school and get more funding just for Columbia Elementary and the teaching of its Ro Focus I can guarantee you will have families that want to come to Colombia you will have teachers motivated to collaborate on this huge opportunity for the district there will be a multicultural mix of students I choose plan C the opportunity in plan C will bring right back into a district that is fading thank you
062[Music] there roxan Vanetta um Columbia Elementary parent and teacher uh I'm reading a letter our names are Matthew Swanson and Robbie be we're a children's author illustrator du who spent the 2022 2023 school year traveling the country to offer free programming and books to Title One communities in every state my wife and I were lucky enough to spend a day at Columbia Elementary School in last May last May more than 400 schools applied for 51 spots in our Nationwide literacy Tour all the schools that applied were home to communities of marginalized students living in poverty we selected Colombia because we could tell they were doing a lot with little embracing the challenges that come with serving a high need High need population with dedication creativity and Ling resol we were struck by the warmth we
063encountered the moment we step through the door the dedication of the teachers and the joy of the students in our brief time with the people of Colombia we could tell it was doing the most essential work of the title one Community providing a safe welcoming space for young people to learn develop and flourish many times Title One students face issues of food insecurity migrancy violence and Trauma the school is a place of stability and in otherwise chaotic and challenging life schools provide meals clothing counseling and Health Care teachers are lifelines but trust can be difficult to establish the upheaval of consolidation can fracture all of this we live in a small County on the eastern shore of Maryland a few years ago our school board made the decision to consolidate from five elementary schools to
064three we saw firsthand the unintended consequences and very real costs of consolidation if Columbia is shuttered kids will be uprooted from relationships and routines they will lose contact with trusted mentors classrooms will become even more crowded already exhausted teachers will be pushed to the Limit or Beyond hard Lo progress will be lost many Columbia students have already had to endure two years of disruption to education and development due to the pandemic mic the additional trauma of being uprooted from their school could create irreparable damage to their long-term education and the velmental prospects I'm writing to sing the Praises of Colombia as a school C culture and community resource and to urge you to pursue every other option before deciding to close its door doors it's hard to imagine the short-term Savings of closing Columbia outweighed
065the devastating cost to the kids of your community Respectfully yours Matthew Swanson and Robbie bear this is my short snippet arriving as a newcomer student in this country I vividly recall the anticipation for assistance in grasping the language seeking guidance and the hope for Equitable educational opportunities I receive sporadic fleeting support merely 30 minutes every few days across several years don't let this happen to Colombia students don't send them to Washington Cameron Wiggins [Music] bison the picture is impeded for us we're in this treacherous Valley with two paths that have been cut through it our leaders didn't want us to be here no one wants to be here but the circumstances leading us here we out of our control We inherited this journey and it's going to be taken whether we're ready for it or
066not the valley is our District's Financial and the two paths they were given to us at the last Bo meeting each path has us cutting down a tree a strong fruitful tree to a bridge across the stream can you guess what the tree represents the first path leads directly to the stream we cut down the tree right away even though it's the best at growing fruit and it's home to hundreds of creatures but after we cut it down we're still in the treacherous Valley just a little farther the other path has you wandering around in the valley for a year and then after growing tired and weak we come back and chop the tree down anyways and we're still in the same place but we could have been there a year ago and that's the
067picture we've been shown it looks like a simple choice between the two paths but it's not we shouldn't accept these as the only two paths we need to find a path that doesn't have us cutting down the trees that bear us the most fruit we're on this jam with you and think that if you do the work to climb up again and look down into this Valley more carefully you'll be able to see a better way through these weeds get off the given path don't accept them reassess the other options Martin Tucker Julie Maria Miranda you're leading this Expedition and you get the decision of which path you're going to all take it's ultimately up to you you're getting input from a lot of people that all want us out of this Valley we shouldn't
068cut down the most fruitful trees to do it if you really are convinced that the only two options are do it now or in a year take the year if we spend the next year working and not wandering we can find another way you might have to go through some sticker bushes and you're going to get your feet wet but you can get across the stream no matter what you do there's going to be thorns and rocks along the way and other things are going to be sacrificed people have been suggesting lots of alternative routes you have to choose whether or not you're going to listen to be plain you shouldn't have to choose between closing a school now or closing a school later we need to find an option that leaves all the schools
069open please keep looking [Applause] [Music] goers hi I'm sorry second I think Mays are in the room so I'm just going to read my notes Here my name is Katie Bon I'm an employee of the district I work at West high school and pineer middle school as a school nurse um I have two kiddos that also go to school in the district both at Washington Elementary I also work as a cardiac nurse at Confluence Health and I'm here to talk about the potential closure of Columbia school I can't imagine how staff families or students of Columbia School feel with the potential closure when I think about it as a parent as employee or just for my own kids okay a very thought hurts my heart um I'm listening to the school board meetings staff comments
070and uh and spok with other parents about this proposal I see this possible closure how I see many things and I always related back to nursing so bear with me when I work at Confluence Health we have for example 15 patients to take care of and we have five nurses that would take care of those patients if we discharge six patients that day then three of those nurses are sent home uh because it's not physically responsible to keep us fully staffed when we don't have patients uh no business can run successfully with buildings they're not using to the full extent being overstaffed or not having enough patience as much as we don't like the idea of thinking of the school district as a business the sad part is it is a business and it's struggling
071financially just like a hospital I don't see how it's possible to keep a business open if we don't have the financial stability and we have incorrect student and staff ratios no business can run longterm like this ask everyone to think about the business that they own because a lot of you in this room and on Zoom own small businesses would you run your business consistently over staffed would you run your business with additional buildings that are not being used to the full extent businesses can't run like that because it's not sustainable I can speak with confidence I feel like and say I don't think anybody in this room wants Columbia school to close but I haven't heard of other Financial options that can keep keep a business open like the current proposal as difficult and
072emotional as this is I think it's important to think about the longevity of the school we want to have the district that can offer education to WCI Community for years to come if we don't make drastic changes that won't be an option I'm going to speed up my last little bit it's important for me to share as school district employee and Community member to be supportive of each other no matter what the outcome of this decision is public comments and hearings I've been listening to staff I've noticed a lot of concerning things I think it's crucial we all remember we're here to support each other and every student no matter what school they attend and no matter what their background is as a district every school does this well you have areas we can improve
073yes absolutely but that the personal attacks that I hear that have been happening in meetings in the community meetings are are not okay we hold our students to a high caliber and we expect them to use kind words to solve their problems we need to ensure we're holding ourselves to that caliber and moding that behavior I go on I'm done thank you Melinda Mendoza and Martha gas hi uh good evening my name is smolina mza um I'm a parent of based student at Columbia and um she attends kindergarten this year her name is ariela and she's in Mr oran's class um she loves her class and so this has been a hard year for me as a parent to have to send my student to school it's been very emotional um as well for me
074for her and then just to have to worry about something else now on top of her transitioning into the school district has been hard um I think we should be focused on different things rather than having to figure out how to fix a problem that the school district has um emerg from mwa not from wachi so moving here was a plan to for the future of our kids because my husband was originally from Wan um now that I'm looking at it from an outside perspective I don't know how we could keep our students or my um kids here in the future as somebody that's looking at what are my options do I want to keep my my kids in the school district do I want to send them somewhere else do I want to move
075if that's what it's going to take um I know that there's issues with MoneyWise and budget cuts and all of these things that need to be addressed but I think that those are issues that need to be consequences for the adults not for the kids um on that note if you guys make the decision to close then I would hope that you understand that as parents we're going to make the decision to go elsewhere where we are heard and we are seen and our kids are a priority to the school district um also other than that I just wanted to give you guys with the question of of how are you going to attract other people to come to this school to this community when you can't keep the ones that you have [Applause] here
076my name is Martha gas the board has this situation on its hands now because it didn't make longm plans I was pretty surprised to hear that um two of the elementary schools were completed in 2014 and then in 2015 um there was a beginning of a declining enrollment it seems that the board had um done some better work in terms of um census projections that they would have been able to predict that I don't know how much money was spent on these other two schools but um right now it you have the opportunity to um stand back and do some long-term planning to present the community with some options that aren't so drastic and aren't just um laid on them like a sledgehammer basically um you've heard tonight so many different ideas for how to
077cut your costs and make some trims here and there those all sounded like pretty good ideas um I hope that you as a board can go back and sharpen your pencils listen to what the community has been telling you and try to put together some numbers that aren't going to be um so devastating to the community and to the students thank you for listening [Applause] Tommy bishop and lesie kick hi everybody I had a long day how about y'all so um I have had a speech that I had prepared on my lunch I actually took an extra lunch but it was 6 minutes long it was very eloquent wonderful but uh and I got the chop it on it as you can see there's a bunch of scribble on here it was wonderful um so
078I'm going to kind of shoot from the hip a little bit so my name is Tommy bishop and I moved to wian almost 15 years ago and out of that time period I have worked for the school district for almost 8 years so that's over half the time that I've been in this Valley um before that I lived in Texas for a long time and uh Texas for a lot of my growing up was like the best education you could get in the United States but I'm going to tell you that my experience and this is not on this speech by the way um in my experience with this District I have discovered that it is the best education that I have seen ever in my life I was born in Iowa as well so
079just so that you have some perspective on my history okay so I am going to try to get some tidbits here um I've heard a lot of interesting ideas that have been thrown out there I think that's all great find ADV Dandy uh but when we also think about comparing our debt to that of say the United States well it's nothing and yet the United States is not shutting down departments and branches of the government just because they can't make the the budget okay that's just one little thought in my head I've also uh heard how much people have expressed their love for Colombia and in fact I got a little bit of time left um so this morning I actually drove Columbia students to school so in my role currently I'm the dispatcher and
080secretary for the school district so I am part of the operations team that oversees busing students to the schools of this District um I had the pleasure of stepping out of the office or should I say we were short staffed and I had to get out there and drive the kids to school um but anyway they were uh special needs students at Columbia wonderful students I've watched them grow over the years uh that I've been in the office and the few times that I was able to actually like take them to school I mean these are kids that I've known for years Colombia has made them grow in ways that I can't even like convey to you all but that's not why I'm here to talk I've got 30 seconds left so let me get
081down to the point so right here in my pocket I have 100 bucks okay this won't even buy a cup of coffee every working day in a month if I throw this down along with another $100 every month until the fiscal year is over with that's $7 million if you take into account everybody else who's a household head that does the same thing you have $7 million on the table and that's just one idea it's time for you guys to get busy and come up with a plan why have there been no vond proposals good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak and share with you my thoughts my name is Leslie KCK I was born and raised in Isa where both of my parents were Public School teachers I've been a public
082school teacher or supporter my entire life and just recently retired after 32 years of teaching 26 of those in the wanci school district I was so excited when we moved to WAN and I was able to join a district that listened to and value its employees expertise professionalism and commitment simultaneously providing his students with numerous Innovative opportunities for learning in a variety of ways as Educators we all strive to make a difference in the lives of our students and their families and in Colombia this happens every day in a very real way consistency predictability acceptance inclusion trust respect value protection these are not just words they are not just Concepts they are way being fly and completely this is Columbia an atmosphere an all-encompassing B of passion for seeking out the potential of each and
083every student and guiding them through their journey to achieve educational success the indelible sense of trust and mutual respect between all staff top to bottom no differentiation and the incredible students and families of the Colum I'm sure you can gather from the words that I'm sharing that I feel strongly that this closure would be a terrible disaster and disservice not only to Columbia but to its community and all of Manion thank you Mary thresher and Kyle Diaz again first I'd like to say to the school board thank you for serving your community right now it's not too fun but maybe other days also as a businesswoman I would like to say if you don't close your store you figure out another way to sell beans maybe Tor Swift beans I don't know uh my remarks
084today are on behalf of K Wilson who was unable to attend today she writes hello my name is Kiana Wilson I attended Lincoln Elementary High Inner Middle School and wache High School my mom Carmen Wilson was also a teacher at Lincoln Elementary for 30 years I hold I hold the an an School District near and dear to my heart and I'm proud to be a product of this school system but I cannot say how disappointed shocked and frankly unproud I am of the proposed closing of Columbia Elementary this sets a Pres president for solving a systemic issue that disproportionately impacts marginalized groups in Wan specifically lowincome families and students of color as as a school board and community that claims to Value diversity equity and inclusion this proposed decision is not aligned with those values
085importantly the school board has failed to conduct the proper due diligence as to the impact this will have on the valley and should uphold their stated Val vales by putting a team together to design a more Equitable solution the board proposed only two solutions to the current budget problem both of which involve closing the closure of Colombia both scenarios use only economic data to justify immediate closure is the favorable fiscal fiscally responsibility option you tell this is not m i don't use those pick of words this study fails to provide data on how each scenario affects class CL sizes across the district ratios regarding student teacher Learning Time ratios on student resource resource accessibility zero data on how a school closure will impact test scores and other metrics the school district has an elected responsibility
086to explore all possible scenarios and thoroughly resarch all true damages before a move as drastic and inequitable as a school closure to close Columbia would would be a failure on the board's elected responsibility the two scenarios provide zero data on how this would impact future student enrollment the root cause of this problem and for myself a lot of women didn't have babies during Co years and I'm thinking probably we're going to get a few more back so how do we close the school and then open it again uh I wouldn't be I would feel bad that uh they wouldn't have a local school to come to thank [Applause] you good evening my name's Kyle Diaz um I apologize I did not have something written tonight it's going to be a little scattered so um anyways
087uh I have a lot of experience with working with the public especially in a management position and one of the things I learned in those positions is uh perspective especially in customer service um in this sense uh what we're being told here is that with this proposal you're increasing the ratio of classrooms and classrooms to principles a lot of staff on different levels are going to have higher ratios at two different schools um I guess three basically um and that would be half of your more schools in the district or as far as elementary schools go um so essentially not an equal environment um some schools are going to have a better environment a better opportunity other resources because they have more room um another thing too is that another thing is going to be
088uh these students are going to have a lot of backlash um and in my own opinion I think that it come to uh we're making this decision based off of the protection of the salaries at the school school district office um I've been coaching baseball at the Little League level for 3 years now and uh I love it I have uh the most kids I've had on the team 10 kids I'll be perfectly honest with those teachers uh uh I I know where the real work's being done at because teaching some kids Hands-On reading we are all different and according to these teachers kids are different from when I was a kid from when you were a kid it is different they need more support so um please find other solution other Solutions because at
089this point this is what it looks like it looks like a football game you know you guys got the uh the uh the proposal out um made the first stance on where you guys stand at and now you're just holding the ball and haven't come out with another proposal um you're just waiting at the clock with less than 30 days on the clock here so please come out with something else I mean close a school or close a school is not two options so anyways thank you for your time and uh please don't don't close colia Lynette Smith and Jenny [Music] Harris I'm a little nervous like everybody else um I stand before you today deeply concerned about the proposed closure of Columbia Elementary as a former teacher at Columbia Elementary this school holds a
090special place in my heart this school was more than a workplace it's where I discovered my passion and calling as an educator however despite my dedication to the students the lack of transparency from the district led to my resignation Columbia Elementary is a Beacon of Hope and opportunity for the most underserved students despite facing numerous challenges the school has consistently achieved remarkable results in reading and reading proficiency it is the highest performing school for reading not only within the district but in the entire region a testament to the dedication of hard work in its teachers staff and students the proposed closure of Columbia Elementary has left me and many others in disbelief reading is a fundamental skill that opens doors for children Paving the way for their success as productive members of society instead of
091shutting down Colombia we should be celebrating it success is and you as a district should be learning from the school on how to improve the growth at the other schools of the district from them not shutting down their school you're punishing them for their success the closure of Columbia Elementary would have devastating consequences many of whom come from underserved communities Columbia has a high number of I APS 504s and special education students its current class sizes allows these children to thrive increased class sizes will happen with the closure of Columbia it will burden overwork teachers create more classroom disruptions reduce learning time and create varies for learning for all students the Practical implications of closing Columbia elentary are deeply concerning many parents within the school's boundaries will lose access to vital school events and access
092for activities and students will be facing increas inreased safety risks by walking busy streets closing Columbia Elementary will disproportionately affect marginalized students and make their journey through life even more challenging it sends a message that these students who have achieved remarkable success despite facing numerous obstacles are not worthy of an investment 2% you're saying they're worth 2% they are worth more than that these teachers are worth more than that the staff is worth more than that the parents the kids you sit here behind your desk you go into the school for a few minutes and you watch and You observe you don't see what it's like being in there you don't have any idea what it's like to really be in there you see when they're on their best behavior the behaviors are going to
093increase it's not going to be a good thing the best thing to do is find another way keep Columbia open support the kids save the school [Applause] hi um I'm here on behalf of Emily vior she is a parent of kid of Columbia she's out sick but she wants her voice heard tonight so I'm here on her behalf so here's what she has to say um members of the board thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight regarding wachi School District's proposed closure of Columbia Elementary also thank you to those community members who have signed our petition and voiced their opposition of this closure as of today there are 1,785 signatures on this petition although those signatures do not translate directly into dollars for the district they do translate into votes for school bonds and
094levies which we desperately need to pass I urge the board to consider this when you think about how you vote on May 14th I want to talk about my recommendations to the board and the school district regarding what could be done to help not only keep all schools open but to turn around the public perception about how the wachi school district is managing itself one don't close Columbia the highest growth School in the region rushing through this process will not only further push more families away from the district promote more distrust and only saves 2% of your budget don't make closure and consolidation your number one option to address the budget deficit two form a citizen's budget committee to improve transparency during this process that way when a board member says make sure we don't
095make it look like Colombia is highest when it's in reference to the percentage of high poverty students in the budget committee meeting we can ask those clarifying questions to find out what they really mean versus making assumptions three come up with a standardized tool that can be used to look at all the schools objectively and fairly L this will help reduce bias both explicit and implicit while also providing a more Equitable outcome for all of our student populations four work to develop sustainable business Partnerships that can bringing in additional money to the district it's what our local charter school is doing and they're raising funds five look at aligning Staffing to current student populations while also keeping all schools open as Cory alar said and it said a couple of times tonight there is Beauty
096and Power in a small school smaller schools will always help to draw more families back into the district while also appealing to new families moving to the valley that's why private schools are growing because they're small and they're individualized and you can do this District Six redistrict Colombia's boundaries to include all of the kids in our neighborhood instead of busing children to Newberry and Lewis and Clark this process is Antiquated why not move forward with positive change and rebalance the School boundary lines to be more Equitable seven allow the city of wachi time to request grant funding to improve safety along Ferry Street and Miller Street the current plan does not provide for safe Crossing displaced Columbia students will have to walk along the new proposed walking routes I urge you members of the school
097board to think critically about these points and review the entirety of the information brought forward by the community over the past few months the future of our children's education lies in your hands and you have the power to do the right thing don't close columia look at alternative Solutions thank you mine minks Rosalie Langston good evening one and all and thank you for the opportunity to speak to the board this evening uh my name is mine minks and I am a past principal of Lincoln Elementary School I first wish to comment comment on the environment caring environment at Columbia Elementary School this reminds me back when I was at Lincoln in 1990 in 1998 where we became a school tight together I mean we I came over here and met up for lunch with seven
098other Lincoln Elementary staff members and we keep in touch and that's how I'm feeling about Columbia Elementary this evening I also wish to share some past realities of my life here I came here from Seattle but I loved my time in winching I moved to Seattle primarily so I would be close to my children and grandchildren but I miss wachi I miss my friends here I wish to share some other past realities with you the Lincoln staff provided the district with the first bilingual program this change was in order to meet the needs of our students and of course their parents as well some years ago when I was the principal here a resident sent a letter to the wanci world this local resident complained that the areas Spanish-speaking adults had better learn English if
099they plan to live here my written response to that letter included the reality that there are the same five vowels in English as in Spanish in Spanish those five vowels have five sounds in English there are five vowels in English those five vowels are used 20 times 5 vers 20 this is just the beginning in my letter I also shared the following that I spent two summers in mean living with different families in Moria and attending Spanish classes I have two master's degrees and I studied at the principal Center at Harvard University yet the hardest learning I did as an adult was gaining the ability and the confidence to speak Spanish lently the proposal to close Columbia Elementary raises critical questions about equity and I zero sorry that's your time okay Rosy's here can she
100come up and stand by me she can read your comment okay I mean I've been timing this and feel free to email it to us as well you have anything you want to send to us the proposal to close Columbia raises critical questions about equity and inclusion the proposed closure seriously and disproportionately impacts the 74% Latino students and additionally it impacts the 79% of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch this also highlights the social socioeconomic disparities to quote Columbia's PTO president who thinks the school is being targeted because it has a large number of poor students and their families don't have the CL more fluent members of the community have Mr Chavez's comments are right to the point because nearly 80% of Columbia Elementary students have parents without the language the experiences the
101background and or the finances to help their children and just to the CH to the changes that you're proposing and now I'm not going to introduce myself um my name is Rosaline Lon I'm a former teacher at Lincoln Elementary um and I would just wanted to let you know that 48 years ago when my son Matt was 10 years old and right up until today he still vividly remembers how traumatic his uh fourth grade transfer was he remained in Onan school district and transferred from one Anglo English speaking school to another Anglo English speaking school and I was a stay home stay-at-home mom at the time and even with that support this transfer was the most difficult for my son and that's what's going to affect these Columbia students thank you for your time and
102your and the opportunity to share our thoughts [Applause] Joshua Wagner Jessica OK Conor um good evening I'm a parent of a Columbia student new to the area and the district um in order to respect the board and everyone else's time I will refrain from sharing my thoughts that I previously shared at the last meeting however I do want to share a few thoughts that I have number one I ask if the board consider the budget cuts being presented and what kind of cycle they're going to create these budget cuts are being made supposedly due to lower enrollment but how will cutting activities restricting class options to older children and closing schools help that enrollment what is a higher priority here fiscal responsibility for children's well-being as a reminder a school district is not a business
103it is a government funded public good it exists for the good of the community not to make a profit or earn money for shareholders as has already been shared tonight cutting the budget as presented will only tempt more families to withdraw their children and move them to Charters and have more services for their children rather than cutting services we need to be finding ways to offer more options and services that will increase desires to enroll in and stay in the district as has been stated make long long-term Investments and expand TK offerings lack of child care is an issue in this area and I personally have a child that I could add to the enrollment the district says that enrollment decline is the worst in elementary schools starting local children in TK will make it
104more likely that they remain in the elementary schools and District long term in other words present ourselves as a better option in charge not person and second the district has presented as an alternative to closing colia this year to close Columbia next year instead I ask if this process is actually being taken seriously I refuse to believe that the only alternative to the nuclear option of closing a school is to close it anyway I applaud the board for asking the district to come up with alternative options but when asked for Alternatives the district bulked its responsibility and thought it better to only offer the illusion of choice at best the presentation of this alternative option is spical and disingenuous at worst the ability or unwillingness to identify another option calls into question the real motives
105behind [Applause] closing hi good evening I'm Jessica a mother of two elementary students and a resident of thean for 20 years tonight I pretty convinced that the decision to close Columbia element Street has already been made and it's done just as it was announced to the newspaper and social medias in January the only reason the board is holding the public hearings and listening to our comments our recommendations is to just go through the motions and to avoid another lawsuit that recently took place and that's how we're getting a softball field speaking of the softball field during the last school board meeting which I watched last night in my bedroom I noticed that in the contract renewal the untrustworthy Builders and I say untrustworthy because a member of the board said that that they themselves were
106very not very trusty on the builders but anyways the Builder still presented three alternative options three viable options to get the softball fi done under bid under bget under budget three options to save money the community has asked and has been told about two options that would be presented and that did not include a closure instead we have been presented with nice of presentations on the not recommended options and an option to close Columbia this year or next year my kindergarten and I are confused we talked about it a lot today or tomorrow Mom I don't see the difference the builders who've been off the softball field present an actual options viable the untrustworthy Builders remember how do we trust the manach school board they haven't presented actual options at all have they according to
107the Davis report it appears that our budget problem will not be fixed with the closure of just one school what elementary school is next and when is that happening when is Pioneer Middle School on the shopping block you know the middle school that's going hold the $100,000 Spence from our soft fill that we approved we all seen the numbers on the d report last week is clear let's start the transparency now one final question if the vote on May 14th is no does that mean that it's a yes for next year or do we just start this process over again next year we want to know the truth we want answers and we want transparency we can go from 80 to 90% but this this isn't how we do it don't close Columbia this year
108next year don't close any Elementary School Vote [Applause] no Judy debuk Rachel C this is my third time I'm talking so I'm not probably going to use my whole three minutes but the first time was when the bomb went off and we were all at the district office on a cold winter night which I now know as January 19th and there was a response that well we'll have public we'll have some public input I haven't seen that yet I've seen seen people being very civil coming up I have not seen people being attacked I have not seen but it has been very controlled and I haven't seen any response that will tell me I don't want to go up here a fourth time on May 14th I think we need to eliminate and say no
109we will not close Colombia in this year or next and not give you extra time to make the plans that were supposed to be in place in 3 months so I say that that's what I say my recommendation to the board you've heard some really wonderful ideas which I remember saying at the first meeting in January that there were a lot of community members and people that were very interested in helping with this budget issue none of that has been none of that has been explored or or offered it's time for a Citizens committee I've lived in this community for 40 years I've got my both of my daughters went through this mon school district one daughter is now employed by the school district I'm a school social worker that's where part of my retirement
110comes from and I have to say I I don't know if now knowing what I know now as far as my level of trust and using the W school district for my kids if I was in that place now I don't know what I would decide I would decide long and hard about it I support public education it's public and that's what I have to say so hopefully I'm not up here fourth time but I'll be there if I have to be because the answer should be we will listen to what we've heard with some excellent recommendations about how to look at the budget and we have people that are all over wanting to help so thank you and thank you for listening to me for my third time [Music] good evening members of the
111school board and Dr forart my name is Rachel surles and I served our community for seven years as an elementary head teacher in thei school district six of those years were spent um teaching at this amazing school called Columbia Elementary um I had convinced myself that I didn't need to come up here and speak because all of my wonderful teacher friends had articulated my thoughts and feelings on this subject really well um but as I was reflecting on my time spent teaching in the wi school district and thinking about all the brave people that have come up here to speak before you um I realize that that I do in fact have another point to make regarding the closure of Columbia the potential closure Columbia uh school board members I hope you are aware of
112the disconnect that exists between classroom teachers and District leaders during my time teaching it was common place to hear things like the district just doesn't get it the district isn't on our side I remember feeling anxiety whenever our principal emailed emailed us saying that District leaders would be visiting classrooms that day and I hoped that they didn't visit my classroom because to me and many other teachers throughout this District not just Columbia uh felt that our district leaders were there to judge the effectiveness of our teaching and they made us and our students feel like we were on display at a zoo we did not feel like the district was there to support us and our students we have an US versus them mentality which is perpetuated when the district makes questionable decisions without input
113from teachers this disconnected relationship between classroom teachers and District leaders is likely a contributing factor to the fact that you've never witnessed this much teacher participation and advocacy during school board meetings this means a lot to us um look around you and consider all the people teachers parents community members who've taken the time out of their busy schedules to come here and speak out against this plan to close Columbia this plan should it go through will only further The Divide between teachers and District leaders causing more tension and reluctance from teachers to communicate the needs of our students to the district the district has lost trust from teachers families and community members with how this closure was plan how this closure plan was implemented and I would argue that teachers had very little trust in
114the district to begin with as members of the school board you have been elected by this community to represent our values views and desires for a public schools the teachers of Columbia know their why perhaps it's time for the district to remember theirs Caren Elliot and then uh three names Rosario Gonzalez Grace mandre and zo mandre all I have is mostly a question that the answer that I have pre previously gotten from Corey regarding the diminishing student numbers uh in the wachi school district uh just driving around wachi there are lots of apartment buildings that are being built currently and and according to the paper that are predicted to be filed at Malaga Microsoft is going in down there that's going to bring in lots of people developments have been going in at Malaga more
115developments are in the paper are predicted to land has been brought up housing developments are going in in Mal all those kids come to manci school district in Sunny Slope huge apartment building has already been completed another one across the street and other apartment buildings in sunnny slope what's Sunny Slope school going to do I think they're already filled to capacity and anyway I think that more uh more time and looking into this prediction of continued decline in the next years to come needs to be looked at a little more seriously as to what is actually going on in Wan and around the wanci area that where students will be coming into the W School District thank you [Music] hello I'm Rosario Gonzalez and uh good evening every one I have two daughters that wanted
116to speak in front of you guys um and because I want to represent them and support them I am going to let them speak I have a six-year-old and a seven-year-old hi my name is Zoe and I want to make sure don't close school colia because I have two friends her name is Katie and Lee and they um they they are first time going to school Columbia and the it's not fair they um they almost got to they have new friends and I want to make sure please don't close School Columbia hi my name is G from dragon and I want to make sure to not close school columia because it's important to me and I have two friends name Le and kayy kayy and they're their first time going to school Columbia and she
117don't wants to go anymore because she's making new friends and please listen to my voice thank you for [Music] I want to thank you for being here tonight and I want to express that you guys took the V to be here representing us and I don't know whether you're in our favor or against us but I do know that from what I see you guys don't show empathy when you see people speaking in front of you and I want youlor you to please have empathy and respect Jamie Johnson and Zoe leol leadis I am truly impressed and inspired by the individuals in this room who have passionately have gathered to passionately advocate for the well-being of our students many have clearly stated that placing a knee-jerk convenient budget solution ahead of the well-being of our
118children is both negligent and irresponsible tonight I see a United Community ensuring that no student in our district feel isolated or forgotten as we navigate difficult decisions around this issue the community has come together to amplify The Voice of histo historically marginalized and silenced children and families in our district and my hope is that perhaps this time our district leadership will truly listen to our cries perhaps this time the district will prioritize the quality of Education that our students deserve maybe this time our leadership will diligently work to find solutions to preserve the well-being of our students I'm proud to be part of a community that will unify for the sake of our kids together we can make a difference and ensure that every student in our district receives the support and education they need
119to to thrive and when I say together I mean all of us the board the district leadership alongside the community members in this room this is a call to include us and support us and finding a better solution to school closures vote to keep Columbia open and thriving hi my name Isis and I'm a fifth grade student at columia elementary and I want you to know that please don't close my school because it's very important to me and I believe that I will have a big impact on social life of my friends who are in younger grades because especially the fourth graders because imagine this you're already going into fifth grade and the next year we will be moving schools to Pioneer Orchard or Foothills and your school's about to close and you've been there
120your whole life and all your friends are there and then you have to go to a new school and then the year after that you're going to a new school how would that feel you would be worked from your friends and Community twice two years in a row and I know that for me that would really have a hard impact on me and it's already taken me a lot of confidence to come up here and if that happened to me I would definitely not be here and I don't know what I would do if columia didn't come into my life because I would not be here and I would not be able to speak in front of you and it takes me a bunch ofage to do this I'm literally shaking right now and I
121just want you to know that it's taking me a lot of courage and I will not be here without col [Applause] School Josie flinton and stuber okay I may be in college but that doesn't mean I'm good at public speaking um I literally wrote all these down just as I was s sitting here listening so if they sound familiar that's why um H shoot where just kidding my roommate in college is a manager for the Doug department or drive up and go at Safeway um she has raised their profits of that department phenomenally since just starting there like last year I think um but instead of closing the department down um the higher upset Safeway came and ask her what they should do differently at other places like you should do for Columbia school don't
122separate them that's so just you can't do it um if Columbia is one of the best running schools in the district ask how they can fix other schools ask how they can like implement M their plans and how they run their classrooms into other schools um as a Waterville alumni I saw how they honored their third generation students so kids whose parents and grandparents had gone there so that um they would stay I mean people want to stay in Waterville the smaller classrooms they give way more attention to their students than I ever got at wachi High School I failed a class here because I wasn't getting the attention I needed I never failed a class at Waterville um and it's not because it was easy it was because I was getting the attention I
123needed from the amazing teachers there um I grew up in this valy I went to school here I went to school at Columbia I went to school at Orchard I went to school in this building and I still left because I wasn't getting the attention I needed once I got up to High School Columbia was great I was getting all the attention I needed half the people who have talked here today either worked at Columbia while I went there or taught me personally I mean Mr Wiggins Mrs H um Mrs linski um WS raise your hand if you taught me like these people are important to this district and they make it a better place um sorry I'm personally if this was happening while my kids are in this school or in this District I
124would move them up to Waterville because I know Waterville isn't going to kick them out and move them to places they shouldn't be like lower level schools where they don't know how to get their test scores up whereas Colombia has truly proven they know how to teach say stuber good evening board members Corey um thank you for being here you guys and thank you for all the time that you've given to all of this over the last several months um this is my eighth year at Columbia um I'm very proud for um what these teachers have accomplished and these students so I want to thank the the parents first off um for continuing to support your kids over the last three months in hard times I want to thank the teachers and um all of
125our staff members because they've shown up every day and it's been um it's been challenging and they've continued to provide the same level of service to our students and I want to thank our kids as well because they've been showing up every day and doing their very best and continue to work hard every day um in all that we do I wouldn't say that discipline has gone up a ton in the face of this I I don't think we've had more than normal uh issues and I think that says a lot to the parents and the staff and the students of our school um speaking briefly about the uh the the data that's been mentioned this has been uh going on for a while at Colombia but it um I started in 1617 by 1718
126we saw a a bit of an uptick and it continued um until we got an award from the state of 2020 and was a bit overshadowed by other things in the world at that exact same month so there wasn't a whole lot of fan and fair about it and um but it's something I think that we're all extremely proud of um it doesn't take away from the hard work at the rest of the district but these people are very passionate about what they do every day um what I'm most proud about in the most current run of data it's been our very best result across all of the subgroups that are majored so we've had other years of success um but sometimes they were just just in some areas and if you look at our
127data from this last Washington State Improvement framework result the candles across the line are all pretty equal and that's all students um uh Second Language Learners uh Hispanic students white students low-income students and uh special students and so they've they've raised across the board and I think it's a test to all these people that are here today and the people watching at home and all the people maybe that don't even know that this meeting is going on but continue to support their kids so thank you to all them thank you to you guys if you guys do um choose to keep Columbia open I would I would like to be a part of whatever communities provide solution and do what I can to help in that regard so thank you everybody that's our last speaker
128for this evening before we adjourn is there anyone who wanted to speak that didn't fill out a sheet once can I get you to fill out the sheet real quick yeah y just there's still time okay I F it up a little bit my name is Rick I've lived in the wachi valley since 1977 and uh I'm here my my heart's sad because I lived just a couple of blocks away from columia school at the time when the school that's there wasn't there was another school right there and it was decided that that school would be tore down and a new school put up in its place and it bothered me that as I watched the old school Tor down I saw these beautiful beings that had been used to support the roof of possibly
129the gymnasium and other parts of the building and they were just scrapped but I learned that it was like that's the cost of putting a new building up putting a new school up but it's important that we put the new school up it was important to the community that that new School Columbia school that we know now go up so I go okay I support the school district and uh and I did and that school stood there until here we are today and I couldn't help but think it was so important to just scrap the old school and build a new one because this new one was going to be important to the community but now maybe it doesn't seem to be so important at least maybe to some and yet this evening I've watched
130and listened to quite a number of people from different facets of our community tell us how important it really is so you tear down an old building don't recycle the material is just tear it throw it away to put in a new building that stood the test of time till now but now it's okay if we don't use it now it's okay if we move the kids to other [Music] schools and uh I just think that's rather sad there's a lot of people here who love the staff the people who work so hard the children who go there and I would like to see that continue because it seems like they're doing an awful good job and there's some question about what the quality of work that the board is doing and I'm just asking
131that you would really seriously consider that I hope that maybe I've hit on some heart strings for some people here it matters to me and I know it matters to them I'll fill this out [Applause] Mary Zorn then Penny talbet well thank you for the school board for your service and for hearing us out here and for um Dr kahar hearing us out here as well so I keep hearing the district proposing lots of cuts and cuts that they don't want to make and cuts that they favor but what is the District proposing to save the budget and improve the income side of the budget and avoid these Cuts has the district pursued additional grants considered seeking business sponsorships or looking at building and field rals further outside of the school day or building relationship
132ships with parents and the community to improve norment I think Columbia has actually done an amazing job attracting students to their TK program and if I read those utilization numbers right which they were a little confusing so I may have had it wrong but it looked like Columbia actually has more students than what you guys proposed were the students in in their little District so that means people are choicing into Columbia so why are we not redistricting and giving Columbia more students as they are outperforming our other elementary schools instead we're considering closing doesn't make sense to me I also think smaller schools and smaller class sizes matter I really value smaller schools my kids are actually in private school because they do better in smaller classes my kids's largest class is 15 so if
133we want to attract enrollment we got to look at hey what are we being compared to and I also wonder what is that ratio of like for neurodiverse kids how much better do they function in a smaller classroom are we having to have more special ed supports are we having to have more one inone Paris because it's just overwhelming in a large classroom in a large school I would say that's true for one of my sons that he just doesn't do well in large environments he gets scared so that's another considered um and I think some people are wondering about oh this year versus the next year I mean I would like to see call me not on the chopping bu at all but I think you know another year gives time for the city
134to work on those grants for safer routes to school which is super important because that first kid that gets hurt on their way to we might end up in the same situation that we're in with the softball um that's your time thank you you greetings um my name is Penny I wasn't planning on speaking and I didn't want to speak cuz the last time I did I felt like I was speaking to trees I'm used to speak to somebody and I hear you know un Le you know they say yes or no so sometimes I feel like nobody's hearing so I hope you give me a hearing ears now I know um superintendent you're busy writing so I don't know why you're taking notes maybe you can give me attention to that would be great
135so I know you're hearing because you're not nodding or responding anyway I appreciate all your hard work and thank you to my teachers at Colombia I appreciate all of you you do a great job I have kids that close there and it's so sad that you all come with all this decision of closing no problem we're running out of money there's so many other options to come up with another thing is last time I talked is um I share something because we run about money we don't have the budget we don't have all that stuff but we still don't know where all the other things are and if it's a money problem there'll always be money problem so if the money problem happened what is going to give me confidence that there's not another money
136problem in years to come are we still going to close more schools are we going to keep it open and I don't know about the other teachers some teachers probably they're going to be laid off or maybe choose to another school but if you ever give them that chance to say what school they want to be at you just decide and move however you want lastly but not least I know it's a tough job all in working but let me tell you this morning when I woke up I was thinking God I need your knowledge understanding and wisdom and those are the three that I'm going to pray for all of you here for knowledge wisdom and understanding to know how how to lead us to know how to work together to build this great
137onear otherwise we'll be on the bottom of the sea just like Pharaoh when he pursu the children of Israel and we don't want to be in the bottom of sea we want to walk through that sea together so that's my prayer for all of you thank you for listening and I hope you keep our colia open and all the school in wach District so we can work together we need the trust and amen right now there's no trust but we can build that trust together so please work hard if you if you're a Christian pray pray trust God ask God how can I lead my people so we can be I don't remember if I vote for all of you but maybe I did but if I did a mistake I'm praying that you all
138going to do a better job in future so God bless you [Applause] Marcos Caro hello good evening everyone I'm marene let me participate in this participate this is my [Music] time and everybody else [Music] goes to [Music] colia feel like it's about to happen [Music] I want the attention of the six members especially the ones in front of me that are conducting this meeting I want to tell each and every one of you we have right I know that it's on your hands to make this decision and this is the last meeting that will be held to speak of but it's also to my knowledge that we also contribute to that decision you get [Music] home once you're you know in your own bed in your pillow should not have to not be a thought
139in your mind in the name of God because of my faith I'm Christian as a lot of you that are present sorry I know there would be a better solution clol neither this year or the next year yeah you guys have been presented with a lot of options so you don't close this beautiful institution is the second home to a lot of our kids that are [Music] here it would be so sad that you as the school board and there there's a say that says you know there is not in it's a Mexican saying there's not Or Hispanic saying not a worse people that the one that not does not want to see and there is you know no worst person that the one that doesn't want to hear you know it's happening to colia
140like when you have your grandparent at home and that grandparent is 100 years old and since he's sick and he has lived a long time he's in the hands of a group of doctors that that could be you yeah it's like you're putting you know the grandparent down so he doesn't live any longer it would be so beautiful that starting tonight with this reflection in everybody's mind that we could pray to God that's in heaven and they can hear and see see us allo so he can give you the rest of his knowledge that would be you know not scho and tomorrow or the next day or you know as the time goes by you know the one day you guys uh would have the sad you know reflection that you were one of the
141people that had shut down the col schol God show us with his word whoever believes everything is possible just like the kids that were very courageous were here before me begging you not to close colia school yeah and um you know I I hope that with that's encouraging you guys think about you know to look for all of your resources so you don't close down columus everything thank you so much [Music] thank gel Martinez [Music] I just I remember what still [Music] please don't close [Applause] Columbia Maddie niss okay I was not planning to talk tonight and I'm terrified of public speaking so forgive me if my voice is all shaky um but hello my name is Maddie Nissen I've been a parah at Columbia for two years now um oh my gosh I feel
142my heartbeat um I am now a student teacher with fifth grade and I really just want to come up here and speak from a perspective as a newer Columbia staff member trying not to cry right now I just wanted to thank s and Lydia the emotions um for allowing me to start my journey in education in such an amazing staff like all of you Colombia I started at Colombia with absolutely zero experience in education like absolutely nothing but they gave me the opportunity and they said we're going to welcome you to our family so I joined colia and if you were to ask me at thean this year what my future plans were I would have told you that was to work at Columbia till the day I retired but if you were to ask
143me now I would say I'm seeking employment elsewhere if you close Columbia I don't know what school I want to work at I don't know I do not want to be ripped apart from the only staff that I know and I know some of our provisional Staff feel the same way I'm going to beer away from the emotion now and I'm going to go into some facts allow me to share some points of fifth grade data 100 15% 134% 121% these are percentages of growth from the I reading test that our C graders took just this week these percentages are proof of the product that our teachers create at Columbia our students work hard and even when they're put in these hard times they give it their all our staff gives it their all 150%
144that is just one student's growth in fifth grade only these points that I'm making now are very clear look at OPI look at what school has the highest growth it's Colombia and it's because of the staff it's because of the family and it's because of our hardworking students like Zoe one of the fifth graders that I teach with my student teaching and honestly that's all I got to say [Applause] Raphael alaro Justice for our colia [Music] elementary this evening I beg you for each and every one of you for your conscious and I beg you to follow the path of Justice yeah I have come to condemn the in intimacy and inequality who the victim would be colia Elementary we can pick where we come from but we can elect where to go to in
145that path we have to choose up with a good education if we don't educate our kids we won't have any right to ask for justice when we are the elderly of tomorrow being a public uh service Bo like you are it's a priv that our community gave to you because whoever doesn't live to serve doesn't it's not good for living now the errors of a small group of people are the worst thing that could happen to a bigger group of people you guys are the light that illuminate the path of our future you can't fail our kids because you would be failing failing yourself you can't do this with small children because it's very important quality education in the first years of a small child because that's when they have curiosity curiosity is the mother
146of knowledge if you speak to children that are in first grade you find little philosophers curious and creative they have very profound questions you know they ask question like why is the moon round why does space exist why are plants green they're important questions that they make in a very natural way then you go and speak to high schoolers like that they have lost curiosity and then you go to young man and you speak to people like you know they took all the Curiosity all the questions away because they have no idea what they do what they do and they don't know what they believe in why do we Mark or why do we shut down curiosity so much and that's what we're terribly doing wrong in our educational system [Music] the the fact of
147you know not care for the education of our young children is negligence and purely criminal sharting down school is an awful act and a shameful one Wendy Elias Ellis I definitely was not right to speak tonight but I taught in Columbia for 10 years and it was my first job teaching and um it was something I've always wanted to do I attended 13 schools before I graduated so I know schools asking me about schools as a first grader or second grader New School third grader new school oh move towns by fourth grade cuz rent was due or whatever um I in schools and I have experienced the best teachers in my life to want to be one um these children they love their school their school is their home they're safe there they will stay
148there they won't go home sometimes if you don't make them I taught a little polor dance group and it was uh the Wednesday they Thanksgiving half day they said yes we have to stay we have to practice now you guys are amazing you need to go home no really we need to practice we'll be good oh my gosh you guys are amazing all the time every day stay I mean they did not want to go home they don't want to go home they love their school they can walk to school they walk like a little bumblebee group going home with the little first graders the big kids and the neighborhood they take care of them and they all walk in this big bumble to go home and come to school and they stop at different
149homes to pick up the children on their friends on the way and teachers will walk to their homes and conference with their parents because their parents kept drive I'm not sure why Clos in Columbia but this year I'm like is the only option um there's other schools lower performing and lower enrollment than Colombia but Colombia has what are 350 students in a 1 square mile area because we don't have buses unless it's for special They everyone can walk and the parents do pick up their children we have this huge same bubble group of parents outside waiting to pick up their children um they learn to trust adults there the adults at Columbia are trustworthy and these children learn that that's not something you can um trust all the many adults in your life right um
150but as children they feel safe to make mistakes because that's how we learn we have to makes mistakes L and um it is uh it would be horrible to do to do what you're going to do on the backs of these children who need to be in school where they live and live where they go to school they had to bust diversity into Newberry because of federal funding they didn't have enough diversity there so they broke a street in half one half of meow goes to New the other half goes to another school why extend our boundaries thank you that is the last form I've received last call going once going twice just about to 9 if there's no more comment then we will go ahead and adour the public hearing thank you [Music] no
151intentional l