001Regular public meeting of the Board of Education for May 26th, 2026 is called to order. All items being considered this evening are posted on PPS website under the Board of Meetings tab. This meeting is being streamed light on live on PPS YouTube. The PPS YouTube page and will be replayed on channel 28, which by the way I still don't know where to find that. >> My kids watched me on it last week. >> Channel 28. >> on TV. Cable access. >> I don't have cable. Anyways. >> I don't have a TV. >> What is cable? >> What's a television? >> Thank you. Good evening and welcome. I want to thank you all for being here today, taking your time out of your valuable time to care about public education. Uh so, a few housekeeping reminders.
002We uh just if you brought a display or sign, we ask that you keep it below chin level so people behind you can see. Also, they have to stay on your person the entire time and not to be posted around the room or anywhere in the room. If please keep the walkways, aisles, stairs clear. Uh we have seen people trip. It's not fun. And also gen- in general, let's be respectful to each other. So, thank you. All right. First off, I believe that we have Let me check the agenda. Student performances. >> Yeah, so student performance. We were originally going to have the Roosevelt Roosevelt band here, but because of awards and graduation activities and things like that, they weren't able to be here. We also invited a couple of speakers. One of them is
003here and I'm so excited. So, Geo is a sophomore at Grant High School. And if you remember, he opened up um school year with his poetry slam from Verselandia. And this year, I'm so excited to announce that he won first place at Verselandia. Yay! So, while I I know that um we're going to get into an agenda that's related to arts, I also just want to give a shoutout to all of our amazing librarians across Portland public schools and know that yes, arts live in all these spaces. And so, I'm just so excited to welcome up Geo to perform his um second round piece. So, come on up, Geo. >> Hello. Hi, everyone. Thank you for that introduction, Dr. Armstrong. As As she said, I'm Geo, um a sophomore at Grant High School. Um I
004used to go to ACCESS, so go Adams. And um yeah, this is one of the poems that I got the privilege of performing at Verselandia. It's called Hear My Privilege. Can you hear me? Is this amplification system serving its purpose of advancing sound that is clear coming out of my mouth and into your ears? Check. One, two. Maybe this microphone isn't really the thing that needs checking because you all can hear me fine. But when a voice that sounds different than mine steps up to the mic, it needs double the volume just not to be silenced. I don't know why they don't turn that mic up high and mine down low, but I shouldn't be surprised. This is how these things go. I know I'm in the dominant culture, but it just doesn't seem right
005that some people idolize my type while other innocent lives fear me. Can you still hear me? I recite poems about unrequited love when the world's falling apart and someone should be speaking up, don't you agree? But I don't have the lived experience for that person to be me. We're all born how we're born and we don't have a choice. I'm not going to teach you about racism, but I know something about voice because mine is usually louder than the other voices in the room. I didn't choose to be white and male, but our society allows unchecked privilege to prevail. I'm not trying to turn up my mic and turn down theirs. But these levels aren't balanced, so you can see it's unfair. What am I supposed to do with a microphone this loud? If I
006said something false, would you believe me because you can see that I'm right? I mean, white. The censorship on a tone like mine isn't tight. I don't have to be perfect to even be heard. I don't have to fake security just to get in a word because I was born with a power like a force field that keeps me from harm, but underneath this Caucasian, I'm simply disarmed, sensitive, lacking a sense of direction, trying to speak for myself when I never even really get to learn. You say you want to hear my story, but it is no longer my turn. I'm trying to be an active ally use this voice for good. Don't tell me you like my poetry. Just tell me you understood. It's time to pass the microphone to another voice that's more
007deserving. It's time to listen to more perspectives so that we may continue learning. It's time to recognize that marginalized is not the same as minority and worldwide our margins take up the majority of the page. So, stop just reading in the center. It's time to use our ears for better. So, if you can still hear me, stop. Thank you. >> Thank you, Geo. I am such a Geo fan. I want the CDs, the T-shirt. Thank you so much for being here. And now it's recorded and you can always find it online. >> Thank you. Thank you again, Geo, for being here. It's great to see you again. Um next up we have our student representative report, which I'm also very excited to hear about. >> Thank you so much. Today, we've got a very special
008announcement. We finally got our whole elections process figured out and so I'd like you to join me in welcoming from Lincoln High School our next student representative, Rose Sandell. >> Hello everybody. My name is Rose Sandell. I'm a junior currently about to be a senior at Lincoln High School and I've been on DSC for 2 years. This will be my third and I'm just so excited for this opportunity to represent all students throughout the district. I started at Markham elementary school and then I went to Jackson and then I went to Lincoln. So I've been everywhere and I can't wait to share my voice and you know uplift my fellow students' voices. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, next up we have our public comment. Before we begin, just a quick announcement. Last board
009meeting we had if you can also share some grace because this is a new system, but we typically reserve three spots for student public comment. However, because of a mistake that wasn't included. So this board meeting I am allowing six slots for student comment to make up for the error last board meeting. So today we'll have uh six uh slots filled with for students reserved for students and then everyone else. So again, thank you everybody for your patience with this new system. The goal of this is try to gain as many people uh as possible and uh increasing the access to public comment during our board meetings. All right, so before we begin some just some general guidelines. Again, thank you for taking your time to bring us your input, your thoughts. They help improve
010our work. As board members during public comment, our role here is to listen and listen intently and not engage in conversation with those who are testifying. Our board office may follow up on board related issues raised during public testimony. We also request that complaints about individuals be directed to the superintendent's office as a personnel matter. As you know, the board does not involve itself in personal matters of the district. I will remind also PPS staff who are giving public comment that they may not provide comment testimony about students that could violate confidentiality protections under FERPA. This includes using information that could identify students, especially their school community, by use of direct or indirect linkages such as school grades, special education, or other status. For materials that you would like the board to receive, such as
011handouts or pictures, or this time we got books, please do not come to the dais. Please hand them over to Ms. Powell over there on your left-hand side, who will distribute them to us. In order for the board to conduct its business, we also ask that board members please refrain from calling out, interrupting speakers, or otherwise disrupting the meeting. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter, and we look forward to hearing from those who signed up today. If for some reason you did not get a chance to finish your public comment, you can email the rest of your comments to us. Our the email is public [email protected]. The board members pretty much do read all the comments that we get through them. Sometimes it's hundreds a day, so please be patient. Also, lastly, hopefully lastly,
012this is a long list. Second to last, I'm sorry. Because a number of people are speaking today, we have 2 minutes per speaker. After 2 minutes, you'll Sorry. When you see the yellow light go off, that means you have 30 seconds left. When the red light goes off, that means your time is done. Please finish up your sentence. And lastly, this is lastly, please when you begin your comments, please clearly state your name and spell out your last name. Thank you for bearing through the whole list of to do. So, uh let's start with our students first. Miss Powell, can you call up the first three? >> Yes, Quinn Doran, Layla Shields, and Leia Pulvers. >> You may begin when ready in the order you're called. >> Okay. Um hello, my name is Quinn Doran,
013d o r e n, and I am a junior at Lincoln High School. This year, I have had the honor of being in a peer counseling class. This class has become the one I look forward to the most. I have learned many counseling skills over the years, but what stuck with me more are the people. The class is led by two counselors and a social worker, all of whom take time out of their very busy schedules to teach it. All the students in the class chose to be a part of it. They are all thoughtful, empathetic, and kind human beings who put their effort into making this class great. My favorite part of the class is when we have mock therapy sessions, when we can talk about real issues in our lives. I've never felt
014so safe in a class to talk about things that I don't even talk about with some of my closest friends. And I learned things about people that I would have never known otherwise. There is no judgment or criticism, just active listening. At this time in the world, there's a lot of uncertainty and intensity. It can be a hard to be a part of the upcoming generation and feel unsure of what the future holds. But with this class, I have received clarity on the types of people I want to surround myself with and the person I want to become. I truly believe that if everyone took this class, we would have a society that is more open-minded and compassionate. I know that due to budget cuts, small classes like this one are likely to get cut.
015I understand this. Two of my classes for next year have already been cut. But I urge you to prioritize this class and the people involved, especially our amazing counselors and mental health workers. These staff members aren't just here for academics. They're there for the thousands of students who help who need help for so many reasons. Our counselors are amazing at their job, but they can't help everyone and will be able to help even less if they have more kids added to their caseload. They are our support system. They are constantly doing everything they can to support the students and the school. So again, I implore you to pay attention to this incredible class and the amazing people who run it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Sorry, if I I hate to do this really quick,
016but I I did receive word that we do have someone who's virtual that does have to leave soon. If it's okay, I would like to send it to that the person who's virtual and then I'll bring him back to you. So thank you for your um your flexibility. Uh Miss Powell, can you call the the person who's virtual? >> Yes, Umar Ndiwal Ndiwalana. >> Thank you. You may begin when ready. >> Uh my name Ndiwalana Umar. Ndiwalana is n d i w a l a n a. My son is Luka Ndiwalana. Uh L- Luka having been a student at ACCESS has been a blessing. And as an immigrant from Uganda, it's like I feel it's I'm living my dream. He he loves school so much. Um when we talk ab- to him about like, "Oh,
017the bus is going to stop." He's like, "Oh my lord, I want good school education. I want to stay uh ACCESS because of good education. He has been involved in many activities. like he loves school like he's a lab assistant. He's writing about soccer. He like love math so much like that's my dream and I feel like he's very creative thinking, he's reasoning is like wow. It has been a blessing. And I'm grateful for the teacher, the management. It's like I'm living my dream. My wife thanks you so much. >> Hi. Um sorry, I missed just the beginning of it. I thought we had a few more minutes, but um anyway, it would be a huge hardship for us if there were no buses. We live in the Cooley neighborhood. I drive. Omar doesn't really
018drive. He has a driver's license, but doesn't feel comfortable driving. He didn't drive in Uganda. Um our son Luca, who's a student there, has a toddler brother, and so he's often sleeping when we take him to the bus, which comes right in front of our house. We're really fortunate for that. If the buses were cut, I don't he may need to go back to his his neighborhood school, which would be um really disappointing just cuz like Omar was explaining he's really blossomed at Access. He is in the journalism club. He's there for math primarily, but he's been writing um articles and he's excited about joining Obob next year and reading new kinds of books. Um yeah, it's just been a really really great experience and I asked him, you know, even if friends leave, would
019you still want to go? And he really does. He He said on his own like I want to get a good education, which is interesting to have a 9-year-old tell you that, but he seems to just really value his education and his experience. >> Thank you. We're at time. >> Yeah. >> If you If there's more you want to share, please email it to us. >> Okay, sounds good. Thank you. >> Thank you. Again, thank you too for your patience and um flexibility. Um Whoever wants to go next may go. >> Um thank you so much for having me. My name is Lila Shields, s h i e l d s, and I wanted to talk about the mental health health resources within Lincoln High School. I'm a junior and throughout this year I've been
020a part of an amazing group of juniors and seniors who are committed to making a difference in our school. This year and last year I've noticed our counselors play such a big role within the mental health of our school and have worked incredibly hard and I stretch incredibly thin. Next year due to budget cuts we're losing one of our counselors and our social worker and many other members of staff. We lose so much We lose Sorry. When we lose so many people next year, our counselors and mental health advocates won't be able to devote their time to opportunities like peer counseling to allow students to take on a bit larger role in and supporting our community. Lincoln has a serious grind culture among the students and as that is heavily influenced by students, teachers, staff,
021and classmates. The grind culture contributes to burnout throughout the school year and leads many kids like myself to feel incredibly stressed all year. With mental health resources becoming less available, I fear that the grind culture will only increase and lead to more burnout in students. Similarly, when crises do happen, who will be there to take action when we have no social workers and our counselors are too busy to fully commit to their roles? While taking peer counseling, I have learned skills like active listening, minimal encouragers, reflective listening. These skills have made me into a better person and has allowed me to better support and understand my friends. I think this class has supported my peers in a similar way. And if opportunities like this are more readily available, the grind culture within my school would
022lessen and would allow students to enjoy their teen years and not feel so suffocated under the pressure of performing perfectly every time. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Hello, my name is Leah Pulvers, p u l v e r s. I'm a third grader at Access Academy. And thank you. The first factor is budget cuts. Then put completely pointless inside the parentheses. Your remainder should be don't cut Access. Recent statistics show we spend about $1 on every kid and about $6 on every senior citizen. In result, schools tend to get overlooked. Some examples included are what Sorry. >> Play it on this side. >> The library most of the school's favorite special will be cut to half time. The main issue with the buses is just not necessary. Some family schedules rely on
023the buses to get their kids to school. Another issue is the fourth fifth split class. The level could be uneven math-wise because some math is more difficult than other math. Also, we should consider what happened if less kids went to school. It's not worth cutting the buses. There are also some furlough days taken off the end of the year. The state legislature needs to get their act together, make a better choice, and appropriate more money for schools. Thank you. >> THANK YOU. NEXT WE HAVE CHARLES MCGINNIS, Riley Solonk, Margo Tankersley. >> May we go ahead in the order you're called? And whenever you're ready. >> Hi, my name is Charles McGinnis, m c g i n n i s. I'm here to talk about the bus cut, the cut to the buses that you have
024proposed to uh help with the budget constraints. In at Access, we have advanced learning to help out with the TAG students who need this advanced learning because at their old schools they really suffered from not having the learning that they needed. If you cut the buses most of them will have to go back to their old schools where the old schools probably won't have what they what the students were learning. And so they'd probably have to go back like two or three grades of math or ELA or science. And they would really suffer because they'd be bored in class suffering a great deal maybe even failing a few classes because they've already done this before and they're tired of it. They cut if you cut the buses the kids will suffer much more. Thank you.
025>> Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Riley Solonch, s o l O N C H E, and I'm a current junior at Lincoln High School. I noticed the immense need for easier access to teen mental health resources. So, last year I started the peer counseling program at my school with the help of two of our amazing counselors, Ms. Wilson and Ms. Heidewitz. I plan to go into psychology, and through this class I've experienced the best and most educational class for my specific future career. It has been an amazing experience where I've learned about the different career paths in psychology from people with lots of different backgrounds and jobs, along with learning counseling skills that are not just important for our peer counseling sessions, but also important skills for engaging with all of our
026peers. This class has not only fueled my my own passion for psychology, but also ignited and fueled that passion in my classmates. But, due to the PPS budget cuts for the next academic year, we're not we are not able to continue this class. As Lincoln is losing one of our social workers, our both of our social workers and one of our counselors. Losing these support roles is detrimental to our school's ability to support students' mental health. Even now with these roles being accessible, the counselors and social workers are stretched incredibly thin in order to give all the students the support they need. Next year, the remaining counselors will have to fill these gaps, which will make it impossible for all students to get the support they need. The mental health of students is incredibly important
027and needs to be a priority for everyone. The support system of a counselor or therapist is key to students achieving achieving everything they can. But, not everyone can afford to see a therapist outside of school, meaning that many students rely on school counselors to be that support system. Without counselors being accessible, it will affect students and their ability to do well academically, along with contributing to the decline of teen mental health, which has gotten significantly worse in recent years. The most major impact that you can personally make is by making access to mental health resources that are specifically targeted towards teens easier, which can be easily achieved by putting more funding into mental health programs, staff, and education. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um I'm Margot Tankersley, t a n k e r s
028l e y, and I'm a third grader at ACCESS. Cutting the buses to ACCESS is about more than just transportation. Many people like me would have to return to their neighborhood schools where they might not be challenged enough. Surveys show that 70-plus percent of students at ACCESS take the bus to and from school. The bus is a great time for kids to connect with friends in other classes that they might not see otherwise. Cutting the buses would also mean that there would be more people driving, which would contribute to climate change. One compromise would be to have less routes with the only stops in neighborhood schools. Another would be to have only one or two routes per quadrant. You have already cut the library and art time and blended the fourth and fifth grades at
029many schools, including ACCESS. But why are you cutting ACCESS more than the other schools? And why are you cutting the buses that so many people rely on to get to ACCESS? I would be really sad if some of my friends or myself had to leave ACCESS because the buses got cut. Most of the school will not be able to attend ACCESS without the buses. At my neighborhood school, I went to school to see my friends, but I would finish the week's packet of work on Monday. At ACCESS, I can tell that I'm learning. I get to work hard, and I always have other people in my class to work with. I would be devastated to lose that just because my parents can't drive me to ACCESS. I hope you find a solution and also fund
030the RESJ programs. Equity is important. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Latish Laetitia Vincent, Jonathan Pulvers, and Jody Shear. >> Good evening, Dr. Armstrong and members of the board. My name is Jonathan Pulvers, p u l v e r s. I'm a proud PPS alum. I'm the vice chair of community and parents for public schools, and tonight I'm here as the chair of the ACCESS PTA advocacy committee and as Leah's dad. Fighting Adams, let's go. I first want to thank the board. Uh too often public service is thankless and unpaid public service is especially thankless or worse. We appreciate you sacrificing time and attention that could be spent with the ones you love, and we know that you didn't create this problem. We know that Salem did. We understand that a proposal may be forthcoming
031to reinstate a streamlined transportation system for ACCESS. We strongly encourage you to support that reinstatement. This is an educational life or death decision for the many ACCESS families who have reached out to you and to me. Single parents, low-income folks, people living in Lents or Cully or Hayden Island, people who know best that ACCESS is the only real fit in PPS for their kids, and who desperately want to keep their kids at ACCESS and in PPS. Reinstatement would also signal that PPS is serious about supporting TAG students even in hard budget years, which will play an important role in maximizing enrollment and revenue in the years to come. I'd also like to say something important, constructive, and actionable about process. Dr. Armstrong was kind enough to tell us earlier in this year that no changes
032to our model or level of service would take place without our participation. And that maintaining transportation would be a guiding pillar of the budget. To those ends, we have offered to participate in constructing scenarios that substantially reduce the cost of this system and to find pay for us that do the least harm. PPS staff have been professional, kind, and courteous to us. That said, we alone know what Access's minimum need is for this system. With our input and collaboration, we know that that need can be met. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I was last. I don't know if the other person is online. No. Okay. >> Go for it. >> Um good evening. I am Jody Shear, s c h e r, a pediatrician and grandmother who is greatly concerned about the lack of
033safety, legality, and efficacy of digital learning tools in our kids' classrooms. My review of the EdTech ecosphere in K-12 education shows that EdTech's promise of kids learning twice as much in half the time has never materialized. At great cost, our district has provided kids with one-to-one devices at a as a pedagogy that performs worse than a teacher. Academic test scores have plummeted in the last 10 years, and kids are graduating now with fewer cognitive abilities than their parents for the first time ever. Currently, again at great cost, we are racing to insert generative AI products into our kids' lives and classrooms without parental consent and with a proven track record of harm to children. These harms present serious liability gaps for schools using Gen GenAI in education. GenAI systems function like an instructional actor that
034are covered as a digital tool. This creates a liability gap. When the teacher interacts with your child, there is a license, a supervisor, and insurer behind that conversation. When a GenAI system does the same in real time on a school-issued device, the output is unpredictable and these same predictive um structures do not exist. As well, it is catego- categorically different from a textbook or prior tools in that the harm is foreseeable not from misuse, but from a normal use. These harms are acknowledged by AI vendors and their contracts remove them of culpability for them. As well, insurers have begun to specifically exclude coverage for harms arising from GenAI outputs, leaving schools in legal and financial crisis. Schools cannot hand our children harmful, untested digital products with gaps in liability and assert that they are meeting
035their required duty of care. Our children deserve better. Please reinvest in teacher-led learning, greatly reduce classroom edtech and place a moratorium on GenAI until these products have proven records of safety, legality, insurability, and academic success. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next we have, sorry, Leo Hollis, Hannah Feldman Erickson, Kathy Fun, >> I guess I can give you some more space. >> Go ahead and start whenever you're ready. Doesn't matter who goes first. >> Um last name is Feldman, F E L D M A N. My name is Hannah Feldman and I am the mother of an eighth grader at ACCESS Academy. I know some folks aren't fans of ACCESS. They say it's elitist and unnecessary. If those kids are so smart, they'll be fine at their neighborhood school. I'm told that the best way
036to counteract this narrative is by offering personal stories. In other words, you need to see our kids' pain. Strip them naked in public so you can examine their scars and determine whether they're deep enough to deserve your sympathy. No, thank you. But I can say this, nobody puts their 9-year-old kid on a 1 and 1/2 hour bus ride each way to school because it seemed like a nice option. Only desperate parents do that. Just like only desperate parents are willing to struggle through the Hunger Games style obstacle course PPS makes families go through just to get into the lottery for ACCESS. I would have loved for my kid to go to his neighborhood school. But after 3 years of trying to work with them, the main thing my kid had learned was that his classmates
037thought he was a freak and his teachers thought he was a problem. ACCESS changed all that. He has friends. He gets good grades. He complains when there's a no school day. But we never could have sent him to ACCESS without bussing. We live in North Portland and at the time I worked in Vancouver. Do the math. So, I guess my question is, how rich does a kid have to be to be allowed to be gifted in this school district? Rich enough to afford a one parent not working? Rich enough to live in a zip code where houses average a hundred grand more than they do in mine? Because that's basically what you're saying when you remove bussing from ACCESS. And then it really will be elitist. You'll be right, and kids like mine will just
038have to suffer. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> My name is Cathy Phan, spelling p h a n. I am a mother of five children. Four of my children have been to ACCESS Academy. I currently have three children who are in seventh, fourth, and second grades at ACCESS Academy. All these years, my children have been riding the school bus to school and back. That allow me to keep my job as a health care provider, a health care worker, to earn my paycheck, to support my family, serve our community, and pay tax to support Portland Public School. Without bus service to ACCESS, I am forced to pull my children from ACCESS Academy, the only school in the whole Portland Public School that that can support the accelerated learners. I have couple questions to
039ask the board. Why do you have to cut all the buses to ACCESS Academy? Can Portland Public School consolidate stops to make route more efficient to spare at least five buses for access students. Three, how Portland public schools support the intellectual, the social, and emotional need of talented and gifted kids who are going back to their neighborhood school. Thank you. >> Thank you. Do we have any more? Looks like we have another person on the line. >> One person, Elizabeth Gerabek. >> Hello. Can you guys hear me? >> Yes. >> All right. My name is Elizabeth Gerabek, j e r a b e k, and I am the parent of a student at Access Academy. I would like to address a statement that was made by a director at the Portland Public School Board meeting
040on May 12th. Quote, "But TAG kids as a whole, as a set of kids, are not historically underserved and disadvantaged. That doesn't mean they're getting everything they need out of their education in PPS, but they are not a historically marginalized group. And a lot of these kids come from families that have the resources to get them the supports they need, whether or not it's in PPS." End quote. This statement does not address the need of autistic, which is the asynchronous development of social emotional skills, and the importance of providing an appropriate peer group in the learning environment. As Dr. Austina de Bonte stated in her presentation to Access staff and teachers, and also to parents, on December 10th, 2025, quote, "When we have gifted programs in public schools like Access, it helps kids socially. It's
041not just about academics. Actually, the very most important reason to have a program like ACCESS is not academics. It's social. Because social is the one thing you cannot make up for at home. You could after-school the academics all day long. It would be a pain and I wouldn't recommend it, but you can do it. But you can't conjure another kid. You have to come to ACCESS for that. End quote. By making the assumption that a lot of these TAG kids come from families that have the resources to get the resources they need, we are failing these students. Talented and gifted education isn't about supplementary after-school enrichment. It's about providing the appropriate rate and level of instruction as well as an appropriate peer group of similar students. For ACCESS students, being surrounded by others with similar
042cognitive profiles is not a luxury. It is protective. It is often what prevents bullying issues issues and a healthy sense of self. When students finally find a place to do it where their intensity, sensitivity, and deep curiosity are normalized rather than pathologized, it can be life-changing. Removing access to that environment has real mental health consequences. ACCESS works because of economies of scale that enable the district to provide academic, social, and emotional resources that support talented and gifted students. >> I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're at time. >> an entire school population of 300 plus peers. Please continue to provide district-wide transportation to ACCESS. Please also include the needs of talented and gifted students in right-sizing >> to interrupt, but that we're at time. If please, if you feel free to email the rest of your
043comments to us if um we'd be glad to read it. So. Thank you. >> THANK YOU. >> I BELIEVE THAT CONCLUDES OUR PUBLIC COMMENT. ALL RIGHT. Um I want to thank everyone who came out here to comment. Uh I do have a couple words I do want to say and address really quick. Um I wanted to thank all the ACCESS families that came out and spoke, not just at this board meeting, the previous one, and also our budget hearing. I think the way you do it, the way you show up has been very respectful, has been uh focused on problem solving, personal stories, and things like that. As um you you really a role model to show how our our kids how to become politically active. So, I think um you really shown it us
044and everybody and all our kids how it's done and how you should do it. And I I really want to thank you. Um and it comes with an "and", I'm sorry. Uh and it also comes with uh one of concerns, one of the things that we expanded our Again, there's a new system, we expanded our public comment system to try to increase the equity of or like equitable access. And not only that, but it also constrains us, you know, we we select our people by lottery um in order so that there's try to eliminate as much bias as possible because when you get to pick your topics, that's another form of censorship and also not equitable access. And so, um in addition as well as as much as we want adding a certain adding more
045slots when we want to is also preferential treatment is also another thing that we try to avoid. And I I just want to kind of throw this out there because uh I I know you can do it, but one of the one of the issues is that with a lot so many people again, this is I'm not trying to complain because you don't have to listen to me, I'm just one person, but um with so many people signing up from ACCESS, it did crowd out some other people, so we didn't hear from some other communities from Benson, Franklin, Roosevelt, and some others and a couple of them were from Title 1 schools as well. So, I mean, the the kind of impact of this new system is that um we are having also a hard
046time hearing from everybody. And so, Uh if there's any way that in the future you could collaborate or um um bring um coordinate messages together, I think that'd be just as effective. Emailing is great. I just want to just share that out there that we did not hear from a few people because of uh the number of people who signed up. Again, at the same time, you really shown it how it's done. So, I'm kind of uh very positive about this and I'm I'm really glad that you're here. Um but I'm also a little sorry that we did not hear from everybody that uh we that signed up. So, again, um but the bottom line is that very thankful that I'm speaking for myself, thankful that you all showed up and uh the really the
047focus on collaboration and problem solving has actually been very um well received and I just want to thank you all for keeping that tone and and understanding that we're all here just trying to do the best we can with the small amount of pie that we have. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Director Chair Wong. I just wanted to share that when we get into the budget um committee discussion, I did want to share with the board um an idea around the excess hub transportation model that um we like for you all to consider and then I want to be able to speak to potential trade-offs of that and um we'll be presenting that and um we'll get because it is a late item and we didn't get a chance to get it public notice
048because I'm going to speak to it at 8:00, I'm going to ask um Rosanne to upload it into the um item eight just so that you all have that and then um by time we get to that point in the agenda, it will be publicly posted and then we can have a discussion. Thank you. Thank you for the update. And again, thank you everyone uh for being here today and sharing your time to care about public education. Uh this is what matters. So, thank you. Uh next up we have our union partners. I believe we have PAT. Do we have anyone else sign up? Nope. Okay. Thank you. It's all yours. >> Hello. Good evening. Um good evening board, superintendent, student current student rep, and future student rep. Um my name is Angela Bonilla. I
049am the current president of the Portland Association of Teachers. I'm here with Alicia Chavez, our incoming president and current vice president. So, I have a couple of topics. I know you've heard a lot about access and their transportation. Um and I wanted to bring up a different perspective or a different aspect of the issue. Um families at access are hearing that neighborhood schools and virtual scholars um are being told to prepare for an influx of access students who will be unable to attend due to the lack of transportation. I wonder, does this come with additional staff for those schools who may see an influx? What has changed in our TAG programming at each school that will ensure those students get the services um that we have been unable to provide previously? Will there be additional
050training, um advanced information, and instructional materials so our overworked educators are able to meet the ever-expanding needs of our students? You know, I would love to see how PPS is collaborating with the access community to discuss creative solutions to meet the needs of families without transportation. This type of collaboration allows families to feel that this is happening with them and not to them. Have y'all collaboratively explored a mix of shuttle buses or adding stops to neighborhood buses or bike buses, walking buses, commuting clubs for public transit for the older students or other resources that could help students get to school? And I bring up access because the idea of a school losing enrollment due to district policy decisions is concerning, especially as the conversation around school closures and consolidations are currently happening. What is What
051will stop or what could stop leadership from cutting bus routes for other schools or programs to save money? It feels like this is a way to close a school without closing a school where de facto closures due to a lack of enrollment um happen because the district refuses to fund the transportation to get there. And whether that is the intent or not, that is how things seem to be playing out. Students will be coping with losing their school communities because their families don't have the privilege to drop them off at school or arrange pick up after school. Equity and fairness do not mean that everyone gets the same. It means everyone gets what they need. Um I also want to speak a little bit to the AI handbook because um I've received a lot of
052communication around that. You know, this past fall we submitted a demand to bargain about the updated at administrative directive that includes AI and how it will be used in classrooms and we have yet to discuss this with PPS. When we brought up these concerns about AI at the instructional practices council, we were told that a work group would be formed and we would be invited to appoint members. Imagine my surprise when an AI guidebook went out written partially by that group and partially by AI without any input or member appointments from PAT. And at that meeting we shared the data. We shared that brain scan show that there's atrophy of the brain when generative AI is used to do work. We argued that our members need more autonomy, more training, more resources in order to
053best educate our students about AI. And then I started getting the emails from parents, members, and students asking that we push back and stop AI from overtaking our schools. They shared how they want our students to be on screens less often. That they work with others over staring at an online program. Members share the frustration of the prevalence of AI while the programs they used to use to detect AI in assignments have been cut from the budget. Several point out the climate impacts of AI and ask how we can maintain the district's climate goals while leaning into using more AI. How are we showing that we want our students to have a livable planet with clean water and breathable air when the largest district in the state welcomes AI with open arms. We were then
054told that this will cut down time to support differentiation for overworked educators. But how will that educator develop their skills at differentiation if the AI does the thinking for them? How will they do that work when PPS cuts our AI contracts due to future budget cuts? As I see AI programs piloted in PPS that are supposed to be instructional assistants supporting reading, I worry about the use of AI to remove human beings from our schools. A kid reading to a computer will not develop the same love of reading as if they as they would if they had a dedicated educator who is invested in them as human beings. So please slow down with the adoption of AI. It is more important for our students to learn how to communicate, collaborate, and problem solve than to
055put the right number into an AI program or say the right word over and over again to an AI literacy coach. And then lastly, I want to talk a little bit about the budget reality and the conversations around topping from the top. So in 2023, PAT put out a report called the manufactured crisis where we noted that under our previous superintendent, PPS increased administrative and professional central office staff much faster than licensed staff like teachers and counselors. From 2019 to 2024, the district's general fund budget had reduced licensed staff by 121 employees, including teachers and counselors, while administration and professional central office staff had grown by 149. And estimated general fund salary expenditures budgeted for 23-24 and for the additional administrative central office staff were at 15.4 million. These findings are sourced from the adopted
056budgets from 2019 all the way to 2024. And even the CBRC recommendations in 23-24 reported that, quote, the board closely review the added administrator positions, specifically those that are not school-based nor student-facing daily. We question why more administrators are being added to support and manage fewer licensed staff, especially during this period of declining enrollment. And I wonder, did the board get to that work in 24-25 or 25-26? But that was a previous administration, previous school board, so I thought it was important to share an update to that finding. Um in the past two budgets, 25 and 26, the district has reduced the total budgeted FTE as pandemic relief-funded programs wound down. However, in 2026, the district still has more administrators and non-represented positions than it did pre-pandemic, while it has fewer licensed positions such as
057teachers. Um between 2019 and 2026, we had uh a loss of 94 licensed positions from our budget, a reduction of 3%, while the same time the district added 79 administrators and non-represented positions to the budget. In 2026, the estimated salary and benefit expenditures for those 79 additional administrators and non-represented FTE is almost 13 million. 13 million in salary and benefits for administrators and non-represented staff we didn't need when we had more students in 2018-2019. Almost the total amount of the mid-year budget cap that workers took furloughs in order to cover. If this recommendation was taken back in 2023, we could have saved tens of millions of dollars. And what could that have been invested in? There is a also a pile or a bucket called committed funds in the fund balance that holds about $39
058million. And that is, as defined by the act for amounts constrained to specific purposes by resolution of the district's board. And that and it describes that the board can modify or rescind a commitment at any time through passage of a new resolution. In order to commit fund balances to the district must take formal action prior to the close of the fiscal year. So, I I implore this board to review the committed funds made by resolutions of this board and see if any can be cut to retain educator support staff, custodial workers, and nutrition services. Which of these resolutions can be changed to adjust for the financial landscape we are currently in? And I will admit that the annual financial results for fiscal years 23, 24, 25 show that the district has made positive changes. Primarily
059in significantly reducing spending on general admin. However, there's still a continued increase spending in business support, central support faster than on instruction. So, a lot of what I talk about is the rate at which it is increasing. And though spending on school administration slowed, the district continued to increase spending on functions. So, even though there were some positive changes in expenditure patterns in 2025, instructional spending still accounted for a smaller share of of total general fund spending than it did pre-pandemic. While the share dedicated to business support and central support increased. So, if the share of spending on instruction had remained the same since 2019, rather than declining, the district would have spent more than 13 million um would have spent 13 million more on instruction in 2025. And if the share of spending on
060business support and central support had remained the same since 2019, instead of increasing, we would have spent nearly $16 million less on business support and $6 million less on central support. And I bring this to your attention not to say, you know, like we wrote this in 2023 2023, we told you, or to chastise this body. I bring it to the attend to your attention cuz I want to make it really clear. Educators who just voted on a one-year contract with a cost-of-living adjustment of just 2% starting mid-year, and also voted to take four furlough days to bail out the district's mid-year shortfall, are doing everything they can to support the ever-growing needs of their students while being told to do more with less. Less support, less staff, less pay. When we say chop from
061the top, that is what we're talking about. Our ask is simple. Let's reduce those 79 central administrator and non-represented positions that have been added since 2019, while instructional staffing and licensed positions were cut. If we have less students and less educators, we need less administrators, less senior directors, less executive directors, chiefs, and senior chiefs to manage them. We need our board to truly scrutinize the budget before you this year and ask, do we need more bosses while we have less students and less workers? What would PPS look like if instructional spending outpaced central admin and non-rep spending, or outpaced business support and central support? Please take the time to review the budget and ask, how can we trim more of the spending on non-represented and central admin staff to ensure students and educators have what
062they need to be successful. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you for providing your comments today and uh for being here, but don't go too far uh because next we are voting on the 2026-27 agreement between Portland Association of Teachers and PPS. I'll hand this over to Superintendent Armstrong. >> Thank you for that. I am going to call up the Angelus, yes, and Kimberly. Thank you. I'll turn it over to you. >> Kimberly. >> She Freeman. >> Uh good evening, Chair Eung and members of the board, Superintendent Armstrong. I'm super excited to be here in front of you today. Um before you tonight is a one-year collective bargaining agreement between Portland Public Schools and the Portland Association of Teachers. While the language in this agreement remains mostly unchanged, make no mistake that there were many
063months of listening, advocating, spirited exchanges of ideas and collective genius between educators and administrators. We will meet again in January and I have no doubt no doubt that all of our hard work will be evident. A huge thank you to the PPS bargaining team, specifically Sharon Toncray and Kimberly Gibson leading the group. This group was a pleasure to work with and an excellent um an excellent communicators to our community and stakeholders. And I know that I speak for the PPS bargaining team when I say that we have appreciated working with the PAT bargaining team. Thank you. And thank you for all of your time and work and commitment over these last few months. We are in agreement that our budget reality makes this agreement less than ideal for our educators, but I am pleased that
064we are able to agree to a 2% salary increase beginning the pay period that includes January 1st, 2026-27 school year. Yes. And do you have any Do you want to add anything before I turn it over to the other Angela? >> I would just like to say also that um thank you very much to the PAT for working with us and their bargaining team. We know that this was there was a lot of spirited conversation and but we did get to this agreement. I do believe that this agreement is kind of a building block to the relationship that we are trying to build and that we are looking forward to partnering with you in the future. We know that it won't be easy, but we have that relationship now. I think that we're really building
065uh that will get us where we need to be in the future in working together. So, I I thank you and appreciate you. >> Yeah, thank you. Um I want to appreciate our PAT bargaining team. Um this is the first time that we've had an expanded and member-elected bargaining team and so we had representatives from different job groups that were able to bring perspective um and help us best represent our members. Um our two co-chairs, Mike Carlip, who is a BCBA for our rapid response team, and Francisca Alvarez, who is an instructional coach at one of our um DLI elementary schools, really uh held it down as we were going through this process. Um I also want to appreciate uh the work of the PPS team in showing up and bringing proposals. I I know
066it seems like a very small thing, but after our last time bargaining in 2022-23, having written proposals and packages and actual conversation uh felt like a breath of fresh air and it really is a um testament to the changes that have come since uh our last uh superintendent uh since our superintendentship has changed hands, um and we've been able to actually uh discuss and collaborate um with uh district staff as opposed to constantly feeling a need to fight. Um I look forward to the continued work that we will do um in the next couple of years of organizing and discussing the things that most matter to our educators and our students in order to provide a great public schools for every single Portland student. >> Yeah. So, thank you so much for your work. >>
067Thank you. >> Yeah. >> That's it. >> Yeah. >> Let's go. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 7306 2020 627 agreement between Portland Association of Teachers School and School District number 1J Multnomah County, Oregon? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Director Split moves. Vice Chair DePass seconds. Any board discussions, questions, comments? >> Um I would like to echo what uh president of PAT said in that this uh process seemed very different, very collaborative this time. Um and I just I really appreciate that having been through um sessions that weren't so. >> And ditto. Having been through that, too. All right. Uh Ms. Powell, is there any public comment? No. All right. Let's get this on then. Uh the board
068will now vote on resolution 7306 202627 agreement between Portland Association of Teachers and School District number 1J Multnomah County, Oregon. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. >> All opposed? Abstentions? Student representative Retorto? >> Yes. >> Thank you. Resolution 7306 is approved by by a vote of 7 to 0 with student representative Retorto unofficially voting yes. Thank you. And again, I want to thank all the people who put in all the time and hard work in getting that over the finish line. So, thank you. Right, next up we have the uh state of the arts annual report. Superintendent Armstrong. >> Yeah, thank you, Chair Wong. So, school districts are required to submit the state of the arts report to track the money that is generated from the arts tax. And so, with
069us we have Christina Howard, senior chief of academics, who will introduce the presenters. >> Great. Good evening, board directors. I have the pleasure of introducing Kristen Brayson, who is our director of visual and performing arts and core enrichment. And she will also introduce our student rep here. >> Thank you, Chief Howard. And to my left is student Flynn Fitzgerald, and you will meet her more formally in a bit, so stay tuned. Um good evening, Chair Wong, Vice Chair DePass, student representative Retorto, and future student representative, and Superintendent Armstrong. As the proud director of PPS visual and performing arts, I'm here to share PPS's annual state of the arts report, which is required under our intergovernmental agreement with the city of Portland. This year's report reflects a region-wide arts education framework that builds on work already
070underway and establishes a more consistent approach to to defining and measuring high-quality access to arts education across schools and districts over time. This allows us to better understand the impacts of joint investments made by the city and the district and to demonstrate the progress we've already achieved. For more than a decade, PPS has worked not only to preserve access to arts education, but also to build a more coherent and student-centered system over time. Through the Master Arts Education Plan, a strategic plan for the arts referred to as the MAP, PPS created a framework through vast stakeholder engagement to define what high-quality arts education looks like from a student's perspective. You'll see a bit more about these puzzle pieces in a later slide as PPS strives to meet the needs of each domain presented here. But
071before we move on, it's worth noting that this framework has received significant fanfare across the nation and has been adopted by other school districts, including Beaverton. At the same time as our system has been developing, so has the city's work around arts education. The city's new arts education framework is helping create greater consistency in reporting, increased visibility into student experience, and the ability to monitor progress over time across schools and districts. This work also creates stronger alignment between arts education and broader district priorities around engagement, belonging, and student outcomes. One of the central questions behind this work is how do we know if students are actually experiencing a high-quality arts education? So, the Master Arts Education Plan defines the student experience we want young people to have, which you saw in the puzzle pieces on
072the previous slide. The city framework builds on this by identifying measurable conditions across schools and districts. And together, these frameworks create alignment between vision and implementation, allowing us to monitor whether students are experiencing the conditions we've defined as essential. The full framework on the screen there includes a broader set of dimensions ranging from staffing and facilities to curriculum, partnerships, and access. Tonight, I'll focus on several areas that align most directly with our current strategic work in PPS, but I'll pause here for a quick second so you can take a quick glance at the list of dimensions for the city's framework. So, what does this mean going forward? Schools will participate in an annual data collection process including survey-based measures aligned to the city's framework. This year is considered the pilot year, which allows PPS to
073internally review data, better understand where we are as a system, and prepare for broader implementation. The city is also developing a public-facing dashboard that will increase visibility across schools and districts over time. That will launch next school year in spring of 2027. Importantly, this work is not simply about reporting data. It's also about using the data to refine refine systems, identify areas of growth, and continuing improving student experience over time through engagement with stakeholders including our PPS Student Voice Committee for the Arts and our PPS Arts Education Advisory Council. PPS is not beginning this work from scratch. Through more than a decade of implementation following the commencement of the arts tax and through the development of the Master Arts Education Plan, the district has already built many of the systems, pathways, and continuous improvement structures
074that position us well for this next phase phase of the work. One of the clearest examples of this long-term implementation work is our district-wide effort to build consistent K-12 pathways in both visual and performing arts across PPS. There are two important things to notice here on the slide. First, at the elementary level, since 2020, PPS has built near universal access to music and visual arts across the district, representing a significant system shift from where the district was prior to both the arts tax and the implementation of a district-wide strategic plan. The city's investment helped restore arts access to roughly 50% of complete pathways across the district, while implementation of our master arts education plan helped catalyze the expansion to near universal access to two content areas, both music and visual arts. Second, this work has
075increasingly focused on pathway continuity over time, ensuring students have opportunities to continue deepening their learning through middle and high school experiences in both those art forms. One example of this work can be seen in the Roosevelt cluster. Beginning in 2016, PPS used a cluster-based implementation approach to expand music programming from two schools to all schools across the Roosevelt cluster. That work later informed broader district efforts to strengthen pathway continuity and reduce inequities in arts access across school communities, contributing to significant growth in both access and program quality over time. Today, Roosevelt High School's award-winning jazz band has emerged as one example, yes, snaps, of what sustained investment, sequential pathways, and quality program development can support. More broadly, PPS experienced a significant increase in state qualifying ensembles this year. For the first time in decades, four
076PPS bands and three choir programs qualified and competed in OSAA state championship just 2 weeks ago. As you can see, these intentional investments are making a significant impact. Dance and theater are also important components of sequential pathway development. Though opportunities in those areas remain more variable across the PK-12 continuum. While expansion efforts in those content areas have slowed under current budget constraints, we remain hopeful that future right-sizing efforts may create opportunities to strengthen and stabilize those pathways over time. The good news about our progress married to district data suggests that sustained participation in arts learning is associated with stronger attendance outcomes and lower rates of chronic absenteeism. And our initial observation of the data confirm this across all student demographics. Besides access and time, these four additional domains domains of the puzzle pieces reflect broader
077conditions students need in order to fully and equitably participate in arts learning. This includes access to materials, equipment, and consumable supplies, as well as meaningful learning experiences that support creative thinking, inquiry, technical skill development, and student voice. Arts courses also rely on specialized learning spaces designed to meet the demands of the curriculum. And students must demonstrate and apply their learning through meaningful standards-based performances and exhibitions. That final domain, performances and exhibitions, can be a significant driver of student participation and engagement. Across PPS, arts educators support more than 350 performances and exhibitions a year, both within school communities and across the the These experiences are not extracurricular additions. They are required They are a required part of a student's course and learning arc and reflect the national core arts standards where students are expected to create,
078present, and perform their work their learning publicly. To support these domains, our central office work focuses on building the systems and structures necessary for schools and educators to make prog- progress across each area. As we move to the future and create opportunities for improvement, it will be important to standardize access to high-quality instructional materials, expand professional learning for arts educators, continue modernization of arts learning spaces, and support course structures that provide public performance and exhibition opportunities. A central goal of the Master Arts Education Plan has been to ensure that student voice is not only present within arts learning experiences, but also to help shape the system itself. This year, that work became more formalized through the continued development of the PPS Student Voice Committee for the Arts. At this time, I'd like to invite Student
079Voice Committee Chair Flynn Fitzgerald to share their perspective. >> Good evening, members of the board. My name is Flynn Fitzgerald, and I'm a senior at Lincoln High School and the chair of the PPS Student Voice Committee for Arts Education. As a student involved in music and audio engineering, arts education has given me opportunities not only to perform and create, but also to collaborate with other students, express myself, and build confidence in my own ideas and voice. One experience that really stands out to me is when I was recording an original album with my classmates in my audio engineering class. We spent a long time developing lyrics and beats that reflected our own experiences and emotions, and it showed me how arts can help students connect with themselves and others in meaningful ways. The Student Voice
080Committee was created so students could help shape the futures of arts education in PPS. We bring together 12 students from high schools across the district to share perspectives on access, student experience, barriers to participation in our schools, and what students need to feel engaged and supported in arts programs. We also work to bring student feedback into conversations with district leaderships and PPS Arts Education Advisory Council so that students are helping inform decisions about the future of arts education in Portland Public Schools. My hope moving forward is that every student, regardless of their school, background, or zip code, continues to have access to arts experiences that help them find their voice, master skills, build community, and feel like they belong. Thank you. >> Thank you, Flynn. Um what you just heard reflects exactly why it matters,
081not simply as programming, but part of how students experience connection, identity, belonging, and participation within school communities. As we move forward, this work is about continuing to strengthen a system that ensures all students consistently, equitably, and over time experience high-quality arts education. The The introduction of the city's new arts education framework provides greater visibility into that work and helps us continue sharpening the parameters that support student learning across our system. Ultimately, this work is about more than access alone. The arts already surround us in our daily lives through music, film, design, storytelling, media, performance, architecture, and the countless ways people experience and make meaning in the world around them. Often, what sits outside of our awareness is the long-term educational infrastructure and opportunity required for students to eventually participate in shaping those experiences themselves. This
082work is about ensuring that every student, regardless of circumstance or geography, has the opportunity not only to experience the arts, but also to influence and contribute to the cultural and creative life of our communities, whether as audiences, advocates, creators, designers, performers, or makers. Thank you, and we're happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you. Uh I'll open up to questions. Director Slate. >> I have I have one and if you're welcome to get back to me cuz I didn't think about it until you were talking and I was reminded. Um I know there's a lot of conversation at the city level about changes to the arts tax, and I'm just curious how the district is engaging in those conversations as a such an important stakeholder um or key partner if you um in that work.
083>> Yeah, we have been working um with Ben uh for government relations and uh Chief Kofori um to go in and provide public testimony. Superintendent Armstrong also provided public testimony. Flynn provided public testimony, and we had one of our music educators provide testimony as well. Um we really are in support um of moving forward, and the vote happens tomorrow. Um and so we'll we'll keep you updated on that and more than happy to provide a scaffolded explanation of where we are with that and what's going to be happening as a part of that, but if it passes, it is good news for us. >> Great. I've been tracking it and seems seems good, too. Um I likely to write my three city councilors and urge their yes vote as long as nobody has any problem
084with that. You could do it, too. >> Director Chase Miller. >> Yeah. Um thank you so much for the presentation and the incredible work that you and your team does supporting arts in PPS. Um I feel like I understand a lot about how the arts tax supporting these experiences. I'm curious about um I'm curious about what kind of instructional resources are provided by the districts and and how they're supported. >> Yeah, so we do have a basic baseline in various areas of the arts. We're still working on building that and so I think in our work moving forward with continuous improvement with the framework that the city has, we'll really have an opportunity to look at where those gaps are across the district. When I first came on board, there was no infrastructure funds provided
085to sites for arts education instructional materials and that's changed a bit, but we're still not quite there yet. >> I have a I'm just a quick comment and I know it looks like you want to say something too. I just to encourage our newer board members to go see these performances. They're amazing. Seen the Jefferson dancers, of course. The Franklin dance their talent show is amazing. I recently attended a DaVinci a performance at the middle school level. I've been to the the choirs at in people's homes. You know, Grant High School choir coming in and so just to encourage, I mean we can see it everywhere in the community and understand how important it is to uh for our students to have access to that you know, well-rounded education. So really appreciate your work and
086look forward to the conversation about the arts tax. Thank you. There's so many opportunities to engage with the public with those performances. I've often thought that we could definitely make some headway with some joint presentations around student performances and some of the things that we'd like to engage the community around. So, that would be a nice leveraging opportunity. >> And also, we just got a from Tubman, the music teachers, a big like love letter about the programming that's happening there in partnership with the Albina Music Trust. So. >> she's tripled that program since she's been there. >> Amazing. Yes, thank you. >> all those students are going to feed to Jefferson. >> Yes, they will. They're excited about that, too. >> Dr. Sullivan? >> Yeah, I I've just um been to a performance at Franklin,
087and I'd been last year, too, for their dance program. This year, they also incorporated a lot of music into that, as well. And it was it was absolutely fantastic. The place was packed, you know, all ages, and a lot of grandparents very excited about what was going on. I also saw a music performance at Lincoln, where you brought in the middle school kids to play, too, which was amazing. And personally, I have a granddaughter who probably wouldn't have graduated from high school if it hadn't been for the ceramics teacher at Lincoln. So, arts really does keep people there, I think, keep them excited. And of course, Michelle and I were at the Jefferson dancers for their um >> 50th >> their really recital, you know, not not the one downtown. >> Yes. Yes. >> idols,
088which is even more exciting, really, cuz it's all kids, all >> Yeah, the community really comes out for that engagement. Yeah. >> Just amazing. So, we had a great time. >> We went to Franklin together, too. >> Last year. >> year we did. That was super fun. >> We walked out of there just like >> Yeah. >> I said I was I told them I was going, and I got there just late not late, just in time, and they saved me a seat right in the middle there. Oh my gosh. Thank god I made it cuz I would have been so embarrassed. But yeah, it was absolutely fantastic. >> And directors, you should have access to all of our visual performing arts events on a calendar. And if you don't, let me know or let
089Rosie on know and we'll make sure you have that access cuz it populates all of the time with all of the stuff that's going on from week to week. It's pretty amazing. >> The superintendent does such a great job of sending it every week to us. Like you should know it and yeah, know that she nails it. Um I also will just give notice you've got maybe 3 years before I'm going to start agitating for a uh I.B. Wells dance team. So coming in hot. I won't I will have free time and yeah, my kid wants to be on a dance team and we believe in neighborhood schools. So we got to figure it out. >> Yeah, and Lincoln needs a dance team. Yeah. >> Thank you. Um I have a question, too. Um Oh.
090Yeah, go for it. No, we weren't going nowhere. You can go before. >> Well, I just want to um echo what everyone's saying. I I don't know where to start about how excited I am about everything I'm reading in here. I um uh love the performing arts so much that the first half of my professional career was working in music industry. So this is very near and dear to my heart. I have had the amazing fortune to see every high school choir in the city. Um I've gone to multiple dance programs. I've just to see it quantified in this way on the the pathways is is uh really really exciting to me. Um because these are the things that keep our kids in school. They're they touch, you know, the the the things about our
091student that make them unique. It's just It's just It's hard to articulate, but um I just uh I just want to say this is just amazing work. I went to Heart of Portland. It's incredible. And um just thank you for all of your work, and I'm really excited to see um what this reporting structure looks like. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> My turn? I guess I'll go. Um I think this is a question for Chair Fitzgerald. Um I'm I'm super awesome. I I love that there's a student voice committee. Um I'm curious if you can give an example of how the student voice committee's input has been utilized or uh say you can count or impact is created in the in Portland Arts. So, yeah. I'd love to hear an example. >> so
092far, um our committee has been working on translating the MAP, um so that future education groups can actually like quickly look over it and be able to understand it instead of having to like look through the entire booklet. And like it takes such a long time to process as a group. So, um by creating like a single page, we are able to like have the next generation of like committee members to be able to just read over and have a brief overview, and then be able to look over the MAP at their own time. And then this way, when we're trying to make like decisions that can help influence like the Arts Education Board for the adults, um it can really help like us like bridge the pathways. So, like it's not like such a
093divide between adults and like youth. We're able to like communicate clearly and cohesively with one another and understand what we're talking about. Um in addition to that, we also have been doing um like translations into the um graduate portrait and how that reflects in VAPA, so Visual and Performing Arts. Um and so, we've been doing that and working with the adults. I go to both of the adult and um student committee meetings, and we talk a lot about the contrast between an adult perspective versus a student perspective. And that really um I feel like it brought a lot of light to some of the adults like, oh, this is something that students actually care about and like we didn't notice that or sometimes as a student I'm like, wow, that's a very like profound way
094of seeing this perspective as it from the adults' perspective. So, I feel like merging the two has really been really like monumental for this group and I'm excited for where it will go next year with a faster pace and being able to accomplish more in the future. >> Thank you. Love it. >> Um I have a couple of questions. How do How do you choose next year's student chair? >> Um it is an election process. So, um first of all, I believe that the students are able to apply and then the rest of the students on the board are able they are anonymously provided with um a written response. So, each person who nominates themself can like put in like an essay and it's anonymous. So, everyone looks over the essays and then we do
095a vote and then that is who is the new chair. So, and I'll also help with training with Kristen. >> Um I think I met you at Yeah, are you still heading to Australia? >> I am still going to Australia. >> That's really exciting. Thank you. Um I have a one more a a question from the presentation. Uh band, is that wrapped in the music? And yeah, I'm seeing nods. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, um >> Middle school band I should say. >> Yeah, at the middle school level we require programming in band. Um and then that follows up to the high school level. So, uh we require band at high school but also choir. So, when you get to high school you can take band or choir. >> And then is um What was I
096about to ask? Uh Oh, in middle school is knitting part of visual arts? Is Is >> That would be considered textiles which is nested under the seven domains of visual arts education. >> this. Okay. >> It is a tech textiles is one of the domains, yeah. >> I have a point to my question. I do, and that is that from the middle school perspective with two almost seventh graders, but two sixth graders who started middle school not able to play an instrument and not able to knit. And I'm not a knitter. I know that there's some on here who are very talented, and I'm not a musician. I know there are some who are. Uh I never thought my kids were going to learn how to knit or learn how to play an instrument, and
097they've done both in public school at our neighborhood school, and I like I say this all the time, they will come home and pull out their instruments and spontaneously do 30 minutes of it's not even a duet, sometimes it's just one of them, sometimes it's a duet, and our neighbors, they do it on the back deck, our neighbors hear it, it's beautiful, and so I just really want to um lots of people have heard me say it's incredible that this is an opportunity for students who have the interest and a parent who doesn't have the interest or frankly the willingness to do it at home, that they get this opportunity. So that's all. Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you. Really represents the embodiment that happens in the arts, and I think that's an important part
098of why our students are attracted to it. Um is that it to be in the arts means to be in an embodied flow state, and that's really attractive. >> Director, student director. >> Uh I just wanted to say uh great job. Um I've uh seen how how the band program has really evolved in Roosevelt, and it's been incredible. Uh I know uh I definitely know a few kids um who are going to be graduating with, you know, with me only because of theater and because of band and because of choir um and those opportunities. Um so, that's been really incredible to see. Um and I can't wait to see where it goes from here. >> Thank you. >> No, I forget our incoming student director. >> I wanted to say thank you for the Lincoln
099rep, um but I also wanted to say that I have just been so proud of all of my peers who have gone to state, who have been able to show off their artwork, and been performing, and I feel like it's just like an amazing opportunity to let them express themselves, and I want to thank you for supporting them through this. Thank you. >> You. Director Lefor? >> Um I just have a question for our student our student representative. Um from your perspective, where do you see the biggest gap in PPS? >> Me personally, I believe that it is the teaching staff. I am very lucky, and I have a very strong choir teacher, and she's very supportive, but I do see um some courses with teachers who don't have as extensive backgrounds, and can't support
100their programs. And I feel like that is one of the biggest challenges, because if you don't have a teacher who knows what they're teaching about, it is really difficult as a student to actually develop as an artist, and like see these extra pathways. And I also feel like um it is also talking about a future in something like the arts. It is often like when I bring it up to like adults at like gatherings, they're like, "Oh, you want to do music? Okay, um what's your backup plan?" And I usually I'm like, "Well, I'm that's like my goal. Like that's what I want to do." And so, at a school setting to be like, "Oh, well make sure you have an academic like support system for yourself." I think that is great. I me personally,
101I've done full IB at Lincoln, so I'm also very academic, but I think it is important to see those pathways implemented into the school, and seeing that like it isn't like a bad thing to want to pursue something like music, or acting, or band. Like those are like viable options and so like creating a path and like having teachers be like this is something you can do. We can help you accomplish this and having that like reflected in the school system would be really supportive. >> I could not agree with you more. Great answer. >> Thank you. >> And I just I wanted to share, you know, I am also uh my son went through the Grant Choir program. He's a rising junior in college now and started in, you know, pop voices in his
102sophomore year and ended up doing a cappella and royal blues and all the things and starting an a cappella choir at his university and it was just a transformative experience. And I was I was sitting here listening to you talk, it just reminded me of something I'm going to try not to get emotional that my mom said about my kids and she said, "I know your kids are happy." And I said, "Why?" She said, "Because I always hear them singing in the shower." And so you just reminded me of that. So thank you for the incredible testimony. >> Great. Thank you again for your the presentation sharing all this information. It's been a delight to hear. So thank you. All right. Next up we have the resolution on adopting our guiding principles and work plan
103in the right-sizing process for Portland Public Schools. I'll hand this over to Dr. Achong. >> Absolutely. Thank you, Chair Wang. So this is actually a resolution that we're going to ask you all to vote on this evening. In leading you through that conversation, we have both executive director Calvert and senior chief John Franco. >> Just bear with us. Oh, jeez. Okay, we got the slides up and rolling. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Wong and Vice Chair DePass, Board of Directors, student representative Retorto, and new student director Rose. And of course, Dr. Armstrong. John Franco, senior Chief of Operations, and joining me at the table is Margaret Calvert, our Assistant Superintendent of school modernization school leader planning. So, we enter the right-sizing work with care and also with the intention of building a collective vision for
104educational experiences for our students and staff. While the discussions, we know will be difficult, there's also an opportunity that lies ahead with us. It is a chance to look honestly at the constraints, at the challenges we face, while also moving together to align our resources with the educational needs of our students. We have an opportunity to move from short-term reactions to long-term sustainability. So, tonight, we are bringing forward the resolution that will provide the guiding principles and the and the outline for the work plan on right-sizing that will be our blue blueprint for the coming months. We will highlight shifts in the resolution based on your feedback and the work plan from the feedback we have received through engagements from polls and of course through discussions with the board. These will provide both the North
105Star that will guide us as well as the process for the development of modeling and options for consideration that will aid us in bringing forth a recommendation in November for your consideration. I'm going to skip this slide. So, just as a reminder, throughout the spring, we highlighted factors that are embedded in our policies, such as the student assignment to neighborhood schools that we will consider throughout the right-sizing process. We heard from families in a variety of ways, including the five board engagement sessions, stakeholder deep dives, and online polling. As a reminder, here are the six factors that we currently hold within uh our policy. Right pathways, right mix of students, right boundaries, right use of space, right balance, and right impact. >> Good evening, board, and uh two two student representatives. So, great to have
106both of you here this evening, and uh Superintendent Armstrong. Uh during the board engagement sessions, we heard from over 600 families uh who participated in online polling during those sessions. In addition, we uh held an online poll open for a little uh almost 2 weeks, and heard from upwards of an additional 1,600 families. What came through in both uh the scenarios uh in both of the settings were that the top three um uh factors that we were being asked to consider included right pathways, right boundaries, and right balance, with slight variation in the order. Just as a reminder, a right pathway in um in this particular scenario um begins with a feeder pattern that allows as many students as possible to to continue together from one school uh level to the next. So, it's a
107continuity of cohorts of students as they move through a K-12 system. Right boundaries uh is defined in policy as compact boundaries that promote safer routes to school and it sends a community as well as recognizable as as as excuse me as well as recognize and address natural and human-made barriers. The last one up here is right balance, which in which asks us to consider program and enrollment stability in surrounding schools. So, this is tied to our four guiding principles around educational options and shows the interplay between local decisions and the system as a whole. These are similar to the factors from the engagement sessions. They're in slightly different orders um then they then but the top three were remain the same. Um as we shared previously, the synthesis highlights consistency. There are also some slight
108um nuances and differences that happen across engagement sessions. For example, during the Village Table session and the session at Roosevelt High School, the student body demographics surfaced as a top tier priority and that is um defined as schools that reflect and support the diverse identities of students including including race, language, and background. There was a little bit of discussion at the last board meeting about why that may have surfaced in um particular uh communities and to and just to be aware that when we aggregate, we lose some of that nuance and we want to make sure that we hold both of those things um uh together as we go through this process. We continue to work with our community and have met in culturally specific spaces with our native community. We'll meet with black families
109next week and we're working with our community agents and partners to host linguistically specific groups as well. And we will continue these processes of engagement all the way through the right-sizing process through November and also working towards the board board vote in December. >> Okay, so just want to just quickly summarize the conversation on May 12th and then on the next slide Margaret's going to kind of is going to talk through the adjustments that we made based on feedback. So there are four pieces here that just briefly want to touch on. So the first one based on our conversation in terms of the the guiding principles was around well-resourced schools. So this focus specifically on ensuring students across all regions and grade spans have access to comparable high-quality learning experiences. We talked we talked about
110how right-sizing is an opportunity to reimagine the system as a whole and align resources to support long-term sustainability. That schools should be buffered from enrollment fluctuations so students experience stability and continuity. And that we will develop and share an aspirational vision and descriptors of what well-resourced looks like at each grade span to guide decision-making. The second piece is healthy learning environments. So we want to ensure that school buildings are safe, welcoming, healthy, and supportive of student success and well-being. We are considering how physical spaces align with and support modern instruct modern instruction innovation. We are prioritizing responsible stewardship of public assets and maintaining a sustainable portfolio of facilities. And we are considering operational viability, walkability, and safe routes to schools as part of planning and decision-making. The third piece is educational options. So, we want
111to ensure that neighborhood schools are the cornerstone and foundation of the PPS system. Right-sizing will consider the full portfolio of schools and programs across the district and that we are committed to balancing access to choice programs with the need for strong, sustainable neighborhood schools. The goal is a cohesive network of educational options that remain accessible, equitable, and well-resourced over time. The equity lens is and will serve as the key tool for evaluating right-sizing decisions and impacts. Decision-making will consider the needs and experiences of focal student groups identified through district data. The process is intended to help disrupt systemic inequities and advance the district's continuous improvement goals. Equity considerations will be integrated throughout the process and not treated as a standalone step. >> Since sharing the guideline or excuse me, the guiding principles with you on
112May 12th, we have made several revisions to the resolution based on feedback we've received. There were no revisions to the well-resourced schools guiding principle. However, for the second guiding principle, we revised the language from healthy learning environments to prioritize and highlight safe, so it's safe and healthy learning environments, and added language about prioritizing walkability and safe routes to school. And again, this is also reflected in the factors, the six factors that we have to consider. So, we have lifted this particular factor up for consideration. Within the educational options, we heard a need to clarify the language and be more explicit about the role neighborhood schools play in this work. We added a statement, "Neighborhood schools are the foundation of our system and ensuring access to strong, sustainable neighborhood schools will be a priority." We also
113linked this to the board policy 6.10.002, which is the educational options policy, which defines many of the terms referenced in this section, including neighborhood school. So, in that policy, it defines school program, neighborhood school, focus program or school, and education education alternative option. Finally, within the PPS equity lens guiding principle, we added language describing what the equity lens tool is, how it is to be used, and we linked the lens protocol. In partnership with our equity and accountability team, we also clarified that PPS will apply the equity lens to inform decision making and consider the district's most impacted focal students based on district data. This includes native students, black students, multilingual learners, students receiving special education services, and students experiencing poverty. We also heard a concern about right-sizing unintentionally fragmenting school communities by splitting student
114cohorts across multiple schools should a consolidation or a merger be required. Maintaining strong peer relationships and continuity for students is an important consideration in this work. In response to that feedback, the implementation plan now indicates uh that we will consider an assessment of cohort cohesion within each of the scenarios. This analysis will help us to illustrate how student groups and feeder patterns move through the K-12 system over time and identify where scenarios make may create unnecessary fragmentation. The intent to support more stable connected pathways for students and families whenever possible that was echoed not only from board comments but also from what we saw on the polls and in polling. This uh overview includes key the key milestones of the project. Our next steps will include moving from the guiding principles to identifying metrics for
115each of the four principles. Your action uh this evening will serve two purposes. First, it defines the criteria by which we will compare the scenarios and how we will look at who is impacted. We will share a framework late in June and early July, which will be followed by the development of scenarios. We're working to get dates for June and July out to school communities in the coming weeks so we can um make sure to get that before school is um is out for summer. In addition, we'll be at the Teaching Learning Enrollment Committee on June 11th to provide more context on the third principle around educational options where we will discuss our focus option schools and programs across the system in their current state. Your vote tonight will allow us to move into the
116development phase of the process. In late summer, we will focus uh engagement on the scenarios. We're aiming for late August through September or early October. We will then incorporate the feedback to inform the superintendent's recommendation by mid-November leading to a vote in December allowing it to be aligned with the budget process and giving time to activate the implementation plans prior to school starting in the fall of 2027. Part of the work plan as we stated earlier also outlines an implementation plan to be considered in close as close in as close a time as possible to the actual recommendations that will be brought forward. We look forward to the discussion and are here to answer questions that you may have. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, let's get this on the table. Do I have
117a motion and a second to adopt resolution Excuse me, 7307 resolution adopting guiding principles and work plan in the right sizing process for Portland Public Schools. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I think I heard Director Chase Miller moves and Director La Forte seconds. All right, let's start with board discussions. Why don't we start with Director Sullivan and we'll move this way and end with Chase Miller. >> Well, for me there's not too much to discuss. This is what we've been talking about for all the meetings and you seem to have brought it together very well. Um certainly it's what I heard when I was there. So, I appreciate it. And really don't have anything to add. I think it's you've put down what we heard. I appreciate it. >> Okay. Um So, oh, were
118you done? >> Oh, we got I think we're good. >> Are we Did I Trying to follow the rules here. Um so, I I am going to vote yes, but I just wanted to take a moment to um call out that during this process um when I read right pathways um to me that does include access. It serves a high needs subset highly gifted students. It's an alternative learning program. It is not a focus option. They are very different. The access serves like obviously speaking from some personal experience here. It serves students who are often impossible to differentiate for in the classroom and when you're you know you've got to like 2.3 standard deviations above the mean. So I know I'm talking to a math person. Um This means that you know 10 in a
119thousand students meet that threshold. This is a this is a unique subset of students and I just need to think it's important that we recognize that many of them or actually all of them for the most part have already attended their neighborhood schools and they were unable to meet their needs because they are so unique not because we're failing them at the neighborhood school level. I just want to call this out because I would really love it if our plan considered expanding not shrinking access since we have so many students on the waiting list and uh I do know that you know we don't want to lose those families and we also don't want to send them back to schools that can't serve their needs. These kids are a couple many grade levels above um
120where they would be in their neighborhood schools. So I just want to call that out and I'll continue to talk about it. So thanks. >> Thank you. >> Um thank you. I just want to start with an appreciation that show that you showed your thinking that you added for instance the word safe um to healthy learning environments. I think it's really important especially if we're talking about walkability, transportation options and also how you added apply the equity lens to that um to that as well. Um and also I noticed that you added a value around cohort cohesion which you know for me personally is not a big deal because I went to different schools and I have communities from all of those different schools, even you know, on a different continent. Um but I but
121the community was concerned about that cohesion and and I I was happy to see that included. Um one of the things on the timeline that I didn't notice was um that there were uh it it looks like there's I would I was wondering where any retrofits might happen. Um in that schedule that you showed, if there were to be, let's say, a conversion I'm just throwing this out there. It's Nothing's been decided. If there was a school that needed some tenant improvements in order for it to be a new community to be a new building. Um I just I didn't see that in the schedule, so. That's it. That's my comment. Thank you. >> Yep. Thank you. >> And quite And the question about when would a retrofit happen? >> Yeah, that's a good question.
122We'll look to include that piece because we've said all along through our seismic conversations that there would be that opportunity if we needed any level of change uh that were to take place, we'd go ahead and um make that recommendation. And so we'll make sure to include that in the timeline. >> Thank you. >> Right. Um thank you. I want to highlight and apprecia- lift up and also appreciate under work plan four Roman numeral uh It's not exactly Roman numeral. Four uh three. Assesses impact on school communities that have recently been impacted by recent enrollment and program changes as well as Title One school communities. Uh I want to thank you for putting that in cuz that is a very real anxiety among a lot of uh school communities that suffered a lot of change
123recently. Um thank you. Uh I do have a I don't know if it's a concern. Uh I'm I'm okay with it for now, but I'm wondering about guiding principles under B, safe and healthy. Thank you for adding that. Uh but at the end it ends with and prioritize walkability and safe routes to school. >> Mhm. >> I do want to kind of note that there is slight contradiction involved in this phrase. For example, prioritize like how high do you prioritize? If we prioritize walkability as number one, then that means keeping the maximum amount of schools open, which means that we don't do anything. >> Yeah. >> Right? And so, you know, that that's a contradiction. At the same time, safe routes to school, the more we close, you could, you know, if all things being
124equal, that could also mean that we have more buses to serve per school. Right? And so, that could actually be more safe routes to school. So, I think there's kind of a I just want to lift that up. There's a little bit of a uh trade-offs going on in that just that one phrase alone. Um and especially since people are having smaller smaller families, um walkability is much much more harder. It's harder to do. So, I I I And I'm not I don't have an issue with that. I think this is fine. I'm not going to complain about it, but I just want to highlight that there is a little quite a bit of interpretation and trade-off involved in that. >> Appreciate that, Chair Wang. And I think part of what we will focus on,
125and we've heard this from um multiple board members in the community as well, is where there's a trade-off that is explicit that we say so. >> Yeah. >> And that we highlight what that is, and um if there are uh conflicting impacts, um that we lift one impact that is imp- and in these and sentences, that's anytime there's an and, there's the chance that we won't be able to do both. >> Yeah. >> So, appreciate you highlighting that. >> Thank you. And uh thank you for the answer, too. >> Thank you. Hi. Um So, on the question of key milestones, um what we heard last two weeks ago, I had talked about wanting more of a calendar in the guiding principles, cuz I think it's important for families to be able to understand when something
126is coming because the calendar that is in this presentation that's also available online is very very broad. Engage and develop is about a 6-month process. Study and recommend could be anywhere in a 3-month process. Is it going to be September 21st or is it going to be November 4, you know, 1st? Um So, I guess um I also am hearing you say moving towards June, July and I guess I'm looking for when can family because we have heard other board members suggest that like hearing sooner gives people more of an opportunity to start to unpack and ingest. And then I was at a school a Title 1 school not too long ago where someone pointed out if we if we hear things here in November, vote happens in December, that really only gives the school
127community about five or six months. It's not the same lead up time that we talk about. So, I guess when do our communities get to know is my first question. >> So, I appreciate >> I'm going to pause you. >> So, we are like reading each other's minds here. So, very similar to what appreciate the question. Um so, just like with what we did with Jefferson dual assignment, like we will be very clear and specific in terms of all the inputs and engagements not only with the community but with the board in particular. And so, I think that was really key is that we're we were in knowing that there could be some level of adaptation but seeing what all those inputs and outputs when you were going to get the information what where we
128would get the information because we used FIO, we used TLE, right? Those specific avenues. And so, we will have all of those pieces very specifically. I do agree that this is more broad but know that we will get that granular just like with what we did with Jefferson. >> Thank you. And we appreciate that that that this vote the resolutions tonight helps us move to that next stage so that we can provide more detail. And what so in in board policy I was looking at all the policies earlier and again tonight. So in board policy Oh man, where did it go? 6. 10.030 There talks I mean there's a school closure report with a fiscal impact cost per student projected overall cost or savings to the district including impact on other schools and potential transportation
129costs projected enrollment. So there is an actual board policy requiring school closure report that includes a financial impact plus or minus because it's not just what we save, it's also what we then spend on transportation. When does this fit into that calendar? >> So as we build out the scenarios, well we'll end up we will so given starting from the guiding principles we'll build out metrics that we'll share and and guidelines about what that looks like. As we start to lay that out then we'll be able to say if there's if we're doing a some type of closure or merger we're we're going to look at the physical impact. We're going to look at the physical impact regardless of whether it's a move of a program or a change of a boundary so we will
130share that as well. >> Okay. Okay. Um One of the questions that this school that I went to asked pointed out I should say didn't ask and I sent along um the right-sizing website has frequently asked questions. Um but there are only one to six of them with quite short answers. And so I wonder and the community was wondering when the questions asked at all of those feedback sessions are going to be synthesized and put up so we can sort of see what everybody was asking and what the answers are. And it's a big job, but >> Yes, it is. And and we need to do it. So I think it's both. Um we're in the process of reviewing. So we did an initial analysis of the feedback from the polls. We also want to
131make sure that we're bringing in questions from various other um spaces. So when we're at Village Table and when we're at um working with the native community and and and um also we were I worked with the special education parent advisory group last week as well. Um so yes, we'll we will uh go through the and update and we'll um there's a series of of questions we're we're working through to um to get posted. Our rhythm ideally is uh weekly that we kind of identify with some questions and get them up. Uh so we will work to get those updated uh and continue to um turn them around. We we received a lot of feedback. So about you know, two over 2,000 responses. So we're trying to catch up to that and and try to
132synthesize. >> Yeah, we we do have a team working on that diligently right now. That also includes the thousands of sticky notes and all those types of things that we captured during all the engagements. So it's it's quite a process and we do have a team working on it. >> Thank you. Um And then I um I I this goes back to my initial calendar question. I I think and I I think I missed the answer. So, if you could tell me if you said an answer to guiding principle Looks like it's a little two. Description of well-resourced schools by grade spans will be drafted and shared with the board and community. Is when will we see those and what it means to have a well-resourced school? >> So, we're we have a team that
133is starting to work through this. It has been working on this. We have we wanted We've also been working with Dr. Green from who did the review of the Southeast Guiding Coalition. So, he will be working with the team this week to to help ferret out some of those details. We hope to have some information ready and each of the all four of the guiding principles in some form by the end of June. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> So, it may be in in draft form at that point, but we're going to try to the you know, as we get into the the vote here as we as if we can it will put us into a different workstream to get through the vote this evening and hopefully we can say late June or early
134July that we get those. >> Right. And just just to kind of add the disclaimer that, you know, we're we're doing work that at least this team together we haven't done yet. And so, we don't know what the results of some of the deep dives will be. We know that we have a deliverable to get to you all for review, for public comment, for public engagement. Um and so, we're trying to plan backwards from there, but it's tough to say like, "Hey, by the third week of June or the fourth week in July we'll have this when we still don't know what we don't know." So, we're truly approaching this without minds already made or some like draft plan in the background. So, because of that, um it means that we'll have to be a
135little fluid with timelines. >> Okay. And then my last question is more of a comment actually. In the implementation plan of this, which I know is not the guiding principles, but I think it's really important to talk about um there is a school that was very impacted in Southeast to the Southeast guiding coalition, and the families have been very vocal. The principal at one of the middle schools that they split to has been very helpful and vocal about frankly, the damage that is being done to this very, very small sliver of fifth graders taken from their cohort, merged into a huge middle school, told to make new friends, and then taken and sent to a different high school away from their new friends back with their old friends. Um sports, community, friendship, walkability, all of
136these things. Um I have I've had a lot of people reaching out. I've been trying to have the district listen and help to make adjustments because I don't think that what was promised to them under a different administration years ago through the Southeast Guiding Coalition is at all being followed through with, and now we're stuck with eighth graders who are not getting what they were told when they were fifth graders. So, to the implementation plan consistent and these consistent with PPS commitment to continuous improvement implementation will include monitoring, evaluation, and adjustment based on outcomes and lessons learned. I would say that is critical since we're going to potentially engage in something we've not done before, but also we have some pieces that need to be fixed for about 25 kids every year who are fifth
137graders who are really struggling. So, I would like to say publicly that we need to we need to work on that, too. >> Thank you. And I think that impact that is uh done that would has been identified. Um uh You know, it's it again is one of these places where we're going to hear two things, right? So, one is that there's a school that's been impacted and we need to be mindful of that impact from Southeast Side Coalition. And that doesn't mean there may not be a solution to that decision, right? And so, I think it's going to This is another example of an and, not an or, as we're going through the prioritization. >> Hi. Um I'm very grateful to see all the things that I was concerned about addressed in the res-
138revised document. Um I just really wanted to advocate for what I felt like we were hearing from community and also what I felt like needed to be prioritized, um just from my own perspective, they happened to match. Um so, I'm really grateful to see that. I did have a question on the process and it just occurred to me in the conversation now and so, I haven't asked it in advance. So, if you want to get back to me later, that's totally fine. Um I remember early on in this process that we were um working with getting advice from an entity that had helped other districts with right-sizing and other places and I really haven't heard anything about what their role is in all this and I'm just curious, um are they currently doing work for
139us? What What What's their role in this system? And again, you can get back to me. It's not meant to be a gotcha question. I just thought of them and I was like, I haven't really heard anything about that lately. >> I'm happy to give some um some current state. So, um we have been working um with a team of researchers to look at uh uh decisions and the impacts from the Southeast Side Coalition. Um they have um provided some preliminary uh information to us, which we uh we will we should be having a um we're expecting a a formal final report um here in the next week or so that then we'll also we'll come back and say are there um lessons learned and recommendations that then will be fed back into our process.
140So, when I say Dr. Green that this is one of the people that we've been working with um as part of that process. Um, the most immediate piece that is happening is it's sort of a in consultation with our academics. We have four work groups and our we have an academics athletics and activities these work group that is looking at well resource schools and so there's going to be a conversation about um what is that what is that what is research say about well resource schools? It's a tongue twister for me. I apologize. And then also um you know, what are we learning from some other uh districts. So, we hope to have that information. We've said that we were going to share it publicly and bring it back to the board as well. Um,
141many of the communities and and families in the focus groups from that had participated in the Southeast Guiding Coalition were asking that we share that information uh with school communities as well. >> Yeah, I just wanted to add I know that we had um labor partners that was interested in connecting with Dr. Green and so we are working on making that connection. >> Yes, I'm and I was I was hoping to to uh close that loop tonight and just get some potential dates from our partners. >> Some of them are right back there waiting waiting to get out there with you. I can see I think I see a nodding head. Um, I my other thing that I just wanted to say is a yes and to Chair Wong's concern. I think that what we're
142doing is saying here's as with these with this document, here's what we as a community um and a board think we should be prioritizing. And I also think that in the end we're going to have exceptions to the rule. >> Correct. >> Um, and that's just going to be par for the course. I'm just going to just speak only in cliche. Um, but I think that like to me what we're saying is we're going to do our best to not do this. And then when we do it, here's why we're doing it, even though we know that it's not precisely in line with what we would prefer. Cuz none of us prefer to be doing really any of this, is my guess. Um, so I just think what it does is create a system where
143we're saying, "Okay, listen, like this this new district for this neighborhood over here, it doesn't it's not It's going to have fewer kids have a walkable route to school, but we're doing this so that they can have a full-time librarian. This other school hasn't had a music program, this one has music and art. Or because we're putting them together, we can offer both music and art. Maybe we even get to offer visual arts twice a week." Like that way we can kind of share why there's that trade-off. So I think that was said, but I just want to put it out there that that's my understanding of what we're doing, and I really support um, having goals or aspirations, even if we know that we can't always hit the mark. So thank you for >>
144That's right. >> to me kind of nailing that. >> That's correct. Thank you. >> All right. Um, I've got a little bit to say because I have not been present for the last uh, two I believe two conversations that we've had about this because our meetings have been running a bit long. Um, uh, so so I've got a I've got a few different things here. Some of these go back to the very first meeting, and I apologize if you guys have already talked about some of these. Um, but my first concern uh, and a lot of this stuff is not is not really entirely relevant to the guiding principles, but is going to be relevant as we look at future resolutions and future policies because I will not um, be here for those conversations. Um,
145I would really like to see in the final version um, of this policy um, a a part about uh, a time frame for which we will not do any more boundary changes cuz I've heard from a lot of members of community that they're like, what what next? Like and I think that having that having like a 10 or 15 year timeline where we say no more boundary changes would go a long way towards getting parents to accept that this is just something that has to happen and building that trust and saying this is it. We did it. We got we got over it and now this is how it's going to be, you know, for the next 10 or 15 years. I think that would be um at least from a lot of the parents
146and community I've talked to that would be really helpful um for them. Um also I have um we all also during the Jefferson Rising conversation, um we had talked briefly um very briefly about adjusting Roosevelt's boundary across the across the river. Um and I figured while we're talking about boundary changes that might be something to look at because I know it's only like 10, you know, or or 20 students. Like it's not that many students. Um but when we're talking about Roosevelt being potentially, you know, around 50 students over that 1,100 like that 10 or 20 students could be very very much uh influential and impactful. Um so at least something to look at. Um and then also I have some concerns about um community community feedback in retrospect of the Jefferson Rising uh conversation.
147Um I was very satisfied with the way that we went about gathering community feedback during the Jefferson Rising conversation. I think that we did um we did a pretty good job of that. Um but I was not entirely satisfied with the response and how that ended up. I think that um uh it definitely uh it definitely blindsided me because uh because when we went out to community, of course, you know, the DSC, we did extensive community uh like uh and student outreach. Um and the response was was pretty resounding in favor of one of the options. Um that was not the option we ended up going forward with. Um and I felt like I like I and also many members of the DSC who were who were following along with this would have liked a
148a little bit more of a comprehensive explanation for why we didn't end up going with that. Because you know, it's fine that we reach a different conclusion than than than our community. But we if we are going to go out to our community to make this big show of it, um it would be great if we if we really showed that that we value that um and and acknowledge the responses that we got um when we reach our final decision. Um and then um Yeah, I think that the the the most important thing is going to be um communication and really I think that we that throughout this process, you know, we've got we've we've learned a lot about um about the better ways that we can be explaining things like utilization, you know, um
149and like things like course offering and that that's going to be really crucial in in convincing uh parents that the and students that this is going to be better in the long term. Um So, cuz again, yeah, we we don't you know, none of us want to be doing this, you know, but you know, this kind of has to happen for a lot of reasons. Um And with that, I'll turn it over to >> Yeah. >> student student representative elect >> Yes. Um I just I wanted to make a point that we need to make sure we get our parents involved in this conversation and we need to make sure that they can trust us as a district to take care of their students. >> Got you. Thank you. >> Um thank you for this.
150I think that you all did a really great job uh incorporating our thoughts from last time um into a really solid set of guiding principles. Um I was happy to hear you lead with um with with the right mix of students and the difference between what we heard in North Portland and from the Village Table um as compared to what we heard from the rest of the district. Um, and I am also glad that equity is one of our guiding principles because I think that that creates a container for us to, um, care for that particular concern. Um, I also had a had a reaction to prioritizing walkability and safe routes to school. Um, and appreciate Director Splitz comments and I'm picking up what you're putting down. Um, but I think what that what that
151triggers for me is that, um, in PPS, uh, historically, I mean, we haven't had legal segregation in PPS since 1873, but we have had de facto segregation in PPS based on neighborhoods and where people live and, um, where people are rooted to school. So, um, if we become too focused on, uh, walkability, um, we're disadvantaging some communities over other communities, um, and it's just something that we need to be mindful of and pay attention to. Um, I also think that, uh, in recent years, PPS has, uh, done, uh, a good job of making decisions that are intentional about, um, about breaking those barriers. I think Tubman is a good example of that. I think Jefferson Rising is a good example of that. And as we've learned from Jefferson, um, and I hope we continue to
152pay attention to in relation to Jefferson, um, bringing communities together and, uh, and and kind of blending the family, so to speak, um, is important and it is also important that, um, we're making sure that our communities are maintaining their sense of identity and, uh, culture and that those aren't things that are lost. So, I hope as we go forward in this um, that we are of course, you know, caring for the guiding principles and also using that equity lens to ensure that you know, if we're if we're prioritizing walkability and safe routes to school, let's think about what groups of students in PPS have historically been the ones to ride the bus and which students have been the ones to be able to walk to their school. And making sure that our decisions are
153also grounded in our historical context as well as our our current context and I know y'all are already aware of this, but making sure that we're not placing a disproportionate burden on communities who have born that burden in PPS for generations. But otherwise, not even otherwise, like I think y'all did really great work on this. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Great. Thank you. Next up we'll move Sure. Dr. Evans. >> I just have one thing to say. I was really lucky to be invited to two title one schools recently to talk about how their um programming with safe routes to school and Oregon Walks has increased their chronic lowered, I guess, their chronic absenteeism and their families who don't feel safe bringing their kids to school have a way to get their kids to
154school now because of the bike bus and the walking bus. So, I'm thinking specifically of up in North Portland and out in deep Southeast Portland, two title one schools that are really proud of the fact that their kids get to walk to school and that their fact that there are community members who can get kids to school who otherwise wouldn't. And so, it's I think it's not just an affluence, it's sort of like a building community and opportunities for families throughout the district. >> Thank you. Great, thank you. Um Ms. Powell, do we have public comment? >> Yes, we do. One moment. We have Ellie Buckner and Lisa Jackson. >> Great, I think both of you were here when I went through the whole list of rules before so and I think you know the
155drill. Um this is a agenda voting item so you have 3 minutes per person and when yellow light 30 seconds red finish. Thank you. Uh you may go when you're ready. >> Oh, just before they begin, I just wanted to flag that we're um hopefully going to move the conversation on access and budget to be after this public comment as opposed to waiting for the lengthy budget discussion in case um you know, folks wanted to hang around a little bit longer. So I just wanted to put that out there. >> Hi, my name is Ellie Buckner b u c k n e r and I am a mom at Buckman Elementary which is a title one school and it is one of I believe the only two uh night neighborhood focus schools. Um I wrote
156a comment and I submitted it. I have some handouts for you that are talking about what I am wanting to bring up which is that in the rightsizing conversations an recurring topic was um neighborhood schools feeling at odds with focus schools and I think there is an opportunity with particularly the 100% lottery schools that are already having students that are being brought by their parents to think about um incorporating and integrating those lottery students into new hybrid focus schools in some of the areas that are at risk of closure because those populations offer a known resource that could be really valuable to the district. And I would also like to just second the focus on strengthening underserved neighborhood schools and minimizing the number of closures and that deserves to be a a guiding principle and
157I'm happy to see that and I'm just wanting to um speak to the value I've seen in um focus schools and also hearing about the arts today even more and I couldn't agree more what value they bring um and I wanted to say that um the idea of moving the 100% lottery schools into hybrid schools in these neighborhoods allows for a win-win of the district keeping these lottery families that want these lottery focus options and additionally, while it is separate, the issue of Access Academy it it seems very clear that a second location would be beneficial in many ways in that it seems there would be opportunities in perhaps a closed school in in north the north southeast area that you could have a second location that would be much more um drivable or manageable
158time-wise on buses for those families. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you. >> Tiana Washday, so I just wanted to speak as a parent and not an advocate advocate cuz usually I'm speaking on advocacy, but today I just wanted to talk about the data and how we're making all of this this action, all of this everything we're doing moving forward when the data is completely incorrect and we all know that. The people are losing faith because they feel the contradiction that you can't keep asking suffering communities to suffer and have faith and hope when you're prior to prioritizing systems of control over systems of care. You You must decide, do you exist to protect the people or do you exist to manage the consequences of exploiting because they're not the same? I'm I'm here not to
159fight with you guys or not even to fight for a spot at your table. I'm here to talk for the people who are never ever invited. Democracy is native. Democracy is indigenous. It's been like that for over hundreds of years before any person stepped on this land. And when we keep talking about this right-sizing and everything and this data stuff, you're right, we've never had been updated on anything. But we want to keep making decisions around what? I think a lot of people need to go back to this article. Portland schools financial crisis threatens. This was in March of 2003. The intent of dream and between the local teachers and the union and the district which averted the threatened strike remained fragile. School leaders are faced with potential and students in anger and public. All
160of this stuff has been going on for a long time. You know, when measure five was passed, that should be something that this community should talk about because we all want all this stuff, but we don't want to pay for it. People need to go back and read the Oregonian for September 3rd and September 15th. This was never your guys' problem. The community advocated for some of this stuff. So, maybe people should write those dates down and read those articles. But, we don't need to keep having crisis after crisis because we are in a recession. And culture matters. Punamia. >> All right, thank you. Superintendent Armstrong, uh should we I think let's vote on the right-sizing resolution and then we'll talk about the bus transportation discussion. Um all right, uh the board will now vote
161on resolution 7307, resolution adopting guiding principles and work plan in the right-sizing process for Portland Public Schools. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Opposed? Abstentions? Student representative Retodo? >> Yes. >> Student representative elect Sandal? >> Yes. Sorry. >> Since you're here, you might as well vote. Thank you. Resolution 7307 is approved by vote of 7-0 with student representative and student representative elect both voting yes. Thank you. All right, we got that part done and on to the next two, I guess I'll hand this over to Dr. Armstrong. >> Yeah, thank you, Chair Wang. I appreciate it. So, I have before our budget discussion, excuse me, sorry. Um I know that I have um Chief Franco and our wonderful uh transportation um person coming forward. it. so sorry. I
162tried to get that Almond Joy down, but it just didn't work out quite as fast as I had hoped. So, they're coming forward. So, we've been working, I think you know, over the last couple of weeks at the the direction and concern coming up around access transportation. So, on Friday I sent you a message with some key factors in which we were considering in the proposal. So, I just want to share on the way that we're thinking about this. So, tonight we'll hear about the first initial thinking based off of cost savings and what could be possible with transportation. After that, I will have Senior Chief Franco and Howard out to access to do a hybrid both in-person and virtual meeting with families to get input and hear their feedback. And then, we will bring
163that back to you all before the January 9th board meeting where you'll have an opportunity to ask additional questions after hearing some of the feedback and reaction to this hybrid model. And so, I just I wanted to preface that by saying this is one part of a couple step process. And then, if it is the board's um direction which we're we're hoping that we're we're able to get to a resolution on this. So, that by time we get to budget adoption in Janu- or June 23rd, that's 4 weeks from now, we will have met at a happy resolution. So, with that I'll turn it over. Again, this is now uploaded in BoardBook. It wasn't a plan presentation, but we thought it's helpful to have the visuals and the visuals are now available to the public
164as well. So, with that I will turn it over to the team. >> Thank you. Um so, >> Can you introduce yourself, Brandon? >> Yes, sorry. Uh I'm Brandon Coonrod. I'm the senior director for student transportation. Um so, when we were at the last board meeting and saw everybody um talking about this uh even before it was kind of requested, we decided we should start diving into this that day, just knowing that this might come up. Um so, things that we looked at really quickly, I'll run through this. Um we decided we want to make sure we had student-focused options and also budget-focused options because both are critical to the success of this budget and also the success of the students. Um so, as far as student the student side, just running through, um we
165need to make sure we had reasonable access. I know reasonable is different for everybody, so we tried our best to make something that worked. Um we also needed to balance ridership. The last thing we want is to pull up with a bus and not have room for a kid to get on it. Um so, that was pretty critical. Uh also, with a hub model, we know that we are now going into some other schools' territory and we need to make sure that there's room and space between them and we're not affecting their school as well. Um and then also, wanted to make sure we are providing resources. If we are removing any level of transportation, we need to provide resources to help with that um transition point. Um and then also, I I skipped over
166it, but I didn't mean to. Uh CSI and TSI, as well as Title 1 stops, um trying to fit those in where it fits with the models to be able to secure transportation in those areas. Um and then switching over to the budget side, um we knew the focus. We needed to try to eliminate at minimum five to six buses, uh utilize a true hub model, and ensure we're actually putting buses in there and filling to capacity without overloading those buses. Um another critical piece of this is a 40-minute or under route time because that allows us to make the buses not dedicated anymore and actually service multiple schools, um which is part of the problem we've had. Um going Okay. Okay, so uh the current state that we have for access is 10 buses
167that run across the whole city. There's 125 stops for those 10 buses, and 29 of those already go to schools as hub sites. Um we're only averaging about 23 students on those buses. So, they're not full at all. We have a couple buses that average less than um double digits even. Um and still run an extreme amount of time, which is still a cost regardless of how many students ride it. Um so, average ride time right now is 71 minutes per route, which is very long. And because of that, there is no way to have them be anything but dedicated. Um so, next year's plan with that would have been 1.5 million as a cost for those 10 routes. Um the proposed model that you'll see on a future slide here pushes it to five
168bus routes, 13 total stops. All of those stops are at schools. Um I did try to prioritize keeping them at K-8 and middle schools to avoid impacts to elementary schools that students are already actively learning in. Um you will see one exception because there was no way we could find our way around it. Um this brings our average riders to about 46 students per bus. Um there will be some that'll be higher. We do have the ability to raise to a larger bus. So, I think we should be good there. Uh average ride time comes down to 33 minutes per route, which is very good for a district-wide program. Um and all buses, in keeping that, have multiple schools they can service. And all of that conservatively gives us about a million dollars in savings
169still. Next slide. Okay, so the routes you see here are they are defined in quadrants, um not by their stops necessarily, but by needing to make sure we had service in those areas. So, um all of these list where we would locate the stops at those hub sites, uh the amount of time that we would estimate those routes run, and then uh if they are CSI or TSI schools as well, and how many stops. Um the most stops being four. Uh you will see where is it? The north route does have a stop at Hosford, so it's trying to plan and utilize those buses to flow them into access the best we can and keep them under that time frame. And this final slide, I think is a really good visual representation. The current model
170um that looks like neon spaghetti over there is uh our current structure of routes. Um the that is what's taking average of 71 minutes, ridership very low, um and we are going all over the city and making stops all over the place. Uh the proposed model on the right is streamlined. Most of those stops are within 3 to 4 miles of any one point, so dividing it, students are about a mile and a half to 2 miles away from a stop somewhere. And there's multiple that they could get to depending on um what direction parents needed to be able to take them. Um the one uh the blue one on that map uh Forest Park is one of the schools that is an elementary and we would have to manage pulling a bus into there,
171delivering students then loading students for access and running to the next stop. We tried to do it with modeling it with Skyline and the time just didn't work. We would have missed it. >> Thank you for that senior director Conrad. And so as I mentioned our our next step is to get out into community next week. As you all know we have a accelerated timeline as we have four weeks before budget um adoption. We want to hear feedback on um the model from the school community and then bring that back for discussion and talk more in detail about the trade-offs which will come directly from the field trip um or even maybe even parts of the operation budget which is where most of our reductions are are housed and um that is just an important
172update for you all to know as you're um thinking through our our budget. So if there's any questions for the team um before you get into your we turn it over to budget or if Chief Franco or Morrison wanted to add anything. >> No, I I just appreciate we just want to express appreciation to um Brandon and his team. Obviously this uh is immense amount of work. I think one of the big things that we talked about before we started looking at a model is that knowing that there would have to be trade-offs and so the model as you saw does carry uh um a significant savings enough where it definitely seems um more plausible than if you were to come up with a model that didn't have that amount of savings, right? And so
173and I also will say this is that uh just want to appreciate the access community. We've had a number of conversations with them um and they've been extremely supportive uh wanting to work and and as are we, right? There's no question about it. Um, but I think, as you all know, is that this is a very difficult process in regards to budget and then with everything there is a trade-off. And so, as Dr. Armstrong said, we'll become clearer if this is something that you'd wish to pursue, we'd be more clear with with what those trade-offs are. >> Well, I guess there's still a half a million dollars there. Um, so, where would that come from? >> Yeah, that's the part that we are digging deep into. So, we have multiple budgets for transportation. Uh, we
174have a 1.2 million dollar um, budget for field trips and that doesn't mean that that we're going to take 500,000 from field trips as we know that there's many sources that fund field trips. We also know that, I think this was information today, so that's an update, that when we look at our equity, um, set aside, we set aside about 500,000 and we're seeing that the utilization of that fund over the last 2 years have yielded about a 150,000 dollars remaining and then there's some other resources within transportation that we've been talking at length about. So, we're we're feeling pretty confident that um, we will be able to identify the sources now. You know, it it obviously a trade-off is a trade-off, um, but but we feel the investment in the hub model, um, is
175is worth what some of the proposals that we'll make. But, until we get out to community and make sure that, you know, we've are clear and all the, uh, boxes are checked, then we'll be able to present on January 9th what the exact trade-offs will be to fund the model, which is a cost of about 500,000 before reimbursement. >> Correct. >> Um just a clarifying question. I've heard you say January 9th twice. >> Oh, sorry. Um you know what? >> I just want to make sure we're all aligned on the same time frame. >> June 9th. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Don't know where that's coming from. Um I I think we're just kind of talking if we want to a little popcorny. I don't want to belabor it cuz we're already way over
176time. First, this is amazing um to just see this map and the efficiencies that we're gaining and the way that the access families in the crowd are reacting. Let's see how everybody feels. Um it does make me wonder at the same like I think it's exciting, yay, and I am looking forward to supporting this change, but um and hearing about the trade-offs, but still this seems so smart and common like finding common ground. But what I wanted to say too is like maybe we need to look at some of our other bus routes. We have schools that um I know that we have buses that support other um kids coming from outside of uh neighborhoods that come into a school. I think mostly for DLI and I I understand that's to get our our heritage
177and and native speakers into those spaces, so that's very important, but I wonder if we could apply the efficiency test um more broadly. Um but if we were doing this over here and we're looking at this and it just seems so I mean the savings is just it really makes one wonder. So thank you for doing this and sorry for making maybe more work by saying I think we should do more of it. Um but I really really appreciate seeing this and how like hopeful it makes me feel um which is an interesting reaction to a map, but that's what I'm going to go with. So thank you very much. >> Yeah, I appreciate that and I just want to add that um senior director Comrade is is new as a senior director since I've
178been superintendent and so he has definitely expressed a lot of interest in doing a deeper dive on some of the things that have historically been true in Portland and that even includes as we've had conversations about evaluating our um transportation contracts and some of the costs that um that we have out there. So, I just I wanted to uplift think his his leadership has definitely um rejuvenated uh the group and I just appreciate it. >> Thank you. I appreciate that very much. Um I will say this is the biggest rat's nest um as far as stops just because it is a large program district-wide. So, um I do think there's other efficiencies to be had. Um they're not nearly as blatant as this by far. So, this is the this is the one that um
179is obviously on display. >> Can I popcorn next? Um I want to echo a lot of what was already said that um this is incredible work. I was again, I think it was one of those emails I got where I teared out loud and um really impressed with the efficiencies uh efficiencies you were able to find and um had the same thought that Director Smith had is like how can we apply this sort of model throughout the district cuz I know when I was growing up it was a hub stop. We all walked to our bus stop and we all went on one bus 2 miles to our middle school. Um I hope that ACCESS families run with this. I think it's great work. Um I know there's a little bit of a donut hole
180in the middle of the northeast section. I happen to live in that donut hole and I I I think that what you presented is doable. And uh for families in that area. And um yeah, I'm just uh excited. Thanks for being so collaborative with the Access families and taking the feedback seriously and I fingers crossed that this works out. So, it'll be about 200 after reimbursement? >> Yeah, we'll be reimbursed the the 70 um percent of that and I just wanted to know if can you just speak to a couple of minutes about the designated support for um this model that you've identified. >> Yeah, that's actually what I was going to jump in right after you. Um so, on the first slide I did mention it briefly about adding supports. Um one of those
181supports actually just got talked about, which is safe routes to school. We have one safe routes to school coordinator. She does amazing work. And as you talked about with the um increase in enrollment or in attendance, um that's the type of work she does. That is where I have already talked to her and tasked her with what is going to happen and we will have to start that this year to ensure that families know that they're ready for next year. We can't start it next year having families be hopeful. Um and then additionally, there is a app that actually works through the school. It's called the carpool to school app. Um it can be utilized in many ways and so we will leverage that with our safe routes to school coordinator to help assist families
182from a school-based level and get them connections for those people that can't get to those stops as easily as others can. Um and we've heard from Access the parents that they said, "We are all for this. We are here for parent or for our students to help get them there." So, I'm going to lean on them heavily as well to help collaborate with them and see if we can get all this worked out. >> Yeah, it truly is a that piece around supports and Jonathan uh who spoke today, whose daughter did a great job commenting as well. Um, coined back from NCLB, the No Child Left Behind, but was definitely confident that um if we were to work through, if this model were to be approved, that through collaboration with transportation, they they would rally
183and figure out if we had students who couldn't access on their own a hub that the community would rally and figure out some opportunities there. Um, can I go next? >> I'll go in a couple of minutes. >> I just wanted to say thank you so much for getting on this so quickly. I mean, I'm looking at this this before map and I'm like, well, I would not have I'm just looking at this map and I was like, I would not have enjoyed unraveling that neon spaghetti as you called it. But thank you so much for for taking a look at this. Um But this is, you know, really important that we have this. And I'm really excited to see what to see what community says. I'm hoping I will get some emails from access
184members saying what they what they think about this cuz I think that we needed to find a workable solution and $1 million saved is a number I like a lot. So this all looks looks really great. And while we were talking about efficiency and other bussing stuff, I was just wondering made me think, you know, about maybe whether or not this should maybe be part of the right sizing process. Because while we're looking at boundaries and shifting things around, that's also going to shift around our bus routes and maybe there's opportunities for further efficiency and and money saving. So I think it's certainly an angle worth considering. >> We are definitely in the conversation with that. As decisions are made, we will be a factor everywhere. So, um, we're in it early and often because
185of that. >> Can I just ask a silly question? If you could go to the slide of the neon spaghetti versus the new idea? Um, they all This is the best route, right? And then the end of it They don't all go to the same spot? >> So, they do, but this is This is direct from our routing software, which is, um, not always giving us the same thing that we'd like to see. So, essentially, the end point then directly goes to the school. So, they all will connect, but this is just showing the the route in between the first stop and the last stop. >> So, from the end of all those lines, they all then just go >> Yep. Okay. That was my question. >> So, that actually works. Can I ask I've,
186you know, never been to Access. Where is it on this map? I'm sure everyone all these people are going to be >> See that TWR down in the South Waterfront? That's where it is. >> much. >> Yeah. >> Um, I think this is really amazing. Um, and someone said this earlier I don't usually feel like hopeful about maps, but here we are. Um, but I do have a kind of a Debbie Downer question, which is I'm I'm really glad that we have a potential solution for next year. Um, and we know that we're going to continue to be looking at cuts for the next several years. Um, so, my question is really big picture. Um, and and maybe uh, the work we're doing with closures and consolidations moves us closer to, um, a happy answer,
187um, but I'm I'm worried that we have kind of a temporary solution for next year. Um, but a year from now when we're talking about the budget, we'll be faced with as the same the same problem. Uh, can you speak to that at all? >> I mean, I can I can jump in on that one just a little bit and then, of course, uh, Dr. Franco and team add. So, I think So, presenting this hub model is something that we feel that could be sustained that could is sustainable over time, not necessarily just for the next year. And I think many of you alluded to think ICS looking at more hub model as time goes on and costs rise. Um, as I said before, we're also reevaluating um, some of our transportation contracts. I think
188I have mentioned multiple times that we have two vendors plus our own fleet. So, that's three different transportation entities that's picking up kids across the city, which is an anomaly. And so, we're definitely looking at that and I think we'll continue to look at resources, but I think getting to a hub model is a win. Um, especially if it's a a win that meets the needs of our families and gets our kids to where they need to be. Um, so yeah, we wouldn't propose something that we think would go away after a year. If anything, it's, you know, as you all had mentioned, more um, alike than than not for some of our other programs where we provide transportation outside of neighborhood schools. And And are already some of them are already on a hub
189um, type model. So. >> Yeah. I I have a question about So, that'd be five buses that aren't running. So, is that a problem with labor then? With drivers? >> Um, no, each year we actually re-count what we're going to do and we give estimates to our contractors. So, technically yes, it'll it'll reduce a couple um drivers in those realms of our contractors. Um, there is opportunity though to grow and there's other um routes and things that they can do excess. Uh, it seems we're always short-handed on drivers, so yeah. I don't think it's going to be an overall um big jump. >> And then just to clarify though, because when I say three transportation entities, we provide Portland's transportation entity uh provides for students with IEPs. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> And then the
190other two are >> They do a mix of both. >> I actually have a question related to that. Do ACCESS students who have IEPs receive special education transportation or do they use the ACCESS transportation or is it a mix? >> If they have transportation within their IEP >> Correct. >> um as a service, then they would receive specialized transportation. >> Great, thank you. I just want to um reiterate we're not making any decisions today. This is for the June 9th. >> 6th. >> June 9th and we'll be able to bring um information, qualitative or quantitative, I'm not sure how they're going to collect collect it, um back from community so that you have that when um bringing this in and then the trade-off as we need to formally present that to you. And so, uh
191she Franco and Howard will be in touch with administration and uh them and their teams or their teams will go out and have those conversations in community and bring back information that we will present at the January 9th board meeting. >> June 9th. >> Or June 9th. >> Oh man, I don't know. These J's. I don't know. I I don't know. I No comment. >> It's almost summer break. >> Yeah, we all are. >> I would I would just like to add too. I mean, it's wonderful the amount of time saved for the kids. I mean, it must be absolutely wonderful. >> Yeah, I think with members just the presentation ago, we talked about how through the right-sizing conversation, it really presents opportunity. And so, I think through this level, it's kind of a springboard.
192I agree with Dr. Armstrong. Like we're not looking for band-aids or one-offs. We're looking for sustainable practice. And again, looking at this clearer, it is clear we could we could do some things and just do it differently. And I think that's really the foundation to the the right-sizing conversation as well. So, and I will say this too. One of the things Brandon has been operating on a outdated routing software. And so, that is a piece through the bond that we're actually going to look to update. I mean, that's a huge piece that's really going to help him. And I will say increase the efficiency as we look at transportation across the district. >> I'm going to make those spaghettis connect to the school. >> Um thank you guys for your time. >> Yes, thank you.
193>> Thank you so much. >> Um board members, let's take a 5-minute break. And then we'll get back into data diving. All right, let's get started. Thank you, Chief of Staff Gaffney for the reminder. >> I know you said All right, next up we have report of our spring data. Data dive spring 2026. Whoa, we are on budget. Did I mess up the order? Okay, let's do budget first. Um In order to do that, we need to convene as the budget committee. So, now the board is now convened as the budget committee. Tonight, we will be voting on the 2026-27 budget and the imposition of property taxes. I'll hand this over to Superintendent Armstrong. >> Thank you. So, this is a required action. The board is required to vote to approve the um the proposed
194budget before the actual adoption, which is dated for June 23rd. With that, I'll turn it over to Chief Marson. >> Superintendent Armstrong and Chairwoman and board, um there was in the board packet posted a a memorandum that we shared with you that describes where we are in the process. We have been working on budget steadily all year long. Um we did our early engagement, just as a reminder, in January with the community. We moved forward to the budget proposal in April. We heard from the CBRC, the community budget review committee, in their report. Uh we went through the board hearing process. And uh tonight, I'm here to ask you if you would approve our budget and uh adopt the resolution that imposes our um property taxes. >> Thank you. Let's put this on the table.
195Do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution of the 2026-27 budget and the imposition of property taxes. >> So moved. >> Director Sullivan moves. >> Second. >> Vice Chair Depass seconds. Thank you. We'll now move to board discussion and questions. >> Let's start with Wait, who do we start with last time? >> Uh now we start with Director Lefort. Skip, but come back. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. Vice Chair Depass. >> going to say the same. I just want to check one thing in the reading. >> Okay. Um I skip, too? I don't want to break the cycle. Director Englesman. >> Yeah, I know we have received lots of questions and we've responded to lots of questions. I think what's important to note tonight that the um this uh attachment A represents at
196the highest level major fund and function, the appropriations levels that have been set, and we can see that we have our proposed budget column. At this point, we haven't made any adjustments as we moved towards approval. There is still another step, which is the TSCC um hearing, and then we would move towards our certification and then adoption on June 23rd. >> Thank you. I actually I I do have a comment. So you give you a little bit more time. Um I shared Well, a just part educational, this is a budget proposal. As we know, budgets are proposals, they change over time as things change, and I like thank you for framing it that way. Um and things get always get changed uh later and later. One things I I I just share personally what I
197have been pushing for is that Right, we have multiple levels of risk and when we look at budget and budget proposals. And uh um I want to say that this budget is not the safest of budgets, but I think that is a good thing considering what our long-range plan is in terms of consolidation. One thing that I've been pushing for, not pushing for, but have been kind of uh in favor of, I would say I would should say, is that um pushing for a safer lower, you know, lower baseline like you were proposing in the previous discussion about this for after consolidations, I think is a wiser approach because after consolidations our school system is much more robust to take changes and cuts and things like that. And so for me it it seems more
198morally uh feasible to be a little risky this year this next year, right? Because, you know, if you look at the alternative, if we're risky this year, yeah, we may have another mid-year crisis. I mean, that that's a possibility. We we never know >> of a roof is going to break or whatnot. >> Um but I think the alternative is worse is that it when we're not risky, and that means we're cutting more staff and then finding out we didn't have to. Uh is not something that I I just want to put this out there for the record, um I am not in favor of. I'm okay with taking a little bit of risk this year because I know the following year after consolidations we will be more our system should be more robust to
199take uh bigger changes and things like that. So, I I just want to put that out there that um you know, as we're looking at the future, you know, we had this mid-year budget crisis issue this year, and that's partly because last year's budget was also slightly risky. Um you know, it was kind of I I I would say middle of the road maybe, and you know, things just financially got worse and worse, and not much good news. And so I I I just want to throw that out there that looking through this budget over and over again, um that I'm okay with that. I want to be uh straight up front and for the record that being a little risky this year is a is a gamble but it's it's one I worth I
200think is worth taking until the following year. I'm done. >> I do appreciate that and maybe in this just this pause just appreciate our labor partners one more time who have come forward mid-year when we're facing a big challenge and then right back to the table again for a tentative agreement that's abbreviated and and it's not as generous as we would like but it was definitely in the with the heart of maintaining the highest level of service we could to students. So just big gratitude. >> Thank you. Agreed. >> Um so I um have asked a lot of questions behind the scenes. I appreciate that. I don't want to I get stuck in this really weird position with asking questions in advance and then not having the questions frankly be a public record with all
201of the back and forth from all the board members in the district. So I don't want to rehash everything I've asked but it would be great if those could be available to the public to see the answers. But I do have a question that I haven't asked because I forgot and I mentioned it at the meeting 2 weeks ago and I told you questions were coming your way and I skipped it. So I would just like to direct you to volume 1 page 90 if you have it in front of you but if you don't there are just some large increases that I'd circled that I was wondering why for example travel out of district is going from 843 to 1356 or advertising from 74 to 541. Um legal services from 1370 to 11,000. So
202I don't understand them and I meant to ask you those in advance and so if I I could just >> I'm getting after it right now. It's on my screen, so we can probably have some more discussion, but I would my first response would be that that likely includes all funds, which would include our bond funds and our capital projects. And that really did in some areas show some big increases when you're looking at those all fund tables, but I'll verify that right now. >> Okay. Or or if it doesn't have to be right now. I like I said, I apologize that I didn't get this one down, but because I'll forget it before January 9th, I mean 106. Um I just wanted to put it out there. I would love if you could just
203look at page 90 specifically and it doesn't have to be now. So, thank you. >> Yeah, that is an all funds table that you're looking at. So, it would include all all of our capital projects, which we have significant, I think a 1.2 million of our budget is in capital projects next year. >> And so, like out-of-state travel >> Yeah. I There are a couple that I'm just curious like out-of-state travel I Anyway, it can be look at it um uh Yeah, that that and the advertising and legal services. Maybe they correlate to bond stuff, maybe they don't, but those are I think you. >> I can definitely get more detail. >> Um hello. Thank you so much. Um I want to just start by acknowledging as always when we're having these budget conversations that
204in the words of Leah, age seven or eight eight maybe today, the legislature needs to get their act together. Um I've been on the news already saying these things, so if if they get mad at me, oh well. Um but on school funding, it's just past time and um I'm really hopeful that I don't know. Sure, I'm hopeful sometimes. Sometimes I'm pessimistic, but that we'll get to a better place as a state when it comes to taking care of our kids across the board. Um so, that said, no good choices. We did see today an example of where looking to save money actually came up with something that might even be better than what was already in place. It's kind of fascinating. I guess we'll see what we hear from community, but it's also a
205reminder that there's opportunity um to make changes that might actually make us better fiscal stewards in these moments. So, I'm hopeful and grateful that I think you've been trying to um to um with the help of Chief Morrison. Did I do it right? And Senior Chief >> team. >> And team. Yes, of course. To um find those opportunities. However, we also know that there's cuts being made that will make it harder in our schools. Um I've talked to the superintendent about this, but um I think everybody knows that I've gone through cuts at the neighborhood elementary school that my kids attend um for years. We have not had a year while my kids have been there that we haven't lost staff. And so, we're getting really good at it. I mean, I'm kidding. We're just
206very experienced at it. And one thing that I noticed is that when it comes to the fall there's an adjustment period at those schools that have lost critical staff members. And so, I hope that um people like Dr. Cardona and Senior Director Oh gosh. Okay. Other people that work with him um are considering how we can be thoughtful about those schools where we think that there might be um like problems that will arise as a result of the cuts. And just to speak really truthfully, like schools that have SES programs or other programs like that that have higher needs. For example, if they've just lost a social worker or an assistant principal, um those are going to be really tough moments in the fall. And so, I hope that we're thinking about how we can
207use our administrative team that are housed here to go out in the field and support schools in the fall that are struggling to adjust to the loss of really important staff members. And I know this is not a you thing, um Director Morrison, but just I want to get it out there while I'm thinking about it. It's kind of our moment to say these things. I'm not asking for changes to be made. I think it's fascinating that we are having a cuts budget, and I look around and the people in this room, almost entirely, with just a couple exceptions, work at the school district. I think it says community understands that this is where we are, and nobody feels good about it, but they don't think that this is the place for that change to
208be made to the budget that can protect, you know, their kid from whatever loss at their school is happening. So, that's great communication in advance, once again, but also, um speaks to um people just feeling like we're not the ones that can make changes. However, we can be the ones that help prevent those issues in the fall. And so, um that's just something that I feel really strongly that we should get creative about. Um the other thing that I wanted to say is something I always bring up, I think, is that I want to look at the heat map someday and have it be in order where you can look at let's say direct certification um school lunch and it would be like an order where the schools that have the most kids in poverty
209get the most resources, and the kids with the fewest get the least. That would be a dream for me, um to show that we are truly, um centering equity in our budget budgeting process, and I worry that we still have um have issues there. Um and I know that there's some reasons for that like teacher seniority in those more affluent schools is partially why they get more funding, but um, I look forward to a day where that changes. And with that, I just, um, want to say thanks everyone for the good work. I've been tracking the answers that lots of other people are asking about the budget and learning from that. Um, and still remain committed to helping have a budget that is easier to understand for board members and for members of the public
210in the future. But I realize that you are doing what the state wants and that is a full-time job plus in it in and of itself, so not demanding it now, but just over time. Thank you. >> Thank you. We do intend to engage with our community budget review committee throughout the year, which is new. Um, so that when they come to our budget development cycle, they are very familiar with our operations and they see they can see it represented clearly. >> I love that. Thank you. >> I only have a few things cuz we've talked about this before. Um, first of all, I'd like to say, um, I forgot to say this earlier, but I would 100% agree with, uh, Director LaForte about Access Academy. I do think that is something that we should
211look at ex- expanding, hopefully if that is fiscally reasonable, um, in the future cuz it could be, um, there it it does seem like a really great opportunity. Um, also I'll say, um, to Chair uh, Chair Wong about about risky budget, I do agree um, that it's better to take this risk, but I think that we need to keep in consideration, um, the governor's executive order, meaning that we we can't take furlough days next year. And so if we do get into a bad situation like we need to consider like what that looks like cuz that could be like truly catastrophic, um, if we do get in that in that same with mid-year situation next year. So that's definitely something that we need to, um, keep up when considering this. Um, but other than that,
212I would like to proudly announce that representative representative-elect Sandel has in just the past 10 minutes read the entire budget volumes. So, the rest of you guys are slackers. Do you have anything to say on that, student representative-elect Sandel? >> No questions. >> Um I'll be brief. Um I I appreciate that this budget has uh that the team who's put this budget together has uh done their best to keep students centered. Um and you know, trying to minimize harm um to the to students and the student experience. Um and still, we know that there will be harm. It's a hard budget. Um this is not the budget I want, but it is the budget that that is reflective of the moment that we're in. And I just appreciate uh the the work to um keep
213keep kids and uh their experience in schools at the center of this process. And um I can't say that I'm looking forward to next year's budget either, but um the work that we are doing to right-size schools um and to arrive at a sustainable baseline, I think is really important. And um I am uh what I do appreciate is like the road we're on and the efforts that um y'all are taking to get us to a place where we are sustainable. >> Yeah, when um Chair Wong mentions a risky budget, you know, I don't really know if there's ever not a risky budget, but um, I just really appreciate in in talking to Chief Morrison, I think she feels that we can make it on this budget. I don't think she would have suggested it
214if she didn't think so. Of course, we are also all realistic. We see what happened last year, so there's always that possibility, but I think all of us know life doesn't always go exactly how you want. But I just really appreciate the way your team has put this together. I appreciate the way you really listened to the CBRC. And next year will be letting the Well, that this year you already let the public know what's happening sort of week by week, definitely. And next year sounds like even more keep that group who is so really focused on knowing what's going on, let them know what's happening, and that will spread out to everybody. And of course, I just don't know why Ian didn't say more about the legislature, but that's what we just have to
215get a When you talked about getting to a I just remember remember that chart where you got to oh, we're going to be way down here and that'll be good cuz we're solid. I'm thinking, oh, okay, but that still looks really hard. So, we need more, and we need the legislature to know we need more. And I don't know what more we can do but keep going down there and shouting at them. But, um, I just appreciate that this has happened because I know how hard it is. And I kind of look forward to making it work next year. Not worrying about it too much. So, hopefully that'll happen. Thank you. Um, I want to thank you for the time that you and your team spent with me. I know I asked a lot of
216questions and asked for a lot of data and got answers to questions up to the meeting we were just in. So, and every time I've asked a question, I feel like I've received the answer I was looking for and felt good about it. And um anything I didn't, you were able to address. And so, I just wanted to say uh thank you. I think you did an an amazing job. I would love to see um us as a board take a look. I mean, I know our budget is small, but um maybe at our next meeting like take a look at our own budget and see if there's any shaving that we can do particularly on travel. Um maybe we, you know, start doing every other year on some important conferences, things like that. If
217there's anything we can scoop out of here, you know, I'd be I'd be down for that. And um yeah. That's it. Amazing job. >> Thank you. Um yeah, I also wanted to commend um just the work that you I know it's been really stressful budget. Um probably the most the tightest budget since or or most um challenging budget since I've been on the board. Um so, I appreciate the just working through the complexity. Um my my big concern had to be about was really about the feedback from the CBRC and how that was being implemented um particularly when they they shared that this was a really ambitious budget built on assumptions that everything would fall into play with the labor partners. And so, that felt a little bit um scary for a minute. Um I
218also have concerned. And so, yeah, I'm wondering about a plan B. I'm worried about um any natural disasters that might happen next year. They would Note to God, they can't happen next year. We don't have um this We don't have the reserves for that. The last thing I was I'm curious about was how we would build our reserves. I I don't know if next year is a time to start thinking about that, but down the line I'm concerned about building those reserves up so we have a bigger cushion than our 5% and I just don't know how that happens when when you have constraints that we do. So my concern was about the just the riskiness of this budget, how thin we are on the line and really how we build back reserves. >> Thank
219you. I agree with all of that. >> Thank you. I think let's move to a public comment. >> We have Chris Whiteside. >> Thank you. I think you know all the rules so we're good to go. You have 3 minutes. Thanks for being here today. >> Good evening Chair Wong, Vice Chair DePass, Board Directors, and Student Director Retorto. My name is Chris Schweizer, S C H W E I Z E R and I use he him pronouns. I teach math and science at Roosevelt High School and I serve on the board of the Portland Association of Teachers and the Oregon Education Association. Like you, my work as a board member involves fiduciary oversight, direction setting, hiring, firing, and evaluating the work of an executive who carries out day-to-day operations, and passing a budget. I'm also
220a long-time donor to the Portland Association of Teachers Political Action Committee which supported most of your campaigns to sit on that dais and I'm heavily involved in legislative advocacy trying to elect pro public education folks to go to Salem and win that money you're talking about. But I've been deeply troubled by the direction of this district and its budgetary priorities for my whole career at Portland Public Schools and especially in the last year. This board seems ready to approve a budget that lays off educators while using the corporate jargon of right-sizing, which is what it is, to help district senior leadership sell school closures to a leery public. At the same time, the upper management positions have ballooned and contracting of services has grown out of control. When presented with employee and parent concerns about
221AI, screens, edtech contracting, district leaders and the board are silent. Meanwhile, these harmful and hugely unpopular programs and initiatives continue to roll out a pace as educators are asked to swallow mid-year furloughs and year-over-year unassignments and cuts. What we need from you is to carry out your duties of fiscal oversight and to correct the direction of this district to a path that is evidence-based and human-centered. We need you to ask critical questions of district senior leadership, which it sounds like you're doing, thank you, but keep going and dig deeper. Um and realize that interesting canned corporate curriculum, ed tra- edtech contracts, and AI are more indicative of the professional networks that they belong to and their connections to the private sector than a real interest in student achievement or equity. An audit of district contracts,
222especially around curriculum and software, would be a good start, as would budget amendments that cut management positions to save educator jobs. There's not a lot of trust in district management or this school board among rank-and-file workers. And a good-faith effort to chop from the top before laying off front-line educators and our union siblings will go a long way. Please take your inspiration from city councilors Tiffany Quay Lane and Mitch Green who said they would prioritize chopping from the top and offered budget amendments that attempted to save Union jobs to back it up. Thank you. >> Thank you. Right. No more. All right. All right. Well, the board will now vote on resolution 7308. Budget Committee approval of the 2026-27 budget and the imposition of property taxes. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >>
223Yes. >> Opposed? Abstentions? Student Representative Retardo? >> Yes. Yes. >> Thank you, Student Representative Elect. All right. Resolution 7308 is approved by a vote of 7-0 with Student Representative Retardo and Student Representative Elect Sandell voting yes. Thank you. All right. Uh Now, do we go to data dive? >> Thank you. Next, I'll This is our spring data dive. We'll let's I'll hand this over to Superintendent Armshaw. >> Oh, we want to go first? Thank you for that. So, we are um bringing this information to inform the board of the results of the MAP and I-Ready benchmark assessments. And so, we appreciate your attention. I will turn it over to Chief Adams. >> Good evening. I feel like after Ms. Brayson and Flynn, I'd be remiss to not share that my undergraduate degree is in art,
224and I felt like it made me a better teacher when I landed in education. So, um yeah, I was picking up as you said, um Director Chase Billowith, picking up what they were putting down. Um so, good evening everyone. Good evening Chair Wang, Superintendent Armstrong, Vice Chair DePass, and student representatives. Tonight, we're here to share and review our latest student achievement data as measured by the MAP and I-Ready assessments. As we've done in the past, our presentation is structured in a format that goes what, so what, now what? And I am happy to take any questions you have at the conclusion of the presentations, and even phone a friend if I need to. This is our learning target and success criteria. I'll give you just a moment to read those. I won't read those to
225you. All right, I wanted to start tonight by grounding in our PPS balanced assessment system. This graphic represents our balanced assessment system framework. We're working to actualize all areas of the framework. Assessment lives along a continuum of more qualitative and formative assessment to more quantitative and summative assessment. This graphic is intended to show the continuum of assessments along included that are included in our balanced assessment system PK-12. The width of the rectangles is intended to show the relative amount of time educators in schools should spend analyzing the results for for next steps. As you can see, our expectation is that most time is spent in the green and and glean from the formative assessment process, which is green, and the curriculum embedded assessments, which is yellow. That said, we do have our benchmark or interim
226assessments that students are required to take, and those currently are MAP and I-Ready. They both land in the red the red rectangle as they are more summative than formative in nature. So, when we talk about our benchmark assessments, we're talking about MAP and I-Ready. We've been using those to monitor student achievement and student growth over time. They assess together the areas of reading and mathematics in the fall and the winter, and for this presentation, we're trying to answer the question, what percentage of students are currently on grade level at this point of the year, and how does that compare to the fall when we initially provided the assessments to students? All right, so let's talk about that. Get right into it. First, we will look at overall performance by grade bands. This slide shows reading
227performance in the elementary grades, the middle grades, and all assessed grades. As you can see, we've made some progress in the percentage of students achieving at grade level in reading between last fall and now with increases seen across all grade bands. We like it when the data go up. That trend doesn't hold in mathematics, where we see slight decreases in the percentage of students who are on grade level. For each grade band, students demonstrated an approximate decline of one percentage point. When we look at elementary students reading performance by race, we see increased percentages of students on grade level for all racial and ethnic student groups with the exception of our Pacific Islander students, where we see a decrease. And in elementary mathematics, the results are more mixed with most student groups showing flat performance
228or slight decreases in proficiency. Middle grades reading performance shows increases for all student groups save for our native students, where we see a decline and our Pacific Islander and Asian students, where there was there were where there was relatively flat performance. In middle school mathematics, we see similar results as we saw in elementary mathematics, where student groups are either showing flat performance or showing declines in proficiency percentages. And we're finding this to be a bit odd, if I might editorialize for a second. You may recall that our OSAS math data has been going up steadily um as our teachers have been um embracing the high-quality curriculum materials and bringing those to life. And our reading performance has been relatively flat, even though both are at or above pre-pandemic levels. So, I have a lot of
229curiosity in how this these data will show up uh as students are taking OSAS and completing the OSAS assessment at the moment, and I just wanted to lift that for uh the board and the public. Now, let's look at the performance of our students with disabilities. While we noted increase in the percentage of students on grade level in elementary school, the middle school change was flat, and thus the increase for students across all grade levels was 1.2 percentage points. With our students with disabilities, our math data are also not trending in the direction we'd like uh with all grade bands demonstrating a decline in the percentage of students on grade level at the midpoint of the year as compared to the start of the year. Next, I'll share data for our multilingual learners. We know
230that here in PPS, we have much work to do in supporting these students so that they didn't so that they demonstrate improved academic performance. Here in reading, we see some increases across all grade levels, although the overall performance still trails the performance of all students and students with disabilities. On a positive note, you can see that the percentage of elementary multilingual students more than doubled, although there are still significant gains to be made. And lastly, in mathematics, our multilingual learners saw increased performance in the elementary grades, a slight decline in the middle grades, and which resulted when we look at grades 3 through 8 altogether in another slight decline. No, actual a slight increase, excuse me. So, we wanted to take an opportunity. I believe this was um something that board members had talked about,
231too, is where can we and how can we uh spotlight good performance across the district? And so, we wanted to take some time and spotlight some of the bright spots we're seeing in our data. As we've shared before, we examine both student achievement and student growth specifically to see how both are occurring and how they interplay within schools and across schools. In reading, we wanted to highlight first schools that demonstrated high achievement and high levels of student growth. Those schools are Alameda, Duniway, Stevenson, Laurelhurst, Lewis, Sellwood, DaVinci, Odyssey, and Winterhaven. We also wanted to show and share praise for schools that were demonstrating high levels of growth, even if student achievement isn't yet high at this time. And that's important because that means students are on the right track to meeting proficiency over time. Those
232high growth schools are listed on the slide. I'll read them quickly because schools love when they get shouted out. Uh, that's Arleta, Sabin, Chief Joseph, Rosa Parks, Rigler, Tubman, Fabian, Astor, and Robert Gray. We'll do the same in mathematics where our high growth, high achievement schools include Ainsworth, Forest Park, Laurelhurst, Bridlemile, Skyline, Mount Tabor, ACCESS, and Beverly Cleary. And then our high growth mathematics schools include Arleta, Buckman, Chapman, Atkinson, Scott, Tubman, Beaumont, Jackson, and Astor. So, in terms of responding to the data, we wanted to share some ongoing efforts that are happening in schools and with the central office teams that work uh, so hard to support schools. In schools, we're really expecting our educators and our building leaders to support our educators and continuing to provide the grade level standards-aligned instruction with support and
233scaffolds. And to provide academic support via those what I need blocks, our intervention courses, and our personalized instruction. Education is the place when we talk about everybody receiving the same baseline of high expectations where that is in fact equity because it isn't what typically happens. We typically see students of color relegated to lower expectations and not having the same level of rigor. And one of the things we are working on in our system to ensure that that occurs is by using and having high quality resources at the fingertips of educators. In the central at the central office, the efforts we've been under undergoing and implementing as we're continuing to monitor the academic program in mathematics via instructional walks. We get together and we in teams and we walk buildings and observe instruction and take notes
234about the implementation of the mathematics and the overall program, but our focus here in the second half of the school year has been on mathematics and our school excellence team to see if we can calibrate across what we're seeing because the more we as a central office team know what we should expect and inspect and the more we're seeing the same things in similar or the same ways, the more consistent our feedback can be to building leaders and educators when we're visiting their classrooms in their buildings. And then the other thing we've been working on is what we're calling practice-changing feedback to strengthen instruction and let me give you an example. I remember being an educator and teaching and having my principal and assistant principal come in for informals and they leave me a note
235like great job, saw you today, great job. Well, we don't consider that to be practice-changing because it's not necessarily specific to what it was I was doing that was so great or what it was I could have been doing that could have pushed my instructional expertise to the next level. And so, we've been providing ongoing support to our building leaders and really um uh a three-step format where you give a praise, you give a prompt like a question, and then a priority for next time that's really bite-sized and actionable for educators. And so, those are the two things that we're working on in terms of central office teams trying to support improved outcomes specifically in mathematics for our students. I know the hour is late. I know I'm up past my bedtime, which is really
236early. And um I wanted to share that this concludes the formal presentation and happy to open it up for Q&A at this time if you have any questions or comments or concerns. Dr. Armstrong, did you have any closing remarks you'd like to add? >> Just happy to hear from all of this. >> Okay. I think it's my turn to go first. Um can I ask a clarifying question really quick? >> Sure. >> Well, first of all, I think thank you for putting that chunk in my toes they used to call it chunk and chew. I don't know how appropriate that yeah. Anyways, um it's getting late. Um when we look at the graphs of the uh fall 2025 and then comparing it to the winter 2026. >> Mhm. >> Are those um cuz it says
237benchmark, right? And so I guess my clarifying question is that is that the same assessment or is it benchmark meaning like this is where they should be in the winter and how they're achieving. You see what I'm saying? Like so So if it's the same test, they should all be going up, right? But if it's like benchmark to where they should be in the winter, then staying the same means they're on a constant growth. >> I I understand your question and I so appreciate it. Yes. What we're hoping over time is that we see more students achieving sort of on grade level performance based on the instruction that they receive from their educators in their classrooms. If it's flat, that's um a sign that students aren't slipping behind or they're not falling behind. And I
238would say in my estimation it's still not quite enough because we want you know, I heard I know we heard we've heard Dr. Armstrong and I both say like our our goal is 100%. We need everybody on grade level and that's our aspiration, right? And so what we will be able to do once we have our OSAS data, which we know won't come officially for some time, is run some analyses. We're going to have the data team run some analyses to help us understand how all all these are correlating with one another and how we can get a sense of how accurate this um snapshot is in terms of how students actually do when they take the OSAS assessment. >> So, the short answer is don't know yet? >> Don't know yet. >> Okay. >>
239Sorry, that was long-winded. I know it's late. >> No worries. I mean that that kind of makes sense because I think it just I think it helps to differentiate because if it's like for example if they're not learning then it should be going down. Right? If it's benchmarked, right? So, this is where they should be in the winter and then they're not learning anything it's going down, but if they're learning something or staying at pace it would be a flat line. You know, I think that's just a difference between like if it's the same test and they're at 31% now and then 30 or in the fall and then 31% in the winter that means they're not learning anything. >> It well, it is the same assessment. It is the same assessment, but the recall
240that both the MAP assessment and the I-Ready assessment are computer adaptive. So, wherever you stop the last time you take it is where it starts you the next time you sit down. So, it's not like the the assessments we are used to taking probably when we were in school and providing when we were educators were what are called fixed form where everybody got the same exact items each time you sat down to take the assessment in the same order and we used to work really hard on our midterms and our final exams to make sure students um couldn't uh write down those answers and give them to the class that was coming in fifth period because they had took the test first period. Um so we we all remember that. Um and so we do
241want and expect to hopefully see more students achieving grade level performance over time. Although we know it takes time, right? When students have gaps of a year or more, that's hard to close in a year. Um and we know it takes time, which is why we also want to look at growth. Um and I'd be remiss if I did not mention that um going into next year we'll re- we'll be reporting on these data three times a year cuz that's required now by the ODE. Um so we'll be back in back with you with a little bit more frequency and I'll be working with of course uh Senior Chief Howard and the Superintendent to make sure all those uh data dive opportunities are on the proposed calendar as we go and work over the summer.
242>> Great, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. Um for me these um the ups or downs I'll start by saying the ups or downs are interesting, but I think for me they would be more interesting or more telling if we had say fall and winter 23-24 as well. And so I I guess I'm asking if you know, when you bring I wasn't here last year, but I'll be here next year. Um when you bring this information to us next year, if you could include this graph and then just add on to it >> Sure. >> because we have more data points and it could I mean it could just be as simple as in winter 2026 when the flu was raging, kids just weren't doing as well on the math tests and that
243we'll see it's a blip. Who knows? Maybe it's easier to do testing when it's sunny outside. Um and so I guess I would just ask that we have more than just two to figure out if there is a trend down or if it's just a blip. Um I asked this at one of the committee meetings, I can't remember which one. You were very kind to answer my questions about this um new testing requirements of the three times a year. One of the questions I have just on this data alone before we start next year is how many instructional hours are kids spending testing right now? >> So, I do >> Not OSAS, but >> Un- understood. I do have that information. I don't have it with me, but I can provide that to you in
244a follow-up. Because because what we do you you may um you're likely aware that we have um language in our collective bargaining agreement with the teachers association that puts a limit on how much standardized testing we'll have at each grade level. So, we calculate that based on what we require. So, coming into this year assessments like MAP and I Ready would be included in that calculation. We also track the amount of time students test based on state requirements. And so, I can provide you what that looks like for this year and what it'll look like for next year based on the new ODE requirements. I can do both of those things. >> you. >> Yep. >> And then it's um sort of I've wondered a few times um it costs a fair amount to have
245MAP and I Ready. Do we Do we have to I mean, like why do we do both? >> We um so, the That's a great question. So, little historical context, the I Ready assessment came as a part of our Ready Mathematics curriculum. So, it's a small component of the curriculum that we purchased. >> Okay. >> What we heard from educators over the past several years was exactly your question. Do we have to have both? And so, this year where I Ready was available, we did not test using MAP. >> Ah. Okay. >> So, so we did reduce that footprint and that amount of testing time for students. And then next year with our interim assessment being the Iready assessment, we won't have the MAP assessment at all in the district. >> Thank you. Um And
246then um for the on the slide of the percentage of um multilingual students achieving grade level, what language are we testing the students in? Are we >> You're interested in the in the the size of the student group? >> No, I'm interested in in on it's I have it as page 14. I'm just interested in what language like if they're if they're trying to read at grade level, are we testing them in English? >> We are testing them in English. >> Have we tried testing in the language that they are fluent in to see where they are cuz there could very I mean students could very well be at grade level in their >> in their home language. >> Exactly. And that we just need to help them get to proficient in English, but they're
247not lacking on reading scores as much as I mean like you could put a language in front of me and I would test it like an infant. >> Sure. The That's a >> Exactly. >> I I I appreciate that uh Director Englesman. It has not been my experience since I've been here that we've tested in the native language um and I know um when students take the summative state assessment, they're also assessed in English. What um you typically do see that plays out here with our our ML students is this concept of um performance being higher in math where there is a little bit of a there's a little bit lower reading demand to the content, although that doesn't hold true as you go up in the grades. Um, you know, I I remember showing
248in a previous district we were back-mapping from the SAT into the into elementary and middle school. And the SAT item that we shared was a math item, but it was 99% text and probably had only two numbers in it, but it was a math item on the SAT. And so, we were trying to help um, people understand that the shift in the Common Core does have a higher reading demand in the mathematics domain than the previous assessments and standards that we had. So, we still um, I can certainly investigate that, but we do not currently uh, assess students in their native language for these purposes. >> I I I really I'm going to pass to these two cuz they're getting ready to go, but also I don't think I need to say anything. But, thank
249you. >> Thank you so much. I just wanted to call out that we that there was, I believe, three schools, there might be more, that were on that were spotlight schools for both reading and math. I believe that was uh, Laurelhurst, Astor, and Arleta. So, I just wanted to give a special shout-out to those schools. Clearly, they're doing something right. Um, other than that, I don't really have have much to say. It looks like I agree with what I've heard about more data points. It'll be very useful in, you know, looking at what the what the trends are. >> Happy to provide trend data. >> Yeah. >> And I'm super excited next year to get these reports um, more like often so we can look at the data closely and see the trends. >> In
250my dream world, we're talking about student data at least once a month. So, we'll we'll lay out a calendar. >> I have uh, several questions. I'll try and be quick. Um, so I noticed that among the high-achievement schools, those tend to be our higher socioeconomic status schools. Um whereas many of our title one schools are on the growth list, which is great. I'm glad glad that they're growing. Um but when we think about the difference between achievement and growth, um what comes to mind for me is um thinking about families in our title one schools. So, working-class families, uh families who are uh English is not their first language, um families of color. I'm curious what we are doing or what we can be doing differently to address the race and class disparities that result
251in different outcomes. Like, we can't we can't do the same things for different populations um when we're recognizing that kids are are having disparate results, right? Um and we also know that uh those disparate results are about the there's there's stuff about teaching in there, but it's there's also stuff about what's going on at home, families' abilities to help kids with homework, um resources, access to tutoring and enrichment, and all sorts of things. So, just given the um the gap in resource and opportunity that some of our kids are up against, you know, we're we're trying to move this needle as a school district um through what we can do with instructional practices, but is there anything that we're doing um more broadly to try and address some of the other factors that contribute to
252that gap? >> That is a great and complex question, Director Chase Miller. I >> I really for short, right? >> No, I really I appreciate it. No, I think what to your point, the research shows that there is a correlation between social and economic status and achievement. There is no relationship between social economic achievement and growth. Um and that's because when uh you interact with a group of students, they fall into or not fall into, but they are um subject to both your beliefs about yourself as a teacher and your belief about them as individuals and how brilliant and awesome you think they can be, right? And we know the research into Title I schools across the nation shows that when we're believing in every student's brilliance, those students will grow and eventually will make
253it to grade level. And so part of what we continue to work on is helping um bringing awareness to the idea that um language like these kids can't, those kids couldn't isn't helpful language and it's actually hurtful when we um have those kinds of conversations about about students cuz then we're limiting them. Oh, thank you for coming up. I didn't even phone a friend. And then um in terms of some specific actions, I'm sure Chief Howard has a long laundry list that I'm not able to pull up in my immediate recall at the moment. >> Now, that that's a um great question. I don't know if this is on. Can you all hear me? >> There it is. >> Oh, okay, great. Hi. Um so a couple of things. Uh we have just in terms
254of more supports, right? We have um you can see our core program and the way that we allocate staffing to schools takes into into consideration title schools, right? We also have um title schools receive additional Title I dollars that they can use for a variety of supports. We also strategically work with our RESJ partnerships um and think about how we're allocating those resources. Um what is consistent across all schools are our access to high-quality instructional materials that are at grade level. Um I also want to just share that we are looking at one data set, right? And so when Dr. Adams presented at the beginning around the balanced assessment system, we're showing you one part of the balanced assessment system. Next year, we're going to be able to show you a triangulation of data, so
255you can see multiple ways of looking at student achievement, and that's going to be really important, and that's something that we're excited about, too, to be able to see, "Hey, how do we get our curriculum-based assessment in conjunction with our interim assessments, and looking at our um end-of-year OSAS data, and look at it in terms of a full picture?" Um And so uh all schools offer WIN block. I'm kind of just going all around. Um WIN block is what I need time, so that's uh based on what students need and the supports they need during that time. Um and then a lot of our our uh intervention allocation is also takes into consideration um assessment scores as well as um other things we look at within schools. So we have centralized interventionist allocation. That's for
256more of our um tier three supports or students that may um uh tier two and tier three supports within that. Um and so there's there's a wide range of things that we look at in order to support, and we want to also see that schools are growing. Like high achievement, high growth is where we want to be, and high growth is also um where we want to be, right? >> The other thing I'd add is um I can't I would be remiss if hope mention our county partners with our SUN programming. Um they do use um an equity-based index to determine which schools receive SUN programming, and we know that those are vital supports for our families and our students, and those are some of the additional resources that are available at many of our
257sites. Not enough, but at some. Some, but not all. >> Hopefully uh Commissioner Moyer is successful in hanging on to those SUN sites uh this year at the county level. So, there're going to be really hard cuts. Um Okay. Uh uh uh uh How else are we measuring growth? Um Like we know standardized tests aren't the only way, and so I'm just curious um if if there is anything that we're doing that um is better able to capture uh what the kids who aren't testing well on standardized tests are able to do in practice. >> Can Sorry, can we flip back to the balanced assessment system? So, if we look at this, right? The green is the daily activities of um a teacher. So, you think about a teacher has multiple ways of assessing how
258a student is doing, whether that's an exit ticket at the end of class, if that's um walking around and understanding how they're doing, if it's um an assessment they're giving, a quiz, or something like that. That is like the majority of of assessment, right? Then you have curriculum-embedded assessments. So, through all of our curriculum, we have assessments that are part of that curriculum, and so they're looking at that well. And then we have grade report out, we're looking at that. We're looking at um in PLC time or professional learning community time, teachers are looking at the assessment that they give, the the end of unit assessment or the curriculum based assessment, and where students are at. They're looking at what they wanted to see happen, and then what did students do? I think about like
259um when I was coaching teachers, um I would take a sample of my assessments from a class that I was working with a teacher on, and I would look at where did I want them to be? Where are they at? And then how do I reteach that or support that in the gap that's happening. And so they're looking at all of those things. And we're also looking at that as well. It's hard to report out holistically on that because as we're working with um teachers and principals around grading practices and things like that, there's still subjectivity in some of that. So when we're reporting out, we're we're primarily reporting out OSAS, MAP, I-Ready, but there's a wide range of things that we also look at. And so um we we're working next year to to
260provide more of that for you all. Um but in the meantime, I mean the the teacher is seeing that on a daily basis, the growth. And it's hard to quantify other than our interim assessments to show that. I don't know if that makes sense. >> Yeah, no that does make sense. And I guess my my whole wondering is about that piece that is hard to show. Um but looking forward to to more of that next year. Um my last question is to what degree do we think that um digital online assessments um create challenges or barriers that like maybe old school pen and paper assessments um didn't. We've heard uh public testimony about like kids kind of just like clicking through cuz they're bored or not really like focusing and I don't know, I guess
261the same thing could probably happen if you're doing it with pencil and paper. Um, but I'm just I'm just curious with all the conversation around kind of digital versus old school, um, if if we think there's some correlation between, um, low test scores and the the digital format. >> Uh, great question. I will start by saying that digital assessments aren't new. Right? Part of, um, what I'm experiencing here is, um, some reaction that I experienced in my previous district when we went one-to-one and had a learning management system for students and part of, um, if a student is going to take a digital assessment, you hope that there is an opportunity for them to understand the tools that are embedded in the assessment. So, a lot of digital assessments come with, um, sometimes they come
262with calculators, sometimes they come with highlighters and different tools that are also exist when you're using like a word processing program or something like that. I don't know that I could say exactly, um, the extent to which a digital assessment is, um, potentially deflating student performance over a fixed form assessment, um, because I I that's a window into which I don't necessarily have. What I would hope is that if I'm a parent and I'm going to check on my son Kai's performance in reading language arts, I'm hoping that the teacher's able to provide me work samples that show his growth and potential in in the event that the assessment that he takes in the fall or at the end of the school year doesn't necessarily show it yet, right? So, hopefully the that ongoing work
263that teachers do between the green and the yellow rectangles helps us to understand where students are performing over time, where a you know, because writing samples and things like that are things that it takes me a while to construct, where a standardized assessment is a snapshot at a point in time on a given day. With anything, who knows how I was feeling that day or what else may have been going on, whether the internet went out for a little bit and I had to restart. There are typically um some uh I know in the MAP assessment and I'm learning and I-Ready assessment, there are things where someone goes through too quickly, it doesn't necessarily accept that score because it says, you know, it should take you longer than 10 minutes to complete this and that
264seems really odd and so we're not going to validate that score. So, those sort of controls are in place. Sure. >> That's a lot of questions that I I had. Um yeah, and I would also think too if if your you know, MAP score is way different than what the teacher thinks it should be because of the work they've seen the child do. Um I'm sure that would be reported out to or or checked on. Because I'm sure if somebody scored really low and but their school work was great, they'd know something was wrong with the test, I would think. Um I don't think I have any more Well, I do remember when my first year I was on the board, there was one school that had made huge progress. I mean, they still weren't
265very high, but they'd made huge progress. And then they um were able to keep all the help they'd had the next year, which sometimes when you start scoring up, you get rid of some of the extra help. And I noticed they're not on this list at all right now for for anything for either high achievement or making growth. So um I'm not sure what my question is there, but um I'm just hoping that when growth we do see growth that means you still keep all the supports that helped with that growth. And instead of backing off, which I know has happened in the past. >> Sure. >> So. >> Thank you. >> Well, it's a good thing about going towards the end of this. A lot of great questions have been asked. Um the one
266I have left, uh you you briefly touched on about the map the math math the math drop-off being consistent across the board. What will you be looking at to determine what might be the root cause or like I Director Angle had touched on possibly it seems odd. >> Mhm. >> Um >> Do you look at things like absenteeism around that time if anything unusual is going on across the board and it seems kind of >> We I can't say that we've looked at absenteeism in that way. We do look at participation rates. >> Mhm. >> Um as as schools are testing and we like all of our schools to get up towards that 95% participation rate whenever possible. And so um my understanding is that practices if Christina is absent today and I gave the
267test today, there might be a makeup opportunity when she returns to school 2 days from now so that just because she was absent on the day that my class took the reading part of the assessment, doesn't mean that she won't take the assessment at all. Um in terms of other things that we are looking at, I mentioned uh towards the end of the presentation that we go on instructional walks. So, we're trying to understand and observe and actually be in schools to see what's happening in classrooms and understanding from our math content experts then what it is we should be seeing. Do we see try discuss connect in our elementary math classrooms um because that's a predictable routine and we know um that students thrive with routine and structure. And so, do we see those
268things consistently? Do we see them being in those structures and routines for the appropriate amount of time? Um and so, those are the only way you can really understand it is to interview educators and building leaders and actually get in schools and see for yourself. And so, that's what we've been trying to do is we've been leaning into the getting getting to buildings and try to see for ourselves what the actual current boots on the ground experience is for students and teachers. >> Was there any change in curriculum? Was there a new curriculum that So, just to Okay, a little bit interesting to follow up on. >> Yeah, no, it's it's really odd. It really struck us as we were looking at the data because as we mentioned, we've seen um we saw when we
269since we've adopted the L especially the elementary math curriculum and to a to a a lesser extent the middle school curriculum, we saw a little bit of a dip and then our scores have been increasing since then, right? So, this these data are at odds with that. So, >> I also want to Sorry to interrupt you, but >> No, definitely we'll be looking at that as we receive our summative assessment scores later this summer. >> I also want to give a shout out to the really pleased about the um 3 to 5 reading benchmark results with nearly all of the race and ethnic groups showing increases. Um For our Pacific Islander students, the drop-off, you know, I always ask you like is it statistically significant? How many kids were testing? Was it a weird day?
270Do you consider the drop there statistically significant, anything to be concerned about? >> What I will say is um I I need to go back and refamiliarize myself with the number of students we assessed. Because our what we know is that our native population, our Pacific Islander student group, those um those they're not um those numbers are of students are much smaller, which means if two or three students aren't performing where we want them to be, the percentage could shift mightily just based on a couple students. So, that is possible possibly um a factor here. >> exactly exactly why I'm asking. >> I would also I would also say is when we think of this year now that we have the board that's been through a whole cycle of our data reports and share out.
271If I and I know that there's some work that's going to be with the vision and mission, but if there are some particular things that you all want to see, like is it useful to see the summative data? Is there something else you would rather see? But that I'm hoping that we have time and some upcoming uh work session to talk about those things that you all want to see that can show where we're headed academically and with student progress as opposed to the regular routine uh reports that we get. Want to add that in there. >> Um I can barely think. I'm so tired. Um and you did allude you already spoke to the participation rate. And my one of my first questions was how many students are able to opt out and which
272students are those if we know who they are. Um, but I also kind of wanted to elevate something that Director Chase Miller talked about and that's the pen and paper use. As someone who took handwriting classes, they used to have handwriting classes in schools. Um, and a knitter and a kind of a kinetic learner, I'm just curious and also someone that experienced when we started doing computer-aided design, architectural and construction drawings, noticed a drop-off in in details when it when we went from pen and paper drafting to the use of computer drafting. Um, doors and windows weren't showing up in the plans because it was just it's a different hand movement and so I'm really curious about what we might see if we went to pen and paper. It's just an open question that you
273don't have to answer now. Um, and that's all I have. >> Thank you. Thank you. It's late and I really apologize. You uh sorry. Thank you also too for staying this late and providing us >> Sure. >> a wonderful presentation answering all our questions. Very illuminating. And we need to do this more often. >> We should do it every month. >> Every month. All right. Uh, I forgot to adjourn us as a budget committee. >> It's too late. >> But I think it's fine because we didn't have a vote but in between. Right? No worries. The board as a budget committee is now adjourned. After getting our reading and math results. Um, >> Are you sure you did? >> I'm pretty sure I did. I don't remember it coming out of my mouth. Um, next
274up we have the bond update on our bond program. I'll hand this over to Superintendent Armstrong. >> Sometime we should put them on first. They might not have them. >> Thank you, Chair Wang. I'm excited to bring the update for bond and will turn it over to our fabulous team of people and I will let them introduce themselves. Thank you. >> Thank you, Superintendent Dr. Armstrong. >> My name is T.J. Hopkins. I am senior program director for the bond. Um I'm going to go ahead and kick this off, but uh we're going to go through it pretty quickly cuz there's not a lot that's changed. Um it's kind of hard to to provide that measurable difference, you know, in a 30-day period, but we're going to get going. Um so our agenda includes the program
275status for the bond, schedules, program budget, and then the project updates for the modernizations and the consolidated. Okay, last month we talked about seeing that visual on the 2012-2017 bonds, so you see that here. We've got some movement on post-construction as well as the completed as we audit and close out the 2012- 2017 bond programs. And then in 2020, also a some measurable difference as we get into construction. We've got a lot of movement post-construction and completed, and still about 500 million to a little over 500 million to schedule out for the 2020 bond and 2025. We've got again movement here with 22 total projects, and the projects for 25 will increase as we schedule out and identify um the projects within that program. Okay, and we have our master schedule showing Jefferson, Cleveland, and
276Ida B. Wells all three modernizations are on schedule and prepared for a 2029 school August 2029 school openings. We've added Rice A. Dare which is just in between procurement and design phase. So, we are just on the fringe of issuing that task order and we should be having our architectural orientation meeting this week. Okay, these are the schedules that the board has seen before, the comprehensive plan schedules that show Jefferson um not much to say here. It's still reflecting the same information. Uh summer 2029 opening. We've got our May groundbreaking on Friday. So, hope to see you all there. We're very, very excited about that. Uh Cleveland High School um following, we've got groundbreaking on June 12th and summer 2029 opening there as well. And Ida B. Wells, we are expecting since construction is scheduled
277to start fall winterish of 26-27 we should be scheduling our um groundbreaking to sometime around that that time frame. So, I would look out for that date in the next couple of months. And I'm going to hand it over to Maya, who's going to go through our bond financials. >> Hi, my name is Maya Tower Chan. I'm the financial services manager for Rise. Nice to be here tonight. Um I'll just breeze through this. Um as TJ mentioned, we don't have a lot of change um in just 1 month, but overall in all of our >> Sorry, Maya. >> Um overall in all of our bond programs, we have an increase in spend and an increase in encumbrance from last month. >> Okay. I don't know what I did, but Huh. Yeah, I don't know what
278happened here. Okay, we're getting back there. Okay, here we go. Okay, so at 2012 bond, we're um as you can see, pretty close to spending that down. And if you can go to the next slide, we have identified the remaining projects that that um the remaining funds will be spent on. 2017 bond, uh again progress in encumbrance and spend. Uh same thing with 2020 and 2025. So, you're welcome to review in more detail uh if you have further questions. >> Okay. Thanks, Maya. Project updates, we've discussed this information um in the previous slides. We've got groundbreaking, that's a big highlight for Jefferson. Again, 12:00 p.m. on Friday. And we're about 75% through the design uh of Jefferson. And these are the same floor plans you've seen. Cleveland, we're about 80% through the design. Uh groundbreaking
279at 1:00 p.m. on June 12th. And uh PIL has coordinated youth track, like the use of the fields and making sure that those um those youth sports are still accommodated during the construction. So, they've scheduled Cleveland youth track wrestling and Saturday youth events shifting to Marshall fields. And the other youth programs are going to be at middle school sites or coordinated through Portland Parks. Same floor plans and we've got some interior construction photos of Marshall. And Ida B. Wells again, about 75% through the design. And we are awaiting their 50% construction documentation review. Oops. Okay. Cris Cedars, I stated before, we're working on that task order. So, we expect that to be executed any day now. As well as having that kickoff meeting for the architectural orientation meeting. And these are the same renderings. And
280I'm going to hand it over to Joanna. >> I don't know which is my button. >> I'm going to hand that to you just >> Joanna Evenson, a senior director of RISE. These are live tonight. So, we talked about the I'm going to fly through this for y'all. It's really the same. We are constructing in the summer. So, not a lot changes at this time of year. We're just getting ready for that. Um So, you did ask the question about what happens to the existing devices when they come back to us. And so, we have our micro K-12, our vendor, is evaluating them on a grading system A through C. A's will stay at PPS. Um um for back stock. B's will be donated to other school districts for parts and Gert C's will go
281to um local charity such as Free Geek. Again, we are on track as we mentioned last month for our 2026 summer projects for roofing, seismic seismic parts. You've already approved some of these contracts. And then for 27 and beyond, most of these are in design or the design contracts have been awarded or they're coming to you very soon. The facility improvement projects are the same again. We're just in planning. We're just ready to go when school's out and the kids are gone. For athletics, um we have more information here this month. We'll be doing an in-depth review of athletics tomorrow night as well at the FIO meeting. This month we've added a new um just a new graphic depiction of the schedule so you can see them over. These are the ones currently in more
282close to construction. And then we move out further. The rest are still in design planning and land use planning. And then see um Grant Bowl lights, their lights were commissioned today. That their lighting lights were commissioned today so they're all powered and ready to go. We just need to now train people on how to use them. Um let's see. The Jackson athletic fields, um we're nearing design completion and getting ready for this summer on our phase ones. Pal Park, uh we had meetings today. We're still working on discussions through that pal park lease with with uh parks. And our land use applications um we're in working with our land use consultant to get these ready for West Sylvan, Franklin, Rose Belle, and the Grant High Seating projects. Here's a picture of the lights at Grant
283Bowl. Um Marshall, we've got a lot of work completed. Getting ready for Cleveland students. The track, field, and tennis courts um we're hoping they'll be available for use beginning first week of June here. The gym will be ready in mid-June, and the weight room will be moved over from Cleveland um in mid-June for use in July. And there's the overall picture of the Marshall field. Actually looks really good. Of course it does. Nice little drone shot. Close above our markings. On the tennis courts. And we're done. Uh does anybody have any questions? >> I was just kind of curious. What are they going to do um with Marshall once Cleveland's back? I mean you've got these beautiful fields. >> Yeah, so PIL the fields we we need them. We need every single field we can
284get our fingertips on. So, yeah. These fields will be used Um there's another phase to Marshall even. We're going to part of the bond program is to add another multi-use field there. And then we always need an extra building to help with our swing sites, whether that's going to be middle schools in the future or fixing a seismic building. So, it's great for us to be able to have a put together school to swing our students to. >> to go. By the way, I'm going to ask our board chair if the bond people can come earlier at our next meeting. Yes, please. >> It's not there. >> Sure. >> I think this is this is the one I got first on. Um Hi, thank you for all this information. I have uh two areas of
285question. The first is on the Cleveland project overview sort of pink slide. Um I'm curious about the Cleveland youth track youth events. Um So, Sellwood and Hosford have um track practice for the Cleveland feeders. Um they currently practice I don't know where Sellwood they probably maybe they come up to us, but they practice on the Cleveland fields. Um will the middle schoolers there's hundreds of them be bust out to Marshall three times a week for track practice out there? How are they going to be able to do track? >> So, we have um our athletics coming tomorrow for the FIO and they are going to dive into that and they will have a much better answer than I do. >> Okay, I um have a band performance tomorrow, so I can't attend. Can you give
286me the two long didn't read one-liner answer? >> Um we can get you the information. We'll send it to you. Yeah. >> Yes, that would be very helpful because um yeah, there's Oh, I could watch afterwards. Yeah, I could. >> We'll send it to you. >> But I also want the information. >> Yeah. >> Yes, thank you. Um and then the other question I have is regarding the Cleveland High School and Ida B. Wells overall project schedule. Um I know you said there were no changes. However, looking at the February 2026 uh which I have up in front of me um slides, there are changes and I'm curious why. The for example, the Cleveland High School overall project schedule from February has the building permits done by December of 2026. Whereas the slide we have
287in front of us now has the permits done in April of 2027. And so I'm curious what that four-month change is. And there's a similar one on I W Wells where the permits for Ida um were to be done by February or March of 2027. And now are looking at April of 2027. So I'm curious what And that's that's just the permits. That's not There's land use changes. There's other things. I'm just curious why we're already seeing a three-four month swing on the permits on those two. >> I'm I'm happy to follow up. I'll follow up with our design manager and get those details for you. Uh I do know that sometime There's a logistical changes and and things that happen with the city, with submissions, with resubmittals. So I'm happy to get that level
288of detail for you and and follow up. >> Yeah, thank you. That's I would appreciate that because I'm I noticed that I'm curious how demo and building construction can begin for example for Cleveland before permits are even done being issued or even started being issued. And so there seems to be a change that I would like some answers to. >> Sure. Sure. And what you're not seeing is is there's different phases of construction. So that that permit block might be, you know, for the early fields and and whatever it is. It's not affecting the overall timeline even though it is shifting. But uh like I said, I'll I'll get you those details. >> For the larger projects with multiple permits that go into this so we can have a demo permit. We can have a
289land permit. We can have construction like phased out permits. So >> Of course. Yeah, the Cleveland one however, um it doesn't It the green permit box starts November of 2026 which we haven't got to yet and the demo is supposed to start. So I don't I don't know how we demo without a permit. So I'm just curious if the timelines are all going to have to shift. >> No, the timelines aren't shifting. It's it's just the graphical representation. I think that the it showed the larger construction permit and didn't show some of those sub permits. >> What the it's it's still taking longer like that it's still shifted four months. >> No, it's not. >> Okay. So the permits are still going to be done for Cleveland by Maybe I'm misunderstanding what I'm looking at
290but so the permits the building permits for Cleveland will be done by December 2026 there's no change to that. >> I would have to confirm that. >> Okay, that's fine. Thank you. >> And there will be fluctuations in the whole overall schedule. I mean in the in between schedule but the overall project schedules. >> Still the same at this point. Okay, the and um it's all like I'm just I would just I know you're going to get some answers but I'm just curious cuz the project design has changed from February to February 2026 no from November 2026 to January 2027 the land use in February was listed as being done in April of 2026 and now it's saying June of 2026. So I would just love some concrete answers is to why they're shifting cuz
291there's there is clearly shifting between these two. um correct Oh, Sarah's on here. Yeah, okay. Yeah, and on >> She's watching over us. >> She looks really happy to be here. >> I apologize. Um there are a couple things I want to clarify. First of all on Cleveland we have 17 different permits for for Cleveland High School. So, what we can do is we can absolutely give you a permit schedule only, if you'd like that. What we are doing right now is just giving a synopsis of of the per what what we feel the permit permit sequence will take. We already have the demo permit for Cleveland in hand. We've already paid for it. It's already in our hands. That is why Cleveland demolition is starting in July of this year. Same thing with Jefferson
292High School. Jefferson High School is phased construction. We have phase one, phase two, and phase three, and phase four. And so, all of those permits are broken up in that manner, and that is why you're seeing that. And so, what what you're seeing on kind of those graphic It's kind of like construction. Construction is not one big line, but we're just giving you a summary of months that it will take. But, we can go back and give you detailed information per every permit that we have on each project. >> I appreciate that. I just It's somebody took this graph from February, and someone must have moved the permit. So, if if there's an explanation for it, fine. That makes sense. But, if it is the same as it was in February, then the graphs what
293I'm looking at should be the same instead of a box moved and changed. You know, like perhaps it's just saying to someone who's creating a board packet, "Don't move it unless it's different." But, these are >> Yeah, no, Dr. You're absolutely right. It's gra- graphically misrepresented in the board package. I I completely agree with you. The original graphs that were provided were provided by our architectural and engineering teams. They then provided those files to us because last board meeting you said you guys liked that graphic better than the one that we had created. So, we went in and reworked the graphic that the architectural and engineering team gave us because they only did a snapshot in time, and they had not caught up. And so I am sure this is a box on that graph
294that just shifted as we added ground breakings and more current information onto that piece of paper. >> Perfect. So then, thank you for all this. So it sounds like despite the images, Cleveland is exactly on schedule as it should be and I 25 is exactly on schedule. There's no delays. >> Yes, ma'am. No delays. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> I have just one thing to say while we're on the topic, um and it'll be very quick. Um I want people to know so that they don't continue to say that our our high schools will be all electric, that they will not be by a little tiny thing, which is Bunsen burners. So we will not have all electric high schools, we will still be running natural gas lines. So we need to come up
295with a better way of saying it that's accurate going forward. Um I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news and that is all. We do not need to talk about it. I just don't want people to say we are having the first all electric high schools in the country because we're not ready for it yet, Bunsen burners. >> Oh, come on. They can't say that's not electric. Um Bunsen burners. >> Well, we're we're all not perfect. So they'll have to pay thousands of dollars to run a natural gas line and all of that. So maybe, but you still have to do the infrastructure. Yeah. It's a bummer. Yeah. >> The team did The team did investigate um the electrical Bunsen burners and gas Bunsen burners and unfortunately, the electrical Bunsen burners do not perform
296what is needed for chemistry. And so because they're not up to snuff, for lack of a better way to say it, that is why the Bunsen burners have to be um natural gas. The good news is is most of the campuses already have a natural natural gas service to them because they currently have that utility on their campuses. So there's not a huge infrastructure cost to provide that and it's a very small amount of gas. So, you're not looking at a huge infrastructure increase. >> Yeah, I totally get it. I'm not complaining about it. I just wanted people to know that we will We have a little bit of a semantics problem on that one. Go team. I'm sure Northwest Natural would love us to put new gas lines in all of our schools. Cuz
297they're kind of going in the opposite direction. >> Yeah, that's This is Chase Miller, David here. >> Nothing for me. Thank you for me. >> Um did I Did I hear you say that the lights were turned on today? >> Yes, they're commissioning is done there. >> What's What's the difference between a commissioned and on? >> they work. >> Okay. I'm not getting excited. So, I live right there, so please call me >> the lighting itself, but the controls that control the lighting. They check the entire system. >> Excellent. I'll ask more about it tomorrow. That's exciting news. I saw that the fence was down when I drove by today, so I was like looks so different. Um my questions were actually similar to Director Englesman. I was looking at wells with the permits compared
298to January falling almost entirely on top of the start of construction. It sounds like nothing to be concerned about. Cuz there was a big shift on permits, which at the end of January started in August, and now it's starting in December. >> That's correct, yeah. There's I mean, there's nothing to be concerned about. Schools are still on track for August 2029, regardless of the shifting. I know that land use has probably taken a little bit longer than originally scheduled. Um Nothing Nothing concerning, though. >> Okay. That was That was the one thing that jumped out at me, but um it's anybody who's interested tomorrow at FIO, we have a deep dive on athletics, on the scope of work and timing, and where middle school sports will be going. We've got the BAC charter. Um it
299should be a blockbuster. If you're If anyone's interested, please join us. >> I don't have anything. >> Great. Thank you for staying this late. Again, I'll try to schedule earlier next time. Yes. >> I had visions of Sarah like like running like getting texted like changing like real quick like grab shirt, you know. >> She was watching. >> I've actually been on the whole time. I've listened to every I've listened to every single conversation. I was actually laughing um because my daughter does I ready testing and she was like listening to it and so she was listening to that whole conversation. Anyway, I've been listening to the entire board meeting. So, I've been here the whole time. >> What do they think of it? >> Yeah, we know. We know. >> I'm just kidding. Just
300kidding. Just kidding. Don't don't say anything. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next up, we have uh the our is a motion to rescind resolution 7291 resolution to amend the district's public contracting rules. I'll hand this over to our chief legal officer, Tonkray. >> Uh at 10:45 at night. Yay. Um this is the topic the amendment to the public contracting rules that were voted on at April on April 14th. Uh the relevant amendment, the one that is the source of the ongoing discussion before you was about a reporting provision. That's all. It wasn't changing any of the board thresholds, but the amendments were required The amendments were to delete the report required for 125% or amendments that were 125% or more and report them
301to you. The recommendation was to stop the reporting because they come to you. They come to you anyway. All of those amendments are coming to you. You all asked me the question. I'm giving you a little background with the recommendation. You all asked me the question at the time the 125% amendments when they come to you 125%. You all asked me whether that was statute and I said I believed it was because it is enforced and very strongly by PPS. I was mistaken. That was the email I sent you guys to say that was not a statutory requirement. The requirement is PPS's requirement imposed on PPS. Any amendment that is more than 125% of the original contract has to come to you. That's what happened. My answer to you all probably got you all sideways
302and muddied the conversation because what you all were starting to talk about was really what what is your governance level? Where is the right governance threshold? What is it that you really need as a governing body to see and where do you want to see it? So, my recommendation is that rather than rescind, which you can do. There's all kinds of motions you can do at this point. My recommendation from my chair since I muddied the water is to leave the um current rules in place, the ones that have been amended and I'll talk I'll speak to that in a second, and send it back to the policy committee for the robust discussion that you all honestly didn't really have about what is it that you think is the right governance threshold? Is it 125%
303of everything? 110% of a $10 million contract? I mean, that was that's the really the the nugget of what is a governance question for you all. Um the reason I'm I'm suggesting leaving the rules in place in part because there are other things that were changed, but also there is no difference. Nothing has happened, nothing will happen with leaving the rule in place. You won't get the reports, you haven't been getting the reports. You get the amendments. And uh in talking with Dr. Armstrong, she's instructed the purchasing and contracting committee committee, sorry, department the department to continue the current practice. That's what was in the chart I gave you on exhibit two to the lengthy materials. So, there will be no change to anything while you all take the time to send it to the
304committee, have the robust governance conversation that you all started to have, sort of kind of had, and Director Englesman and I have had a side conversation not a side a separate conversation about well, what about between 100% and 124? I mean, there's there's a lot in there for you all to grapple with that I think got muddied and sideways. So, that is obviously your call um as to whether to rescind or move forward, and Emily is here if you all really want to dive deep. I'm not even trying to do it on my own without my lifeline on contracting. But, the recommendation is send it back to the policy committee. Not keep the rules in place and ask the policy committee to undertake it. So, that is that is my recommendation, I guess is the
305best way to put it, and then you all can decide where to go from here. And I'm happy to answer questions, but I'm making her help me. >> All right, let's put something on the table. Do I have someone who would like to motion and second to send the purchasing and contracting policy committee with no amendments, but to have a deeper discussion with the committee? >> I'll move. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. I have Director Englesman moves and Vice Chair DePass seconds. Any board discussion? >> So, we're moving to send it back to policy, but not to currently not to rescind it. >> Yes. >> So, in the meantime, cuz so right now, sorry, can I go ahead? >> Mhm. Yeah. >> Um my initial gut would be to rescind it and just go
306back to what we had and knowing that we'll get the reports and still have the discussion in policy. But, what I'm hearing is that you'll continue to give us the reports anyway. >> You have never gotten the reports. >> Why were we not getting the reports if they were >> Because of the way the system works and the way it would the the purchasing and contracting um department, the staff figured out it was easier and better to give the board the amendments because they couldn't create reliable reports with the system that we have. So, the amendments going to you is a way to ensure that the board got the right information and got it individually at the time. So, why were they going to report anyway? You've never had a report. >> So, the the
307practice, not the policy, but the practice is to show us the send the amendments to the board. >> Yes, and that's what >> And that's been happening. >> Yes. >> And that will continue to happen while we send it back to policy. >> Dr. Armstrong has informed I don't get to tell anybody anything, but Dr. Armstrong has instructed the purchasing and contracting department to continue that practice while it is in place. I mean, while you all decide whatever it is you want to do at a governance level in the policy committee. >> Okay. And so, this motion is to send it back to policy and we'll take it up in policy in June? >> Yes. Um I mean, we we have a work plan already. I will uh take a look at adding it to
308June and if it's not in June, whoever the next chair is can put it on their on their work plan. >> Great. >> I have a couple of things and so, um you and I have had some great conversations about this. Thank you. And I just things that I have learned that you may already know or maybe nobody does is that for example if a contract is under the board threshold and then is amended and pops it over the board threshold, then it must come to the board even though it didn't come before. Um and uh so that was good for me to learn. Um and also to I saw Dr. Armstrong nodding her head to know that the practice that's been followed will continue to be followed and we'll keep seeing amendments has been
309reassuring to me, so I appreciate that that's been the district's already um procedure. And then I really am looking forward to having a policy discussion about because at the policy committee and then I think even in April I'd brought up my concern that this reporting requirement for 125 and above is one um thought. Then there's this idea of like what happens if if a contract is amended from 100.01% up to 124.99. And if it's a $151,000 contract and it's amended by 100.01%, you know, it doesn't really matter, but if it's a $10 million contract, that's where I start wondering like where's the oversight or the procedure or policy. So that's what I'm looking forward to having that conversation because we didn't have it the couple of times I've been trying to grapple with it and
310haven't been able to articulate it, so I'm looking forward to that in policy. So thank you for helping me understand all of this, putting me at ease. Thank you for you also putting me at ease and I look forward to whenever this soon ends up in policy, whether it's this policy or next year. Thank you. >> Great. Any other discussion? All right. So the board will now vote on sending the purchasing and contracting rules back to policy committee meeting with no amendments, but have a deeper discussion with the committee. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. Opposed? Abstentions? Thank you. Uh the purchasing and contracting rules are back in the policy committee with no amendments by vote of 7 to 0. Thank you. >> Thank you all. And I will never answer
311a contracting question again without Emily in the room. That will not happen, I promise. >> Nice. Uh last No, maybe almost last. Um the board will now uh vote on the consent agenda. Board members, if there's any items you would like to pull for a separate discussion, please indicate that now. Ms. Bauer, are there any changes to consent agenda? Thank you. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Director Sullivan moves and Director Lefort seconds the adoption of the consent agenda. Is there any board discussion on the consent agenda? Public comment on the consent agenda. Thank you. The board will now vote on resolution 7309 and 7310. 7310. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. Opposed? Abstentions? Thank you. Resolution 7309
312and 7310 have been approved by a vote of 7 to 0. Future items. Board members, if there's any uh items you would like to request for a follow-up or considered on a future agenda item, please indicate that now. >> I have a couple I just have a a quick I just wanted to commend um Director Sullivan for being the only person to get her board report in. >> I don't have one until tomorrow. >> Yeah, I would actually like to just say a couple of things about it. >> Yeah, we're not there yet. I'll do that next. >> Okay. I thought you skipped right by it. >> Yes, I'm sorry. I'll go back to it. I'm I'm sorry. >> You go back to it. >> Yes, we're going to go back to it. The future
313and items. >> Okay. So, um I have a couple of things. One of them is the the the committee reports. Um yours is in. I know some people haven't had meetings, but if we're not doing the oral verbal um reporting, I really would like to see the any committee reports in and into board book before not we'll do it afterwards cuz I just worry we'll stop having committee reports of any kind, and that's really important. Um the second thing I wanted to talk about is sort of what happened with the lottery for the um for the new um public comment. And when we were talking about it at our board retreat, I don't think I did it very in a good articulate way, but I was trying to say exactly what happened in if we
314have 15 different topics and 30 people on one topic and one on all of these, I would like to see a lottery that makes sure that every topic is hit before we let lots of people talk on one topic, and I don't know how a lottery would work, but if one person wants to talk about something obscure, um they should get to before 15 people talk about one topic. Um and maybe it has to be that if we're noticing that four different people on different topics didn't get to speak, then we make a decision at the moment to just add them so that one person on one topic isn't getting left out, but I do worry that somehow the lottery captured a lot of people on the same topic and then left out some important
315voices on different topics. And so, I would like to talk about or have you think about um amending it somehow so that if we can see in the topic line, maybe they can be sorted. I don't know how to do it in a PDF or whatever. They can be sorted so that you know, the the 15 that are on access transportation are in one bucket and then the one on Buckman, right? Like >> I I don't want to cut you short, but I I agree with you 100%. So, here's what I I propose uh cuz I do need to check with legal cuz there's some First Amendment issues. There's also some uh equitable issues. So, what I'll do is I'll work with >> I think what we're doing is a First Amendment violation. I think
316there's probably debate around that, but I would whatever you all decide is a directional approach, we'd love to engage and find a way to do it that doesn't create First Amendment issues. >> Yeah. What I'll do is I'll work with legal and our next leadership meeting, we'll come up with couple proposals and we'll I'll bring that up at our board meeting. >> So, Director uh Sullivan, I mean, I just want to assure you that when I run the lottery it is purely um random and I do not do any selection based on content. But I'm trying to figure out how we maybe it's after we've run the lottery if we can see that there are one-offs who didn't really ever have a hope in getting chosen in a random lottery because they're one out of
31730. Uh maybe we can figure out how to slot them in so that I don't know. >> Well, I have an idea. I mean, that would require some type of a waiting system. >> But also we used to have a rule where you couldn't testify more than once a month. So, if you've already had your chance to speak in front of the board, you need to wait a month. >> Yeah. >> I don't know that would work. My proposal, because it's almost 11:00, is that if everyone has ideas, please email those ideas to Rosanne and we'll on this and we'll compile a big list and we'll work on some proposals and we'll talk about that at a board meeting. >> Okay. I have two more really fast things. Um, I was looking at this access
318idea of like I've heard a couple people say it like maybe we have two accesses a giant waitlist in a small school and other lottery programs have bigger schools and smaller waitlists. And so I'm trying to figure out in our right-sizing conversation maybe we can just have two of them and let a lot more people in. I don't know. That's just something I would love to have a conversation about. And then also um, I would like to have a conversation about and maybe on the next agenda, I would like to have a conversation about stopping any more AI contracts or AI work being done until we have a board policy on it because it's moving really fast and things are happening and there isn't a board policy to put any guardrails up around it. And
319so I would like to I'm not going to do it now, maybe at the next one though, I would like to have a conversation about just saying no more AI contracts, no more AI anything until we have a board policy on whether we have it at all. >> That's a whole can of worms though cuz we use AI in our assessment practices. So I think we have to be really clear about like when we say no more AI, like exactly what that means. >> I I agree and also we it's it's not widely known but there is a um, a draft policy in place already that hasn't been shared yet because it's not ready to share and it's got to be go through legal but >> We discussed it in the last policy. >> Yes,
320um, it's not like the work isn't happening. I agree with you, we need to do something. Um and something is being done and it will be shared soon, I hope. >> Yeah, probably that policy draft if anything needs to be added, that would be a good place to make additions. >> Yes. >> So perhaps we could add that. >> So, is this the same I thought there was one about screen time, but there's one on screen time and one on AI? >> Yes. There's two different >> Well, it's about it's about technology. >> Technology. >> And it addresses AI in it already. Um, so I think we can look at building on that. Okay, cuz I definitely support I'm picking up what you're you're putting down, Director Englesman. >> Yeah, I think it's also just
321to note cuz I know we had some public comment. Um, there's only the on the generative, I know that there were comments specifically on the generative AI. Um, and we don't have any program that we're using across all of our Portland public schools. We had a a pilot of Lumi, a pilot of Amira, but those are those are not across all of our schools or like widely adopted at this point. So, we're we're still we're not like at the forefront of AI as a system, and I think maybe some people believe that we're like doing cutting-edge new things, and we're we're not. Um, we don't have anything scaled up to that degree at this point. And I will mention that we have been here long enough that I am now clear that it's not December
322and that I'm in May and that tomorrow and next month is June. So, >> And it's also almost Wednesday. >> I mean, one of my teacher friends actually uses AI to find out if kids are using AI to cheat. Which is I thought was pretty clever. Um, Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Ready. No, I had No, I have one more. I I do have one ask I was going to ask the board. I was wondering if for because of the um, as you know, I really hate on mandates, so I'm I'm always happy to stick a middle finger to, but at the same time I do appreciate the reasoning behind it. So, I'm a little conflicted about um the finance and uh college readiness requirements that are going to be in play. And I know that
323some um students are going to be negatively impacted, especially those in our IB programs and those who are pursuing music and things like that. And I I guess my question is I was wondering if there was a way or maybe even we can have people look into is there any ways that the board can, I don't know if legally we can, um because I know we can for some division two items, um allow exceptions uh for that. >> so so that's already um a part of the conversation. I think you probably received information that we're not able to ask for a waiver as in let The only way that we're able to ask for a waiver is if we did not have a teacher to be able to teach it, which is probably more set
324up for some of the smaller systems, um single high schools or smaller. Um but we are uh we do have a whole group that is looking into alternative uh methods for earning credit for personal finance that could set students up. And I also just want to remind the group that we do have eight periods a day and I know that's a conversation that at some point we're going to get into, which is already um an expensive model and different than what other um high schools offer across Oregon because of how expensive it is. So, I just I want to put that out. We're looking at alternative ways for students to earn credit like in many other places when students are looking to satisfy a credit require requirement. >> Okay. >> Well, I online should work,
325shouldn't it? Seem like it'd be reasonable to have an online course that was >> I think there is. >> Yes, there could could could have been be accessed like if if it has to be paid for, it would leave out >> It's the cost part, it's the all all the other things. But yes, that's essentially what I'm saying, that's what they're looking into. >> Are they looking into it or >> their devices first >> Yeah. >> before they have an online class. >> Right, what screen time? >> Right. I would be interested in taking it out because I think it's outrageous. And it's a real problem. >> Yeah, I mean I was wondering if there's ways to explore things like for example IB programs they have theory of knowledge classes required for all all kids
326in their school and that is somewhat of a college readiness. Or that it could be applied towards credit towards college readiness and >> Yeah, and now the IB program is a unique program where the number of classes that students have to complete um makes it doable in an eight-period schedule, but I get that, you know. >> And you could have kids taking, you know, the entire AP calc sequence and statistics and still have to take this personal finance class. Like it's it's a hot mess. >> Yeah, but if I mean if there's well I guess we'll have to ask if there's legally anything that the board can do because if there isn't, then that's kind of done in the water and then the other alternative is that if district staff can find alternative means and
327sounds like they're already doing that. So it's Yeah, so I guess the the thing I would have to follow up is if there's any legal pathway that the board can take and then I'll I'll I'll follow up with with you on that. Okay. Great. Um that's it for me. Let's go Is Is anyone else have anything? >> Well, I was going to read a short >> Okay, yeah. So now we're back on committee conference report. Thank you. >> do it if you promise to read it. Everybody Oh, you did it. And I just wanted to thank um Director LaPorte for coming and she's been doing a lot of help looking following up on um some um bond recommendations. So, I really appreciate that. And it says in the report that we planned a June 18th
328meeting, but it's not working. And I thought maybe Jan and Janice and I thought maybe we wouldn't even have a meeting in June, but in talking to our CFO, we sort of need one. Um, so I'm going to send out a email to committee members, you two, try to find a date. That We could even do it online. There's just one thing to discuss. So, that's it. I shortened it. Look, see? It was that >> Love it. Thank you. This meeting is adjourned. Go home. >> Thank you.