001for being here tonight. We are are excited to begin this conversation with you all. We recognize that virtual options means that we may be in all different places this evening and that is the the the joy and the beauty of a virtual space. Before we get started, I want to give an a moment to help orient all of our folks that might be here tonight. >> Okay. >> We are are that might be I'm sorry. I'm speaking from a different language. And so if you are here and needing interpretation for tonight, interpreters are going to be dropping information and join the chat. And then you can access interpretation for all of our five languages to help orient all of our the world in the bottom of your screen. The bottom of the from a different
002language. And so if you are needing interpretation chat Your interpreters are going to so that you can hear directly in the language that you need specified tonight. We are going to get started shortly. Just give us one moment to get everyone in. Okay. All right. Superintendent Armstrong, give us just a moment. We want to make sure that everyone is logging in and we've still got some more folks coming. All right. >> Okay. I suspect that we're probably going to be loading all night. Uh so we'll just go ahead and get started because I really want to make sure that we maximize our time. Good evening, everyone. I am excited to bring you another engagement series where uh we will have the opportunity to hear from you. Before I get started, I would love to have
003our board directors introduce themselves and the zone in which they represent and then I will get started. Starting with zone one. >> Okay, um Patty Sullivan, zone three. Glad to be here. Glad so many people are here. >> Anyone is fine. >> Michelle, you're muted. >> but she's muted. Director DePass. >> See here, I'm unmuted. Where is Director DePass? There you are. >> Sorry about that. So, um I'm Michelle DePass. I live in zone two. That's both Benson Tech and Jefferson high schools are represented there, but I represent all students within the PPS boundaries. Portland native, PPS graduate from MLC. I attended Irvington growing up, but I also attended schools in Venezuela and Mexico. Um I'm here tonight to listen and learn and what I'm the most curious about is a wondering I have about
004how we can come together as a community to imagine a reconfigured right-sized Portland Public Schools where learning outcomes are not predictable by race or zip code and where all kids in our district are well served. And then my second wondering is, you know, how do we want to feel about each other when this is all done? So, I like to start with the outcomes first. How do we want to feel about each other and work towards that? Um I know as individuals we all want what's best for our students. You know, I'm a mom, too, in this district. I also believe that we're capable of citywide collaboration, of dreaming big, of imagining our students' futures, and I know that we have the skills to work together in service of outcomes that are good for all
005of our students and supporting what's best for them. I appreciate that you're here and that you're engaged in this process. I know you there's a million other things you could be doing tonight, but appreciate your time and attention tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you, Director DePass. >> I can go next. My name is Christie Smith. We represent the district as a whole, but we have to live in certain zones and I happen to live in zone one, which is Southwest Portland. I just want to thank everyone for being here. My background is that I used to be a teacher, but for a long time I worked in public service since then. And I have two kids that are at a Southwest Portland elementary school, Hearn. And next year I'll have a middle schooler on my
006hands, too. What I'm hoping to get out of today is really just hearing from folks about what values and considerations they think the board should have in mind as we're approaching this situation. I think like 100% of the people that are here would like to keep a certain school or program open and that's great, but really to help us identify those like underlying values that we should keep in mind or like other criteria that you think should be particularly important for us to consider. So I'm really grateful for folks who can kind of lean lean in on that side of the conversation and think big picture tonight. That would be really great. I also just want to say ditto to everything I heard from Michelle. From Director DePass, I should say. Thank you for being
007here, everybody. Oh, I want to say a little random housekeeping thing. Our indoor cat got out yesterday and I'm outside of my house so that if my cat like hears me, I'm his favorite. No offense to my family. He might turn up. We live in an area with a lot of coyotes, so we're pretty panicked at our house. So if I disappear, it's because good news, my cat is around and I'm going to help him get inside. So if I drop off or something, just my apologies, so hopefully everyone can understand how that's a priority in a family with kids and thanks. >> Thank you, Director Split. Who's next? >> I'll go. Hi. My name is Stephanie Anglesman. I live in Southeast Portland, Zone 6. I have three kids in public school, one in elementary
008school for about 33 days, as she is counting down. And I currently have two in middle school, next year three in middle school. Um I have a wondering, and I'll echo a lot of what uh Director LaFonte said last week and what Director Split just said. I was trying to answer last week's question of what are my wonderings, and I was not prepared, and so I'm trying to take the board member hat off and put the parent hat on. And if I were going through this process simply as a parent, what would I hope my board members are listening to and what they're hearing? And so, I guess I hope to learn from all of you, um as you'll bring lots of perspectives and lots of great ideas to this process. I'd like to hear
009those ideas. I'd like to hear what to you a properly funded, not from the state, but from us, school looks like. And I guess I would ask everybody to try to, and I know it's very challenging, but try to step away from um an allegiance you may have to your beloved school and think bigger picture and say, "If we're going to do this, how do we do it so at the end everybody feels like they were heard and everybody feels like they um had a had a part in this process." And to So, to that point, I am delighted to see that I think we're at over 300 people participating this evening, and so I'm grateful for the district for offering this virtual option, and to all of you for participating. So, thank you. >>
010Thank you, Director Anglesman. Who's next? >> I can go. Hi everyone, I'm Rochelle Cizmar. I'm your representative from zone four. I grew up attending Portland public schools. I'm the mom of two kids that go to school in North and Northeast Portland. I have a second grader and a seventh grader. And I'm I'm really grateful for the time you're sharing with us tonight and informing this process. We are at the very beginning of this process and so I think this is a really exciting opportunity for all of you to help shape what comes next. So what I'm hoping to learn tonight is what is important to you in this. At at the end of this process, what values do you hope to have seen represented? What are your priorities in this? What are the outcomes you're
011hoping for? And um mostly when I think about this work, I get really excited and start dreaming about what can be possible again in our schools once they are right-sized and the opportunities and experiences that our kids will have. So I would like to hear your hopes in that regard as well. So thank you all for being here and looking forward to this evening. >> Thank you, Director Cizmar. Who's next? >> I'll go. I just want to call I just got a text from some parents said that they are trying to log in but the it's capped at 300. >> Okay, I know we have a tech team listening. We'll adjust that. We'll keep going and then in the meantime, I think if they tune into YouTube while we fix the Zoom, they can still
012follow along to what's streaming. >> Okay, I'm going to send that note real quick. >> Yes. >> Um Thank you. Doing this all in real time. Um oh, there She just heart it. Perfect. So, hi everyone. I'm IT support. Um, I'm Virginia LaFourte. Also, um, I live in Northeast Portland. I'm on the PPS Board of Directors. So, I live in zone five, which is home to the Grant and McDaniel clusters. But, as all of us have said, you know, we represent, um, the entire city when it comes to our PPS students and families. Um, I am a mom of a PPS graduate who's now a high school, uh, sophomore in college. And I also have a sophomore in high school in PPS as well. And what I want to learn today is when it comes
013to right-sizing our schools, what are the issues that keep you up at night? Is it walkability? Is it programming? Is it a particular kind of staffing? Is it facility condition? Is it all of these things? Um, what what are you thinking about when you when you worry about this process? And, um, what needs to happen in order for every person on this call to feel like they were heard and that this was a transparent process. And I'm really grateful for such an incredible turnout. This is amazing. I appreciate that all of you are here and I will be listening intently tonight. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Director LaFourte. Chair Wong. >> Thank you. Uh, didn't mean to go last, but I guess I am. Um, my name is Eddie Wong. Uh, I live in
014zone seven. If you don't know where that is, that's south of what where Director Anglesman is from. Also known as, uh, the deep south or the far east. Um, I am a parent of a middle schooler in PPS. So, very invested in this process. Um, also was a former teacher in PPS for over a decade. And so, um, also very invested in this process. And I guess the question I have for you is, um, well, a little bit backdrop. Uh, in 2021-22, I was also the selected as a parent representative for the Southeast Guiding Coalition, which was when the Southeast area was uh, re- districted, boundaries redrawn, etc. in the Southeast. And so, I know that there's sometimes, well, often, a lot of anxiety that comes with this process. And so, my question for you,
015if you're parent, a community member, a student, um, if you have these anxieties, what are the things that we can do to help alleviate some of this anxiety, uh, especially since, um, you know, we are looking at trying to, uh, incorporate this, not the next school year, but the following school year. Um, so, yeah. Thank you. That's my question. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. And just before I get started, I wanted to loop back to Director Sullivan, who um, just introduced herself, if she wanted to share more words, since the other six had the opportunity. >> Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. I just thought we were going to say who we were, but um, obviously, um, I I just hope to hear what people people's hopes are, I guess, for making our district
016the best there is. So, I want everybody to know there's been no decisions made. I I know people worry about that, but we really are listening. So, and I can't believe there's this many people and how it's going to work, that many people on this, but I'm really glad so many people turned out. >> Perfect. Thank you, Director Sullivan. And then, last but never least, our student representative, Ian Retarto. >> Yeah, I just wanted to introduce myself. Uh, student representative, Ian Retarto. I am a senior at Roosevelt High School. Um, and what I'm really looking forward to today, first of all, I agree with everything my fellow board members have said, but I'm also looking for, as a part of our, you know, guiding principles to be developed, uh, I'm also looking for how you
017as parents and community members want to be engaged in the future cuz this is not going to be our last engagement before uh before this process is done. So, that's uh also a big part of what I want to hear tonight. >> Perfect. Thank you. I also want to recognize that we have our uh teachers, uh building leaders, support staff, other educators, um and executive team on in various degrees listening or tuning in watching the live version. Thank you. Uh we'll hear after my opening. I'm hoping that Nicole will be able to find out if we're able to raise the cap. 300 is definitely exceeded our expectations. And if we're not able to raise the cap, then some of my district staff, I'll ask them to turn to the YouTube version so that we can
018allow more people to come in and interact. But with that, I I just have an um an opening message to you all. And really, it's just to say that tonight's conversation is about listening and learning together. Like we want to make sure that our community understands what's happening with student enrollment and how we're using our school buildings. Just as important, we want our school board members, all of who you've heard from, to hear directly from you. Your questions, concerns, and ideas as they begin creating the guiding principles for this work. So, to be clear, there is no list of schools being considered tonight, nor do we have a list of schools in front of us. We are looking across the district, all 81 sites. So, we are here to listen, not to make decisions. Now,
019the reason why we're having this conversation, we know that even talking about possible school changes like merging or closing schools can feel stressful and emotional. Our schools are deeply important to families and community, to our staff, and we respect that. So, as we move forward, we're committed to keeping equity at the center of every decision, being transparent along the way, moving carefully and thoughtfully, and listening to you, because your voice matters in shaping what comes next. So, what's driving this conversation is right now, Portland Public Schools is facing some real challenges that we can no longer ignore. Fewer students enrolled, right? We have about 13% fewer students than before the pandemic. School funding in Oregon is based on the number of students, so fewer students means less funding for our schools. Also, we have a
020large budget gap. We are currently facing a 50 million budget shortfall, and at the same time, the cost of running our schools, so like if you think of heating buildings, maintenance, staffing, all of that continues to rise. So, for example, if a school was built for 500 students, but only has 250, we still pay to operate the whole building. That means fewer dollars are available for things that directly support students, like arts and elective, mental health services, and academic supports. Lastly, our aging school buildings. Many of our school buildings need major repairs and upgrades. Instead of investing large amounts of money into buildings that aren't being fully used, we need to think about how to better use our spaces so students can learn in safe, well-equipped environments. that I entered the system with that being
021a pri- one of my top three priorities, and it remains the same. So, this isn't just about buildings. It's about making sure that every single one of our students, no matter where they live, have access to a strong, well-rounded school experience. That includes arts, athletics, mental health, strong academic programs, and qualified staff. And we have high-quality quality staff in Portland public schools and we want to maximize that. So again, finally I just want to reiterate that tonight is about listening and your input would help shape the values and priorities that guide our future decisions cuz we're in this together, right? The rise in one of us is the rise in all of us. So I look forward to this engagement. Thank you for being here and thank you for participating. Now with that, I want
022to ask Nicole before I turn it over, were we able to raise the cap from 300? >> No, I just have been pinging with Terry and we believe that might be a restriction in Otis. >> Okay. >> That may need to be something that we do a troubleshoot of. But as I shared in the chat, we will additionally add more virtual spaces as this is definitely an an opportunity to hear from families in a way that and I'm shining in the background so I apologize Dr. Armstrong, but we're sending folks to that live stream. I have to mark that link. >> Thank you. I would ask my executive team to join please move from this, go to the Zoom to give it folks more of an opportunity. We folks will have an opportunity to respond
023to live streams, to ask questions and if you see yourself more as being a spectator tonight and just listening, then maybe the YouTube live stream version is the best option, but we are so glad you're here and with that I'm going to turn it over. Thank you. >> All right, good evening everyone. My name is Nicole Watson and I am senior director of family and community engagement and you have already been welcomed. You've been welcomed by our superintendent and our illustrious school board who is really excited about and I don't know if that's necessarily the right words to use, but excited to hear from you, excited to understand more about how you are feeling, what concerns you might have, what ways in which you want to be engaged throughout this process, and recognizing that each
024of us is coming to this conversation from different places. So, tonight what we want to do is we want to hear from you, and we are going to give some space for us to be able to stop talking and let some of you all share some space with us tonight. And so, before we do that, I'm going to remove the feature to let us unmute simply because we've got 284 folks online, and what we know is those cats seem to get loose, and sometimes when those cats get loose, sometimes that we come off mute accidentally, and we hear all of that background noise. So, before we get started, we want to know who is in the space tonight. I'm going to ask the FACE team to drop our first Slido, an interactive poll, into the
025chat. And what you can expect tonight is interaction, and what that interaction will look like is there's going to be some Slido, some some interactive polls dropped into the space so that we can see and hear from each other and one another. Um, thank you so much for that, James. We deeply appreciate that. What you should do at this space is either go to slido.com and type in the code the pound 2066349, or you can use your phone if you are on a device, and you should be able to, thank you so much, Director Sullivan. If that may not be you, so we might be seeing some Zoom bombing, and we are used to this from COVID. So, I'm going to ask Willie to shop stop sharing his screen, and then we'll re-share again. And
026this is what it means to be in a virtual space. We're going to do a little bit of housekeeping, and we're going to keep our space as virtual and as safe as possible. And so, if we see inappropriate comments and or conduct, we will ask or remove folks as needed and necessary to ensure that this the conversation tonight is as safe as it can possibly be. Okay, team, not entirely sure where we are, but we should be at a Slido link. And so, this looks like we might be experiencing some Zoom bombing. So, I'm going to pause us for a moment. And I'm going to do some scanning and seeing while I'm there, if you all, thank you for your patience, can maybe visit that Slido link. I'm going to visit that Slido link. Okay.
027Willie, is that you sharing your screen? Okay. >> No. >> All right, thank you so much, dear. All right. Can you all see that? Give me a thumbs up if you Okay, perfect. Thank you so much. You all, we are having some some folks invading our space. Thank you so much, Emily. I appreciate you. Thank you, Suyong, and thank you, our interpreters. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. All right, why don't we pivot for a moment and have us move into the chat? Why don't you use the chat feature and let us know where you are coming from tonight. What school community do you represent? Who are you here repping on behalf of? And I will attempt to Let me change our host protocols. Give me a moment, you all. While you're dropping in the chat, let me
028Okay. Awesome. Let me look and see who we've got in the chat. My goodness, we got King in the spot, Ricky's here, Vestal, Peninsula, Odyssey, DaVinci, Chief Joe. We got Creston in the house tonight. Fabian is here. Winterhaven here. A little bit more spammy details are here. Peninsula is here and Ackley Green. Thank you so much. Buckman is here. Stevenson is here tonight. We've got a parent of an incoming kindergartner coming to Boise Eliot. Welcome to Portland Public Schools, Lindsey. We're so happy that you're with us. We've got Abernathy in the house and Mount Tabor, St. Louis Elementary is here. It speaks to this tapestry of who we are as PPS. And we recognize that tonight's conversation, while uh feeling these initial feelings, uh what we can center around is together we're rising and together
029we are here, 292 strong. And with that, I want to just briefly frame us to see if I now I have suspended some activities um so that we can maybe move through the space um without much minimal interruption. Superintendent Armstrong. >> Yeah, thank you for that and I'm sorry that we have such a large group of people that have to witness the inappropriate um behavior. I think that um Nicole, if you can make some of us co-hosts, we can actively work to move uh some of these players and their names out into the um breakout room and then close sharing so that all of these shares that keep trying to pop up is closed down. >> Yeah, and they are and I have the set um I do have it set to where they cannot
030share or a screen. This is happening in a different technological portal that is overriding what our Zoom functions are for tonight. >> Okay. Okay. >> We are going to have to pivot a bit. >> We're going to do our best and start actively removing folks. I think we can start off is that if folks aren't with their names um >> And and what you can do, Dr. Armstrong, is you can see who's presenting when you look at the participant list. They should have a sharing icon. Yeah. It might be brief, but you I do need someone from the FACE team to be taking a look at that. >> Yeah, team, if you can help with moving some folks out and move them to the breakout room. Thank you so much. >> Okay. All right. I'm
031going to attempt to share my screen and get us started this evening. And so I deeply appreciate you all's patience. All right. Okay. All right. And so we've already done our who we have in the space tonight, and there should be some other uh I see some folks still participating. This is going to be a section that's going to be open, so you should be able to still participate throughout uh the meeting tonight. This just helps us understand Oh goodness, y'all. They are really tearing our screen up. >> Nicole I have a suggestion. I would say let's not show anything. >> Okay. >> let's just go strictly verbal >> Okay. >> uh at this point. >> I appreciate that. >> this It's just entirely inappropriate with what some people are doing. >> Yeah. >> And
032the majority Everyone here is to engage in a very positive conversation and and this is not doing um what we want. So I think I would say disable the chat. >> Okay. >> We did go verbal uh everything at this at this point in time. So I'll say just go ahead and disable, and then don't even show your screen. Let's just Let's just do everything oral at this point. >> Okay. Thank you so much, Dr. Franco. Appreciate that. All right, folks. I want to give uh our assis- assistant superintendent Margaret Calvert one uh a brief introduction. As you know, she holds many things uh in our space around right-sizing and ensuring that we have some well-balanced, well-resourced opportunities for our babies. And one of the pieces that MC, that we've affectionately know her as in
033the district, um wants to do tonight is set some context for you. So, before we uh let folks come off of mute and share some of what we are seeing in the chat, we want to give MC an opportunity to lay a bit of foundation. And MC, I understand that we're pivoting pretty hard tonight, but if I know you, I know you got it. And so, can we give our families a bit of context tonight around enrollment, around utilization, some of these big words we've heard as we begin to center conversation this evening? >> Okay, can you hear me? Okay, great. You You were practicing before >> And just a reminder, Nicole, please shut the chat down. >> Got it. On my way. >> So, uh I appreciate folks being in this space tonight and
034also um want to acknowledge that um we have folks that are uh sharing inappropriate things. And so, the goal is always for us to be in a space where we can um engage with each other and respectfully. Uh these are uh emotionally charged conversations. Um so, part of what I will share uh uh is some um some some background. And Dr. Dr. Armbrust spoke to this a little bit um earlier uh this evening, which is, you know, what is our hope for what we're where where we are as we move forward and and try to understand what our context is um here today. And so, one of the things that we've talked about as as Dr. Armbrust said, coming out of the pandemic, we've seen a decrease in our enrollments. I saw a number of
035questions in the chat about, you know, uh how is right-sizing connected to some of our other efforts? And as we've said previously, we are working with our comms team and Chief Ross to work through with families and also with our building administrators and our in the district overall to not only look at where what we're doing with students now, but the pieces of how can we increase enrollment? So, this is there's multi um pronged approach to how we're looking at supporting our schools and really getting productive spaces for students to be. So, part of what we're going to talk about Hey, I'm going to check and see if my am I un unmuted again? People hear me? Nicole, can you hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you. >> Can you see? >> Okay, great.
036Thank you. So, some of it is that we've seen declining enrollment and then and and thinking about how we we're also facing financial constraints. And so, how do we work across the district to have our our resources used in a way that provides the most comprehensive and robust programming and student learning experiences. So, that's part of what we're going to be talking about tonight. And so, when we think about this, there's a number of things that we can use or levers that we can consider when we look at how do we balance enrollment across the district and and what does that mean? So, for elementaries, we've talked about this before. We've seen we have 45 elementaries across the district and there's a variety of sizes. Um so, what we're thinking about is what should every
037elementary where the what's the combination of things every elementary should have? And so, that's part of what we're going to talk about is what is a well-resourced school. So, that's some of what the feedback we're going to ask you for tonight is some of the pieces around what is what what would you like to see in every elementary? What is it that we want to see in every middle grades experience and then the same for high school? So, that's one piece. I think I think the second piece Dr. Armstrong also mentioned was a portion around and what is the condition of our facilities and how are we going to be able to use our facilities well, um and think about where we have um um the number of students that we have the capacity to
038serve at a given site. So, it's going to be a combination of uh where are we seeing where families are living um and what does that look like across our system and then how are we going to connect that to match with also our physical um buildings. So, what is true is that families um experience and change and and sometimes move throughout the city and our buildings are fixed in place, obviously. So, I think that part of what we're trying to do is match what we're seeing as some of the changes across the city and then also how we can um look at that in terms of um matching it to our facilities. So, the lever some of the levers that we can use are looking at boundaries, uh looking at where programs are placed,
039and looking at grade level configuration. Another piece that that is part of those that puzzle then is also what would we call school consolidations or mergers. And so, I I think that, you know, as we were talking through things in the last session, we were thinking about what are all the possible levers that we have access to and I just want to say we're that what we've heard from the board of directors is that that should be looking at um we should be looking at all of the levers and not just a singular one. So, I think that's one of the pieces that we are thinking through. What we've seen is that we've changed some of the configurations over time and that we have we're still operating the same number of sites across the district
040that we have while we're also seeing declining enrollment. So, we're going to make some adjustments and think about how do we use our resources and spread our resources effectively across the system. So, one of the things that we're hoping that you can help us with is to think about we saw that people were coming from across the system and a variety of schools at a variety of variety of grade levels and we have a Slido that we've put into the chat. I think can people just give a thumbs up if they are able to access the Slido? Great. Okay, so this in the Slido the piece will say the very beginning is is a little get-to-know-you portion of what is in the Slido. There's a series of three or four questions in there. So, we're
041hoping that you can share that information with us. And then if we're able to get to the second part of the Slido, so I'm going to see if we can if we can if we can Thank you, Nicole. So, if we can get to the second series of questions in the Slido, it's going to get to some Are we able to do that? Are people able to answer this get to the second set of questions? So, the second set of questions would start with have you experienced change? So, one of the questions would be no, that's we haven't been able to you can't get to that one. Okay. >> Okay. Got it, MC. I'm on it. >> Okay. So, what Oh, there we go. Are people able to get to it now? Perfect. Yes and
042no. Okay. So, one of the things that we There we go. One of the things that that is the series of questions in there will be pieces around Have you experienced a change in the last 5 years and what does that look like? Have you been Have you experienced boundary change or have you changed Are you able to configure it? So, what we're going to use with the Slidos and how this information is gathered is that we will We'll pull this information together and we share the responses with You know, we'll share out the responses with the board and we'll summarize them as well. But, the goal is to say, you know, what are What have people's recent experiences have been and one of the pieces were uh uh What has surfaced when there has
043been a transition, what has helped your family to make those transitions as we go? So, I think in those If people can give me another thumbs up if you're able, there should be three questions in that section. One is Were Did you experience a change? I think a second question is What made that go better? And then a third question was around um what the If you If you decided to make a school change, what was the reason for doing that? And the reason we're asking these questions is we know that some communities have experienced more change than others. And then we're looking for how What were places and ways that you felt that the the changes What helped mitigate some of those changes and and the stress of those um adjustments across school communities.
044So, that's part of what we're looking for um as we're looking in the Slido. So, I don't have the Slido up in front of me. So, I'm wondering if Nicole, do you do you have it open? Someone have the Slido open? Are you seeing the number of How many people are in there? Can you see the number of responders right now that are in the Slido itself? >> And which um question are you on, MC? >> If we're looking at experience change, we look at did you did you experience a change in the last >> I see about three votes, but I'm not and I need to know who we have in this No, that's looks like some folks are still answering the word cloud question. >> Okay. >> And MC, keep going. I'm going
045to uh need to hit it really quickly to troubleshoot what we're seeing on the YouTube. So, keep going and I'll be right back. >> Okay. Thank you. So, part of um this this series of questions is going to help us think through how to help folks make some of the transition. Um and I think that the other piece that we want to look at and we'll get to this uh particularly um and I'm wondering if we can uh ultimately we're going to go back and look at what we're seeing in terms of uh how we rank make a rank decisions about some priorities. And I'm wondering as we do that if I can have someone um from the team we're going to I we're going to share a map with you. Um Um, and I
046want people you should be able to access the map from the um, link we're about to put in the chat. Um, and then you should be able to pull it up on you can either pull it up on your computer or your phone. And there are just a couple of things I want to point people's attention to on that map. If someone can put that if someone once we get that piece in the chat that piece >> I'll get I'll do it. Hold on. >> Yeah, great. Thank you so much Amanda. Appreciate that. Okay, awesome. So if we go into um, the link that is put in here, you should be able to see a map of the district. If people can give me a thumbs up if that's what they're seeing, that'd be great.
047Thank you for Miranda for putting that in the chat. Okay, wonderful. So I just want to highlight a couple of things on the map. One is if you pick a school, you're going to see a circle. So the size of the circle will tell you the capacity of the school. Then you'll see the current enrollment, which is the number next to it, and then also what's called a utilization rate, which essentially is a description of how much um, how much space uh, that that that essentially the the capacity and how many students could be served at the school site. So when we go through, you can you can scroll through various parts of the um, of the map and you can look across. So first thing I would like you guys to do is to
048scroll through and see if you can find all of the high schools, for example, and where they are. So um, and what the capacities are in those spaces and what the percentages of utilization. And then to go through and look and see at some of the K8s or the middle schools. And you can see what those uh you know, utilization rates are. Uh the other things that you're going to notice on the map are you can see the places that we have buildings that are um that we're not currently using and don't currently have students in. And then you can also see places where we have our early childhood centers where that's where we have some of our pre-K three students. Um if you look down at the bottom, if you scroll to the bottom
049of your map, you'll see a table. And in that table, it'll give you some information about um the programs that are located at the school. So, um for example, if you scroll down, you can see um that um I'll pull it up on my phone so I'm looking at it the same way that you guys are. Um you will see for example, um if you zoom in on the bottom, you're going to be able to see a number of tables. And if you look um you could see for example, if you look at DaVinci Art Middle School, it's in one of the middle columns. You can see that it's a focus option school and and I'll show you the size, the enrollment, the current enrollment, its capacity, and its utilization rate. So, you'll have that
050listed for all of the schools that we have in the district. So, this gives us a sense across what we're what we see. Look at that, that's great. Thank you so much. Um you'll be able to see across the district where our specific um for example, you can see Kelly and Lane right here. They're both neighborhood, they both have immersion, they're both title one schools, and you can see um their grade band and their utilization rates. So, there's a lot of information on this map, and it helps you understand where um schools are, what we're seeing for enrollment at the current schools, and where they are relative to each other. Um we use this to help frame the context around what we are when we're making decisions, how can we make decisions across the system.
051So, it's uh I'm not sure who's presenting, but if you can just scroll up a little bit to show the map, you can see, for example, a little bit Oh, okay. Okay. Okay, I'm I'm seeing the pins here. >> that's me. Do you I'm I've I've I've suspended our Zoom activity, so I can share, but um didn't want to mess you up. >> Yep, that's great. So, this is again the the When we're looking at this, we're not looking at any single factor. So, it's not just enrollment, and it's not just utilization, and it's that's that we're looking at when we're trying to make decisions. And so, we really are trying to work towards the vision of what is a well-resourced school, and depending on the school size, what's the portfolio of options and schools
052and school Oops. that we want to see um in various parts of the city. How do we balance that across the city? So, this really is a question of how do you make decisions not only at a specific site, where we need to know the uh details and the experiences of families and students at that site, but then how do we build a portfolio across the city that allows us to have well-resourced and sustainable schools that will um be able to be buffered from um enrollment changes. So, that's sort of how we're trying to layer not only your localized experience, but also what we see across the city. So, this map has lots of layers to it and and we um will look forward to hearing additional questions. It is um kindergarten and up in
053grade level. Um and I know there's a number of conversations and questions about pre-K, which we will ultimately answer some questions about our uh pre-K students and we'll also ultimately put questions up on our website, which is coming in the next um uh week or so. So, that's kind of like gives you a little bit of context, but I think the big question that we're looking for is how do we wrestle with these trade-offs? What does it mean to say we should pick, for example, um a compact boundary or uh versus having access to um a variety of learning opportunities. So, there's another part of our Slido that I'm going to encourage people to enter into. And um we'll put it we'll pop it where people can answer. And the board has six priorities that
054we >> Uh uh Margaret Margaret, just real quick. Sorry to interrupt. Um Nicole, since you have access to share, what can you share your screen? Not Again, the Slido seem to be having we're having issues with people. So, but I think like in terms of the maps or if they're talking the talking points specifically, I think that would be really good for for people to be able to see. >> Awesome. Thank you, Dr. Franco. I will MC where you um Thank you, Dana and M. We deeply appreciate it. I'm in that. >> So, we're on the if there's a piece around factors to consider from policy. Nicole. So, it's the It's slide I'm looking at slide 25. >> Got it. >> So, one of the pieces, I think if we are able to So, are
055we good with presenting again, Nicole, or do we feel like we're in a space where we can present again? >> I think we are. I'm not too sure about our Slido. I think whatever those Zoom bugs are, it kind of worked, but let's try. Um and let's see if we can get even if it's in the chat for folks to start indicating which of these factors are the most important factors or important factors for our board to consider. And the chat feature has been enabled. So, please feel free to leave us some love and comments in the chat. >> So, one of the things that I'm seeing a question. So, as as as we're going through, if you were to pick three of these, and you were looking across these these factors, if you could
056say which three factors are that you would like the board to consider or you feel is most um um consistent, I think would be very helpful. Um and I see questions about how is maximum capacity determined, um and some other questions are coming through as well. So, um there's a question, too, about utilization rates. So, I'm just going to pause for a second and answer a question about utilization. So, what what you'll see on the map as a description of um how their instructional space is being used. So, it changes a little bit based on the grade band. But the idea in general is um if you think about the size of a classroom and we make some estimates about the number of students that could be uh could access that classroom space, um it's
057how many students could be served at a site uh based on classrooms and some of those pieces. So, it changes if it's in if it's a an elementary versus middle versus high, and we'll we will share um some more details about what that looks like, but the piece that ultimately uh we're talking about is instructional space, and if we use that instructional space as an estimate, it's a a way of describing um how many students could be served at a particular site. So, I'm seeing pieces of people I appreciate talking about what are two or three of the things that are most important. I I I'm seeing some responses around what are the um the the notion about some boundaries and some impact. Um I I appreciate people putting the three two or three things
058in the in the mix uh there as we go through. I think the other piece that that we This is what is in our student assignment policy. So, one of the other questions that we have is what would be some things other than what you're seeing in this of B6 that we should be that you would like the board to consider. So, I think that the as you're looking at what people will be looking like looking through in terms of right pathways, right mix, right boundaries, um if I'm seeing a number of people being able to um walk lay this out and and and as you're reading through and scrolling um and seeing what other people are responding to, if you can just pause for a second and say, um Um, how are you seeing
059this as in line um uh with what you're saying or you're seeing there's a variety of different things up here. Um, what's coming up for you as you're reading what other people are putting in uh would be helpful. So, if you just pause for a second, I'm going to ask the question again. And I'm going to type it into the chat, I think if we can do this. So, um as you're looking um looking at what people are putting in the chat as rankings what feels aligned to you? So, what are you seeing? Where are you seeing some things that are consistent across what you're seeing in there? And then, the second piece is going to be uh I think uh what is coming what what else is surfacing for you? Uh what's coming up
060for you as you're reading through this? Okay. So, I'm going to I'm going to um pause >> MC, would you like me to continue sharing the screen? I just want to take a pulse, a temperature check. I'm going to stop sharing my screen. And what I we deeply appreciate. So, Dr. Franco, maybe perhaps we're at a space where um with our last 30 minutes together, we can open up our space and begin to hear from community. Um we've got some definite uh conversations happening in the chat, which we deeply appreciate. Thank you so much, Katie, for your love. Okay. All right. >> Yeah, I think I think this is great and um and continue to go ahead First of all, John Franco, senior chief of operations, and just want to uh express just immense gratitude
061for everyone being here. Obviously, um going through some things here, so we're adapting and adjusting, you know, on the fly as all all good teachers do. We're we're a learning organization, and so that is what uh we're going to go ahead and model. Um so, continue to go ahead and put pieces in the chat as as all the board members uh specifically talked about today. Um this session is very specific in regards to really wanted to hear information or feedback regarding um that can really be a pre-precursor to the creation of some guiding principles um that can be that can help us with our decision-making with the board's decision-making moving forward. And so I think at this point in time we'll go ahead um and open it up. We see do have some hands raised.
062And I will say this just in in the piece of in with respect to time and there's a lot of people in the room. So the first question is if if there's a specific piece around a guiding principle, that's really what we want to hear. Of course, if you have a question since this is um all being recorded, we'd love to hear that question, but know we may not answer that question. If it's a clarifying question right away we can go ahead and provide an answer to uh we'll do. Um but for the majority of questions we'll probably just go ahead and um and say thank you for the question. We're capturing questions and know that all questions will get answered uh and we'll go ahead as part of um uh an FAQ and we'll
063make sure we do have a landing page on the website. So so really the first purpose is if if there's a guiding principle or guiding principles that you really would like the board to consider. And the second piece, if you really do have a burning question, yes, we want you to ask it, but we may not answer it in real time. Um because we do want to use the remaining of the time to hear from as many people as we can. And Nicole, I'm just let you you go ahead. You see the hands. You can go ahead and facilitate. >> Awesome. Thank you so much, Dr. Franco. I'm going to start in order as I see you on my screen. Deeply apologies if I mispronounce your name. Uh I have also enabled the video feature.
064So if you want to uh see me and we can see you, that would be all right with us tonight. We deeply appreciate your flexibility and your grace as we are attempting a new the platform of Zoom for such a conversation as this. I'm going to start with Courtney Brockway and then we're going to move to Mashari and then Laura, you'll be next. Courtney? >> Hi. Um sorry, I actually have my hand raised for a question that was kind of answered in the chat, but I kind of wanted to to speak to it again. I'm from the Stevenson community. Stevenson wasn't on the map and apparently that was like um that was a mistake or an accident, but if you're wanting people to feel included um that was like really frustrating to like come to
065this and you want feedback and then we all the Stevenson people were like texting each other. We couldn't even see our school on the map. So just I know that probably probably wasn't intentional, but it was it was frustrating. Um so I'm I'm actually going to I'm going to come to one of the in-person meetings. So I will save my my speaking time for that. I'm also going to fill out the the survey, but I appreciate what you guys are doing and I will I will differ my speaking time to someone cuz I'll speak in person on Wednesday. >> Thank you so much Courtney for that feedback. I know our school planning and modernization team has done their best and sometimes some of the communities are small and tiny there and sometimes we have a
066human moment. So we deeply appreciate your grace and we'll see you on Wednesday or at the in-person events. All right, Mashari then Laura if Laura still has a question and then Logan and L. Jackson. Um Mashari? >> Hi there. Good evening. Thank you superintendent and Directors, and Nicole. We're really grateful to be in community with you. So, thank you for keeping this open and navigating so well. I would encourage through this right-sizing process both the Superintendent and the board and the FACE team to fully embrace what it means to have an equity lens when it comes to the right-sizing process. And what I'd like to see in the guiding principles is first and foremost equity as one of the actual aspects to vote on. When I think about we support eight schools in Portland Public
067Schools with 500 students a week, it is the climate, it is the culture, it's the community, it's the leadership, the sense of belonging um that makes a difference for our students to be able to thrive academically and in their well-being. And so, when I don't see the health and environment being a factor at the atmost priority, I don't think that we could do right-sizing in a way that actually considers the impact on our most historically underserved students. So, um with that, I would also ask for the historically underserved students and families to have a disproportionately high weighting when it comes to actually having an outcome that would displace them or negatively impact them in any way. So, when I think about the students that we serve, um there might be students um that have already
068shifted multiple times in the past that I would want protected. Um there might be students that are at a K-8 school like Odyssey on the west side that they are intentionally avoiding middle schools with racial incidents that happen on a daily basis that their parents are keeping them from. So, when it comes to an equitable lens, I think that it means equity means access to thriving rigorous academic education. It means a safe environment that the the teachers and administration love our children and have a high bar for them. And it means a safe environment where they when they go to school, they don't have to deal with the world. They can just learn in a joyful learning environment that Dr. Armstrong always talks about and holds all of their staff to that high bar. So
069that would be my request is to add straight into the guiding principles a very deliberate bar so that if it's not the right leader, well, that could be part of this. There are leaders in our school district that show they know how to turn around a school and they know how to set the temperature in a school so the academic achievement and belonging and love are at the forefront and families are engaged. So I would ask us to look at not just all the boundaries and the consolidation and I know that cuts will be necessary, but actually look at who's leading those schools and right-size it to make sure that our kids thrive. >> Thank you so much, Ms. Shara. Deeply appreciate that and we assure you we are going to use our racial equity
070lens and work closely with our ResJ team to ensure coherence. Thank you so much for that. I'm going to tap us to Laura, then Logan and Sam, then we're going to come to Lisa and then maybe move to Sarah Horn for your next comment. Laura. >> Hi, thanks. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. Thank you. >> Great. Two quick questions. First, the Slido thing is I think useful for gathering a lot of data, but are you going to be surveying all parents? Are we going to be gathering information from people who can't make it to these engagement meetings? And second question, can you please provide a different copy of the map that you linked to because the last table of schools, the utilization rates are cut off. So like I'm looking for where
071where my school what their rate is and then it isn't there. >> Awesome. Thank you, Laura. I'll get on that on the back end right now so that we can get that updated in the chat. Appreciate that feedback. All right. And uh FACE team, if one of you all could drop the feedback form into the chat, that would be awesome. Okay, we're going to head to Logan uh and Sam, and then we're going to head to Lisa and Sarah and then Nick. Uh yep, I got you. Logan and Sam, you're up first. Yep. >> Okay. Hi. Um so, I have two future um Creston Elementary students and it's a walkability issue for me. Is really some of the biggest things that come to mind for our family. Walkability is actually like one of the reasons
072we even live in Portland. Um I feel like a lot of That's a value that a lot of Portlanders have is like walking and biking places. Um I do know that I have other places that are close to me that are walking distance for elementary school. Um but two of the three that are close to me are lottery. Um and I've seen in the chat how important some of the the curriculum that is for the students that go there and their families. Um but when I look at a map and it's like I'm surrounded by lottery, it's like there's these physical schools that are a mirage. Um if some of them were to close. So, if some of them stay open, then hey, I've I've got more options. So, that's something that I would like
073for the board to address is um how are they looking at the map and the difference between neighborhood schools versus lottery schools. The other factor that comes to mind for me is I live in a neighborhood that has multiple new housing projects that are about to be done with completion. So, I know that when we look at enrollment, we're looking at like enrollment in the past and enrollment right now. Um but I wonder how like Portland Public Schools is able to get that information. Like multiple of the housing projects that are coming up are purposefully set to be multi-family units. Um like they're multi-bedroom apartment buildings instead of what a lot of supportive housing has been as like uh studio apartments and things like that. And so, that's kind of looking at our map of
074space um and time. I also would like for Portland Public Schools to address looking at a map of overlap. So, I know that there's talk of combos of classrooms um like combining first and second graders together. Um but what I think would be probably a crap year for a lot of people is if their teacher is both experiencing being new to swallowing um a whole new neighborhood into their classroom and doing a combo classroom. Like that's a tough year and I don't think I would ask that of any teacher. Um otherwise, it's going to just be a bad experience for that teacher, those kids, and all of the parents. So, those are those are the things that are on my mind when I think about school closures. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
075Um just a bit of tidbit for our Board of Directors tonight. This is a public meeting and so, to make sure that we are transcribing and make sure that we've got our meeting minutes. If when you are uh sharing tonight, if you could share your first and last name, that way we can make sure that the notes are accurately uh capturing who's in the space. >> Yes. Um I am Sam Bevington. She/hers. >> Thank you so much, Sam. Thank you for being here tonight and what you've shared. All right, we've got Lisa coming, then we've got Sarah, Nick, and maybe Ariana or Aryana, and then Joanne. We'll go in that order. Lisa. >> Yeah, I just wanted to jump in really quick and say that the the documents are also posted online. Um if you
076go to the board meeting uh postings, you'll see the the link to the PDF for tonight. >> Awesome. We'll get that posted on board uh the board book link as well, Dr. Armstrong. Okay. All right. Lisa, when you're ready. >> Okay. I It was like I was trying to unmute it and it didn't let me. >> I'm coming. I was coming. >> Yá ha at du wáts dei everyone. My name is Lisa Jackson Spotted Elk. Um I am here just to advocate for some support at this time. you know, being a part of the Seltice Guiding Coalition, um as well as a parent that was affected by it as well, um and you know, just being in the native community, um as everyone, you know, that knows me knows me. Um I really wanted to
077to just point some things out as everyone already mentioned, you know, um when we're thinking about this, we are think we have to think about what what schools are are already affected by what has happened since the Seltice Guiding Coalition um that I'm I am really eager to advocate for it to make sure it doesn't happen again. Um you know, in that area, we had picked on a lot of schools that we weren't transparent very at all with, and um I just don't want that type of issue to happen again to a lot of vulnerable schools. Um And so, moving forward, I kind of feel like, you know, these these are okay breakouts, but like this process like has to be a everyday thing. There is how many schools, you know, how many families? We
078only have so much families here. Some of us can't even react in what's going on. Um so, you know, like hearing one parent state that, "Why did we even move forward with with updating schools right now when in reality, you know, we really need to just slow down?" Um and and really think about what we're doing um at a bigger picture and what what is really happening and how to help each other at all levels um because in in the schools that the Southeast Guiding Coalition did dramatically affect on that we have not looked into or even have, you know, paid attention to um and the boundaries changed, you know, this is a great example on why we need to be transparent on every process we're we're going through and making sure that we're we're
079engaging at the best of our, you know, capabilities that we can. That's why I offered, you know, to get into the native community to make sure that everyone is engaged there because I don't I mean, honestly, I don't know how many natives are here, but I'm pretty sure probably five. Um so, that's a great example on why I'm saying every community needs to be engaged. Um and I'm just here to offer my support, you know, if anyone needs support, I'm here for that. I don't mind being and going above and beyond for all of our communities because this is dramatically affecting all of our communities as I am deeper in the community as even when, you know, the lady just mentioned about housing. We really have to think about that as well because these housings
080are coming up and these communities are going to be affected. So, it's like we have to think about the bigger picture as a community as a whole as, you know, our district that is dramatically affected. But we just we just need to kind of slow down a little bit because a lot is going on um and to to start redoing schools and talk about all of this stuff that we don't even know where our kids are going yet to even start redoing anything. And also our schools are falling apart. Safety should be our main concerns because how are we going to have any schools with a bunch of dead kids? Our boundaries, our safety, our protection of our schools need to be redone. We get it, you know, but we really have to just slow
081down. But thank you guys for this and any, you know, anyone who feels like they need help and support advocating for their community. I'm everywhere in the community, so I don't mind offering that support. Thank you guys for this time. I don't want to waste a lot of time, but I just think we need to really be transparent all the way around so Southeast Guiding Coalition doesn't happen again. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. We spoke a couple of days ago and I always deeply appreciate your truth-telling. It's always refreshing and even though we deeply recognize the challenge that we are at, we hear you and we deeply appreciate your advocacy tonight and every other night. I want to make sure that I've got my speaking order correct. I've got Sarah Horn, then I've
082got Nick, Joanne, and then Jen in that order. All right. Sarah? >> Hi, thanks for taking my question. One thing that I am hoping to learn more about is to understand when we're going to get some data about how much money this effort is saving for our school system and how that money is going to be reinvested actually make our schools stronger and better. I think if we had that information up front, many of us might be able to buy in to this. Like Okay, we're getting more art or our building's going to be better or the class sizes will be smaller with this money that we're saving, but none of that has been provided to us and And really think like that PR marketing piece needs to happen for us to get on board
083cuz I think you'd have a completely different reaction if we were being sold on this. But right now, I don't know if any money will be saved. So, I feel like we're going to be in the same situation with um >> My apologies, Sarah. Go ahead. >> Anyway, I'll stop my opinions, but I would love to see >> hear when that information is going to be published, like the numbers. >> Yeah. Appreciate that, Sarah. We heard you. We know there's a little bit of feedback, but no worries. We've got it captured. Um want some data up front, building some buy-in, and some PR to make it uh splash a bit. That way we'll get more stakeholder support. Got it. Deeply appreciate that insight. We're going to head to uh Nick, Joanne, Jen, and then we
084might conclude. I want to leave a little bit of time for our Board of Directors to sum uh summarize uh and to give a final word before we part out. Uh Nick, coming to you, dear. There you go. >> Hi there. My name is Nicholas Verban. I'm a middle school teacher and I have two kids at Elementary, one of the schools that was underutilized currently. And uh first of all, I had two shout-outs. One is for pivoting at the beginning of the meeting. As a middle school teacher, y'all were impressive. Thank you for doing that. I know it's really, really hard when things are going south to to pivot, so I appreciate that. Well done. Um and then my second shout-out is I've heard a lot of people refer to the use the word imagine,
085and I really like to think that we're imagining schools 5, 10, 15, 20 years in the future, not just a short-term fix based on the current trend of enrollment for the last 2 years or something like that. Um you know, having watched the Southeast Guiding Coalition um as a parent and as a teacher, I was in both those roles during that time roles during that time. Um I would really want to consider looking at the number of transitions that current kids have had, right, and how that might impact them. If they've already moved twice, right? If their schools have changed already significantly, what is the impact? Well, first of all, some of their schools might be under-enrolled because they haven't had time to build it up. And a shout-out to our principal at Lunal Elementary,
086uh she has been amazing. And it takes a while to build a program, and I believe those numbers are going to come back. Um and then also, I know this is maybe not a super popular question, but I think an important survey question might be what families are willing to give up for the beautiful community that we want to see. Because, you know, we think about what do we want in a school? And I mean, I want everything. Like, I I want walkability, I want the programming, I want I want it all. But also, I think like a lot of us have to really look inside and say, "What What are we willing to do?" Does that mean that we're going to have to walk a little further? Does that mean that we're going to
087have to give up the comfort of something, or we're going to our kids are going to have to split with their Whatever it is, like, we have we know that we're going to have to make some sacrifices. And then last but not least, um we talk about the predictability of outcomes for students, um based on race, based on so many other factors, based on language at home. I also wonder like about the predictability of this of this process, and I do feel like it's been really open so far, but I think like the families that we're not hearing tonight are probably the families that are going to be impacted the most. And the families who aren't who are really difficult to consider because then it's going to take a lot of work to go into
088those schools, right? As a teacher trying to reach out to parents, it can be really hard. And so, we want their voices here, too. Their voices are just as important. And then, um last but not least, I'm concerned about how the predictability of this process will actually be a self-fulfilling pro- prophecy, so that And that would actually impact enrollment. Right? So, if you know, if I'm thinking about a DLI school, how can we keep numbers up if parents can't predict where their kids are going to be in 3 years? So, not a not not just like giving a list of names of schools who are going to be impacted, but considering like giving people a timeline so that they can make informed decisions so that we can maintain our our enrollment. Um thank you so
089much. Much I really appreciate y'all. >> Thank you, Nick, and you got some love in the chat. So, make sure you scroll up and see all of your warm reactions to what you shared tonight. And thank you for the shout-out. All right. We got JoAnn and then Jen. Hi, JoAnn. Coming to you. >> Unmute. >> There you go. >> Okay. I was having some tech issues there for a minute. Uh to the school board member who's missing their kitty, I hope he comes home. I've been there many times. So, I hope so. Um I am My name's JoAnn Godfrey. I have been in Portland Public Schools since 1991 as a teacher, uh 30 years retired, and 5 years as a sub with 40 years total experience, fourth generation teacher, and so on. Um I think
090I'm going to speak to what's happening with teachers and how they're feeling right now because I hear a lot I hear a lot more than I probably should um with all the schools that I sub at. Um There's great concern about curriculum and testing throughout Portland Public Schools in primary. The curriculum and the testing is standardized, very standardized, and children are not standardized. >> JoAnn, >> Yes. >> to pause you for 1 moment. I see hear some interference. Give me a moment. Somehow I've got somebody talking somewhere. If you are off of mute, can you just do a quick check? I know sometimes that background interference can be tricky. Okay. Okay. It might be from our interpretation space. So, I'm going to keep you on. >> a delay? >> It's a bit of a delay,
091but it's it I it might be on my end, Jo Ann. Let me let you keep cooking with grease. >> Don't worry. >> There you go. >> Doctor said I shouldn't have greasy foods. >> Okay. >> Um and I think they're very, very worried about meeting the needs of the children rather than having the children meet the needs of the district. Um I see the frustration in teachers and I see the frustration in students in the curriculum. And when it's standardized, children don't learn as well as when it's personalized to their needs. Um The the focus schools provide so many options to families in that their child may not do well in a very traditional school, whereas they need to be outdoors or they need to have the science or they need to have the
092arts or they need to have the DLI. And I'm concerned about those programs that give parents choices to meet the needs of their child rather than saying, "Okay, Portland Public Schools is going to be all regular schools and everybody has to go somewhere." Um it doesn't help that the state is not funding the QEM at all. And it doesn't help that constantly those special unique classes are cut again and again and again. Um since I have been in Portland Public Schools in my 30-year career as a classroom teacher, there has never been a year where there hasn't been a budget crisis. Um sometimes it's little, sometimes it's big. Teachers are upset about the furloughs. Teachers were still upset about the 10 days that we worked for free, but it's constant budget issues. Parents leave because
093of that. They say, "I don't want to deal with this. I'm going moving out of town. I'm going to go to a different district." So, there's a lot more than just right-sizing schools. Um and I don't want the needs of the children to get lost in all of that. So. >> Wow. Joanne, thank you so much. One, for your 30 years. Uh and then for coming back as a sub. >> I love subbing. >> We deeply value and appreciate you so much and for what you've shared. We've captured your thoughts and insights for tonight. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Last, but certainly not least, we've got Jen. Go ahead and mic drop for us tonight, Jen, if you can. You got it. There you go. >> Oh, well, I feel guilty
094being the last, but hey, my name is Jen Marinan. Um I have a kid goes to Rose City Park and I'm a teacher over at Lee Elementary. Go McDaniel Cluster. Woo woo. Um I had a few questions because looking at Lee's enrollment, um why are we not counting My question is why are we not counting our pre-K kids into our schools because that's the current um like kinder through fifth enrollment, but we have beautiful classrooms of preschools that are filled in there. And they're also like that's the beauty of it is then they get to go into our school and it's the whole wrap-around and they're our future. So, that's my wondering one and then two, um just the fact that there's a need for preschool, so we need to like provide that for families
095and that connection. Um and then three, especially being, you know, as we saw how hard this was to engage and stay here, I really, really, really would like to prioritize, especially to our title one schools, um, opportunities for listening sessions at their buildings. Um, and I'm just echoing Cali's in the chat. Um, I just think that that would be the best opportunity to really hear the right people's voice. Not that other people aren't, but they're the ones that we should be prioritizing right now. Um, Portland has a really crappy, historically underserved, um, just so many of our beautiful communities, and I do not want to relive it again, um, in real time. So, I think that's all. Thanks. >> The beautiful mic drop, Jen. Thank you so much and for being at Lee. Deeply appreciate
096you and your service and being in that Gateway cluster area, McDaniel cluster. Um, with that, I want to turn it back over to Dr. Franco or Dr. Armstrong before we give our Board of Directors uh the final moment to share any insights and their lasting impressions that they are taking with them this evening. Just want to make sure that our Senior Chief and our Superintendent has the moment. >> Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. And for the 200-plus folks that hung in with us during the Zoom bombing and getting back to a place where we can actually hear from you. Thank you for that. As I said before, documents are posted. We'll make sure that we have that posted in advance. I heard about some maps and some data being cut off, so we will make sure
097that that's corrected and posted tomorrow. Um, and with that, unless John has anything to say, I will turn it over to our Board Chair and um get closing comments from um the board. >> I'm good. Thank you. Thanks everybody for being here. >> All right. Board of Directors, uh, want to give you all an opportunity, uh, to share some final and culminating thoughts. I'm going to unmute you all at once and rock, paper, scissors of how you might want to indicate who gets to go first. >> Well, let let's turn it over to board chair and we'll let him do that. Thank you. >> Awesome. Thank you, Dr. Armstrong. >> Um, thank you. Um, also to John Franco for not giving me much of a runway to think of a response. So, uh, I really
098appreciate everyone being here. Your your thoughts and your feedback are being considered. Again, I just want to reiterate, we are in the very beginning of our process. There hasn't been any decisions made or whatnot. We are here to identify what your priorities are, what people's priorities are, and we are also deeply aware of who shows up and who can't show up. That's a huge part of equity and trying to make sure that we do our best to reach out to the families and, uh, that we typically don't hear from in the past. And that is a huge priority of ours. Um, at the same time, um, our priorities are students. Uh, that's why we're here, why we're doing it. Uh, shout out to all the SCGC folks I've seen before. Good to see your faces
099again. On Zoom is bringing back bad memories. Uh, thank you for being here. Um, but I just also just want to reiterate, um, let's to make sure that we focus on what the goal here is. The goal here is that we are trying to create a system where every school in our district is well resourced. Right? We have 6,000 less kids than we did back in 2016, but we have the same number of schools. Uh, and and so, right now the system doesn't fit. And, um, if the, again, I think I heard from a lot of feedback from parents that, uh, being focused on what the goals are is very helpful. So, here my personal goals, uh, what my are here are that um every elementary school has a full-time librarian, has a full-time special
100ed teacher that doesn't have to switch from one school half-time and another school another half-time. Uh I want middle schools that have all the robust programming and and no matter what middle school you go to, you get all the robust programming that uh every other middle school gets. That means band, that means music, that means art, that means um math courses for a variety of math skills, not just one track. Um and so these are kind of what what the goals are for consolidation, to make sure that our system fits what our students currently are right now. Um and so um again, just a reminder, we are in very beginning of it and I I I see a lot of these questions, we are hearing, we are listening, um but we are also going to
101continue to reach out, especially from to families that we don't typically hear from. So, thank you all for being here today. With that, I'll hand this off to let's go with our vice chair, Michelle De Pass. >> Uh thank you uh Chair Wong and thank you all for being here. Um I really appreciate having heard um tonight's engagement. I heard a call for more data. I'm 100% for that. I would like to um be data-driven in our decisions. I also heard uh that we know that everybody that's in this room, that there are more people to engage and people that have a harder time getting to these kind of meetings and I'm committed to doing uh my best to to assure that we hear from people that don't typically come to these types of engagements.
102And the last thing is um I really appreciated Chair Wong's um like stating of values and I think that's kind of where we're at right now. No decisions have been made about any particular uh building, but our values about what we envision for our kids are really kind of where to start this conversation and I just look forward to um hearing more. On another note, I won't be at the next engagement um because I'm supporting one of our alternative schools and I think there are a couple of other board members that will be joining me at an event at the same time on our on Wednesday. So, I'm sorry to miss that next one. Thanks. >> Thank you so much, Vice Chair DePass. How about we move in order by zone and move to Director
103Split from Zone 1? >> Hi, thanks everybody. It's been really great to listen and I've been doing my best to read along in the chat. I'll probably get in trouble for chatting back some of you, but I just really like I really can't thank everybody enough for sharing their thoughts and asking really important questions. I know it's frustrating that it's like wait to get the answers cuz if we were answering the questions while we were going we wouldn't be able to like run the event. So, just know that this group has done a wonderful job in past events to go through and get those questions and issue an FAQ and get that posted online. So, please just know that that's going to happen. I also just can't help but thank our staff. I think Nick
104did a really good job of saying so, but there was a really rough start and you guys did a really good job of like appearing to be totally unbothered by it and moving through it as gracefully as you could. I also just want to echo again really everything everyone said before me here, but I think Chair Wong's approach is one that I hope everyone can consider. Like how do we make sure that all of our schools have the basics? How do we make sure like I have I'm in far Southwest Portland our music teacher is either at our school at Peninsula which like frankly couldn't be much further away. And so, how do we help to have these school communities where our educators you know, are just part of the community all day long. That's
105something that I think about all the time and how much better that would be for our kids and for our teams. So, I think having that positive outlook of like what do we want to see in our schools is a great place to start, Um, but I do want to note that I see a lot of frustration or questions or wonderings, and um, I too look forward to seeing the answers and having continued deliberation. Thanks. >> Thank you so much, Director Split. Let's move to zone three, Director Sullivan. >> Okay. Um, I don't think I have too much more to add that what my more, let's see, fluent speaking board members have to say. They do a very good job. Um, I You know, we want every school to have everything. We want every child
106to have everything. And we can see from some of the comments that that the everything is different for different people. So, you know, we're trying to make it work for our whole community. Um, and I can say I'm very certain that this board will work together to do the very best we can in this situation because we all really do care. So, and thank you the number of people that were here and what Nick said about the middle school teacher about making it work. I'm a teacher myself and I was very impressed. When things are going bad, you just you make it work. So, thank you so much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you so much, Director Sullivan, and we will move to zone four, Director Chase Miller. >> Thanks. Um, I just really appreciate everyone
107being here tonight. Um, I think what I am taking away is the importance of community. And, um, although there was a lot of diversity of thought in terms of, um, what exactly this might look like at the end of the day, um, what was clear and consistent was that folks want their kids to be in supportive, well-resourced communities that um that are full of people that care about them and uh we all just really want our kids to have like that quintessential really positive um school experience. Um they get one shot at their education and um I'm really hopeful that through the course of making these changes we'll be able to create that experience for our kids. And many of us on the board have kids in the schools right now who will also be
108impacted by this. So please just know that we are in this with you and hoping and dreaming and wondering alongside you. Um but I just I I know that through um the collaboration of our community we will get to the best possible outcome. So please continue to show up and participate and your feedback really is invaluable and we really are listening. So thank you for being here and please continue to engage. >> Thank you so much Director Chase Miller. Let's move to zone five, Director Lefort. >> Um so I the good part about going last is that everybody's pretty much touched on just about everything but I do want to say that um what I'm really appreciating as a board member right now and finding um that by and large that the community seems to
109understand the need for this analysis and that's a relief. And as a board member um I really want to ensure that every student has access to the most resources possible and the best suited resources for each individual student. So that is the lens through which I'm looking in a lot of the comments that I'm seeing today and um and hearing today um align with that. So um it feels like the community is right here with us. Um, but the feedback along the way is critical. I'm very interested in seeing the responses, um, to the the Slido. I saw the request and it's not the first time I've had a request to actually send out this survey, um, to the PPS community, which I think would be invaluable. Um, and also I just want to say,
110you know, I had a um, we've had PTAs reaching out. So, if you have a PTA and you're interested in reaching out to board members to come out into your community, I know that, um, that's something that personally I'd love to do. I did a PTA meeting last week. I've got a couple more scheduled. Um, if you are, you know, want us to come to you, don't be afraid to reach out. And, uh, you know, I know that we'll do our best, um, to make that happen. So, yeah. >> Thank you so much, Director Luforst. And we're going to, um, have our comments from Zone 6, Director Englesman, and then end with our student representative, uh, Ian Saltzman. Director >> to go last. And so I get to say thank you. I agree with everything
111that's been said by my esteemed colleagues, and I'm really grateful that all of you came out tonight on this Monday night, um, to be part of this process and to give you your our give us your thoughts. And I would ask that the FACE team drop the link for feedback back in there because we've had so many great comments since then. And I say that because it's critical that we hear from you with your thoughts about this process. And I say that because since Saturday, I'm really pleased to see that there has been some, um, changes to this process and a lot more community opportunity to talk tonight than there was on Saturday, which I think is great. Um, so thank you to the district for making those changes. Um, and also keep letting us
112know how we can make this better so that it is a process that is worthwhile of your time and our time. Um, and then I also just want to say that thanks to all of you for saying you need more feedback sessions. And to remind everybody, if you haven't seen, um, the updates, there have been two more that have been scheduled. One is this Saturday, the 25th, from 2:00 to 3:30 at Benson, and then Monday, the 27th, from 6:00 until 7:30 at Roosevelt. Um, I could say I say that funny. Um, so it's Roosevelt. So, please join us. If you've been to one already, come again. There's no limit to how many of these you can come to. And I heard a lot of great thoughts. I I'm just processing all of this and I'm
113really grateful to all of you. >> Thank you so much, Director Inglesman, and we have dropped the link to that flyer, which advertises the Zoom links for the virtual and in-person options on Saturday at Benson and on Monday, April 27th, at Roosevelt. And teeing it off is our student representative, Ian Rito, who happens to represent Roosevelt High School. Ian, final comments, my dear? >> Thank you. First of all, you do say Roosevelt weird. Second of all, I'll keep it short cuz I definitely spoke too long last meeting. I'd like to second everything that Joanne Godfrey said. I think it's incredible every time we talk about anything budget-related, it's always going to be always have to talk about the state and the role of the state has to play in this. So, it was great. I
114loved hearing from everyone and where everyone was at with their priorities going into this conversation. >> Thank you so much, Ian, and for your service this year. Everyone, that concludes our Board of Education public engagement session for tonight. I want to personally thank you for your grace and your flexibility, for your heart, for your passion, for everything you bring for our babies and everything you are to us as a community. We cannot do this without you. We won't do it without you. We will see you on Saturday, April 25th, at Benson High School. Thank you all so much. Have a beautiful evening. Take care of yourselves and each other. Good night.