001Here we So, good afternoon. I'm going to again welcome people into a seat someplace. I'm going to welcome Principal Carpenter up to the front of the room here. So I want to first of all thank you all for taking time on a Saturday to come together to uh engage with us and the board around some conversations about right sizing and um we know that these are uh very these are personal conversations that that are very close to you your families and um we'll take some time today really to hear what is what uh what is surfacing for you as we enter into these conversations. Part of what I want to uh do is we're going to we're going to take a moment to have um uh Principal Carpenter welcome us into Kellogg and then we'll
002the board members will share um some statements before we get started. The general framework just so people are aware is there will be it will be in the space together. There'll be small group interactions. The board members will be circulating through to listen uh to intent to specific conversations at the tables. So in that way it'll be um the engagement will be really at a at a much of it will be at a um a table site. So just to be aware of that we have some folks online as well. uh but we'll be in the space. We'll be moving around a little bit at times, but we'll start at tables uh to begin with with some table interactions. So again, I don't think I introduced myself, so let me start with that. My name
003is Margaret Calbert. I'm one of the assistant superintendents uh here in Portland Public Schools. Uh and we'll introduce some of the other folks in the room momentarily. I know that there are some um folks that are from the media here. Our request is that if you're sitting at a table and interacting with people that you just let people know that you're from the media. Um, so there are some people here with that are just so that we understand that. We also have some interpreters in the room um that we'll introduce here shortly, but I'm going to turn it over to uh Principal Dan and uh Carpenter, Dr. Dan Carpenter, and uh then we'll get rolling. So, thanks again so much. >> Good afternoon and uh welcome to Kellogg. My name is Dr. Dan Carpenter. I'm
004a principal here. Uh we are honored to host this uh this event. Uh community sessions are kind of what we're all about here at Kellogg. And so if you need anything while you're here, please don't hesitate to speak up. Uh my welcome is very short. I'll hand this back over to Margaret. I'll be around all afternoon for you if you need anything. So please speak up if you need something. Thank you so much for being here. Can we hear for Prince Carpenter, please? I'm going to ask interpreters to please come forward. Uh if you would just so you can introduce yourselves. If families need interpretation, then we'll be identified by the interpreters that are in the room and we'll sit in space with the interpreters here today. >> Okay. Uh hello everybody. I'm Chang Vietnamese
005interpreter today. If anyone need help, come to get me. Uh, hello everyone. My name is Tanya or Tatiana, Russian and Ukrainian interpreter. If you need me, I will be sit by over there. Thank you. Hello, my name is Arena. I'm Russian Ukrainian interpreter. Will be sitting there. If somebody needs, please welcome. >> Hi, my name is Amal Aman. I speak in Somali. Uh if anybody needs, I'll sit all the way back. >> Hi, good afternoon Jonathan Spanish interpreter. If you need me, I'll be the back. Thank you. Hi, I'm Kimberly, Vietnamese interpreter. I will be in the back if you need me. Kimberly, Vietnam. year old Bakabi. So, we're uh we're going to pause here and uh take a moment to welcome our board members into the space and I think they have a few
006things they want to share with you as we get into the conversation today. So, board members, Chair Wong, Hi, my name is Eddie Wong. I'm the board chair. Um, I live about 15 blocks south of here. Uh, I have a kid in middle school in PPS. I was a former teacher in PPS and before I became on the board, I was also on the SCGC as many of you probably very fondly remember. Um, and >> stands for >> Oh, Southeast Guiding Coalition. I know it's been years. Um, today I'm hoping to just hear from as many of you as possible. It's about what your hopes are, what your goals are for for this process and uh and hopefully we do the best we can. Thank you for being here. >> Hi, I'm Christie Split. I'm
007also a member of the board. Um, we as board members represent the entire district. I happen to live in Southwest Portland. Um, I'm grateful to be in such a beautiful space and what I'm hoping to hear today is just creative ideas for how we move forward with fewer students in our system. Um, I care deeply about the community where my kids go to school and I think about the temptation that I have to just like hold like that school sacred, right? Like I think we all probably feel that way. But I feel like we all should acknowledge that and then also be thinking about well like what do we do with declining enrollment and having to figure out how to move forward. So I just really want to hear like create creativity and open-mindedness and
008just like the values that you think we as decision makers should be bringing to the table as we consider um how to move our district out of a pretty tough situation as we have fewer and fewer students. I'm really grateful to see such a big crowd today and to have you all here especially on a Saturday. Um, and that's probably the other big thing today is just to express gratitude. We're all in this together. We're trying to figure out how to have an excellent urban public school together. Um, that's my attitude and um, I hope that um, we can all work together and not necessarily feel like we have to work against each other school to school. Thanks. >> Uh, hello Ian Rotor, student representative. Um, I'm glad so many of you uh brought your
009students today because the main thing that I'm looking forward today is hearing what my constituents think. Uh, the students in the room. Uh, you know, obviously it's my job to represent their voice on the school board. Um, and it's a lot rare that I get to interact with some of my younger constituents, of course, being the chair of the district student council, which is made up of high schoolers. Um, so again, I'm also very appreciative there's so many of you here today. Um, >> hi everybody. My name is Stephanie Englesman. Uh I live in southeast Portland. I have a fifth grader at Abernathy and two sixth graders at Hosford Middle School. Before I rash rush down from um Holy Redeemer where I was coaching a soccer game 45 minutes ago, so I'm trying to get
010into a new space. Thank you all for being here. I want to point out that there are two more of these listening sessions. One on the 20th which is virtual, one on the 22nd at IDW Wells. So you can go to all three. Please pass that on to your friends and um colleagues because if we can get more people at those we hear more opinions and thoughts about this process. Um I am excited. I had the opportunity to talk to Crestston people about the great work they've been doing and how they have upped their enrollment for the first time in a long time of their kindergarten class. So, if I get to be at a table or if you're at a table with Kristen, please pick their brains because they're obviously tapped into something that
011is working and we can move that enrollment up for every single school because our community schools, our DLI, our lottery schools are all amazing places where people should send their kids. Uh, thank you. Hi. Uh, my name is Patty Sullivan. I'm live in zone three, but obviously represent the whole district. And I'm, you know, nobody's looking forward to this to the downsizing. But I think we're just going to try our best and the best that we can do is by listening to you to get a lot of different ideas. You know what you need in this area. So, I'm here to listen. We're all here to listen. And I just kind of repeat what everybody else has said. We care. Um, and we know you care probably even more than we do and so we
012really want to hear from you. Thank you. >> Um, hi everyone. I'm Virginia Leford. Uh, I live in Northeast Portland and uh, my first PPS committee was the 2017 bond stakeholder advisory group which involved the building and or the planning of this building. So, it's thrilling to see such a beautiful middle school. I'm so happy to be here. Um, I am PTS parent. a PPS graduate and I have a sophomore uh in high school as well. And um I'm really excited to see so many people here today. I'm excited about this process because I feel like it's a step forward that we can take to um I really want to hear what your priorities are in this process. Is it distance uh to school? Is it building condition? Like what are the things that keep
013you up at night so we can take those into account as we're making our decisions? Um, I really hope that this process ends with a plan for us. We need to increase our capture rate. We need more people in our neighborhoods attending PPS and I hope that at the end of this um, we have a model that helps us accomplish that. So, thank you. >> Thank you. So, yeah, thank you so much. Yes, please thank our board members for being here on Saturday as well. So, as we go through today, uh there's one other group of people. I know there's some um district senior leaders that are in the room as well. If you can wave just to show where you are. We have a number of folks. We have uh Chief uh Deborah Capori
014up front here, Chief Bernard Adams to the left. I saw Senior Chief uh John Franco there. Um, I saw uh chief uh uh uh human resource officer Angela Freeman at the back. I saw our chief of communications Candace Gross. I saw senior director uh Nicole Watson uh from our face team. We have a number of folks in the in the space. I saw Roseanne Powell up here as well. So part of uh part of the reason I'm saying that is that there are a number of folks that are in the space that want to hear and listen and that's part of what is that I just wanted you to see who is also present as we go through. So for today um we're going to do some interactive polling. So if you have your cell
015phones we're going to end up with some some cell phone processes as we go through. We will do some um small group discussion and some whole group share out. You've seen maps posted around the room with some questions that we'll ask you to uh take a look at and react have some reactions to. Um and then we'll come back and we'll talk about some of the factors and to uh uh director Lefort's uh statements around how do we when we're looking at multiple factors, how do we how do we prioritize or balance them? and then and when we're looking across the district. So then we'll close it up at the end and uh there's some opportunities with um some closing questions that that we will ask. I also appreciated Director Englesman saying that we have
016um there are two other opportunities, right? So those those opportunities will one will be virtual and then again one will be up at Wells and that's not next week but the week after. So there are a number of spaces. The other part that I would just say is that um we know that there this is a series of three. This will not be the only series of engagements that will happen. And so we understand that people want to be able to see engagements close to where they live and that we're so we are committing to being in various places across the city over time. These are the first three. These are the first uh you know, so we're anchored in two spots, but I just want to make sure that we're clear that we're going
017to be across uh the city and uh PPS as we go through. We have a couple of things to just some general uh commitments as we're in space. We This is very personal and and we recognize that that is true. We also want to be respectful of people's experiences. So uh as as we're listening and thinking through please you know also be grounded in in what your experiences is and also in trying to understand what someone another person's experience may be in the space when we enter into the process overall um that we are as we're in small group conversations. If you can think about balancing who's who's participating and what is being said in the group so that you hear m the the voices at the table will be helpful. Um and this is
018a heavy conversation. So we are we're facing some significant decisions uh on a number of le level lever levels excuse me across the district. And we we enter into this recognizing that there's there is sense of loss, grief, uh there is I think everybody's saying you're thinking of us. Um that this is and you're really thinking this is going to impact every family across the district. What I want to um stay stay upfront is we are here to listen to help build out a framework and decision-m criteria. That is the purpose of what is we're doing that you're going to see some information out here. Uh people are going to draw conclusions. We are not at that point. So um that is a statement I just want to make sure that we're we're sharing up
019front. Um I think the other part uh up here is uh speaking from your experience and uh knowing when it's you're saying from my experience and and not necessarily generalizing to it must be this way everywhere as we go through. So just being honoring that there is a uh there's going to be multiple perspectives in this space. They're going to be different points of view and that the goal is to try to understand uh where everybody is. What I would say everyone the universal that everybody hopes is that their child goes to school is cared for and has a robust learning um experience. And that's something that we will hold together as as in this group and in the space today. So the learning uh we we're being consistent with trying to share our learning
020criteria, learning targets, success criteria. So today you're going to share uh perspectives and experiences to help shape community informed values, priorities, and guard rails for the right sizing process. At the end when we talk about success criteria and many of you as educators know that success is not always achieved in the one particular moment but that we'll come back to this a few times is to uh that you can share your experiences and perspectives about what matters for most students families and communities. you can identify values and priorities that should guide the decision- making as we go through this and that we can contribute ideas that shape equitable and thoughtful decisions as we go. We also uh want to make sure that we're utilizing our um our equity lens. And when we do this in
021these processes, one is that we're going to remain transparent in student centered decisions. And part of we've talked about this a couple of times in board meetings and this has been stated part of what happens when we do when we're transparent is that people will draw conclusions. So, I want to make sure that as we're going through that we're mindful of the impact that statements have. Um, and that I think everyone's feeling like there that something's going to happen in their community. So, I just want to make sure that we're clear on that piece. When we go through, we need to also think about who's impacted. We're sitting here in Kellogg and we're recognizing that we have this is a part of the city that we've had recent decisions in and that there's impacts in
022this neighborhood and in this part of town. And so we want to uh also honor the fact that we recognize that um this is this is a in this particular space uh there is impact. And then as we go through to always hold the question, well, as we work towards a recommendation, does it reduce disparities and are we able to start to really work towards really robust uh engaging spaces for students across the city that we're seeing that our all students are uh being served well and that we're that is the goal. Ultimately, we are facing some very hard decisions and part of what is we've seen this graphic a few times. Uh we've seen a decrease in our enrollment of uh in the last few years by 12%. We're seeing we're expecting another decrease.
023So there are efforts and I'm excited to hear about Kristen and the capture and getting a larger number of kindergarteners. We have shared that this is going to we're looking at this across a number of pieces and right sizing is one part of an enrollment uh uh strategy that we're employing. It's not the only piece but it is one. We also have shared this information that we have variability across our system by uh in grade bands by the size of schools and also um you know that we've we've made some changes over time in the number of schools at specific grade level configurations. So when we look at this, we're looking at not only what is um typical or what is what we're what is in the middle, right? And in this particular realm, we're
024using medians. So it's a middle, which means that half of the schools in that grade band have enrollments that are higher than that number and half have it below. So as we go through um enrollment, we're we're describing we're not drawing conclusions. We're describing what the what is currently in our system. We also know that enrollment changes based on grade level. So not every school type is experiencing the same change in enrollment and that we've seen over the past few years the steepest decline has been in elementary. High schools and middle schools have been a little flatter because students haven't progressed up through the system. So this will change as we go. So current state is informing future state but the changes are working their way up through the system. We also know that over
025time that we've changed sort of what our grade level configurations look like in the district. So from uh the late 2000s into the 2010s we were very we had a large number of K8s. Over time we've reintroduced middle school. So we've seen K8s decline, middle schools get an increase in the number of middle schools across the district and also an increase in the number of elementaryaries. What is also true on this graph is that we've seen a decline in enrollment, but we've maintained the same number of school sites being open. So we are looking at this is where we're in a in a pivot point for the district. Okay. So, we're going to go into our first interactive poll. So, there's a lot of people in this room. So, I want the one of the
026pieces I'm hoping you guys can do is if you have your cell phones out, there should be QR codes that are on your table as well, but if you pull it up, you should be able to pull up a a slido. And if you'd be so kind and just give me a thumbs up if you're able to like just so I can see if people are in. Okay. Thank you very much. Great. Okay. So, just to be in community together today, we're just trying to say who's in the space. So the first question I see we have 10 12 participants responding. We're getting some answers going here. So we we'll start to see what school communities people are connected with. >> Okay. Okay. Hold hold hold on one second. So what I'm what I am
027hearing is that the QR codes are from the students advisory council not from the slido. So I'm looking to see okay if we can I'll go back the QR code up here will take you into the right one and we'll work our way to get the QR codes to your table if Ed's needed. If I could see is anybody does anybody still need access to this QR code? Are we are we getting in? Yes. Still need it. Okay. Okay. So, how many people have done word clouds before? Okay. So, that's fantastic. A couple things about word clouds. the size of the the name or the word it says how many it it gets bigger the more people enter the same word. So the size will tell you how there's more people from Crestston or Chief
028Joe uh for example and we have folks from uh Luwellyn and various other places. There's also people that are saying that their students are in multiple grade levels so that there's more than one uh particular community. Yeah. one. Okay, thanks. So, we'll go the next one is just how what grade levels do people have here? So, what's the grade level in this space? So, I can scroll down here as well. So, we have a lot of K5. Whoops. Sorry. Let me get that out of the way. Okay. So, we and 6ix9ine and we have some prek students here as well. Okay. So, this is the fourth question. Is that right? Is it is it about race? Is that right? the programs. Okay. >> Okay. So again, this is gives a sense of uh who's in
029the room as well. What families uh or students are how students are identified racially. Okay. And then I'll come back this way. Here are the types of um educational spaces that students are are part of. And I'll scroll down because there's more than what's on this screen here. I can get it to Okay. Are you able to enter it more than one answer? No, you can't just reenter the question. Okay. Thank you. We'll come we'll we'll get it fixed. Okay. >> Yes. Yes. Okay. And then I'll go back to the survey in a second. So here is just as a comparison, right? This is our demographics uh that we have across our city in our in PPS. And then percent of students that are receiving uh are multilingual learners uh or students that receive um
030multi or multilingual support. Uh and then sort of this gives you a sense of where we are. Okay. With as a district overall versus who's in the room. Okay. All right. I'm going to go back here for a sec. Okay. So, this is again this is where we said people were from. These are the grade levels. So, we have 163 responses so far. how folks are how students are identifying. We'll come back. I hear this. We'll see if we can't get this question reloaded so that you guys can answer it with more than one. And then here's the demographic information overall. So, what we'll do is we'll go into our first table talk. So, I'm going to encourage if board members want to go find our way into a group. Um, and then yes, I'll
031take a question here as we're doing that. Yep. Hold on one second. We'll get you a mic. I might need a runner. Okay. Thank you. Y >> um we're talking about who's in the room and it seemed like we only have five of seven board members here, so I just wanted to spot check that. >> That's correct. Y >> I don't want to get too personal about people's business that aren't here that are on the board, but I do want to share one of them is at their own mother's memorial service and the other is violently ill. So hopefully that helps you explain and understand why they're not here. They absolutely would be otherwise. Okay. So at your tables there should also be uh a statement about some uh facilitation pieces with you. We have
032board members. I'll pause to let board members go where they want to go to listen in with some folks. Um, yep. Just any table. >> Yeah, I think it's if there it will be five probably six to seven people at a table would or table group. So, it's like this. And if you want to if you want to hear other people then yes I would if you want to mix yourselves so that you can hear as well. >> Yeah we don't have any sitting in a stack somewhere I'm sure. Thank you for letting us know. Okay. So, as you're getting into a table group, yes, please introduce yourselves. That's wonderful. And we will ultimately I'm sure that board members will rotate through as we go. So, Yep. Okay. All right. Okay. So, at your table
033group, if I could get folks back up here, please. Thank you. Thank you. So the first table group question is as follows. So we're talking about it's a this is going to be a quick one. So it's just a notice, right? Like whose voices are in the room? Who are we hearing from today? It you can do it as a quick whip around at your table and then we're going to it's just like a this is the first practice of us doing a table talk. Okay. So, who do you notice? Who's in the room today? Who are we? Who is not in the space that we won't be hearing from today? Okay. Okay, one other if we could come back together again. Okay. On your sheet of paper at your table, there's going to be
034a there's a a facilitator sheet at the table. So, as you're talking, there going to be a number of times where if there are themes that emerge, if someone's willing to just jot them down and be a recorder, we'll take those and we'll add them to the information along with the slide out. Okay? So, if there's someone that says, "Okay, if you're willing to say we're we're we're going to put like two minutes on the clock." We'll try to keep people moving through the conversation. Uh there'll be times that we if you record, we'll always if there's an opportunity to jot some ideas down, some themes that are emerging, that's great. Um and then there'll be times that we'll ask you to share out to the whole group so we can all hear. Okay? So,
035just think keep that in mind as we go. We won't do this on this one because this is sort of a prime the pump one as we go. Okay. So, everybody has introduced themselves. Do you know each other at the table? Not yet. Okay. Another Do you need another minute to go through and Yes. One more minute and we'll get everybody introduced and then we'll go next. Okay. If I could just get a show of hands that people get through at least introductions. Fantastic. I appreciate the the visual response. Thank you so much. Okay, we're going to go to the next round of questions. Okay, so back to your phones. Here we go with the next questions. Again, I'm going to just share that we're here in a part of the city that has recently
036experienced some changes. So some of what we're going to ask you about is how have you or your family experienced changes and that will be part of the conversation at the table. So again I I'm going to make sure people I'm going to get out of the way so people can get the slido rolling. Okay. Okay, are we ready for the next set of questions? I think so. Okay, so the next set should start with in the past five years, has your family experienced a school transition, select all that apply. So, as you're going through and entering, that's one. A boundary change, an opening of a school, a grade level or or school change, programs they are attending moved. There may be some folks in the room that had to shift schools because of some
037weather related issues. Okay. So we had about a hundred responses on the previous question. So I'll just pause here to see as people are entering what what's happened. Okay, we should be over a thousand, but you're saying we've hit a limit on the number of entries. >> Oh, you can only choose one. >> Three. Okay. Okay. Okay, I see what you're saying that this is not select multiple. You can only select one. Is that what you're telling? >> Okay. Okay. Okay. The next question is, what has helped you or your student feel connected as they moved from one school to the next? And you can see some of the pieces that are showing up here. And I believe that the top piece is some of the themes that are emerging. Shout out for Principal Gerber,
038it looks like. Okay. So, again, we'll we'll come back to these and we'll show you a couple of times some of the pieces The third question is in the past five years has your family experienced a school transition that you initiated and why did you initiate that change? Slightly different question than the one before. So, part of the reason we're asking folks to respond in the slido is it allows us to get everybody's voices. We're going to capture the pieces in your perspectives there. we're working out some kinks from the the degree of specificity that people want to put in. So, I appreciate that. And then when you go into your table talks, it gives you some context not only of what your experiences are, but what what are some of the other people's experiences
039in the room and we will continue these across the engagement session so we get a sense of what does this look like as we move through all the engagements. Okay. Okay. So, we should Okay, I'll go back then to the beginning of this series of questions. So, this was the there's been a little bit of change in this one overall, but this was the first question. The second question, the things the themes that are emerging, there's pieces in here. I I don't want to draw conclusions. I'll let you guys have some of those conversations at your tables. If if it's been a family initiated change, some of the pieces and then we're going to go back to a table group. So as you guys are at once the table question is here then I'll go
040back and cycle through if there's specific things that people want to see okay from the slidos themselves. So as you're having a conversation again we can talk about like from your space and and again we're trying to it's especially for um our staff and me board members in here hearing how the how change is affecting some communities or families in in more than others. what would that look like and in what ways? Okay, so we'll put a timer up to go back into table group talk again. If you have someone identified as a recorder, it would be helpful to say this is a theme that's emerging from our conversation. Okay? And then we'll go we'll come back out here. I'll give you put we'll we'll we'll check on in three minutes what the conversation's like.
041Okay? So, I'm going to welcome us back to one whole space again. So, as I was walking around, uh there are some pieces of uh nuance that people are surfacing. So, please, as you're having those conversations, if you can say yes and I heard that at least once um about what the experience is, I'm hearing a little bit about the differences by grade level, how it may be experienced and change may be experienced. So, it's going to be part of of where we um what the the nuance is going to be important to kind of sus out as we go through. Okay. So, we've we've been talking I'm going to bring us back here again. Thank you. I I I apologize for interrupting. I think there are rich conversations happening. It's all be good. Here
042we go. Thank you so much. Okay. So, what we've done is kind of done a scan of what the experience is in this space. Okay. Both personally sort of what are we thinking about some of the things that have happened in the last five years? and we're gonna ask you to um we're gonna we're gonna take a look at the district as a whole here in a minute. Okay. So, you will notice that there are maps and questions posted throughout the room. So, we will there will be some uh groupings that we'll go around and and look at some maps. So, there are a couple things that I want to um again just highlight for folks as we go into looking at maps. I think some of you looked on the maps on the way
043in. Is that right? Some Yep. Okay. So, I'm going to highlight a couple things that are on the maps and then I'm going to send you out to look at them. So this is a neighborhood gallery walk where actually it's a neighborhood gallery stand because we're not going to rotate across spaces but we will look at different parts of the city in the in the maps themselves. So on the maps there are some key aspects that I just want to highlight that are on it. So you are going to see uh one of the pieces that will be helpful is for you to locate some different things on the maps when you go look. So one I'm going to say can you find Wells Ricky and Gray on the map when you go over and
044look. Um what you'll see on the maps are all the locations and facilities that PPS owns. The size of the circle will tell you the capacity of the school. So, for example, Wells is bigger than Ricky, so it's a bigger school. Uh, gray is in between. You'll you're going to see enrollment numbers in different colors. The colors don't mean anything, so don't read too much into the colors, but they are in different colors. Um, the enrollment is for the current school year. So we took enrollment on October 1st which is what is we publish um on our website. There is a utilization number which is um it's a it's a comp it's a complica it's a complicated um uh calculation. That was a hard word to come out of my head. Sorry about that. Um
045but essentially what it means is you take the current enrollment divided by the functional capacity of the school. I'll come around and sort of talk about what the functional capacity of the school is and how do we determine that. It's different by grade level and um you know as you're looking uh we'll talk a little bit more about that and there are pieces around uh utilization rate which is sort of the the number of physical space that's that is present plus um what we call a utilization factor. So we don't use we don't assume for example for high schools we say um if you're a modernized high school that utilization factor is 85%. If it's a non-modernized it's 80 which essentially means there are spaces in a high school that aren't used for teaching every
046day. So administrative offices and things like that. Some of the other things that you'll see, another place I'm going to ask you to look for is can you find Rose City Park, Roseway Heights, and McDaniel. And again, you'll see that the size of the um the size of the circle is the size of the school. The sliver is a representation of the percent of utilization. So if you see on here, McDaniel is almost all light blue, which means it almost it's almost at its utilization. You'll see different kinds of boundaries. When you see something that's highlighted in blue, that means it's a high school boundary. A solid line is an elementary boundary, a boundary between two elementaryaries. There's also some pieces that will show you that it's a vacant site. So like right now, if
047you look by Wrigler and Scott, Meek right now is a vacant site. there's not students that are engaged in in academics at Meek. And then you'll also see this other piece down here, this green spot right here. It's an early learning center. So these are their places that we have prek students. So those are some of the features that are on the maps. At the bottom of it, you're going to see a very small table. So, you'll have to lean in a little bit. But on that, you're going to see the type of the grade level of the school, the type of programs that are present at that school, uh whether it's TSI or CSI, which means it's a school that is um um it is receiving either comprehensive support, which is CSI, or targeted
048support, which is TSI. You'll see a capacity which is the uh it's a functional capacity which is the uh determined by the utilization rate. The utilization essentially is the enrollment divided by the capacity. So that's what the percentage is up here. Okay. Yes. >> Hold on. Hold on. Hold on one sec because we we have people online and they can't hear unless you're in the mic. >> Really good question at our table. Does the utilization rate take into account Head Start classrooms in the building >> if it's a uh for like a prek? Is that what you're saying? So, I will get back to you on that answer. >> I'm wondering what class sizes what the assumption is made about class sizes when we're talking about capacity. It is based on it depends on the
049grade level but it is about it's a square footage measure. It's it not a class size in that way. Do you know what I'm saying? So it's it's based on how many students it there's it's a calculation again I can get the details about that but it's the notion is how much space is in a room and how many students. It's not a class size per se. It's a space measure. Okay. All right. So, what I'm going to suggest we do is I'm going to invite you up into a map. There's we'll have some markers and some post-it notes there. We'll circulate. I'll answer as many questions as I can and I'll make sure that I get all the questions written down that you have so that we can follow up. But this is the
050general notion as you're looking at the chart pack. There's going to be a chart pack like just take no your thoughts. What do you notice about it? What are you wondering about when you're looking at the map? Is there something that's confusing that you need us to give you more information about? What other information would you like to see on the map? What would else would be helpful as you look? Okay, I'm going to encourage you to do this in three ways. That you start by looking across the district as a whole. What do you see across the district? And then think about is there a place I'll come back to you. I got you. So, is there a location that you're looking at? Do you want to look at a specific middle school or
051high school or elementary boundary? Think about that. And then think about do you want to like try to locate all the K8s or all the middle schools or all the high schools so you have a sense of what that looks like. Okay. And we'll we'll divide up into the spaces as we go. It looks like there's a clarifying question perhaps. >> Okay. Okay, sounds good. So, we'll put about 15 minutes up for and I'll circulate around for you guys to go and look at the maps, put some thoughts down, and then we'll come back to our tables. Yes. >> Yes. Thank you. So, just Thank you. President Bonia says, "Where are the maps?" There's one up front here. There's a second set of maps over by the stairway. There are two at the back and
052there are two by the um food area, serving area. >> Are we supposed to have people standing by? >> Yeah. Do you want to go slow? This is one of my Zara Zara Tenny, are you in the room? Do you have >> Yes. So, I I'm appreciating the rich conversations people are having. I'm going to invite folks back into the center space and back to your tables, please. There's two or three more questions that we're hoping you can help us that you can answer for us as we go. So, if you take a minute to just transition back to your tables, please. >> Thank you very much. >> I'm so sorry. So, I appreciate people coming back to the tables. If we can move that direction, there are a couple more questions that we have
053for you before we close out for the day. Oh yes. >> Okay, I'm going to invite people back to your tables. Please, if we could come back to the tables. Appreciate you and all the post notes and the questions. We're going to head to the another sort of part of some feedback that we're hoping that we can provide and receive from you around how do we balance factors and make decisions. So people can flow back to your seats. Appreciate it. There was rich conversation, some very good questions. We'll capture what's on the post-it notes and on the PO chart pack and we'll make sure to get um there's a question about will the maps be posted? We'll get the maps up. We'll get some responses to questions up as well. So the next round is
054going to be thinking about we have some board policies about how we make some decisions and what we need to consider as we make decisions. So we're going to ask you to think through some of these policies with the factors with us. So in our student um assignment which is uh policy which is tied to um how we determine boundaries or the flow of students through our system asks us to consider um six factors. So this is uh the actual policy language we will we will link but it's essentially these six things a right pathway. So there's this continuity of education from um prek through uh high school. The mix of students, do we have the right mix of students in and and what does that look like across schools? Right. Boundaries. Are there boundaries
055that uh produce uh safe routes to school? What does that look like at a K5, at a middle school, at a high school? Do we have the right use of space? Are we using our facilities efficiently? and that we have access for students um to uh facilities that meet their needs across the city. Is it the right balance? Do we have the the right number of programs and enrollment stability not only at the school one school but at neighboring schools? And then what's do we have the right impact which is what is uh limiting you know how much how many families are are in are uh impacted over time and this again being here in southeast I think this is uh you know very tangible about are we as a student going to experience multiple
056changes in their K12 experience. So these are the general factors that we have. I'm going to talk a little bit about what we mean by right. So we often in vernacular say did we get it right? Right. We ask the question or what are we missing? I'm not as I I do not want there to be a sense that there is one way to do any of this. That's part of why we're co-constructing these things together and hearing from folks. So when we talk about pathways, what does that mean? when we talk about um balance, how do we determine that? What are going to be some of our indicators for those things? So, the idea is are we getting um some pieces that will get will help us say that when we look across the
057portfolio of schools across our system, are we meeting the needs of the variety of students and families in a way that seems equitable and also um close to where students live as much as possible. So, there are trade-offs. I heard people saying um when we were looking at the maps in particular um as people were looking at them. So here's the slido. So here again we're back to it. You're going to tell me if this is um after looking at the maps and hearing a little bit about sort of what people's experiences have been as you go through. If we were to think about these six factors that I just laid out, if you would say these three are we think are the most important to consider for and this is we're trying to understand
058sort of where where people's minds are after thinking through some of these pieces. So these are from the student assignment policy. The language is um the language of the policy is is uh some of it is verbatim and some of it we we uh shifted just to uh make it a little more accessible. Are people able to select? Is that true? Can someone give me a thumbs up? Is this question working? Okay, thank you. And as we go, the next question. Back in 2015, we asked families what they hoped schools would look like in 2025. And here we are at 2026. So these were some of the factors that we that we asked families about um at the time. And again, if you were to pick your top four, don't pick more than four of
059these things. What are the what are the pieces that you would say now are the most important factors? So, there's 11 of them to choose from. Is there anybody in the room that remembers the survey from 2015? Thank you. It's a while ago. Yes. Yes. Then the next question is uh how important is it that students and families have access to a variety of learning environments close to where they live? How important is it that there is dual language immersion or neighborhood schools or focus programs or schools close to where families live? I'm going back. Sorry. Don't >> Yeah. Yep. Keep take your time. Uh we were just saying if there's a portfolio of things, is it important that there's there's a variety close to where people live? Which of those it is? It's just
060the question. It's a more broad question. I just gave those as examples. Okay. >> It's not about all of them. So, I'm going to let me clarify the question. It's not that all of them are present, but how important is it that there are choices with close to where people live? So, for example, you know, there's you can see and you can see where some some how that plays out across our our city our city. So, >> because of the because of the the examples. >> Yes. Okay. >> Yep. I wording of the question. Okay. I think the wording of the question seems to be the problem, but it's like it should be asking like how important is school choice to us? Like getting to choose and select which type of school you want to
061go to versus just going to your neighborhood school. >> Yes. Thank you for that clarification. Yes. Okay. So, one of the things that we're going to wrestle with as we go through and the board will wrestle with is when you're trying to optimize or make decisions on multiple factors and you're considering multiple factors when they come into um uh I wouldn't when they come into conflict with each other, we have we're going to have to make a decision about what do we prioritize? And so this question that we have here is um one of them is around there's a statement that we're going to look at. Do students move uh from in a feeder pattern that's consistent and move from one grade level to another? Do K5 students move together as a group to middle
062school and then does that whole middle school move together to a high school? So that's one it's one thing that we should consider like how important is that and then there's a piece around uh what's the program enrollment stability of of neighboring schools. So as we go through there may be some tension between those. We often hear it around transportation and compact boundaries like there's there's pieces around some of those. So as we go through and I'm just going to be cognizant of time because there's I want to make sure that our board members have a chance to share out sort of what they heard from folks. Um, but this is the tradeoff piece is going to be one of the one of the things that as we go through and continue to have this,
063we're going to have to look through what what does this mean across some of the decisions that we make. So, there's a one last wrap up here. So, I appreciate you guys um sticking with us through many slido polls. And the last questions are if you could share what you think leaders should understand about your community before making decisions like this. What is What do you think we need to know? And what would you like the board to know And then the last question is what else should we think about? So what else do you think is important for us to bring forward? So, I'm going to um encourage people to continue putting in your responses. Thank you. And just a couple of things as we go through um as we wrap up and we'll
064ask the board members to come and share anything they want to share about what they heard today. Um back back to you. There's there are a couple questions about how will information that we're gathering be shared. So we're going to we'll work on pulling the information together and bringing it back out so you can see. One of the things that is um helpful about technology these days is that we can we can gather a lot of real-time information pretty quickly from folks. Um and we will share some of that those uh responses out. We're also going to take time to look at the questions that are up on the um on the chart packs and we will um share some of those pieces out. There were questions around transparency in particular uh and how you
065know there are times where we we ask questions we pull information out and we don't sort of share or synthesize what it what those those pieces are. So we'll make sure that that is part of what happens in the coming weeks. Um there are two additional listening sessions. Um and we will be doing this iteratively as I said. So we'll be across um the city in various places. Ultimately you know we've gone through as a district um reboundering uh and various other decision- making processes about every five years. And one of the challenges and one of the pieces that we're looking at is how do we get um into some well-resourced schools that are across the city that will provide students equitable access to really robust um programming that's sustainable. And this has been, you
066know, we're looking at um urban districts across the country are looking at the same sort of three factors which are um that there's declining enrollment for a variety of reasons and some of it's declining birth rates, some of it is affordability in cities. Um that there are aging infrastructures that school districts are finding and then fiscal constraints. So the hope is that as we go through and engage in this that we will build out something that we can say here are some decisions um and some um scenarios some options that will allow people to see that we're working towards um some pieces that will keep us in the sustainable uh place for the years to come. So I wanted to you know I personally I just will share that you know I was the principal
067at Jefferson High School for um close to a decade and there and I'm you know also wanted to acknowledge that changes have happened in parts of the city and we've and I and I'm seeing the statements about when we do changes repeatedly that how does that work with families and it's hard it's hard on families. So, um, that's part of what we're trying to work towards with this particular, um, in this time frame. So, it's it's that's a frame of it. Um, and then I think again I I before I bring the board members up to wrap, I want to appreciate people and I think this again is um, these are hard conversations and leaning in and hearing and and hearing what people thinking about and wrestling is very very important. So we in building
068a vision for how we move forward, we have to build it together. So I appreciate everybody taking the time to do that. I'm going to ask the board members that would like to share something out as as a way to close us out uh for the day and um so I'll invite the board members up and thank you very much. >> Well, I appreciate that. >> Looks like I'm the closest so I'm up first. Um, I'll try and keep it short to respect you guys time, but I have a few things to say. Number one, uh, I'd like to talk a little bit about the state government. I realized I forgot to mention this at the start of uh, during my opening statement, but if any of you have been to a board meeting, I'm
069almost always talking about the state government. Um, I just want to see a raise of hands. How many of you guys uh, know what ballot measures five and 50 are? That's a that's a lot of hands. I'm really glad to see that. For those of you who don't know, um, pass ballot measure five passed about 36 years ago. Um, kneecaped our property tax system, did a whole bunch of other complicated tax stuff, made all made schools extremely dependent, almost entirely dependent on state funding, which is pretty unique to Oregon. This has led to loss of, I think, statewide over a billion dollars of funds over this 36-year period. Um and it is one of the biggest reasons why we face cuts after cuts after cuts. Um it has been really hard. I mean I think
070over the past just the past three years over $120 million for PPS. Um and this year we met all of the economic criteria to release um the state's what's called education stability fund. Um we met all of the criteria. It's a billion dollars of this big humongous pot of money that is just sitting there um in to again as the name would suggest fill in in the case of uh economic instability to keep stability at least in our education. Our legislators voted not to release that money. So this so that is one reason why we are experiencing why we're going to be experiencing big cuts next year um and probably the year after that as well. It's like so I would just like I just want to bring that up. your state legislators could have
071at least alleviated some of the burden that we are feeling right now. Um so if you guys if you guys have state legislators that are coming to schools like this near you, I would absolutely recommend um going and telling them what are you doing about our schools? Um because the reality is we've been living in this in this model for funding schools for 36 years and not a single time has our state government fully funded our schools. So, that's the reality that we have to contend with as a school district every year. Um, and of course there are I'm sure there are countless mistakes that we make, but every year we try our we're out here trying our best. Um, uh, and that's part of what we're doing here. And I heard a lot of
072great things from so many people. Uh, lots of great conversations. So, uh, thank you guys all. And that's all I have to say. >> Thanks, Ian. Are there any other board members that want to make short statements before we say thank you for the day? >> Thank you. I just uh there was just so much involvement. It was really fun. I learned a lot of stuff, not totally new, but certainly learned where people's hearts were. And it seemed to me that the main focus of people I spoke to, they really wanted to keep their small schools small. and even um over getting at least K5 over getting specials in the classroom they say talented teachers take care of it keep your community and one person mentioned how in the community there's that we don't don't
073count Head Start right in their numbers we don't like they had an afterchool food pantry they had all sorts of stuff that's in the community that we don't even count and of course we don't get any money for but how important that is in the community being able to walk. Um, and then I also heard quite a bit about how the immersion programs sometimes pull away from the school and that's a problem. So, I think we have to look at that. I know a lot of people like the immersion. We're not going to make of the perfect answer for everybody, but it sounds like that was a problem. Um, first of all, again, I'm so excited to see such a breath of uh community from around Portland here today. I think um what I heard
074and what was uh a relief to me is an understanding that this process is happening and an understanding of why it's happening. Um a lot of great input. Um one of the questions that um or one of the points that I noticed on I think every single board was why we have K through8s and why we have middle schools, why we have both structures and um is it possible to address that during this? So I thought that was interesting. And um to echo what Patty said here um about um Head Start and how we account for that in the numbers and the utilization rates in our schools. That's a great question that I know that I'm going to follow up on for sure. So, thank you. >> Um I was actually hoping it would rain
075really hard today so we wouldn't feel bad being inside on a Saturday, but I just want to thank everyone here for taking time out of your Saturday weekend to be here and provide input. Uh, one thing I was actually really surprised about, not surprised, um, was really glad that, um, with the groups I talked to, we I shared a lot of the same sentiment and priorities uh, from the people I heard from. Uh, I do want to highlight one person though. I know there's we talked about like a hundred things, but there's one person I want to highlight which is actually the student voice. Um she mentioned, sorry I'm assuming that they mentioned diversity was important in their school and how it was a huge part of you know opening um their perspective and ideas
076and a really big part of you know growing up in and how important that was for for them and I think that was probably the most powerful thing I heard today. Um I do want to remind everyone we do have two more sessions. Um if you're not able to I I do ask that you if if you can invite other people. So we can hear from even more voices and and yours as well if you can come. Uh we have an online Can someone remind me of the dates again? I don't remember. >> They're over there. Um um when uh April 20th and April 22 in case you need a squint. Uh the the inerson one is in IDB Wells. So on the west side. Um I do want to thank everyone again for being
077here and we'll we'll keep listening and hearing priorities. Thank you. All right. So, um, again, thanks so much. Just wanted to give one last little bit of data point is that there is there were also 70 folks online with us today as we were going through this process. So, there were people here and then they're online. All of these are hybrid. Well, that's not true because one is just purely ver virtual. any inerson one includes both a um online and and a uh and a um in-person content. Okay. Yes. >> What's the best way to continue to track? >> I was wondering what the best way to track feedback from the slidos and information sessions will be after this meeting. So we will um we will uh pull it by um each session and we'll
078we'll we'll we will post the the the information. So we will get it we'll make sure that there's a a landing spot so that people keep going back to the same landing spot so we can keep that rolling. Okay. All right. Okay. One last question, last word. Okay. So, I appreciate knowing like what's happening future with future engagement sessions, but what can we expect in terms of communication and like projected dates um timelines for how much a heads up families will have that sort of thing. Appreciate that. So um the the we drafted it there a d we did an initial draft of a timeline and uh the it's it will be to have um a recommendation in November. So it is it's between now and November. What we what we are committed to is
079saying um can we get the engagements out on a calendar so people can see where they are with a little more lead time than we had for these I think is part of the question. And the second piece is where are they happening? So again, I'm going to say this. We understand that people are feeling that everything is um they want to be heard in their community. So we want they want us to come into spaces across the city. So we will be uh you know we'll we'll reach out across and we're committed to doing that across the city. So we'll get to a point where we have sort of a general calendar that people can see. We'll get a landing spot so people know where to where to look for the information and we'll
080share out what we learn along the way. >> November. >> So the discussion that that we Yes. So thank you for the clarification. We will put a package together in November that would that would the implementation could be the next fall. So if that that's that's the general timeline 2027. Correct. Correct. It is not we're not doing this for 20 this fall. Yes. Yes. Okay. >> Good afternoon everyone. I'm Nicole Watson. I'm senior director of family and community engagement. And as I have been milling around and about, I've gotten some feedback. And while we won't be able to do much with your feedback right now in the moment, I want you to know that I'm hearing your feedback, let me give you some examples of the feedback I've received about today's engagement. You were talked
081at. You didn't get chances to interact with other parents and or families. You may not have gotten a specific touch point with one of your board members. And there's not a real feel of transparency around our timeline and all of those pieces. Did we get some of that feedback right y'all? Okay. One, I want to deeply appreciate you for your grace. We are walking this process alongside you and there isn't a nefarious plan to withhold that information from you. So, as you give me that feedback, I will make sure that that hits our central office and our planning team and ensure that when you get to the next engagement, you see that feedback in real time. In the meantime, that slido is open. You know, our email addresses, please feel free. My I am in
082Watson2ppps.net. you are more than welcome to give me some real life real time feedback about your experience today and give us a little bit of runway to get um that feedback incorporated so that you can see your contributions in real time. I just wanted to pause because many of you have been coming to me and I want to make sure you know I heard you. We've been moving quick today. We've been in the virtual space and in the in-person space attempting to be as personal and as relational as possible, but some of you may not have felt that personal touch. So, I deeply apologize that you didn't feel that touch and we'll improve by the time you see that April 22nd engagement. You'll feel that personal touch or a little bit more personal. Is that
083all right? Thank you so much for giving us your Saturday, your time, your brilliance, your ingenious, and your wisdom. We assure you that we are hearing, we are listening, and we are going to respond. You might have two questions I can't answer, but I'll do my best. >> My email is NWatson, too. Do not do N Watson because that's Nathan Watson and he does not want my emails. N W A T as in Tom, S as in Sam, O N the number two at pps.net. You're welcome. Please enjoy your beautiful Saturday. Yes, one last comment. reported by news outlets >> and if not >> there's a question about the reporting of news outlets I'm I'm missing a piece of it so go ahead and repeat I'm sorry >> there were a couple of news outlets
084that reported on the schools that were at risk of closure >> I'm inquiring into whether the district district has already released a statement in response. >> Oh, >> and if there is a plan rec recognizing that the the longer the district does not respond, the greater the level of speculation and fear will be. >> Okay. >> The biggest impact will be of course to our learners. >> Absolutely. I deeply appreciate that. I'm going to bring our assistant superintendent Margaret Calbett back up, but I can assure you that there are I don't believe that we have a plan of which schools and all of those timelines. This point of this phase one of engagement really is to listen and to learn. Oftentimes we come before you with some scenarios that we know are diverse and we'll
085bring those for you for engagement. This posture is an intentional posture to get ahead of that to ensure that the folks in these spaces, our SEGC, our Southeast Guiding Coalition, our board engagement, and our critical stakeholders. We're going to be talking to students, our middle school students, our village table, which is our parent site council space, and then our administrative assistants at the elementary level. We're calling those critical stakeholders. And all we're attempting to glean is what should we be focused on, how should we be concerned, what are what are your wonderings so that it can inform our process. But if we have already had our process, then this conversation would feel futile. And I guarantee you we do not. So, I'll bring Margaret back up to speak to that official statement on behalf of
086the district, but I just want to make sure that I respond to you directly that no. >> So, there are a couple of things. One, we are asking we're building out a framework for how we make decisions. There's no singular factor that is going to go into any of the decisions. So, to say that there's a list, I mean there's a list there's a list of schools based and there's enrollments that is a true statement. We publish that regularly. So that is but that to to conflate that with what does that mean? We are building out the process and decision create criteria right now. Nothing there's no there's there's not a plan that's already in place. That's not the the point. We're here to talk about how we're going to make decisions. What are the
087factors we're going to weigh and what does that look like? So that is in there two pieces. It is not for this fall. It would be for the fall of 27 would and it's it is in the like as we go through the discussion and planning we will look at what what those pieces are. But our our goal is to have information out to families that they will we will bring some pieces again. We'll engage with some scenarios and then we will bring forth a recommendation. And what we've said is that that recommendation would be in November for potentially for the fall of 27. So there is there I we there's we're not reducing any of this to one singular factor like purely enrollment. That is not what part of the you know that's not
088what the decision- making will look like. >> My qu my question was more around um responding to what has already been reported by media outlets. >> What's that? >> We >> the list >> we're doing we're doing that right now. We're doing that right now. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, I'm going to I'm happy to stay and answer any questions as we go. it is you've been very active for a period of time and sitting and so I'm going to welcome I'm happy to answer questions but I would just again want to appreciate people for your time this afternoon. Thank you very much.