001Let's get started. Thank you all for being patient as we were finishing up another meeting upstairs. All right, the this public work session of Board of Education for March 31st 2026 is called to order. All items being considered this evening are posted on the PPS website under the Board of Meetings tabs. This meeting is being streamed on PPS YouTube page and will be replayed on channel 28. Good evening and welcome. Thank you all for being here. Before we get started, some housekeeping stuff. >> [clears throat] >> If keep aisles, stairs clear, don't trip. If we're glad you're here. If you have signs or banners, don't seem like many of you do, just keep them below so the people behind you can see. And also just overall be respectful mindful of each other. So, thank you.
002Right, today we have After consent agenda, we'll be voting on a memorandum of understanding with the Portland Association of Teachers and the SEIU Service Employees International Union to approve furlough days. Then we'll be voting on the revised 2025-26 school calendar, which will also main point being reflecting the furlough days. We'll be moving into our budget work session with the Community Budget Review Committee. That will be followed by an update and discussion on growing great schools right-sizing process. Then we'll also receive an overview of the successful school survey results and then Not finally We'll then we will also provide a committee and conference reports. And then lastly, I'm just going to say this up here because this does affect. We did work on a Miss Powell found a proposal for updating our public comment structure to
003provide more access and equity. And I asked Miss Powell to share that email that to us. So, but I'll bring [clears throat] that up at the end of the meeting today. And I'm I'm hoping that we could decide on that and maybe start doing that next meeting. Right. So, first off, let's start off with a consent agenda. Board members, if there's any item in the consent agenda you would like to pull for a separate discussion, please indicate that now. Miss Powell, are there any changes to consent agenda? No. Right. Well, let's put it on table. Do I have a motion and second to adopt the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Director Sullivan moves, Director DePass Vice Chair DePass seconds the adoption of the consent agenda. Any board discussion? All right, the board will now vote
004on resolutions 7280 through 7284. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. >> Yes. Opposed? Abstentions? Student Director Retodo? Yes. Thank you. The consent agenda has been approved by a vote of 6 to 0 with student representative Retodo unofficially voting yes. All right, next up we have we will now vote to approve the respective memorandum of understanding between the Portland Public Schools with each of the following: the Portland Association Teachers, otherwise known as PAT, the Service Employees International Union, the Portland Federation of School Professionals, and the Amalgamated Transit Union. I'll hand this over to Superintendent Armstrong. Thank you, Chair Wang. I want to first begin by expressing my sincere appreciation to all of our labor partners. The agreement that led to this proposal reflects the spirit of collaboration and shared responsibility during a very
005difficult moment for the district. Unfortunately, given the financial challenges we are facing this year, the proposal represents a last resort step. I mean, this is the worst-case scenario and things that districts look to do last. And so, we're here though and we're acknowledging that bringing forward a change to the school calendar as well in the middle of school year is not something that we take lightly. We know how serious it is and the impact that it brings. Now, I also want to acknowledge and lift up that PPS is not alone in facing these mid-year financial pressures. Districts across Oregon are making difficult decisions to furlough their employees, to close budget gaps, and avoid significant layoffs or they're laying off. So, the resolution before you tonight aligns the district calendar with the agreement reached with our
006labor partners for four furlough days and includes several adjustments for the remainder of the year. So, just to review, that's no school on May 1st. It converts April 22nd and May 13th to full school days and that was something that our labor partners brought forward and we're very thankful for that. Makes June 5th the last day of school for students. And we're also working with staff to make sure that important year-end activities and field trips can still happen for our students. So again, I just want to thank our educators, our staff, our leaders, our union partners, families, and the board for working together during a challenging time. And with that, I'd like to invite up our Chief of Human Resources, Angela Freeman, and our Senior Director of Employee and Labor Relations, Kimberly Gibson, up to
007say a few words. Thank you for being here. Good evening. It's a pleasure to be here and I'm not sure that I can say anything more than Dr. Armstrong has already shared with you. This experience has been very challenging and I want to just lift the appreciation for all of our union partners as well for coming into this as partners and collaborating and realizing the immense unique situation that we have right now. Um I haven't been more proud to work with a group of staff in a very long time. So, I just want to extend a huge thank you to our to all of our staff and union partners for for coming together to get through this. Yes, hi. Thank you. Hello. I just like to echo those comments and say that this has really
008been a great experience working with our partners coming together for a collective to collectively solve a problem together and address it together. And I will say as Dr. Armstrong said that we are working with our partners to resolve some of the issues that we know that were raised as a result of these furlough days and adjusting the school calendar. And so, I think we're all committed to working together to continue to partner to make sure that we are addressing those issues collectively with the least amount of impact to the folks we are most here to serve, which are students. All right, before we start discussion, let's get this on the table first. Do I have a motion and second to adopt resolution 7285 memorandum of understanding between Portland Association of Teachers and School District Number
0091J Multnomah County, Oregon? So moved. Second. Director Chase Miller moves and Director Sullivan seconds. We'll go do our usual format of moving down the line. Uh Yes, do we Oh, yes, sorry. Thank you. Um Do we have any Miss Powell, do we have public comment? Not on this resolution. Not on this resolution. Okay. Um all right, I think last time we left off at Director Englesmin, so that means Vice Chair DePass starts us off. Yeah, I just want to give appreciation to the union our labor partners um and and staff um for having to work through this very large systems problem. Um just in our prior meeting, we talked about using a systems approach, systems thinking, and this is an example of what that looks like on the ground. Um Balancing multiple priorities. I did
010want to raise up an an an item that would be impacted by our furlough days and it's event called Earth Stock and I believe the superintendent is already aware of it. Um which is a sped prom and it's really important to the sped community to go to the prom. And so, I I trust that that that work is to be addressed that and also just want to lift up that the labor partners worked together to make sure that people that are on the lowest income lowest income scale take fewer furlough days and I really appreciate that as a worker. So, Thank you. Well said. >> [clears throat] >> Um Excuse me, allergies. Um want to highlight one slightly, you know, less bad spot, you know, not a bright spot, but less bad. Um it it
011first starts off with a big thank you to the PAT and our our teachers for making this huge sacrifice, especially when there's, you know, plane time, professional development time that they sacrifice to do this. That's that's a big ask and it's a big thank you to do that. I know that plane time is precious because there's just not enough of it. And and so, to be able to sacrifice that is a huge ask and I'm really thankful for the PAT and our teachers' collaboration on this. It means a lot to be able to work together. One small bright spot about this, and this is also tied in with that thank you, is that you know, we there is a loss of three instructional days. However, two, this is the big thank you, two of our
012normal early release days for our K through 8th grades are being extended into full days. So, we're adding technically two half days back of instruction time for our K-3 8 grades, which brings in terms of you if you add the total number hours equivalent to maybe just 2 days of lost instruction time. So, I just want to I want to highlight that because it is uh that is a I want to say just a big gift from our teachers for for our families that are really impacted by this, and I want to raise make sure that we we bring that to the forefront about the the sacrifice and planning time and professional development time that they they've given to make this possible to reduce the impact on our students. So, thank you. I also just
013want to um echo gratitude and appreciation for our labor partners, for educators, for our staff. Um y'all PPS staff collectively are caring the cost of this, and that is not fair, and I am so sorry that we're in a situation where we have to ask that of all of you. Um I want to recognize our educators. I know I know the impact that this has on your families, and um I appreciate the sacrifice um from a profession who has made these types of sacrifices for us before. Um my my long-term goal is that we can work together as a board with other boards from across the state um to change the way we approach education in Oregon so that we don't have to ask any of our educators, any of our staff to have to
014make sacrifices like this in the future. Um also really grateful uh to staff for being willing to do what it takes to make sure that our kids are getting the end-of-year experiences that they deserve, and um that that is not an another sacrifice um in this process. Um and finally, I want to say to fellow parents out there, um LFG, let's go. Let's uh >> [laughter] >> let's come together and um organize and work collectively to change um the way [clears throat] that our state prioritizes, values, and funds education. Um this is untenable, and so hard, and our kids deserve better, and our teachers deserve better, and our staff deserve better. Thank you. Um >> [clears throat] >> I really appreciated um starting this off by saying that this is a last resort. Uh I
015think that that was that was very good because that's I think that that's how it should be. This should be a last resort. Um and I'm glad that I've that I've already heard from our finance team, and hopefully I, you know, hopefully we'll hear more tonight about what we're going to do to make sure this doesn't happen again. You know, that we're not in this same situation um because because we can't be. We can't find ourselves in this situation. Um but I I really appreciate it, Director Chase Miller, um your comments about the state cuz I mean, you guys know how I feel uh about about the state government. But I'll tell you guys again, um this is this is a system 36 years in the making. You know, you know, 36 years ago when
016Measure 5 passed, school leaders said, "This is going to be a disaster." 10 years later, they said, "This is a disaster." And now here we are 36 years later, and we're constantly left picking up the pieces. I mean, it's been so so so many years of cuts. You know, our uh our reserve funds are are basically gone, you know, to the point where we said, "We're not going below this last amount that we have left." So, effectively, we're work we don't have, you know, basically any cushion to fall back on. So, we are in we are it seems that we are going to be going to going to continue to be incredibly vulnerable um to shifts, you know, and and rapid economic changes like this, um which is very worrying, and which is why we
017need action from the state government desperately. So, that's what I've got to say. I was just doing some math over here. >> [laughter] >> So, um first of all, I want to say how grateful I am um to our labor partners for um everything they brought to the table during this negotiation, and to our staff um as well. I heard um only positive feedback. Um that said, I am very conflicted, and sent some questions to staff late this afternoon, and I apologize for sending them late. Um but in terms of excuse me, in terms of the financials, so it looks like right now we have 41.2 million in reserves. And the furlough days are covering about 12 million of the 22 million dollar gap. So, that's correct? Um was any consideration as we move through
018this process given to um pulling that 12 million from reserves, and finishing out the year as is? I appreciate the question. I'm wondering if our chief financial officer would like to come forward and and answer. Did you want her to restate, or did you catch it? I think I caught it. Okay, thank [laughter] you for your question earlier today, too. >> Michelle. Oh, you bet. Um so, we have been charged with uh maintaining that 5% fund balance target, and really that is the minimum uh that Portland has had over many many years. Um I wouldn't recommend going below that. We've already used 23 million dollars in uh transfer from a PERS reserve fund, which was one one-time monies to close the budget gap for the current year. So, excuse me, [clears throat] cold. Um it
019would be really difficult to add another one-time fix instead of um even though furlough days are a type of one-time fix, knowing we really need to make some operational changes uh as we move into next year, which are going to create another fragile budget year for us. So, really uh the only way, and this may be oversharing, the only way to um create a more resilient budget is to um reduce further to create a larger contingency. And so, you asked about how quickly we could pay that back. I don't uh I don't see that in the near future. So, this year, so the 23 million that was transferred from what was it? The PERS? What did you I'm sorry, what did you call it? I'm just thinking of >> PERS reserve fund. >> So, when
020was that was that taken into account at the beginning of the budget year? Did we use that as part of our budget? We used that in our budget planning. Yes. >> Okay, and is that next year captured in the 50 million? Yes. Okay. I also want to just add to that. Thank you, Chief Morrison. Great I I and I I know it's been said, and um we have so much gratitude uh for our staff who said yes, and I just want to be clear that um they they weren't presented with great options. It was to make an individual choice to reduce your salary upwards of 2% annually over the next 4 months, or risk reductions of over 200 employees that would go all into next year. And those aren't great options to be presented, you
021know, those aren't great options or choices by any means. Um but I just want to be clear that that that was the choice. Take this reduction, or we'll need to reduce further. Of course, there's the fund balance, but um following board policy and staying at 5% that never was a part of our conversation. Um so, just wanted to emphasize that. So, if we were to use 12 million, that would bring us down to 29 million in our reserves, and you recommend strongly against that. I do. Can you tell um tell me why? Cuz um in my mind, I feel like this is what our reserves are for. What happens if we go to 29? W Well, I think we can we can safely say that our credit rating will dip even further, which is an
022a cost on our capital project side. Um in the past, uh there has been mid-year shortfalls at the state level, and I feel like we narrowly escaped that last year um given some of the federal program changes. So, that would reduce even further our ability to be resilient in that moment. That is less than one period of payroll for PPS, and so um I I would just highly caution against going below 5%. Okay. And then just to add to that, and I appreciate the question that you're asking, Director LaForte. It's like is this a rainy day, and should we access the funds that are set aside for rainy days or hard days? And I think that's a fair question. What I would want to lift up, though, is that we would need to pay that
023um fund balance back, and the only way to do that is to reduce further. And I say reduce further in classrooms that are already strained, in buildings that already feel under-resources under-resourced, and impacts to classrooms that are already at or exceeding capacity. May I offer a comment also? So, our board policy requires us 5% is the floor, absolute basement. Um and I think when I first started, we had an 11% 12% fund balance. We went down to 7% at some point a few years ago, but not to exceed 5%, and again, it relates to the cost of a day of doing business. Here we we don't want to go below that. Um but also using our systems thinking hat, it's again, if you put pressure on that uh those reserves funds, it's it's going to
024come out of the classroom even more so. So, it has it does have there are trade-offs and and that decision would go against our our board policy, would also have significant impacts throughout the system. Okay. Also, I want to add one more thing. I think in previous years, I mean, we had a And part of the reason we were able to avoid things like like emergency things things last resort things like furloughs is because we had a a fund uh reserve and it was 14% at one point and then it dropped to 11 and then seven and then now five. And every year both, I believe correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the CBRC was one of the people who warned us about dropping our reserves this low. Um and I and every
025auditor, every external auditor also said this was a very dangerous practice when we were even at 7 and 8%. So, we've been this has been a warning from many external groups over and over every year. When it was above 5% and so I mean, there and they they I can pull up a lot of these meetings cuz they they they said a lot of great points about why this is dangerous. So, I think it that would be valuable resource if you want it. Well, I thought I was just going to say the same thing everybody said, but coming after you is a good opportunity. I just um I'm just so I can guess proud of the union for what they did because they've managed really when you add those two half days in they're getting
026four unpaid days and they're only giving up two student days. So, our students only give I mean, our students only give up two days. And you know, that was hard and there's not many days left in the year to make that work. And they did and it it really makes me just proud of the district, proud of the people who worked with the union, proud of the union to do it. And I think like I think uh Director DePass said that the PAT worked hard so that the people who made less money took fewer days off and it it just well I guess it almost makes me cry. So, anyway, I'm just so pleased and so thank you so much. Um Also, thank you to all the work that everybody has done. Um particularly looking
027to I know you're sitting in a different role today, but to the unions for um stepping up and taking on this um I thought I've thought long and hard about this and I've talked to a lot um very last minute and then also leading up to this. Talked to labor, I've talked to parents, I've even talked to kids like how do they feel about this because of course our kids are going to miss a couple of extra days with their beloved teachers at the end of the year and have to sort of wrap their brains around June 5th instead of June 9th, which is feels like an extra week when you're five or even 18 and moving on out of PPS. Um In my process to get here, I vowed to always put kids first
028in my decision-making [clears throat] even when it stands in opposition to what someone else wants if it is what is in the best interest of our kids, then that is how I'm going to vote. And so that is sort of the lens that I brought to this thought process and this conversation and this um even statement today. Um And I think it's important to recognize uh seven of us up here and then of course our student representative are directly affected by our vote tonight because like Director uh Chase Miller said, we're going to have kids home who are missing out on being in schools and we're going to have to navigate around that, which I think is an important um something to recognize for the board as it stands today versus how it's been in
029the past. I think it's great. Um I've also wondered should we tap the reserves? Um And then I've also wondered do we drain the revenue entirely to send a message to our legislators and our governor who just are not getting the message that they need to fund it. Um So, I've thought that like do we just sort of go and that's not that's not great for our kids at all. So, no. Um and also cuz I don't think we can rely on our legislators to do the right thing as we've seen um And so I I want to say that actively. Um I worry about our kids who are not going to be okay. Um my kids are going to be okay, but I worry about the ones who need breakfast and lunch and don't
030have that now for two days. I worry about our kids who need the extra instructional time and our kids who need access to mandatory reporters. So, that's all sort of swimming around in my head and how do we get to a place where those kids are okay. Um So, all in all, I guess I will just finish this by saying it's been a really hard place and I've been grateful for all of the work that you have done to get us to a place where we can think about these bigger pictures. Um I'm disappointed that our short session didn't tap the education stability fund. I'm disappointed that this didn't it's it's nationwide, but it's statewide. This is happening to all of the districts in our that our legislators didn't tap that and say this is
031what that's for without us having to tap our own. I that I'm disappointed and so I will I will conclude in saying that we should we need to vote. We need people who are willing to run against legislators who just will not have the conversation about lifting education up and how lifting education up will have a trickle-down positive effect on all of our community and all of our economy. Um so, use your voice, vote in May, vote in November, run for election, do it. You may not win, but you will you will lift up the conversation about making the incumbents or other people running make education a conversation that is actually happening rather than just in sort of the background or ignored entirely. Um so, that's all I have to say. Thank you to everybody.
032Um this we're going to move to a vote, but I just want to check to make sure that everyone doesn't want to just have a second opportunity to say something. I have one more thing. I just wanted to Oh, sorry. I was on call then. Go. Go for it. >> I just wanted to say I for for all the talk about um how we need more funding from the state, which we do. I just want to say that we recognize that at the end of the day like we have the money we have and it is on us moving forward. It is now, but especially moving forward, we cannot go over budget next year. We're responsible for working with the money that we have. We cannot be in this situation next year. Um I still
033in this moment don't know how I'm going to vote, but I can tell you if this happens next year, I will vote no. And um to doing this again, we cannot shorten the school year. Our kids need their full year. We we're talking a lot about the grown-ups in the room and not as much about our students who are going to miss, you know, multiple days of learning because of what happened. So, I'm just saying as a board this is us. And uh we need to we need to in terms of accountability, we have to be checking in on the budget every month, you know, asking hard questions. Um I know we're making changes so that we're getting those reports every month, but um I just find the whole thing just devastating and nauseating and
034don't want to be here again next year. All right. Thank you. All right. [clears throat] With that, the board will now vote on resolution memorandum of understanding between Portland Association of Teachers and School District Number 1J, Multnomah County, Oregon. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Opposed? Abstentions? Uh student representative Retorto? Yes. Thank you. Resolution 7285 is approved by a vote of six to zero with student representative Retorto unofficially voting yes. Thank you. Uh next up we have the MOU with SEIU. So, let's put this on the table first. Do I have a motion and and a second to adopt resolution 7287 memorandum of understanding between Service Employees International Union and School District Number 1J, Multnomah County, Oregon. So moved. I'll move second. Director Chase Miller moves and Director DePass
035seconds. Uh Ms. Bashaw, is there any public comment? Not on this one. Not on this one. Thank you. Any board discussion? Just before we vote, I just want to make one comment. I want to thank again the PAT for taking the brunt of a lot of the furlough days so that the people in SEIU don't have to take as many furlough days. Um and that that was very awesome. So, thank you. Um all right. We'll now vote on resolution 7287 memorandum of understanding between the Service Employee International Union and School District Number 1J, Multnomah County, Oregon. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All opposed? Abstentions? Student representative Retorto? Yes. Thank you. Resolution 7287 is approved by a vote of six to zero with student representative Retorto voting yes. And
036again, also want to thank all our SEIU members for >> [clears throat] >> collaboration, your collaboration in helping take I mean this is this is a big ask and uh you're sacrificing a lot, so thank you all for your work and your willingness to be part of this and help even though it is a lot to ask. So, thank you. Um Uh next up, we have the PS PFSP MOU. Do I have a motion and second to adopt resolution 7288 memorandum of understanding between the Portland Federation of School Professionals and School District number 1J Multnomah County, Oregon. I'll move. Second. I hear Director Engelsman moved and Director de Pass seconds. Is there a public comment on this one, Ms. Brashaw? No. Board discussion? I also want to thank our PFSP members as well and ditto.
037Um this is a huge sacrifice for everybody and uh thank you for your collaboration. Really appreciate it. Um the board will now vote on resolution memorandum of understanding between between the Portland Federation of School Professionals and School District number 1J Multnomah County, Oregon. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. Yes. Opposed? Abstentions? Student representative Retodo? Yes. Thank you. Resolution 7288 is approved by a vote of six to zero with student representative Retodo uh voting yes. And uh I think this is the last last one, ATU. All right, last one we have the with the ATU. Do I have a motion and second to adopt resolution 7289 memorandum of understanding between the Amalgamated Transit Union and School District number 1J Multnomah County, Oregon. Move so moved. Thank you. Director Solomon moves. Second. Director Engelsman
038seconds. Is there a public comment on this one? No. Any board discussion? Director Solomon. I just like to We haven't said so much about the other unions, but everything I said before, I say again and I think we all say again. So, thank you so much. And I share the I mean, I know nobody wants shorter days, but I'm sure the parents and teachers actually um parents and students, thank you as well because they would have had to lose teachers otherwise. And it's just so important that everybody work together on this. So, thank you. Thank you for saying that. Can I just say something? I realize like in one of the things I didn't say, um I think it's important to recognize that if these didn't happen, thanks to the work that was done, that
039there'd be immediate changes in our classroom that would really affect teachers, but also really affect students with teachers potentially losing jobs, classrooms being put together at the very last end, which would be disruptive to students. So, I think it's really important to recognize that there were immediate consequences that our kids were and our and our parents and our students, but our kids were going to feel, you know, within the next couple of weeks that I don't think have been touched on, but need to just be recognized and won't be thanks to the work that was done. Yes, thank you for saying that. I appreciate that. I also just want to lift up that I don't think there's any situation where we would um remove teachers from classrooms. Think many of the investments that we've made
040for like instructional coaches and interventionists and other um instructional positions that aren't necessarily in the classroom with kiddos um were most at risk because that's least um disruptive to the individual student. So, I just I had to put that out there because I mean, that would be I I I can't even describe what what that would be and I I don't want people to believe that that could be something um in the future. We would always try first and foremost always to protect the classroom by any means necessary. Yeah. All right, thank you. Um the board will now vote on resolution 7289 memorandum of understanding between the Amalgamated Transit Union. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. Yes. All opposed? Abstentions? Student representative Retodo? Yes. Thank you. Resolution 7289 is approved by a
041vote of six to zero with student representative Retodo voting yes. Um I also want to thank you to Directors Gibson and and and um Freeman, Director Freeman, um for your hard work. I I hear a lot of feedback about how you two have created such a much more collaborative culture uh in working with our unions and things like that and I I think none of this would have been possible if it weren't for your both of your hard work. So, thank you both uh with, you know, deeply um with the work that you've done on this. My pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. All right, now uh after passing the MOU, we need to vote on the revised calendar for the 2025-26 school year. Do I have a motion and second to adopt resolution 7286 resolution
042to revise the 202025-26 school calendar? So moved. Vice Chair de Pass moves. I'll second. Director Chase Meller seconds. Um Ms. Brashaw, I believe there's public comment on this topic, correct? There is. We have a Jillian Muir who is joining us virtually. Thank you. Um just briefly, really quick, public comment guidelines, you have 3 minutes. Um I believe that you're virtually there's probably a clock instead of a red light. Um when that clock runs down, please finish your your statement. Uh we appreciate you being here today. Um just also keep in mind that if there are any um personnel information or complaints that those would be directed to Superintendent's office. If there's any student data that could be revealed that you um especially if you're a PPS employee, uh be aware of that and not violate
043FERPA rules. Um those are the general guidelines. Uh you may begin when you are ready. Thank you. Nick Caulette. Good evening. Um Chair, board members, and Superintendent Armstrong. Anisha Anisha Jillian Muir. I'm Walulupam from the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla and Fort Peck. I'm a PPS administrator currently serving as assistant director for funded programs. I'm a parent of three students in the district and the sole provider for my family. I want to start by saying thank you to all of all of our union and non-represented colleagues for their hard work all of the time, um not just during these hard times, um and for all of the sacrifices. Uh I also want to say that I understand very clearly the situation that we're in and I know that hard decisions have and are continuing to be
044made. That being said, there are many issues I could raise tonight, um but I'm choosing to focus on one cuz it's most directly going to impact me and many others who are being unassigned and laid off. And the current approach to furlough days is inequitable. It reflects a broader pattern of how impact is being distributed across the system. While spready spreading the pay reduction across March through uh July is better than concentrating them in a single paycheck, I'd like to be clear, it does not make it equitable. It still places the greatest financial burden on those who are losing their jobs. At the exact moment when financial stability matters most, this is not limited to administrators. The impacts P uh impacts PAT staff, PFSP colleagues, SEIU, ATU, and many others across the district who are
045being unassigned and facing uncertain employment. Across roles, across departments, the pattern holds. And at the same time, we know that certain employees who are exiting, those who submit retirement paperwork by April 3rd, are being offered a pathway to be exempt from furlough days. Regardless of the reason for that policy, the outcome is clear. Some employees who are leaving are protected from the financial impact, others are not. And that's not equitable. So, I have to ask, do you think it's equitable? Is it fair? And when you look more broadly at how these decisions are being applied, another pattern becomes clear. Those with the least stability are absorbing the most impact. And those in the highest levels of leadership who earn significantly more and are not facing job loss are not proportionately sharing in that burden. And
046a district that consistently centers an equity lens in its decision-making, this calls into question how equity is actually being applied in practice. It feels like a pattern, one where the most vulnerable carry the greatest cost. There are solutions. Extend exemption options to employees. Provide reimbursement for furlough-related pay loss. Or implement delayed exemption process consistent with what is already being done. While I hear there may be a small solution forthcoming, I want to be very clear. Anything less than zero furlough days for the staff who end up getting laid off is not equitable. If the district can reduce harm, it has the responsibility to do so fairly. And right now, it's not. Thank you. Thank you for um giving your time to provide public comment. It's much appreciated. Um I think we are moving now to
047board discussion. I forgot who we ended on. Or I I it's my turn. With Michelle, right? Um, okay. Well, I pass. I don't have comment. I don't have comment, either. All right. Director Lovell, no? Comment? No one? All right. So, then we will move to the vote. Uh The board will now vote on resolution 7286, resolution to revise the 2025-26 school calendar. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. >> Yes. Opposed? Abstentions? Student representative, Retardo? Yes. Thank you. Resolution 7286 is approved by vote of 6-0 with student representative Retardo unofficially voting yes. All right. Thank you, everyone, for all your hard work, again. Uh next up, next on our agenda is uh moving to our budget work session uh with the Community Budget Review Committee, also known as CBRC. I'll hand this over
048to you, Superintendent Armshaw. Great, thank you. Sorry. >> [snorts] >> That went a little faster than planned. Um, but I am pleased uh tonight to continue our regular updates on the budget. We'll have the opportunity to get some initial feedback from the Community Budget Review Committee, and I'll pass this over to our Chief Financial Officer, Michelle Morrison. Thank you, Dr. Armstrong, and thank you, directors, for your time and attention to this tonight. I know budget has been at the forefront of so many conversations since this budget was adopted, so I really appreciate that. Cara, are you going to be able to get the slides up? I know you're multitasking over there. All right. So, um we do have an interactive session with the Community Budget Review Committee members. We have several here in person and
049also online, but it's kind of nested within a broader budget update. Oh, there it is. Thank you so much. All right. We have our intro slides. They should look really familiar. Love to see all of the facts about the district. Our agenda, you're going to you're going to receive a current year update. Um, we been doing a lot of work um to rebalance the current year. Have a little bit um more on our 26-27 outlook. We're going to have our interactive session with the CBRC members. Uh we're going to share with you uh community engagement tool that we've been working on in order to raise awareness around proportionality of our budget changes. Um, so we're excited to share that with you. We'll go ahead and get started. So, our current year update, so our Q2
050budget gap of 22 and 1/2 million has been closed by the following items. We have our mid-year controls for all discretionary spending, and so again, this this is estimated at this time. I just want to be clear. Um, we are a moving target as we go throughout the year, but this is our current state. We have uh you heard tonight our furlough days at various levels from different groups across all staff um totaling uh roughly $12 million, and and uh I just want to put a little plug here that we also have lots of non-representative and and administrative staff um that took uh five furlough days as well, so gratitude to them and acknowledging their uh gift back to the district uh too. And uh note that our preliminary Q3 data is on target, and
051so that will be our uh third quarter report, which will go through the end of March. We hope to have that to you by the end of April uh and with a real focus on more timely reporting. Any questions about current year status? Can I just ask what that asterisk means after target? Is that because it's not out to us yet, or Yes. >> Okay. All right. So, our uh current outlook, we've been working on this since last fall. Uh we have a preliminary estimate of $50 million budget gap. That's what we've been working to solve uh knowing now that that's our minimum, and we may need to adjust that a little bit based on our current year experience. So, um you can expect more details about that as we propose the budget to you
052at the end of April. Um our levy revenue is down. It looks like it will be down for the next several years, and we're continuing to um right-size our budget to um match the expenditures we have in operations. We also have a link there to the preliminary recommendation for reduction that was released back in January. Um and there will be additional strategies to kind of bridge that gap as we've identified it um in the proposed budget document. On the right-hand side, there's a little table there talking about the difference. We've had lots of discussions around what's discretionary spending versus what's mandatory, so I put that just so you guys have that in your pocket if you are getting those questions as well. All right. So, we have our ongoing uh budget engagement. We've been talking,
053talking, talking, looking closer at what's happening today in front of us, but also very mindful of how that impacts the upcoming year. Um and we're using our the feedback we've received so far to inform school staffing. That's changed a couple of different times um prior to actual staffing, and again, those informational videos are out there just for your reference, so if you're getting questions as well about school funding. This slide is familiar, too, our roles in budget development. We have um the you all as directors and uh community representatives, um the TSCC, and then of course our other members. We have our Community Budget Review Committee here tonight, so those are all of the inputs that go through the budget process, delivered to the superintendent, and then uh executed through cabinet and uh the district
054leadership. This is in just to anchor us back a couple months ago. We talked about the budget principles. These were prior year. Um they were brought forward. There was an incubation period, and then um we moved forward with them without any changes. Um, so I think it's important to acknowledge that these are still in place. Also, for the Community Budget Review Committee to understand that these are um something that the board is anchored in when they're um making their decisions. Of course, we have our Continuous Improvement Plan goals. Really have our sights set on attendance, literacy, math, and ninth grade success. Um and just again, making sure that everyone is acknowledging these are all the pillars that we're resting on. So, the CBRC charter and the mission of the CBRC is to review, evaluate, and
055make recommendations to the board uh regarding the proposed budget. So, as soon as they receive the document, they receive the superintendent's budget message, they get together and work very hard to develop a report to share back with you. Um and they also are um advisory and monitor the activities that are paid for by our local option levy. We expanded the CBRC membership to include more student voice this year um and an additional adult member um which we think that just brings more voice to the conversation. So, we are to the feedback session. The link at the top of this slide will take you to the Community Budget Review website. Um the members are all listed there. Um they have selected leadership for the year, which changes on a year-by-year basis. Um Adriel Pearson person is
056co-chair with Corante Cruz, and then Angela Bonilla has stepped up as vice chair of this group. And I would like to welcome them >> [snorts] >> to the podium. Uh if they are here, and the frame I have set up for them to get feedback, which is not strict, they may vary from this, is to share with you um what they hope to see in the upcoming budget from their lens as a representative of the CBRC. Thank you. Oh. I think the chairs are online if they're really Yeah, maybe we'll go ahead and start online. So, um Adriel? I do not see >> Adriel. I did see Mr. Cruz. Yes. Mr. Cruz, would you like to offer um your opinion to the board? I think he had to drop off, and hopefully he'll come back.
057So, Angela, please introduce yourself and share. >> [clears throat] >> Hello. Uh my name is Angela Bonilla. I am here uh not as a educator on the CBRC um and speaking as an individual. Um Looking for that prompt again. Uh if you wouldn't mind Oh. Woohoo. Share it with you. Thank you. Um I would like to share what I hope to see in the upcoming budget from the lens of an educator and representative of the CBRC. Um I believe the previous CBRC uh members have provided many sound recommendations and I would like to lift some of those up. Um one of the recommendations uh that was brought forth uh I believe last year was to discontinue the use of MAP assessments and adopt the free standards-aligned interim assessment model provided by the Oregon Department of
058Education. Um there are several contracts that we have in our district that feel like non-negotiables and I think when we're at the point of um workers losing salaries that we have to start really thinking, are those non-negotiables or are there alternatives? I would love to see what it would look like um to uh amend some of those contracts and look at uh free alternatives. Um another uh question or recommendation from the CBRC is to evaluate the educational effectiveness of blended classrooms and how they impact student outcomes as we continue to do this work. I know that we should be getting some of that information uh soon. Um but as we continue to move towards blended uh classrooms um now going to uh 1 2 and 4 5, I want to make sure that as we,
059you know, as Dr. Armstrong said, trying to limit the impacts on our classrooms, is this an effective way of reducing the budget? Um and if it's not supporting our students, what else can we look at? Um there was also a uh There were also some questions around how we uh provide um and protect uh restore and protect the roles proven to impact attendance and engagement, such as social workers, counselors, and librarians. Um and uh looking at the school calendar to decrease the percentage of shortened weeks. I I I think these are some quality of life uh choices that we can look at to see um are there other things that we can live without in order to bring these things to in increase the uh satisfaction and faith that folks have in the public with
060our district. Um I would love to see also a uh clear understanding of which positions have been increased since COVID closures and which positions have been decreased and really making sure that we level that out. I know that we have increased administrative and uh uh non-represented positions while instructional positions have gone down and wanting to understand how we can kind of level that out um and make sure that we are impacting our students and uh our educational spaces as as little as possible. I think that was 3 minutes. I think that was 3 minutes, too. Thank you so much. Let's jump back to the folks online. So, we have Shannon. Do you want to introduce yourself and share with the board? Thank you. Um dear Board of Directors, uh I would like to share what
061I hope to see in the upcoming budget from the lens of a CBRC member uh as well as a parent and community member. Um Grateful to be part of this process and and to be part of the recommendation that we're putting forward, hoping for uh increased clarity and transparency um as part of this process, so that the communications that are being put forward continue to build trust in our community uh and ultimately driving engagement and the outcomes that we're looking to see as outlined um earlier in terms of the budget process. Thank you for having me. Um Thank you, Shannon. Can I just note, we do have a few people who look like they're part of the CBRC who have not accepted their um invitation to be a panelist, so they're not able to speak.
062I just wanted to note that in case that they wanted to accept that and come and participate. I'll go ahead and send it again. Thank you. If you are online as a CBRC member, please accept uh the invitation as a panelist, so we can uh introduce you and hear your thoughts. Jen, would you like to go ahead and jump on? Great, thank you so much. Um yeah, I'll just echo what others have said that we, as CBRC members, what we're really looking for what I'm really looking for as a representative of the CBRC is to have a guiding principle of transparency in the budget process. Um echoing what Shannon said, I think it's really important that um others like myself, other parents in the system, understand some of these really hard choices and the impact
063on students and being able to translate some of these fairly complicated economic decisions into some pretty plain language um guiding principles that you'll be using to to make these cuts. I think it's going to be really important. Thank you, Jen. Julia, are you available to come on? Hi. Yes, I'm Julia Plowman and um I can echo what everyone else's what everyone else's has said and also just being a real advocate for students um as we look at all these at the budget. Thank you. Laura, would you like to join? Yes, thank you. Um I'd like to share what I hope to see in the upcoming budget from the lens of a parent and community member. Um I'm deeply invested in what is best for children, families, and the long-term well-being of our community. As a
064representative of the CBRC, I want to I hope that we approach this work with an equity lens. Um and especially recognizing that not all children have had the same access to opportunities and supports. I'm hoping to see investments that ensure all students, especially those who have been historically been underserved, have access to the resources, the environments, and the supports that they need to learn and grow. Thank you. I'm going to ask our in-person um members to just go ahead and share uh their perspective. Thank you. Thank you, Board of Directors, for having us tonight. Um I'd like to share from the perspective of a parent um the uh some of the impact that the budget may be having on the students. In particular, that one of the big levers that's being pulled in this budget
065is a lot of mixed-age classrooms. So, I'd love to understand a little more and hear what best practices are to support students and teachers who are transitioning into that challenging teaching environment. And if there's something that we can do centrally to support that change as it happens across lots of schools, how that could uh improve outcomes across the district. Um dear Board of Directors, I would like to share what I hope to see in the upcoming from the lens of a student and representative of the CBRC. I just hope to hear about how the board can help um increase how the student body knows about how the budget and how the process of the school system really works, cuz I know a lot of the students do not know how it works and how we
066can better improve that. Hello, Directors. Uh my name is Shane Corey. Uh thank you for the opportunity to come and speak to you tonight uh from the lens of a parent with a young child uh in elementary PPS and an upcoming elementary student um and a member of the CBRC, I'd just like to emphasize a lot of what I think the board members said tonight in that uh we need to focus on making a resilient budget uh systemically um strong budget that you know, going forward we can continue to have uh a successful, you know, school district and we can't continue to have the same situation that arose that was of so much discussion tonight again year after year. Um unfortunately, that's going to take a lot of heavy sacrifices. Um My personal preference, I'd
067love to see that have as minimal disruption to the students themselves as possible, um even if that does require uh cuts to other areas that may be disproportionate to the ones that would directly affect the students. Um at the same time, hopefully we can retain what keeps uh PPS so unique and so helpful um and so great uh as much as possible. For example, like the dual language programs, things that are really unique to PPS that other school districts cannot offer. I hope we can maintain those as much as possible. Uh thank you. Thank you. I do so appreciate their time. We have spent quite a bit together and we're going to continue to do that on this journey um and provide you guys with a great report and feedback uh on the other report
068that we're going to present to you. So, excited about that. Sorry. Chief Morrison, can we just pause for a sec? I just wanted to say um and anybody else who wants to jump in as well, a big thank you to everybody being part of the CBRC. Your work is absolutely vital for uh helping this district improve. Um you provide a valuable oversight um work that that needs to happen. Um at the same time, uh this is also an open invitation to all of you. If there's any way we can uplift your voice, your work, whatever, um is an invitation. You can contact me directly. Would like to know more about how we can support the work that you're doing uh and and hear more about um some of your all your work about how to
069improve our our district. So, thank you. Again, huge thank you from the you know, sincerest thank you for for, you know, volunteering your time to do this this hard work. I want to um echo what Director um Chair Wong said and also um to Angela Bonilla, um Teacher Groom has served on this committee for a long time. She has big shoes to fill. And I know that the board um has uh not taken uh some of the recommendations seriously and I hope that changes this year um because of such a it's it's a rich and valuable committee and you have a lot to offer and so I'm looking forward to uh working closer in tandem. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Handing it back to you, uh Chief Morrison. All right. Also, thank you to
070Director Sullivan who spends time on the committee as well. You're awful quiet over there, but Well, I just appreciate everybody who spends their time doing that and it's been fun having the discussions. And last time we can thank Angela for helping us through Robert's board to get [laughter] get people elected. That was fun. It's helped to see how that worked. So, just thank you, everybody. Appreciate it. And it's it's fun for me to be with the group. Thanks. All right. We're going to go ahead and continue on trying to move. I don't know, Cara. All right. So, we have our we're going to preview with you tonight. The CBRC got a sneak peek um several weeks ago about our community engagement tool. Um This is what it looks like. The link is at the top
071of this slide, which is also available in board book and online. Um if you go ahead and click into that, it represents itself in uh recognizable card game format, which is not meant to make light of our situation. I just want to be super clear about that. We received some feedback um to to just be very straightforward about this. This is really a way to help people recognize proportionately different changes that we can or cannot make to our budget and everyone has a different preference. It may be one thing to say, "Oh, reduce supply budgets by half." But when you see the impact of that is so minor compared to the the impact of the classrooms, that may not make as much sense. So, lots of great ideas here in these cards. Please um play
072with it yourself. Um feel free to share it. We'll have a link um from our um both our budget and the CBRC website, hopefully, to um access this tool so that you can circulate it. All right. Our budget calendar and activities, um just going right down the line, you can see where we're at. Um we had our um our work session tonight with our CBRC members. Again, thank you so much to them for their time. Um we have some uh budget committee training coming up on the 14th and then we will be um proposing our budget on the 28th, where Dr. Armstrong will give her superintendent uh budget message. We'll have some time in the community at that point for you to hear feedback again on what we've proposed and then we'll move forward towards
073approval and adoption and implementation in the upcoming year. All right. Uh that is the end of my presentation tonight. I can take your questions. All right. Let's back to our usual practice. We'll start with Dr. Chase Miller. No questions. No questions? Is there Representative Hurtado? Yeah. >> [clears throat] >> So, a few things going forward as we continue to talk about the budget this year. Um there's a few specific things um that I would really like to see. Um so, number one, uh and I greatly apologize if this stuff is already available and I just haven't seen it yet. Um but I've also heard some of this stuff from, you know, uh members of the public who would also like to see this, but I'd like to see um I would like to see an
074org chart. Uh and I would also like to see an org chart uh if possible, if we have those for years prior and see how that has changed over the long term. I like the the broad organizational structure of just the central office um by the way, because there has been um I have heard some unverified claims um that positions have shifted upwards in the district, that there are more senior level positions than there were, you know, 10 years ago. I cannot verify those claims, but I think that would be an interesting thing to for for the board and for the public to see um if, you know, if we can find that data. Um I would also love to see um I would also love to see like uh if we can get uh
075some charts that break down, you know, current staffing at the central office in both positions and dollars, you know, where that money is going um by by department. I apologize if this is a a little bit too detailed. Um uh but just personally, I think uh it again, like there's a lot of I've heard a lot of um requests for for transparency from the public, especially in how the central office, you know, is run. Um so, I think that would be another thing that that I personally um would like to see going into this budget cycle, if that is um at all possible. Um and that's all I have for right now. I super appreciate that question. Just um going to put a big asterisk on it that there are lots of changes happening currently
076at the central office, so that information may be less available currently um until we are able to fully make it some transition. So, just know that that information will be available, but it may not be available in advance of uh the budget proposal. All right. Director Lafore. Director Sullivan. Um can you show us how the game works from where you are? >> [laughter] >> Cuz I don't quite I can't cuz all I have is a clicker. Okay. But if you go into the board uh presentation, that should be a live link for you that will take you right to it. So, you just >> on one of the cards and then >> Yep. And you'll see you can drag them around. Um just drag and drop with your um cursor. Okay. Yeah, I'm wondering if
077uh Chief Morrison, if anyone wants to pop online with you for a little bit, would you be available to show them how that works? Okay. >> Well, I'll see you tomorrow morning. We will we will we will we will demonstrate tomorrow morning. And uh for anyone else, it's it's a 5-minute 3-minute online tutorial for Okay. Thanks. Demonstration. Thank you. Director Englund-Joseph. I should have passed. Uh yeah, I just wanted to note that um when you look at org charts, it's really sensitive. It can be because it's people um people's lives, so just to be um conscious of that. And I I I understand that, you know, we have this interactive tool and I love it. It it is gamifying the experience, but I think what the value is is that we're able to see tradeoffs.
078For instance, you know, Yeah, I just think it's important to be able And the the link, by the way, is not working in the presentation here, but um I'm I'm sure I can get a tutorial from you. But yeah, I'm I'm happy to see the tool because for everything that we propose and every like wish that [snorts] we have, there's also a system at a systems um impact somewhere else. So, I I like that we'll be able to play with this a little bit um and see what those tradeoffs actually look like. Oh, it's my turn. I'm sorry. Um I know I might I just um Sorry, were you done? I just noticed there is a link um in the presentation you, but I don't know that you can copy and paste it, but it's
079here. It works. Doesn't work for me. It's it's me. Thank you. Um my I guess I I don't know. Just a comment, maybe slash question, totally unclear. Um is is just uh thank you for the questions and the the comments from our CBS RC members. Um I am curious about cuz it seems like a recurring thing about transparency. I think it's very important, but I also think that term also evolves over time as you delve into work with transparency looks like. I would love to have that conversation as you know, time progresses and and the work on the CBRC progresses, uh what are the needs that are being met and where the needs are that are still a struggle and I think that would be a something that I would love to hear hear from
080you all from about. Thank you. But that's all I have to say. If Um think do I hand this back to Superintendent Ort? Senior Representative Ort? >> Yeah, I just I want to say one more thing. I wanted to respond about the org charts. That that was a very great comment about, you know, org charts being very sensitive. And so I was wondering if I could amend my previous request. If if possible, when you know, when that data becomes available, if we could extract that, you know, from, you know, individual people and see if we could get something that's like you know, that's like a very by the numbers. Here's here's the number of positions at each level. Cuz I think that's the main thing that I have that a lot of people and me
081specifically I'm I'm asking like how many, you know, how many people do we have in the in the executive and in the upper management, you know, and all the way down so I can buy the numbers and how that's changed over time. That would be the the most important data to me. Absolutely. I know that we have what we call a budget one-pager even though it's not one page. Um and it does show data. We do need to update it as we've reduced even further and we are um discussing reductions central office side over the next 3 weeks and so by the time that we're at our convening where I'll have my budget message, we should have some updated documents at that point in time to. But unless you're like, "Hey, I as the changes
082happen, just keep updating me." We can work to get at least the initial one-pager and then any updates that we've had so far. Yeah. Yeah. And I just appreciate you asking for that because we get asked for it a lot. You know, and we're with kind of a Oh gosh, you too heavy at the top. We've been saying that for years and years and years. And I know you're making it less and less and less. So if you see actual papers that show that um it's going to make people feel better, I think. We'll be honest. Yeah. Yeah, and part of the nature of my request, um I forgot to say this, but I I have heard this is there's been this very this very pervasive narrative, you know, whenever we do these cuts that
083it's, you know, that it's all the central office's fault. And so part of my, you know, my ask it, you know, it, you know, in transparency is that hopefully that in, you know, the in our pursuit of transparency, we can hopefully combat some of this and just by making this as publicly accessible as possible, you know, we can we can help the public understand where we're at. So every single year we're not up against, you know, the exact same narrative, you know. Great. Thank you. Very well said. Um Miss Thank you, Chief Morrison, again for your presentation and your work on this. Um look forward to talking next meeting. Great. Thank you. And again, I'll extend an invitation for folks that want to come in and review our financial reports and ask questions in small
084group or one-to-one sessions. I'll make myself available to that. So please do. Great. Thank you. Um with that, I would like to see if the board would be willing to take a 5-minute break. Sure. >> Uh let's take a 5-minute break. We'll be back here at 7:32. All right. Let's uh let's get back started. Uh get started again. Let's We are now moving into our Growing Great Schools conversation presentation. Uh to get an update on the Growing Great Schools right-sizing process and also give feedback on the approach to the process as well and I'll hand this over to Superintendent Armstrong. Absolutely. Good evening again. Think it's important to know and acknowledge the gravity of the decisions that are ahead of us when we talk about what it would mean to optimize our schools across our
085city >> [snorts] >> and the impacts that will come about because of that work. And so we know that we're getting to the heart of the conversations around closures and they're never easy and they carry real consequences for our students, for our families, and for our staff. So I just want to recognize that. Now, we've committed to a transparent public deliberation. That means that our internal considerations will be shared openly. We still have a significant journey ahead of us and a significant amount of public engagement. And we look forward to engaging you in the process. And so I have Dr. John Franco who's going to start the discussion and introduce his counterpart. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Armstrong. Board of Directors, student director, we are happy to be here today to continue the conversation regarding
086Growing Great Schools um very specifically around right-sizing and of course just to echo uh Dr. Armstrong's point. Um as I said at the last meeting, we are expecting this to be um a difficult process given the um the closeness with schools in their communities. Um but we know that um and we are committing to a very transparent process with care. So we are here this evening to continue this conversation around right-sizing. Uh this evening um first of all, John Franco, Senior Chief of Operations. I always forget that part. And then uh Margaret Calvert, Assistant Superintendent of School Planning and Modernization. Uh this evening we will review enrollment trend data as well as identify effective practices that we may incorporate into the right-sizing effort. The practices that we will introduce are grounded in research uh as
087well as through some examples that we will share from other urban districts. Uh so you can see here our learning targets and and our success criteria. So our learning target uh or one of our two is I am examining key trends and patterns in enrollment, utilization, and program distribution across PPS. And the correlating success criteria is the hope is after after the end of this presentation is that you will be able to describe the multi-year enrollment trends and explain how program offerings and building capacity are currently distributed across the system. The second learning target is that I am learning about best practices and how other PK-12 systems have approached enrollment decline, conser- consolidation, and school portfolio redesign. >> [snorts] >> And the success criteria is that you will be able to identify key best practices
088and begin to consider what may or may not be applicable to PPS's right-sizing effort. So this is again, so just to give you some context and we touched on this at the last presentation. I think the overarching question, right, is through this process is how do we continue to serve students well regardless of our size. We are expecting a decrease in enrollment of roughly 6,000 students over the next 10 years. So exact more specifically, it's about uh uh 5,830. Uh and then the changes will move at different rates in across the city and across the grade levels, which we'll show. So just to give you some example sample, sorry. Um just a little bit more context from the previous slide. So just some sample numbers uh in 25-26, 42,622 students is our enrollment. Projected in
0892030-31 we'll be at 39,806. In 2030- 5-36 we'll be at 36,792. Just to give you an idea of the projected enrollment decline. We shared this information at the board meet at the last board meeting and again want to share it again to show the general context of where we are across the district. Uh two topics did surface during the sunsetting of uh dual assignment at Jefferson. The importance of describing what the core academic programming was that we expect to be across all our neighborhood schools as well as the description of the school sizes across grade bands. When we look across the district, how much variability in school sizes should we consider ultimately is the question. For example, we have 45 K-5 schools and the median or middle enrollment is 269 students with the range between
090the largest and smallest of roughly 400 students. What is a reasonable range for schools at a grade level, right? So I think that's a that's a question we need to ask. Jefferson, for example, in Jefferson Rising, we considered a target range to be less than 350. We will look at these and other grade levels as well um in thinking about this in terms of target target range between the highest and the lowest. So we also highlighted that the enrollment changes are moving through the system that that are moving through the system are experienced differently based on location as well as grade levels. So if you take a look at this chart, the enrollment decline is working its way through our system with elementaries experiencing the steepest decline coming out of the pandemic. High schools have
091seen a slight increase recently and their declines will be felt more so at the beginning of next year. Middle grade enrollment more closely mirrors high school enrollment with recent enrollment holding fairly steady and declines in in the coming years. And this next um bar graph shows the number of schools by their configuration over time. You can see that starting in the year 2016-17 school year we began to decrease the number of K8s and establish middle school attendance areas. There has been sustained focus on returning to the middle grades programming which has led to more 6-8s, fewer K8s, and more K5s. And then just by looking at this, you can ultimately discern that's why we have so many lower enrolled elementary schools. Next slide. Thank you. So on March 10th, we shared this overview of the
092right-sizing process to review our academic programming our enrollment and facility utilization to bring forth a recommendation to provide students with well-resourced sustainable schools regardless of where they live in the city. We also mentioned that we are not only looking at our past practices, but also at some other urban districts and how they have engaged with their communities regarding the challenges that we are facing of declining enrollment, of fiscal constraints, and of course aging facilities. Today we will look more closely at four resources to provide additional frames of reference. The goal will be to identify what specifically you would like to hear during the upcoming listening sessions to provide some additional context and anything that would like that you would like us to explore further from today's resources. And with that, I'll kick it over to
093Margaret. Good evening. Chair Wong Vice Chair DePass directors and student director Retorto and Superintendent Armstrong. Um we have shared some of these pieces a couple of times in in trying to outline the process and a time frame. At the end of today, I will review the questions that we've asked you up to this point, what we heard, and then how we're moving forward. So that that is coming. Part of what we're in right now is looking at spaces where we'll be able to um develop dial develop the timeline more explicitly. We provide in general a framework and then we'll start to sort of paint the picture over time as we do an iterative process both in engaging stakeholders including the board and in public engagements. We are in the we're moving into the spring and
094summer and engage and develop. We're so we're going to bridge between the plan and initiate phases and engage and develop in the coming months. With us moving directly into um studying recommending in the fall. We also heard very clearly that the desire was to have a recommendation earlier than later in the fall and we are working to adjust timelines to respond to that request. So for this evening, um shared some um materials with you and we linked them they're in the slide deck um and there's some links that are live in the slide deck I just want to pay you know pay folks attention to that we'll highlight as we go through them. The materials that you'll see um outline process um some establishment of core values what are there specific policy requirements and then
095there's these pieces around what data do we consider and use to help frame and inform the decision-making. We have we're asking you to hold three questions as we move forward through the presentation. Um So based on what we've learned and looking at the the specific school districts and resources from the Oregon PTA what are two actions or considerations that we should incorporate into our process here in PPS? We want to not only learn from ourselves but from others. The second question is what is one non-negotiable that you feel that we need to include? And finally, what is something we should be careful to avoid as we design our process. So these are three questions we'll ask you to engage with a shoulder partner for part of this time so that you can um we can
096get some clarity and start to build an understanding of where we have consensus and where where you are as a board collectively. So I'm going to go through the four resources and then we'll we'll distribute them for discussion amongst you and I know I'll pause at partway through to welcome Dr. Armstrong into the conversation as well. So one of the resources that we provided is school consolidation advisory guidance that was offered by the Oregon PTA. It is rich with research and various other practices. Part of the things that we wanted to highlight on this particular piece was around the process timeline and community engagement are two parts that were very explicit in the we would expect that from the Oregon PTA. So that's one piece that I want us to come back and talk about.
097The second place that we looked at was to San Antonio. And San Antonio has gone through a right-sizing process. They are there are a couple of areas. Their process is fairly similar. You'll look at as you see across districts the steps of the process are fairly similar. What what does that look like? What is how do you develop the framework? What is how do you make decisions? When do the decisions happen? What is there are some subtle differences in here and one of the pieces that I wanted to highlight and and going to encourage you to draw attention to is that San Antonio identified an initial decision framework went out with that framework, the public responded, they revised the framework, and then they so there was an iterative process and what part of the iterative
098process that they worked with was around the framework and the values. So again, kind of building a sketch initially and then filling in the details with the help of the community. There was a third place that we asked you to look which was at Seattle Public Schools. One of the pieces that we see in Seattle again a very similar process overall that we will see. One of the things that was surfaced that we wanted to lift was that they spent quite a bit of time talking about what well-resourced schools look like, what are the characteristics that you would see in a well-resourced school. So I'm going to pause here for a minute and see if Dr. Armstrong has something wants to add into. Yeah, and and actually I appreciate it. This is timely and I
099appreciate Director LaFort's questions earlier. One of the things that we are hoping to be a part of this process is the strategic planning, vision, and mission. When you look through the examples of Seattle Public Schools, you'll see how they defined the North Star and what a well-resourced school would look like or could be. And so one of the things that we're hoping that you anchor in and that you center is what should be true across Portland Public Schools or across the communities that make up Portland Public Schools when we think of what our vision is and for how long is that vision? Are we talking 2030, 2032, or 2035? Um we have an opportunity to do three things. Um is to make sure that our strategy is not just on systems, but it's on students
100and that we keep them centered. >> [snorts] >> That our strategy is ensuring equity in intentional ways not accidental. And that we're turning the conversations on closures to reinvestments and not just a reduction. And we believe that when we anchor in all of the the things that we believe to be true about our schools and the opportunity to engage all the communities in Portland Public Schools, it's a perfect opportunity for us to redesign, rewrite, and stand firm on what we believe to be true for mission, vision, and our next strategic direction. Thank you, Dr. Armstrong. Um Then the third school that we school district that we look at as a peer district was Denver Public Schools. And part of what we wanted to surface here was the methodology that they outlined and applied the criteria
101that they applied. So what you have and what is linked is like a is a a small part of the work that they did, but it was an informational text that then became the driving force for the work that they did that was something that people could refer back to. In all these spaces, you'll see school districts really trying to outline values or guiding principles that five or six guiding principles in order to frame the work. Then they'll go into a process of defining how we're going to operationalize or make those into metrics that then we will use to make comparisons. And then finally, all the districts have been explicit about how do you incorporate um uh equity and how equity shows up and and they define it slightly differently as they go through. So,
102this is going to be something that we're going to we've we speak about how we are going to incorporate that. We want to be very explicit about that today. So, those are some of the pieces as we go in. Um I think that for Denver, for example, they start with five value statements or they would be guiding principles. Then they frame that with equity guardrails and then they were explicit about what data they were going to gather and use regularly. So, um very similar to some of the processes that we've done. Uh so, we're going to take a pause here and I'm looking at time and and I know we're a little um behind where we we're going to be up to this point. So, I'm going to ask us and we we are we
103are on an odd number. So, there's going to be two groups, two pairs and one um triad. Um that I'm hoping people will um engage with and just take the goal again. I'm going to put the questions back up. is we're going to look at you're going to select one of the one of the we have four resources, but we only have three groups tonight. So, uh we can choose to look at the three school districts or we can look at you can you can tell me what you want to look at, but we can look at three pieces. And from these three pieces with your partner, I want you to come to answer these very explicitly. What are two actions or considerations that you see that we you would like us to consider and
104you think we should incorporate? What is one non-negotiable that you're that is either in the materials or that you can agree to between the two of you that we need to make sure that we're using. And finally, is there something that we should be careful to avoid as we design the process? What was interesting um earlier tonight in talking about pieces of what are going to be um you know, when we're talking about the overlay between some of the budget decisions that we're making and what does that mean with right-sizing? Or if when we're looking at pieces around blended classrooms, what does that mean around what do we want for our students? These are opportunities for us to be explicit about what what is surfacing for you in both of these processes so that they
105are integrated and aligned and not um you know, siloed and disparate. So, we're going to take I'm going to put it 5 minutes up on my clock up here. Um and and then I will start with and Director Leford and Director Sullivan and Director Englesman maybe together and then uh Director DePass and uh Director uh Chair Wong and Chase Miller and maybe Ian Student Director Ian Retorto. So, if you just tell me which which of the three resources you would like to look at. You have two of them as PDFs and and the rest are available. They're they're clickable links in the the presentation itself. So, if I start over here to my left, Director Sullivan and Leford, is there one in partic- one group of materials in particular that you would like to look
106at? Can I just recommend >> Sure. Uh Michelle and Stephanie can be together cuz Michelle and I talk all the time and meet all the time. >> Yes. Yep. So, yes, so we're just rearranging groups that Director DePass and Englesman are going to be together and then the three is going to be Chair Wong, Director Chase Miller and Student Representative >> thank you. Just cuz Michelle and I have talked a a lot about Let's hear from other people. I appreciate that. Okay. What would What would you guys like to look at? Denver. Okay. Are are we Are the Yes. So, now so each group has a peer district three things >> That's correct. >> Yes, within Denver. Yes, please. Okay. Oregon PTA? You want to do the Oregon PTA? Great. >> Okay. Okay. And Director
107DePass and and Englesman, did you guys did you land on Seattle or Okay. Great. Okay. So, again, at the end of this, we'll come back. We hope there is consensus amongst the two the two or three of you and then we'll work our way through these this body of questions um and we'll take about 5 minutes for you to It'll be uh I don't know if you had a chance to review this ahead of time, but there there's some opportunity here to to at least have conversation with a neighbor. Okay. Would we um Will we have time to ask a question about the particular case? Absolutely. >> Okay. So, if you go on to if we look at the Seattle piece here, the the image here should it should it should come become it should
108take you to the actual webpage. So, if you hover over that the the image the graphic, it'll that's where the link is. Seattle, but that's in the I believe it's So, it's on slide 13. 13. Uh-huh. Slide 13. Yes. Okay. >> [laughter] >> I'm going to take you into another technological experience later. So, thanks for joining right now. How much time? So, I'm going to do a time check just to see how people are doing. And do you feel that you're at a space? Do you need one or 2 more minutes? Are you Yeah. Not even close. 2 more minutes, okay? I hear not even close in 2 more minutes. So. Okay. So, I'm going to bring us back to the whole group. We'll come back in and 1. >> [laughter] >> So, I know
109that it was a short conversation, so I appreciate that that that is true. Uh there will be opportunities to provide answers to these questions multiple times. Um but to begin with, if we start um we'd like to just hear one question at a time. Um and we'll as has happened um with the with the board protocols is to start and just do a whip around uh with uh on each of the questions, but to do one question at a time, please. Just before they begin, I think it would be helpful for the board to understand like what this will lead to or what this inform what this informs. Um cuz that might impact their response. Great. Thank you for the question. So, part of what we uh we've gone through this arc with you with
110the hope of saying um what we heard from you is that you would like us to have something that when we go out to do a board listening sessions and to share and facilitate this with you that there's something that people that we have something framed up for people to respond to. So, part of what we're going to go through tonight is we have some policies and various pieces that are already things that we need to consider. Is there anything else that we need to incorporate or is there some best practice that you want us to really say, "Hey, let's bring this out um so that we can use it." So, it'll inform upcoming listening sessions. It's going to inform how we frame the conversation um moving forward. Uh so, that is the upcoming listening
111sessions are going to be pretty are going to be upon us pretty quickly. And so, we want to get as much detail as we can from you so that we can be very explicit about what are the um specific things that you want to make sure that we have information ready for the uh public to respond to. Okay, so it's it will help inform those next sessions. Okay. Who would like to start? Who would Cheryl Long like us to start with? >> go first. >> Okay. So so they have time to finish up. Sounds great. >> Okay. Yeah. Do you want to share? All [sighs] right. I'll share because I recorded, but um I may have taken some liberties. And so, hopefully I'm reflecting our shared ideas correctly. Um two actions that we should incorporate
112into our process based on um the report from the Oregon PTA are uh setting clear goals about what what well-resourced schools look like and um using those goals as a North Star or value statements to center all of our engagements. And decisions that clearly incorporate the community's goals and where that's not possible, providing a clear explanation of why that's the case. Our non-negotiable is ensuring equitable access to high-quality educational experiences across the district. Um I I like the way that Eddie framed this. It was uh you know, equality is the baseline. So, um you know, there are are uh non-negotiables that all schools have and then equity kind of layers on top and is responsive to the specific and particular needs of different communities. And something to avoid, this is where [sighs] >> [gasps] >>
113I got a little fancy. Um is adverse impacts to students from communities that have been historically underserved. Um and the understanding that um this work makes their experience in our schools better, uh not worse. Um and includes this is where I'm taking liberties. Non-material concerns like inclusion, belonging, school culture, etc. Um so, the idea that we're avoiding paternalistic perspectives like the underserved kids will be better off by joining the privileged kids based on assumptions that we may or may not have about both communities. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, just add something to cuz you took a little liberties, I just want to add one more thing. It's also to also put some weight to communities that have suffered a lot of change in the last decade or two. As the it's as as
114the amount of changes around the district has not necessarily been equally distributed. Thank you. Well, uh we Do you want to speak for us? We we didn't really do the homework very well, but we had a good discussion. So, I hope we can maybe we can both share something. We spent a whole bunch of time trying to find the link, so [laughter] then we um uh I don't know that I can sum it up actually really well. Why don't you okay. You start. Um as I was looking at the presentation um a few days ago, I came up with a couple of questions. Um so, based on what we learned, two actions or considerations we should incorporate would be to uh take the time to develop a North Star. I know this is work happening.
115I know that the engagements are coming up and that we will need time as a board to do that work. Um one of the things I'm particularly um interested in is is in kind of outcomes that uh will shifting us from just like looking at enrollment and building condition to really evaluating the long-term impacts um the social educational outcomes because school closures do tend to impact lower income and communities of color and they have in Portland. I have uh personal experience with that and um yeah. So, I I'd like to look at building condition utilization rates, of course, um current and potential, you know, uses for the building, but also to be sure that we engage marginalized voices and that we evaluate social and educational outcomes and and so that outcomes are not predicted by
116uh zip code or income. I think I will add that um one of the things that you um brought up also, which I agreed with, was the idea of how far people are having to travel to get to their schools um and looking at that uh within the district and then you mentioned being in a middle school that was just lines of cars and traffic and how far our kids having to travel. And then I had mentioned that for me um and we sort of said this right as the clock 2:01 was coming down. For me, it feels easier, not easy, but easier to put middle schoolers and high schoolers on a longer commute than our littles, K-12 especially on bus rides after a long day of learning is just a lot. And because we
117have now the division 22 in middle [clears throat] schools at least having daily PE um making sure our elementary school kids are able to get the movement before and after school that they their bodies just so desperately need in order to be aligned and you know, calm. Um so we talked about like making sure we're not making our littles travel too far to get to school. Thank you. Well, we don't exactly have a list, but we got ideas. >> [laughter] >> So um we put down for non-negotiable Well, two things really. Well- well-resourced. I think everybody agrees with that, but also to have neighborhood schools so that there's kids can be close to their school and get there reasonably quickly. Um and then being careful to avoid though with that that the neighborhood schools don't
118get treated differently because of their whoever's going there or what the income level is. So that they goes with their other one as is well-resourced as everybody else. So That was the main thing I think we came up with. >> Yeah, I think a couple things that I I jotted down is is I I actually was cheating and looking at Seattle's first and I liked their number two of defining a North Star of like what what is a well-resourced school like having like you know, is it X number of students with one school counselor or two school counselors and this many EAs? What does that school look like and working towards that because I think if we want to once we start engaging families I know that when I was a young parent cuz this
119is going to you know, impact well, it's going to impact everybody, but I keep for some reason I just keep thinking of the younger parents who are going through this for the first time, you know what's the end game? Like what is my kid going to walk into every day? So um I would like to know as a board member like what that is. So that's important. Neighborhood schools, you know, travel distance is significant and I know that transportation is one of our biggest expenses. So how how we look at the at you know, elementary versus middle schools versus high schools, which you guys were touching on. Um there's a way that we there's a budget impact there um as well. So keeping an eye on that. Um and I think I want to be
120really careful that we do everything we can to avoid um projecting personalities on neighborhoods and communities and pitting school communities against each other throughout this process. I think that's really easy to do and um there was some of that happening with Jefferson and it really bothered me and I would love to see us really do everything we can to avoid that. Um and um the middle school conversion for me is a big one. Switching to middle schools and then I'm like I got lots of notes like I said. Um and going back to what does a well-resourced school look like? I really believe in um you know, we always cut arts first and it drives me crazy. So when I think about middle school conversions and opportunities there and what does a well-resourced school looks
121like? For me that looks like band and choir and visual arts and how can we make that a fundamental part of our curriculum again for everybody. Sorry, I got to start yapping. Yes, she >> [laughter] >> And this and this and this. And I agree. >> [laughter] >> So in part this is very helpful and so the goal will be to take some of this information, put it into a frame that will allow us to have something to take out to the public for them to respond to. Um so there are a couple things I just want to I'm just I'm cognizant of time. So I'm going to take us through couple pieces around We asked you a series of questions prior um and I just wanted to just make sure I'm going to reflect
122back to you some of the things that we that we heard you say and just confirm that this is in fact the case. One, we asked about timeline. We heard overall there was a consensus around really thinking about moving this in a timely fashion and two, there was a lot of conversation about the sooner the better and trying to make sure that that was that you had enough time to see the the recommendation prior to a vote. So we had started with December, we heard November. So we are working to re-revise some of those timelines. There's a question about the resolution. There's and the process for development. Director Split offered some recommendations around bringing resolution forward to initiate an academic program enrollment balancing process to effectively use facility developed in April and then to to
123launch the formal process. And that a second resolution would then be offered later this spring around the framework. So that was also one of the things that we heard. The process for engagement we heard some pieces around hearkening back to Jefferson is rising, but also wanting to make sure that there are listening sessions prior to a framework being brought forward and so that we did we are building out those listening sessions in this month prior to that and then in sequencing what what that those resolutions would look like. The third question in the blue is what is the general scope? Again, this was there was quite a bit of consensus around the the idea of looking at to look across the system and look at all schools and programs and that the recommendation should include
124all of those under review. And the yellow questions there were serious around what are the guiding principles? There's there's we've heard repeatedly this piece around keeping equity at the forefront. As Chair Wong has said, who has been impacted recently? Are we impacting the same communities over and over again? What is to keep that in mind as we go through? We also heard use all levers available and that that would be something that we would consider including things like program moves or grade level reconfigurations as well as mergers, consolidations, or closures. I also want to just pause here for a moment and share that we started this conversation saying that these are going to be impacts that are felt not only by families, but also by employees. And I want to be sensitive to that that
125as we're looking broadly, that means we're the impact is also broad. And so I just want to be sensitive to how we talk about this and talk about what does this look like? So just keeping that at the forefront as we move as we move forward. So those are some general pieces. We wanted make sure that we come back and we want to share information with you over time. One of the things that we talked about is these are six factors that we that currently are in our policy around student assignment. These are similar and they drove some of the conversation and to help us develop the key performance indicators that we use for the sunsetting of dual assignment. Um so one of the things that we will do in the the process of getting
126some feedback is we can do things like this. So I'm going to encourage you to take out your cell phones if you have a moment. These are going to be anonymous responses. But you can we can do we can gather feedback in a number of ways and this is one way that we can do it. So you can access this on a QR code. If you were to say which of these six factors are most important you can go in, you can choose multiple of these, but you only want to pick two. So which of these two are the ones? And if you go ahead and are able to select it, we can you we're able to see the results in real time as we go through. So I love this interactive situation. >> [laughter]
127>> If we can get it if we can >> for public meetings too. It's really good. I use it I use it too. >> Do you? Yes. >> see it in real time. >> Yep, and to see what how people are responding. So we can help frame some questions that we can get some interactions and some pieces back and forth that you can start to see how their their responses in real time. So this can be used in a number of ways. So you can start to see you know, here which which of the which of these factors are are we're seeing are are more selected, which are less selected. We can go in and describe them in more detail, which is part of what we did with um the pieces like the student demographics.
128We can define optimal use of facilities. We can define what that is and this is similar to what happened in San Antonio. We can start to do an iterative process where you can see what this looks like in real time. So with this you know, if we were to say, okay, we have two two pieces in here, right? Um that we would say one of the their the highest response is to compact boundaries, right? And so how does that what does that mean? If we scroll down here, what it what is that impact on the other pieces um you know, like the limiting the impact boundaries to the number of students possible was not relatively ranked as high or as held. So, there all of these have trade-offs. The policy does not tell us which
129of these we should prioritize. That is what we're going to try to get continue to develop clarity with you and to see how this plays out. So, we're going to we're using these interactions to refine the questions that we'll take out and ask people. And even and I appreciate thank you um Margaret Calvert for putting this in the front and make your message about what we'll take to the community for them to be able to interact on. And if there are some parts in the policy that you all are thinking this is a great opportunity to capture voice of community to see what they would rank. Um we can certainly have that all be there or if you all as a as a collective want to make that decision, you can as well. I mean
130We were allowed to pick two, right? Yep. >> Okay. Yep. Oh. Has everybody voted? There's 13 responses, so That's what I was curious >> online >> [laughter] >> taking part in it too. >> may have some additional people activated, so Yep. We're looking at you. >> So, in this like so if we were at the end of today, what is this piece around Oh, excuse me. Sorry. The compact boundaries seems to be consistent the most consistent. Uh programs around stability not only you know, of a group of schools as opposed to singular all seems to be higher. Want to use facilities well, we've had quite a bit of conversation about that and as we go through what is the what are the pieces this feeder pattern we've talked a lot about feeder pattern in the
131last little bit. Um our student representatives had quite a bit to say. Um at TLE and and I look forward to coming back out and engaging with the um our district student council as well. So, again, this is the idea of like where are we seeing consistency and and pieces. Uh we can come back and do this and refine questions with you and make sure that you guys are seeing where you're aligned as well so that we can develop clarity cuz I think that's ultimately we want to be able to be clear, transparent, and responsive uh as we go through this process. Are there other people in here cuz it says there's 13 people? I'm sure there are. Yes, there are. >> [laughter] >> I want to thank those Where Where's the board? >> five
132people online that are watching. So, yes, I think that the other people did as well. So, I we can circle back and and ask the the board members to do that as well exclusively. And and not just, you know, the seven plus student rep completing it, but I mean is that what you all just want to take the top two or the top three? I mean this is your policy. And so, I think we're really looking forward to you all being clear about your wishes within that policy on how we rank or prioritize that. So, not just a collection of statements that could be in conflict with one another. Um and so, that is something that we'll need to know from you as well. I think it's interesting because we have 13 respondents, but it's
133going to be very close to what it looks like with 100 responses. I'm guessing. That's just the probability that it's going to be kind of the same curve. So, but yeah, it's interest it's a people are interested in it. That I mean the top two You know, what didn't come up at all yet is um some of our um dual language programs which are not neighborhood. I mean non-neighborhood stuff didn't come up at all. You go ahead. >> Yep. So, I think part of like when we look at programs enrollment stability and surrounding schools, so the programs like are they stable is part of what that looks like. So, this is it's in the policy in that way and so I think again, the last question we'll always ask is what are we missing, right?
134So, if there's a value that is very high, then we need to say how are we going to incorporate that into decision-making. So, this is this was developed. It's it has trade-offs. There are sometimes where you say you want compact boundaries, but then you have small schools, so then you need a bigger school, which means you don't have less compact boundaries. So, there are trade-offs inherent in here, but [snorts] the goal is to say here are the things what we've heard from people uh and from our the the public as well as from uh the board members you as board members is can you let's be consistent and transparent and try to show what it is that is is informing the decision, okay? And the recommendation. So, there are upcoming uh listening sessions that are
135here. So, we'll use this type of interactive polling during uh in a variety of ways. So, this is one way that we'll do that. Uh there we've heard that there's an interest in some surveying of of families as well. Um so, then there's live sort of opportunities to hear there's some other mechanisms um to do that. It can inform as Dr. Armstrong said, we would hope that when we're doing things that it'll inform not only one process, but multiple processes. So, how does something that we do here inform a strategic plan or budget process that we can use this information across um decision-making processes that you'll have. Um we will work towards a resolution in the by April for the April 14th um board meeting. At that time we're going to share some contextual maps
136for you so you can see a a variety of pieces um as as we're looking at things like what is enrollment and facility usage for example on a map across the system. Um and where do we see for example uh various demographics of students living across the the system so you can see not only the numbers, but the visuals and where they are relative to each other. And then finally, uh we heard that there was uh some interest in understanding sort of where programs um and um focus programs, what does that look like in understanding the impacts of those programs and um a little bit more across the system. So, we had heard that as well and we'll uh work to bring that forward in the coming um coming weeks. Yeah. >> Yeah, so just
137planning backwards, so we know that the survey will be live on April 11th for that first listening session. So, I'm curious on cuz I know we have a pretty quick turnaround. What date can we get a draft to the board and then what and how many days will they have to review it to get it back um to the team so that we have something that is agreed upon. We just won't have a public meeting to be able to do that, but I think you all can give some individual feedback. It just will need to be a tight turnaround should you have any. So, does that does that sound strained for you all to have to be able to turn around, see a draft document sometime um maybe even later this week, give some feedback,
138maybe sit with it over the weekend, give some feedback so that we have the document they're going to interact with. Yeah, it sounds like a short, you know, kind of a a tight turnaround. We just have to commit to when we see it. Yeah, as long as we know it's coming. As quick quickly as possible. I'd like to um share I just got a map um sent shared with me today from um 1803 that I would like to share. It does show where students live throughout the throughout Portland. Um let's see. Yeah. So, so I'm hearing next steps. I'm just going to solidify this so that we have some um to-do's uh to make sure that we get done um in a timely fashion. So, I think that there's a um I want to make
139sure I'm understanding that there we will bring together some questions that we want to use during the listening session to elevate. We'll share some of those, make sure that they are some of the things that you're thinking about. If there are things we're missing, we'll revise. Uh we will do this again. I see this as an iterative process. So, we'll we'll we'll take this initial um look at the listening sessions. There's a series of three. Um and then we if there are pieces or adaptations that we need, we'll follow up with that uh as well. Um so, but the initial piece is what are the questions that you would like people to respond to during the listening sessions is what I'm hearing. Is that correct? Perfect. And I think just giving an a weekend an
140opportunity to just review, confirm these are good, no changes, or if you have some suggestions so that we can have time to make some edits and then have it ready to go for the first community engagement session. Um I just have very one very quick thing. Um a few of the items on the poll um I feel like need a little bit of explanation especially to someone who who's not in this I was thinking I was like a few of these things I'd be like what does this mean, you know? So, definitely would just, you know, like to make sure there's like an explanation accompanied. I appreciate that. I appreciate that, Ian. And I think that part of what we would like to do is like as we go through um again, flush these out
141a little bit. When we did Jefferson is rising, these showed up as specific key performance indicators, so we're going to we need to provide some context and I appreciate um in doing this we literally took the language of the policy, but we need to do more. I appreciate that. Um nobody has mentioned like whether we want middle schools or not. Is that going to be on the So, so we're what we heard from is to look at everything, right? So, I think that means that we're I think that looking at a portfolio of options, that's also what I heard from folks is that this is not all one size fits all, right? What So, what is the right mix of things? I think that there was an express question that was listed last time about
142how do families feel, families in K8s feel about K8s, right? So, making sure that we're getting information about what it is what it is that we're looking for, um how many what's the right mix? We're looking at a portfolio of of school options for students, and so and families, and so I think we're that's going to be some of what we wrestle with, like what does that mean? How many, where? Some of those questions. So, if we don't see a question that we want Please say so. Yes, yes. If there's if there's something in explicitly that you that you're really interested in, please, by all means, we we need to we want to provide as much information and framing so that you feel that you have what you need to make decisions. And we we
143recognize that these are big decisions, and so we we definitely need to hear from you as to what is what is resonating, where there seems to be a gap, and how can we help provide that information. I I have I have two quick comments. I guess the first is a comment and the second is a question or vice versa, it doesn't matter what order, but my comment is if you could go back to the um that one. Yes. Um we really need to get the Saturday, April 11th, out. Um that date has been floated around for I think about 2 weeks that I've known about it, and I haven't seen anything go out. It's baseball season, it's soccer season, it's spring, it's everything, and I think and and Saturday, April 11th, is 10 days from
144now, it's next Saturday. Um and so with people's busy lives, if we really want people to feel like they are actually being invited rather than just being told about something that's really soon on a busy calendar, it needs to get out. So, I would like to see that go out immediately. It's at Kellogg, I think, right? Yes. Yes. Okay, perfect. Um and this then the second one is on slide six. If you could go back to that, I have a question that I've sort of been wondering about the last few times I've seen this or the maybe you don't have an answer. Uh so, why do we while yellow and blue are declining do we have any idea why red goes up a little bit? Like, where are these kids coming from? Yeah, we did
145it I did ask a question. So, I think um what what I I I don't remember the answer at this point, so I did ask the question cuz I remember that that was So, what we are going to do is we're going to we are gathering all the questions that you you have provided. >> I asked this one already. >> And so, this is we're going to come back and say we're going to come back, and there are a number of pieces around the shape of the graph and what happened. There was some pieces. So, I just want to make sure that we get all the information one place. We're going to collect them the questions. If you want to add to the questions, please do so, and then we will provide comprehensive set of
146materials back to you so that it's like all at once, so that we'll try to do it in a batch as much as possible. >> literally did not remember asking that, so apologies. No, I think it's it's good to notice that you it's stick it's it's sticking with you. So, it's consistency's great. Okay. Good. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. It's actually felt very productive, so thank you for it was very engaging. Thank you. I love the slide, though. >> [laughter] >> Uh we are on our second to last topic with Dr. Adams at the Um I want to set uh just some expectations around a survey because I'm about to talk about a survey, and we were just talking about a survey. The most effective surveys get the greatest amount of
147information with the fewest questions possible. Right? So, we can't do and and will not be able to do and and go out to our community with surveys like you get from your airline or a hotel you stayed at, where it takes you 20, 25 questions, right? So, I just want to be um open and honest and transparent about that. If we really want people to provide input, we need to not overwhelm them with the number of questions. I I appreciate that. I I also I'm not sure if did we act mean actual surveys or did we mean an exercise that we just went through where you look you've got six choices and because I I've used that in public meetings, it it's helpful because everyone in the meeting can see the results right away. Sure.
148Or are we talking about like an emailed survey? So, I just wasn't sure. >> Okay. All right, well, good evening. I know the hour is late, so I will uh try to give you the most amount of information in the least amount of time without feeling like we're rushing. Um pleased to be able to bring uh to board directors uh tonight the results of this school year's successful school survey data. I am so sad that Director Split is not with us um because I know she and I have lots of conversations about these data, and she uh really stresses the importance of these data whenever she can. There we go. All right, so here are learning target and success criteria. We're hoping that you will learn about those results by topic, grade level, and respondent
149group, and we hope that uh after the at the conclusion of this presentation, you'll be able to articulate some of our areas of improvement where we saw increases and some of our areas where we need to continue to focus our attention because they did not increase or they decreased, in fact. First, I'd like to provide a bit of context around the successful school survey. It's uh as you know, it's our annual climate and culture survey. Recently, we moved the window to overlap with parent teacher educator conferences. Um and we did that purposefully in order to allow schools to provide opportunities as parents were coming into the building via computers and Chromebooks to provide their input at that time. And then the who, uh we we survey students in grades 3 to 12. We survey instructional
150staff. That instructional staff are our classroom teachers. Our non-instructional staff are everyone else, so our counselors, our social workers, a speech language pathologist, a cafeteria worker. >> [snorts] >> Our school leaders are our principals, our vice principals, and our assistant principals. And then, of course, we survey our families. All right. The successful school survey provides essential data to measure implementation of the district continuous improvement plan, specifically for our attendance strategy and the factors that can impact student connection to and attendance at school. We're expecting student results to increase in sense of belonging, teacher-student relationships, school climate, school safety, and engagement. All right, I know this is a little hard to read, uh but here are the topics or the the domains that are covered by the survey. Won't read them all to you, but we'll
151give you a moment to review the list. You'll note that some topics carry across all respondent groups, like academic perception, while others are specific to a respondent group, an example being feedback and coaching for our building leaders. That's specific to them. So, first, uh we want to take a look at student participation in the survey. You can see from this chart that the number of students who participated reached an all-time high of over 23,000 students, with increases noted for every grade level except our seniors. So, we're really excited about that. Ian, um you got some work to do, buddy. Similarly, across the participant groups of instructional staff, non-instructional staff, building leaders, and families, we [snorts] also saw year-over-year increases in participation. So, we're really excited about that because we're not seeing um sometimes what you
152see is survey fatigue, and I believe the fact that I like to believe the fact that we share this information with you, the fact that our building leaders share this information with their staff and to their families and their site council helps promote the response rates that we're um seeing. Can I can I say something quickly? Yes. To Ian, I I think grade 11 in 2024 is actually grade 12 in 25 26. And so, 1382 went up to 1500. >> Oh, you're looking di- Right? That's what I think. I think you guys actually Uptick. Yeah. All right. >> [laughter] >> So, we're letting you off the hook there, student director. >> But they were also the lowest number when they were in grade 11, too, so. >> [laughter] >> First, well, well, I I I
153enjoy all so much. First, we will spend the next few slides sharing survey results by indicators in the district continuous improvement plan. Here you can see an increase since the 2023-24 school year in all areas, and most areas continuing to show positive growth this year compared to last year. When we look at the district continuous improvement plan indicators by grade level, we notice the following trends. School climate and school safety have more favorable perceptions in elementary grades, dip in the middle grades, and then rebound somewhat in high school. Sense [snorts] of belonging decreases as grade level increases, and teacher-student relationships and engagement are less favorable for secondary students than they are for elementary students. Next, we examine some of those indicators for our focal student groups. Data for students with disabilities and our multilingual learners
154are new for this year, so we do not yet have trend data. So, we So, we have shown those two student groups in comparison to the overall district average. You can see that across indicators, both student groups shared slightly lower favorability than the district average. For For Black and Native students, we do have year-over-year comparisons. Our African American students are sharing more favorable perceptions of school climate, safety, and student-teacher relationships than just a year ago, while our Native students are only showing increased favorability in the area of school safety, while showing decreased favorability in our other identified areas. So, now let's look at those same focal indicators for students that are in grades 6 through 12. Here again, you'll notice that students with disabilities and multilingual learners favorability ratings trail behind the district average. And
155additionally, we see increases in African American students perception of sense of belonging, safety, and student-teacher relationships. Finally, our secondary Native students are showing positive increases across all indicators, which [snorts] is different than what we observe in the elementary grades. Family perceptions are another viewpoint we gather and consider as a part of the survey. Here you can see that while school safety and school climate saw positive increases across the district, marked increases um in in both were noted for our African American and our Native families. What's more, in addition to the increases seen in safety and climate across families, we are seeing increases in these topics across all respondent groups. With increases in school safety and climate being seen across respondent groups, we looked at social-emotional learning practices in schools, as we know that explicit instruction
156in those areas can help students learn to better self-regulate, successfully navigate conflict, and exhibit more positive and prosocial behaviors. Here we see that both instructional and non-instructional staff are favorable about both the explicit social-emotional instruction that occurs in their school, as well as the integration of that instruction into the overall academic programming. So, we're seeing people value the explicit instruction, and we're seeing that our students are saying, you know, safety and climate are feeling a little bit better. We believe those are good signs. Academic perception results show that this is an area as uh this is an area that is a consistent district-wide strength, both as a topic and in response to the individual question. You can see that favorable responses range anywhere from 80% to 96%. And for our final respondent group, we wanted
157to share school leaders' perception of their experiences. Areas of relative strength and progress include leaders' perceptions of the academic program and the relationships between staff and families. As you can see from the slide, our areas of improvement and continued focus are district leadership relationships, professional learning, and feedback and coaching, as those are the areas where perceptions were the least favorable. District leadership relation asked, among other things, about the care, concern, and support building leaders feel from the district, as well as how much they trust the district and how much they believe the district has their best interests in mind. Professional learning questions ask about the quality and impact of the professional learning opportunities that are provided to building leaders. And finally, feedback and coaching asked building leaders about the frequency, thoroughness, and usefulness of the
158feedback they receive from their supervisors. We realize that we have work to do to improve these metrics. We know that change in the district cannot happen without adequate support and stellar customer service to our building leaders. Our principals are the main communicator and change agent at the school level. We are discussing these data as a cabinet team and as an academic chiefs team, and plan to have conversations with PAPSA, who represents our building leaders and their leadership, about how we can increase trust, improve feedback and coaching, and strengthen our professional learning opportunities in these areas uh since I've been here, I've consistently been rated lower. And so, we're constantly trying to figure out what is it that we can do better. I was just actually having a sidebar with uh Principal Whitney earlier about some
159of the ideas we have about bringing principals into more of our um decision-making processes and our thinking as a central office team. And so, with that, I want to thank you so much for your attention. I know the hour is late. Um I'd like to turn it back over. I don't know if Dr. Armstrong has any concluding remarks she'd like to make before we open it up for some questions. >> Well, just the one little data point of on the um district leadership, down one percentage point. But last year, there was an increase, correct? I believe so. >> So, that 1% dip is not uh from any year prior to the year before last, but it's just a dip to last year. >> Yes. Okay. That's significant. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate you um sharing
160that, cuz I had forgotten that. Um I just wonder what the impact of vitamin D and a little sunshine would do to these numbers, because, you know, when the sun's out, Portlanders are really happy. And, you know, things are better. Well, what I often What I've said to our building I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you November. What I What I've said to our building leaders, um and I'm told that they repeat it, which um I take some pride in that, is that helps help needs to feel like help. And I recognize as a um former building leader at the assistant principal level at an elementary school and a high school, that in some instances, help doesn't always feel like help, even though it's maybe intended to feel like help from the people who
161are providing the guidance and the support. It's really the impact that we need to monitor and really assess, and we need to understand and listen to our building leaders about that to adjust prac- practices. I've shared with every team I work, I only have my job because schools exist. And so, I try to be very deferential to the existence of our schoolhouses and our building leaders, because that leads me to have a better posture when it comes to servicing and supporting them. And I I hope that we can continue to build uh that type of belief and posture among our central office team. And I'll take any questions you may have. Great. Also, yeah, I appreciate the principals. I'm sorry. Um being included, cuz I think that we've been working on that for a few
162years, and I think it does I think it's a great idea, and I know they're such a valuable resource. Let's go in order again. So, now we'll start with student representative Ricardo. Great. I have a few things. Um number one, uh talking about the number of respondents, it's great that we had, you know, an increase this year. I was, you know, just thinking if you if you really wanted to use the numbers, I've seen um a bunch of other you know, uh groups who have, you know, put out surveys have attached, you know, uh raffles. You know, it's And I'm just saying, regrettably, I did not take this survey. Um [laughter] I have a very horrible model. >> But, if there was I'm just saying, if there was a $50 Burgerville gift card thrown in
163there, >> [laughter] >> I might have convinced me. It might have changed my mind, you know. So, >> [laughter] >> uh there's something about gambling, which is just incredible for the human brain. Um, So, just say if you wanted to to juice those numbers, um, that'd be a great way. I am concerned, um, about the potential for a convenience sampling bias here cuz this is my understanding, at least how it was at my school, there's just posters up, you know, take the survey if you have time, you know, um, as opposed There's actually a There's a different survey that we did this year for some grant, um, about, you know, uh, some alcoholism and drug thing. >> survey. >> Yeah, precisely. And that one's That one's different, that's a randomized one and it's it's only
164in one class and my class got chosen. You know, it's it's only in a few classes, like a proper, you know, randomized design. So, um, so that So, that was just my concern about looking, you know, uh, seeing about a convenience sampling bias and so it would be It would be interesting, you know, uh, to see to see if the if these numbers would change if we did it by a randomized design, but, you know, that's all uh, above my pay grade. You know, I'm just an AP stats student, so. I I love it when you bring your class work into the boardroom. I talk numbers with you all day. Yeah. Chairwoman, I just wanted to note it that Director Split has joined the meeting. Oh, great. Yay. Let's, um, we'll go in order, so
165Director Split, let's hear from you. Yeah, so Director Lefort. Um, so thank you. This is I love this kind of data. Um, on slide nine, um, where the results are broken down by grade, um, it's really interesting. There's a steep drop-off between elementary between fifth grade and sixth grade, between, you know, K through five and six through eight and I actually just sent an email while I was sitting here to Dr. Armstrong and and Margaret about K through eights versus middle schools. So, I was sitting here looking at research simultaneously, I'm multitasking that um, are K through eights the better option? You know, I've always believed that middle schools were, but the more recent research has actually shown the opposite and then you should you know, we're looking at this data simultaneously. Um, would it
166be possible to see this broken down by the responses from our K through eights versus our responses from our K through fives and middle schools? Because I wonder if the if it's going to divide even more. And if that's the case, I think that's something we should really be considering, um, during >> Let me look into that. I'm I'm pretty sure I'm fairly certain we can do that. Let me look into that with the team. >> if because that's if if that's a way to keep kids engaged. Too, I don't want to send up like, you know, alarm bells here, you know, let's let's convert to K through K through eights, but let's go back. But, honestly, if we're losing students, um, because of that and engagement, I think it's something we should consider. These
167are This is statistically significant. We're talking about 20-point difference. You know, if we're losing kids, that's I would love to see that. Thank you. This is great. Uh, yeah, I just want to make sure sure uh, school leaders are principals and vice And assistant principals, yes, ma'am. >> Okay. And like Ian said, I remember when Frankie was our, um, representative, she said, "Do people really take these seriously? These So, she was questioning, "Are they really filling them out in a serious way?" So, that is a probably a problem. Oh, and I hear see a head nodding right there. Yeah, so. Yeah. Those are two good points, the um, right, if you catch a sixth grader on a day when they're feeling very hormonal, they might answer it very differently, regardless of whether the sun's out
168or if it's November or June than they would have done 36 hours earlier. Well, what period do you ask them in? You did this survey. >> Right, yeah. Are they in >> Seventh period if Seventh period or second period? Um, I just [clears throat] love the idea I just have to go back. I love the idea of how many third graders are doing this. >> Right. Um, and so because third graders don't have most third graders probably don't have phones or the ability to scan a QR code, I suspect that this is happening somehow in the classroom. >> Yes. Less so than a flyer on the wall, more so than teachers interacting with the students and getting them to do this and I just love the idea of third graders doing this. Um, yeah, that
169was surprising to me. Um, I don't have anything else. Um, to the point, um, that Director Lefort made about the drop. It wasn't the drop between sixth and seventh or fifth and sixth? Fifth and so Yeah, I mean, definitely between fifth and seventh and again, just like sunshine and vitamin D impacts us, like I was also wondering about hormones and wondering about, you know, asking a middle a middle schooler, you've got third, fourth and fifth, they're compliant and then at sixth grade, something happens and, you know, human development, um, they're different people and I'm just wondering how, you know, how accurate those the survey responses are. Like you can't wait for being a sixth grader, seventh grader, but I'm just wondering about with a third grader, you've got a higher compliance just because they're you
170know, they're younger. Sure and I what I would say is, um, a couple things. There are multiple questions that go into each topic. So, it's not as if students are answering a single question to tell us how safe they feel in school. Um, or what they feel about sense of belonging, right? They're They're answering a couple different questions in that area that come together to give us overall favorability. As a former middle grade special ed teacher, I will tell you, yeah, it's a special time >> [laughter] >> for the students in the school. Having been one. >> Yeah, right. And having been one, it was a special time. Um, and, you know, but what what I I think we, um, what I appreciate about this instrument is it allows us to hear their voices in
171ways that we wouldn't otherwise At least I wouldn't otherwise know unless I went into a school and tried to hold a lunch meeting with some students who don't necessarily know me, right? And so, what we always encourage principals to do is if you have follow-up questions about any of the topics, meet with groups of students over lunch or have a like a principal's corner and just ask them because what we don't want to do, the inclination I hear is, "Well, I want to survey them again on the topic." And I'm I'm always like, "Well, I think you could just talk to them because you have relationships with them." I mean, I've walked buildings with our building leaders and they're naming students and telling them which classes need to get to as we're walking the hallways.
172I was last in the middle school, um, last visit I had. Um, but yeah, I would say, you know, we need to continue to talk with our our students and understand what's impacting them and elevate their voice. Thank you. >> Uh, Director Split. On the horn. Is that right? Can you hear me? Yes. >> Yes. Okay. I I really I've just been listening along. I don't I'm always really excited to see these numbers. I think they're really important. Um, I think they show us how our community is viewing our schools. Um, and so I'm just really grateful, um, to have this this information and be able to see it compared to last year. Um, I also just think it's pretty interesting to see where there's improvement and where there's work to do. I don't really
173have any questions at this point. I just got off an airplane, so I'm a little bit like scattered, um, after kind of a while the last 24 hours or so or maybe 48 hours. Um, but just really grateful for this information and grateful to see us for the most part moving in the right directions as far as how our schools are perceived by everybody who takes part in them. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, back to the issue that Director Lefort brought up. Uh, it it's interesting that school safety stays actually pretty consistent through all the grades, which maybe that sort of acts like a control, right? And uh, that's kind of point out The other thing I also have worked in middle school, like have you met middle school? Um, they're fun.
174Um, >> [laughter] >> I mean that both good and bad. Um, the other thing I also want to bring up is the interesting discrepancy discrepancy, uh, between the family perception of school safety and the student one. I don't know I don't know if there's what you can attribute to that besides when kids walk home get back home from school and you ask them how their day was, they say, "Fine." It's probably not the right question to ask. Um, so that's my guess other than um, I'm I'm really happy for these positive trends from especially from our historic uh, historically disadvantaged, um, populations. I think that is a big deal. And I don't want to, um, I don't want to it Again, like you said, the work's not done, but we're making progress and I think
175that that is a big deal and I want to make sure we highlight that. Um, lastly, my last No, my question was answered already. So, I'm good. Thank you. >> No, thank you. >> [sighs] >> Oh, [gasps] um, as the mom of Excuse me, [snorts] of the mom as a mom of a middle schooler, uh, who receives special education services, um, sad and also not surprised to see, um, some of the scores around sense of belonging and school climate for kids with disabilities and kids who are multi language learners. Um tracks with the experience my kid has had and I spend a lot of time thinking about >> [sighs and gasps] >> how we improve a sense of inclusion and belonging for kids with disabilities specifically and specifically in that secondary band. I think um
176whatever the weird and magic magical thing that happens when they go from elementary to middle school is um it makes all the differences harder to to live with when you're the one who experiences them. Um and kids are just often really not kind about differences and not thoughtful. Um and also I think just often lack the frame of reference um for for engaging with people with disabilities in the world specifically. So um I mean that is just kind of my flag to wave around and hope that that's something that we're really paying attention to and focused on improving but I'm glad that we are looking at those two groups of kids specifically. Um and and measuring that for them. It's really important. Um and then I also want to just add you know when we
177think about the middle school curve and how much like we attribute to reality and how much we attribute to hormones. I'm reminded every day living with a seventh grader [laughter] that hormones are their reality. >> [gasps] >> And um my my mom was a middle school administrator so the she's really like continuing to support me in my developing understanding that you know perception is reality for middle schoolers and the middle school environment like has to be supportive of that stage of life that these these kids are in. Um even you know I mean because of the extent that it is so up and down and influenced by hormones and things that are kind of outside of our control. So um I don't know just like solidarity to all the middle school parents and teachers and
178uh it's a wild ride. Um but uh any any ways that we can look at making that easier for the kids who are clearly having the hardest time feeling like middle school is a place where they belong and are included um it's very much appreciated. Sure, we will do that. Can I actually extend your comment question to also question? Is there a reason why there or is there data for like cuz the other ones like black African American students and American Indian Alaskan have a plus minus number from the previous year. Is there a reason why it wasn't included in >> Um there are we did not collect information on disability or language status prior to this year. So we weren't able to give you a a delta from the previous year but we'll be
179able to do that moving forward. Great, thank you. Um so the the thing that's jumping out to me again here is this sense of belonging cuz that one's really important and it just it has this very linear decline. You know and then it bumps up a little bit in 11th and in 12th grade but it has for the most part a pretty you know uh >> [cough and clears throat] >> a pretty concerning decline especially into the latter half of middle school. Um and the thing that that that I've always and I actually I expected it to go more up into high school and I'm concerned that it doesn't because the biggest thing from my personal experience as far as sense of belonging has always been extracurriculars. You know is the biggest thing. Whenever I
180go to an eighth grade nights I always say they always say what you know what's your tips? I say do an extracurricular. You know it is where you will find you know your friends your community. Like it is it is truly incredible and it is regrettable that that those same opportunities don't really exist in middle school. You know and it's even regrettable those that that those opportunities aren't the same across our high schools. You know I think it is you know I am someone I am very avid about speech and debate. I've been doing it for four years now and I think I love speech and debate. It's you know part of the reason why I'm here and it is it is very sad to me that that isn't a thing at all of our
181schools cuz it is one of the most if not the most you know accessible extracurricular to people you know all sorts of people. Um It's just one of the many things that that you know that makes it so great and so the thing that you know that I would think one of the things that I've been thinking about you know with like my leadership class in you know in our school specifically is what can we do to push kids into clubs at the very least and extracurriculars. You know in terms of building up our our community. Um so that's that's personally that's where I would look you know in terms of sense of belonging because especially getting into those later years you know seventh eighth ninth grade it's like that's you know the point in
182kids life where they want to find out who they are. You know and extracurriculars can be a incredible avenue to do that through to really to to help you develop yourself and it's also the the place where you're interacting with with people who aren't in your age cohort. You know when I was you know when I was in ninth grade I did I did a lot of theater. I didn't you know I don't do it as much anymore but when I did you know I learned a lot from the seniors you know that were that were in that and the same with speech and debate it's like you learn so much from the people that are older from you in extracurriculars which again really helps I think you know particularly with with this sense of
183belonging. So so that's where that's where I'd look. Um but it but it is a difficult a difficult task to try and tackle. I I I appreciate that. What we try to encourage all of our staff and buildings to do is form a relationship with even if it's just with one student. I I think back to my own um education and having I've talked a little bit sometimes about Mr. Brown in high school my geometry teacher and I remember Miss Ray she was my algebra teacher in middle school and Miss Collison was my fourth grade teacher in elementary school and I remember them pouring into me when I felt like I didn't belong and I felt like I wanted to sort of not do well and they wouldn't allow me to fail. Um and and
184I believe we need that's the those are in my experience the kinds of connections we need to foster and and develop with our students between adults and students in order to um really make them feel safe seen and heard and and valued. So we'll keep working on it. We'll keep chipping away. Great, thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. Yes. Thank you Dr. Adams. This is wonderful presentation a lot of valuable data here. That's my commitment to you. Yes. Is to bring data. Yes. Love it. Great. Next up we have the thing we've been waiting for five weeks for cuz we kept delaying it. Is our board committee and conference reports. Yeah. I'll just let you popcorn and whoever wants to go first just jump in. Okay, this is audit committee report. And we met
185on Thursday March 5th. We ran out of time last time for me to report and it's kind of long so here we go. Um the first agenda item was a status update on the implementation of the hardship petition transfer audit recommendations. The district's internal auditor Janice Hanson reported that she has confirmed the implementation of three of the five recommendations. She also noted that the enrollment and transfer center called the ETC has made progress on the remaining two recommendations but they are not yet at a place where they can be formally confirmed as implemented. Judy Brennan director of the ETC was on hand to answer questions about those outstanding recommendations. We had a good conversation about the work of the center and it seems that the work is well underway to implement the final recommendations. Next
186we discussed the status of the outstanding recommendations from the contracts audit. Dr. Adams who we well know just here um the district's chief accountability and equity officer provided the audit committee with the proposed RESJ partner services evaluation framework. To briefly refresh the board's memory in June of 2020 the office of internal performance audit issued the contracts audit which focused on the management of personal service contracts that provide direct student services. Dr. Adams oversees the racial equity and social justice or RESJ department which manages the majority of contracts that fall into this category. As a result Dr. Adams has been asked to take the lead in developing the implementation plan to address the recommendations included in the audit. While the majority of the recommendations have been been implemented, there are a few outstanding recommendations that relate
187to the review and evaluation of the performance outcomes of contracted partners. Dr. Adams presented a plan that he will be working on with his team to provide a framework that assesses assesses partner impact in alignment with the strategy areas defined by each partner. This framework will be available to evaluate the 2026-27 school year. When asked about the review and evaluation of the current 25-26 year contracts, Dr. Adams stated that the goal is to provide that information to the board in June using the current framework. Which is June is just a couple of months out. So we'll be keeping an eye on the supplemental resources tab in board book. So I will draw the board's attention to this information when it is posted. The committee also received a status update from our internal auditor on the
188audits that have already been approved by the board. We discussed when the audit committee can expect to be provided with proposed scope of work for future audits. We still need to um decide on two of those. Our internal auditor also provided an update to the 25-26 audit committee work plan and proposed audit audit meeting agenda document. Lastly, the audit committee was provided with the Office of Internal Performance Audits budget request for the 2026-27 year. Our internal auditor shared benchmarking data on internal audit functions from the Council of Great City Schools. We also had an opportunity to discuss cost-cutting measures that were put in place for the current year, along with how important it is to ensure the Office of of Internal Performance Audit team attends professional development opportunities that are specific to school districts. The
189audit committee voted to forward the Office of Internal Performance Audits budget request to the full board with a recommendation from the audit committee to include the budget request in the board's budget for the 2026-27 year. The audit committee does not have a scheduled meeting in the month of April, so the next meeting is scheduled for May 7th from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. You can view this meeting on the PPS channel if you would like to see the discussions in greater depth. Thank you. That concludes my report. Ready to go? Okay. Um so um this will be the committee report for the Facilities Improvement and Operations Committee. Um we had our meeting on St. Patrick's Day and um it was a very efficient meeting. Uh public comment focused um largely on athletic facility projects and uh
190capital planning transparency. Um Cleveland community members continue to raise concerns about Pal Park um citing poor field conditions and non-functioning electrical infrastructure that has nothing to do with us and everything to do with the city. Um and continue to urge the district to accelerate the project timeline and provide clearer updates. And I know that PPS staff is continuing to meet with the city regularly and hopes to have um a plan in place within the next 2 months. Uh so we'll stay on top of that. Um Lincoln baseball stakeholders um expressed frustration regarding the West Sylvan Fields projects noting that um the full land use and design process um was completed in 2020 under the 2017 bond. It's been a long time and they questioned why the project appeared to be restarting and requested that prior
191work be reviewed to avoid duplication and delays, which uh the RISE department agreed with. Um we asked about, you know, right now their project is finishing last in the plan and it's Personally, I think it's a valid question um since this was under 2017 and completed in 2020, like how that um prioritization is um was put in place. So something to uh consider about to consider and we'll follow up on that. Um additional testimony highlighted concerns about the lack of the a detailed seismic improvement plan um that we keep coming back to every time we talk about seismic. Um and um I wanted to share that I talked to or corresponded with Dr. Franco about um putting that on the FIO agenda and agreed that it should actually be on the full board agenda. We
192talked about it again agenda setting for FIO um this week. Um what is the plan for actually putting this um the seismic improvement plan together. And I wanted to point out cuz I don't think it was crystal clear that the money that's been allocated so far in what we've seen where we have Rose City Park. I'm sorry, going to going off off off my script here. The money that's allocated um right now for Beverly like we have $100,000, right? For the 2025 bond. Rose City Park and Beverly Cleary will come out of that funding. The other schools are coming out of 2020 and 2017 funding. So um the smaller projects like Beach and Cesar Chavez, that isn't touching the hundreds. So the opportunity for us to create the plan that was in that board resolution
193is there and we talked about what Obviously, this needs to be a board conversation, but we're like how do we initiate this conversation on the board about when that happens? Um do we do it at the end of Growing Great Schools? You know, we're keeping an eye on seismic as we work our way through it and then once we complete that, um we look at what we have left and make the plan for whatever's left. I don't know how much it will be once we, you know, we have the numbers for BCS and Rose City Park. Is it 70,000? Is it 80,000? Um who knows? But the opportunity is there to really deep dive on an equitable seismic improvement plan for the balance of that funding. So I just wanted to call that out. Um
194let's see. Um Presidio presented findings from um the feasibility study um on the shell option for Jefferson um which was explored as a way to accelerate student occupancy um was presented to senior leadership in February and showed only a modest schedule schedule savings and added costs and staff decided not to pursue this option and will proceed with the original timeline. And then there were project updates. Um Grant Bowl lighting, uh the electrical contract was executed and um they're putting together an agreement for that um that work. You know, they're pulling electric in from the other side of 33rd. Um the goal is to have this going in May. We're still waiting for an actual date. Um the Jackson Hub design is underway. Construction is expected to begin this summer, which is really exciting. Um the
195Marshall Hub is under construction. Improvements in progress include track resurfacing, new turf, tennis court resurfacing, and um lighting improvements um for the Cleveland students that will be incoming and that will be completed in May. Um Pal Park, again, said it earlier, ongoing coordination with the city to establish a long-term agreement um is anticipated within the next couple of months. And um for Roosevelt, and West Sylvan facilities, um the projects are all in pre-planning and schedules are in development. And our next meeting is on April 21st and we're going to do a deep dive on air quality in our schools. So. That's it. It was the very timely that policy committee meeting. I was like we literally had just talked about it that morning at FIO agenda setting, so it was perfect. May I go next?
196So the policy committee, we met uh yesterday to discuss the section 7 policies. So we're in the process of cleaning up the policy manual, which we are required to do every 4 years and you might note that we haven't done it on a regular regular schedule, so we're trying to get back to that. We're looking at section 7 um and literally just uh I would say the bulk of the the bulk of the changes we're looking at are word changes related to grammar changing he, him, um and she to they and them um making capitalizations um consistent throughout and um we had a pretty robust discussion about the words shall and and will. And so um what we've decided is that we will put a sentence in Let's see if I can get it here.
197I I also clarified um that the it's not necessarily a a legal document, so I just clarified that the the language is not we don't have to use the legal term. We can use the layman's term, but what we're going to do to satisfy um a request is to include a disclaimer that reads wherever in our policy manual it says shall, it actually means will. Is that correct? Yeah. So we'll put that in the policy of policies and hopefully people read it. Um it it's it's very I know, it's it's shall or or will. Um we heard public testimony about amending the climate crisis responsibility uh I'm so sorry, climate crisis response policy to include air quality standards and we have a document in front of us that is very detailed and actually a little
198bit too prescriptive for a policy. Um it it talks about um the particulates per you know, volume of of classroom space. Um we we don't want to put uh those details in a policy, but we might want to have a policy that talks about our uh what we aspire to in terms of clean air. Um and I'll be meeting with uh community members to to let them know we're not going to say we can't have more than 0.001 parts per billion in a classroom. Um let's see. Our next meeting is April 27th at 4:30. Um and we are very close to bringing section seven policies with a few changes, amendments uh to one of our next two board meetings. The final thing is we um as of today, we haven't received any public uh testimony
199or had any board conversation about the contracting and purchasing. Um sorry. We had a first reading a few weeks ago, public contracting rules. Um they're out for public comment. That public comment period closed today. We heard the first reading on March 10th and we'd like to um vote on those uh new rules on April 14th. Okay, we had our last [clears throat] uh meeting of the teaching learning and enrollment committee on March 12th. Um we had a presentation on continu- continuity of instruction with uh Chief Cardona. Um and this is drink directly linked to uh the field trip policy that we discussed earlier this year and experience that students have um when large groups of students go on uh big field trips like out of the country, out of town and um teachers are accompanying
200those trips and so how we ensure um equitable experiences for students that raise that stay behind. Um and uh it it was a very instructive. Uh it was helpful to see kind of the form that um is filled out that really goes into detail about uh what the teaching expectations and work expectations are. Um and how they're aligned to standards um for students whether they are on or off campus. Um literally for each day students are gone, um we know what they'll be doing and how that aligns with students um as well as for students that are staying behind. So, whether you're here or you're there, um you're kind of staying on track with your grade band and um learning the things that you're supposed to be learning. Um and that is planned intentionally. Um
201we also talked about how schools plan staffing to ensure that there is consistent teacher coverage um and how that works uh just based on whether we're utilizing subs or other school staff. Um after that, we had a presentation on growing great schools. Um I won't go into a ton of detail about it because we talked about much of uh that tonight. Um but kind of just getting um some preliminary facts um around, you know, what enrollment has been, uh where where we've been experiencing the drop in enrollment, um which has been uh primarily in elementary schools and isn't yet being actualized in middle and high schools, but we know that it will be. Um data around the modernized buildings and um the increases in enrollment that follows. Um and generally looking at um the demographic
202trends um as well as where we've had um schools increase and decrease. We've decreased our K8s, increased our K5s and our high schools. Um and uh discussion around looking at the configuration of grades and the experiences that are relative to that. Um and many of the concerns and issues that we talked about tonight in terms of um going into this work and looking at like what the right configuration or number of schools is for the enrollment that we have and will have. Um what equity in process and outcomes looks like um and kind of what our what our goals and uh potential North Stars for this work are. Um our next meeting is on April 9th. Great, thank you. Didn't forget anybody, right? Okay. All right. Um we are on our last topic of the
203business future agenda items. Uh the first thing I would like to kind of bring to your attention because I would like to actually implement this change starting next next our next meeting is our um public comment procedure. Uh I believe our board manager has sent an email out with the proposal. Uh I had uh well, we asked our board manager to look at how other government agencies, districts do public comment and uh she kind of synthesized uh a proposal based on uh what other people do and and best practices and etc. Uh so, just kind of really briefly and I I wanted to bring this to you to make sure this is okay with everybody here before we proceed with this. I think there was a general uh um agreement that we wanted to increase
204the equity and access to your public comment. And so, this is one attempt our our first attempt to change for the better. So, in general, just quick summary, um if you approve, from now on we will have public comment in both our work sessions and our regular meetings. Um they will be 20 minutes on the agenda. And uh if if it is, you know, full, then it will be 2 minutes per speaker. If it's not full and can allow, we can allow up to 3 minutes per speaker. This is the one thing I wanted to add uh there. 2 minutes means there's about nine general commenters can participate and uh the standard student, I think, have um a reserved three slots. Um the the other change that will happen is the how to sign up.
205One of the things I wanted to um make sure that we also change is equity and access because sometimes we have topics that come up and you have organized parent groups that, you know, sign up all the slots within the first hour it's open and and that and while some families may not be aware or have access to it till later on. So, the first proposal, which I'm actually going to propose a little change here, so I just hopefully um I I'm clear or I can still talk at 9:30 p.m. Um so, the the new process the proposal is that 4 days ahead time or 96 hours before the meeting, uh that's when sign up opens and then it closes on 12:00 p.m. the day of the meeting. Um They sign up through emailing or
206calling the board office. If there are um and this is this is a part that's in purple. I I also want to add a little bit thing. Uh one of the one of the ideas I had was also having a lottery system if there's more people who sign up than than um slots available. And the reason for that is because I there is an equity issue if, for example, people who sign up first get priority versus, you know, people who find out later in the day. So, I wanted to divide that, but there's also other ways to weight it. Like, for example, um there are some issues that may be like 30 people from Woodstock Elementary sign up on hour one that is open and that even a lottery wouldn't allow equal access. So, there's
207other ideas, for example, like waiting cluster areas, right? Like, for example, if there's a whole bunch [snorts] of people, we weight like, you know, the Cleveland cluster and Roosevelt cluster to make sure that they're these clusters are equally represented. So, we can do it by geography. Uh we can also do it weighted by topic. So, like um when they sign up, they have to list their topics. And so, we don't want all the slots be taken up by one topic, for example, and that we allow diversity of topics. So, those are those are some ideas um the the one I'm kind of wanting to push is the idea of a lottery if there are more people who sign up than there are slots. Um and then lastly, um uh I think I think that's it.
208So, feedback and thoughts. >> Chair Wong, can I just note that there are some um constraints on discerning slots based on the content. So, a content-based restriction is one we want to talk through if you had done that direction. The lottery is different, but I want to >> yes, and I forgot to mention that. Thank you for reminding me. We we did talk about that with um I think uh Sharon Tonk- Tonker also brought that up. And one thing that we can weight is by geographic area. That is more legally clean. Um so, that's why I I think I came up with the idea of clusters, you know, like the Roosevelt you know, all the schools that feed to Roosevelt, all the schools that feed to Cleveland. Um consider that as geography instead of just
209me instead of just quantity, right? Um Oh, and sorry, one more thing I forgot to mention. If we are going to do a lottery, there needs to be an extra day ahead of time at the window has to be moved. So, instead of 4 days before the meeting, 5 days before the meeting. And then it closes the day before and then the people who get the slot are emailed confirmations that they have an opening. So, that that's the reason. So, if we do have uh what I am proposing is a lottery if there's more slots or more sign-ups than slots. Um it would have to the window moves up a day to allow for that administrative. I see Director Split has your hand up. Yeah, thanks. I really just have a clarifying question. I tried
210to get in early to just ask if as you were going through it, you could share like how it's different from what the current practice is cuz I honestly don't really know what the current practice is. Like I don't know how long the advanced sign-up currently or when it closes. Um it sounds like the individual signing up is about the same. So I'm just curious if I'm the only one that doesn't know the current system, cool just say Christie the rest of us know it, but if others aren't really sure what what's different between this and the other, I think it might be helpful. Um but again like maybe just people can nod their head if it'd be helpful for them to know what's different. And if everybody else knows already then just ignore me
211and move on. Thanks. No, and I just felt like I needed that context. And then I might also have some other things to say, but I just from the beginning wanted to like understand where we're coming from. Hi, Rosanne Powell, board manager. Currently there's no cut like there's you can sign up as far in advance as possible. So for general public comment if somebody wants to let's say sign up for um April's regular board meeting and it's full, um they can just sign up for the next month. Um so theoretically someone right now public comment could be full for the rest of the year. Um and then we cut off um really we cut off right before the meeting starts if there are slots available and that's typically not the case. People do have to
212wait until the agenda is published for comments about topics that you're voting on. Good. Can I also just add one more thing is that um if we agree to this, it's not final. We can iterate this as we go. So don't feel like we have to get this 100% right today. Um as we find out issues we can and um I totally want to keep changing it until we get it a good system. Sorry, Director Split. >> still going to ask for more on where we're coming from. I just was giving two examples. So I'll just ask if that's okay. So unless other people are like Christie, we all know it and you don't. Can somebody tell me if that's the case? Sure, but go ahead. Does everybody know it? Okay, I will just not
213worry. Thank you. Oh, no, no, no. I mean sure, go ahead. Like you should say ask the questions because I don't >> okay. Um how many currently people can participate in the general public comment? Three students and four non-students. >> Okay, so it's going up by two, but going down by two minutes. And how much time do we currently allot to public comment then? Time time per speaker? Or >> Uh I guess I could just do the math. So three minutes per speaker, so it's basically still 20 minutes. 21. Okay, okay. And then um the individuals may speak once per meeting thing is is that new? Yes. Okay. I think everything else I know, but I just wanted to Those were Like I said, I wanted to get in right at the beginning so I
214guess you were going through it here what was different or what was the same, um but I couldn't figure out how to get your attention. So um okay, thank you for letting me ask the questions. I I also want to clarify that when people require an interpreter, we don't stick to the time. We double we basically double the time. Yes, and also want to add one that it does increase the total amount of time for public comment because now we have public comment for work sessions and our regular board meetings. And the public comment for each agenda