2026-01-27 Board of Education Work Session and Special Meeting

001The board of education for January 27, 2026 is called to order. All items being considered this evening are posted on PPS website under the board and meetings tab. This meeting is being streamed live on PPS TV services website and on channel 28 and will be replayed throughout the next two weeks. Please check the district website for replay times. Um some housekeeping stuff. Just make sure you keep the aisles and uh signs below chin level so you can see your own screen. All right. Uh let's get started. Uh good evening. Welcome to tonight's virtual work session. Hope this doesn't bring back any bad memories uh of the special meeting of the board of education. Thank you for being here or watching this later. Uh we have a short agenda tonight, just a brief overview. We'll begin

002with a brief bond update and then we will look at uh the legislative priorities for 2026 for this year's short session. And then finally, we'll wrap it up with a vote on the consent agenda. All right, let's start with the the bond update. Uh this update was originally scheduled in the January 13th board meeting, but was postponed to tonight due to the length of that last meeting. Um I'll hand it over to Dr. Armstrong. >> Great. Thank you, Chair Wong. I'd like to introduce um Senior Chief John Franco to provide his regular update. Thank you. >> Yeah. Hi. Good evening, directors. Also, uh Cara, I think TJ and Sarah are here. Can you let them in as well as panelists? >> They are already here. >> Okay. Perfect. >> All right. So, yeah. Uh good

003evening directors. Happy to to be here this evening and and this is, as you know, a part of our um regular monthly uh bond update. And so I have Sarah Norman here and um TJ Hopkins who will provide this uh overview and TJ I think you are sharing the slides correct Raera? >> I I'm actually sharing this sharing the slides and TJ is actually going to be presenting but just wanted to take a minute to say hello and thank you all so much. Uh we're thrilled that thrilled to be here and we're thrilled to provide this bond update. Excited excited to share it with you. So here goes the screen. Hopefully technology works for us tonight. >> Yes. >> As as as we all know, we TJ and I both are in the same building.

004We're at the PEC. Um but we're not in the same office because we were worried about technology uh echoing. So we just wanted to let you guys know. So we're in offices next to one another right now so that we didn't have any technology issue. Can you guys see our screen at this point? Yeah. >> Wonderful. Okay. Well then. >> Perfect. Then TJ, I'm gonna let you get going. Absolutely. Good evening to the board, Chair Wong, Vice Chair Depass, Director, Student Representative, and Superintendent Dr. Armstrong. My name is TJ Hopkins, program director for Presidio. And as Sarah stated, I'm going to be providing you with a bond program update. So, this is the same update we were scheduled to present on January 13th. However, it was postponed by the board and rescheduled. So, here we

005are. To start, I'd like to share some of the tasks we're working on concurrent to the development of our program management plan. We've reestablished meetings with key stakeholders, directors, subject matter experts for continued communication and collaboration. And this is going to be particularly important as we move forward in the modernization designs and subsequent construction as well as the development of scope and budgets for the consolidated projects for the 2025 bond program. Next, I'd like to share with you our procurement schedule for third-party services. You'll see that it's broken out into three distinct phases. Phase one was dedicated to establishing our boilerplate in uh cooperation with purchasing and contracting. Um and we're also carrying that boilerplate forward into phase 2 phase three procurements. Um, at the end of the phase three, which is where we're at

006right now, it'll result in approximately 10 solicitations, each with multiple awards, resulting in a pool of consultants supporting the bond program needs. So, this is going to expedite our ability to provide services um, as soon as we identify projects and we can get these consultants on board. The key point is the board can anticipate contracts presented for approval in the months of April and May. >> And I just wanted to add TJ, this is if you guys were able to catch up on the FIO meeting, this was also presented at that committee meeting as well. Um because this really is the driver to the schedules for all all things related to the 2025 bond program. These are owner um contracted consultants. Um, and so we really needed to get these people on board in order

007to move all of those plan projects forward. >> Yeah, thank you Sarah. And we're just going to skip over or just go quickly through these next three slides. This is just a more detailed breakdown of each of the phases. It's basically the same information we went over, just a different format. And next we have the project schedules. So, these are the same schedules that were presented in the comprehensive plans and approved by the board in the fall of 2025. This first one is Cleveland High School showing the overall project timeline. We're currently um in the design development phase, wrapping that up and then starting construction documents. So, um, the CMGC is going to start improvements at Marshall Campus, which include the new track and field surfacing. Um, and as you can see down here, so

008that's all going to happen in late June, early July as far as construction start. And groundbreaking date has not been solidified just yet, but that's coming soon. So, we can expect that likely sometime mid to late June, >> although we're still coordinating that because it's really it's really our desire to have students available for our groundbreaking. I think it's really really important. This is all about the kids. And so, all of our ground breakings, we'd like to try and coordinate with the administrations that are on those campuses and with the students. And so we think it will either be it will either be prior to the end of this school year or it will be right when they come back from uh for the kickoff of the next school year. So we will keep you

009posted. We're still coordinating that with communications and administration, but we will continue to keep you posted on it. Okay, this next schedule's Jefferson High School. The design team's nearing completion of design development phase and the CMGC is coordinating early trade procurement early field work while the overall building and for the overall building and site. Um big news here is groundbreaking has been scheduled for May 29th. So that's exciting. We're really excited. Um, we actually originally had it scheduled for May 30th and in coordination with the administration, we they really wanted to coincide it with senior day. So, we are thrilled to have be able to have host the groundbreaking for Jefferson High School on May 29th. More information to come from our comm's team so that we can have get it on everyone's calendar uh

010for Jefferson. >> This is Stephanie. Can >> I say I just saw your I just saw your hand up. I'm sorry. Uh, yes. >> No, no, it's okay. Thank you. I was going to just wait till the end, but then I realized I'm going to forget what I wanted to ask because everything else is so interesting. Um, so the groundbreaking for Jefferson is the 29th of May. Did I understand on the Cleveland that we may not do groundbreaking until school starts back up in August or September? We were just thinking about it because it even though demolition starts of the old building this summer, we just we it really is a desire for the district to have student involvement. And so students are going to be out and so we just want to make sure

011that we coincide whatever that groundbreaking date is when when students can be involved. So either sometime in June and or the beginning of the following school year. >> So I think I didn't understand what groundbreaking meant then. So, it doesn't delay anything that would happen over the summer. It's sort of just like a >> It's cereatory. Ceremonial. >> Ceremonial. Yes, ma'am. It does not delay. It does not delay it. Thank you for that clarification. It does not delay a thing. It is ceremonial and we just want to make sure that the students are involved. >> Okay. So, >> I love this. Thank you. >> Sorry. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Our next schedule is IDAB. Wells. Again, we're nearing the end of design development phase with documents due to Portland public schools last week in February.

012So, that's um probably about a month away. Um construction document phase begins in March with construction starting in December of 2026. So, the the big news here is all modernizations are on schedule and we're still tracking that August 2029 school start. All right, on to the financials. So this this slide is depicting the bond program dashboard overall from 2012 to 2025 bond measures with the total funds cumulative funds at 4.6 6 billion TW um let's see I'm sorry so roughly 52% of the funds are still available with the bulk of those being in the 2020 and 2025 bond measures. Okay, this is the 2012 dashboard and for all intents and purposes we are in reconciliation phase. Our goal is to close out this program in quarter one of this year and then we're looking at

013reallocating all remaining funds potentially to FAM for uh future identified projects right the the money like right now what we and we're still in reconcil everyone I want to make sure that everyone is aware of this we are still very much in reconciliation um uh reconciling the 2012 2017 and 2020 2020 bond. Right now with where we are, we're showing we we're showing that we have about $400,000 remaining in the 2012 bond. So the 2012 bond was accessibility and seismic was the was the um the bond language that was associated with the 2012 bond. So what would be what we would do is we would reallocate that we would try and identify uh campuses and programs where we can utilize the funding from this bond for those type of for those type of upgrades to

014campuses that has not received them. So, we just want to let you know that's we're although it's going to move into year 2025 26 the um the designation for this particular for this particular bond program was accessibility middle school science upgrades and accessibility and seismic was 2012. That's what the bond language was. And so we want to make sure that any funding that is remaining is going towards those type of projects. But again, still in reconciliation, but we want to show you where we are so that you know that it's we're getting there. We're getting there on all on all of the bond programs. >> All right. So, this again is just showing the breakdown of projects. 33 total projects for 2012. We have 24 that have been completed, six in construction, two in post

015construction. And this is likely changed and updated because this information was coming from December. Um I know we've got a lot of projects that have since been closed out, but we do still have one in pre-planning. So from the 2012 project from the 2012 bond and so we just want to kind of show you as much as we want to push to close this bond, there are still some items that just have taken this long to come to fruition. And so that we just but we want to be able to show you this on a monthly basis so that you understand where where the bond programs are throughout the district on and on every single bond. Okay. Next is our 2017 dashboard. Total funds are just under a million or I'm sorry 888 million um

016with 7% available in this bond measure. Again, this is this one's close to being closed out. There's uh if you advance to the next slide, there's 46 active projects and again, we're currently reconciling those and auditing them for close out as well. >> These are I I just want to go back to this slide really quick. Um again, at the top of these slides, we try and summarize the bond language that the 2017 bond was tied to. I again it's just a way to continue to visualize because our memories are what our memories are right we're human. So um at the top u the 2017 bond measure was the modernizations of Benson Lincoln McDaniel um and and then multiple path MPG as I like to call it multiple pathways to graduation and Kellogg Middle School.

017At the same time, this bond included water quality security upgrade, new roofs, asbesus abatement, radon remediation, lead paint stabil, there was a lot in this bond. Lead lead safety upgrades and again seismic inaccessibility. So right now we've got 59 million that again we are still reconciling the 2017 bond, but should we have accomplished kind of what had been planned, that money will be spent on those projects, right? those type of projects. So the so if we and when um when TJ says SAM that is kind of facilities and maint not facilities I mean it's uh facilities they do smaller projects multi multi-sight projects um and so what we would do is we would identify like we still have some fire alarm upgrades that need to happen on our campuses that have not all been completed.

018So that would be some of this money could be reallocated through those projects even though again in the 26 27 year it's actually being funded from the 2017 bond program because it was part of that bond program to begin with. Stephanie I see your hand up again. >> Yeah, thank you. Um lower hand. Can you I was going to um chime in on the last one. Can you give an example from the 2012 and I guess also the 2017 like for the 2012 what is still in pre-planning as an example of of what's outstanding? >> Well, so that was um I I can speak to that. That was Franklin. There was a security and I don't know if it it's fencing but there was some some monies that were um actually I don't even think

019there was money on that line item. It was just a placeholder for Franklin and it looked like it could be fencing, it could be access control, it could be um it could be security cameras. That's part of what we're doing is trying to to figure out >> audit that to make sure that you know we're not leaving anything on the table that we've committed and and completed everything that that measure set out to do. But that is that is the campus that has is currently identified that we've kind of inherited at this point. That is the Franklin is the campus that's that is identified and that's what's in pre-planning right now. Um for 2017 we have multiple uh re-roof projects that are still ongoing that are funded. I I can't name the campuses. Stephanie uh

020or director Englesman, I'm sorry. Uh but there's multiple re-roofing projects that we're going through. Um there's multiple fire alarm upgrade uh um priorities that we're going through there. So those are some of the projects that are still ongoing that are being funded from these bond programs. >> all right 2020 um again 1.3 billion funds total. We are looking at about 42% available with um 551 million left to schedule out. So that means we've got a lot of work to do to identify the projects, get them into pre-planning and move those forward, >> but we're within the six to eight year timeline of a typical block program of this size. So this is not surprising very honestly. I just want to kind of reiterate that. Um at the same time, um this also has um our

021um one north program in it 2020 that also is included here. Um and so the also the pre-planning for Jefferson IDB Wells and Cleveland along with there was a big curriculum portion and um new technology for classroom and distant learning within this bond program. And so all of that is ongoing curriculum in it are also still still um funding different projects from from this bond program for those things. As you can see this is this is kind of overwhelming when you see 61 projects in construction. I bet you're like, "Oh my god, what are they doing?" Some of that means what that means is it could be some curriculum pro construction kind of encompasses anything associated that's in progress. Um and so that could be some curriculum projects that could be some some some technology

022projects. Um these are also again just just multiacus um there's some PE items in here as well. Um so that's kind of some some examples of uh of this. We are still again reconciling the the value. We have to reconcile between two two softwares um within the district. We're reconciling that. Um and then we're also updating the project management tool which which you'll hear us probably refer to ebuilder a lot and we apologize but that is the project management tool that PPS uses. So we just want to let you know that's where a lot of this information lives and come from. All right, this brings us to our final program which is 2025 1.8 billion with 96% of funds available. So this does include at the top of the slide you can see all the

023different consolidated projects security upgrades seismic technology improve improvements for Roosevelt Lincoln Franklin and Grant with the athletic hub at Jackson Middle School and Marshall campus as well as the modernizations. >> Yes. And this does include Jeff the extension of Jeff uh the extension of the uh construction cost for Jefferson High School. And we are in pre we are in pre-planning for all this entire bond program. Right now we are um in in the months to come we'll be presenting kind of master scheduling for each one of these for each one of these. We we did present the modernizations. So, IDW Wells, um, Jefferson and Cleveland, but we'll also be presenting the athletic programs kind of how those will come online, how those are going through, uh, design, engineering, land use, and then into, um, planning

024and, uh, or into construction. Um, and so that will be kind of to come. And, oh, Patty, I see your hand up. Yes, ma'am. >> Yes. Um, I just want to be clear. So like the um 2012 and the 2017 bond, everything has to be spent on what we said we spend it on in those bonds before we can transfer it say to seismic new seismic. >> Yes, ma'am. That is my understanding. And we are going to consult with our bond compensibility um attorneys that we have and make sure that we if if there is another avenue to spend that money, we will. The good news is um the bond language is is pretty um you had seismic in multiple bonds if that makes sense. So that's that kind of gives the district so much

025flexibility from that perspective. And so um it really once we get this reconciliation going, I know that that is a huge priority for the district. And so absolutely we'll start identifying additional additional projects that we can we can then schedule out even though the years will be you know 26 27 28 we'll be able to identify additional um additional projects with that funding. >> And so it was really good. We have seismic in those too. actually. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. It sure was. It was very good that you had seismic in those two. Yes. >> Good. >> Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. Are there uh any other questions? >> Oh, yes, Director Lefort. >> Okay, lowering hand. Hi, thank you for this presentation. I got a few I've just been s taking notes and saving

026them till the end. So, I've got a a short list. >> Okay. Um on the slides um that the initial slides that over that um we've got an over overview of the procurement schedule. The duration says zero days I assume. Is that just a placeholder? >> It is >> not zero days. It is. >> So when does the RFP window generally close? Are any of these finished or are they all still open? >> We actually have a few that are coming to an end um as of uh the second week of February. Um, some of these we put on an expedited track and the shortest um, procurement duration we can have is a is a 14 to 15 day duration. I will be honest with you, it's tough to do that because you don't get

027a good response, right? And many of these and many of these uh, procurements are we're trying to get a pool of people to come work with the district, right? And so we we really want to leave them open for a bit of a duration so that we get a good response. But we've been kind of working the phones and working working contacts to notify people that these RFPs are on the street to try and drive up business for PPS and make sure that we get a good return. Um in our update in March, we'll be able to tell you kind of, hey, this was what our response was to geotechnical. This is what our response was. We'll be able to kind of tell you by the numbers what it was right from procurement. sort. So,

028we'll be tracking that going forward. >> So, you mentioned this this like uh this like a pool RFP process. Can you explain what that means? Like tell me like I'm five. >> Yeah. So, no, it's fine. It's what it is. It's it's kind of a we're qualifying we're qualifying um different um entity geo geotechnical testing and balancing traffic control planning services um architectural engineering. We're pre-qualifying them and then we're evaluating them through uh the RFP process that has an evaluation criteria and then we will we will give a notice of intent to multiple people so that we can actually do multiple planning at the same time instead of doing project by project procurement. We're actually doing program procurement so that we can have things in design throughout the year regardless of where we are where

029we are from a construction perspective. If that makes any if that helps. >> So if you when if you say you're pre-qualifying them, does that mean that they have to be invited to respond? >> No, it's open. It's open. It's an open procurement. It's a public procurement. It's RFP and but there are qualifications within the procurement. >> And so and so then but we're just able to award to more than just one bidder. >> Got it. So for this for the the RFPs that are out there um is pricing a consideration because I know previously we had um one recently that was just pricing methodology versus the actual cost. Do these include the actual cost as part of the um response? >> No, these these do not include a p a cost component. These are

030qualificationbased but they we and they get a a notice notice of intent and then we negotiate cost through that process and if we can't come to terms we move on to the next person. That's that's the that's the benefit of having pools. >> Okay. So you would award it but without knowing the potential cost. We would we would give a notice of intent of award prior to assigning them a current a project to then c to then price. >> Okay. Um does the procurement uh schedule does it include planning and work for one north? >> Yes, it does. Yes. Great. And um for you touched on Marshall on some of the we were talking about the the planning for Cleveland um the new field and track resurfacing timing. I believe you said summer. I've heard

031some rumblings that that may happen sooner because of the Grample lighting situation. What is the current um uh timeline for the Marshall um field? Has that changed? >> Not to my knowledge. No, it has not the timeline for March. We are trying to push to get those into going sooner. We're currently still in procurement. >> Okay. And I and I mean just for the field. >> Yeah, I know. Yeah. No, just for the fields. We're still negotiating contract with um our our field turf, you know, I'm just going to say field turf, you know, all those guys. Uh so we're we're so right now we're currently on schedule. So, that option had been discussed for grant student athletes. Um, since the lights sounds like the lights aren't going to be on by March 1st, would

032it be safe to assume that Marshall is actually off the table as a solution? I I don't know that that's completely accurate because it is my understanding that there have been some conversations with um with Marshall um and PIL with how we would re and I think lacrosse is the one that we discussed on the 13th and there has been some back and forth. Um I will have to follow up with you director Lefort because I I' I've kind of stepped away from that conversation for a bit but I'm happy to kind of dig back in and provide some feedback. >> I appreciate it. >> Yep. Um, okay. I've got two more questions. Um, on the 2025 dashboard, I just noticed this as we were presenting. It says, uh, at the top it says modernizations

033Cleveland and Wells. >> Oops. >> I assume this includes Jefferson as well. >> It does. I said it. I said it, but I >> We're sorry. Yep. >> No, it's fine. I just want to make sure I'm like, okay, everything's in here. >> It is. It it includes it includes the additional construction cost for Jefferson High School and we will make sure to get that on there. Yes. >> And then um how are we tracking on the options presented for um the Jefferson transition? Have we vetted the shell option? Do we know what the plan is yet? Like when will we hear more about that? >> We will know. We will be presenting we will we're still meeting with contractors and uh the contractor and um the design team and we will be presenting um

034the uh kind of an executive summary of those work sessions to leadership first week of February. >> Okay. When will that pop to the board? >> Um I will have to uh turn that over to Dr. Franco or uh Dr. Armstrong. >> Yeah, I think we'll have to that's a good question. I think once we get uh the report, obviously as soon as we get it, we'd love to take it to whether it be a regular board meeting uh or work session or or a committee meeting. >> Great. Okay, those are my questions. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, director pass. I see your hand up. >> Yes, thank you. Um I I really appreciate this presentation and getting the clarification. Um, one of the things I learned ear early on in my career

035with construction management is to never give a date. Never give an occupancy date. You're going to be able to move in on the 16th because those dates change. And so, just a caution to everybody to allow the process to happen. I just had a quick comment. Um, and I really appreciate that you're doing these RFP RFPs for qualifications because you're trying to establish a pool of qualified contractors that can then be pulled together to work on various projects. So, it's not project specific, it's program specific. I think that's really great. It's a smart way to do it. And I've I've done this contracting and procurement this way also. So, you have a pool of people that can do HVAC, that can do plumbing, that can do painting, whatever it is. I wanted to um it

036sounds like you've done really great outreach, but I just wanted to name a few organizations um that I hope that you're engaging with, and that would be PDBG, NAMCO Oregon, which I'm sure is on your list, OAMI, um Latino Build, and the Native American Chamber. those those uh business organizations all have uh bipac business owners, contractors, subcontract contractors willing and able to do the work, but they they do need to be engaged. They all have regular business meetings, lunch meetings, dinner meetings, and it's a great time to kind of socialize these projects. And it's that type of like intentional outreach that will get you to a list of people that can do the work that are available. Um I I know like just every single division I I know some amazing contractor that's a member

037of one of these organizations that um I've worked with for the past 25 years. And so I hope that we're reaching out to those um those five that I identified. Um, I believe that there's a mixer coming up. Uh, if it's not in February, it's in March that has all of those chambers in one place. >> I would, um, if you're interested, I would love to forward an invitation so you can table there. >> We're PPS, we're doing this work, um, just to get to gain some interest and people that may be uh, interested in submitting a proposal for these uh, the requests for proposals. And and that's it. Thanks for the good work. It's really like this is very detailed and I appreciate knowing um kind of where we're at with each of our

038uh bond projects. >> No, director pass, thank you so much and please do share that information. We would love to have a doing business with PPS table at those events. Um in fact, that is the outreach that we will be kicking off in February is doing business with PPS. Really trying to just get the word out there. What what is PPS doing? What projects do we have coming up? what you know and just just be out here and talking to people and getting them excited about the program that's out ahead and and and the work that we're going to do for our students. So, yes, absolutely. >> Yeah, that's amazing. These are amazing contractors of all sizes um that I think are would uh and and actually PPS used to have has had in the

039past people that came to these meetings regularly and I think it's a it's a great place to just build those relationships that when you need them you can activate them but they have to have a proposal in so um I will share that information as I find it. >> Thank you so much and we will also follow up on those or with those organizations as well. I wrote as you were talking I was writing. So we will follow up with those organizations. >> Let me know if you need a name of somebody that can like you get their name and and it's done. >> Got it. You got it. Thank you so much. Uh Director Englesman, I see your hand up. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um two things. So, I appreciate the idea that never

040give a date, but we have a hard date of August 2029 with our taxpayers and our voters expecting their students and our students to be in there. So, while I appreciate um the idea that we can't give hard dates, we have hard dates and our voters expect that hard date. And so, to get that hard date three years from now, we're going to have to stick to other hard dates. So I, you know, I'm I'm going to push back a little that we do need to be um respectful of the whole project and realizing that if we get a week, a month behind at the beginning, then it will snowball very quickly. Um I think everyone on here has had personal projects that can snowball quickly. So everyone listening probably has had that too. So

041um my question before I wanted to just push back on that concept was I wanted to hopefully get an update on the on the Powell Park turf. I haven't heard anything about that. So, could you please give an update on where that is and when we can expect that project to get going? >> Yes, we have Powell Park. Correct. I just want to make sure I understood you correct. Yeah, we actually had an amazing meeting with parks and racks um on Monday and the team is working through anou on multip on on Powell Park and multiple campuses and so it was a actual it was a positive meeting. Um we should be able to provide an update to the board in the c in the coming weeks. So, but yeah, we we definitely we're continuing.

042It's still on our radar. Uh and actually, oh wait, uh uh uh Deborah Kapori just joined. I was going to say she was actually in the meeting. So, yeah, go ahead. >> You were gonna say whatever her name is. She can jump on in. >> Deborah Kapori, chief of staff. Yes, we had a very productive meeting with uh parks yesterday. um they get our desire to move forward quickly and um we're I'm thankful that you asked that question, Director Englesman. I was on mute so I wasn't able to talk because I wanted to mention this point that this is uh our entire um athletic field as we all know is an important part of our bond program and Powell Park is high on top of the list. All right. Well, uh, thank you all and

043I'd like to turn this back over to Dr. Armstrong. Thank you all. Oh, I'm I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Director Sullivan. I just saw your hand. Uh, you're on mute. You're on mute. >> Yeah. Okay. I couldn't find my hand to get um I just want some little bit of clarification as to how it would work. So, you've you approve a pool of people for different um jobs. So, I'm thinking say you've got you've got six electricians that you think are good. How do you choose which one? I mean, we've got four projects going. How do you choose who's working on which? And do they apply for certain schools or are they just up there to do whatever we want them to do? >> We assign them. So, the so the RFP is actually open.

044So, the RFP is for the overall bond program for their scope of work. So, I'm just going to take traffic control services. Traffic control planning services. So, we are the RFP that is on the street is for traffic control planning service for the 2025 bond program. So, that is any any project that we could potentially have that we would need a traffic control engineer to participate in. Once those engineers are qualified, we will then um we will evaluate them. They go through the same um process and then we PPS the bond program will assign projects to each one of the qualified qualified engineers that is in the in the pool >> and then you assign the project and they say how much it's going to cost or >> correct and then those and then those

045contracts come to the board for rat for approval. >> Yes ma'am. >> Thank you. >> Yes ma'am. Director Lefor I see your hand up. Um yeah, I just wanted to also push back a little bit on deadlines because I do feel like you've done a really good job of actually incorporating into these those into these plans and uh you know because without it there's truly you know there's no objective way for the board or the public to assess whether a product uh a project is on track or if it's delayed or if it's been you know pushed to the bottom of the list. So I do think that's really important. it doesn't mean that they can't change um as you know things can potentially come up but having the baseline plan is uh is really

046important so I appreciate seeing all of that here um let's see I so I just want to go back to the pool RFP situation one more time is there any possible way like I I understand like the difference between an RFQ and an RFP and that we would award this based on um the ability to do the work, not necessarily the price, but I do um have some I I do take issue with awarding contracts of this size without any knowledge of what the potential price might be. >> We're not awarding contracts. I want to I want to clarify that one more time. We're giving we're selecting a pool of people, >> okay? >> And we're giving them a notice of intent. Okay. >> And then we are going to assign them a scope of

047work >> that they will then provide a price proposal for. >> Okay. >> And we will negotiate that price proposal and then go to contract and that contract will come to the board for approval. >> So multiple vendors within that pool will bid on the same piece of business. It is the same. It is the same way that we did the procurement for all of the seismic work that we are doing >> that we have done that we one of the reasons we went out for seismic the way we did is so that we could expedite those projects. This is a very is a very well-known way to procure within the state within the state of Oregon with I mean it this is this is the way you are able to get projects designed and

048engineered and through permitting to where they're on the shelf for you to go to construction when you're planning a program. >> That was actually one of my next questions is will in terms of like the pool of vendors will this work stay in Oregon? >> Yes. >> Okay. And then for Pal Park, could you give us and that's might be a question for Deborah just a little more detail versus like you know we had a conversation like what where are we making progress? >> Yeah, I wish I could give you more details except all I can say at this point is uh we had a meeting which may sound um trit but it's been a long time coming and there were several members of their team there. They were enthusiastic and very motivated to move

049forward. >> Great. And I also want to give a shout out to Sarah. Uh we spent some time together today over at Grant doing a walkthrough of the athletic facilities and the school and I just wanted to say how much I appreciated your visit and um been able to show you the property in person and all the things. So, thank you very much for making the time. >> Absolutely. Thank you. And always here to answer any questions for any of you. So, please don't hesitate to reach out. Um, and now I am if there's no other questions, I don't see any hands. Uh, but I'm going to, uh, kick it back over to, uh, Dr. Armstrong. >> Thank you for that, Sarah. There's just a couple things I wanted to emphasize. Uh, the first is

050I wonder if to that dashboard if we can add some sort of um little piggy bank or something that shows like savings maybe month over month or even quarterly. um that has been saved uh through uh various negotiation tactics. I think that would be great to see because one of the things that we talked about with changing in the way in which we do um some of our project management with savings. So if there's a way to capture and show that in the monthly presentations that would be great. Um, the second thing that I wanted to say was I don't know if we can say that all the work will stay in Oregon because and I don't know if you were speaking just to those RFPs, but I know we're also doing something that we've

051never done before, which is building three all electric high schools that hasn't been done anywhere in the US, right? And so I there could be like a special technical expertise or something. I mean, I don't I think that's uh that's a big question to ask if it will all stay in Oregon and to make and to say that. Um I just I want to just offer the opportunity for Sarah to correct that because we all we don't know what we don't know. >> No, Dr. Armstrong, thank you so much for that. When I said yes, I honest I actually thought director Lefort said is it is the procurement okay in is going to okay in the state of Oregon? So I misunderstood the question. So thank you for that clarification. Yes, 100% agree with everything

052you just said. We are going to we are going to recruit local businesses. We are going to use local contractors and architectural and engineering firms, but there is no doubt that we have specialty programs that will need to be that will come from nationwide. And we want the best, right? So we want to recruit the best to the state of Oregon. We want to bring that business here. So, absolutely. Thank you for the opportunity to clarify that and I apologize that I misunderstood the question. >> Yeah, no worries. And then just the last thing, oh, uh, Michelle, did you want to add to that? >> I did. I just wanted to say that it's a really strong value to procure from within Oregon and there are some cases with public procurement where the expertise is

053available in Oregon. Along with that commitment and that value about spending locally is a commitment to hiring women and minority owned businesses. Um Oregon State has a program that prioritizes womenowned and minority owned businesses, but not every specialty that we're going to see is available in Oregon. A great example, and many of you have heard me say this, is I worked on a procurement team that had to bring a um dinosaur skeleton to ship it from here in Portland on the waterfront east side back to the Smithsonian. I would have loved to hire a minority owned business from Oregon to ship that back, but the scope of work required um cataloging the bones by number, labeling them, making specialty foam carrying containers, packing it in a climate controlled, and there were all kind of conditions

054for the drivers. It turns out there's only two companies in the whole US that does that kind of work. And so while the priority would have been to hire someone from within Oregon and then a woman in minority owned business, we just couldn't find that here. And so, um, to expedite and keep projects on track, to Sarah's point, we do want to hire from within, except if there's special expertise that is not available in Oregon, which uh, in which case we would go for um, keeping the project on track, if that makes sense. So, it's an order of operations where you prioritize locally. If nothing's available, then you look for the best expertise outside of Oregon. Um, specialty areas. >> Yes. and director to pass to your point that's not only from a specialty area

055but it's also from a capacity area as well and so we want to make sure that we're conscious of that as um dire director Englesman and director Lefort also said you know dates dates matter and like we've got to stay on schedule and so we've got to make sure that we're looking at the capacity and also the the material delivery to to our schools so thank you thank you for that >> absolutely in in big in in years where there's a lot of development happening in Portland it's very challenging to find an electrician a plumber, a brick layer or a steel worker. And in that case, then you have to go through the union halls or through other means to hire outside of Oregon because there's no capacity for that particular division of work in

056Oregon. They're completely booked up for two years out. So in that case, you if you have to get a project done, you you look for the next best option. And many times it's not within the state of Oregon, but that the state of Oregon hiring is a is a strong value. >> Yeah. And then thank you for that. And just the last thing that I wanted to mention is and I'll be getting this information to the board in a separate email. Um, but I received a letter actually today from the city of Portland historic landmarks commission with some concerns uh with the Cleveland Project and they're um asking uh to be consulted and so I'll send out information what that means, what it doesn't mean, and what our next steps are. Um, but like I

057said, that just came through today. So, give me a little bit of time to to process what that means. And um and I'll sh and I'll share more um in the coming uh days with that. But I since I just got it today and we're talking about bond projects, I thought I'd let you know, which may or may not be new news, but um yeah, we need to have a a conversation with the historic landmark commission. So, just wanted to note that. All right, team. Well, if there's no further questions, thank you team TJ and and and Sarah and John. Appreciate that. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Um, by the way, could we wish uh John Franco a happy birthday tomorrow along with Michelle Morrison, Candace Gross, >> and who else? And

058you. >> Happy birthday. Thank you so much, >> Dr. Franco. >> Thank you. >> I think that's great. Most of you guys miss missed mine. So it's really easy. It's exactly two months behind the three birthdays. So happy birthday Armstrong. >> November 28th. I'll hear from my bosses. But anyway, >> it's on the calendar. Thank you. >> Yes. Happy birthday to our our trio. It's super exciting. >> Awesome. >> Yeah. Um thank you JT and and Sarah and John and for answering all the questions. Um we'll let's move on to the next topic. Uh next up we have our 2026 legislative priorities. Uh this basically we're going to be discussing and voting on them. So I'll hand this off to Dr. Archung again. >> Yeah, thank you Chair Wong. So this year's legislative priorities are

059coming in at a particularly pivotal moment for our district and for public education across Oregon. Our students and families are experiencing compounding pressures both from local issues and national concerns as as I'm sure you're following. And at the same time, you know, we're confronting a significant budget deficit that we're in engagement with. Um, and we know that this has been for many consecutive years. And so while we talk about 50 million this year, we know if we were to add up at least the last three years, were well over a hundred million, which is pretty significant for a district our side. And so despite these challenges, our schools have made important gains since the pandemic through intentional evidence-based investments. And those gains could be at risk quite honestly. And so I am excited to um

060have you get in discussion about legislative priorities and to turn it over to our chief of staff, Deborah Kafori. >> Good evening, directors. We are very excited to be here tonight to uh share with you proposed legislative agenda and to get your feedback and engagement. Um, I am here to help with questions and as backup, but I am going to introduce our new senior manager for government relations, Ben Gerwitz. He I think has been in contact with all of you already, but he's um hit the ground running. uh joining us recently, most recently he was with Disability Rights Oregon where he uh worked with PPS and other school and education advocates around the state on issues um primarily related at the time to um special education and other issues, but he's 100% on PPS team

061now and we're really excited to have him. So, I'll turn it over to you, Ben. Well, thank you, Chief Capori and Dr. Armstrong. Uh, good evening everyone, Chair Wong, Vice Chair to pass, directors, student representatives, and Dr. Armstrong. For the record, uh my name is Ben Gerwitz and um as Deborah mentioned, I'm just incredibly honored to serve as your new senior manager of government relations uh for the district where I'll be serving as the liaison between the school district and our local, state, and federal partners. And tonight, I'm here to recommend a legislative agenda for your input and approval. Um, this is my best effort to advance your shared goals of increasing student learning outcomes and eliminating gaps and opportunities and outcomes between students and student groups. Um, before we get to the substance of

062the agenda, I'd like to give a brief preview on what's to come during the 2026 short session. In Oregon, the legislature alternates between six-month long long sessions and the odd years and six week short sessions during the even years. This year's legislative session will begin on Monday, Jan February 2nd, so just 6 days from now, but again, who's counting? Um, and it will go through March 9th, lasting just 35 days. Uh, colloally, we like to call it a sprint. At the top of everyone's mind will be the budget deficit. We are hearing from our legislative partners and or and leadership that Oregon faces an estimated $700 million budget gap when accounting for the cost to implement HR1 like SNAP work requirements and reduced Medicaid funding from the federal government. And the outlook grows more challenging

063in the subsequent bienium as impacts of the bill compound. This budget deficit is realized in the general fund which is one of the main sources of funding for education. The legislature will receive an updated revenue forecast on February 4th uh which will provide a more accurate picture of the state's economic outlook and will be the number that the legislature uses to balance the budget. The legislature will focus on balancing the budget through cuts to programs and gen generating new revenue streams. On the policy front, legislators will focus on protecting immigrant communities, protecting reproductive health care, ensuring the Department of Transportation has enough money to fund roads and infrastructure, and making Oregon more affordable for working families by addressing the cost of housing, food, and utilities. So, now let's get to the meat of this presentation

064and talk about what we recommend for our legislative agenda. Our um office recommends that the number one priority for the legislative session will be to push for additional revenue to prevent cuts to our schools. Oregon is only one of three states that automatically conforms to the federal tax code. Under Oregon law, the state has the authority to selectively disconnect from specific provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and the result could help Oregon mitigate revenue losses as a result of HR1. We also recommend the that the legislature use the education stability fund to prevent cuts. The Oregon stability fund is projected to have more than $1.25 25 billion available for the governor and the legislature to use to prevent potential cuts during the 2527 bienium. The legislature tapped into those reserves during co co and they

065can do it again. Now, on to the second piece of our core um legislative agenda, and that's to address the impact of federal immigration enforcement in our local communities. And in what we'll be calling, we urge you to call on our legislative leaders to help safeguard our immigrants, students, and families to support a legislative um package that includes protecting the David privateed the data privacy and sensitive health information for our students and their families. passing legislation to allow people to sue federal agents for violating their constitutional rights, such as unlawfully entering their home or school grounds. Strengthening Oregon's anti-discrimination protections for our immigrant students and limiting the use of masks and standardized identification for all law enforcement. And then finally, as we struggle with the impact of inadequate funding from the state, we'll fight against

066additional layers of requirements, reporting mandates, and compliance burdens without a dedicated source of sustainable funding. With so many districts facing cuts while also to working to improve student outcomes, it is also not the time for significant policy changes. We recommend that the board advocate for no no new mandates without the funding to go along with it. So now to the exciting part. How can you and get you how can you all get involved? I'm excited that seven of you have already signed up to participate in the joint advocacy day with KOSA and OBA and OASBO on February 17th where we will make meet with legislators to advocate for the resources our kids need and deserve. There are also more immediate engagement opportunities as the legislative session kicks off. This weekend, members of the legislature will

067be holding town halls to hear from their constituents. On Tuesday, there will be an opportunity to provide testimony at the Joint Ways and Means Committee in Salem from 5 to 7:00 p.m. And on Thursday, so a week from this Thursday, from noon to 2:00 p.m., there will be a rally in front of the state capital on the legislature to fight for our schools and our families. and I'll email me each of you um more information as it becomes available. And I also want to encourage you to engage the community through your social media channels. For all those watch wanting to learn more, they can learn more at our government relations page. Um that if you just Google PPS government relations, you can find it. Um, and I'll also be providing weekly legislative updates to keep

068you informed about our priorities and key developments as the session unfolds. So, finally, this session is a bit of a sprint as I mentioned, but feel free to reach out any time to myself or die of staff kori if you have any questions. Um, and with that, thank you so much for allowing me to present to you all. Um, and uh, my pleasure to turn it back to Dr. Armstrong. >> Great job and welcome to the team. We're so glad you're here. I believe the the board has questions, so how about we just turn it over for question and answer. >> Let's have Director Engles. >> Oh, thanks. Hi. Um, I wasn't sure I wasn't paying attention to whether director to pass one up first. So um can you help me understand this Oregon Education

069Stability Fund? I read from those slides that it is a renewable source and has a permanent funding source if it is depleted in any amount. Um I guess my first question is what is do you know what is the renewable aspect or what is the permanent funding source where this comes from? >> Um >> and if you don't that's fine. I I we can talk offline, but um it it sounds like it's like permanently being renewed. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Well, I'm sorry. We'll we'll get you um sent an email out that describes exactly the process that that which it goes through and how much it's replenished. >> Thank you. And so, currently, despite cumulative years of budget crisis and PPS, our state is sitting on 1.2 25 billion dollars that are supposed to be

070dedicated entirely to education stability and and our our lawmakers are not using it. Is that what I'm to understand? Okay. Um >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I have to say something. There have to be these triggers that have to be met to use the funding. The triggers are based on economic downturn. And we're in a weird situation because it's not as much an economic downturn as the federal government like inflicting great amounts of pain on our state budget. So it is a little it is a little bit more than just it's just sitting there. Um there has to be like reasons to use it, but there does appear like there might be reasons, right? Ben, Deborah, I think that's right. I think the funding source is the corporate kicker. >> You're right, director Split. There

071does have to be some trigger. There should be some triggers. However, it also is takes a vote of the legislature. So, it's not like it's under a lock box that they can only get at it if these triggers are met. They can also vote to appropriate it. >> And could this education stability fund, could it be used to prevent I I know that there's potentially additional cuts being talked about, but could it be used to prevent the 50 to 55 million that we're already talking about? Um, so Director Englesman, I again I think the triggers would have to be met and it would have to be a vote of the legislature to decide how to spend that money. Um, the board certainly has the authority to engage in advocacy asking for um for those funds

072to be spent. Um, and you know, frankly, I can't guarantee that all that money will go to help cover a lot of that budget deficit. Um, but advocacy in that direction could could occur. >> Yeah, thank you. Um, Chief Capfor and and, um, Ben, I would I would love some more information. I didn't ask in advance. I would love information because, you know, it's splashing across the news constantly that Multma County and Preschool for All has so much extra money and people are up in arms about that, but they're working through that. So, if the legislature has money and we are looking to lose PPS and Oregon jobs, yeah, I would love more information on this because I think that um getting our families who are already really feeling mad about this more engaged is

073important with the information. Yeah, we're we're happy to provide more information um to you about that >> director to pass or vice chair to pass. >> Uh thank you chair Wong. Um so I'm really happy to say to know that we're pushing for additional revenue and that's absolutely where we should be going. Also protection for our immigrant and refugee family families really important. Um, I'm at a conference right now on summer learning and I would also like us to uh push or advocate to preserve uh any summer education dollars. The data speaks for itself. It's compelling. I mean, we're in Alabama where they had the worst outcomes in the entire state and uh the efforts over the last, you know, 10 to 15 years have been uh startling in terms of uh the impacts and

074not just for low-income and kids of color, but for the entire district raising up all boats. And so if there's an opportunity to advocate for summer learning programs, especially in this constrained budget environment um and considering that they have the state has uh pulled back on their funding, I would like us to really strongly advocate for that because our kids need it and our district needs it and it's good for it's good for all of our students. Thank you. >> Can I just add a data point to what director pass was saying here in Oregon? 80% of our students who were engaged in summer learning showed growth which is remarkable because most times district with the goal with summer learning is that there isn't a slide. So to actually stop a slide and show growth

075with over 80% of students is uh is is pretty remarkable. So um just a data point to emphasize what director deass shared. >> Yes. And I think we have two years of um really recent data to to prove that. >> Great. Thank you. Um I'll call on myself. Um I want to also second what vice chair pass said. The summer slide is real. It's it it really affects our students a lot, especially the students and most in need. Um I also want to just kind of second on the education stability fund. I think it's really important to push on that. I mean just give some real data. Um we've already in the last two years already had $80 million in cuts or 78 to $80 million cuts and then this year we're looking at another

07650 right for a total of 130 million. I mean economic downturn not raising costs inflation all that um is I mean $130 million slopped off our budget. Uh that's that's the entirety of my term on the board when I started for first year was a cut $30 million and it just keeps growing. So if there's no argument for if it's an economic downturn or not, I mean that that's pretty obvious and to see that also a lot of districts are in threat of going under strike um especially after ours and and you just it's it's a mess. So I think um really pushing on that I think it's is important. that's what it's there for, not to be, you know, coddled and babyed and um watched grow. So, um I I just want to push

077on that. I also would like to any updates if there's any push back from legislators from that um because it'd be important to kind of really target um who we need to talk to. Uh, the second thing I also want to just kind of bring up really quick is um, and I was going to write this in the email, but I think since we're all here, um, this is a mostly to Ben if it would be possible to coordinate with our unions. Uh, because I think we're all in this together, you know, SIU, PAT, uh, last year when we came down together to um, lobby the legislators, it was very powerful scene when when we're all kind of standing together and saying the same message. which I think that would be very important to kind

078of really coordinate with our unions. Um that's all I all I have. I don't have any questions. Um but if if it seems like I guess the only other last thing not as important but the unfunded mandate part um if there seems to be some kind of give in there maybe we can start pushing a little further and looking at current unfunded mandates that they could ease off on. I just I just want to keep pushing that because those unfunded mandates are really killer. So, um thank you. >> And Dur Chair Wong, if if I may, um we've been having a lot of really productive conversations with our union partners. I had a long conversation with them today. Um and a lot of these um engagement opportunities are in coordination with them. So, I'm really

079excited about the opportunity to really build a cross sector, multicultural, multi- uh community uh group pushing for these things. I'm really excited about that work. >> Awesome. Thank you. Good to hear. Um I believe that student represent RTO is next and then director Sullivan. >> Yes, thank you. Um me and Ben talked earlier today. Um but just publicly I'd like to say that I would love to see um some public support for Representative Gama's uh bill to you, you know, collally referred to as kick the kicker. Um because that's another big way that the state could get more revenue. Um you in in addition to decoupling um so I so that's I think something that I would like to see. I would also like to see a lot of um a lot of public engagement

080around like during our talks about this budget, you know, talking about, you know, what's what's happening, you know, what we're doing about it, but then also why, you know, why the the money is coming out. Of course, we have rising costs, you know, and of course we have declining enrollment, you know, but a big reason that that for these cuts is this the actions of the state government. And I think that the the voters um need to know, you know, what what their elected representatives are are doing, you know, and and why we're why they're they're putting us in in what is frankly a very tough spot. So, I think I think that's all I have for now, but we'll see. >> Okay. Um, I went to a city club meeting last night and there

081were um people who are reporters in the capitol who were talking about what was going on and it was just kind of quietly said somebody said, "I think I heard they actually might be going to um use the u the fund." Um, nobody knew for sure. Lou Frederick's was there. He didn't say for sure either, but I'm I'm with Stephanie and why in the world we've got this money and it's money that gets uh replaced, why are we not spending it? And so to be clear about exactly what it is, how we get to use it, um what has to happen to get it to open it up so we can use it. I think that's really important that we get that information out to our parents so they can can get mad. I mean,

082why are we sitting on this? Um, so I just and I agree and I would Ian from you. I would like to get more information about um the kicker thing that's going on because people keep saying we can do something about it and then nothing ever happens. And I remember seeing Gamba talk about that, but that wasn't even mentioned last night at all except for oh well, we can't do that. So, I'm just curious what's going on. >> The issue with the kicker is a little more challenging as it's in our state's constitution. So, there would have to be a vote of the people and that's why um that's why that conversation doesn't seem usually to come to a a forefront. That doesn't mean it can't. Yeah, I think Gamma was talking about somehow getting

083it in other ways too without having to send it out. But >> the corporate kicker. >> Yeah, he was talking about the corporate >> GABA. Gama at least when when I talked to him, he was talking about changing the way the state, you know, or changing the metrics of the state economist to make it so that the kicker basically basically never kicks, you know, so to kind of skirt the constitutional um amendment process. But that's that's just what I heard. Also, sorry for the uh camera quality. I'm working off a pretty terrible uh webcam here. So, you guys are getting a visit from Casper the Ghost tonight. >> Little foggy. >> We have um director split and then director Chase Melon. >> Hi. Um I have a few things on my mind related to this.

084So, I have some questions and just some comments. Um, one thing that I just noticed, you know how sometimes when you see something and it's folded and you don't quite look at it until later. Um, but I almost wonder if this is a tiny little words smmithing kind of thing. So, I'm starting small here, but where it says no unfunded mandates, I wonder if it should say like no additional unfunded mandates to remind everybody that they have given us so many. So, if we could change it to that without it affecting our ability to like vote on it or move it tonight, I hope it would be a minor enough adjustment that it wouldn't be an issue. I don't love last minute amendments, so I realize I'm being a total hypocrite right now, but it

085seems like such a small nuance that maybe it would be okay. Um, and I'm seeing nodding heads. So, um, when the time comes, we can maybe make that adjustment. But I do think it's really important to remind them that we're not asking for no one unfunded mandates. Like we already have a ton. So I think it's just like no more, please. And then yeah, take them away. That'd be good. Um I also wanted to ask a question about advocacy when it's not necessarily on the agenda. And this relates to what people were just asking about with the kicker. I'm going to bring up another bill in a second, too. Um, and I just wanted to ask, you know, just in my OSBA engagement, one thing I've picked up on there is like if we're speaking

086as like a member of OSBA, we have to like keep a certain of the legislative policy committee that you all kindly helped me get on. um we have to speak like in accordance with that th those positions, but as elected officials like on our own, we can maybe do things that are like extracurricular to that main agenda. And I just wanted to ask if that's generally copacetthetic. So if somebody did want to engage on Gamba's kicker bill, I'll give you the number in a second. Um you could. I just wanted to ask if that's okay. >> I'll just jump in. Um yes, we have this happens every every session where um our some of our partners, our educational advocate partners want to be more I'll say conservative, you know, they they they want to they

087want to be more um having working on legislation that they know know is going to pass and we've taken positions that are, you know, maybe don't have a strong chance of getting passed, but they are what we believe are the is the right thing to do. So that is something that always happens every year and we just have we have an understanding with them >> that we are who we are. >> Using that as like a bit of a metaphor and applying it down to us like as board members if we're allowed >> to weigh in on bills that aren't on our agenda as >> Oh I'm sorry for being more clear. >> Sorry. The PPS legislative agenda. >> Yeah. Like if somebody wanted to weigh in on the Gamba's kicker bill, it's not precisely

088in our agenda. Is that okay? I think we tried to make the agenda uh broad enough that it's it's additional funding for schools. So, if there's some, you know, and Ben was giving an example of the disconnect and I see you don't have to have your hand raised, Ben. I'll call on you next. Um, uh, if there's an if there's a fund a funding bill, I would say just I would ask all of you to check with Ben before you testify or if you're talking with the legislator so that he can keep track of who's doing that and then if if for some reason it's a bill that the board has decided that they don't want to support and then an individual school board member as a an independently elected goes up. I mean, I

089I think that's, you know, you take the risk of of not having us taken as seriously if one if one or more people are off doing things, but um mostly I just think Ben just keep Ben and in the loop on what you're talking about. And Ben, did you want to add something? Sorry, I just jumped. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think um you know the the intention of the legislative strategy and agenda that we laid out for you is really to kind of set the container of how we're approaching the session. Um but it's not an extenduated or exhausted list of all of the items that we'll be advocating for. So there'll be bills, there'll be amendments, um there'll be changes that we'll be engaging on. Um the dynamics of the session will shift especially

090after the um February 4th revenue forecast. So things are going to be changing very quickly. Um, and so, you know, as a team, the collective, we are going to have to pivot quickly and and that's just part of the process. But I think, you know, in my world, in my role, I'm really trying to prioritize communication with, you know, Chief Kapori and Dr. Armstrong and all of you. Um, and so as long as we're just kind of working off the same page and are clear in what each other's roles and and how we're engaging, I think that's the most important piece here. >> Awesome. I love that. Um, I did want to share the bill for GAMA is House Bill 4125. It's not a referral, Chief Kapori, because he's doing this like thing where he's

091changing the methodology. So, like the constitutional piece would would change. He's very proud that he has been told by LC that it's constitutional and would avoid a vote of the people to change it. So, that is that bill. It's still a really hot topic. Um, we have a mandate from our voters in Portland to advocate for things like this in my opinion. So, go for it, you know, as long as you're talking to Ben as we just discussed. So, but I will just say that like you will in many spaces it's it's it's just politically fraught. Um, it's a big deal to the Republicans to keep the kicker. um they consider it sort of a holy grail in um their belief system, I guess. I don't know, whatever. Um so that's why it isn't being

092talked about more, but I did want to share that that bill along with federal decoupling is where the parent advocates seem to be centered. I have kept myself for better or worse on the emails. Um, so I'm still seeing all the chatter of the parents that are leaning in with the Oregon PTA and community and parents for public schools. And that's definitely what they're centered on is the revenue question and those two general concepts around decoupling and the and the um in House Bill 4125. I also wanted to flag for everybody a bill um House Bill 4112 that um is aiming, Listen up my outdoor school peeps, that's aiming to sort of get back to what the ballot measure was that passed that was ignored last session. So to kind of like tighten up whatever

093language or loophole they were able to use to reduce that funding. And I know particularly director Lefort, I think everybody, but particularly Director Leaffort, Director Englesman, I remember you had a lot of questions and concerns on after school. So you might just want to check out that bill. It might be something you might be interested in um weighing in on or whatever. Um so again, that's House Bill 4112. the bills aren't out yet. And I just looked and we had gotten a copy of the bill from the sponsor, Zach Hudson, who's the chair of House of Education, but they sent their other LC like you get two LC's and he sent us his other one back his staff did. So, we have one on student government for colleges. That's not so I don't know what

094the what it actually says. So, look at it, see if you like it. But if you are an outdoor school stand, I thought you should know about that. And then the final thing I wanted to just say like really big picture is um in my humble opinion um there's just going to be a lot of push back on those of us being really bold on budget asks because of how just dire the state budget situation is for the next three biania frankly and this is because of the passage of HR1. So we have like a real buzzsaw situation for us. We have declining enrollment and like it doesn't it's not neat. It's not like you lose 30 kids from a school and you can lose a teacher. It's like that's two and a half kids

095per class. Like that's still the same number of teachers and staff. So, it's just a really tough adjustment. Um, so I don't I'm not trying to say like don't lead in on that engagement or those tough conversations with legislators, but just know that like I have taken parents before HR1 passed into rooms to talk about school funding and it's been deeply demoralizing the way that we've like heard back from legislators that are like, "Well, what do you want us to cut? What do you want us to do? We have no choice." Right? And it's like even more dire now. So, I just kind of want to like steal everybody for that reality. Um, by the same token, not telling you not to do that because somebody needs to do it, right? But, um, it might

096be you, but like just know it might be it might feel real bad. So, I just want you to be prepared for that cuz I did not prepare for that and it was really hard um to hear some legislators that I've known for a long time be pretty critical of parents who were visiting and telling their stories and escaping from more school fun last year. So, with that like sobering thought, I'm done with my talking. This is my thing. So, I had to I had to say some things. Thanks for listen. >> Director Chase Miller, is your thing uh related? >> Yes. >> Oh, I was just I was just wondering just cuz I I also follow but you go first. >> Okay. Um, I just wanted to start by saying I really like this

097um, set of priorities. Revenue and supporting our kids who are at risk are um, rightly at the top of our priority list. Um, I'm curious about I'm I was really glad to hear that we are working closely with our union partners on this. I'm curious about the extent to which we are partnering with other districts as well as uh the community partners that work in our schools. I'm thinking SEI, BPI, Children's Institute, uh Latino Network, those sorts of uh organizations. >> Yeah. Uh Director Chase Mor, I'll take um that question kind of separately. in regards to working with other districts. Uh the joint advocacy day that we're um going to be attending is with districts from all all over the state. So really we're working on a coordinated um advocacy approach as I mentioned across

098the state corner to corner corner um and our lovely colleagues the association colleagues are helping to coordinate that um and I think you know as I'm I'm getting up to speed I think also working with some of our community partners is important um and that I think that's good direction from you all and um we'll continue to work. I know they have their own priorities but they also really rely on us to work on in partnership together and so we need to be strong so that they can be strong. I think that's an important symbiotic relationship that I'm happy to start to build out. Thank you. Um, I work for an organization that's a nonprofit that works in our schools and what happens in our schools impacts our ability to serve the schools and um

099I just think it's an a powerful opportunity to kind of uh join forces and bring in that many more voices. Thanks, Ben. >> Certainly. >> I'll just jump in. Um um Director Chase Miller, we have uh developed in really strong relationships, especially with our Sun School partners and other community partners. I know Dr. Armstrong uh works very closely with uh Stanford Children and um the Children's Institute. So we we we have those relationships. It's going to be um we're going to have introduce Ben to all of our partners who are vast and wide and together we are strong. Well, we uh at SMARTT uh we are part of an an early literacy coalition of other literacy nonprofits. Um we call ourselves Elsa uh and we have a lobbyist and I'd be happy to connect you

100with her. >> Yes, would love that. And a lot of the just to add on to dire or chief capfor's um point a lot of the revenue we're working is in coni is in conjunction with a lot of our partners who are working together. >> Thank you student represent. Yeah, I just wanted to follow up some something you said uh director split um in that it you are going to face a lot of um a lot of push back asking for more funding in all of these rooms. I've been in these rooms. I've talked to representatives and every time, you know, they they go they do the same thing and they say, "You what do you want us to do?" You know, um we don't you know that like you guys don't have money because

101the state doesn't have money, you know. And the reality is is that the the state's tax system is broken, but they need to fix it. like and that's what we need to push for, you know, like when we get into these rooms that, you know, we say this is this is too much. $50 million over hundred million in three years is way too much and they say, "Well, we don't have money." Then I feel like the natural response is then get more money because the the the state government I I feel like in my personal opinion needs to be needs to be taking a hard look at the way that it raises um that it way it raises money um and making some major changes. I think that in that most certainly includes advocating for

102the overturn or reform of measures five and 50. Um and so it is it does feel um very demoralizing you know when they say there's nothing that can be done but I think that there that there is something to be done you just have to go further up the stream you well said Dr. Englesman. >> Thank you. Just very briefly, um I guess I just it just needs to be said that it's somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy to either continue to underfund or if the legislature were to use this Oregon Education Stability Fund to properly fund schools. Imagine if we had schools that sort of looked like the best schools not only in the state, but in the whole nation. The self-fulfilling prophecy of it is that people would come to our schools and so

103our enrollment would go up and so funding would go up and it wouldn't be a constant drain on the system or even a drain on this Oregon education stability fund. It would it would fulfill itself. And so imagine if we use this fund to put EDAs in every classroom uh paras and classroom caps that they're talking about with actual funding. Imagine if we put language in kindergarten classrooms across the city and everyone started learning a language. Imagine if we had art and music and drama and everything. And I mean like it would probably take 2 years of actually using $1.2 billion statewide to give a boost to these schools that would make them free and better than any other school you can find in a 20 mile radius from wherever you live. So that would

104then mean people have great free schools, they have more disposable income. That's going to boost our economy. Um imagine if we paid for after school care. Um people would then be able to stay at work longer or work entirely out of the home. I mean like the fact that our legislators are not recognizing that the due loop that they have put us on is a downhill slope, but they could easily turn it around and make it something that Finland is talking about rather than us talking about how great their school system is. Um, so yeah, I appreciate that there we're going to get push back, but if we were to use that fund to make our schools great, then we'd have more in the general fund to put towards Medicaid or to put towards transportation

105because our schools would be great and they'd be fulfilling themselves and they'd be paying for themselves. That's it. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. That was also very well said. Um I just uh before we move to a vote, I just want to um share to everyone who created this document. Um I really appreciate the focus uh of our legislative priorities because I think it's it's important to stay focused especially um in these crazy times. So thank you for creating this document. It's great. I just want to make sure that uh check in with uh Miss Bradshaw. Is there any public comment signed up for this? >> There's not. All right. Unless there's any last comments or questions, uh, we're going to move to a vote. Chairwell, just to be technical and follow the process.

106There is an amendment, so you want to be sure to call for the I think it was director split amendment. I want to be sure to follow that process and put that quickly on the table and then include that in your vote if you can. >> Right. And the amendment was additional. >> It was to add additional unfunded. Additional was the word in front of the unfunded mandates. >> Great. >> And can I ask did we put it on the original resolution on the table yet? I don't know if I missed that or Okay. So, >> let's go ahead put the original resolution on table and then we'll talk about the amendment. Director, >> you're on mute. >> Yeah. I um I just wanted to ask um gotta find him. Where is he? Oh, Ben.

107Sorry. Wanted to ask Ben. Um lobby day is on the 17th. Is that kind of late? I mean, are when are they doing all their voting? Um, so director Sullivan, I think that's actually strategically positioned because you think about the funnel that at first there's like a funnel with a lot of bills. Every committee gets three bills. Um, every legislator gets two of their own. And so it's like as some of those kind of other bills get funneled out uh what kind of gets distilled is some of those core issues where we get to engage in and really be a part of the policy making and budgetary process. So it's kind of waiting for that funnel to occur and then >> okay so by then we should know which ones we really want to argue

108for. >> Yes. >> Some of the stuff we want might be already gone. >> Yes. Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Right. Let's go ahead and put on the table. Do I have a motion and second to adopt resolution 7240 resolution to approve 2026 legislative priorities? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Director Split moves and vice chair to pass seconds. All right. And then we can go ahead and director Split, do you want to um motion for your amendment? >> Sure. I move that we add the word additional in front of unfunded mandates on the agenda. >> And I second that. >> Okay. Um we'll say that director Split has moved for the amendment to add additional. And was it director Chase Miller? I heard seconds. >> I mean, she might have if she did.

109Go ahead. >> Yeah, it was one of many. >> Okay, we'll give it to Director Chase Miller for today. Um, all right. Uh, let's go ahead and Is there any discussion on the amendment? All right, we will now go ahead and vote on the amendment to add additional. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. All opposed. Extensions. Student representative rheto. >> Yes. >> Thank you. The amendment of adding additional has been approved by a vote of 7 to zero with student representative rhetorically voting yes. Uh we'll now go ahead and vote on resolution 7240 as amended. resolution to approve the 2026 legislative priorities. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. >> All opposed. Abstensions. Student representative RTO. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Resolution 7240 has been approved by a

110vote of 7 to zero with student representative RTO unofficially voting yes. Thank you. Now the big work starts. Correct. >> Go get them, Ben. Let us know what we can do. >> Look, looking forward to seeing you all in Salem. >> Thank you, Ben. >> Thank you all. Have a great evening. >> Thank you. You too. >> Right. Next up is the consent agenda. Uh board members, if there's any items you would like to pull for a separate vote, please indicate that now. I don't want to pull something for a second vote, but I want to be able to say something. We can do that, right? We can do it out under discussion. >> Yeah. Yeah. Right. After put it on the table. Yeah. I'll call. >> Thanks. >> Um, Miss Brasha, has there been

111any changes to consent agenda? >> No. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Sorry, I missed two moved. Was it >> second? >> Director Sullivan moved. >> Okay. Thank you. Director Sullivan moved. Uh, vice chair seconds >> the consent agenda. U, we'll now move to discussion. Go ahead, Director Split. >> Thank you. Um, I feel like I'm going to be publicly somewhat inarticulate, but I'm going to do my best here. So, one of the items we're going to discuss today has to do with contracts for some seismic work. And I think it's the first contracts for seismic work we're seeing, which is so something to celebrate and I support moving forward. And at the same time, um I just have some trepidation

112about a conversation at facilities um as which I had not seen when I first saw the contract post. Um, I watched that conversation and I still have some feelings about essentially deciding on something like 10 schools that we are not going to consider when we talk about right sizing. Um, I don't know how to describe it. It just feels a little unfair to other school communities. There's been discussion about do we want to necessarily invest in some of the most risky buildings? Some of them are some of the older buildings. If we're going to be closing, might not some of those be the ones to look at. And my understanding is that the staff made a decision that is those 10 buildings are not in that category and we're fine. I just have to voice

113that I felt um sort of um surprised that that decision was made, I guess, um without us talking about it, I guess. So, I'm going to vote yes because I'm certainly not going to vote no on making our schools safer for kids. But I guess I just want to like put on the record that um with the right sizing conversation looming um I just felt um I feel a level of discomfort with moving forward um on um projects when we haven't had that discussion. Um but I understand if others disagree. I just I just really just wanted to put it out there that I have a concern about that. Um and also just um haven't admit freely that part of the problem is I'm not on facilities. So, if the facilities committee made this decision

114and I just wasn't there um and haven't been tracking, then that's fine. But I just um I had to say something before making this vote today. So, thank you for letting me >> direct Director Chase Miller. >> Uh thanks, um Director Split, I'm glad that you brought it up. Um I have similar discomfort. Um I have voiced a couple of times that um I really want us to be conscientious in the decision-m around the buildings that we are making seismic improvements on and that we're doing that with the full scope of consolidations and like balancing all of the things. Um and um I have felt heard by the team. Um like that has been received well. Um, but I guess uh what has what is uncomfortable for me is just not having any insight into

115that process or what that looks like or how we've arrived at the point where it is these schools that we're uh putting money into right now when we haven't begun the conversation about consolidations yet. Um, so that's something that would be helpful to me to have a better understanding of. Maybe it's something we can talk about in facilities. Um but uh Christie, I'm glad you raised it. Thank you. >> Vice Chair to pass. >> Uh yeah. Um what Michelle uh what director Chase Miller said, I um absolutely want to make sure that our schools are safe. Also, as someone that attended these schools, uh and so do my children. So do many of our children. We we all have a vested interest in safety. Uh the way the decisions have been made I'm not comfortable

116with as well. I feel um uh you know we have a couple of school communities who have basically been told that they're going to get seismic improvements meaning that they won't close. But I think because uh in light of our budget uh you our budget cuts that we're going to be making, I feel like it's prudent for the whole board, not just the committee to really um talk about systemwide looking at the impact system systemwide to the decisions. I don't think that's been done. Um, I know director Chase Miller has um asked to provide an equity lens and to provide some transparency around what a 9.1, you know, um, risk score versus a 9.6 means. I'd like to see that as well. I'd like to see us um, do some real critical thinking about the

117algorithm that we develop collectively um, to make sure that all of our schools are are are considered. I I know for a fact, and so does everybody here, we don't um we we don't hear from schools that are uh lower income, more kids of color, people living in poverty, people on free and reduced lunch, immigrants and refugees that are afraid to come to school at all. And I think that this um is a serious enough issue that we need to it needs to be a communitywide conversation in also at at the at the at the timing that needs as we're talking about consolidating schools. I feel like this um decision was kind of rushed to plate commu certain communities, but we need to consider the the health and safety of all of our kids, not

118just the ones whose parents can come to meetings, not just the ones that have the um ears of of us as um as board members. So, I'm also feeling a great discomfort with putting this on the line. At the same time, I want to um say that I I think that we all need to be safe. Our kids need to be safe. I I mean and also someone that went through these buildings, I I I think it's important for for safety, but this this conversation is not it's not it's not done tonight and I feel a great um discomfort voting on it. In fact, thank you. >> If I should pass um I I had my hand raised, but somehow it automatically went down, so I'll call myself. Um I want to also push back

119on what was previously said. I think one of the things that I want to be very aware of and I also want to address kind of some of the concerns I issue raised when when choosing which schools are you know get seismic updates. Um, you know, we we have to also be careful to understand that some programs may change in the future as well. Like for example, we have some candidates that may be converted to middle school or elementary schools in the future or you know, focus options or vice versa into others or into focus option, you know, whatever. And so I think uh looking at what the schools are now compared to, you know, after consolidation what happened is a very complicated question. I also want to also bring up best practices because um

120there's a very dangerous slippery slope. Now if I I want to address like some of the concerns like if if if the question is kind of seeking information and kind of um knowledge about uh what's going on. I think that's totally fine and I think that's worthy to arrange that and I think that's that's a good question to ask. Um, however, I just want to also caution some slippery slopes from knowing what has happened in other districts with other boards that have become too involved in the decision because one of the things is with limited funds and such so many schools that need retrofitting is a complicated, you know, game of whack-a-ole, right? And and, you know, playing 50 million whack-a-oles at the same time. And so um these these decisions are very calculated with

121a lot of nuance. Something that may is not something that you know as board members we have the time or the um dedication to be able to understand fully. And so one thing that has happened in other districts is that when board members do get involved in these decisions, sometimes you get into crazy things like turf wars and and polit politics and what vice chair depass raised was sometimes the loudest voices win instead of the right places to put the money in. So I I just want to kind of caution about, you know, if we're going down this path to make sure that we are very conscientious about uh following what's best practices and not falling into the pitfalls that other districts have fallen into and when things have gotten overly political. So thank you

122Director Lefor. >> Um I just want to um just kind of tag on to what um Director Split and Director Chase Miller and Vice Chair Depass have said. I think where I'm struggling a little bit with the contract that we have in front of us is that I don't truly understand how the formula got us here um with the big swings with BCS and Rose City Park. You know, we had the opportunity to ask staff directly, you know, that no matter which way um we cut that formula, those two schools were still rising to the top and I can accept that. Um the rest of the list, we don't have a lot of clarity. um in terms of, you know, how they made the list, what the long-term plans are. So, um I wouldn't have

123a problem, you know, pulling this and pushing it. Um because I know that in terms of planning for the next FIO agenda, that's one of my questions is a more detailed look at um how we're arriving at the list of schools that we were presented um with at FIO last week, how we got there. Director Sullivan Yeah, I just remember it was a couple of months ago when we were told, you know, we better make decisions at some point because we could talk about this forever. It's really difficult to decide, but in order to even get started working on anything in the summer, we had to get um permission. So, I too would like to see exactly you know how that decision was made but and and how future decisions are going to be made

124but I am also glad that we are doing it because we could keep talking about things forever and not get started so I'm just glad we know there's going to be two schools that are going to be working worked on this summer and are going to be safer and that's better than talking about getting all the schools done and not ever getting started. So, I'm, you know, it's not perfect, but it's it's starting and I'm really glad. >> Thank you. I agree. Um, Chief Franco. >> Yeah. Hi everybody. Appreciate the the time and and this conversation. I will say and I think Director Sullivan mentioned it obviously and I mentioned this in FIO. This is a uh very difficult and we know that uh communities are extremely vested in this piece and so and I

125do acknowledge and I've heard um director Split and of course director Chase Miller um and director Deass have voiced it in in FIO and so I just want to I I just want to make sure that we're clear that the majority of these projects generally won't get started until summer 2027, right? And so when you think about the right sizing piece which we are kicking off the process um you know soon like this um uh this spring right and so and also working in tandem I look at them as parallel tracks right so again because there's enough time to in a sense um in between to potentially make adjustments if for whatever reason um we decide that one of the schools that we have slated um to be uh seismically upgraded um we potentially can

126make those adjustments. I feel like there's still absolutely time to be able to do that piece. So if I if I were to talk specifically about what's on the what's on the agenda today? So Winter Haven was selected because there are two significant loadbearing uh URM walls in the gym uh supporting a heavy concrete roof. um it shows up in the in the small project opportunity section of the homes report. So the overall score of of building part A was somewhat affected by the the localized collapse hazard. And so the scores I mean they also depend on how granular the bu the building parts were separated. Had the gym been a separate building part it would score more so um at the top. Um and so I do the the benefit of tracking these elements

127and the small project opportunities which is what uh Vernon and Winter Hable Winterhaven are um is it bubbles up a few of the loadbearing URM walls in otherwise concrete schools. So Vernon is very similar to Winter Haven from that regard. And this is why both of these projects are slated for construction this summer is they are smaller in construction cost um and impact than others but from a but they do have as as director Wong stated a significant return on safety. Um, and I would say this piece around the formula is that it took a while to kind of come up to those specific pieces in regards to the formula. The formula is very specific to the full retrofits, right? And so that's the thing I think and and know that we we acknowledge the

128piece in terms of the other schools who are not on the list like and we'll get more specific. I think there's definitely a a need for us to communicate in terms of more specifically on, you know, outside of of Rose City and Beverly Clearary on why those other schools were selected and we're going to do that. We're also coming up currently with with a comprehensive list, right? Even though we generally don't have the funding for it right now, but we want to make sure that when we do have the funding that we can immediately plug and play the the the schools outside of the full retrofits that is very specific to the riskiest parts, right, from a safety perspective, which goes back to the ballot language uh in the bond. And so if you think

129about um you know high return for addressing some of those we're not talking full retrofits but pieces the small projects um it's a significant return on investment from a safety perspective and so you know I just want to provide a little bit of clarity in that piece and I mentioned this too in FIO is that we're very cognizant of you know the schools the title schools in particular you If we look at the title schools that we have, you know, upwards of over 20, you know, we've hit, I think, 16 of those from a a seismic perspective already, right? And so, um, that is something that we're very cognizant of that we're looking at. Um, but I think as as as you all stated, I mean, it's just real real difficult and we want to

130move, right? We want we want to move forward. Um, and I guess it's one of those pieces like I just want to make sure that you you understand is that like we are working in in parallel with consistent inputs back and forth in regards to to the right sizing conversation which oh by the way that I will be leading right and so I'm I'm right there vested in terms of what uh is exactly happening. um vice should pass and then director Chase Miller. >> Yeah, I I just want to say that I would encourage anybody that has questions to go visit Buckman and go to their cafeteria which has you can look up at the ceiling and see the serious damage there. The beams are failing and they're currently being upheld all of the beams.

131It's a 1908 1909 building, maybe a little bit earlier, but there's multiple posts in the middle, you know, spaced probably 20, 24 ft apart. Um, those are all being jacked up and held up by, you know, structural engineering to keep it safe for now. But, um, you you can't help but notice if you're in the building that it's um it's tenuous and and that's probably not the only building. That's one that I just recall from from watching from being in a meeting there and looking up and seeing these springs these spring-loaded jacks that are upholding the roof. And so that seeing that makes me question the level of detail and the level of in investigation that have gone into making these decisions. And I'm not one to like not trust, you know, I I know

132this is a really difficult decision. It's kind of like choosing your favorite kid um in terms of you know weighing the multiple different criteria and data that's coming in. But I I'm still not comfortable even though I have a tremendous amount of trust for the what I think has happened. I'm not comfortable um moving forward as a board member seeing what I have seen, knowing what I know about seismic retrofits and also understanding the work in front of us to rightsize our our our our district. It it's it's almost like a chicken egg thing. We we have to do that. We have to have those difficult conversations in community first before promising buildings that will be completely seismically improved. I feel like uh we need to have those conversations even though they will be difficult.

133They will be really challenging. Everybody's going to leave with a migraine. Um we it's a process that we will need to go through as a community and we will need to solve this as a community. Um, I think it's really imperative and it's really important the way that we do this the way that we do this work is going to be uh it's important for the outcomes for the district in terms of our right sizing conversations. We can't put it off. We have to do them in concert and I would think that the right sizing conversation should happen first and then we have a pool of buildings that we then know what uh where to place investments. Dr. Chase Mill. >> Um, Dr. Franco, thank you for uh kind of the additional context. Um I

134I do remember in FIO when you spoke about kind of the um the runway we have and the ability to change gears uh once we have a better sense of what's happening um from a consolidation perspective. Um I guess my question in that regard is like about the contract we're approving tonight. Um cuz I might be wrong, but to me it it seems like if if we're signing this contract and approving this um right now, like that that would prevent us from having flexibility later. Um or maybe it's the I actually don't remember specifically what it was like maybe if we decide it's a different school, we can switch like the scope of work to a different school or something. Um, I I don't envy you like the complexity that is going into making these

135determinations. Um, and I do not want to be in the weeds about it. Um, but I think it would be helpful for me at least. Um just to have a little bit more insight and understanding into how how um you all are caring for the balance between the consolidations um and whether it's the seismic work or the deferred maintenance. Um I trust and believe that y'all are thinking about those things and caring for them. Um, and I would just like to have a better sense of like how you're making those evaluations and what that looks like. >> Hey guys, >> so so sorry John. Um, I didn't even have my hand up and I'm just jumping in. Sarah Norman, I had literally just jumped off and then heard this conversation and wanted to jump back

136on. I wanted I wanted to let you know that some of this size the seismic work this this seismic work that we're discussing for Winter Haven and Vernon is actually being funded out of the 2020 bond. >> Correct. Yeah. >> It's not part of the 2025 bond. So this is again seismic work that we actually are able to do for our district and for our students that will bring down our overall district seismic score. So that is why we are getting in there and and Dr. Franco actually added, you know, he talked about um the unreinforced uh concrete roof. He he talked about those things just a minute ago, but I just wanted to clarify that. Um and if we really need we really need this so that we can proceed with design documents so

137that these two schools can be can be under construction this summer. Um, if not, we'll miss our window and the seismic upgrades won't won't happen at these at these schools. >> You know, I think back to Thank Thanks, Sarah. And back to what um >> can you just clarify one thing because Dr. Franco said that the construction wouldn't start until 27, but now you're saying it'll be this summer, and I just want to know which is the case. >> The first 2020. So I think as what what Sarah was saying is that this piece this contract and for these spec specific schools is specific funding from 2020. But when we're talking about 2025 like when we were talking about the full retrofits um I think we earmarked it was clearly in 2027 and then Rose

138City would be the following year, right? And so when we're talking about the rest of the schools, that's what we're earmarking truly is the majority I said would start in 2027. Cor >> correct. And I I am so sorry. I think what is on the agenda if and please correct me if I'm wrong because I was in and out of the meeting and so I do apologize. I probably missed some things, but I believe this is for architectural and engineering design services for Vernon and Winter Haven seismic. So, I want to make sure that everyone on everyone understands that is what the contracts that we are voting on. We're not voting on any of the other um identified list of schools. And both of these schools are funded by the 2020 bond program. >> Yeah,

139that's that's correct, Sarah. And then I also just want to clarify because I I heard the concern. I appreciate you all expressing that I I heard the concern around decisions made on the schools that are moving forward with seismic and I think there's been a couple of things that's been put out, right? Um we're actually in our um next phase of the conversation starting with the research part of the right sizing of schools. We have applications and grants. We also have RFPs out there. So, I'm wondering if we can look to get information to the board about the 2025 seismic projects about what's what's been um kind of where are we at because I believe that there are still uh board action that's needed on uh quite a few things to kind of get going.

140So, um I just I I wanted to recapture that and and ask if there maybe there's uh something that we can bring forward through committee or to the full board um on that. >> Yes, there is. I >> Yes, we could do that. >> Yes, we can do that. Yes. >> Was that clear? I think I said a few things. >> Yeah. Yes, I think it was I think the clarification that this is 2020 bond funded and the decision-m behind it. It's a Vernon and Winter Haven that's in the materials we got. Um yeah, and then I think there's further work to do to talk about the next trunch of work, I guess. Yes, that that's basically what I was saying that we there's obviously still a lot of um talking that need to happen

141and I wonder if that whole plan might be a study a work session all on its own so we have the full board there and can take action or give direction as needed. >> Absolutely. I think you know we we we have the advocacy from parent groups which is amazing. We also have a facilities condition report. We also have experts on the ground, you know, doing the work. And I I really appreciate moving this work forward. I mean, I can't tell you how just in my own experience being on this board, how we've we've moved a lot of work forward in the last six months. And that's really great. And I think sometimes the decision-m piece needs to be communicated, you know, more broadly perhaps. But yeah, um, thank you. I want I do want

142to just clarify a little bit the the list that we have the list that we've been working off of for the summer work that is coming up in summer of 26 um summer of 27 and the and the year of 27 uh 26 27 school year of um um has been presented to the board and FIO on a couple of different occasions. I don't have the perfect slide in front of me but I can pull it up. Th this list has been visited by homes engineering. This school has been visited by the design and engineering consultants that we did the pool of um design and engineering consultants that we currently are um working to procure to do the design and engineering for those schools. They have been visiting these schools. These schools have been notified

143that they do have seismic work that is to scheduled to be taking place. And so I just want to clarify around the piece. I'm just I'm just going to Can I share my screen, Cara? I don't know if I have permission to um >> Yeah, you should be able to. >> And please forgive that this is my an email, but um let's see. Actually, let me find. So sorry. Let me go back. >> I kind of feel like interrupting because I think Sarah, you might have missed the part where our objection is not necessarily to the list. >> Sure. It's to the interplay between I'm sorry I just decided to like butt in cuz I think it might not be the issue. >> It's the interplay between the school possible like consolidation conversation >> and

144there was conversation at facilities where it was basically like well we looked at these and we don't think that they're going to be consolidated necessarily. We considered that and that was just surprising to some of us who felt like taking those 10 schools off the table was maybe premature in addition to being concerned about possibly the 10, but I think the people that raised concern about the 10 are on facilities. So I just so they've seen it. So I just wanted to let you know I don't know that the issue is that it's it's not just the list. It's like that interplay and I don't want to spend that much time on it. >> No, you got it. Thank you so much for that clarification. I was I was just concerned because I thought we

145had these and we were kind of marching down the road with them that have been presented. So I so appreciate that clarity. I don't need to bring it up again then. Never mind. We're still we're still marching down the road a bit and that we understand that it's so it's the inter >> the way the hands went up though. I might be rock director Chase Miller. >> Yeah. I just wanted to add that I think um understanding that this is 2020 bond um makes a difference for me and um just some of the clarification has been helpful. Um I am fine now and um feel heard and feel like we can move forward as far as I'm concerned. >> Quite sure to pass. >> Yes. I just had a question. So, um Sarah, it sounds

146like we're using um our consultants in a pool because knowing that we'll have seismic work coming up, we'll have homes, we'll have other, you know, seismic engineers pre pre-permitting that there's a pool of people that we can call on so to save time. And I'm also um kind of what Michelle said again, if it's 2020 and it's those two schools, great. And then and I would love to have a conversation about like what's next in terms of like um scheduling and and and the cadence of in which we look at the other schools. So I'd like to have a a boardwide not just facilities, but maybe a full board work session. Um to Dr. Armstrong's point about, you know, where do we go from here? >> Englesman. >> Thank you. Um, just quickly, uh, I

147wanted to say that I found the bond presentation to be really good. Um, I was impressed by it. Uh, and I am obviously everyone knows I had some concerns or a little skeptical at the beginning of of this relationship, but um I'm really stoked to hear that we have this uh to vote for and like I'm kind of thinking like yeah, we're starting to work down that list and we can take some of that 2020 money. There was a whole lot of conversation about all the bonds that have not been closed out and all the money that's been left and all the years that have gone by and all the board delay. So, I um I'm just really excited to be able to say yes to two schools and then spend the next I don't

148know six months gathering all the information so we can say yes to the next 2, 5, 10, 12 schools and then uh we can be using all this money. I just wanted to say I was really impressed with the presentations tonight. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Great. Um, unless there's uh further comments or questions, let's move to a vote. The board will now vote on resolution 7241 through 7242. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. All opposed. Abstensions. Student representative RTOR. >> Yes. Thank you. The consent agenda is amended is approved by a vote of 7 to zero with student represent voting yes. Thank you. All right. Um just one more thing. Usually we have a time for kind of future topics. Um we had some

149I just want to kind of notify everyone. Uh we had some ideas for um agenda topics. However, we're still kind of currently in the middle of following up with some of these requests. Actually, all of the requests. So, um, unless you've been follow we'll I'll try to follow up with you this week or or staff will and, um, we'll consider we'll we'll again talk about it during our next meeting when we're in person. So, I just want to kind of give you that update. Um, unless there are any other items. No other items. Thank you. All right. Um, thank you all for being here tonight and really appreciate all your time. It was a short two hour and 10-minute meeting. So, thank you. >> Beautiful. Let's do more of those. Thank you, chair. >> All

150right. Thank you. This meeting good night.