001this public regular meeting of the board of education. >> Hey staff, simmer down back there >> for January 13th, 2026 is called to order. All items being considered this evening are posted on the PPS website and on 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. Good evening and welcome. Thank you for taking your time uh to be here. Uh just a few housekeeping reminders. Um we're if you have any signs or banners, just keep them below chin level for the people behind you. Uh make sure that we keep walkways and aisles clear for safety reasons and in general just be mindful and respectful of each other. Thank you for being here and taking your
002time out of day to be part of public education. First off, we have our superintendent report. I'll hand this off to Dr. Armstrong. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Happy 2026. So, in recognition of National School Board Appreciation Month, I want to extend my sincere gratitude for each of you for your service, leadership, and commitment to our students, staff, and families. Serving on a school board requires balancing complex decisions, diverse perspectives, and the long-term needs of our community and often behind the scenes and always with deep care for students. Your willingness to lead with responsibility, ask hard questions, and stay grounded in our shared values makes a meaningful difference in the lives of Portland children every day. Thank you for your time, your partnership, and your dedication to public education and to the success and well-being of
003all of our students. I have a group that wanted to express their appreciation as well. >> [music] [music] >> Happy board member appreciation month. I just wanted to take a few seconds to thank you for your dedication to public education and public service here in Portland public schools. Thank you for all you do on behalf of our students, our staff, and our families. Good evening board members. I just want to say thank you. Thank you for all the work that you do. A lot of times it's fun and exciting and sometimes it's not so fun and exciting. I don't think anybody knows better than I do how hard your job is and I just want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Keep up the good work. It's going to be a great year.
004>> All right. Thank you for what you do in support of kids. We appreciate all uh the work uh you do to help us um lead this district. Thank you so much for all the time and effort that you put forth for our students and our community and our staff. We appreciate you so much. >> I just want to thank you so much for your advocacy and continued passion and focus on our students. PPS is so lucky to have you. Thank you. >> Thank you so much board members for dedicating your time and your expertise to supporting our students. I'm really looking forward to a great 20 2026. Thank you. >> Uh thank you so much for all you do. Yeah, I just want to express just immense appreciation to all of you, especially during
005board appreciation month. We know that it takes as citizens with the community, you know, to take on such a significant role like you have. And so, I've appreciated our work together. We we've done some big ticket things in the short time. And so, just want to uh again express express immense appreciation to all of you. >> All right, claps for our board members. >> [applause] >> Some of you are really good actors. [laughter] >> Well, that's it. That's the superintendent report. It was all about you all tonight and just want to say thank you and appreciate you and I will turn it back over to the chair. Thank you. >> Great. We'll just go down the line. Next up, we have our student representative report. Student representative Torto. >> Thank you. Um, so we had
006uh a pretty big meeting tonight. Um, we talked a lot about uh committees, almost an hour. Um, and so some district people I would expect some emails coming your way um o over the next month or so. Um, but we the biggest thing we did was we took a vote um on Jefferson Rising. [snorts] Um, so, uh, we did, uh, really quite extensive, uh, student outreach, um, for this vote. Uh, I think every single student representative, um, at the very least tried to get engagement, um, from their student councils and other students. Um, there was one group, I think the Franklin group, who said we didn't really have much success with our student council. Didn't seem like people were really interested. Um, and so then we went to like some like government and law classes,
007you know, and got input from those students. Um uh there was a few schools uh I think most schools ended up giving >> [snorts] >> uh presentations to their to their uh student councils which was great. Um I was very happy to hear that because it meant that uh I had taught them about Jefferson Rising well enough that they could then teach um their student bodies about it. Um and all of this u led uh to our to our big vote. talked about this um over the course of two meetings um and then extensively offline outside of meetings um uh and it and there was a lot of discussion um but ultimately we had no votes in support of option A. No uh no votes in opposition to the plan as a whole. Um two
008or no three maybe four votes. Um there was still one person that we were waiting on who I think was leaning towards option C. Um so four votes in favor of option C. Um and then the large majority um I do not have the exact tally right now um voted in favor of option B. I think it was like 15 16 maybe maybe 17 um in favor of option B. Um and so that is the way I will be voting tonight. Um I will of course be sharing uh my other opinions as that as that time comes. Um but that was the most important thing that happened um uh at the DSC meeting tonight and what we've been working on over the past um month and a half. Great. Thank you, Student Representative RTO. All
009right. Next up, we have general public comment. Uh, first we'll start with our student comments. And before we begin, just like to review some guidelines for public comment. First, the board thanks to you for taking the time to attend this meeting and providing your comments. Public input, especially from our students, improves and informs our work. Uh, we look forward to hearing from you today. Our board office may follow up on board related issues raised during public testimony. We also request that complaints about individual employees be directed to the superintendent's office as a personnel matter. I remind PPS staff who are giving public comment that they may not provide testimony about students that could violate confidential dial protections under Furpa. This includes testimony using information that could identify students especially in their school community by use
010of direct or indirect linkages linkages such as school grade special education or other status. Uh for materials you would like the board to receive please uh do not come up to the das hand them over to uh Miss Bradshaw over there and she'll distribute them to us. Thank you. If you have any additional materials or items you would like to provide the board or superintendent we ask that you email them to public comment all one word at pps.net. Please make sure that when you begin your comment that you clearly state your name and spell your last name. You'll have three minutes to speak. You'll have hear a sound when the red I think correct me if I'm correct. Right. When the yellow light goes off, you have 30 seconds. >> Correct. >> Is that correct?
011And then uh the red light and the buzz sound at 3 minutes, which is time to end your comments. Uh so let's start with our students. Miss Brashaw, could you call up the students who have signed up to speak? >> Yes. Emiline Lanthropo Shobi Mani Ranga Krishna. >> Thank you. You can go ahead when you're ready. Who who's starting? Is it any specific >> uh just in the order you're called? >> And then you say your name and spell your last name. >> Okay. So, can I We're translating, so should we go back and forth just to clarify? >> Yes, that's fine. >> Okay. Um, my name is Emiline Leup. L A T H R O P. >> My name is CA Show. Last name is S H O B E. >> Wait, wait, sorry.
012Can we pause the timer? So, because you're both going, you both signed up. So, that's a total of six minutes, correct? >> Is that We're We timed it as three minutes because that's what we thought. She's just translating. I'm going to be speaking in Japanese today and she'll be translating English. >> We timed it to around three minutes. It'll still be around three minutes. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Ready? Yeah. My name is Sio and this is Emiline. We are eighth grade members of the JMP. We will be speaking on behalf of the eighth graders at Mount Taber who unfortunately could not attend tonight. This spring we have the privilege to visit Japan and experience the Japanese culture and language we have been learning since kindergarten. The JRR is more than just a field trip.
013It is an incredibly incredible opportunity to build connections and learn responsibility. US students spend all year preparing to take this once in a-lifetime opportunity. For many students, this could be their only time leaving the country. Me and Emiline are the co-leaders of the fundraising ministry. It fundraising is a very important part of the trip. So far, we have hosted two bake sales, one craft fair, and have raised over $1,000. Every single student takes time out of their personal life to help make this trip happen. This teaches us so much about responsibility and helps us grow as members of our community. My personal favorite part of the JRR is making connections and friends at the school and home stays. Nothing can compare to the feeling of welcome and belonging as walking into a classroom of students
014you have known your whole life. The connections we've built are so strong and being able to bring that to a new and foreign country is such a special experience. After nine years of studying an incredibly difficult language, countless kanji tests, stressful on demands, hours of memorizing vocab, and many tears shed, we believe a 10-day trip is more than welld deserved, not only for us, but also the years and generations to come. Kuretto, >> thank you for listening. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hi. Oh, hi. Um, I have these documents. Um, I was told to give it to the clerk. Sorry. >> We also got them by email today, just so you know. So, thanks. >> All right. esteemed PPS board, thank you for having me. I'd like to start with some context because today
015I'm going to be talking about PPS's electronic device policy. I'm an IB diploma student. I have eight IB classes. I'm a musician on the side and I'm conducting independent research. I'm so privileged to have a MacBook, a device capable of handling heavy multitasking, which is crucial for me to handle my workload. I understand that not every student can afford a personal laptop, but this proposal focuses solely on the issue of the prohibition of laptops. I was annotating a research paper by a professor who was my mentor during free work time when I was told I could not use my MacBook in class as per the current PPS electronic device policy. I was forced to use an inferior PPS Chromebook that experiences episodes of indefinite loading, falling apart at its hinges, and has a computing power
016capable comparable to that of my old iPhone X. All around, my peers played HTML video games, scrolled on Snapchat, and made a mockery of PPS's rules. And yet, at the same time, I was unable to do that which I needed to do. Here are the facts. HTML games, Chromebook dregistration, these allow students to easily evade securely without detection. They cannot be patched. Just to be crystal clear here, no effort PPS will make will ever be enough. PPS needs to accept the fact that by forcing students to use a PPS Chromebook, it actually doesn't do more good, but it does end up hurting students. In fact, Governor Tina Cotek actually knew this. And in her executive order upon which the ED policy is actually based, she explicitly excludes laptops needed for learning, clearly distinguishing them from
017phones, tablets, and watches. The fact of the matter is PPS's efforts to increase focus by learning and by banning MacBooks and personal laptops has unfortunately backfired. But it its rules the new rules can be evaded within a matter of minutes on PPS Chromebooks and it ultimately hinders academically inclined students. It is for this reason that I would strongly urge a a look into my proposal, which would instead allow these laptops with the same definition as is found in the executive order upon which this whole policy is based because students that are trusted to drive class C vehicles weighing up to 26,000 lbs should also be trusted to manage their own learning tools. Therefore, PPS must amend its policy to emulate the wording of the executive order and to allow personal laptops for learning, recognizing them
018as essential tools for academic success. >> Thank you. >> I'm pretty sure that Ranggon is a national champion uh the we the people competition. So, I just wanted to congratulate on you and thank you for coming today. I can tell that you are very well prepared to speak in this setting. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh, next up we have general public comment. >> Yes. >> Go ahead. >> We have two who are scheduled to be here in person and two virtual. I'll call the in person first. >> Okay. Um Tom DJ Jardine, Christopher Schwitzer, glasses on. [clears throat] School board directors and superintendent Armstrong. My name is Tom Dejardan and for the past 22 years I've had the honor of serving as executive director of Mount Scott Learning Center. Uh Mount Scott
019is one of the district's contracted community based organizations referred to as CBOS that collectively comprise the district's 10th large high school. I'm here tonight to thank you and the school district for our strong, long-standing partnership in serving the district's most vulnerable high school students. students that represent historically underserved populations with the highest dropout rates. Prior to my time at Mount Scott Learning Center, I worked as the communications coordinator for Salem Kaiser public schools for 10 years and later was the executive director of Oregon's first startup charter high school. During my 35 years of working in public education and another 12 in the private sector, I have become well aware of the need for quality education options for students that for a variety of reasons are not successful in larger traditional high school environments. PBS has
020long recognized this need and become a national model of re-engaging struggling students through successful partnerships with contracted community- based organizations. The CBOS's are a unique collective of innovative schools that provide flexible, supportive programming focused on meeting students where they are so that these students can get back on track to graduation. The CBO schools are reconnecting these students to the school district and to their education, setting them up for future success. The services the CBOS uh excuse me the C the services the CBOS's provide include small schools and small class sizes that allow for more teacher attention. Relationship based environments that emphasize stability and predictability for trauma impacted students. Culturally specific services and programming. Mental health counseling and support including drug and alcohol services. Social and emotional supports that keep students engaged and enrolled. restorative and
021non-exclusionary discipline practices and workforce training and post-secondary planning. We do all this and much more in close collaboration, alignment, and partnership with the school district. I know several of you have visited Mount Scott Learning Center and the other CBO schools and met with our students, which are also your students. Overwhelmingly, these students agree that the small personalized CBO schools are the option they need to succeed and that their success will not happen within a large comprehensive high school. In closing, thank you, Superintendent Armstrong, and members of the PBS board for recognizing that different students have different needs and that not every path to graduation looks the same. Thank you for working to ensure that every student counts. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Wong, board directors, student director, rorto, superintendent Armstrong. My name is Chris Schwitzer,
022and I teach algebra and AP environmental science at Roosevelt High School. I'm here to deliver a petition to you regarding the district's contracts with AI companies and lack of a clear policy around student use of AI. It is signed by over 100 PPS employees as well as parents and concerned community members. At this moment when we are being sold a hyper capitalist fantasy that AI will solve all the world's problems, we need critical leadership that is able to take a hard look at the claims being pedled by big tech companies. Critical leadership that centers the needs of students. Our students need supportive adults, highquality instruction, and rich opportunities for play and peer interaction. [snorts] not AI chat bots or more screen time. Furthermore, the use of AI tools, which are hugely environmentally destructive, go against
023our district's climate policy. [snorts] PPS has entered into two particularly concerning contracts with Lumitory AI and Amir Learning. Lumitory AI's contract came in at $148,000, just $2,000 below the limit that would require board approval. This contract was entered into after a visit by Colin Kaepernick to PPS. He is the sole officer of the company according to state records and the address on the bank wire goes to his mansion in the suburbs of Las Vegas. This product is what's called a wrapper. It's simply a shiny interface wrapped around a more developed large language model like chat GPT. These types of products are scams. And the fact that district leaders thought this was a good use of public funds is deeply concerning. Everything done by Lumi can be done in Canva, which the district already pays for.
024Just last spring, this board approved a budget which cut educational assistance in kindergarten. Two [snorts] of them could have kept their jobs for the price of this contract. These are the types of trade-offs we are asking you to consider as fiduciaries. >> [snorts] >> The second contract that has raised the most concern is Amamira. This product provides reading screening screeners and tutoring. Its marketing is truly insidious with a stylish anthropomorphized cartoon character as its face. We have students in our district who are spending hours of their free time talking to AI chatbots, many of whom are too young to distinguish these chat bots from real people. Any action that condones or encourages student interaction with AI is highly unethical and disappointing from district leaders. [snorts] What we demand from you is that these contracts be
025severed, that no future AI contracts are entered into, and that the PPS school board draft a real policy that bans student use of AI in the schools. Furthermore, the circumstances surrounding how the Lumi story contract was entered into should be investigated and reported to the public. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We have Lesley Host Jr. Uh, okay. Good evening, chair, superintendent, and members of the board. Uh, for the record, my name is Lesley Hostin. Last name is spelled H O S T E N. Pronouns are he, him, and I am the principal of Many Nations Academy located on Colombia at the Native American Youth and Family Center. I want to welcome all the new board members. As we enter a year where the request for proposals for alternative schools is up for renewal, I
026want to take this moment to highlight the vital return on investment that community-based organization CBOS provide to the district. For nearly 20 years, NA has been a strategic partner with PPS. We exist for the students who have demonstrated a need for something different. students who may be chronically absent or credit deficient in a comprehensive setting. These are brilliant, capable young people, but they need a different kind of soil to grow in. At the Many Nations Academy, your funding supports that growth through three unique pillars. First, we operate with a relational worldview. In a large high school, a student can sometimes feel just like a number. At M&A, our small class sizes allow us to deliver highlevel individualized academic interventions. We don't just teach the content, we teach the whole student, the mind, body, spirit, and
027context. Second, we are combining tradition with innovation. Funding for CBOS allow us to break the mold of what an alternative school looks like. We just recently upgraded our classrooms with Smartboards and created a maker space with high performance gaming laptops to engage students in computer science and utilizing PPS's Minecraft education. We are currently building out this maker space to equip with 3D printers, a Glow Forge, laser cutter, tri cuts, and Insta 360 cameras. We use this technology to teach digital citizenship and digital storytelling, empowering our students to take on our oral traditions and modernize them for the digital age. When students see that we invest the best equipment for them, they know they are valued. Third, we provide wraparound support. This is part of the NA magic. Because our school is embedded with a community
028center, our support doesn't end at the classroom door. If a student is hungry, we have a food pantry. If they are housing insecure, we have housing advocates down the hall. We support the whole family so the student can focus on graduation. So, in closing, as you review the RFP this year, I ask you for your continued commitment to community- based organizations. We are a critical node in your dropout prevention system. Taking students who are off track and giving them a place to belong, to catch up, and to innovate. We invite you to come visit our new maker space at NA to see this partnership in action. Thank you. >> Thank you, Cassandra Griffin. I'm trying to get off on video. Can you see me? Hi there. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can hear
029you. Thank you. >> My name is Cassandra Griffin. It's spelled G R I F F I N. I use she her pronouns. I have lived in Southeast Portland for over 30 years now. I am speaking about the language immersion um programs and the field trips. Um I have two sons at Richmond Elementary School in the dual language Japanese immersion program. I have no connection whatsoever to the Japanese language or Japanese culture aside from this school, but I do have a degree in linguistics from Reed College and I know a thing or two about language acquisition and the benefits of multilingual and multicultural learning. Um, the best time to learn a new language is from birth. The second best time is as soon as possible. Um, the language programs in Portland's dual language immersion schools are
030helping kids learn languages when their minds are designed to be doing that. Um, traditional language classes in high school are precisely the opposite of what works best. Uh, the window for learning new languages starts shutting down at puberty. Um, and you're unlikely to learn a new language fluently if you start after then. Um, the Japanese dual language program at Richmond is so strong that families move from across the country and all around [clears throat] the country to Portland for the purpose of attending this school. Um, we had a play date with one such family this weekend. So, uh, I can think of three or four of them in the third grade cohort alone. Um, I'm here today to express my concern about proposed edits to the language around the extended field trips that Richmond and
031several of the other language programs take. I understand that the intention is to make a minor edit to ensure that students who don't go on the field trips are not abandoned or forgotten. Um, that's a good intention and it might benefit me personally. I'm not sure that my third grader is going to be ready to be away from family for a week in 2 years to go on the fifth grade field trip. Um, but I am worried that the language is too broad and poses too much of a threat to the programs when they only come together through the blood, sweat, and tears of incredibly generous and dedicated parents and community members. Um, the folks who work to bring these programs together want to know that the trips are an ongoing part of the program.
032The students want to know that they are an ongoing and guaranteed part of the program. They're hugely motivating to the kids to learn enough to prepare enough to go on the trips. Um, and feeling like they're under constant threat because of being shut down because of vague complaints of the kids who stay behind not getting the exact same benefits as the kids who go on the trips. Um, feels like an unnecessary threat. Thank you all for your service. Um, and please don't change the programs. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. I believe that concludes public comment. Again, we thank you everyone who showed up today to give their voice. Uh, I just want to double check we don't have anyone signed up for union comment, but again, double check that's true. Correct. Okay. All
033right. So, next up on the agenda is the uh board committee and conference reports. I completely forgot to check with all the committee chairs if if you're ready. So, I'll just ask who is ready and would like to give their report today. >> I'm ready. >> Director Sullivan. Thank you. >> A for audit was first >> on the list. So, I will go. Um, [clears throat] I'm Patty, excuse me, Patty Sullivan, the chair of the audit committee. As of just a few minutes ago, we are cancelling the audit committee meeting, which is scheduled for this week, Thursday, uh, January 15th. Instead, the audit committee's next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 5th, from 5 to 7. The primary focus of the meeting will be to receive the results of the district's annual financial statement audit
034commonly referred to as the ACFR which stands for the annual comprehensive financial report and the results of the district's sing an annual single audit which is an audit of the federal grant compliance requirements. I have mentioned in previous committee reports that we were anticipating some delays in the completion of the ACFR and the single audit this year due to the Federal Office of Management and Budget, the OM, having not issued the 2025 compliance supplement that auditors are required to use in the audit. Due to this issue, the Oregon Department of Education extended the due date for submission of the district's financial statement to February 2nd, 2026. OM issued the 2025 compliance supplement in late November and our finance team and the external audit team have been working non-stop over the last month to wrap up
035the audit. I understand there are still some last minute wrap-up items being worked on. Waiting until February for the meeting will give the audit committee members time to review the ACFR and single audit documents that are not yet available. Last year, the ACFR package was 161 pages long, so enough time is obviously necessary. Upon the recommendation of the audit committee, the report must be approved by the board at the February 10th board meeting. The report will be available to the whole board in board book before that meeting. Also in the February 5th meeting, our internal auditor will present the results of the English language learners compliance audit and we will have additional discussion about the proposed audit plan for the 2627 school year. This concludes my audit committee report. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you,
036Director Sullivan. >> Great. It's moved up. >> I can do it. I'll do it. >> Okay. >> All right. Um, so, uh, this update will actually cover the last, uh, two months, uh, for the facilities improvement and oversight committee. Um, this will be a highle update on our facility safety, maintenance capacity, and bond oversight. Um, I'm going to focus on progress to date, some remaining gaps, and upcoming decision points for the committee and the board. Um, a large portion of our meetings were actually dedicated to CBSC, which is behind us in terms of the vote. Um, so we've already addressed that, so I'll be focusing on all of our other items. Um, seismic safety and facilities condition. So, um, PBS continues seismic work funded through the 2012, 2017, and 2020 bonds. Um, as well as
0372025, we're using a high a hybrid seismic strategy. And that approach is combining full seismic retrofits at our highest risk sites with targeted structural upgrades at other schools to reduce the risk of catastrophic collapse and extending life safety benefits districtwide. Um the school prioritization uh will be guided by a weighted scoring model that was presented that's intentionally life safety focused and right now it sits at 90% seismic risk, 5% facility condition, and 5% enrollment. Um at this point the seismic framework is complete um including um defined retrofit approaches and equity filters. Um school prioritization is underway um aligned approximately to the hund00 million in funding that um the board set aside. And right now um there's a preliminary list of schools. Um the two schools targeted for comprehensive campus retrofits are um Beverly Clearary and
038Rose City Park. And we did ask specifically um since these two buildings keep coming up um it seems that no matter how you slice the data or how you slice the pie, these schools are rising to the top in terms of risk. And I believe that the um the grant applications um have already started um and that those have been submitted. We'll be actually getting I'm hearing seeing a nod over there from Tom [laughter] and I know we have another update coming uh next week. So, um, the other schools that were listed, uh, uh, preliminarily for targeted retrofits were Ainssworth, Beach, Capitol Hill, Kelly, Richmond, Vernon, and Winter Haven. Um, those could change. This is a preliminary list, but this is sort of the direction that we're heading. Um, so appreciate all the hard work
039on that. Um, and, um, we'll be seeing, like I said, a final school list and the scope of the first rounds of round of projects soon. And um we've seen procurement for the design services agreement start to come through and also um the beginning of the development of a facilities dashboard to support transparency and tracking. Um so again another update coming on that next week. Um as far as maintenance capacity and performance, that's something we've been asking about. Um facilities maintenance is a real priority um for us especially as we head into budgeting season. Um we're currently operating with 77 maintenance FTEEs. um best practice for standards indicate that we need 113. So um to reach a managed care service level so that's a gap of 36 FTE which is a 47% shortfall um while
040we're maintaining 10 million square feet of building space. So despite that gap um the performance trends were really impressive. Um over 95% of the work orders are completed within service level targets. um preventative maintenance completion has significantly improved year-over-year. I was really impressed and o open work orders have steadily declined um since 2023. I would encourage you to take a look at the November FIO presentation if you want to see the detail. Um it's really impressed with the staff and the team. Um in short, the system is performing better than it has historically. Uh but staffing capacity remains a real structural risk over time that the board should continue to monitor, especially as we head into our budget season. Um, next, uh, bond oversight and audit implementation. Um, we have about 40 open items from
041previous bond audits. So, what we've decided to do, I've been working closely with our office of the internal performance auditor and our goal is to take three or four items off of that list every month and start knocking them off. So, we started doing that last month and um we have three more coming up uh next week and um the goal really is over the next year to just start closing out every single item on that list um in kind of a methodical way. And um one of the major recommendations was to clarify the CMGC contractual expectations and terms um following the Benson High School postmortem. Um that was completed for Jefferson. Um there were over 40 contract updates that were incorporated and approved by the board and executed. Um we were informed that earlier
042contracts for Cleveland and Wells could not be retroactively advised. We're looking into more detail. Not sure if that's going to be a significant issue or anything like that, but just know that moving forward um these recommendations are being implemented. Um other recommendations that um are considered closed um increased executive leadership oversight of bond audit implementation um providing the BAC reports directly to the full board and ensuring uh timely public posting. I do believe the most recent one does still need to be posted. Um and then also um using external construction auditors to verify the labor burden rates and general condition of costs prior to accepting our pricing. So these steps are uh intended to strengthen our cost controls and our transparency and really our accountability um to our stakeholders. So um we'll be seeing a
043few more next week. Let's see. Finally, um we had a review of the bond about accountability committee charter um but we went ahead and moved that to our next meeting um to include in part a discussion of how to wire KPIs for the uh precidio contract into the BAC charter. the language um uh didn't quite they weren't sinking exactly. So um our internal performance auditor has some recommendations on how to do that um and how we can strengthen strengthen the BAC's technical role um clarify how their advice is formalized and communicated to the board and better align their work um and the committee to avoid gaps and duplication and oversight. Um let's see what else. Um, next week we'll be covering said the BAC, we'll be covering a new seismic update, outdoor athletic facilities, um,
044and a few other things, but um, other than that, we've been we've been very busy and you've seen a lot of it here at our meetings [laughter] with the high schools. So, that concludes my committee report. >> Thank you, Director Lefort. Do I have any others? Again, is my bad. I forgot to check in. I can go. It's >> okay. Great. >> Thank you. >> Um, not quite as much detail as the other reports, but we had our last teaching, learning, and enrollment committee meeting on January 8th. Uh, we heard public comment about the algebra 34 requirement, which was u really interesting to me as a student who struggled with math. [gasps] Um we had a presentation on college and career readiness and career technical education. Some of the key learnings in that were that
045we have 80 CTE programs of study in 11 high schools um and over 70 distinct dual credit courses in 11 high schools. um as well as IB in two high schools and um 40 distinct advanced placement course courses in seven high schools. Um as well as college and career readiness centers in 11 high schools. Uh we learned about something called literacy in real context which I was really impressed by. um that is an effort to uh continue working on literacy skills uh with high school students within the context of their CTE programs. So applying science-based learning strategies and techniques um to the curriculum at a high school level which I think is brilliant. Um we also learned about accelerated coursework. Some of the highlights of that were that uh this year PPS students earned a
046record 18,000 plus college credits through PCC, PSU, and OIT uh with a savings of over $3 million. Over 3,000 students took over 5,000 AP exams and 75% of those AP exams had a score of three or above, which is what we are aiming for. um AP scores of three above increased for all race and ethnicity groups. And there were over 2,000 IB tests taken in 2025, which is a 13.7% increase since 2023. We also had a presentation on chronic absenteeism and the three strategies that we are using to combat this. Uh climate and culture is one. Um and so we learned about some of the specifics that uh go into that. The point in time attendance um as it was captured this year showed an 8.7% increase uh for regular attenders. Um our successful schools
047survey showed that uh there was a 10% increase since 2023 and 24 um in participation and um that for African-American students the um their sense of belonging engagement um and school climate score increased um an average of 10% from last year. Um, we learned about the climate team and the professional learning that is happening to uh support educators in understanding uh the causes of absenteeism and um our strategies to combat those. Uh let's see. Um, we also learned about um the second strategy which is Sorry, my notes are jumbly because I was copying and pasting them. Um, >> wasn't it the like the teams >> the Yeah, the uh Thank you. the school-based attendance team. Um so we have 31 schools that have so far completed the attendance team training. Um and then there's individual
048school attendance team coaching happening at 23 schools. Um the attendance data dashboard has been improved and there's attendance resource website um up and running. The third strategy is around attendance initiative messaging and um kind of the some of this work on social media and uh our website that is being done to support that. Um I think my main takeaway from both presentations is um that there's really amazing work happening um and we see it paying off. We see it paying off in test scores. We see it paying off in our successful successful schools data >> survey SSS survey. Um and we see it paying off in attendance. Um and I think I've said this before, I'll say it again. Um the fact that we are accomplishing gains under such challenging circumstances um just makes me
049wonder uh what would be possible if uh we were fully funded and didn't have to fight uh [laughter] for every single little thing. Um so I'm just continually impressed by our staff and the amazing work that they're doing um and uh the gains the kids are making. >> I have a quick question about the teaching and learning. I don't um usually go back to watch that particular meeting. Um, I've heard now from two principles that a suggestion that we might want to work with parents because they can be instrumental um in solving for the attent um problem um and also might be contributing somewhat to to so do we have any data about that or is that something we could I'd like to learn more about that like why are why are kids allowed to
050not go to school? >> Yeah. Thank you. I think there is I mean you know this Dr. Armstrong but they were alluding to like a bunch of work that was done to figure out why kids are absent from school and I'm assuming we could just that would be the thing you're looking for. Yeah. >> Yes. >> It's not urgent. It's just a wondering I have. >> Thanks. >> Can I uh Thank you. I I've emailed with Dr. Armstrong a little bit about this. I guess the three um questions that I would love to have answers for with the absenteeism or the chronic absenteeism is um how the change to a very early start in for elementary schools have we seen um tardiness if not absenteeism but certainly tardiness which of course is going to spiderweb
051out and to affect uh classrooms that are having kids come in late and trying to get their work done. So I'd love to see that data. Um, I also have noted an anecdotally that my own fifth grader has trouble getting up some mornings. Um, and she has gone to school sometimes it's 50 minutes late and has been marked absent for the entire day and I get a message saying Idaho is absent today. Um, if you would like to change this, please contact your school. And I don't because it doesn't really affect anything and I don't have time to do that. But I wonder whether our absentee numbers would be different if we were not marking students absent who I I know she's in school. Um but her report card says she was absent those days.
052Um, and then, uh, the third thing that I reached out to legal about, um, I worry that we, with the current administration's hunting of our immigrant families, um, that we are going to see an uptick in students who are scared to go to school and how that's going to affect our absenteeism. And so I had reached out to say is there a way that we can adjust for that um to protect their seat there if they don't go for two three weeks >> 10 days >> right and then they are um automatically unenrolled and then they may not have the ability to get back enrolled so you know it's I'm hopeful and I liked the answer that I got that there are there's sort of an emergency mechanism but some families may not know about
053it may not know how to trigger it may not have the language skills to to do that or that feel safe doing that. So, I just want sort of want to flag that we might see and I would like to see us sort of solving for and making sure that those students who are too scared for a little while or maybe a long while um I know that you have their back. You've been very clear with your terrific messages going out, but I just see that we might see a rise in that unfortunately. >> Appreciate that. Thank you. We will I will make sure that the team follows up um on some of the things that you all have asked individuals and then I'll bring it together as just a comprehensive uh response on on
054Friday in a Friday email on some of the things that you've mentioned here or with team members on attendance. >> Great. I just want to add anecdotally >> from my experience working in schools that before kids are unenrolled it it goes through many checks like the counselor checks in, teachers check in and principal or assistant principal checks in and so it if that is the case where it is a situation where like an immigration or something like that um issue usually there's a lot of buffers in place to keep that kind of stuff from happening. Go ahead. >> I was just going to say I don't I don't know how many schools changed the times, but I just wanted to make sure to set the expectation. I think there were plenty of schools that opened
055at 8. Only some of them made the change to go to 8. So, I just want to make sure going in you're not surprised when you're like, why are there only like 20 schools that changed cuz a lot of schools started at 8 before they made the change. Just making sure that's not surprising. Um there's a lot of uh interest about um you know the ice ICE activity in our community and I've heard from two schools now uh that would be interested in the board convening conversation uh because it's it's becoming very real um for people and for families in the two schools that I know about one's in Northeast Portland, one's in North Portland, the families have come together to solve for their own school communities, but they would appreciate having a bridge to
056having conversations with each other so they can have even that much more organizing. So parents that don't work during the day or have flexible roles are able to walk kids back and forth to school for instance, but I think there's a lot more that could be done and we could be a convenor. Um we could offer space here to have those conversations. And I think um I if I'm not the only one, I don't want to be the only one like this is my thing I want to do. If there were other other board members that might be interested in helping our community solve for um the fear that's out there, I think that would be really great. >> Sure. >> I'm interested in that as well. >> Um I've shared a toolkit um for
057school boards uh with some of you um and can share it with everyone. Um I think conversations are happening around how we can support kids and families and keep them safe. Um, so I'm I'm just looking forward to us like oops connecting and uh getting getting some concrete strategies in place. >> Can I just put a call out to the community? Um, I know that there are dual language immigration lawyers out there. I was at a middle school where there was one offering services proono to help families do documents that are critical to have in place. Um, and so if you know someone out there, please have them help because we need a community lift here. We need lawyers um who can help families do documents that can be scary but are very easy for
058you immigration lawyers to to help with. >> Thank you. I wanted to come down and just follow up on a couple things just briefly. I know we'll work together with Dr. Armstrong um to provide some additional information. Um the attendance marking um procedure that you describe is not the one I recall from our attendance handbook. So, we're going to look into that. Um I I'll look into that. Um in regards to um students who might be fearful, we've actually got some pretty strong anecdotal evidence from our especially our secondary schools that some students that have been ice impacted are preferring to still come to school because they have their trusted adults and the normaly of that routine. But of course that is something that we um are paying attention to and taking very seriously. We
059also a crossdep departmental team came together to create um what we call a resource guide for immigration and customs enforcement action on and around our campuses that really um that was provided to all principles and that we lean on when we remind people you know if you hear or see an incident call perk um don't necessarily get escalated and involved um you know and reminds them of the fact that we don't allow um th those uh federal agents on our campuses without a warrant um a judge's warrant. So um we're still working on that. That's been released and we still refer people back to that because it can be as I as you as we know know and expect easy to get swept up in the moment when those things are actually happening. But we
060do have some resources in place to support our uh students, our families, and our and our staff. We also work with organizations like Latino Network who u we partner with them and um coordinate with them around things like know your rights um nights and things like that. So I just wanted to share a little bit of context around the this the discussion if that was okay. Great. >> Thank you Dr. Hems. Thank you. >> All right, on that note, we will move on to the next topic, which we are two minutes behind schedule. >> You're doing so great. So proud of us. >> So, uh, the next item is the election of board chair and vice chair. In May of 2021, the board adopted a process by which the board members would be considered for
061board leadership positions. The resolution states that in order to be considered for a leadership position, board members must have notified the board manager in writing by December 1st if they plan to run for board leadership in the December election. At the December 2nd board meeting, we announced that both Vice Chair Dass and I would like to continue in our current roles. Director Chase Miller, Director Englesman also would like to be considered for vice chair. Both Director Chase Miller and Director Split have since notified the board manager that they would like to withdraw their intention uh to be considered for vice chair. So tonight, the board will select the chair and vice chair positions through June. Since tonight's vote uh involves more than one candidate for vice chair, we'll be doing a voice vote for each
062position. >> So we'll start with the election of the >> chair Wong. Um I purposely didn't do as director Split and Director Chase Miller did in advance, but I am withdrawing my name. Um that said, uh I, you know, been watching the city council conversations about their chairs and have been really, it's been resonating with me. Um although they've only had a chair for about six or maybe a year, I suppose, a year, a full year. Um anyway, my whole point is to say that I think it is important um to a board to have change in board leadership um and so that we don't create an echo chamber which I think was the term that was used in city council. I can't remember who said it. And also I I think um there is
063some importance to having a vice chair position filled by someone who is looking to become chair. Maybe you are next next year in July. I don't know. But because you can then you being the vice chair can learn from a chair who has experience. Whether or not that person decides to seek this position of chair in the future is obviously not mandated but I think that there um allows for fluidity and a change um and and different conversations. So, I am withdrawing my name, but I I did want to caveat it with um I think it's important um to have fluidity at in the leadership positions. >> Thank you, Dr. Englesman. Um I just want to add I 100% agree with you. Uh when I ran for chair, I had never been chair before, which
064is why I asked director uh at the time director, now vice chair to pass to uh also run for vice chair to provide that experience that I did not have when I ran. And it is also my it was very important to me that for the next cycle that we do have either chair or vice chair um that is going to become the chair at some point to kind of what do you want to call it to train up carry the torch to to make sure the institutional knowledge is passed on. So that is also very important to me and I I would also want to work towards that goal as well. So thank you for sharing that sentiment. I I I want to say I also watched those city council meetings and it was
065just agonizing um and it's still agonizing and it'll be agonizing tomorrow too and I it did cause me to reflect as well. Um I study systems that's what I studied after college uh systems and organizations specifically and um what I know is that change is very good. It it's not very good all the time. there's a great time for change. For instance, um when you're passing along organizational or institutional knowledge, you know, sometimes leadership that's required is a change manager, a change agent that's going to come in, look at the systems, and disrupt. And other times it's good to have a steady hand and somebody that's got their shoulder to the wheel and that's going to provide a steady and institutionally knowledge um backed um approach. So, I think, you know, I I I agree
066with both. Change is good and change is good at the right moment. It's sometimes it's not the right moment. Um, also just so everybody I've been on the board for a really long time now. I feel like a a senior >> a senior person and um the this January vote was intended to it was put in place because at that time there was a need to kind of interrogate the person, you know, interrogate the people that had been in the role for six months. And there was a good reason for that. and it was a way to move people out of the role after 6 months if there was something nefarious or untoward or something like that going on. So I appreciate the opportunity to be able to kind of steward this mission along for
067another six months and um and provide that um deep institutional knowledge. I'm still actually even just yesterday learned something about this institution that is like every day it's new. So I would encourage new people like learn as much as you can and there's just nothing like time uh for learning the organization and really being able to see from a high level uh what type of leadership is needed. >> Um I agree with everything that has been said. I think um change is good. I also think that um given that we have a largely new board, I found it helpful to have um the consistency of people, not calling anybody a senior, but of people who have been on the board um longer longer. Um oh my gosh, I just totally lost the second part of
068my thought. Oh, I remember what it was. Um I was curious about the January um election cycle. it seemed weird to um not just have people serve a full year term. So, I appreciate the explanation and um that makes sense. And um I believe this is the policy that addresses this is in the first batch of policies that we'll be reviewing as policy committee. Um, so curious to look at that and see I don't know if if there are changes that we make that we feel like are more reflective of where we are now. Um, maybe there aren't. Um, like I said, the context helps a lot. >> Yeah. And and we have a really strong board which is great. It's an asset. Um and and by the way, if you don't mind, um Michelle
069just ex I mean Michelle just accepted a very prestigious uh fellowship from schoolboard partners. Um it's a training every it's open to everybody on this board. It's a national training organization that trains its members in anti-racist superintendent um evaluation um and in schoolboard policy and it's a fabulous I highly recommend it. I'm really proud of you for getting in because it's competitive. So, um, the person that founded it is working for the Gates Foundation now. So, it's been a really good springboard. Um, it will help you in your leadership and everything else you do. >> Thank you. I think I feel myself turning a little pink. Thanks. >> Great. Thank you. Um, I think this changes things a little bit, so I'll make it up as I go. Here we go. All right. So, we'll
070begin with the election of the board chair. Uh those in favor of me, Director Eddie Wong, to continue as board chair, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. Those opposed to Representative Vtoro. >> Yes. >> Thank you. And abstensions. >> Thank you. Director Wong me has been uh selected to the board chair by a vote of seven to zero with soon represent RTOR voting yes. The candidate for vice chair is now director to pass. U those [clears throat] in favor of director to pass continuing as board vice chair please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. Those opposed. Abstensions. Student represent rorto. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Uh, director Deass has now been elected selected to be board vice chair by vote of 7 to zero with student retor voting yes. Thank you everyone for your
071continued confidence. Now the hard work starts. All right. Um the next up we have the much anticipated the vote on the resolution to end Jefferson dual assignment and designate Jefferson as a comprehensive high school. Uh the first is a resolution that will end the dual assignment for Jefferson and designate as a comprehensive high school starting in the 202728 school year. Following that vote, we'll then move on to a resolution that designates the attendance boundaries for Jefferson High School. I want to take this time to really acknowledge the hard work, the extensive public engagement and the board work that has informed tonight's votes. Uh this conversation has been going on on sorry unfolding over the last several months and across multiple forums. On November 7th, the teaching, learning, enrollment committee received an overview of feedback gathered
072through multiple community engagement center sessions. On December 4th, the superintendent publicly released her recommendation for an enrollment scenario. On December 8th, the board held a public listening session on Jefferson High School to hear directly from students, families, staff, and community members regarding the superintendent's recommendation. On December 11th, a teaching learning enrollment committee received an update on the academic program offerings at Jefferson High School. On December 16th, the board held a work session dedicated to this topic. In addition to this meeting uh these meetings, we have received hundreds of emails, not kidding, hundreds, and written comments. And we have reviewed feedback from community engagement sessions that have been shared with us uh throughout this process before. >> I think it could be a thousand. >> You think so? >> I think it could be. But anyway,
073go on. >> Tens of hundreds. >> All right. Uh before we uh continue with the discussion, let's put this on the table. Do I have a motion and second to adopt resolution 7228, resolution to end Jefferson dual assignment and designate Jefferson as comprehensive high school? >> So moved. >> I'll second. >> You got two. >> Two people moved. >> Yes. Uh we have director Chase Miller and vice chair Deass moves and director Lefort seconds. Let's I think we go to the uh presentation. >> Can I ask a quick question just about uh there's two motion two conversation two resolutions. Are we having one conversation and then the resolutions or are we having the resolution conversation about that resolution and then the second resolution and conversation about that resolution? I'm hoping that makes a lot of
074sense. I said resolution a lot of times. >> Yeah, I appreciate the question. I think our presentation and discussion was planned for the second item. So the team is here but the first part is let's just knock out the first one. Yeah. All right. Okay. >> Is there any board discussion? on the uh resolution to end Jefferson dual assignment. >> Um yeah, I I can give some some input on this. So, you know, as I said in my student representative report, we did pretty extensive um engagement with the student body. Um and we did um talk um a lot about whether or not this was the right decision. just flat out, you know, we we said that's this is the conversation we're going to have first, you know, um is this the right direction to
075move in, you know, uh period, you know, and as you heard during my student representative report, ultimately no one ended up voting in opposition to to this plan. everyone, you know, we talked about it a lot, but ultimately everyone agreed that, you know, that something is fundamentally wrong and it and and we need to change this, you know, and for all the schools involved, this is, you know, no matter which plan is chosen, it's going to hurt, you know, um but it's necessary to to make sure that Jefferson, you know, has a real future um as a comprehensive high school. >> I thank you for adding that. I want to just say ditto, but I also want to put a little asterisk next to hurt. Um, having gone through boundary changes and and reassignment stuff.
076Uh, a lot of times the perception of the hurt is a lot bigger than the reality because often what happens in reality is people join new communities or bigger communities or bigger thriving communities and um people tend to be just as happy or happier sometimes with uh with a lot of this changes. So I I'm I'm really excited for this change. I think is uh well long overdue and uh what a momentous occasion. I am very happy to be here today. >> Let's do it. >> All right. But first I got to check. Is there any public comment? >> Me? >> No public comment. >> All right. Uh we are now going to be voting on resolution 7228. Resolution to end Jefferson dual assignment and designate Jefferson as a comprehensive high school. All in favor,
077please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. All opposed. >> Abstensions. Student representative RTOR. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Resol resolution 7228 is approved by a vote of 7 to 0 with student representative RTO RTO unofficially voting yes. Thank you. [applause] All right, that was great. Uh, sorry, I'm like holding it in here because this is a such a huge moment. Um, >> do you need attention? >> Maybe just give me a five seconds. All right, never mind. Uh, our next item tonight is the approval of an enrollment scenario for Jefferson High School. Uh the ne this topic tonight uh which I know we're all excited about is the vote uh this evening on the resolution to adopt an enrollment scenario for Jefferson High School. I'll turn this over to Dr. Armstrong. >> Thank you. And
078I appreciate you noting that it is a pretty big and historic moment as we know that many boards have tried and I guess tonight only one has succeeded. So, I appreciate your commitment um on this board appreciation month. So, my recommendation for an enrollment scenario for Jefferson, also known as scenario C, demonstrates our commitment to providing students well-resourced learning environments close to where they live and returns Jefferson to a vibrant neighborhood school. And so, I have a team here. I won't won't read through all of the things um that I had prepared to say. I just want you all to know how significant this is um not just for Jefferson High School, North Portland, Northeast Portland, but for all of Portland public schools. And I look forward to this presentation and ultimately your final vote.
079But right now, I'll turn it over to Dr. Mark John Franco. >> Thank you, uh Dr. Dr. Armstrong and of course uh directors and student director. Well, I I too had some uh opening remarks, but um I think we'll just kind of get right to the point. Again, just want to acknowledge the distinct weight of this moment and initially I said potentially ending, but now it's the [snorts] ending of dual assignment. Um on our way to stabilizing enrollment and robust programming at Jefferson High School. Um, today marks a culmination just in the in the most recency, the culmination of six months of data gathering and of community engagement with a multitude of people uh, including yourselves who have truly been in this work and asking the right and often difficult questions. We are so excited
080to review this information with you again, including the recommendation um, of scenario C. Uh I have a team up here who's who's um ready to answer any questions that you may have regarding uh academic and athletic programming. Uh and so we're just really excited uh to be able to do that. So up here, as you all know, no really need for introduction, but I'm going to go ahead and introduce them just because uh the weight of this moment I think is is so significant. We have Margaret Calvert uh who's our assistant superintendent of modernization and school planning who's just been immense within this role. Obviously her her experience uh as a Jefferson uh principal. She can talk a lot of historically about what it's taken to get to this point. Uh we have Dr. Dr.
081Philippe Priestic, who's our senior director of high school core academics, who's here to answer any questions uh regarding uh high school programming, and then our senior director of athletics uh Marshall Haskins to talk a little bit athletics. And I and I also want to acknowledge that we have the principal Jeff here, Drake. Drake is sitting up there in the front. >> And so we're really excited and you could you could hear the giddiness uh from Drake. And so I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Margaret. >> I'm going to take a deep breath here to begin with and just um acknowledge as people have said that it this has been um for many a generational journey to this point and many have tried and one has succeeded and I just want to
082take my hat off to all of you for getting to this point. So thank you very much for that. Um good evening poor. >> Wait, can we take our hat off for you also? [laughter] Like can we >> [applause] >> So, good evening, uh, board of directors, chair Wong, uh, uh, student representative RTO. This evening, you are considering a second resolution that will lead to the next chapter in the centurylong, rich, and storied history of Jefferson High School. The resolution ends Jefferson that you just voted on ended Jefferson's dual assignment and established it as a uh comprehensive high school. Now we'll look at establishment of a attendance boundary. While these resolutions are rooted in history and context, they offer a vision for the future that reinvigorates Jefferson as the vibrant learning center in the heart
083of Albina. This next chapter will be written together and require focused collective effort so that the students at Jefferson and all four high schools can attend well-resourced schools where they can flourish and demonstrate their brilliance. During the past seven months, we have deepened our understanding of the current context and the policies that have led to underenrollment at Jefferson and overcrowding at other schools. Within the cluster, this has led to confusion about the educational progressions as students move from kindergarten through graduation. For decades, students have been allowed to transfer away from Jefferson. In the 1980s, this was through a voluntary desegregation program which re was reinforced in the early 2000s through the No Child Left Behind Act. Over the past decade, the dual assignment policy, while intended to provide flexibility, has led to underenrollment at Jefferson.
084It is with this understanding of history and its urgency that we embarked on this process. Starting in June, we worked to bring stakeholders along to delve into the context and wrestle with the trade-offs that are involved in looking at school boundaries and enrollment decisions. Throughout this time, people reviewed the scenarios and considered the strengths and challenges of each. This review, discussion, and analysis has brought us to this evening and this recommendation for your consideration. Throughout the months, we heard from families, students, and educators who want vibrant, well-resourced schools with strong community connections. The superintendent's recommendation provides the map to growing and stabilizing enrollment at Jefferson, restoring it, as she said earlier, to a vibrant, high demand high school rooted in community, culture, and excellence. and I dare say also resilience and perseverance. We are doing
085this at the same time that we're building uh pathways that maintain robust programming not only at Jefferson but at Grant McDaniel and Roosevelt as well. This recommendation provides long-term stability for students in schools across northn northeast Portland, access to comparable programming and enrollment clarity. As you just voted on, resolution 7228 ends dual assignment and designates Jefferson as a comprehensive high school starting with the freshman class in the school year. Resolution 7229, which is in front of you, designates new high school attendance areas for elementary school neighborhoods that are now in Jefferson dual assignment zones, or really were just until recently in Jefferson dual assignment zones. High school students who reside in Beach, Boise, Elliot, Humboldt, Chief Joseph, D, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Fabian, Sabin, Vernon, and Woodlon attendance areas will be assigned to Jefferson
086High School. High school students who reside in the Irvington attendance area will be assigned to Grant. High school students who reside in the Peninsula attendance area will be assigned to Roosevelt. And throughout this process, we uh maintain that the dual language assignments of students in these schools would remain the same, which means that beach Spanish DLI students would continue to Roosevelt and Chinese DLI students at D Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uh would continue to Jefferson. Your votes this evening will allow us to turn the page from studying and recommending to action and implementation. If you approve this resolution, it'll provide time for us to create opportunities for deep collaboration and to co-construct affirming learning spaces with our students, staff, and community. Our actions will focus on three areas: academic, athletic, and extracurricular programming, clear
087and regular communication to support transitions, and strengthening relationships and connections through continued engagement with students, educators, and families. Your vote this evening will provide the runway and time for thoughtful planning. We will share our progress with you throughout and we'll closely monitor enrollment at all four high schools until at least 203031. I just want to acknowledge that this has been a collective effort and I want to thank all of you the families and the students who have shared with us their experiences and questions. I also want to thank the building administrators who provided valuable feedback and leadership. I want to uh acknowledge the countless central office teams who lead leaned in and shared their experience and helped shape this vision for uh the future. These included teams from communications, family and community engagement, research assessment,
088accountability, strategic project management, the office of technology and information services, enrollment and transfer, secondary academics, human resources, special education, our general counsel, the office of school performance, transportation, and the office of racial equity and social justice. And I say all of this and including you to say that this is a collective effort and when transformation is on the table, it takes all of us to ensure that it happens. It is through these efforts that we shape the vision and we look forward to this next chapter not only with anticipation but with great energy. Thank you for your consideration and we are available to answer your questions. >> Thank you. [applause] Right. Before we start discussion, let's put this on the table. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 7229, resolution to
089designate attendance boundaries for Jefferson High School? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Director Split moves. Director Sullivan seconds. Board discussion. Questions? >> Go ahead. in the true Christy split tradition. Um, I have a little bit of comments and I have a couple questions. Um, this is a really big moment. I first just want to say when I decided to run for the school board, one of the most important things to me was to see meaningful engagement of communities and families. That doesn't mean everyone already always loves the final outcome, but by having that meaningful engagement, you're able to demonstrate real listening and find common ground or compromise more often than not. Um, and I just want to say thank you to everybody who made the effort to actually really walk that talk. Um, h have
090those tough conversations. I think all of us joined in for some of those conversations and saw how hard those conversations were. um and had many conversations outside of public settings with families who were affected by this. Um and in the end, I feel like we ran a really good process. And I just want to say thank you again to everyone who made that possible. And also just we set the bar high going forward on tough decisions that we have to make. And I think we need to keep having that rigorous level of communication, input, listening, and in the end being willing to support things that don't necessarily check all of our boxes or everyone in the community's boxes, but in the end sort of reflect where we can best get to together. Um, so I
091want to thank the superintendent for recognizing that there was a a place where it felt like a middle ground and and presenting that to us today. Um I actually I was quoted in the press as having an amendment and I've had people where's the amendment? Um well the amendment actually ended up in the resolution. So I just wanted to make sure that anybody who was listening and looking for that this was something that came up in the listening session quite a bit from families who were there supporting scenario B but who wanted who had an open mind if we were to do something to ensure some measures around effective implementation of the transition. So on the second page of the resolution for any families following at home, you'll see a call for continued engagement. Like
092this isn't the end of the road with working with our families who are going to be attending a comprehensive Jefferson High School. This is kind of a little bit of the beginning really. And we have years to go to talk to those families, to students. I love the student focus, community partners, school staff to figure out how to move forward on a whole list of different things that happen at a comprehensive high school. We know there's so much going on there. Um, one thing I wanted to particularly flag, which sounds maybe small, but one thing is that we're going to email families before the board has conversations about annual with uh has annual progress updates on how we're doing um for Jefferson, Grant, McDaniel, and Roosevelt to ensure that all four schools continue to have
093the comprehensive high school experience we want all of our students to have at those four high schools and at any high school, frankly. So, um just know that you'll get an email and like it won't be like incumbent upon families to um be paying attention to a board agenda to see when that's going to come up. But I think that's really important to kind of meet people where they are and people are not paying close attention to board agendas, but they do get an email. Some of them I don't know. Um, but it's I think it's a really good way to go about continuing that partnership and um, honoring that request of those families that we continue to have accountability around making sure that all the schools have what they need to succeed. So, that's
094where that amendment is. It's in the resolution. It's I think it's I the beginning of page two. It's a straight vertical line. It's an I, not a one. Um, so look there if you're wondering where that is. And then I also just wanted to ask two questions um that came that that came up um kind of late in the game and were one of them was something that I just hadn't heard addressed yet and the other is just a clarification in my little quasi amendment. So um we'll start with what's in I section I there's um a commitment to fund up to two additional full-time positions at Jefferson each year through 2031 to 30 2030 to 31 to support program growth. I'm curious what those full-time positions will be doing, like what those funds will
095go toward starting now. I don't know if you need to come up, you just listen. I don't know, but you're up to I guess, but um what those folks will be doing in the mean in the immediate term and what those might what that those positions might look like during the transition. >> So, I um I appreciate the question. Thank you, Director Split. And we have um a variety of people that can answer in um some detail. The intent is is twofold. I think as we as we look at building out um comprehensive programming, you it's lumpy in how you build programs. So you have to invest early and in order um sometimes before the demand is fully there, right? And so or the interest is stated. So we are um that's part of it.
096I think the other piece that as we're looking through um and we're seeing that this isn't uh in um this is iterative and in in in pieces. So the freshman class will come in and it's bigger and then then the next year it will be the freshman and sophomore classes will be bigger. So some of those changes will uh grow as the school grows and you also have to seed some of that investment in order to have the programs in place so that students can participate. So I I know Dr. Freestitch and principal Shelton have been working to lay out sort of the prioritization and the sequencing. The timing of this decision gives gives opportunity to build out a comprehensive plan. Some of that was laid out during the work session in the general overview,
097but I'll pause and um ask uh Dr. Treich and Principal Shelton if there's anything particular that they would like to add about the sequencing of how this FT could potentially be used. Uh thank you for the thank you for the question and for the support and Dr. Armstrong for your for your leadership. Um I mean the short answer is the the the two additional FTE will be used to expand academic programming. It they're not going to be used for administrative um hires. Uh these will be uh positions used to augment the teaching uh capabilities that we have uh at at Jefferson. And the commitment is to ensure that academic programming at Jefferson is on par, if not better, than what we currently have at our neighborhood schools, uh, high schools. The hope really is for
098Jefferson to set the new standard for what we expect from our comprehensive high schools. Uh, we also want to make sure that the program reflects student interest. And so, we can't talk about the details of those positions yet because we need to engage in students in um in conversations. they'll be forecasting in the next couple of weeks and so we'll be listening to what are they interested in. Uh and then we also want to make sure that the investments are in line with some of the design priorities uh namely a robust college preparatory program uh rich visual and performing arts program and then CT programming that is aligned with um high wage high demand jobs. So, we want to make sure that investments are tailored, that they're aligned with student interest as well as our
099um design priorities. >> Great. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Um is there for parents who might be interested because I heard this question via parents. Um is there somewhere that they can look for updates for when the decision is made on what those two FTE might go toward this next school year? I'm I'm happy to start and then if you want to uh chime in, but I know that I I had the privilege of joining Principal Shelton just a couple weeks ago at at a at a PTA meeting, at a site council meeting where there were conversations about um uh exactly the questions that that you're raising. And so those would probably be the best places for either current or prospective families to get uh get connected uh to to learn more about some of
100the the design decisions. >> I I think also too in our Jefferson's Rising um that will also be there um we also send out a weekly news newsletter called the demo memo. So if you want to be part of that as well. Um also too through Trialy um so we post that as well. So we we'll have updates on all different platforms for families to be able to follow. >> Yeah, I'm not supposed to share my random ideas like from the dis, but I'm just going to say it might be fun to send to the families that will be affected by this change the link to sign up for the demo memo because I loved start I got started getting our elementary school newsletter early and like helped get me ready. So >> we'll do
101>> I mean it's up it's up to other people. I'm just throwing the idea out there. And then my last question um is around something that I felt like I hadn't come up heard come up much and I felt like I really wanted to make sure we just touched on it here publicly tonight which is how special education students will be affected by this change. What's sort of the current dynamic around special education at Jeff? where are we headed and um how will that match um up or fit in with um special ed provisions at those other four high schools or other three high schools. Thanks. >> Question as well, director. part of what um again I'm going to say one of the benefits of having this decision now gives us a year to really
102work closely with families that are receiving special education services because the transition to high school is a significant one for families and we want to make sure that we have time to communicate clearly with them. The goal will be for Jefferson to have a full continuum of special education services that is matches um the neighboring schools. The benefit of having this time will be that we can look across the the four high schools and um there are specific class classrooms whether they're SCES or ISC classrooms or to support medically fragile students that we want to make sure that we have um robust programming for those students. And the what the bene one of the benefits of Jefferson um right now it Jefferson has learning center and does not have a full continuum services. So this
103brings the continuum closer to some of where students and families are living. So that process will be done in concert with our special education team. I talked with Dr. Charles earlier today and we were looking through um sort of talking about what are we seeing with students. But once the decision we can say these are the students and these are the areas we can identify who the students are and what that continuum service looks like is dependent on the IEPs of the students. So that is we're we look very forward to like actually engaging in that in the next step and we this provides us essentially a year and a half to thoughtfully plan um for those transitions and make sure that we're communicating clearly with families. I know that special education I you know
104I I I think we've all have received some letters from some families concerned about how hard it is to make some of the transitions and being getting connected to special education classrooms. And so we are um again this is going to be an opportunity for us to do some very front-loading of planning and communication uh to make those transitions more seamless. >> Thank you so much for everyone. Oh, did you want to say something? Please go ahead. I'd love to hear it. >> I I just wanted to add to that um you know as we talk about this being a historic occasion for us and we have two big things going. The second thing is modernization. Um so our sped team has been able to look at area models around and area schools around to
105figure out okay what do we need and how is it going to be best to be able to serve our students. So I think as as everything that uh Dr. Calvert is talking about um along with along with us building out a new school um it helps out. So thank you. >> Thank you so much for letting me hold forth and ask my questions and share my thoughts. Um, this is a really big deal. Um, I lived in that neighborhood for 10, 12 years. I lived like less than a block from Jeff. And I just think it's so great that we're making this change and I'm really proud of all of you and for all the parents who've engaged and whether you've gotten what you wanted or not, I'm just so grateful for everyone for
106leaning into this conversation over the past six months. Thanks. I wanted to suggest that if anybody wants a copy of the uh demo memo that they could show up at the lady demos game and pick up a copy in person and stay for the game. >> We didn't do that well last Friday, but that was an anomaly. >> I have um no questions um but many comments. So, as I uh teased during my student representative report, our student engagement um for this project uh was pretty extensive. Um and so that ended up with um the large majority of the council voting in favor of option B. However, there is a few asterisks attached um to that vote. Um number one was attendance at Roosevelt High School. Um under uh both scenario B and C, Roosevelt
107sits at the lowest projected um student enrollment. Um and so while you know uh as a Roosevelt student I am biased in this conversation and I acknowledge that you know that Rose that there's ultimately at this point not nothing that can be done within the scope of this project. Um, I would like to see um perhaps uh some future um uh I guess check-in um uh years in the future to see how Roosevelt is doing um and some continued uh I would say oversight um over the situation because it because it there is a possibility that Roosevelt could end up falling uh falling below that 1100 number. Um, and I know that last uh during the work session there was an off-handed comment made about u adjusting Roosevelt's borders um across the bridge. Um, which
108is definitely something um that I would be interested to look at. I know that pro that those conversations would likely um supersede my tenure as the student representative. Um but um that is a uh something that was shared by many members of the council as well and students during our student engagement. Uh, another big concern was timing. Um, both students on the council and uh students during student engagement were concerned about the timing. Um, many of them uh uh were were were concerned about moving kids in before the building is complete. Um, and would have preferred moving the date back. I again um uh both the the council and I understand that is no longer within the uh the scope um of the discussion tonight. Um but it is something worth noting and something uh
109and student comfort in in um the unmoddernized building is something that many students on the on the council would like looked at. Um the last thing uh is is that I would like to share the opinion because we had um three ultimately three students who voted um who voted in favor of option C. Um and I would like to share some some of the things they uh they said to me. Uh notably, um it was the two representatives from Grant High School, uh and one representative, um from Jefferson. The other representative was absent. Um now, I talked extensively with the representatives at Grant High School and they had very similar concerns um that I had at Roosevelt High School being that with such a sizable reduction in in students, um they were worried about, you
110know, uh the educational opportunities um available at Grant. This is why I was um very pleased to hear um that uh the resolution had been um uh I guess not technically amended um to include um a point about making about uh checking in not only not only at Jefferson but at all of the schools to make sure that that that programming is sufficient throughout this transition process. Um they were also uh concerned um for the um integ uh I guess so-called integrity of the community. Um and um notably uh I call out the the schools here cuz the Jefferson rep actually shared this um shared this opinion saying that they uh that um they generally the Jefferson rep had the reasoning that they generally opposed you know um the the change in um in student
111population um if it wasn't necessary. Um and the grant reps you know of course were just concerned for their community. Um, so I wanted to share that side of of the of the story um into of the discussion that we had in the district student council tonight. Um, because uh because you know, as I said earlier, I will be voting in favor of option B. Um, but I wanted to share that um that opinion that would that would not be inherent in my vote. So I think that's all I think that's all I have tonight, but we'll see. >> Thank you, Director Sullivan. >> Oh, yeah. I would just like >> [clears throat] >> to thank all the people that I've interacted with on this um parents and staff. Everyone is knowledgeable and caring and
112you know no anger even for people who were feeling like they probably weren't getting what they wanted but it was just explaining and staff especially I've had a really hard time deciding um what I want to do but I called on Margaret sorry Dr. Calbert because >> I knew Oh, you're not. Okay. >> She should be. Yeah. >> Because I knew that there was nobody who cared more about Jefferson than she and that there was probably nobody who knew about knew about how to run Portland public schools either. Um, sorry, superintendent, but I think maybe [laughter] that's true. And, uh, we had a really long talk. She answered all my questions. Um, they were all pretty much what we've all asked, I'm sure, and gotten answers to. But I felt supported in what I do
113feel is a really big decision for us. And some of the things that we've gotten for information are old board decisions have come over our desk to see what people did in the past. And I'm sure those people really thought their decisions were right about Jefferson. And it looks like maybe at the time they were, but they caused problems. And I'm just really hoping that with all the work that's been done on this, all the thought that I'm not going to be 10 or somebody 10 years in the future is going to look at this board decision and see my name there and say, "Why did she do that?" I hope they're going to say, "Boy, that board made the right decision." And I think we are and I think it's because of the support
114we've had and getting, you know, when I came on the board, I never knew I'd be doing something this stupendous and I feel just blessed that I'm I'm able to do it. So, thank you to everybody. >> Yeah, Director Englesman. >> Thank you. Um, so I have a slight amendment and I don't mean it to come up out of the blue. I was one of the ones who was texting Director Split asking where the amendment was. Um, so, uh, I had the, um, privilege, honor of being invited to sit down with a lot of families, um, from the the Northeast region who are going to be going with this amendment or, excuse me, with this resolution to Jefferson. and [clears throat] they were all in support of um this I met with them after the
115superintendent's recommendation came out and they were all mostly in support of a different recommendation and one of the parents said to me um is this happening uh the superintendent's recommendation should we start figuring out how to um make sure we're we understand what the school is going to offer our students and they sort of talked amongst themselves and another parent said it sure be great if we knew what was going to be offered to our students in advance of the forecasting. And I will admit that my understanding of the forecasting is I'm growing. I'm learning. I'm still figuring out middle school. I haven't figured out high school forecasting. But as I understand it, the district creates a, for lack of a better term, a sort of a a book, a portfolio of courses that could
116be offered. And then those courses in the January, February, right around now school year are presented to eighth graders and the eighth graders and the families do their thing and return this to the district. And then based on this, the district decides what's going to be I'm seeing lots of nods. Decides what's going to be offered. Um, I also understand that, um, families in Lincoln, Grant, Roosevelt, um, Cleveland can look, if you're a fifth grader, you could look today and see what current programs are offered at those schools today, even though it doesn't affect my family right now. Um, you can look last year, you can look the year before, because it's all sort of there sort of historically has been um has been set. Uh and so my amendment um is sort of after
117listening to these families who don't have the opportunity to see today as rising seventh graders what is being offered to current 9th graders because it doesn't exist yet. We've just created we're in the process of building a new school, a new programming. Um, and so I guess in in conjunction with the commitment to fund two additional full-time positions, the the commitment to fund and support properly Jefferson to make sure that everything is there that it needs. Um, I and I don't know where I would put it. I suppose I would maybe put it in B. I would love to see a timeline on when the district is proposing this portfolio. And even though it wouldn't be forecasted um for this year's seventh graders until next year in January, February, there's no reason that it couldn't
118be created this spring instead of I don't know when they're done. September, October, I don't know when they're done. This is where my forecasting experience and knowledge ends. But I think for those families who don't have the opportunity to look and see what's offered for today's ninth graders or last year's ninth graders and the year before's nth graders because we're creating something new. I think it would well I just think it would be an investment in um the school to have it available to families well in advance so they can start knowing that the district is sticking to all of this in here. So I guess my amendment is um under I little B for the engage current community academic and industry partners to help design and support implementation of academic pathways. I guess I
119would add something like um with course offerings or what whatever that maybe someone can help me with this. Um >> I can help >> can be by by May of 2026 or something. Could it could I could I just that we have a timeline up here. So I just want to >> Yeah. No, I I saw that. And >> so I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to highlight just a couple things in here that may be helpful. So, um, as we go through, uh, the the process, and this was this, we talked about it a little bit at the, um, uh, the board work session, and there are a couple of specific uh, uh, intentional outreach pieces that are going to happen this spring that are that are if you look from September,
120so if we go to January to June on the on the far left bullet, it will be engaging students and families to collaborate with VAPA and CT and partners in academic pathways. This will that will start to be rolled out and that will be that will be shared in the fall and so you can look in September to December that there'll be um a release of the CTE road map that will show what that looks like um and feedback cycle for students, staff and families. So that part will be completed prior to seventh graders being able to forecast in January of 2027. So I think that some of this is being signaled and will be shared um as part of the process that we're laying out um and it is currently as it stands right
121now uh families can go on any high school website and look at the current course offerings. So that is there. But I think what I what you're what we're signaling is that we would it's in this engagement as we go through the spring that that sort of roadmap would be prepared in by September with some very formal opportunities for there to be feedback. And I'm going to turn it to Dr. Heitch to to provide a little additional information >> just to add a couple of things. Um so all of our eighth all of our ninth graders, 10th graders, 11th graders typically take eight classes. So this year, all of the ninth graders at Jefferson, like all of the ninth graders in every other high school in PPS, take English language arts. That curriculum is aligned.
122It's consistent across buildings. They all take a math class. And at Jefferson, they either take algebra or geometry depending on what their eighth grade experience was, which is the same as every other high school. All the students at Jefferson take physics in 9th grade, which is true for every other ninth grader in the school district. [snorts] Uh they typically take a social studies class, which is more or less consistent with every other uh high school. They take uh PE or health or some combination of the two, which is consistent with every other high school. Sometimes they take a world language class and then they typically have as ninth graders a couple of um spaces for electives. And at Jefferson they can already choose from a host of elective uh courses uh journalism, yearbook, AVID, um
123uh there's leadership, there's a design class, uh etc. So the core experience of students at Jefferson right now is already pretty similar to that of every other ninth grader in the school district. Where we see opportunities for expansion is is the breadth of experiences as they continue to move through their high school experience. And that additional staffing will allow us to provide that. Um specifically students at Jefferson will begin forecasting in the next few weeks which is again consistent with other high schools in the school district and principal shelter and the team with some of our support is in the process of finalizing that course guide. Uh so that will be available to current and prospective families in the next couple weeks as well. Um, so I just I I what I was hearing from
124maybe some of the parent concerns is maybe this idea that somehow the programming at Jefferson right now is less than um or or somehow um you know places students at some sort of a disadvantage. And I just wanted to highlight that uh there are students at Jefferson right now. There have been students in Jefferson for a number of years. uh the staff and and administration there has has done a really good job of making sure that their core experience is very much um um in line with what other high schools offer uh as well if that makes sense. Anything to add? >> I have a lot but I'll just say that's fine. >> Um I have a question on this. I think I might call you in. You ready? >> Okay, let's go. All right.
125So, um I have stated before you were on the board there was a night where somebody did like a amendment on the night of and I it's like not my fave because I feel like it doesn't give us a chance to like really think it through and like make a plan. Um and so here I am typical trying to find like a way to get you what you want without necessarily an amendment. Um, I'm curious if you can see those bottom squares at the bottom of this slide if we as a board could collectively agree tonight to ask you to hold to that timeline. And um also as part of this amendment, maybe you could confirm that the spirit here is intended to give visibility on what that course catalog will look like in advance
126so that parents can have feedback. And I guess I will ask that question and then say one thing. My biggest concern with a deadline is that we would cut off the ability for people to engage in the process to get it right. and I don't want to speed up the process and have less opportunities for engagement or course correction. Um, and so some flexibility that wouldn't be in the resolution might be actually helpful to those same parents. So I just want to ask if one if you would feel comfortable with committing to that and then two if that would do the trick for you. >> Yes, I appreciate high expectations and high bars because not only do I know that I can meet them, I can exceed them. So, we have no issues staying true
127to the timeline. The one thing I just want to mention too is that, you know, when we offer a selection of courses to choose for students to choose from, it doesn't necessarily mean that all of those courses are going to be offered. And that's true at all of the high schools, right? So, you may go and see a catalog and it lists something like, "Oh my goodness, this would be amazing, but we also need, you know, um a core group of students to select that so we can fund it." But I feel pretty confident in what we have outlined and would appreciate um and expect um nothing nothing less if that answers the question. >> I think so. I like I I didn't mean to suggest that what students at Jefferson are getting is less
128than, but my understanding was in making it go from 400 to 1,200 is that we would be offering able to offer a lot more. >> Um, right. >> Well, I think yes. So that I think that's the the idea behind the portfolio idea that it's not that it's that it's going to be able to offer classes that are just not possible >> with a student body of about 400 but would be possible with a student body of eventually. >> Yeah, I appreciate that. And I also think that Dr. he was also answering other questions that have come in about, you know, the programming at at Jefferson and and what is currently um there and and what isn't. But um but I I would I would definitely say right that the the breath um having the
129opportunity to create space within this timeline to bring something forward is something that we're committed to. And also for our ninth graders, right, we typically don't have as many offerings as that that 9th grade year is foundational. I think you heard the team say that where you start to see some variables, right, is in that 10th, 11th, and 12th grade, which speaks to your point about, you know, the the greater number of students, the more options you can choose between as you're working your way up. And so we're establishing the FTE to give us those options and we're not going to limit ourselves. If there's more that we need to do to continue to bring rise to the school, then that that's what we're going to commit to. >> Thank you. [clears throat] That does
130help a lot. I will say the last thing that one of the parents said and it sounds it sounds like the district is aware of and committed to this is the idea that maybe at Grant there's 12 kids who were interested in AP genealogy. >> Um but that's not enough kids to >> have the host the class because you need I don't know 18 I don't again I don't I don't know what 75. Okay. [laughter] Um, I guess the point is that some of these parents said, and it sounds like the district is committed to saying, "But at Jefferson, while we're building this program, >> yes, >> we don't need 75. Maybe we could." Is that really how many you need for? >> All right. So, we don't need >> I think you were correct
131with your first numbers. >> Okay, that makes sense. I was like, that's a lot of kids. I will say that we do that now for Jefferson High School. There are some courses that are running at a lower threshold that um would run at one of our other comprehensive um high school sites. >> And so it sounds like that will continue and perhaps even expand with these new to maybe the FTS won't go there, but that the >> a class would not necessarily be not offered because the same threshold as is expected at other high schools while we're building and growing. And that was very important to these families understandably as we're drawing people into this eventually new beautiful building with a lot of options. >> Yeah. And I don't want your first point to be
132lost. I just want to pull this up just so that I can make sure we're all aligned on the timeline. And that's the fact that we will have these course option options available for our families as the students are entering in eighth grade or before they even make it to eighth grade. >> Right? So if we look at it and I did not talk all the way through what was written on the slide so I will take a short moment to do so. So we are in the midst of forecasting now like all high schools are what what the commitment was was to say what are the where are some ways strategically over a number of years to build out pathways. So that is happening right now. So this is this is not work that
133we're waiting to do. We're this is work that uh Dr. and principal Shelton have been engaged in with their site council PTSA and students currently. So when you look for that June to August time frame, there's going to be staff professional learning and review of the early academic pathway development. So we're going to say and signal what is some what are some of those early pathways that are going to be developed not in two years for the fall of 2026. Right? So, this is current eighth graders will have the opportunity to to look at this and to have some of these um expanded pathways and then um and look at what this looks like and and which may show up in a variety of ways. So, I don't want to commit us to anything because
134I don't know the answer because we haven't I'm not in the midst of that conversation. But part of it may be it may be that we are it could be something that is that is shows up at a freshman level and at an upperassman level so that we can see the development of the courses in a pathway. There's a course progression that we're going to be able to see. So that will be determined between June and August with some professional learning. Then we would go back out in September through December and get feedback from students, family, and so there's a CTE road map where there's a feedback cycle where we're looking for information from students, families, and staff in between September and December in preparation for forecasting in January and all the way so that
135the seventh grade families are have multiple opportunities to see, experience part of what will happen during this time. Um, and I I know Principal Shelton has been um has done this multiple times is have families come in and see what the AC what the learning looks like, inviting students in and middle schooler to spend a day at Jefferson to see what that looks like and to engage in what those pathways are. I know that they have done some um um some surveying of middle schoolers at Tubman right now about what their CTE um um say it again the youth science portion of what where they have interest and showing um capacity. So there there are going to be these opportunities that are going to be iterative for people to give feedback. But I want to
136say when we get by the time we get to spring of 2027 we are going to come back to you. This says that we're going to give a report on a academic and ac and athletic programming and staffing and stakeholder engagement prior to the seventh graders current seventh graders arriving at Jefferson in the fall. So there are multiple points. There's one right now in January. There's going to be one in September. There will be another one in in the spring of 2027 prior to students arriving on campus in the fall of 2027. So we've tried to be intentional about these touch points both with families and then also with the board. >> Yeah. So, just going back to my earlier point about high expectations is I know we've had this conversation before, but your oversight
137of this work is um through through me, right? And so, if at any point the timeline or the outputs or the actions aren't meeting your expectation, you let me know. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Lastly, before I um likely pull the amendment, um lastly, I guess uh to director Split's comment about people read emails sometimes, maybe they don't. Um I would hope that we are we're doing more than just emailing that we're flying that we're and we're going to all the um elementary, middle schools where people are um needing to know this information. And if we send out an email, because there are so many emails that go out, not just from PBS, but from everywhere. People's inboxes are full. So, we're we're figuring out how to use the principles of the the middle schools to
138get the information out, the classroom teachers in the middle schools to get the information out so that families don't miss I'm not saying there would be just one, but the families don't miss the couple of emails that come out from the district about, hey, this is your opportunity to be engaged. Um, so with those nods, I will withdraw the amendment. Thank you. Um, I'll take my turn. I'll be really quick. Uh, I I just want to be 100% honest. Before, you know, the decision was made, I was actually a big fan of scenario B. Um however through looking at all the data and all the points and especially when we're looking down the road in terms of um potential you know like redistricting and and all the stuff scenario C allows the flexibility so that
139our other high schools don't have as much danger of being underenrolled. It allows more flexibility to provide you know boundaries and solutions for students that are best for our students and our families. So I I and that's why I just want everyone to know that's why I am happy with scenario C and and think it's a the the right way forward. Um I also want to add that during the SEGC process. I mean this is to allay some people's fears. One of the things that we actually did as the the community members, we actually uh talked to a lot of other districts, especially in other cities that actually have more a lot more fluctuation and change in population than we do. And re in those districts, redistricting high school boundaries was like almost like we
140just do it all the time. It's no big deal, right? And it's very interesting the difference in dynamics between when we looked at those those districts and then what they say how it works and how it makes us look a little crazy. I'm just I'm just want to be a little honest. So one of that that's something that kind of reduces my fear as well in terms of like when we're looking down long term. I know you thank you student representative for bringing up Roosevelt because that's also one of my concern. I'm also concerned about McDaniel because you know border schools have a hard time because they can't en they can't um enroll from outside right from their their boundaries. So um but the the when looking at what other districts do high schools there's
141a lot of flexibility in terms of high schools and what we can do to make sure that all the high schools are properly enrolled and have robust enrollment and and all the course offerings. So I think that's that's one thing I just want to add in there that there are solutions out there. People have done it and it There are concerns about the high schools, but I'm also saying that, you know, change is not as scary as sometimes it seems. And I >> thank you. Kids are kids are brilliant. They they adapt so quickly. So, thank you for all the hard work. Is there do we have any other comments and questions before we move on? Director Sullivan, >> I have not heard as much about what you're doing with the athletic program that hasn't
142come up so much. And we have a great chance now for you to talk about that. keeping the weight too. >> I'm so thrilled. Um I'm normally not speechless. I've I've been a part of this Jefferson thing for so long and have watched I was telling uh Dr. Franco and honorary Dr. Margaret [laughter] >> today that uh this is one of the most inequitable things I'd ever seen in terms of uh deciding that Jefferson should be 400 kids and have a full athletic programming. That was asinine to me. I I I'm but equally I'm excited because one of the things that that I've always been trying to do is how do we add more programs for kids? And I'm so excited because even though Grant will drop in numbers, they're not going to drop in
143kids who play sports at Grant. So they have 2100 kids there, they still got to have a thousand kids who are going to play sports when they drop down to 1400 because kids want to play sports. Well, some of those kids who were at Grant and at Roosevelt and at McDaniel are going to get a chance to play sports when they didn't get a chance to play at those other schools. So our numbers are actually going to go up. The inequity that was there will be eliminated. So I am thrilled u that that you guys have made that decision in terms of eliminating the dual boundary. Also as a former Jefferson athlete I I can only say well I did coach there too. No, I mean you have >> and coach I I could say
144I can say that >> I'm just thrilled that we will go back to being the school of champions. >> You know, when I think about um just little things like demo, I say I ain't never heard a general, I say. I ain't never heard a guardian. I say, you know, I never heard should have been a techman. I've always heard I should have been a demo cuz there's just some pride in terms of what's happened in our community and just to think that we'll go back to that um is really really really exciting. So I just want to say that prior to my comments in terms of what it means for athletics. Um in addition to the inequity, I think we're going to have the opportunity to uh build some of their programs from the
145ground up that they haven't had. So whether that's tennis, whether that's a robust softball, whether that's uh moving from JV2 soccer to having four soccer teams with the addition of the kids who are coming from schools who who uh who've played soccer and have gotten cut. I think we've cut 50 or more girls at Grant every year and soccer. Those girls will now have a chance to play at Jefferson and we'll probably go from one team to three teams in two years, maybe even four teams, right? So, we're really excited about that. Baseball, uh, uh, Wilshire Liter League is probably one of the best best youth baseball programs in the state. Uh, a lot of those kids are actually going to be Jefferson kids. So, they'll go from having just enough to fill a team
146to having three teams, right? So, as I said about the inequity being addressed, it's going to be it's going to be a wonderful opportunity for for kids to be able to participate. And then the last thing, as I said, we're going to be standing up some of those programs by having um adding some youth programs, uh working with uh Northeast United Soccer, Wilshshire Little League, um the softball programs that are out there to make sure that Jefferson has uh selfishly more than everybody else because everybody wants to be a demo. Stop that. >> All right. So, we are close to time. Sorry, director Chase Miller. Oh, >> and then I'll bring it to Director Lefort to finish off and then >> Okay, I'll be quick. >> Um, like others, I want to hold space for
147the time and care that has gone into this work. Honorary Dr. Calvert, Nicole, [laughter] Dr. Fel Stitch. Um, [snorts] y'all have done such an incredible job. and um Principal Shelton, you've been such a fantastic ambassador for your school. Um and it's really been um an honor and a pleasure to see you all do your thing and um the heart that you've brought to this work. It's not every day that you have the opportunity to write a historic wrong. So, I want to hold space for that in this moment. Also, Jeff means so much to our community and um want to hold space for that, too. It's really um an amazing opportunity and privilege to be here now in this moment when um [snorts] we see uh the promise of Jeff being restored. School of Champions.
148Let's go. I'm ready for it. So excited. Um, in a time in our country that feels very scary and bleak, justice for Jefferson and for Albina brings hope and joy. And um, I want to celebrate that. I want the Roosevelt community to know that um, I we are committed to your ongoing success. Also, McDaniel and Grant, but I know there's some particular anxieties for Roosevelt, so I want to name that. Um, I also want to name um a commitment on my part and I hope uh on the part of the board as a whole to Tubman. Um, I was also an option B person. I struggle with splitting Tubman. Um, ultimately I think that we're we're making the best decision. Um and uh uh Principal Greer has done such amazing work at Tubman um bringing
149that community of kids together and creating something really amazing and um regardless of where they go to high school. Um I hope that we're intentional about maintaining that. Um finally, I just, you know, I've heard a lot about like how things have always been. Um, I've told some of you this. My grandfather grew up a couple blocks from Irving Park and uh went to Jefferson High School and had a lot of pride about it. I have an aunt who's like 78 years old. She comes back every year for the Jefferson reunion. Um, so it's a big deal and um I know that that change is really hard and um [snorts] [sighs and gasps] I don't want to I don't want to um dismiss that. Um but there's also a lot of opportunity and uh magic
150that can come out of new things. So um you think about how things have always been um you know that's relative. All of this is happening on stolen indigenous land and uh fighting over boundaries uh feels a little [gasps] Yeah. Um [laughter] just going to leave it at that. Uh yeah. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Director Lefort. >> Okay, so um so as zone the zone 5 rep, this is uh literally and figuratively my backyard. Um I know the Jeff to Grant corridor like the back of my hand. Um I started my time in Portland living in Kenton and now I live uh basically the intersection of Irvington, Sabin and Grant Park. I can literally see them all from my front door. And uh this has been uh quite uh quite a few
151months. And um I um do support scenario C and uh for a number of reasons. And um and Chair Wong, to your point, looking forward towards right sizing our schools, I feel like it's uh I don't see any other option working as effectively. And um I do appreciate the compromise that's happening here with the the numbers at Grant. There were a lot of wild cards in there that um in terms of the number of students that are, you know, being pulled from Southeast with the JDLI program, very little um very few students going to Benson from that, you know, from the area. Um as well as having uh calculated a very high uh capture rate, there just was no room for error. So, I feel like out of all this, I really appreciate what I
152feel like I'm hearing is that compromise with C. Um, and really keeping an eye on Roosevelt. Um, that's been a concern. I did visit the school with student director RTOR, the principal. It was really, um, enlightening. And, um, that's a concern. And then also, um, you know, really excited to, um, see what the future of Jefferson holds. Looking forward to some demo general games. It's on. And and one one plug for for uh Marshall over here talking about athletics. I have I owe you an email chair Wong about having um Marshall talk to us about the athletic budget because he's right. Um it will grow with the addition of Jefferson. So we're looking at future budgets. Um it's just, you know, red flag in terms of of cuts that would impact, you know, what we're
153all hoping that we see for Jefferson. So I'd love to do a deep dive on that sooner than later. Not it. Thank you. >> All right, let's check in. Do we have public comment? >> No. >> All right. Sorry, we are almost four minutes behind schedule. So, we'll move uh here. Uh we are now going to vote on resolution 7229, resolution to design designate attendance boundaries for Jefferson High School. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. opposed. >> No >> absentions. Stern representative to >> I'm sorry. Could you could you repeat the resolution? I I didn't pass it so fast. Okay. Well, I'm saying yes in that case. >> Vote yes anyway. >> Yeah. >> Vote voting no would be your your >> Okay. Thank you. No. >> Thank you. >> Resolution
1547229 is approved by a vote of six to one with student representative RTOR unofficially voting no. Thank you. >> [applause] >> You guys get up here. Oh yeah. Sorry to interrupt. Sorry, I changed my mind. Sorry. Just do what you're told. I'm not going to stand up on the table. Squish in there, folks. Squish. Shorties in the front. Shorties in the front. I need you guys to squish more. I can see Patt. >> One, two, three. All right. [crying] I'm just here. >> Just want to acknowledge. >> Okay. Okay. Don't take a break. Don't do it. >> Okay. >> You know, you putting >> Okay, that was a huge moment. I still feel like I'm a little out of breath. Uh, so I'm going to try to move on without um choking up here. So,
155all right. Uh, thank you for all being part. It was a just want to acknowledge I mean this is a huge momentum occasion huge changes in the district and um I believe we are doing the right thing. So thank you. All right. Next up we have a resolution to amend the revised field trip for travel and other off-campus activities. Uh on December 2nd, our the board meeting then the board adopted a revision to the field trip foreign travel and other off-campus activities policy 650.010-P. Um at that time there was an amendment I think at then it was labeled amendment two uh that the board had voted to postpone to a future meeting which is today. Uh so now that amendment is now uh labeled as resolution 7230. It was an amendment brought forward by director
156Englesman. So I would guess I'll call on director Englesman to introduce this amendment. >> Thank you. You just took a bite of a very chewy chocolate. >> It [clears throat] wasn't a caramel. >> It was a caramel. >> Was a caramel. Mhm. So, I think it's important for me to sort of highlight what I've what I feel like happened with this um field trip policy. And I remember sitting here in September when the new field trip policy was brought to the policy committee. And when it was put to the board, two out of the three of us hadn't even read it because it was posted so late. And at that time when I was objecting to sending it to the board and asking that we spend a month to be able to read it and
157then maybe talk about it before we send it to the board sort of the the responses were well we'll be able to talk about it and make amendments and makes changes and everything when it's with the full board. And so once I had a chance to read it there were some things about it that there were a lot of things about it that were great. there were some things about it that I would like to see changed and so that's why the amendments I have had I brought forward. That said, I think it was director Sullivan at the >> December >> the interesting December 2nd meeting. I was looking for the right adjective. Um, I think it was Director Sullivan who said the intent behind this that we had is maybe not the right language
158and so maybe it should go back to the policy committee to be talked about. Um, I frankly don't remember [clears throat] much about what else was talked about at that meeting. Um, but I think that we should send this back to policy to be talked about. Um, but I do think it's important to um talk about and not just send it to policy to die because there's not enough support in it because um the in the intent behind it is to make sure that the students who don't have the immense privilege of going for 14 for 16 days to a different country that they still have the privilege of learning when they stay home. And I don't understand the DLI system and how it's set up within the schools for which teachers teach only DLI,
159which teachers maybe teach both the language immersion program and the non- language. I don't understand it. And so in sending this back to the policy committee, I am doing so in good faith that we will figure out with um maybe a presentation from the district someone who knows and can answer my questions um and assure me that kids who who may who maybe aren't in the DI program but have a teacher who also teaches them are not left without a rigorous and regular course program for them while they're back at home. And I just don't know. And frankly, it's because this thing just didn't give me the opportunity at the policy committee to ask these questions. And I know that we've talked about that and we have writed it and I'm really proud of us
160for those conversations. But I still have concerns and maybe they're maybe they're not valid. Maybe they're maybe I will get answers and I will say, "Oh, there aren't concerns." But um I requested field trip information and you know to to to hear families around the district, not just in DLI programs, but around the district coming to us. And we got an email today from a from a family at Mary'sville saying, "My kid has had substitutes throughout the year in third grade." And I think we collectively realize and it was said today that students do best when they have their classroom teacher there. And so I just want to make sure that the students who maybe don't have their classroom teacher are are getting what they need. So I would like to move this back to
161policy. But um Dr. Armstrong, I guess I'm asking that someone who knows and can answer these questions and I can talk to you off the dis about what my specific questions and concerns are and then have a presentation at the policy committee whenever that is. It doesn't have to be this next one. >> We we moved it. >> We had initially were were going to meet on the 26th. I won't be there. So, it would be you and um Director Chase Miller. >> We thought we were moving it. >> We are trying to find a date right now. Um I would say like if it were me um that had that many questions, it might be helpful to get the questions answered first to understand that >> you know that the the students that are
162left behind aren't watching movies for two weeks. I know >> they're getting a robust they're getting the same education that they get minus the trip to a foreign country and I am looking at the audience that's here at, you know, 8:30 at night on a school night and I'm reading through the emails and there are a lot of community members that are directly impacted with this policy that do not want to amend it. And I'm I'm inclined to be led by those that are the closest to the issue, those that have lived experience, those that have students that are waiting and looking forward to this trip. >> Um, and I'm confident uh that the students that are left behind are are literally they're not watching movies. They're left with a with a a normal PPS
163programming that excludes the trip. So, I'm wondering if it would be helpful to to solve for that rather than move the policy around because the policy as it's written [clears throat] without the amendment is the one that you know even the principles that we've heard from are in favor of. >> Um, so I'm just wondering if it's if it's a matter of getting uh you know [clears throat] understanding what happens when the trips happen versus moving things around if you don't understand the system. getting some clarity on on that. It's just a question of wondering I have >> I'm I'm just wondering so the only thing you want to change was what's in orange here which necessitates intentional planning but really it already says students remaining on campus must continue to receive quality curriculumbased education
164which is exactly what that yellow is. It already says that >> my >> and if you're a teacher, that's what you would do. >> It previously said uh continuity of curriculum and was changed to curriculum based. And my concern was having continuity of curriculum in there because this policy isn't just for, you know, our Mandarin, Japanese, and um and Vietnamese programs. That would be for any potential. I mean, these the DLI trips obviously tend to be the longest. We were given some information which has been really helpful in terms of like we have a field trip tracker now um that shows the number of days you know what >> to director Englesman's point I was asking questions today do teachers that travel do they teach just DI classes or do they teach DI classes and
165some regular classes at some of our schools like maybe not just three programs but all of the you know the Spanish immersion programs and I feel like this amendment kind of covers that wild card for me so that let's say it was a complete let's say it was a Spanish program or a different school and a teacher was responsible for and I don't know if this is the case this is why I like this in here teaches four DLI classes and maybe three other or two other classes that'd be a really heavy load wouldn't it but it just covers off on the continuity of curric continuity of curriculum that that instructor touches in terms of the students so I I I'm very comfortable with the addition of continuity so that nobody no students are left
166waiting um for an instructor to return or relying on substance. Does that make sense? >> Yeah, makes sense. I'm going to respond to I I think >> May I just offer clarity that the next policy committee meeting is going to be next Friday, but Roseanne just let us know that it's going to be confirmed then and you will get that notice. Sorry to interrupt you. >> Oh, thank you for that. >> Thank you. Um what typically happens in the Asian DLIS is that the the teacher of that DAI language goes on the trip and chaperons or sorry Chaperon actually leads it right it's it's a huge effect and so the the ones left behind quote unquote uh and actually don't actually appreciate that term because it's not what they are um you remember middle school
167is seven periods so the sixth and seventh grade that are in that DLI program that have that teacher yes they would be having a different teacher for those one or two weeks how long, however they're gone. However, if you ask every student in sixth and seventh grade if they're willing to have a, you know, often times a lot of these schools, they also get, you know, a Japanese speaking or or Chinese speaking um substitute as much as they can. And that often happens and it doesn't always happen. It's not perfect. Um, and so it's not necessarily they're missing out, but they they do continue they do a lot of work to continue their curriculum. Even the students that go abroad, they have a contract that they sign that they say they will continue their coursework
168so that when they come back, their teachers don't have to retach everything. So, it's a really rigorous oversight that's going on in the schools, right, by the by the principles and the teachers. And so the the question here is that when you ask all the sixth and seventh graders that are missing their teacher, one period a day, right? One out of seven, uh you know, whether it's Japanese, their Japanese teacher, their their Mandarin teacher, um if you ask any of them, is it worth it? All of them are going to say yes. If you ask the families if it's is it worth all of them are going to say yes. One of the things about field trips and we got a wonderful email from a principal just today is that all field trips are trade-offs,
169right? nothing. It's never going to be perfect, but everyone also agrees that field trips offer an experience that you can't get in the classroom and that is 100% worth it. So when when we have really strong language like ensure continuity then we can start making the argument that certain things don't need continuity and we can start blocking certain things from happening um from an administrative point of view instead of from the people who know our students the best and know what they need the best which is their teachers or principles or and their parents >> and their families right um and I I think that's that's the reason why I again this amendment is very concerning to me because it has such strong language that you can use it as a hammer to stop a
170lot of field trips from happening. Not just these DI trips you can stop I mean we can say like outdoor school is no longer able to go because the kids that don't go and there's always kids who opt not to go um are not getting the same curriculum that the kids who are going on outdoor school. There's no way to replicate outdoor school curriculum in in the school. So that would automatically violate this amendment. So I I think there's a lot of issues here. Um I think the language is strong and I also think you know just to be 100% honest it is really unnecessary because the the people who again the oversight needs to happen at the school level. it. Every field trip is different and to have like a blanket um policy is
171asking for more trouble than than um >> and yeah would be def more detrimental to our students than Yeah. I just remember two years ago, we spent a whole lot of time making sure we could get those days for the um >> the travel the long travel programs. And it was this kind of little nitty-gritty stuff that that made it so hard. Um, I just don't want to work on that again and have have something little like maybe we didn't have continuity for those kids that were left behind. Maybe instead they got something special that day. Um, is that going to mean we can't have the field trip? I mean I I and also in a way it's a kind of an insult to teachers to tell them how to give a quality curriculum based
172education by setting it out. Oh well they have to plan and they have to have continuity and they it's like saying you know they know that they know what they need to do to give a quality curriculum based instruction. So I just think it's kind of over the top don't need it. >> Dr. J Miller, >> we've heard from a lot of principles um who oppose this amendment. And I guess for me, what it comes down to is trusting the people whose job it is to make sure that kids in schools are getting what they need. Um I don't think that any of us are qualified from where we sit to be making those determinations. Um, but I think principles are. And so I guess the question for me is I'm not trying to accuse
173anybody of anything, but like do we not believe principles when they share their perspective um and what they know from doing their jobs about what some of the unintended consequences might be? Um, and I I hear the intent and I hear that it's positive, but um you there's also difference between intent and impact. And um I think a lot of well-intended policies go wrong um because we're not caring for um the unintended impacts and I think the principles and teachers have named those um and I trust their assessment of of what those [snorts] impacts are. So, I guess I'm just who know who knows better than them? Like, who else should we hear from? [gasps] >> Me, it's not so much about trust. It's just really just setting the policy that will hopefully be in
174place for for multiple years and protecting the students who are left in the buildings potentially without their teachers. It may not be, you know, these particular trips. It might be future trips. Um, is there some room for, and I do keep going back to the the the May 24th, I think it was May 2024, the staff report, that, you know, we get to a point in these number of days where um um Margaret Calford did say that these these days, you know, they're not something that students can recapture. So, I look at that and think that we're really protecting the education and um of the students who are not able to go. This is a real privilege to go on these trips. So, I'm looking at the students who are not going. I don't see
175the harm at all in adding this language. Um, I don't think it will be weaponized. Um, do would you be open to um maybe putting a number of days for trips over say 5 days? >> Well, I mean, you say you don't think it's going to be weaponized, but it has been. It it I was just going to say if we if we know about the history of this particular ask, [clears throat] >> it was based on some really gnarly assumptions. I don't want to go into it. I think we all know um and I think this could be weaponized and and it is weaponized. Um and that's part of my concern too. But I think back to Director Chase Miller is like we've heard from principles that administer this program. I believe them. I
176don't I don't have an educational background. I don't know if you do either. >> [clears throat and cough] >> or education administration. I trust the professionals. I know what I don't know. Um and we've heard from families too that what this would impact. In fact, last year when we were having this discussion, prices were going up by, I think, $600 per ticket for Japan trip. And um it was because we were, you know, talking about the nuances and what we need to see. And I I want to put my faith in the professionals that know this business that know best what their school communities need and I feel really strongly about that. Um we could, you know, if we decide to move it back to the policy committee, but I'm going to advocate for I'm
177going to hold my ground there, too. So, um I want to let the professionals do their jobs. I'd like to add um that I do think that this language um is uh is a bit a bit serious uh and so it does add a um a factor of risk to passing an amendment such as this. Um and I think that when we're considering an amendment um with a with a higher risk of of being abused, I think that we need to prove that there's some that there is a sufficient level of harm under the status quo to consider taking taking a riskier option. Not that I'm opposed to that. I think that sometimes we do need to take to take um bolder action. But I just don't think there are enough students um affected by
178this on the you on the number of students who are, you know, so-called left behind. Um uh uh as weighed against the number of students who could potentially be harmed by trips like this being shut down, you know. Um and for that reason and also because we've received comments um from students um from students today um uh who are also in opposition to this policy and so as the student representative I feel inclined to um to vote in solidarity with them. Um but yeah, >> one more thing. You know, I I work as a policy analyst um for the city of Portland, and whenever we look at a policy or imposing a policy on the public, we need to pressure test it to see who it benefits and who it harms. We haven't done that
179with this one, but I can tell you that it it does it it does create some harm. It could potentially be weaponized for kids that are going the very privileged kids. And by the way, nobody is turned down from these kids. The fundraising is done for everybody in the program to asssure that kids that are not privileged economically can attend the trips. It's it's it the fundraising happens for everyone for every student. >> I just want to take a pause really quick really quick because we we're kind of working a little bit backwards. We haven't put this on a table yet for discussion yet and we're we're discussing discussing it. I would like to let's put this on the table first before we discuss it uh further. Uh do I have a motion and a
180second to adopt resolution 7230 resolution to amend and the revised field trip form travel and other off-campus activities policy 6.50.010-P. >> Wait, can I ask a question? So, I started this out by saying I was hoping to send it back to policy recognizing that the language of this is perhaps wrong and that maybe we can either make it something that we're comfortable with or not at all. >> So, let me answer that just to send it back to you, but that after if no one moves and seconds this, then it's off the table and then you can make a motion to move it to policy committee. Did I get that right? Either order is fine. I I'm not clear whether you want to make that your first motion or your second. >> And it's just
181important to get the clarity in the order one before the other. >> I would like to make it my first. I'm not I'm not disagreeing that there's problems with it. I started out by saying I heard Director Sullivan in December say the what we were hoping to accomplish isn't working. So let's >> Well, that was on the other one. [laughter] I don't even remember. So, I guess my motion would be to send it back to policy. Maybe we can talk about it more. Maybe we decide that we can't add language that makes any sense. Maybe we can maybe there are no more questions because we get them answered. So, I guess my motion would be to send it back to policy to look at more. >> We have a motion to uh move resol back
182to policy committee. Do we have a second? >> Yes. >> Thank you. Director Lefor seconds. We vote on that. Correct. >> Can I say something? I'm kind of late to the party. Um, hi. I'm here to try to find common ground again. I don't know. I don't really have a well flushed out idea. Um, I am guessing I feel like I'm not supposed to say this out loud. I'm guessing we don't have the votes to move it back to committee. Um, so that said, is there a possibility that regardless of how this vote goes down, we can make sure that we'd still have the conversation in that committee to ask the questions that you want to ask, get the information that you want to get regardless of how this goes down. And I think that
183may be a question for you, but I don't know. I'm not sure I know the answer to it, but I did want to respond to um Director Englesman about any requests that you have, I'm happy to present. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to say that to you, but but yes, if there if there is something in addition or any information or something um that we can provide that I can provide, I'm happy to do that. Well, then I I think maybe maybe I just need to ask to put this on policy committee. Not this, but this conversation. Um, >> we talked about this for so long. >> I know. >> I mean, years. >> No, I get that. But not me. >> Yeah. Not me. >> Yeah. So, I guess um not necessarily
184this. I was sending this back to policy committee as a sort of a placeholder not understanding the process to then say Dr. Armstrong, would you please have someone there to sort of present on how it works for kids who are not either not part of the program or are part of the program but not traveling and that maybe this becomes irrelevant and there are no concerns and I don't know how to say and maybe I just have to say we don't need this right now but I need to have a policy >> committee agenda item that includes presentation on so maybe that's the way to do it and I was saying send this act to policy as a placeholder, but I don't I guess I don't need a placeholder. I just can say I would
185like to have a policy committee agenda item and it sounds like Dr. Armstrong is open to doesn't have to be a long presentation. I can send questions in advance and but I would just like to maybe that's >> I would be open to that and I I was wondering like is that a teaching and learning committee? >> That is exactly what I was wondering. I mean, so because we're talking about what happens when these trip happens, what happens in Portland, >> so it it seems like it could be both a conversation, but it sounds like the first step is to answer what happens what happens when these kids go away. >> So where where would we actually let I'm going to interrupt really quick because I I think we also have public comment. We have
186teachers and and students and and principles here in the audience. um that I think just teachers and um students sign up for public comment. So I would like to put that in now because I think we're probably going to be voting one or the other pretty soon. [clears throat] >> So to clarify before you do that, if in fact all you're doing is putting it on a committee agenda that your practice and the approach has always been that the chair of the committee can set the agenda. So, whoever the chair is of either one of those committees, you don't actually need to vote to do that unless there is a disagreement about it. So, I just want to set the procedure up in advance for you. It's only if you're making an actual amendment to
187anything. Is there a problem? >> I think there's my ask at this point and I'm so if there's a committee chair, I'm not a committee chair, so I can't offer it in my committee. Is there a committee that'd be willing to have allow that moment on a few moments, whatever, on an agenda, and then we can move on with voting on this? >> Yeah. Um, we just did agenda setting for TLE earlier today. I don't I don't think we can get it into February, but I bet we could do it in March. Um, if it's not timesensitive, >> then I would unmove. >> Okay. >> Can I unmove? >> Yes, you can. [laughter] >> You can withdraw. >> I'm withdrawing. Yes, I would like to withdraw and I'm I'm grateful for a conversation in March.
188So I I I also want to I I'm thankful that decided to unm move especially to policy committee because I I just want to really show share some appreciation for the teachers and um Yuki especially you having have been here for so many having to come year after year and year you know multiple times a year to testify. It's been a lot of stress and a lot of work for a lot of our teachers that constantly have to show up to argue over and over and over again the value of their program and their work. And it it's hard and I would like to I I more than anything tonight you know well after the Jefferson stuff from now on more than anything I want to at least give them some finality so they can
189go home and sleep and rest for for once and so I just want to share that by moving it not to policy but to TLE there is no decision or change that's going to be coming up you know without long fair warning. So, I just want to say that, you know, TLE is is anformational committee, not a decision or policy proposal committee. So, I think that would help. I um because they did take the time to come in here to provide information. I still want to um give them time for public comment if they if they still want to. Uh um but I think let's open it up to public comment right now. They may all the time in the day to to provide um take time of their day to be here. So, if
190you would like to provide com public comment, uh you may do so. Uh, Miss Brasha, can you call them up? >> Yes, we have Kestrel, Hayden, um, Yuki Sakai, and Tiffany Coyoma Lane, who's virtual, so I'll pull them in after the inerson um, folks come down. And then, [snorts] um, Kestrel, did you we have an interpreter for you? Okay. Okay. She's I think gone. Good evening. >> My name is >> um this resolution or this is >> it's unreasonable. >> Maybe I unreasonable. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. You know like uh this field trip is the different than the you know daily um school life. >> Yeah. Um this is very variable that different than the ordinary school life that itself is very variable. Okay. This is determined. This is the uh you know settle
191as you want you know um our daily life is going to be uh it's going to be become impossible to carry as as as we want even the sports or band activity >> debate >> activity >> debate club >> I see debate clubs uh it's not going to um it's not going to do anymore >> it is I mean travel is very important part of education um okay so that's why you know in Mont 8th grade of Mont Tab elementary school life. A plenty of ele elementary school life. What what is this one? >> Um the trips help us learn culture and language. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think Yeah. Okay. So that's why this trips eighth grade or field trips is very important to us to uh carry our enjoy our you know school life.
192So please maintain this one. I mean >> yeah please against this resolution. >> It's okay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Good evening, board, and thank you very much for hearing us again. Um, I'm so proud to be sitting next to my student at this table. I'm just I'm feeling that right now. And they're behind me as well. Um, some of my remarks may potentially be a little obsolete. Um, but I'm going to go ahead with most of them. Um, the role of the board is to guide the direction of the district. We must ask the question, what is this policy amendment? What would it say about this district's values? The less commonly taught dual language programs, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Japanese, and Russian, provide rich, culturally affirming, rigorous opportunities for PPS students. When teachers put in the
193hard work to build such a program and admins support those teachers to do that good work, the result upon which that teamwork is built speaks for themselves. Teachers have brought new learning opportunities and bright futures for our dual language students for decades and that is a legacy that we do not allow a policy amendment such as this to upend. Uh we know there was a complaint and that complaint was from around 10 years ago and we are resolving it at the building level. Um ask our admin, ask our nondi teachers in our school who now offer Oregon research residency program analogous program to our neighborhood schools uh students. Um please do reach out to them. I'm hearing that that is where the conversation is going. um my admin um my other teachers would love to
194answer questions specifics about what is happening while 8th grade JDLI is in Japan. Um we would speak in one voice the policy amendment would harm us. Um it has left us asking the question continuously. We have been asking why would this amendment be proposed? I speak on behalf of all of those in our community. We demand assurance that DI is not the target of weaponized political process. Teachers from DI and neighborhood schools are from the DIA and neighborhood. Principles and parents have told you that this policy will yield no results uh no benefits but make us more vulnerable to outside interests shaping our programs, resting local control away from the people who make it what it is. If you cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that your proposal would not have any adverse effects and
195we know that the adverse effects that we would know have on DI and that it is created with only the best of intentions for our value PPS programs, you must vote no. Thank you. >> Thank you, [applause] >> Tiffany. You can go when you're ready. >> Okay. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Wong, board director, Superintendent Armstrong, student reportorto. My name is Tiffany Coyama Lane. Last name spelled K O Y A M A L A N E. I use she her pronouns. I'm a public school educator of 16 years, a mom of two kids in the Japanese DLI program, and I'm a Japanese American. I'm Jonce, fourth generation. Um, and while I serve currently on the Portland City Council, I'm speaking tonight as a PPS parent and educator, not on behalf of the city of Portland.
196So, on paper, the language in this proposed amendment sounds pretty neutral. Phrases like ensure continuity of all students education sounds reasonable and even responsible. But in practice, this amendment is loaded, overly rigid, and creates barriers and set of solutions. It introduces a standard pretty strict and risk averse. um so much so that it could easily be used to stop field studies and research residencies altogether. Not because they lack value, but because they don't neatly fit into a compliance framework. And these learning experiences being referenced, I want to be clear, are not vacations. They're the culmination of years of language and cultural study. And for many students, especially those without access to travel or enrichment outside of school, this is their only opportunity for some real world real world language um use and deep cultural immersion.
197Students return more engaged, more confident, more connected to their learning. These residencies are powerful educational tools tools and they are also one of the most effective antidotes to um what we've been seeing more of which is xenophobia and narrow nationalism and that's because they build understanding, empathy and human connection. Um, I also want to name what I hear from many families in the Asian dual language immersion programs across the Vietnamese, Japanese, and Mandarin programs, which is that some of those Asian uh language programs often seem feel like they're being singled out. Whether intentional or not, that impact really does matter and especially in this current moment. Um, I want to talk a little bit about why the JDLI program is so important to my family. I'm a Japanese American. My grandma Ako and Grandpa Ray
198were both children when they were forced into the World War II Japanese incarceration camps. And my grandparents met after being released from the camps. They fell in love, had five children. One was my mom, Lily. And like many families though, they stopped speaking Japanese so their kids including my mom um could assimilate and be seen as more American. And that language was lost not by choice but by fear. And I really cannot fully describe um the intergen generational healing and the importance that my family is experiencing. um having my children actually speak Japanese and have that be woven into their school day. Nationally, Asian-Americans make up only about 2% of public school teachers. And the fact that my kids learn from Japanese and Japanese American educators, many of them, really matters deeply. Um building bridges
199and connections across cultures and c countries is more important now than ever. I want to emphasize that teachers and principles really are the experts. They know their students, their communities, and their programs best. and I really hope that we can trust them and keep that flexibility where it belongs. Thank you so much for your time and for staying so late for these late meetings. >> Thank you, >> Councelor Coyama. >> Thank you. That's >> Thank you for uh the public comment. It's been amazing. I just want to share quick. Um teacher Sakai, you probably are the only one who brought me the closest of tears ever on this board. I just want to share one uh moment because you've been here so many times. I just want to thank you for all your testimony and
200just coming back over and over again to fight for your students. It is inspiring to see. Um one of the things I do want to share, I think it was like uh Asian Heritage Month and I talked about my own experience about being ignored and being ostracized and stuff like that and being seen as different throughout my whole life. And you came up and said something about um being a child growing up through the DI program, you'd never felt that. Well, I'm going to cry right now. Um, and I just think that's like I mean how powerful that is. That's that's the reason we have these DI programs and and here you are and you're still with PPS and so so I just want to send a very heartful thank you uh for being with
201us and and for fighting for your students. [applause] >> All right. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. All right, this is moved somewhere else. Um, next up I'm sorry. I hate to be the party pooper, but you're still in public section. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I was just trying to figure out where we were on the agenda because I was confused because I had left our meeting on December 2nd and missed that we had already voted on the resolution itself. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. Yes. So, currently policy 650.010-P is asis. Thank you everyone for being here tonight and sharing your thoughts and testimony. Uh next up we have um finance focus. I'll hand this off to Dr. Armstrong. >> Absolutely. I'm going to hand it right off to Chief Morrison to give the
202budget update. >> Thank you directors for having me tonight. I will uh move along quickly, try and get us back towards our uh timeline for the evening. Um, but there are some definite uh items that I need to share with you this evening. So, we'll get going on that. Some of this information is going to look a little bit familiar. um trying to anchor us back to certain um communication tools that we're using now in finance and then give you some other updates of activities that are happening. So I've shared with you our financial reports online. We are uh we have added a monthly report to the supplemental materials. uh you can find those in board book and we have also updated our website to include periodic reports there as well. Um just want to
203keep anchoring back to that uh as part of our uh effort for transparency and to um just inform you where we are in our current budget. Our budget basics website has had a pretty good makeover. would encourage you to visit that if you get a chance because we're going to be directing a lot of uh community that way in terms uh to gather feedback um very shortly. And then we're still working on that contracts component. You have received feedback and I received feedback about um the difference between board authorization for spending especially on multi-year contracts versus budget holder decisions on when to access those services. So that information is coming. So our annual financial report status. So this would be for our fiscal year ending in June uh 2025. We uh director Sullivan already shared
204that as of today our timeline has shifted uh due to uh late information coming from uh our federal partners to our auditors. Uh that created a whole another wave of testing and assessments. then we are uh busy putting that report together and we'll have that out to our audit committee very soon. Um and so the shifting in our timeline um to the audit committee meeting on the 5th of February um to present uh the report. Our independent auditor will be available for questions at that time. Also give a little bit of overview of their process um from their perspective and then that will come to the full board for approval on the 10th. Uh budget reminders. So, uh, this slide I think has been shared before. We're targeting a minimum 5% fund balance. That's at
205the low end of the 5 to 10% fund balance target that the board has set. This year, we're using 23.5 million in reserve. And so, when we were closing our budget gap of uh $40 million, a lot of it was not operationalized. We closed the gap using the reserves. And so as we move into the next year, it's going to be important to recognize uh the gap we have moving forward. There are no reserves to fill in that space. And so oper opera oper sorry you guys got me after 9:00. But a budget with that um more sustainable reductions at that larger amount is going to be impactful in so many ways. >> Can I ask a question? So current year projections. Okay. So this year we're using reserves. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Next
206year forget reserves. Okay. >> Correct. >> All right. So this slide is in no way reflective of some of the work that we've been doing to develop a recommendation to bring to you guys. uh it's merely a representative of equivalent values for our budget gap. So just to just to give you a little bit of uh the impact that we're looking at moving ahead, the challenges we've had as a leadership team even since the last budget was adopted knowing the size of the impact that's coming. So you can see um the impact of uh 14 and a half school days if we just took $50 million and translated into school days. That's that's what this slide is for. Over 300 educator FTEES. Uh it's an equivalent of 650 PAR educators. Um I think one of
207the the surprises here is it's about 12 a.5 elementary school budgets for the whole year. That's a school budget for the whole year is at $4 million each. So, just want to have this in front of you today knowing that you're going to be uh we're going to soon be circulating some information regarding our preliminary recommendation. >> Can you leave that up for a second? >> Sam, go for >> Can I turn it over to you? you were always so skilled, but I would like this up here and I would like student representative RTORTO to do what he does really well. And I want all of our legislators and I want our governor and I want our voters to look at this um two and a half weeks of school just gone and we're already
208complaining about the shorter school year. So, take it away. >> Yeah, thank you so much. Um, you know, I'm just itching to talk about five and 50 at every opportunity. Um, but as I've said before, you know, this kind of, you know, decline in funding just isn't sustainable, you know, um, and we've gotten to the point where I continue to say that that I don't feel like there are any, um, non- studententf facing cuts we have left to make. You know, we've, you know, we cut out the fluff, you know, five cuts ago. you know, now we're here um and and we're to the point where we're having, you know, we're not, you know, cutting the fat. We're choosing between muscles, you know, and which ones to sever. And we just, you know, how long
209before we're a skeleton, you know, and so we definitely uh this this needs to change. Um uh and the voters need to see the impact um that their legislators are having um on our schools and on their children. Um, so again to to anyone who may be listening, please please research Oregon ballot measures 5 and 50 and contact your legislators um because we can't keep this up forever. Um, I will add real quick that some of our legislators are uh working on um a proposal to not going to get the technical terms right. disconnect from the federal tax code, which will bring back, if they were to disconnect completely, it'd be an $888 million difference, but they're looking at partial disconnect. Is that fair? >> Thank you. Um, so on the subject of contact your
210legislators, um, contact your legislators and encourage them to, um, make that happen for Oregon and for our kids, for our schools. >> Maybe we should do a letter. Mhm. >> We should Yeah. All right. >> We should do that. >> Let's do a letter. >> Yeah. On on that point, there is absolutely no reason why Oregon needs to be going along with the Trump administration's, you know, t many tax cuts for the ultra wealthy. Um and through through decoupling, it's possible that we could that $800, you know, million dollars could make a big difference. Um probably not in this budget cycle, but in future budget cycles. um in uh in at least stopping the bleeding just a little bit um from our schools. >> Can I ask a quick question about the operating budget line?
211Is that so the operating budget for 12 and a half uh elementary schools? Does that include the FTE or that is actual like just operating budget of the building >> that includes the FTE? >> It does include the FTE. Okay. >> All right. >> Can I say one more thing? Yes. Um, I know that a lot of parents are beginning to mobilize with the ideas of budgets coming out. Um, I've been I've had a few contact me. They want to they want to talk about it. I understand that. But parents also look at this. This is not a doing of Dr. Armstrong or the board. Um, this is not this is not our doing. Um, so contact your legislators uh and do it frequently. like have them regret opening their inboxes. >> All right. Thank
212you. >> Impressive. >> So, I wanted to bring this back to you as well for budget engagement. you know, we will be sharing uh originally scheduled to share our preliminary recommendation at the January 27th meeting when I put these slides together. I understand that that's potentially shifting, but in our internal community, we will be circulating some information around recommendations and you'll be included in that as well. Um we've had uh extensive leadership activities including uh months of work with uh key principles on our academic program review. And so those are basically the principal our expert lens from the schools on impacts to schools knowing the size of uh the reductions that we're looking at. We've done some central office benchmarking uh a lot of work to um preliminary uh close that gap as well. and
213sharing information to our union partners whenever we get an opportunity. We are uh bargaining currently with two and so I continue to bring uh information to them and and we'll hold them close as we move through this process. Um, >> let me just jump in really quickly and say that um, I'll be sending a communication tomorrow to the board and [cough] excuse me, and I'll be using um, some [clears throat] of our one-on-one time next week and offcycle meetings later on this week to have a conversation about the preliminary recommendations. So, you'll be getting some information in the next day or so. Excuse me. [clears throat] >> I think one of the things that's important to note, too, is that the the this is the preliminary work that's happening within uh our systems internally to
214be completely uh transparent and thoughtful as we develop a recommendation that will be brought forward to you for actual um consideration in April. Uh so that's really when the board activity starts. This is some preliminary work that we're doing internally. Dr. Armstrong has shared over and over within uh our administrative ranks that early and often and we want to be able to get as many lenses and as much feedback as we can on those recommendations before we bring them forward. All right. Budget calendar and activities. um January through March, that's where we're at right now. And so just anchoring back to the internal discussions, the data review, uh equity analysis of of what we're doing as an leadership team to develop that um proposed budget that will be shared April 28th. Um and then there
215are several other interactions between the board and the community that will occur before um the budget is approved and eventually adopted. So, I know that we're a time short. Uh, and these budget principles were shared um at the at the meeting on December 16th for initial review. And I'm coming back to you to see if you have any additional thoughts on any of these principles um that we can discuss here or uh if you are okay with uh maintaining these principles, we would just roll those forward. >> Yes, thank you. >> Yeah, I think I just also want to correct the record. I think Colorado has the shortest number of school days, not us. Oh, >> so >> thank you. And then anchoring back to our continuous improvement plan goals. And as a reminder, these
216are the district level goals, but each uh school improvement plan also is anchored back to these. So, as we're thinking about shifts in our budget moving forward and those recommendations that are going to be circulated, uh we're really trying to stay focused on these areas. Moving on, I've uh received some information from the last bond accountability committee about uh the synchronization between finance and and OSM. Um and so I wanted to share that here with you the the the connections that are being built right now to ensure that the finance office is fully supporting those activities whether it's cash flows um bond sales um contracts and procurement um just making sure that all of those things are running smoothly and um through our finance office for the purpose of financial auditing. We do have a
217bond sale coming up. Um we have uh this will be the first week of February that we will go to the market. You will be receiving or have already received from uh Sharon Tonrey information about the preliminary official statement that has been shared uh with our ratings agencies both Moody's and Standard and Pores. Um we have had those credit rating meetings already last week and we anticipate having a ratings release on the 22nd. Um there may be a ratings change as part of that process and full disclosure and uh which may impact our um bond sale and the yield uh that we'll receive as premium and potentially the interest rates and the those resources may be used to cover authorized activities. So far, we've been really busy since May. Uh, getting ready to start those
218projects. >> Have you sent those yet? >> Yeah, this afternoon. >> Oh, this afternoon. Okay. >> I'm sorry. I had to pause and think what? No, it's just an email from me this afternoon with your chance to review. As always, I'm a resource to you and uh via Roseanne, we track all of the questions that you have for us and provide information back for all of you to reference. So on any of these topics, >> thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Um, so I I have a request for the board. Um, >> because the bond update is not timesensitive and because it is kind of getting late. >> I got a request from staff. I'm going to say this is not my own idea. >> We volunteered as tribute.
219>> [laughter] >> But I guess my ask is if it would be okay to move it to the February 10th meeting because there's of course I'm going to wait for Sarah Norman's approval first. I like that we're making a decision based on looking out at staff and seeing like they have to be back here in a few hours in 2 minutes um at 8 in the morning or so. And so I think it's really considerate if it's not timesensitive. >> Is that okay? >> That's just my personal >> Yeah, it is next. >> Well, we still have a whole I mean >> well we don't know you know presentation and questions. So by moving the February 10th we have more time and hopefully be earlier in the day and it's not time sensitive >> and
220it was a request from staff it sounds like. So, >> I definitely support >> and I I would actually appreciate, you know, any expedition we could do tonight. I have a really early date. >> Is that okay? I see some nods, but I just want to make sure >> it's okay with me. >> It's okay. >> Can we be open-minded on the date just in case doesn't work for some reason or whatever, but make it soon? >> You mean like having it sooner? >> No, just be open-minded. Yeah, like don't don't say it's got to be that day. It's going to be on the 10th >> and we're going to have heart attack. I know we're having we have a possible >> work session on the 27th. Could we slide it into there? >> Anyway,
221just keeping an open mind is my only goal. >> Yeah. So, no definite date, but soonish. >> As soon as possible. How about >> about that? Yeah, that sounds good. Sounds okay. >> 27th or 10th sounds great. >> 27th or 10th. Yeah. All right. It sounds like I have a majority of people's non. So, we'll move. >> Sorry we couldn't tell you at 7:30. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> So, last thing on the item is the consent agenda. Uh, so now time if there's any item on the consent agenda that any board member would like to pull for a separate vote, please indicate that. No, >> I don't have anything to pull, but I just I I just want to make a comment that we have a column that has uh that we can
222check if it's a minority owned or a womanowned business. And I would like to see some attention focused on doing that local hiring, womenowned and minority owned businesses. So that's why that column is there. So we can put an X there. >> Certified. >> A certified minority. I'm just I say it every time, but um it'd be it'd be really great if PPS could get back in the business of getting in those communities and hiring from those communities. Thank you. All right. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt the consent agenda? >> Director Sullivan moves. >> Second. >> Director Split. >> Oh, sorry. Director Chase Miller. seconds the adoption of the consent agenda. Any board discussion on the consent agenda? I take that as a no. Is there any public comment? >>
223No. >> Thank you. All right. The board will now vote on resolution 7231 through 7239. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. All opposed. Abstensions. Student director RTOR. >> Yes. >> Thank you. The consent agenda as amend is approve as amended is approved by a vote of 7 to zero with representative ruro voting yes. Thank you. Uh last thing on the item uh is it the last thing on the agenda? >> Yes. Um is the time to discuss any items you would like to request or follow up or be considered as an agenda item in future meetings >> or just any other business? >> There is So there's one there's just one thing that I will put here. Um, so, uh, I kind of dropped the ball on getting student representatives on
224different committees, um, recently because break happened. Lots of stuff went down, but I'm working on I'm gonna, uh, I've I've talked with with students. I'm just going to give you guys the list. I'm going to be like, "Here's your student representatives." Uh, and then hopefully we can get something on the agenda to officially confirm them soon after. >> Can we invite them without that happening? Like, if I wanted to, is that >> I I I I think so. Well, I mean, it seemed like that was above board with um when we did it on audit. So, >> you could resend the list of the >> Yeah. So, I will I will definitely Yeah, I will definitely communication will happen after this. So, >> and I was just going to say um per board policy, I
225expect to be submitting a statement for the record. Just say that. So, um, I just said per what I I don't know the number of board policy, um, a board member has an opportunity to submit a statement that would go in the minutes or record. I'm not sure what the appropriate term is. And so, my intention is to do that. Not tonight, but soon. >> Any others? >> Um, director for you and I need to connect on the >> On athletics. So, I have that noted. Perfect. >> I know there's some conversation happening about [clears throat] the work session on the 27th. Um, and so I say this with understanding. Um, I guess that it might not work out, but I think it'd be cool for us to talk about legislative session once our government
226by then hopefully our government relations person will be ready. Or if not, maybe you can. I don't know. Um, I'm looking at let the record show. I'm looking at Deborah Kapori in the audience. Um, but I think it would be really helpful for everybody to kind of know what's going on because we didn't really talk about it today and um, it'll be a frenetic five weeks in which the people on this board could have tremendous influence. >> So, I think we should talk about it if we can, but if we can't, we'll figure out another way to chat back channel or something. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And I want to second with director split. Is it what do I just want to check to make sure the board members other board members are also
227>> Everybody was like >> I love that idea. Yes. Perfect. That's all I need. >> This was like bobbleheading. >> I I agree completely. >> A lot of >> Right. Anything else? All right. This meeting is a journ. Thank you. Go home.