2025-09-09 Board of Education Regular Meeting

001Thank you all for being here today and I just want before we start this meeting, I just want to >> if you can hear me clap once. >> Oh, it's okay. It's exciting day today. I know. Oh, yeah. Energy. >> So, an interesting um AI lesson today. Never mind. No one's interested. >> All right, let's get started, please. >> All right. This public regular meeting of the board of education for September 9th, 2025 is called to order. All items being considered this evening are posted on the PPS website under the board and meetings tab. This meeting is also being streamed live on PPS TV services website and on channel 28 uh and will be replayed throughout the next two weeks. Please check district website for replay times. Good evening and welcome. Thank you all for

002being here today. Uh we have an exciting day today. Uh uh just uh before we start a few housekeeping reminders. Um we are of course glad that all of you have taken your time out of your day to be part of public education uh caring about the work here and the the work we do to help our students and our community. So thank you all for being here today. Uh just some housekeeping. If you have some signs or banners, just keep be mindful of person behind you that you're not blocking their view. Um, also please keep the aisles and uh stairs clear uh for safety reasons. Just remember there are stairs there and u to take steps each way down. Um for uh we also like to just just in general everyone be mindful and

003respectful of each other. So thank you. Um we have a full agenda this evening. Uh we also are going to be honoring the legacy of Michael Chappie Grace. Uh we'll be also voting on the purchase and sale agreement for the future building of the Center for Black Student Excellence. [Applause] And slightly more boring, voting on a new lobbying registration policy. >> Yeah. >> Uh but less boring than that, receiving our integrated grants annual report and update on the student investment account. Uh thank you. You know, yay, five of you. Uh >> let's begin with uh Dr. Armstrong, our superintendent report. >> Thank you. And I think our slides are being loaded. It's always a pleasure to bring forth the report. This year we are or this month we are starting with the um start of

004school. We're so excited to have our students back in the classroom. And I'd like to show this short little video. [Music] Daddy Back. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Just a fun fact, our preks, our three-year-olds are class of 2040. So that's a that's a fun fact for you to hold on to right there. So another thing we were excited about is the community that joined us for community care day that took place primarily on August 16th. And so we captured some images of families and community that came together. So just thank you for that participation and just recognizing while you know not all schools are shown here and reflected. We were just excited to make sure that our schools were welcoming places for our students and our staff on the first day of school. So

005so thank you for that. And speaking of our staff, we have a couple of things we want to celebrate. Uh we have an educator who from Lincoln High School who was the recipient of Oregon History Teacher of the Year award. And so super excited about that. We also had Miss um Regini and Mr. Noner who embody the excellence we are building here for the Oregon Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Math. And so just super excited to celebrate our educators there. So a learning activity that is coming up on October 10th at Benson High School. There's some familiar faces of those who will be presenting and just want to continue to invite folks to come out. This is unique because our PPS students are co-leading workshops and we'll have topics like mental health, financial

006literacy, and community alignment. And so we are excited and I am looking forward to bringing insights from PPS at this uh very important learning day in Portland. I also want to lift up um lift up the wellness center at Benson High School. It is open. It's serving youth 0 to 21. You do not obviously need to be a Benson High School student to attend. and we look forward to the preventative care physical and mental that will take place at that wellness center and just want to lift up and celebrate that opening. So, as you all know, we have been leading out with the word legacy, and we have a campaign that is all about legacies being made at PPS. And each month, I am going to lift up members across our community who are being

007made or have been made at PPS. And the person that I am highlighting um today is a student who built a Lego set. Was a student at Grant High School when he first participated in this. Alex the Italian Riviera set. It's 3200 pieces with 10 mini figurines. And his success is a reminder that PPS alumni continue to innovate, inspire, and build. And so just want to lift up that legacy there uh for you all today. And then lastly, I think you all know I try and end with the ways in which we're lifting literacy. And so here is a short video for you all to see. [Music] When I was younger, I was forced to read and it kind of felt like a chore and I was like, I don't want that to be their

008experience. Uh, so we came up with a books between us book club for elementary kids. So, we read about 20 30 minutes and then after that we come back for a discussion to kind of talk about what we've learned, what we've read. So, then we do an activity that could be either uh one of the times we made bookmarks, we put together pencil pouches, uh just a whole host of things that kind of revolve around what the reading is about. The kids that didn't really like reading in the beginning, they told us that they enjoyed it and that they would come back, you know, next term. And then the kids that came in already loving to read, they were like, I still love reading. Being that we have to read our entire lives and it's

009so fundamental and it's a building block in education. This is something we're going to have to do forever. So, like, how can I make this fun? And that's kind of just what I wanted to strive to do is just make it fun and more enjoyable. And I think we've done that. >> Yeah. So what's exciting about connect her is it's a nonprofit that supports youth who have dealt with violence or experienced violence and trauma. And so just super excited about that work that's happening and just am excited to know that we have programs like that building community and literacy alongside us. That was my pause for applause. And lastly, just continue to follow along the work on our social media. And as you all know, the rise in you is the rise in me. So,

010uh, thank you. That concludes my report. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Armstrong. Uh, next up we have student representative Torto. Do you have a report for us? >> Thank you. Um, my report's uh pretty short to because again DSSE has not started. Next meeting though, finally DSC will have started and I'll hopefully have more to report to you guys. Um, but this week um since school has started uh I've had quite a few conversations uh with students and teachers um about Lumi story AI since it was in the news. I thought that would make a good topic for um for today's report. Um now for many uh many of my conversa in many of my conversations there was a lot of um confusion and and want for communication because again it kind of hit

011the news and was like oh this is happening and everyone went what you know especially uh the teachers um you know would love um to get hands- on with it with it especially since there was a lot of skepticism you know and a lot of people you know are hearing AI and schools and you know and are you know some very big question marks are coming up. Um so yeah the you know the the ask from from students that I've engaged with uh the past few weeks since school started and with from teachers you know has has been a want for you know for some more communication you know as to what's going on. Um so that's the student report for today. Um but I'll have more for you next meeting I promise. [Applause] Thank

012you. I tried to use AI today to to make the seating arrangement. >> Yeah, I actually did. Um but with all the criteria and things because I my goal is to have everyone kind of have different neighbors and maximize that and it kept putting director for in the corner but everyone wrote around her. So instead I use a num random number generator to produce this seed arrangement. So random number generator one AI zero. That won't be for long. So enjoy your freedom. Um moving on. Uh next we have general public comment. Yeah I'm being serious. That's a real story. Uh we we will start with student comments first. So before we begin just kind of review some guidelines. Uh first, the board thanks you for taking the time to attend this meeting and sharing your

013uh comment. Public input, especially from our students, really informs and helps our work. Uh our board office may follow up on board related uh issues raised during public testimony. Uh we request that complaints about individual employees be directed to the superintendent's office as a personnel matter. I will remind also that BPS staff who are giving public comment that they may not provide testimony about students that could violate confidentiality protections under FURPA. This includes testimony that may include ident or identify students, their school community, or any uh possible identification by direct or indirect linkages such as school grade or special education or other status. Uh for materials that you would like the board to receive, please hand them over to um Miss Bradshaw over there who will then pass it to us. Uh if you have

014any other materials or items that you would like the board or superintendent to receive, please we ask that you please email them at public comment all one word pps.net. net. Uh, make sure you when you begin your comments, please clearly state clearly state your name and spell your last name. You'll have three minutes to speak. Uh, when the red light goes on, that goes off. That means um, please finish your comments in 30 seconds. Uh, so let's start off with students. Do we have students sign up for comment today? >> Yes, we have Naomi Anderson. Yes, please. Thank you. Take your time. >> Bobby and represent. >> Uh uh my name's Naomi. I'm at I'm in the fourth grade at Fabian Elementary and um we are only two weeks into school for my school and

015we just recently figured out that um one of our fourth grade teachers, Miss Shay, would have to leave fourth grade and go down into kindergarten. I'm pretty sure because one of the kindergarten teachers had to go down to teach kindergarten in Woodlon. Um it was really hard for us cuz we most of us that were here last year who were in third grade um we had only two teachers and it was 33 in each class. It was terrible. I had to teach one of my friends that sit sat next to me. Um, and cuz they couldn't really hear my teacher because of how loud it was. It was terrible cuz it was hard for me to learn it. And half of the time I couldn't help her. And it felt really bad. And to figure

016out that that might have to happen again, I just felt like it would be terrible. I've heard lots of kids in my school that are in my class say, "Oh my gosh, I'm so glad that we have a smaller class and we don't have to go through what happened in third grade again." Once they figured it out, kids started crying. Not just the kids in Miss Sha's class, the kids in my class, cuz they figured out they would have to go through that again. It was terrible. And um I just want to say thank you for the people to that helped make the choice of having that not happen. And I'm just really glad that's not happening. >> Thank you. Good job. >> Takes a lot of bravery to to come and give public comment,

017but you did that like a pro. So, thank you. Um, I notice there are some people uh standing out there, but there are some seats open here on I believe on this side. If in case you see any, do you like a seat? >> I promise they don't bite. Most of our audience members are very nice people. While people are looking for potential seats, um, Miss Bradshaw, is that is that all for student comment? >> That's all for student comment. Yes. >> Okay. All right. Let's next go up to general public comment. We have Teresa Street, Tracy Christensen, Derek Ront, and Heidi West. Seems like I'm only one every time. Should we start? >> Yes. Okay. Whenever you're ready. >> I hate going after the kids. It's always amazing to see them up here. It's

018very brave of them to come and and speak in front of the board. So, I always appreciate that they do that. My name is Derek Rant, RA NA. I'm a parent of two students at Cleveland High School and a recent graduate of Cleveland. Um, and I'm the president of the Cleveland High School booster club. And I've come here numerous times asking for things. So, I'm coming again tonight to ask for things cuz we don't ask, we don't get. Um, but I also want to thank you. We've come in the past to ask for improved lighting at our stadium and you guys have been able to deliver that. Um, the school has a number of issues as you guys are all aware, but I think the bond has settled now at this point. So, I'm going

019to speak just from an athletic um, standpoint tonight. Um, a couple of things that we we still need to emphasize and focus on at the school even though it's going to be modernized and torn down essentially in a year. Um we would really appreciate if the school district could do a better job of protecting the safety of our student athletes. Um the homeless population around the school and particularly around the stadium has allowed been allowed to continue to uh prosper and we have students that have to walk by um a number of homeless tents. I know it's a crisis in the city, but I don't think the students walking to PE should have to deal with this. Not to mention um you know kids on the soccer team, girls going home from soccer practice at

0209:00 at night, having to walk by uh tents and inhale meth as they've complained this year. Um you know secondary smoke from various sorts of things. So I really would implore the school district do better job of policing um the area adjacent to the stadium and to the school. It's not being done to an acceptable level in my opinion. Um additionally, we don't have potable water at the concession stands at our school. We've been asking for that for years and we still don't have it. that it seems like a pretty modern-day convenience. Not even a convenience, just a modern-day necessity. Um, so I think that's a public health issue that the PPS should address. Um, I know that the PEP band um uh situation is being resolved hopefully at this point, but I would also

021implore you to put an effort and understand the importance of of that um service to our community. I think it really uh engages everybody and and just adds a level of things um that that is needed to our community and is really important to us as a Cleveland community. Um and then the last thing uh tonight um is is to again re-emphasize our our desire for uh the turfing of Powell Park. Um from an athletic standpoint, uh I think it's an incredibly important activity. It can be done without the modernization of Cleveland. Um we have uh somewhere between eight and 10 levels of sports trying to practice on one field right now. um turfing a Nepal park would open up an immense amount of uh facilities for them all year long uh and really level

022the playing field equitably throughout the city uh that our students don't currently have. Um the baseball stadium or the baseball storage area was just broken into again probably it gets broken into about three times a year. Um and unfortunately um they cut all the nets that the kids use for for batting practice. So, they will not have to go back out and fund raise to um replace those nets because obviously the school district's not going to be able to pay for it. So, they'll have to do that themselves. Uh which is just it's an really unfortunate thing. It's very deflating to the uh to the community to the kids who play sports at the community to not have that. If we had a better secured facility at Powell Park along with all the modern amenities,

023these sorts of things wouldn't happen and our kids could have a better uh better opportunity to perform. So, so thank you for your time. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. Appreciate it as always. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for sharing. >> Do see we have Heidi West who's virtual. >> Okay. He Heidi West whenever you are ready. Hi, my name is Heidi West W and I'd like to shed some light on the real world consequences of the PIL high school cluster policy. Um, while this program does benefit schools that may not have enough players to form a team, it also has significant exclusionary um, effects on some students. I'm the parent of a sixth grade girl who attended Preston Elementary and now attends Hosford Middle School. Because of our address, she'll be separated

024from her cohort when she enters nth grade and will attend Franklin High School. Under the current cluster policy, she's required to play for Franklin um their sports teams rather than the team at Hosford where she currently goes. This policy overlooks the importance of community school spirit, the social needs of middle school students, and it also places a burden on families who need to transport their children between schools. While PPS offers transportation, many students don't likely even attempt to sign up for sports due to this logistical barrier. Research consistently shows that school spirit is linked to better academic performance. When students feel a strong sense of pride in their school, they're more engaged, perform better academically, and develop stronger social and civic connections. Middle school is a time when friendships are crucial to emotional development. These

025relationships build self-esteem, communication skills, and coping strategies that students carry with them throughout their lives. PIL's mission on their website is to build community and academic perform excellence through equitable athletic programming. However, for students like mine, being required to play for a school outside their established community undermines submission. This policy also affects other students like Tubman, Fabian, Olay Green, Lane, Harrison Park, and Bowmont who are also forced to play for schools outside of their own clusters. Considering the number of students affected and the clear benefit of the school spirit and sports participation, it's essential to re-evaluate this policy to encourage not limit student involvement. As it stands, the policy reduces participation and adds unnecessary barriers, unnecessary barriers for students and sta um and families. Finally, I just want to share the emotional toll this policy

026has had on my daughter. She played recreational and club volleyball for over three years with the hope of continuing in middle school. However, she chose not to play for the Franklin cluster because she already stressed out. She was already stressed out about starting a new school and felt anxious about playing with kids she didn't know. Now she comes home after school talking about how all her friends are attending practice while she's being excluded. She shares how all her friends had volleyball games over the weekend and she feels left out. There have been countless tears and this is just one child. The emotional exclusion could have been easily um avoided. I urge the PPS school board to reconsider this policy, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to participate in sports at the schools they attend.

027As educators, I trust you understand the profan profound positive impact athletics can have on students and I hope we'll update this policy to reflect that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you for providing a comment. >> Miss Pasha, do we have anyone else sign up? Oops. Sorry. Um, no. >> Okay. >> Not on this topic. All right. >> Yeah, this one's for general public comment. We have multiple public comments today depending on the topic of the So we we also have a CBSC um public comment as well as a policy um Miss Lleair Miss Lleair, I I see that you are on the waiting list >> under resolution 7175. >> She's scheduled to to speak. >> I was just confirming. >> Yeah. >> All right. Uh next up, we have uh comments from our union

028partners, uh President Angela Bonia. Hello. Hi. Um, good evening. My name is Angela Bona. I'm the president of the Portland Association of Teachers. Uh, thank you for the time to address y'all tonight. Uh, as always, I want to start with kudos. Uh kudos to James Loveland and his team for supporting our school community that was impacted by violence this past week. Um the uh student supports and health uh department floods the schools with additional mental health support and I hear from staff that it was needed and helpful. Um and James has also met with me to discuss grant opportunities to increase these supports in the future um over time instead of just during the emergency as well as affinity groups for our educators. So kudos to James. Um kudos to Dr. Freeman for her open

029communication and collaboration. As a new chief HR officer, she's really done um a great job and it's a great start uh keeping me and our OEA staff informed and put us in the loop early and often. Um, and also kudos to every educator and student that survived the very very hot days uh at the start of the school year. And uh to our schoolboard members who've been so open and collaborative as we elevate um issues uh from our sites to y'all. Uh thank you for your willingness to reach out to workers um educators and families as well as following up with me when issues are resolved or or to check if they are resolved. Um, so I just want to elevate some of the concerns around spending and transparency because I know that a budget

030review is coming later in this agenda. Uh, I've heard from dozens of PAT educators um and PAT members concerned about the Lumi AI after seeing the beginning of the year address as well as um articles in the news. Uh we finally got a response from the information request and saw that there's a contract for $148,000 to pilot Lumi Aai as well as train educators to use this and train the trainer support. Um and I do know that we are also dealing with large class sizes especially in our high schools, less library, less art, less theater, less dance, less time with social workers, with counselors, with school psychologists due to underfunding from the state. So, why are we then entering into contracts with AI companies um without consultation with educators? Um, and that I know when

031talking to high school educators, they definitely did not ask for. Um, I know a few kindergarten classes right now with over 20 students who could use an education assistant um and whose salary would be half that amount. Uh, I'm also concerned that this contract came in about $2,000 less than the threshold for board approval. Um, even if the board didn't approve it, this should have gone through our proper vetting channels. And I wonder, you know, has this gone through uh our green uh goals and our climate impacts? Um, what about the lack of regulation of AI in general? Um, and we don't have to accept AI and send and it will send a strong message uh if the largest district in the state does not adopt programs that allow AI access to students. Um, in

032addition to that 150 almost $150,000, uh, we also found out that PPS signed a 5-year contract in June with the Portland Police Bureau for a total of 2.5 million. In 20 in 2020, the superintendent and the board canceled the contract we had with PPB for SRO's uh school resource officers and committed to not having police um in our schools. And I just am wondering if that's changed. Uh I know there were some schools that had uh agreements with police officers to have them in and around the school at the beginning of the school year. So I got some texts from staff asking, "Hey, why are there police? Like is there something happening?" Um, and so trying to figure out why the district is spending funds to bring police to our afterchool sports events while also

033laying laying off educators, letting go of community agents and security staff. How are these spending habits aligning with our goals and our values as PPS? Um, and then lastly, I want to discuss uh the uh vote to buy one north for the Center for Black Student Excellence. Um, I am definitely for a center for black student excellence. I was once a black student and hopefully my educators would say I was excellent. Um, but I do think that the my concern is around uh the private public partnership and how uh we are making sure that we have these public dollars being stewarded by the folks who voted for it and the workers and staff and families of this district. Um, as a leader of a public employee union that is responsible, I feel like it is

034it is my responsibility to make sure that our public funds are being used to support our most marginalized students with direct oversight and public accountability. Um, I'm only concerned because I've seen how this has worked in other districts uh across the nation where in attempts to support and serve black and brown students, uh, those attempts have instead led to privatiz public education in ways that were detrimental to those same communities, moving funds and resources from public control to private hands. So, when we do things like use public bond dollars to buy a building for public for private organizations, I have to ask what is the oversight of that spending? the efficacy of the services provided from these organizations. I just want to make sure that we lift up that reality of the difference between intent

035and impact because I know the intention is to do good work and we have good people leading this work. I just want to make sure that the I just hope that the presentation we will get today will answer some of the questions um that we have. you know, how can we ensure that our black our entire black community is involved in all aspects of decision-making? Um, not just called on uh by public by private entities to come influence public school board votes. Who is meeting with our black students, families, and educators and staff on the everyday issues that impact their ability to thrive and be the black excellence that we purport the the center will promote. what systems besides this uh new building will be we be putting in place outside of the private public

036partnership. Um I would hope that we're thinking two three steps ahead. Um because not only are our black students disproportionately disciplined by PPS, but so are our black educators. So this is a systemic problem that I know the CBSC has worked on in their vision. Can we make sure that those steps are being discussed early and often? um why uh I know that a lot of our we have several black PAT educators who were also black public school students of PPS um and how can we make sure that they're part of the conversation in some real tangible ways um and we as a union have only been engaged once decisions are already made and we want to support transformational instead of transactional relationships. We want to be part of the conversation in a real way.

037Um, and we also want to know what properties were considered, how they were reviewed, if the community was given options to review and look at spaces outside of one north and Jefferson. Um, and how those were shared and uh, publicly. Um, and if there are any buildings with historical significance in the Albina community that could be repurposed for this center. You know, I understand that often there is this concern of folks being, you know, called racist if they voice concerns or saying, you know, you're only h adding this extra scrutiny because there are these are blackled organizations. But I am, trust me, very critical of everybody um and question a lot of things. So, we want to make sure that we don't have low expectations and not have these answers before we rush through decisions.

038Um, because we're trying to fix a problem that has built a lot of frustration and a lack of trust. But what if instead of rushing through this process and approving a building, we allow those with institutional power to actually work to build that trust with those same communities because we can't mirror the same systems we're trying to dismantle. I worry that this is similar to the bond issue where we put forth a bond for a ton of money and then ask for a proposal for the building, right? Like how do we make sure that we have answers about maintenance? And uh you know when I'm seeing schools falling apart just down the block, Boise Elliott has not had many improvements in that building. It's falling apart. Um and so of course I understand bond money

039is specific for certain things. So, how can we make sure that when we build this center, we actually have it be sustainable, right? Um, we need to make sure that there has that the history of broken promises in this district and in the state against black communities um is acknowledged and we don't make the mistakes again. And I have full faith in Nicole Watson and her ability to connect with community, to truly see and hear all of us, to work in tandem with us, to make sure that that vision is moved into action. So, as long as she's given that space to do that work, to do what I what she knows is right, I know she'll push for community to be engaged in every step of the process. And so, I want to make

040sure that I emphasize that I want to have a center for black student excellence. I want to have a center that is sustainable so it doesn't disappear like so many district initiatives that start with hope but move too fast without plans for long-term health. I want to make sure we have public control of public funds, public oversight and transparency over public private partnerships. And I want to believe that all of this will work. But I've also worked at this district for almost 12 years. So I've seen many well-meaning initiatives fail spectacularly. So, let's just make sure we don't let down our black community by not doing the due diligence and maintaining that public oversight of this project. Um, and that when this decision goes through, we are answering all of those questions about how we

041can make this a sustainable, consistent force um in the lives of our students. Thank you. [Applause] >> Thank you, President Bonia. Um, all right. Next up, we have, sorry, as I wear it myself. All right. We have board committee and conference reports. Um, today we'll hear reports from the following committees. Uh, facilities improvement and oversight, policy, teaching and learning, enrollment. Uh, we also get a conference report from directors Chase Williams, Split, and Englesman on their attendance in their summer's OSBA summer conference. Do any of you want to arm wrestle to go first? >> And audit. You forgot. >> Did I forget audit? >> I'm sorry. Audit. >> I'll go first. Um, I'll report on the policy committee. So, we held our first meeting on Monday, August 25th, uh, with board directors Chase Miller and Englesman.

042so nicely matching uh the coordinating their outfits together. Um we met to uh talk about some of the ideas that had been uh talked about over the summer. One of them was a universal dyslexia screening policy. Um board member monthly stipens uh are on the list. Uh simplifying the field trip policy. Um updating purchasing and contracting policy to the extent that we can. Um, I'm going to ask um the entire board if you have ideas to send them to me. I can't guarantee that we'll discuss all of them. The dyslexia policy for instance, I learned uh that we already have a policy and that we the our policy our practice exceeds what is required by the state. So, that one's off the table. But other ideas um welcome to I think I heard a boundary

043request for a boundary change the PIL how we uh deal with clusters um to k keep kids together. Anyway, that's it. Our next meeting is coming up I believe on the 20 uh I'm sorry I didn't look this up. The 28th I believe of September. Yes. Monday the 29th, 4:30. >> All right, I'll go. >> How about I'll do facilities. How does that sound? >> So, um, we had our, um, first This is really loud. Sorry about that. Um, our first facilities committee uh, meeting on August 12th, and we discussed a committee charter, which I'm really excited about. I went over a draft. We'll see a full version next week. Um that aligns with our long range facilities plan. Uh we clarified our committee work versus staff work and um discussed allocation of our responsibilities

044to other committees like where do we have overlap with TLE um and policy in particular. Um let's see we talked about a work plan creating a work plan for the year. Um in that it was noted that the bond accountability committee um may report to the full board just to you know reduce any duplicative efforts on their part. Um and then um we will be having bimonthly seismic updates. Um we uh discussed updates on the 2020 and 2025 bonds including um the high school modernizations and health and safety projects and where we might move around some funds that there's not a lot. There's a few there's a little some small piles of funds. We're figuring out where those are going to go. Um and we will be having updates on the current bond in high

045schools, Jefferson, Wells, and Cleveland at the meeting next week on the 16th. So, I'm really looking forward to that. Um we did coincidentally ask specific questions about heating and cooling on August 12th. So um thinking that we were preparing for winter uh not knowing at the time that we would end the end with a very very hot summer. So um the staff shared that this type of work is actually considered an improvement building improvements and does not fall under deferred maintenance. So um we discussed uh coming up with a framework that marries the two so that we're prioritizing these two things together. Um so I'm really looking forward to that. Um the athletic fields projects um we discussed sequencing that work now uh which would be we're talking about the Grand Pole, we're talking about

046Pal Park, we're talking about um the athletic hubs uh so that the goal is to start the permitting process this fall for all of them so that we're you know we can walk and chew gum at the same time. And uh so I'm really looking forward to hearing what the staff has to present next week. Um we did hear um an aggressive timeline. I love aggressive timelines. uh for lighting at the Grant Bowl on December 1st. So, I've marked my calendar and crossed my fingers. Um let's see. Seismic improvements. I already touched on that, but we will be hearing a report tonight, which I'm also looking forward to and um looking forward even to October. I just wanted to let everybody know that I'm going to be requesting a staff report um on um basically

047all of our open work orders. Uh what's open and what needs to be prioritized. You just kind of get a sense of what's out there. So that's what's going on in facilities. Nothing much thorough. >> Go next. >> I can go next. Uh so the teaching, learning and enrollment committee had our first meeting on August 14th uh with myself, director Deass, and director Lefort in attendance. We spent the majority of our meeting discussing and refining the committee charter and discussing the scope of the committee and our work and what level of engagement feels right for the committee. There was general agreement around the importance of being a conduit for community engagement on matters pertaining to teaching, learning, and enrollment as well as the importance of being a thought partner and representing the community's interests through

048collaboration and engagement. We also discussed the draft of a resolution directing the superintendent to explore costs associated with outdoor school and whether there might be savings that will preserve a fifth day for PPS sixth graders and the potential of uh raising funds to cover those costs as well as efforts to educate legislators and the community about the actual impact versus the perceived non-impact that these cuts uh will have on outdoor school. That resolution is an agenda item that uh we'll discuss later this evening and our next meeting is scheduled for September 18th. >> Great. Thank you. Audit committee. >> Um the audit committee's first meeting is scheduled for October 16th. One of the items on the agenda for that meeting is to discuss new audit topics for the office of internal performance audit to complete.

049While this discussion will take place in the audit committee, I want to remind all of the board members that your input is also wanted and welcomed. I met with our internal auditor today and discussed specifically how we would go about soliciting that input. As a result, our internal auditor is going to email each of the board members individually by the end of the day tomorrow asking for their input. Included in that email will be a list of audits that have been previously considered. Board members could suggest one of the previously considered audits or something completely different. Please send your response to the email directly to the internal auditor. She will accumulate those responses and share the combined results with the uh meeting on October 16th. That is the end. >> Thank you. Wonderful. Uh let's

050have some uh conference reports. You want me to go ahead? >> Let's have Director Slick go first. >> Thanks. Hi everybody. Um, several of us, a few of us attend, three of us attended the Oregon School Board Association conference in um, Salem, Oregon in August. And there were two full day or I guess two and a half days of conference workshops for each of us to attend. I would say that for those of us that were new, there were a lot of workshops on the first day that were super helpful um for us to learn about um really how to do our jobs as board members. So, I think it was a really vitally important training for um new board members that first day. And the other two days were also really helpful. But I

051think my favorite thing or the thing I think maybe had the most value was getting the chance to be specifically with other school boards in the Portland metro area, the Multma County um table. They like divide us up by counties or different regions. Our region happens to be our county. um was a really fruitful conversation and I think a good example of um the types of common ground that we found would be preschool for all and the importance that all of us that were in the room felt for that program which has been in question recently um in direct jeopardy even at times in the last several months. Um preschool for all is in some of our elementary schools. It's benefiting kids all over our districts and all of our districts throughout the county. And

052so hearing from others in the community about how preschool for all has um worked in their communities, how it's helped um their young students be ready for kindergarten um really inspired me at least and um kind of laid a foundation for relationship building with those other districts on a variety of topics that affect us all. Leave it at that. >> Thank you, Director Split. Just cold call someone. Let's go. Uh, Director Englesman, >> I did not go. >> It wasn't there. >> It was out of town. Okay. But I will report in a month when somewhere else. >> Great. >> I went like Salem. >> You made something happen. >> I can go. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I I went and uh it was a really uh great weekend. Thanks to Christie for driving. Um

053we there were some great uh breakout groups as well uh which I really enjoyed. Uh, one of which was learning how to use Robert's rules of order, which, uh, hopefully I won't screw up tonight. Uh, got some practice. And, uh, one that I was actually particularly interested in was about sharing our school successes. Um, how our communities really receive news through diverse channels. It's not just our newspapers. it's, you know, often through social media and how uh negative stories can spread really quickly and how as a district we should really think about focusing on proactively on positive communication about our student achievements and what's happening in our schools and uh I really believe really strongly in that and I just wanted to shout out whoever has been working on the social media for PPS. I'm

054pretty dialed into the high schools with high school students and I've noticed that the principles are posting, you know, almost daily. So, I don't know who's in charge of that. Like, who's coordinating all of that because it's fabulous. I'm like, who who is it, Kimberly? >> Listen, it's a team effort. We're proud of >> All I know is that it's working. You're doing a great job. It's I really enjoy seeing their faces uh talking about what's happening in school every day. So, keep it up. Um and it's actually I thought for me, I'm like, you know, I think we'll start having biggest biggest facility wins of the month on our agenda. So, um really enjoyed that. It is really important. I think that communication staff can be kind of unsung heroes at times and they're

055really important. Um and uh we talked a little bit about the Oregon accountability bill um and the implementation that will be coming up uh starting next year. Um two new indicators K through 12 attend I'm sorry K through2 attendance and eighth grade math will be measured um and schools will be administering interim assessments uh three times per year using approved vendors. Um so participation is mandatory. I'm looking forward to learning about that this year. and um and that's uh vision directed planning and strategic governance and all that good stuff. So, it's a good time. >> Awesome. >> Learned a lot. >> I'll uh try not to repeat too much of what uh director split and director uh Lefort already said uh since we were in attendance together, but uh there was a lot of great

056learning especially as a new schoolboard director on how to be a schoolboard director. Uh, I went to a session on good governance and how to work in collaboration with the superintendent to improve student outcomes. We explored using policy to operationalize governance and how to work and act on behalf of a board where we speak in a collective voice. We did a deep dive on school finance and Oregon's funding system. And we were a little bit ahead of the game since we had just learned about weighted enrollment from Dr. Morrison at our last board meeting. Uh we I went to another public meeting training session. Uh we did one as a board but uh this was a little bit of a deeper dive which was great. Um on Saturday I attended hot topic roundts on board

057member stipens, book bands and school boards roles in lifting literacy and a surprisingly entertaining session on parliamentary procedure which hopefully I too will not screw up tonight. Uh I went to a session on vision-directed planning which encompasses setting high expectations, measuring progress and working with the superintendent and the community on priorities and goals to achieve student success. We had a regional roundt that was interesting. Uh in addition to preschool for all, we discussed cell phone policies and implementation challenges across Multma County. Um and on Sunday, uh there was a great session on educational equity and another on policy fundamentals. Um and like director Split, my favorite part was connecting with board members from neighboring districts. They were glad to see PPS uh make such a strong showing and it was really great to be able

058to collaborate with them and exchange ideas and uh compare notes. Thank you for the great reports and thank uh sorry Director Englesmith for me cold calling you accidentally. Um >> just like everyone to know I wanted to go. I was out of town. I regret not being able to go and I'm glad I have these people to learn from because it sounds like it was really good. >> All right. Uh next up, I am very uh proud to that we have this on the agenda tonight. Um and I was also thankful that uh vice chair depass would like to uh is taking but we are honoring a very very special educator uh in our district. So um vice chair de pass would you take it away? >> Thank you. So, dear colleagues, students, and community

059members, it's so great to see you in the audience tonight and just see the faces I've known all these years and um to see that you're here to also uh help us honor Michael Chappie Grace. We're gathered here today to honor a remarkable individual, Michael Chappie Grace, whose lifetime of service to Portland Public Schools has touched the lives of generations of Portland students. For decades, maybe five or six, Mr. Grace has been a staple around here for decades. more than the vice principal at MLC, more than a mentor, a guide, a trusted colleague, and a steadfast supporter of students, teachers, and families alike. He has been, as many have said, the right hand that studied and strengthened our schools, serving directly under Dr. Ernest Hartzog, the deputy superintendent of schools, under Matthew Profett's leadership. This

060was a golden time for Portland's black students, and Michael was part of the success we experienced. Throughout his career, Michael has exemplified the highest ideals of education, integrity, dedication, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to equity and excellence. Every decision he made, every student he encouraged, every teacher he supported reflects a deep belief in the potential of every child and in the power of community. His leadership has inspired colleagues to do their best, lifted students to reach beyond what they imagined possible, and strengthened the very fabric of our school communities. The impact of his work is not only measured merely in programs or policies, but in the countless lives he's shaped, the futures that he has nourished, and the joy and hope and courage he has instilled in so many generations of young people. Whenever Michael

061became came before this board, excuse me, he had words of encouragement for us and never words of ad admonishment. He led He has led with civility and grace and we can all learn from his example. It is fitting and is right that we pause to recognize and celebrate Michael Chappie Grace, not just for what he's done, but for who he has been. a beacon of dedication, a champion for students, and a pillar and model for Portland public staff and students. Therefore, on behalf of Portland Public Schools Board of Education, it's my deep honor to proclaim this day, September 9th, as Michael Chappie Grace Day. May his legacy inspire us all to serve with the same passion, care, and commitment that has shown he's shown every day of his extraordinary career. Thank you, Michael, for a

062lifetime of service. Portland public schools and our community are forever be better because of you. I now want to um just let everyone know we've invited public testimony and we've only invited two people because the people the calls and texts that we've got and people sending in videos was so overwhelming. Uh we would be here all night and all day tomorrow if everybody that wanted to say something kind. I wanted to also acknowledge um this evening I learned there's a student in the audience who uh told me he's been in uh a me a mentee of Michael Chappie Gry's since the second grade. Um how long is that? It's not that long but 15 years. So yeah, thank you for being here and thank you for being here to honor him. Um, and we have

063two uh two people signed up to testify and they'll be given three minutes each just because we we like to limit um keep everybody to the same time limit. I believe Mr. Yousef Liry and um Principal Tamila Nuome are going to come and speak. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. Oh, uh, folk that know me know good evening. That'd be all of you. >> Thank you. Thank you. My name is Tamila Nuome and I am the former principal of Rosa Parks. had the privilege to build Rosa Parks. Served there many years before I retired, but as they would say, this is not about me. So, the third I it's an honor, an absolute honor to be here and be able to speak um about Mr. Michael Chappie Grace and what he did for the students and

064the community at Rosa Park School. He was there almost from day one and it might have been day two and was there the entire time um that I was principal retiring in 2019. And when I left I left Mr. Grace, still working and supporting kids uh at Rosa Parks. He was a mentor to our boys in fourth and fifth grade. He advocated, but he also taught them how to advocate for themselves. He worked with families. He um one thing that he did that I will always remember is he bought pocket dictionaries and he made sure that every young man had a pocket dictionary. It was like a part of their dress and sometime he would stop by not necessarily on the day that he was going to work with the group and he'd see him

065and you should see him pulling out those pocket dictionaries cuz he wanted them to know that that was power that was knowledge and that they know the words you're using. use the words you want to use to express yourself. Um, another thing that he did, um, I would say, well, he mentored me, too, because he would stop by my office. He would check on me. He would see if there was anything he could do. And I just appreciated that smileing face. Sometimes it's lonely out there. And so to know that he would check and just supportive, always having a positive thing to say is so important. And Mr. Grace brought that to Rosa Parks. Um, he was committed because he was there when he said he would be there. In fact, he would be there

066sometime when he didn't say he would be there. He was confident in our school. He was confident in in the children. and he built confidence in the children that he worked with. And he was consistent cuz one thing you know about kids, you have to be consistent. You can't show up sometime and not show up sometime. Um one he would step in where needed. We had a program that started at Rosa Parks and fortunately went to other schools. It was called Project Harvest. And Project Harvest stood for uh helping adolesccents recognize valuable educational strengths for tomorrow. And that program lasted till the p pandemic. And it was to take our black boys. Yes, I said black boys >> to college. >> They would go to Oregon State. They would have a class. They would walk

067that campus. because I got tired of telling my kids and when you go to college and they looked at me like haha who college so we I said you know what we got to show them college and I only allowed black men to take our black boys and finally high schools got in so I'mma close because I know I have to but remember re if you remember anything remember what Mr. Chappie Grace stood for. And if you find in your retirement or free time that you can mentor kids at a school, if he was here, he would tell you, "Do it. It's so worth it." And thank you. >> First, thank you for that. And uh my name is Yousef Liry. I am the current president of the Oregon Alliance of Black School Educators and

068uh and um I'm here tonight to recognize and celebrate the remarkable leadership of Mr. Michael Chappie Grace. Mr. Grace served as a RAPSY president in the 1990s and rejoined our board when we became a statewide organization in 2020. Throughout his career, his work has been about creating spaces where black educators are not only supported but empowered to thrive. Many of you may remember him as the local conference chair for the 1989 NAVsy conference. And NABSY is the National Alliance of Black School Educators. Host it was hosted here in Portland. That gathering was recognized nationally as one of the best conferences in NAPSY's history. A testament to his vision and dedication. But Mr. Grace's impact reaches far beyond the titles, the accomplishments, and his roles. About five years ago, I was mentoring a young man who

069couldn't stop talking about his other mentor, Mr. Chappie Grace. He told me about how Mr. Grace had taught him how to fly planes. Imagine that. a black educator not only inspiring young people but literally teaching them how to soar. That's the kind of transformative influence Mr. Grace has had on countless students within our school district and community. And we honor Mr. Grace. As we honor Mr. Grace, it's also important to look forward. His legacy reminds us as to why we must continue to build spaces where black minds are nurtured and inspired. That is the vision behind the Center for Black Excellence. It's what we're talking about today. The center is not just about the future. It is also an acknowledgement of our past and the educators who paved the way. Too often, black educators carry

070the responsibility for caring for students who are overlooked in school settings. The Center for Black Student Excellence provides community support, resources, and the need, the resources needed to ensure that the next generation of leaders, the next generation of Michael Chappie Grace, can thrive. Mr. Grace showed us what it means to lead with vision, care, and courage. The Center for Black Student Excellence gives us the opportunity to carry that promise forward. We wish Mr. Grace well and also want to give an appreciation to his wife Mrs. Gwen Grace as well. And with that, uh, speaking for myself, but also our community, we want to thank Mr. Chappie Grace for everything that he's done. And we hope that he will inspire and also his legacy will inspire many to come after him. Thank you. If um my

071board colleagues would indulge me, we have a small plaque uh with the words that were read today and we'd love to present this to Mrs. Grace. Um and if we could just take a quick photo, just get up out of our chairs and [Applause] We love this you'll come this way. >> Okay. new board members. This is what we do sometimes. This is just a small and we'd love to get a picture and thank you for smile. Say we love you, Mr. >> Grace. [Applause] You're still Yeah, big warm thank you for the the two of you that shared the stories. That was amazing. And also a huge thank you for everyone here to show up to help honor um very special person. So, thank you so much. always um just amazing to make some

072space for some of the most amazing people. That's it. Period. Some of the most amazing people. All right. Um that was a big volume change. I'm sorry. Um next we have on the agenda is voting on the purchase sale agreement for the Center for Black Student Excellence. Dr. Armstrong, could you introduce this? >> Yes. >> Thank you and good evening board. I am excited to bring this item forward. I don't understand the energy of slow down because we've been waiting five years for this moment. And and because of that, I think it's important to share the timeline leading up to tonight's recommendation to enter into a purchase sale agreement for this building for the purpose of serving as the Center for Black Student Excellence. In March, the district's well, I'm going to go back because

073in 2020, our voters voted uh for 60 million towards the Center for Black Student Excellence. And I'm excited knowing that we won't fully use that 60 million, which means that our facilities in the Albina area in North Portland will benefit for upgrades and renovations. So yeah, but fast forward five years, in March, the district sent an LOI to the seller. There was not an agreement on price. So we commissioned an appraisal which we received in May for 15.2 million. The parties continued negotiations on price and ultimately agreed to 16 million. We finalized an LOI in June and the parties began negotiating a purchase sale agreement which is before you tonight. If the board approves the agreement tonight, we will formally begin a 90day due diligence period. During that time, we will obtain and analyze a

074lot of data about the building and development operating plans and budget to be shared with the facilities committee and the board. At the end of the due diligence period, district staff will make a recommendation to the board about proceeding with the transaction. That's basically the close of the sale. We anticipate a board vote in early December. And if we're going to proceed, the seller requires the transaction, the transaction to close no later than December 29th. So with that, I'd like to present my team who will share more about One North. And we are excited to do that. And I am going to turn it over to Nicole Watson, our senior director of family and community engagement. [Music] Good evening, board of directors uh and community. My name is Nicole Watson. I'm senior director of family

075and community engagement. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Uh this is uh a strategic update on our efforts to acquire a permanent home for the Center for Black Student Excellence. We believe that we have identified the right site. This session is a critical step towards that vision. And while we know that there has been lots of public conversation about this project, tonight we will bring you clarity, transparency, and accountability as we talk about the vision. I've structured tonight's presentation uh briefly to ground us in the Center for Black Excellence uh the Center for Black Student Excellence around the context because I think it's important to share the urgency of our current moment uh and to walk through the site that's under consideration. And I'll close uh tonight with uh my recommendation and next steps.

076However, it's important uh to note that while this is a next step, it is not a final step. It is, however, an intentional one. The due diligence period puts the hard work in the open with community voice continuing to guide us every step of the way. So, let's talk a little bit about the purpose. The Center for Black Student Excellence is more than a building. It is a systems level redesign. It's a place, it's an approach, and a reflection of our commitment to black students and to our families. Launched in 2018, PPS began what they called reimagining public education. By 2020, our voters gave us a mandate with over 75% approval to prioritize this work. The Center for Black Student Excellence, while accessible to all students, uh, envisions both material and symbolic transformation that centers

077black- centered curriculum, healing centered approaches, and culturally grounded support. Before I continue, I'd like to take a moment to center gratitude in the incredible uh incredible opportunity before us. The Center for Black Student Excellence is not the work of one person or of just one moment. It is the culmination of years of vision, labor, and care. I would be remiss if I did not pause to recognize the brilliance that helped shape this initiative. I want to publicly acknowledge the stewardship of Camille Idavo. who I like to call the leader of this vision where I get to hit a home run from third base. The former director Toy Watson and the contributions of former program manager Quinn Peoples. Their work laid important groundwork for where we stand today and it deserves to be named in this

078space. And an intentional shout out to the incomparable Aaron Frasier, executive director of Center for Black Excellence, who has been a true sister and partner in this work. This moment is a culminating effort of her leadership, and we are grateful to be at this historic moment alongside her. So, let's talk about this current moment. We have reached an important milestone, y'all. After years of visioning and planning, PPS has identified the One North property as the leading candidate for the Center for Black Student Excellence as our headquarters. This site stands out because it's more than just sizable square footage, and I can't wait to tell you all about that. It's deeply rooted in Albina's history. It's movein ready, and it offers us a chance to activate the Center for Black Student Excellence far sooner than any

079other modernization or new construction would. We are now in what we call the due diligence phase. That means we're testing whether this site can fully serve the programmatic, cultural, and community functions that our students, whom I like to affectionately call our babies and families, deserve. We know trust is earned through transparency. That's why tonight we are showing you both the promise of the site and the risks, as well as how we intend to mitigate them. Our stewardship of public funds requires us to be thoughtful, intentional, weighing costs, timelines, and alignment with the community's vision. This delivers on the promise voters approved in 2020 with responsibility and with impact. So, let me show you the site. This is the one north property which consists of two buildings totaling over 75,000 square feet completed in 2015 and

080designed by Holst Architecture with sustainability at the forefront including solar uh our solo uh our solar arrays and thermal optimized materials. This site is centrally located in northeast Portland on the corners of Vancouver and Fremont and is fully ADA accessible, making it physically ready for partially programming while allowing for long-term flexibility. Culturally, this location sits in the heart of Albina at the intersection of its legacy and its future. The alignment of these community investments is beyond powerful and truly magnifies the moment. From a zoning and infrastructure standpoint, the CM3 uh design uh provides flexibility, it means that we can use this space for district programs, partner with community- based organizations, and adapt it over time as it evolves. And again, I want to pause for a personal note to say when I looked and designed

081uh this deck for you all, I I placed this picture and it had not even resonated with what I was placing in. For me personally, this is more than just a site. As I look at this picture, I grew up blocks away from here. My grandmother lived on Kirby, enabling me to attend Boyce Elliott Elementary as a child. [Applause] >> Kirby, baby. And my family church, Open Door House of Prayer, sits nestled on Fremont, just a half block down. Many black Portlanders can share fond memories of this corner, uh, which carries memories and meanings from the old Craigos to the 1222. reclaiming it as a home for black brilliance which deepens its symbolism. This next few slides uh is a little bit of a brag post where we wanted to show a little bit of

082what's inside on the first uh and second and third, fourth and fifth floors of the west building. So you can see the beautiful architecture, the atrium. Um, one of the elders that I was talking to in the community this evening, um, was talking about how it already looks like some of the modernizations that we can already brag and boast about. Our next slide is the east building where it has the stadium style seating for community engagement events and some of the workspace that hovering above which gives our babies and families an opportunity to work but while being adjacent. So why one north? I want to anchor that in four points. time and technical clarity, design meeting sustainability, it being embedded in Albina's story and aligned with Albina Vision Trust. One North is fit for purpose.

083But One North isn't just a site. It sits at the heart of the historic Albina district where generations of black Portlanders lived, thrived, played, prayed, and were later displaced by urban renewal. Today, Albina Vision Trust is actively working to restore land, cultural institutions, and the legacy of our community. One North lies in proximity to Albina Vision Trust's ambitious community rooted redevelopment projects like Albino 1, the first 94 unit affordable housing development and already providing deeply affordable family homes which are supported by our culturally specific services. I happened to attend the Albino one recently, uh, the block party on Saturday. It was lit and it just speaks to the promise of what this opportunity uh is before us and it means that uh this particular site meets both our immediate and long-term needs uh in the

084center. So let's talk a little bit more about the benefits uh the cultural and symbolic fit. It is functional readiness its strategic location and visibility and its fiscal alignment. As I said, its movein readiness positions one north as a strategic asset for center for black student excellence. We can begin partial programmatic uh activation almost immediately while simultaneously supporting the broader Albina vision redevelopment journey. This is not just a building that we are securing. We're reclaiming ground that can serve as a living, evolving home place for black educational leadership, community partnerships, and cultural healing that we desperately need in Albina. As I've demonstrated, the benefits of One North extend far beyond square footage. It is a cultural return to Albina, a strategically visible site and fiscally responsible within our bond allocation. these four dimensions listed before

085you, the cultural, the functional, strategic, and fiscical alignment seamlessly with our vision for the Center for Black Student Excellence. But I want to build a bridge for you, a bridge into student access and community access. I want to pause because a building alone is not the story. What matters most is how students will access and experience this incredible space. The Center for Black Student Excellence, while not being a traditional site, I want you to reference back to the vision and hopefully you all have taken a look at this 194 page document that outlines what community asked us to do thoroughly and know that this means that we dare to do things different. I want to recall it being a systems redesign. That system redesign meaning we dare to do things different and dream differently. Meaning

086it can be a hub, a resource center where students gather for enrichment and leadership, wellness, and culturally programming that affirms who they are. And just as important, this will not just be a PPSonly site. One North's design and location make it ideal for collocation with trusted community-based organizations that culturally specific partners that families rely on already for mentoring, tutoring, wellness, and connection. By bringing these partners By bringing these partners into the center as what we might call satellite spaces, we create continuity. Families can access PPS services and the partners they have known to trust under one roof without having to navigate disconnected systems. When we think about student access, I want you to remember the Center for Black Student Excellence is not designed to be a traditional K12 site. It is a flexible hub where

087students will gather for enrichment in arts and wellness and leadership development as I've stated. And I want you to think of afterchool programming, summer intensives and enrichment and student convenings just to name a few. When students are on site, it will be for experiences that affirm their brilliance and expand beyond the traditional school day. after school, on weekends, during the summer, providing opportunities for that enrichment, that leadership and wellness, which means that they cannot always access that in their classrooms. Importantly, students will experience the Center for Black Student Excellence in multiple ways. Inside the center, through direct programming and gatherings within their schools, through the resources, professional learning, and cultural affirming strategies generated by our work and culture in the classroom, and in the community through events and exhibitions that bring our families back to

088the table. And I know we've asked a lot of community. The engagements that are listed in our vision speak to how exhaustive that team labored amongst community to hear. This builds directly on that engagement work which began in the fall of 2022 through the spring of 2023 and it continued with culture in the classroom initiative which was led by our incredible PPS design team from January 2024 through June 2025. Across that period, the design team hosted uh several community engagements, co-designed instructional strategies, and centered black and native students and families in reimagining what culturally affirming, deeply engaging, and data-driven instruction looks like. This work is embedded all throughout our strategic framework, which we reference as our district continuous improvement plan. In the Center for Black Student Excellence vision, page 66. Okay, clock it. The community

089was clear. We needed dedicated space for students, staff, and families to experience black joy and healing. The center is designed as that resource hub where students gather for affinity, staff for professional learning, and families for honest and restorative conversations. Its resources extend to families who have been displaced and are grounded in priorities identified directly by students, our educators and our community. So this is not a new initiative. In other words, we not new to this. It is the continuation of years of listening, designing, and building with community. Center for Black Student Excellence is the next step in carrying forward that work into a permanent living ecosystem for Portland's black students and families. I want to pause a little bit and talk about the programming. Now, while we don't know what we can put there because

090we've got to do our feasibility work, this is what could be possible. What's listed on our slide is directly listed from our community vision. And so, the center for black student excellence should not just be offices or meeting rooms. It must be a place where students can create, innovate, and prepare for their futures. Inside one north, we envision and dream carving out spaces for a steam lab, a maker space, a for a creative studios. Maybe they make music and video, photography, podcasting, giving students hand-on opportunities to explore industries of their future. This isn't just enrichment for enrichment's sake. It is about career and college pathways, internships, mentorships, and readiness programs that prepare students for post-secary success and emerging steam careers like AI. So, when we talk about one north, we're not just talking about offices.

091We're talking about labs where student can build and design, studios where they can create and spin, and spaces where their brilliance is showcased to their community. When I think about the collocation of our trusted community-based organizations that already serve black families, when families walk into the One North building, they will find PPS alongside the culturally specific partners they already rely on for those mentoring, those tutoring skills, the wellness and cultural connection. By creating satellite spaces for our partners within the center, we create continuity. Families no longer have to navigate those disconnected systems as I've mentioned. Instead, they will encounter a unified ecosystem of support under one roof. The site's proximity to Albina Vision Trust, Albina 1, and Center for Black Excellence makes this collocation strategy much a larger part of the cultural and community renaissance

092in Albina. It is also fiscally sustainable throughout our thoughtful of our collocation, which creates opportunities for shared resources and lease revenue while deepening trust with families that we serve. So, as we move forward, I want to show how this vision translates into student success and community partnership by listing out our risks that we've identified and the mitigation plans that we have in place to respond. I want to begin by knowing that every property we might acquire carries some risk. What matters is whether those risks are manageable, and in this case, they are. We've been intentional about identifying the challenges, planning for them, and even turning many of them into opportunities. Transportation and parking uh challenges are common in urban settings, right? We are in a city who is promoting us to the 20 is plenty

093and we are absolutely trying to move away from our cars and into more sustainable uh ways of transportation. I didn't come up with that quote. That's the city of Portland. But 20 is plenty. At One North, we are addressing the transportation and parking challenges through shared use parking agreements, employee and public transit incentives, and exploring alternate curbside or walking options with the city partners. Uh these solutions align with our values of sustainability, walkability, and access. The other risk that we've identified is the alleyway, which is city-owned and slated for public improvements. So, the alleyway between the two buildings does require our attention. It also raises security considerations around how students and the general public might interact. That's why we are engaging city bureaus early and ensuring that contract language with partners protects our babies. And

094at the same time, this is an opportunity to shape long-term community access in partnership with the city. And we're not new to that either. We've done that before. With commercial tenants already in place, uh PPS would inherit some operational responsibilities. And rather than viewing this as a burden, we see it as a revenue generating opportunity. With the right property management strategy, tenant lease options can help offset costs and support the cent's sustainability. Our last two risks that I want to note and flag for tonight is parking and our uh the landlord piece that I just uh kind of alluded to. So, parking is limited at one north with fewer than 10 uh on-site stalls and only temporary access to the adjacent church lot, which I want to name in this space, is currently life change.

095[Laughter] >> Our approach is to pursue off-site and shared use agreements with nearby partners, including the church, while also incentivizing employee and public transit use. In this way, the site's urban accessibility and walkability becomes a strength, not a weakness. As for the existing commercial tenants, these leases are not a burden. They represent a financial advantage, creating revenue that helps offset operational costs and sustains the center while we also build out ongoing and up community partnerships. What I want the board to take away tonight is these are not dealbreaking risks. They are manageable conditions and in several cases opportunities that we proactively address. so that the center for black student excellence can thrive. My next steps and recommendations, we uh have done the hard work of our due diligence. What remains are the operational details, feasibility,

096partner consideration, and program design. That's the fun part. And we are prepared to execute on every single one of these deliverable deliverables. Our next steps are concrete. We need to go back and engage community directly around co-designing student programming and establishing a property management strategy that ensures long-term fiscal sustainability. What we need from the board tonight is authorization to proceed. Approval of the purchase and sale agreement allows us to move from vision and into reality. From identifying a site to activating it for students, our babies, our families, and our community. Our recommendation is clear. approved the purchase and sale agreement for one north. This vote affirms the commitment Portland made to black students and families in 2020 and sets us firmly on the path to delivering that promise in a tangible and timely way. >>

097Thank you. I want to Thank you, senior director Watson Bort, what questions do you have for the team or me? >> Okay. Um, my concerns are similar to Angela's actually. Uh, she said it very well. Um, we all know we don't have any money for operation. So, I'm saying how do you see that? How do you see supporting all the programs if Portland public schools can't provide funds? >> Do you want to take that one, Dr. Armstrong? >> Yes. Yeah, absolutely. I think we can um tag team this. So, one of the things that we'll identify through the due diligence process are uh the resources that we will be able to generate with the lease. Um, as you know, when property um is rented out, we are able to use those funds on programming or

098or any other use. It doesn't need to go back into buildings. And so we're looking forward to seeing what that would yield through the due diligence process for not only the maintenance and uh management of the site, but how that might contribute to programming. And I will say that we um believe in the partnerships that we have across the city. And I think when we think of the Center for Black Student Excellence, we're thinking like it takes a village in that approach. So, we're excited to go through the next two months of being able to bring information that will answer those questions. And I just want to note that we will bring those answers to the facility committee over the next two months on the results of the due diligence and be able to spend

099some time in conversation about some of the items that may come up during this process. >> And I I can follow up with Dr. Armstrong if that's all right. I also think we need to be clear that PPS will always uh our partners aren't not replacing PPS in this site. So the we will maintain um our presence and maintain full sight and control and all decision-m um and this approach isn't inconsistent with what PPS has already done. We've worked with community- based organizations and partnerships all of the time, some of which rent space and buildings from us in this very spite site. Um, one North simply just gives us the dedicated home to bring all of those services under one roof, but it doesn't mean that those partnerships somehow nullify the work uh that we

100are doing. This work is strategic in alignment with our district's continuous improvement plan and in alignment with your board goals. And so that is going to maintain our uh our residency there and it doesn't mean that working with community based partners gives them more insight into what happens in that building. It's our space. We'll dictate what happens inside it. So, I think two key points is it's not a school and it is a building that we'll continue to own. It's an investment for Portland. >> Yeah, I know. After reading everything or almost everything, um I did look up um well, I emailed Rosanne and asked I figured we already rented space out and she said, "Oh, yes, and we have a rental team." Yes. So, it's not as if this is new. >> No, we

101are a major landlord. We do this all the time. And we're not new to that. >> Yeah, >> absolutely. >> So that made me more comfortable. >> But I think once the feasibility study is complete, it will tell us absolutely what operating costs we can generate. We don't know that quite yet. That's why due diligence is deeply important and necessary so that when we come back to you, we can actually tell you what the bottom lines are, what's possible in the space. Okay. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. And if I could add, um, one of the purposes of the purchase sale agreement is to allow us to really get in and investigate what our opportunities are without the seller being able to sell the property to someone else while we're working through all the

102questions that we all have. >> Thank you. Thank you, Director Lefort. And then I'll go to you next. >> I've got a few questions. Um, just so I'm clear, as the expectation, I'm not sure who to direct this to, um, uh, that all tenants of the building will pay rent, including our wraparound service providers that are currently have contracts with the district. Like what's have we had that conversation? Anything about that? >> I do think that that's important to flag. The partnerships that exist in RESJ have been a partners for with with over 52 of our sites and for longer than 25 years. we have no interest in some setting what is in resj um and and elevating that in in CBSC or the center for black student excellence. I do believe that those partners

103uh can work alongside us, but I want to make sure that Dr. Adams has an opportunity uh to weigh in, but that is not the idea is that partnerships would cease to be under his department um only to exist in the center for black student excellence. Um they need to serve all 52 of our sites and even more of that. And this just gives us more opportunity to be intentional in how we're providing our services with our contracted partners. Dr. Adams, did you that failed? >> Great. Thank you. Um, >> I think her I think her question was more on um the rents on that and the question I think being correct me if I'm wrong being that will all partners that use the space outside of Portland um be obligated to >> I I

104think that's a great question and I think it would be a little too early to answer and so I think part of what the due diligence will give us is is what's possible but the idea would be to develop a property management strategy that allows us to use the rents to help endure the facilities and deferred maintenance and all of the things that need to happen in the site. And we do that all the time, but I don't want to overpromise what we might be able to do until I know for sure what this feasibility study indicates. >> And we also want to engage our real estate department. We have about a dozen folks who make up the real estate team and so it's important to have them in that conversation as well. >> Absolutely.

105Absolutely. um is the expectation that P is the expectation that PPS will be responsible for operations and maintenance of the building and if so can we define what those operations costs are. I don't want I'm not going to get too in the weeds. This is like >> we have 90 days to conduct our due uh diligence which the board will receive some updates and some analysis and board will have final approval on whether to purchase the building. But I do believe and maybe Liz can speak to a little bit more of that. Um but the operating plan for budget um is something that we can determine during that 90-day due diligence phase. >> And I definitely want Liz to answer, but I also want to say that those conversations will happen in the facilities committee

106from this point forward until we bring back to the full board the um final purchase sale agreement. But go ahead, Liz. >> I can just confirm what's been said. The seller will provide us with the operating and maintenance historical data so we can build out performers and operating budgets for the building. >> I'm assuming that we're going to be responsible for that. The PPSes >> as if we are the new owner. Yes, we'll be responsible for that. >> Um and then there was another call out. Um it is a commercial building. Um tenants that are not nonprofits that are for-profit businesses I believe will be responsible for paying the property tax. I mean obviously we'll have rent. um that there will be a potential tax bill that comes along with this building which is a

107little bit different than our schools. So when I read about the an operating agreement for common areas, what does that mean specifically? >> So we are still working through there's an LLC that's been created for that common area among or in the building and what the what the legal implications for that relatively small area are. We are That's part of our due diligence. You are correct that the for-profit tenants who will who will be there postclosing if the deal goes through um there is a property tax obligation for that. And our general understanding and we I haven't seen every single lease yet, Director Lefort, but that they're largely triple net leases and so the property tax obligation falls to the tenant um for that expense. But we are confirming that across the tenants. I don't

108want to I like Nicole, I don't want to overpromise what we haven't fully seen yet. >> Right. >> And I don't want to get in the weeds before you do your due diligence. So just I'm thinking how you know getting to a yes vote tonight. >> Thank you. Student Representative Tardo. >> Yeah, I just like to say um definitely looking forward to seeing that budget impact statement in December. Um, now I would like to echo some things that uh our own Angela Bonia said, you know, in making sure that we're including members of our community in this in this due diligence process. Um, you know, not only our uh our black staff and educators, but also our black students, you know, who are going to be the ones using this space. You know, I would

109definitely like to see, you know, a report, you know, on some conversations with with our black, you know, staff and students and what they want out of this space. you know, you know, when you go to, you know, Augly Green Middle School, which is where I went to middle school, it's like, what do those kids want out of this space? You know, what do the kids at Harriet Tubman want out of this space, you know, and making sure that that that is is guiding this, you know? Uh, so definitely looking forward to that. I know that's coming up in our uh in the due diligence process. Um, yeah. And uh and in terms of the the fiscal stuff also um I would also love a a report on what the what the long-term um plan

110is for for operations and oversight um so that we make sure that we're not just serving our black students today but forever, you know, and make sure that we can keep this facility running. >> Thank you so much, Representative Ptorau. I would also just like to add one. It's for all of our babies. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And I hope to work with you and our district student council on making sure that we leverage the voices of color for our students. >> Yeah. And I and I'd also like to add that I I hope that this is just the beginning of the conversation on some of those requests for all of our real estate items across Portland Public Schools. We do have a ton of properties that we need to begin having conversations on um

111that may have leases or may be um completely vacant. And so I think that the real estate conversation is a broader conversation in general. And then also just to point out that we have began having conversations with students. I know myself had a conversation with students at Jefferson High School and I know that those conversations will continue. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Any other questions? So, I think um hi. Uh I think what I have um and I'm hoping that as everyone gets to know me up here that you will what I say I say at face value and I offer transparency. And so I just want to >> microphone. It's on green. Am I just too far? >> I believe in transparency and honesty uh both here tonight and in my in my world

112everywhere. And so I want you all to know here in this room and everybody listening um remotely, everybody watching later, that a week ago when I started looking through all of the materials for the first time because I'm a new board member and I was not privy to everything that happened in the spring and even in the early summer. I also am not sick. I just cannot kick something for two months. So my apologies. Um, and so when I started reading everything a week ago, which is a lot, um, I got very nervous and I got very scared. And I will be honest and tell you that my initial reaction was to not vote because I didn't understand what I was voting on. And so I asked a lot of questions to make sure that

113this is an initial vote. And so everybody who has filled my inbox over the last week sharing some of these concerns, this is an initial vote and then we will be getting a lot more information before we make a final vote in December. And so I started in this scared no camp trying to figure out what to do and asking all the questions and then I thought well maybe I should abstain because isn't that what people do when they don't have the information they have and I was assured by PPS staff by district that the information is coming and I want the information is coming and I expect and all of us expect the information to come before we get to the final vote. So the the due diligence is a factor but it does

114need to happen in order for us to have the information we need to make this close. Um, I wasn't at a no or an abstension because I don't want the CBSE to happen. Quite the contrary, I want it to happen. I want it to thrive. I want it to succeed. I want it to be self- sustaining. And I want it to be here for a long, long time. Unfortunately, we find ourselves in a different political and financial landscape than we did in 2020. And arguably, I will say that the political landscape that we find ourselves in today or yesterday when we got a new Hispanic reasonable suspicion test from the US Supreme Court that's different from everybody else's reasonable suspicion test. Arguably, we need the CBSE even more now today because of the constant attacks

115on everybody who doesn't fit a very slim margin. So, it was those reasons that I was scared and it's these reasons that I want it to thrive. I have worries. I have worries that have been mentioned already. Do we have a rental agency to find organizations to fill a 72,000 foot building? I have worries about who will pay for security, who will pay for window cleaning, for concrete repair, for the electrical, to keep the very lights on. Part of what we heard in our strike was that we don't have funding to keep lights on and to keep rats and mold out of our buildings. And so, how are we going to take on a new building? I have worries about uh how it seems that this there will be no or limited students there during

116the day and so I ask how do students get there? How do they get home? Where do they park cars while they're there at the CBSE? We don't have yellow school buses sufficient to get our kids to school at a reasonable hour. And we in fact cut buses, which means elementary schools started an ungodly morning time early and end so early that no working parent possibly could do anything except for pay for after school hours. And so how do we get our kids to the CBSE? I have worries about what happens if the organization's renting space just up and leave or as Director Lefort asked if we rent to for-profit organizations who pays the much larger property bill property tax bill. For anybody wondering if PPS has the money to spend, this is a bond

117money. So it is different. While we need desperately need teachers in classrooms, while we desperately need librarians in libraries, and while we desperately need bus drivers and buses, none of this money, and I want everyone who's questioning it, none of this money can go towards that. Please reach out to your legislators. Please reach out to the governor. We need more money, but none of this money can ever go to that. It's going to this building. I say that because my inbox has been filled with people saying, "How can you possibly buy a building when my fourth grade needs a new teacher?" They're very separate. Um, so I'm saying all of this for one huge reason. We don't CP PPS doesn't have a penny to spend on this. We're going to be having conversations about closing

118schools. We've already dealt with deferred maintenance and lack of proper HVAC in schools leading to schools closing due to heat over the last couple of weeks and kids missing important instructional time. And like I said, last year we cut buses which resulted in schools starting early. And it's not good for students. It's not good for teachers. It's not good for front desk staff. And it certainly isn't good for working parents. So PPS doesn't have any staff to give to the center. Not without taking more staff from schools that are already underwater. So, I say all of this because I need the P the CBSE to work and I need it to be self- sustaining in order to get to a yes vote in December. So, I'm here today to say I want this to thrive

119and I hope that all of these questions that are being directed at all of you, which felt like they're coming at record speed because we are thinking this through because we want it to thrive, that we can get the answers that our community can feel safe saying yes, we need it. Um, this is sort of Portland's way to stand strong against everything that's coming our way. So, that's all I want to say. Thank you. >> Thank you so much for that, Director Englesman. And I assure you, we will get you those answers and we'll get us to the finish line in December. >> Thank you. >> I uh love the practicality of my colleagues and also have a lot of questions um and expect answers to come out of due diligence. But um as I've

120been perusing the materials and reviewing the vision, I'm reminded of the words of Tony Morrison who said, "As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think." It is time to make do on the debt that is owed to black students and families in this district. that is generations long. When we talk about what we can and cannot afford, what we cannot afford is to continue to short change our black kids. So, I'm putting my trust in you and the team to come with the answers. Um, I believe that this, uh, is something that y'all are not only putting a lot of thought into, but a lot of heart into. So, I look forward to, uh, finding out, you know, all the answers to these questions during due diligence, and I

121am beyond excited for the opportunities for our kids that will come through the Center for Black Student Excellence. Thank you for this work. Thank you, director DeFass. >> Um, thank you for your comments there. Um, some of you in the room have heard this before. And first of all, I want to acknowledge people in the, um, I'm looking at Miss Lad, uh, who was instrumental in getting this effort started five years ago. So, thank you for being here tonight. I know there's others I can't remember, but some of you have heard this before. So for 170 years, PPS's pattern of response towards the struggles of communities of color, especially black and Native American STEM, American students, stems from institutional and cultural racism that continues to exacerbate the inequalities and the outcomes that we see today.

122In fact, the origin story of Portland public schools is one of a district that viewed black and native children as burdens to educate. And I'm sharing this because I learned this in the last few years. I think it's important for us to all be grounded in this history. One of the earliest instances of active exclusion by PPS occurred when William Brown, a resident of Portland in the 1860s, tried to enroll his children in one of Portland's only two public elementary schools, launching what would be the first and only case of official segregation of black children in Portland. After repeated attempts to enroll his children in PPS and being denied, Mr. Brown appealed to the board of education, including directors whose names I won't recount tonight. Again, his children were denied access. The school board explained

123that they resisted integrating schools by saying, "If we admit them, then next year we'll have no money to run the schools." And I think that's gerine to our conversation today. So in 1867, the board of education was afraid to provoke the taxpayers and rouse the eyeire of uh white families. And rather than risking the anger of PPS white parents, the school board eventually allocated $800 for a segregated school in downtown Portland. 26 black students uh many of whom uh attempted to attend one of the two public schools were denied uh were enrolled in this school. And every year at schoolboard meetings, the school's existence was called into question until it was abolished in 1872. And 30 black students were welcomed into an integrated PPS. So the faces and tactics have changed. We have an obligation

124as leaders up here to do the right thing after 170 years of history of a failure to um educate our black children. And that's all I'm going to say. Just history lesson. Director Split. >> Thank you so much. Um, I also just want to thank director to pass for the history lesson. I think that's a really important reason well why we're here tonight and why I'm enthusiastic to move this forward and do the right thing by for black students and by all students that can be served by the facility. I want to thank everyone who did the work, had the patience, came tonight and many, many nights to watch us do this work. I see you. I wish I could see you tonight. Um I should have mentioned earlier on the downside of having CO

125and decided it would be better for everyone if I took another day um out of the public. So sorry that I'm not there cuz it's a huge night for a lot of you. Um, I think tonight we're keeping a promise that was made five years ago, simply put, and it's our obligation to keep the promise on this front that we've made to our voters and that the past board um committed to at that time. Um, so to me, that's what we're doing. We're moving forward with what we promised to do as an institution 5 years ago. Um, I do want to just offer three brief comments. Um, Nicole, you did such a good job presenting tonight. I guess what should I call you? Um, >> Miss Watson, how about that? Thank you so much for

126for your work and for the presentation and for all that you've done to make this happen. Um, in your um in the due diligence and in the work over the next few months and in the work to follow, if all goes well, um, I'm going to be really interested in hearing about educator engagement in putting together the work that's happening at the CPSSE. I also really want to echo the concerns about um not echo concerns, but just echo thoughts about figuring out how to minimize operational costs for the district given intense budget constraints that we have and um using bond money as much as we can in the ways that we can to support the facility so that we don't have to or can avoid spending those dollars that I think need to be in

127our classrooms where they're often serving students of color as well. And I also just want to say that um as somebody who represents zone one, we have a school that has a large black population that would really have a tough time ever getting over to the Center for Black Students Excellence after school. And so I hope that we can think of how maybe we can do some targeted work with summer or enrichment programs on weekends where we help bring some of those kids from Markham specifically and from other schools around the district that are pretty darn far from Albina. I know there's sizable black populations at schools like Clark, schools like Rosa Parks and Caesar Chavez that are just a little further a field. So, I hope we can think about how to make sure

128we're getting that programming and I want to hear we're planning on getting that programming to kids that might be farther from the center as well. Thank you so much everybody for your work and I'm really grateful to to be here to help move this forward tonight. >> Thank you, Director. >> Um, I just want to put my comment in. Go ahead. Yeah, I just I just want to just uh express extreme gratitude for all the people who really put a lot of work into this. This is a community effort. Um hundreds of people uh and waiting for 5 years and it's better now than never, but you know, if you're like me, if you know me, I wish this was done yesterday. So, um I'm eager to get this done. I also want to make

129some space for um understanding that and also some grace because it I think I speak for everybody including staff and all the board here. We all really want the center for black student excellence to be super successful. So successful that people are going to ask us to open it up all over the city. I think that is the ultimate goal for all of us up here. All the staff I've talked to. I've seen so much enthusiasm across you know just staff and board member about getting this through. And I just also want to ask us to be a little bit graceful because unfortunately this project has spanned across three separate boards, right? And um some of us just jumped into this and everybody has a different way of showing support. And what I really want

130to really want to stress is that if we're if we're doing a road trip, there's people like me who just want to turn on the ignition, step on the gas, and you know, we need people like that. But there's also other people that are want to check the gas and make sure the engine is running. And we have those people on the board, too. And we need all those type of people to get to our destination. So, I just want to be sure that I I make some space for grace. We have four, you know, a majority brand new board who just jumped into this and we're asking them to uh do this big heavy lift and they are showing their support in their own way and it it has really really been very inspiring

131to hear to see this kind of work. So, I I just want to um make sure we recognize that. Um I don't really have anything else to say besides that besides let's get to voting, right? But I wanted to talk to um Director Sullivan first. >> Well, I I just did want to say that when I was new on the board two years ago, there was a presentation and it was similar to this and it was beautiful and I thought, "Wow, wonderful." And then, you know, nothing happened two years later. But I also remember in some of the information that we've gotten there was uh also talk about taking things into the schools. This there's going to be a lot of planning where that goes it's doesn't all have to be in that building. So

132a lot of planning will go into the schools. So that might answer some of what um director split was thinking about in schools that are further away. >> Thank you Director Sullivan. >> Yeah. And I I just also wanted to echo I I really appreciate your words. Um, and I also I know I've signaled a couple of times that we're going to be able to have a discussion about due diligence across the facility committees and I I want to say publicly that we're we're going to have some hard questions and some tough questions. I think anytime we're making a major purchase, we're making an investment for Portland Public Schools and it's the board's obligation and duty to ask the tough questions, to do the deep dive, and it's our responsibility to respond with information. And

133I can publicly state that I have no reservations about the alignment and the focus and the drive for this board, all seven members, to be enthusiastically behind me and what we need to do on behalf of not only black students, but for all of our students. So, I'm excited to get this going. And I will say that we don't take the questions as a as a pause or a concern. We take it as an opportunity to answer and we look forward to doing that over the next couple of months in the facilities committee. All right. Um, I want to thank you all for the presentation, sharing that was amazing. Um, before we begin board discussion amongst ourselves, uh, we need to put this on the table. So, do I have a motion and a second

134to adopt resolution 7165 authorizing execution of purchase and sale agreement for the center for black student excellence building? >> So moved. Second. >> Thank you. have director to pass moves and director Chase Miller seconds. Uh why don't we start with public comment first? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um because otherwise it'd be kind of awkward to insert it right in the middle. All right. So, um Miss Brasha, do we have a public comment? Were you like uh could you call the people up? >> Yes. We have Aaron Frasier, Sahan McKelby, James Posey, and Gary Holland. Do we have a particular order? >> You may go in whatever order you like. >> Okay. >> Start when ready. >> Then I'll get us started. Good evening and thank you for having me. My name is Aaron Frasier and

135I'm the executive director of the Center for Black Excellence. I would like to thank Portland Public Schools leadership and staff and the countless organizations and individuals who have provided input, guidance, and partnership on this project. Collectively, this community has dedicated thousands of hours to co-create the Center for Black Student Excellence vision and spent years exploring options for a physical site, analyzing the pros and cons of Collocations, examining properties already in the district's portfolio, and surveying the market for buildings that met the standard of excellence expected. That time and energy is why we are now in a position to ask you to vote yes to enter into a purchase and sale agreement to acquire One North, an award-winning class A property in the heart of Albina. We didn't arrive here by accident. Through one pandemic, two

136CBSC directors, three superintendent, and the most regressive sociopolitical shift since the end of reconstruction gave rise to a century of racial terror. We have persisted to get here tonight. We have dreamed with each other. We have designed with intention. And we are determined to leave this boardroom having laid foundational bricks to build not just the CBSC, but bright, bold, brilliant, and beautiful futures for children, families, and educators who call this place home. Tonight, this board has the chance to make good on its promise to a community of people who, when I took on this role two years ago, told me unflinchingly that I was wasting my time and theirs if I thought Portland public schools would ever actually open a center for black student excellence. It was an audible expression of exasperation and exhaustion, and

137it signaled a belief rooted in repeated experience that at the end of the day, this district had no respect for the commitments it made to black communities and would always find a way to excuse its failure to follow through for black children. Tonight, many of those same people are sitting in this audience, excited to be proven wrong. We have shown up to watch as this board moves forward on one of the nation's largest public investments in infrastructure ever made to support black children. All in a state that tried its best to keep black people from ever being more than itinerant workers here. that so many found a way to not only stay but to sew futures in the face of that hatred is indicative of the fight, perseverance, and vision that were ingrained in the

138black folks who fled the Jim Crow South. And it flows through the veins and lives in the bones of the black families that make up this community today. That fight, that perseverance, and that vision are why we stand poised to do even more to support our children. And we ask only that you do your part tonight, too. Of course, purchasing a building won't fix every problem that has persisted in this district for more than a century. But entering into this PSA paves the way for this board to start healing past and present wounds done unto black families and children in this district and to continue co-creating the CBSC. And that you vote yes tonight does matter because while some of you are new to the board, this work is not new to this district. We

139are already running late. Not just by a few months and not just by a few years, but by decades upon decades during which the district abdicated its responsibility to educate black children in a way that leaves them well and whole, ready to be lifelong learners, leaders, and innovators prepared to shape the world rather than be subjected to it. And that is why anything other than a yes tonight is a no. That's why asking us to wait tonight is an unabashed wrong. You will not find a better property in a better location on a better timeline for a better price anywhere in the district. And everybody in this room knows it. So, so we are asking each of you to vote tonight to approve entering into a purchase and sale agreement for one north. We are

140asking you not to waver and instead to lead. Now is the moment, our moment to transform the future together. Thank you. [Applause] >> Good evening, directors. First of all, thank you all for taking this time to listen to us. I think that that is valuable and we don't take that for granted. My name is Sahan McKelie and I am the director of advocacy and engagement at Self-Enhancement Inc. or SEI. And I'm here tonight to express strong support on behalf of SEI for PPS to approve the PSA for the One North complex for the purpose of fulfilling a 5-year-old promise from PPS to the black community in Portland to provide a center for black student excellence. This promise was made in 2020 and approved by voters with overwhelming support. And I understand questions, but I would

141implore you all to differentiate between questions about this specific building versus questions for any building because questions for this specific building deserve answers in the due diligence process. Questions for any building are telling our community that we were lied to and PPS does not have any intent on fulfilling that promise. The budget for this project is available and the only thing standing in the way is your willingness to demonstrate with your votes tonight that black students matter. Equity still matters. Black education matters. Commitment matters. And our community matters. Our community, as you can see from the enthusiastic attendance tonight, is ready, willing, and available to be activated in support of this effort, and we are eager to work with the district and the Center for Black Excellence to promote educational success for black students. SEI

142stands shoulder-to-shoulder with our community, offering our full support as well. We know what the need is. excellence in educational access, resources, and opportunities for black students in Portland. And we know the importance of meeting this need. The very future of our community depends on it as our students are threatened with being left behind and left out in an everchanging technological world and a political environment that seeks the great that was created by pushing us down. But tonight, we're here to stand up. We're here to hold you to your promise to us. And we're here to shout from the rooftops that we will not wait any longer because the time for this change is right now. No one can say in this moment that we don't have the necessary resources or that we don't have the

143opportunity to act. There are no excuses. There's nothing to stop you from doing the right thing other than your own will to seize this moment. Our entire community is imploring you to seize it. And we promise to you that we will then seize the opportunity to step up and activate this space for our students. So please keep your promise to us so that we can fulfill our promise to our children. Thank you. >> Good evening. And I am not James Posey, but I've been asked to uh speak in hisstead. Um, so good evening, Superintendent Armstrong, um, and the board. My name is Lita Elliott. I'm a proud third generation alumni of the best high school in Portland. For those of you who know don't know, that's Jefferson High School. Um, I'm the parent of a

144fourth generation alumni. Um, so that my great-grandparent, my grandparents, parents, u, myself, and my kid have all been demos. Um, so I have a deep strong commitment to this community and to this neighborhood. Um, I'm a proud product of the beloved community of Albina and Northeast Portland. Um, in my day job, I serve as executive director of the Gordley Burch Center for Black Leadership and Civic Engagement. Um, and as I prepared for my testimony for tonight, I went back and I watched the July 28th, 2020 schoolboard meeting where the decision was made to move to send the historic bond measure that would modernize Jefferson High School and create the Center for Black Student Excellence to voters. Um, I realize that most of you all were not here at that time and so I'll reiterate some

145of what I shared in that meeting. First, I want you to know that we have always known black excellence and success in this community. Um, this center will not create that. This center will nurture that. Um, I often share that myself, uh, Rakaya Adams, a visionary behind Albina Vision Trust and one of the visionaries of this center. Uh, Nikay Harmon Johnson who leads our urban league. uh Dartian Callaman who um is a leader in the 1803 fund. We all went to Tubman Middle School, a school that was visioned for by our community, a school that our community pushed for. They came to this very room and demanded that the district do the right thing by black students and create Tubman Middle School. Um that school that our community visioned for um nurtured a lot of

146us who are leaders now, who are making a deep impact in our community. um we're a direct result of what it looks like when our community is listened to and when the district does the right thing. I don't know that they knew at the time that their vision would have such a great impact on the future. Um but I am thankful for their vision and I am hopeful that we have an opportunity to have that kind of impact for the next generation and several generations to come. Um I also shared at that time that I had served on the uh long range facilities committee way back in 2012. um and as a member of the bond development committee um in 2013 and um at that time we decided not to put Jefferson on the first

147bond because they were transitioning at the time to the middle college but we were reassured that it would be on the next one and it wasn't um and it wasn't on the next one. Um we have finally passed that bond but we still here we are 13 years later and we don't have a modernized Jefferson High School. Um we cannot wait for this center to be realized. Today is the day to decide to honor the the will of the voters and of our community and move quickly to make this purchase and move to make this center a reality. There was specific language in the resolution that day and the resolution stated that the board stands strongly in its commitment to authentically listen, learn, and partner with our community's black elders and listen to our black

148youth to address the cultural and institutional racism that has existed in our system since its inception inception. And that culturally specific organizations are uniquely positioned to partner with PPS to support racial equity and social equity goals. Well, here we are today. black elders, black youth, those in between, and many of our black culturally specific organizations. And after a thorough community engagement process, demanding, asking that you authentically listen to our community um and move forward with this purchase, um we cannot wait any longer. Please vote yes today. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. I don't know if y'all can hear me. It's kind of different been on this side. Um, good evening, uh, superintendent, um, chair, vice chair, um, board, board members. Um, I'm here tonight in strong support of continuing this effort to follow through on

149a promise the city and district made to our kids in 2020. The Center for Black Excellence was not a staff idea. It was not a passing thought. It was a community-led undertaking rooted in the voices of families and students. And it was overwhelmingly supported by voters. Let's deal with some some small facts. The building in question cost 16 million out of the 60 million that's allocated, leaving around $44 million. So let's say even if 10 million were invested into enhancements, that still leaves 30 plus million dollars that can go directly towards improving structural integrity of elementary and middle schools that desperately need upgrades. This was done intentionally. Um this is an expanding opportunity for all of our kids while we're also finally honoring a commitment to black students who have waited far too long for

150this kind of investment. I want to be very clear. Conversations around operating costs are being raised here in a way that they have never been raised for any other bond project ever. This board and previous boards had um did not ask for operational cost analysis for grant bowl upgrades, >> for athletic hub improvements or for the $87 million in additional field projects funded in the last bond. >> Not one question. >> This is even while the district has faced financial deficit over the f past four years. Nor were there operational cost analysis demanded before approving modernization projects despite enrolling declines that we all know exist. [Applause] When we talk about well where's the money at? I've always said this before, when this is a priority, we find the money. We're just like we're going to

151find money to operate the fields that has been voted for that you guys are going to be approving for athletic fields, maintenance updates, all that stuff that that's going to come out of our general budget for those items. I don't see why it would be any different with this project as well. The fact that this is suddenly a sticking point when it comes to the only black centered project this district has ever put forward is telling. It forces us to ask the question why. And let us not ignore the undertones and the quiet conversations cuz I hear them that are going on in this city and just like it was talked about before the attack on DEI from our own federal administration. The whispers by some that this building is too good for black children.

152that maybe something more rundown, more secondhand like the Salvation Army building would be more suitable. That mindset is not only dangerous, it's insulting. >> It is exactly why the Center for Black Excellence was envisioned. Our kids deserve the best and not the bare minimum. >> This board face a test tonight. Do you have the courage to honor what your predecessor set in motion? Do you have the fortitude to stand on the promise made to this community? The choice is simple. Either you are with us or you're against us. >> That's it. >> Thank you all for your testimony. Exirector Holland, good to see you again. [Applause] All right, let's start our board deliberations. >> Well, um, yeah, I guess if you this is a good time. Yeah. >> Um, so I just in response to

153Gary's comments, I hear you, but the difference for me with this building, um, versus other bond projects is that it come It's a commercial space. There's a huge difference. It's the It's the only one that is a commercial space and comes with a property tax bill, which Whoa, hold on. I'm not done. It's I checked. It's $317,000 a year. So, all I want to do is I do h I do want to move to amend the resolution by adding a new section um that reads, "Staff shall present to the board no later than Tuesday, November 4th, 2025 a comprehensive annual cost analysis for the One North facility, including a statement of financial responsibility detailing at minimum our staffing commitments, insurance, our maintenance budget, utilities, property tax obligations, and any other recurring operational expenses. And this

154is to it's intended to strengthen the transparency and accountability in our process. Um it's a significant ongoing financial commitment and it's essential that the board and the public have a clear understanding of what those costs are because my biggest fear is that we end up upside down on this building um on a monthly with our monthly bills and we have very very real budget issues. Um we've been told it's a turnkey solution and in terms of a physical building it is. It's amazing. Um, in terms of operations, it's not. Um, we will be managing commercial property. Uh, it's a very large one and just sleep at night. I just need to know that we can cover our costs. And we don't actually I need everybody to understand we don't actually know that yet because we

155haven't seen the rent. And I just want to make sure that we see everything. I I've met with Aaron Nicole's amazing. Your Tony Morrison quote at the beginning. I felt like that when I sat with Aaron yesterday. I thought I can dream like this. This could be a reality. So, I'm very excited about it. I just need to know for sure that we're going to get the information we need from the district so that we're 70 in December because I want it to succeed. >> Could you um >> I have a question about that. So, I thought >> wait um let's let's put it on the table first. Could you read the amendment again? This is >> um Okay. Staff shall present to the board no later than Tuesday, November 4th, 2025, a comprehensive annual

156cost analysis for the One North facility, including a statement of financial responsibility uh detailing at minimum PPS staffing commitments, insurance, a maintenance budget, utilities, property tax obligations, and any other recurring operational expenses. >> Isn't that >> Thank you. Um we again we're just we have a motion to uh for this amendment. Do we have a second? I'll second it. >> Okay. Thank you. We have director Englesman. >> It's a board. Do we have a regular board meeting on November 4th? >> So, just now we can start discussion on the amendment. Um, one thing I I do want to note that I think it's important to everyone here who's very interested in um I looked over this amendment. This amendment doesn't really change anything that the staff is going to do anyways. It doesn't change the

157vote in December. I I want to also put out there that uh what what really sold me on this amendment is two things. Number one, um by doing it this way, it actually can actually expedite this process so that all the questions are answered by December. Um and so that we don't there's no more further delays because that's my number one goal. I don't want any more further delays. Uh, number two, I think uh that one of the the things about this amendment is that it's it's not the other thing that I think sells me on this amendment is that it's not necessarily targeting its staff because the staff is doing this anyways. It is already going to be uh done and presented. what it does is actually holds the board accountable and that that

158we establish a meeting so that when people do have questions they know where to go and where this information is going to be presented and I think I think that's very powerful and again be very clear this amendment does not slow down this process and in fact it could actually speed it up >> that's that's my hope >> I have a I have a question so I thought that I thought that the resolution that we're voting on gives us until the end of the year. So, it seems like it I'm just asking a question. It's moving it up. It's allowing like eight weeks instead of 12 weeks. And knowing the amount of um work that is processed through the district, having been on the board for so long, I'm concerned that moving that data up.

159I understand the intent behind it. I also am very curious. I want to see the numbers. I've been looking at Portland maps the whole time, but com condensing the time that the district thinks they need to do an excellent job sets us up for failure. >> And I I I mean I'm really concerned. This is the neighborhood I live in. I was born in and I do not want to be set up for failure. I don't want to set the staff up for failure. So I the way I'm reading it and I have a question is you're moving the date up by four weeks with this amendment. Is that correct? I'm happy to to to change it. I did that to make sure that we get it because I'm acting with a sense of urgency.

160If you feel more comfortable with December, that's fine. >> Could we then go with the the resolution, which is to to to do the due diligence to allow the 90 days, not the what is that 3 months versus two months versus 3 months to do the 90 days to do like the best job we can do. It's I mean everything that we move forward with hinges on our ability to have an excellent accountable transparent due diligence proformas rents and some of the work is out of our control if we're working with a real estate agent who needs to get back to their real estate agent and I'm just concerned that ex that shortening that timeline sets this this next step step up for failure. That's my concern. I mean, I'm I maybe staff could could

161we get an answer on could this be done in four weeks? >> I'd love to to jump in because I I actually think that we are a lot closer in the due diligence process of some of these items. And so I wanted to call I thought I saw Liz large out there. Where is she? Here she is. to just speak to the possibility of getting some of these items that were listed in the resolution complete by November 4th because I I think we're I think we're on track but I want our lawyer to answer that question >> and I with the full disclaimer that >> yes thank you uh that I'm the lawyer not the real estate department but I work very closely with the real estate department uh and uh they are very capable

162hardworking people who have a lot of experience in commercial real real estate including due diligence. We have at the with the grace of the seller a bit of a running start on due diligence. It formally commences entering the purchase and sale agreement. We have a data room that has been set up with a lot of information. So I I think if you're looking at um insurance, a maintenance budget, utilities, property tax obligations, and recurring operational expenses, I think that data will be ready within 60 days. Um, I might get killed when I go back, but I I think I actually I think we have those are those are facts upon which we can build projections or deliver historical data and I think we can do that. >> Well, I don't have an issue moving into

163December if you're more comfortable with that. >> Director Englesman. >> Yeah. I if we if we move if we move it to December, then we have to move the vote date because we can't be in a position where we're getting Hold on. We can't be in a position where we're getting the information that we're trying to digest and make a vote on the same day or within a couple of days before. It's it's it we have to have the information in time to then turn questions around. I guess I'm not understanding what the point of an amendment is then if it's not to try to get information in time for us to to understand it and then have a a vote. >> I'm suggest Oh, I'm sorry. >> I'm sorry. >> We We will also

164be receiving updates during facilities committee though, correct? >> So, we do not have to digest all of the information like in one bite. We'll be getting it all along as things are discovered. And I think I I would feel comfortable making a commitment on behalf of my colleagues that we can come to the next facilities meeting with the work plan and the deliverable dates and what we have to I mean a very detailed progress report on the work we've done and the timeline for delivering the items you've articulated here in the proposed amendment and we will do that with or without an amendment. >> Yeah. I just I I I want to double score that. I think I said that earlier that we're going to use the next two time and the next two facility

165meetings um to bring forth information through the due diligence and um make sure that the board has adequate time to dive into the numbers. We we take that as our responsibility and we'll make sure that there is the time as set out in with the two the next two facility um committee dates in October and November >> or maybe not. >> I think there's one in September as So, so maybe the second and third. Yeah. Thank you. >> So, I just want to be clear is everything that is in the amendment part of due diligence. >> Yes. Right. It it is it the due diligence is a very broad category. There are certain things that are specific data historical expenses. The operational plan and fitness, right? That's the that's the piece that I'm probably less

166able to speak to directly, but what programs go in the building in which spaces? We have people working on that now, trying to assess what's what's possible. The the maintenance budgets, the real the property tax obligations for for-profit tenants, insurance pieces, those are those are data that we can get fairly quickly and I I think we'll we'll lead in the report out on due diligence. >> So, the amendment isn't really needed to get everything that's in the amendment. Is that correct? But I can just say staff is committed to getting information to the board as quickly as possible and is targeting the the facilities committee as the entry point on those report outs. >> So that that's what the amendment does. It is moving faster. >> I I I I'm sure we'll have some of

167this information well before November 4th. I don't want to speak to all of the operational planning and fit for purpose. I think that's a more complex exercise in that 90-day period and they're hustling to get it done. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. I think my other concern about the resolution is if things like programming and the specifics around that are going to be determined during due diligence, then how can staff present a plan for what those things are going to cost before the end of due diligence? >> They can't. That's not what that's not what I was referring to. I'm talking about things like any security. Like I don't know because we don't have that information. Like what are what is PPS financially going to be responsible for providing? Because it's it's a unique

168situation. And it's not a school. >> Yeah. I'm just thinking things like utilities or maintenance, things like that are going to be contingent upon what the programming is, right? >> We should have an energy disclosure from the seller that would would tell us what it is right now. We would use that to budget against. >> I think if you're talking about staffing for the operation of the building like like maintenance and security, that's one bucket of staffing that I think we can we can help forecast and that again will be out in the the front part of the due diligence report out. the other pieces related to programming may take a little longer and again I'm way out of my lane sitting up here that >> can I can I say so the I guess

169the reason that I like the November date and you can assure me by telling me here's what I don't want to have happen I don't want to have get to the facilities meeting and have PBS say we're not ready to present and then get to the next board meeting or get to the next facilities meeting and say we're not ready to present and we're not ready to present and then suddenly we get to the December board meeting where we're supposed to be making a decision and we've been provided all of this information just a week beforehand instead of over the course of >> so that's that's what I don't want to have happen and so if you are saying that at the first facilities meeting feet will be held to the fire and you will

170be giving us answers so that we can feel comfortable about this then that's great right I think I think what we can commit to is uh working hard and hustling we know time is of the essence we're using the data we have and not this won't be a you'll hear only everything at at the very end we'll share as we go that we will give you updates about where we are in that process in the facil each facilities committee meeting and what is to come that doesn't mean we'll have all the things at the first or maybe even second but there'll be a constant flow of information as we have it and as it is useful >> I mean >> we should also just guarantee we we don't have to rush a vote if someone's

171not ready to vote we can always >> move we're not going to be rushed into a vote >> I'm going to vote Um, >> I just wanted to say something. I feel like >> Yeah, I feel as though this amendment >> Sorry. Please um let's deliberate. >> Thank you. Uh, but I I believe this amendment just seems a little bit unnecessary. Um, and I get I get the want to have this information, you know, to make sure that we 100% have this information by a certain date, but I I feel as though I trust our district people to get that information to us as they have it. And if it turns out they don't have that information at our next facilities meeting, then I feel that we that we need to trust them to give

172them the time that they need. and that and I trust that when they have that information that we'll get it as soon as they have it, you know, and so I just feel like this this amendment just introduces an undue layer of stress to that, you know. So >> yeah, I mean I think as as a new board it is um important to presume competence of our staff and the team that is working on this. And uh if we get to facilities and they're not coming with the answers, then that's a management piece for us. But I don't want to start out assuming that they're not going to be able to get the job done. [Applause] >> So I would feel comfortable. My concern is that we don't get the information and Let let me

173just finish. That was my concern. I feel a lot better about it now. I'm wondering if we table the motion and just do a directive. >> Al. >> Would that make sense? >> Yeah. I think moving to table. >> Yeah. >> Yes. So, we have a move to table the amendment. Uh so that more time for further discussion. Do I have a second? >> I seconded the original. I'll second this one. Yeah. >> Okay. And we have Director Englesman seconds this motion. Uh let's take a let's take a vote uh for tableabling this amendment. All in favor please say yes. >> Oh find me. >> Oh yeah let me explain. Oh yeah. Is there sorry is there board discussion? Question. So tableabling is basically um moving this amendment off the table um for potential either

174further discussion. >> It's just a potential >> I think. Can I help clarify here? A motion to table means that the motion will die. That this amendment will die. >> So if you table this, it's done. >> It won't come back. So I don't want there to be cl lack of clarity. If you vote to table this amendment, it is dead. >> And it's not a parking lot. In other words, >> no talk about I don't need a parking lot. >> But but I think a directive would be great. I just want to make sure that we're hitting all of our deadlines so that we're voting to close in December. Yes, >> that's what resolution 7165 is calling for. It just doesn't have I mean it's got the 90-day period in it. Um I I

175I agree with student director RTO that it's an additional layer um that's not necessarily it's it's I I understand you want a deadline and I I I think staff can get us an iterative a conversation going forward. moving forward. The work is not going to just start tonight. It's been happening for years uh decades years since the bond passed. And so, um I I just feel like we need to give the staff 90 days to do excellent work, exe exemplary work, to do the right thing. If it's done sooner, that's great. We're not going to be given something the day before to vote on the next day. We'll have plenty of time to digest um information. Um, and it's good what you're calling for is really it's important. Um, >> and and I'd like to

176see us allow the 90 days to do exemplary work, not just rushed telling us what we want to hear, but to actually do the deep dive that we're going to be voting on at the end of the year. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments before we move to vote on the table of this amendment? All right, we shall now vote on uh whether we uh to table this amendment. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. >> All opposed. Abstensions. Student rep >> yes. >> Thank you. The motion to table uh passes by 7 to zero with student rep voting yes as well. All right, we are now back to discussion for the original um resolution 7165. Is there any further board disc we're now discussing this? Any other discussion points,

177questions? I just I well I I actually have a comment um just for help to make hopefully feel better. Um exirector Holland, thank you for showing up today. But him and I can tell you, we've searched so many properties and and this has been a long process and we have not found before today um a property that was deserving of the center for black student excellence. Things were either more costly, had deeper infrastructure issues or just old. And um I think this is a very exciting opportunity. I do want to also um as my prerogative as chair and and I want to also uh defer to director Lefort as chair of the facilities um committee and improvement and operations committee. Um we have a facilities meeting on October 8th, November 3rd and December 9th if

178needed. Uh that these will be where the the discoveries from the due diligence will be presented. So that is now on the agenda. Okay. So therefore I want to we can do both. We can move this along and we can be responsible people and make sure that all our eyes are crossed and our tees dotted. Right. Wait. Is it 9:00? I think it's past 9. No. Thank you. Um so uh we have that commitment. It is on the agenda. Do we have any other further board discussion on 7165 the mo um voting on the authorization for the purchase and sale agreement of fair or black student excellence? >> I have one I have one more thing to say. Um >> no uh I don't know what other board members have done in the past where

179there have been other projects that have not affected the same population. I want you to know that my intention is to have the fiscal responsibility and ask the questions for literally every project that is put in front. >> So my intention is to be here with every person who is looking at every project that's coming and asking questions. Not just this one, but everyone that's coming. And I'm brand new. This is the first time that this is anything like this is coming my way. But every time something comes my way, I will have the same um I will have the same lenses on. There's no difference. I just am wanting to do my job. >> Thank you for saying that, Stephanie. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. We will now vote uh on resolution

1807165 authoriz authorizing execution of purchase and sale agreement for the center for black student excellence building. All in favor, please indicate by saying >> yes. >> All opposed. Extensions. Student representative. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Resolution 7165 is approved by a vote of 7 to zero. The student representative officially voting yes. With that um give time people to mingle and celebrate. Let's take a 7minut break and especially if you have a bathroom emergency. >> Oh uh bathroom. >> Don't leave guys. This lobbying registration is real interesting. >> All right. Our next topic tonight on the agenda is the subject of outdoor school. Uh last month the teaching learning and enrollment committee recommended a resolution that would ask the superintendent to provide analysis of options that would add back a fifth day to the outdoor school

181program. Director Chase Miller, I don't do you want to talk about this for a little bit before we introduce the resolution? >> Yeah, thank you. Um so we've put forth a resolution uh pertaining to outdoor school. Um, Virginia, check me if I get any of this wrong. Uh, but essentially what the situation is is there has been a decrease in state funding for outdoor school, uh, which requires us to cut a day from outdoor school for PPS 6th graders. Uh so we put forth a resolution um asking the superintendent to do some work in exploring the costs associated with outdoor school um to see if costs have changed since it became a state law in I don't know what year that was 20 16 I guess the year probably doesn't matter >> I think so

182I think it was 2016 >> anyway the idea is looking for savings Um and uh then looking at if there are savings to be found, if there are potential ways that we could um cover the cost of the extra day through fundraising or something similar. Um so that's the resolution as it is drafted right now. Virginia, >> the cost analysis. So, I'm particularly interested in the the cost analysis, adjusting um what we've paid before Measure 99 passed and what we're paying after adjusting it for inflation to see if the cost has gone up since Measure 99 passed because I'm not saying that that's necessarily the case at all. I just would like to know because often when there's a guaranteed source of revenue, the cost goes up. So, I'd love to see if we are

183in a situation to perhaps negotiate. >> Yeah. and I I have staff on hand to address some of the question and things that may have come up um since I know some of questions were um brought forth. And so I have Chief Capori, I have Chief Morrison who can answer some of the financial questions. And if there are any questions regarding uh schools, we have um Chief of Schools Isaac Cardona. >> How about Should we put this on the table first? Oh >> yeah, let's put this on the table first. Uh, do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 7167 directing the superintendent to provide analysis of outdoor school costs and options to preserve a 5day outdoor school program? >> I move. >> Thank you. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. We

184have director Englesman moves and director Lefort seconds. All right. Ask away or present away. Start. Chief K for do you want to open >> talk a little bit about the um political discussion that was held in the uh teaching learning and and enrollment committee director split um brought forward some examples where she had spoken with legislators who didn't understand the cuts that were made and was unsure whether that was there was some ambiguity about whether the cuts actually were made or they weren't made. Yes, they and I've done some research on it and they have they definitely were cut outdoor school funding was cut by 20% which is basically one day of of of the week and in speaking with many legislators over the past month um I have been uh dissuaded or they have

185tried to dissuade me from or not but tell me that the chances of getting that funding restored at the state level are are slim to none. The um state of Oregon is currently after the revenue forecast that just happened an potentially a billion dollars um underfunded for this current bianium that we're in. And while they don't expect to come into special session to try to cut any more funds from education as a whole, um we I've been told by several people, you know, we'll be lucky if we get through next session unscathed. So, um, the chances of us getting this money from the state are are not great is what I'm trying to say. And yes, there was some confusion at the end of the session about whether the the legislators were confused, but the

186people who signed the budgets, they were not confused. >> Yeah. Questions, comments? Yes, I have questions and I'm not prepared to support this for a couple of reasons. Um, mostly because having served for so long, I know that when we ask the district to go look for something that displaces again displaces work that we actually need to kind of keep marching forward on, I'm looking at people in the audience that want to hear about seismic. I'm hearing that the legislature is underestimated. And then lastly, we heard from principles of Bowmont, Bridger Creative Science, Da Vinci Arts, Fabian, George, Gray, Harrison Park, Hosford, Jackson, Kellogg, Lane, Laurelhurst, Mount Taber, Oley Green, Odyssey, Rose Heights, Celwood, Skyline, Sunnyside, Tubman, Vernon, West Silvin, and Winterhaven that they're concerned about uh making do with what they've got already and

187that that I I got that letter and actually I'm an environmentalist because of outdoor school. Um but I know that when we hear from the community that they're concerned I also have two kids. One of them went to school for uh went to outdoor school for three days and and he turned out okay. He's just fine. I didn't think so for a while in high school, but he's he's actually really fine now. um and the outdoor school experience did not uh impact him negatively. So I think when we're looking at very very constrained budgets, we're talking about a constrained budget here at the state at every level. Um, I would rather not direct our superintendent to find to do this analysis because that means that she's not doing the work that I would like to

188see her focus on and I would hope that the board would want to see her focus on even though it's a good exercise, but we've also heard from so many of the principles here that they've got concerns. I would like to quickly echo that position because in my view, you know, this decision was to some extent already made, you know, um and by revisiting this issue on outdoor school, we are devoting uh or we we are diverting the superintendent's that very valuable time, you know, to an issue which I think in my view um I think is, you know, is unlikely that we're going to that we're going to find a perfect, you know, a perfect alternative to if we, you know, our state funding got cut and and so maybe we can fill in

189the gaps with our funding, but then what gets cut on our end, you know, is it my teacher, you know, is it, you know, is it someone here at the district office? like our our budget is already so tight, you know, and I feel like while it is, you know, deeply deeply unfortunate that we had to cut a day from outdoor school, it just seems like that that is the c the best course of action and and that devoting time into revisiting this I think is unlikely to produce an an alternative. I do want to clarify that uh I believe the resolution asks us to look for uh solutions that would not cut student facing services. >> Director Lefor, >> that's exactly what I was going to say. And also um I do think the

190cost analysis is really important. I feel like we often shy away from doing that work. I'd like to see us start doing if there's anything that we can gain financially if we can cut less time. I mean, we don't know unless we do the analysis. So, you know, that's that's where my head's at. So, one of the um I just want to present this out there because um I've talked to uh Director Chase Miller about potential options for how to do this. Uh one of the things about the the resolution is that it um you know in our discussion we noted that this is not necessarily needed. It is the board's perview to be able to direct a superintendent to discover you know to to explore discover options. So we have uh one of the

191things I would like to propose is that um instead of this resolution that us as a board with just acceptance up thumbs up whatever we direct as superintendent to explore uh the options or sorry to perform the things that are identified in this resolution instead. And the reason there's an advantage to this as well because in a directive it can be a conversation. It's not you know for example as legally uh messy or potentially messy. For example, if there are potential other avenues that may result in a better outcome, that's something that we can have a conversation and and just be a lot easier to kind of change course instead of being devoted to one direction that may not result in the outcome we have. One of the things that I really um like about

192this direction just in in general is that it provides an opportunity for maybe creating more awareness and therefore maybe pressuring our state legislators to fix this problem that you know quite frankly sounds like it just slipped under under them without them even noticing. So um and I think that may be by doing a directive if that is our best option a directive allows that versus a resolution we have to fill it to the tea right and so um I am proposing that instead of a resolution we move this in a directive we direct the superintendent to explore these options as outlined in this resolution instead. >> That's fine. I'm fine with that. >> I'm I'm okay with that too. uh because it's allows for a little flexibility and I mean I just I'm very creative

193but I'm wondering like I just I don't know where we would find the money. Um but maybe maybe there's maybe we need to shake look in between the cushions and shake the trees. Um but it it sounds like a dire exercise right now. So I'm just concerned about if you're if you're having staff do that. I'm concerned about what you're not doing. also hearing from the principles that they've got concerns about uh you know a loss of loss of um funds at the building level. I also think kids would do okay with three or four with four days of outdoor school. I think it's better than none. It's an amazing experience. I'm really a big fan. >> Director Split. >> Hey. Yeah. Thanks everybody. Um, I guess I just want to weigh in either a

194directive or a resolution. I feel like it's one of those to me where I kind I hear what director Deass is saying and I think hearing from the principles um is something that really means a lot. It hasn't happened in my time on the board so far. So, I feel like that speaks volumes to how much they are concerned about us prioritizing this over potential other issues. And I realize the language and the resolution protects against that. and that's not the intent, but I just feel like um concern just speaks to me and that what are we going to get out of it um is a concern, but I also am totally fine with directing staff via re resolution or otherwise if the the board wants to see that happen. Um to me, I want

195to go back to the comment that there's not going to be money for schools. I totally get that. We're it's going to be a dire budget situation for the state of Oregon and we have our federal government to thank for that. Um, it used to be that I was mad at the state, now I'm mad at the feds. Just mad at us. But, um, but I wanted to just put out there that the type of funding that we're talking about is lottery funding, which is different than general fund, which is where those big cuts are expected to happen. And I actually think that there was a ballot measure directing a certain portion of lottery funds to go to outdoor school, and the legislature has decided to not fund at that level that the ballot measure

196um directed them to fund at. That's the issue. And so I think we should still be considering how to remind the legislature of that ballot measure and voice our support for them honoring the voters less than a decade ago on this issue. I don't think just saying well there's not going to be any money that I hear that that's I'm sure that's what Chief Capori was told. But I just want to make sure to put it on the record for everyone that this is lottery funding and it's a different different animal than the general fund with all the cuts and everything that are happening. Um, I have never been more ambivalent about a vote. So, but just wanted to at least put that on the record um about the the source of funding. >> Uh,

197the reason that I um I was on a plane when the facilities uh meeting was happening otherwise I would have been there as well supporting it at the time and again today. The reason that I support this is this. At some point 30 years ago, someone decided to take art away from elementary school kids. And someone else said, "Okay, it's better that way. It's cheaper that way. We can fill budget gaps that way." And fast forward 30 years and we now have our public education in dire straits. We have funding at among the bottom of the entire state is entire uh country. We have problems because at some point the slippery slope started and no one stopped it. And I think that we are at this point now with something that is a gem to

198Oregon and a gem to Oregon sixth graders. It's a gem that covers every sixth grader regardless of whether they can pay for spring break trips or summer camps regardless of whether they get Christmas presents even. They're open to a 5-day trip into our beautiful state to explore and to bond and to participate. And sure, at some level, will they be the same if they do 5 days versus four? I don't disagree with that at all. But I think our next step will be looking at three because it is a way to cut budget and then two and then before we know it, because it's just been nine years since we we voted on this, it's going to be gone. And so I'm here today supporting this resolution, not because I think the legislature is going

199to give us money, not because I think the federal government is going to change what they're doing, but because I believe that for every sixth grader out there, they deserve and their families, regardless of what principles are saying, the families and the sixth graders deserve to all universally have an adventure and a and a trip together that we uh stand behind and we honor and we protect because I don't I don't I would be surprised if 5 years from now, especially with some of the forecasting coming and and whether we have another election, who knows, maybe it'll be gone, and that's not what I want to see. So, that's why I'm supporting this. There have been contracts signed over the last few months that are not student facing that could have been directed directly towards

200studentf facing um positions and outdoor school. And I do not think that it is appropriate for us to just lie down and let them cut this from our sixth graders. It has nothing to do with the fact that I have two sixth graders. They're going to get a spring break trip. They're going to get a summer holiday. My kids are not the ones that desperately deserve the opportunity with no strings and with no um burdens on their family to have an adventure in our beautiful wilderness. So, I'll just leave it at that. >> I would like to propose an alternative to that narrative. While I agree, I think there's another slippery slope that we need to be looking at. If the state continues to cut our funding for for outdoor school and we continue to

201make up for that to make up for their incompetence, then that becomes a slippery slope where all of a sudden we are funding for all of outdoor school because the state just gets to cut and cut and the voters don't see any of that. The voters need to see the repercussions of what their state legisl legislators are doing. this. If we continue to fix their problems, they're not going to call their legislators and tell them, you know, and be angry at them. They're going to go, "Oh, well, I guess turned out fine." Meanwhile, we're struggling on the back end to make ends meet. We need the voters, you know, to to react and to push their state legislators to fix this problem. And I think that they will when they when they see these cuts,

202I think that they that they can act. But if we fix their problems, that's not going to happen. the voters aren't going to see that and the state legislature is going to be allowed to just walk all over us. So that I feel like that is another slippery slope that we need to be looking at alternatively. And I think that also I I I genuinely don't believe that this is going to lead to a conversation about 3 days or 2 days because this isn't we're not cutting out door school, you know, to fix, you know, because we are having budget problems. a part of it, you know, we're cutting outdoor school because the state cut uh cut outdoor school, you know, and that and that is out of our that's in the voters's hands, you

203know, and unless the voters see that change, I don't believe that I I believe that the that the state is going to be the one that's that's cutting and cutting and cutting us down to two days and and one day. So, I feel like So, that's my position. That's why I'm not prepared to support this. >> I think um thank you for speaking to that. Uh I one of the reasons I I was uh proposed the idea of a director versus a resolution is because um from the outside face of it, you know, how it looks from the outside, a resolution may look like, oh yeah, they're going to try to fix it themselves. We don't have to do anything about it, right? Just from the outside, just politically speaking, right? And and that's not

204the thing, that's not the image or the direction we want people to believe we're going because if we try to fix it ourselves, that just I mean gives people more grace to cut even more from us, right? And so, um, my goal is to create more public awareness so we can pressure our legislators to fix this problem. Um, so therefore, I think a directive would be a better option. And then we can in we can direct the I think instead of doing this resolution, we can direct the uh the superintendent to find um the best uh how it's late 9:18. All right. um the best options for preserving a fiveday experience and this may be this year, maybe next year or maybe something external to us. Um I think a directive like that allows the

205flexibility for superintendent and even maybe the staff and even us to be flexible in terms like yeah maybe there is a better alternative um in terms of trying to restore this fiveday thing. Um, so that's what I have to say about that. >> I I would be prepared to support a directive, but I really don't want us going to the operators of the school and saying, "Hey, let's give you like 75% less for 5 days." I, you know, it's like you don't bargain when you walk into Nordstrom. Um so you know their business model is out of our control in terms of you know can they give us a deal and asking them to you know figure out how they can do the 5 days worth of service with less budget. So also we've had

206this conversation exact same conversation about six months ago. We had a lot of conversation about outdoor school because people are so passionate about it. We love outdoor school. My kids came home and they were crying. all the boys were crying on the bus and and so um I know how impactful it is. It's really important for children and families. Um yeah, I just don't want to walk into someone's business and say, "What can you do for like 50,000?" So, as long as we weren't doing that. And I I I was wondering if since we have Michelle at the table, I can we just restate what what number we're looking at that we would need to fund a fifth day just so that we have that context. >> Yeah. So, when we were speaking about this

207last spring, we estimated that a a day for all sixth graders is about $665,000. Um we don't have a current daily rate based on um the multmad what they're charging now but that was our most recent estimate. >> It was 660,000 >> 665 for every sixth grader for one day. >> Yes. >> Okay. And then I also um just wanted to mention that I talked to all of the superintendents that are um on the I-5 corridor to Salem and uh they are all at this point uh moving forward with the four days. And some superintendents reported that even the four days they're wondering if they're going to have to help fund because some of the funds that they're receiving in won't fully cover the four days even. So, they're going to use some funds out

208of their um budget to be able to make up the difference for the four days. Just for context, >> I would like to really quickly add that uh the state senator from my district is Senator Lou Frederick, who is the chair of the education committee of these last I checked. And I would like to see his inbox filled to the brim with parents from Oley Green and from Aster who are emailing him non-stop saying, "My kid just came back and they only had four days of outdoor school. Why? How did you let this happen?" And I feel like like that is how we get our fifth day back, you know, not fixing, you know, not putting a I mean because this what how I view this is a band-aid. you know, I feel like this

209is a band-aid for a larger state level problem. So, >> I just want to add that um tomorrow morning um we have been in contact with OSU Extension Services, um specifically the outdoor school folks. And tomorrow morning, there's a webinar uh starting at 10:00 a.m. And I will be emailing all of you the link to that webinar. If you can't watch it at that time, you can um go on their website and find the it's going to be recorded. So, they will be giving their fall update as to where they are um on and I'll I'll be listening to it myself. >> Thank you. um take a look of approval for giving direction to the superintendent to explore potential five-day options, the best options that he can find obviously and hopefully present this by >>

210and a cost analysis >> for for the escalation the cost cost escalation analysis. Okay. So, let me rephrase this. Um, I am asking how many of us support directing the superintendent to find the best options for restoring a 5-day outdoor school without cutting services. Um, including a cost analysis since measure 99. >> Yeah. Like a C if there was any sort of cost escalation when you're adjusting for inflation. Did the price go up for all that? I mean, if it applies to us, it's for every district in the state. I want to know if it changed. >> I'm really sorry. I just forgot something on the point about studentf facing services. Um I would just like to say that at this point we've had you know tens of millions of dollars of cuts and that

211at this point every cut is a studentf facing cut. You know when you cut someone at the title n office you know that means that there's someone who is not going to get a response to their report or is going or it's going to take months for their report to go through. when you cut someone on facilities that means that our bathrooms you know might have not working ventilation for you know for months for years and so all of all of the people not just our teachers or our staff are important to us students and do make an impact to us so I don't want to to do this at the cost of of those people either you know >> yeah and I just want to clarify this is just that uh it's directing the

212superintendent to explore options we are not deciding on anything and things like that. And yeah, you are absolutely right. We are at a point where any cuts are going to be may not be direct services but could be long range increase in costs. Um, and this is why I think a direction serves a better purpose because allows the flexibility for the superintendent to have a conversation with us to be like, you know, maybe magically there we do find a a way to find it or maybe um the option is we start our own lottery. Anyways, just kidding. um you know for example and so or maybe there may be things that we didn't even think about and so I think um the direction allows flexibility and that is I think a key >> for success

213if it's even possible so in this case >> and then after October 14th hopefully does I don't know if that gives you enough time but at that point then what we get a report and then it's just we'll be h satisfied or I'm not sure what we do after the 14th >> go from Well, it's it seems to me that you have had some wonderful things to say and it it's it's even if it's just directing, that's time. And I don't think there's any chance that anything's really going to happen. And um it seems I I mean I no longer have sixth graders who are going to outdoor school, but I did have and I know it's great. But four days is pretty darn good. And it just seems to me like it's giving the

214superintendent something to do that's just not all that necessary or probably won't have Well, who knows? Maybe there'll be some great something come out of it, but I really doubt it. I >> I'm I'm leaning that way as well. Just whatever we ask or direct the superintendent to do displaces the work that I think we've agreed that we want her to do. So I'm I guess if I felt hopeful that there was a a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, I would be all in. But I don't I don't see that eventuality. And I'm very concerned about what we cut every there is no money hiding in the cushions. every every every budget decision we make has an impact somewhere in the system. It's whack-a-ole. When you whack here, it pops up

215here. And so I'm I'm just concerned about the displacement of the work. Um not that this is frivolous, but the displacement of the really big buckets of work that we need to do. Um >> I believe there's public testimony on this issue. So I wanted to call that out before you called for a vote or tabled or whatever the next step is. >> Yes. Do we have public testimony? We do. >> Thank you. All three of you. Yeah. >> We have Amy, Whitney. >> It's late. >> It is late. Good evening. Uh my name is Amy Whitney and I serve as the president of the Portland Association of Public School Administrators. So I am here tonight to speak to the resolution. I want to share with you I'm I'm going to read the letter that

216has already been shared with you that you've referenced, but I also want to share with you my own perspective. So outdoor school has been a constant thread in my life and work. I know firsthand the power of the MESD outdoor school experience, hands-on science, connection to nature, and the community building. It can be life-changing. I had the privilege of attending with my students as a teacher at George and saw the magic through their eyes. My partner, Dr. Katie Parmman, taught sixth grade science at George for 12 years and as a champion for outdoor school. Both our sons attended as PPS sixth graders. Our youngest returned in high school as a student leader and our oldest worked three sessions as a program leader, an experience that inspired him to return to college this year to pursue

217a career as a science teacher. So outdoor school is deeply valued by my family and many others. Um but Oregonians also supported it through ballot measure 99 and it is the legislaturator's duty to fully fund and sustain this program for all students. Um, so on behalf of PPS Middle School and K8 administrators represented by PAPSA, we recognize that the state legislature has not fully funded outdoor school and we agree that it's a beloved program with a long history of providing that meaningful hands-on experience for our students and we fully support ensuring that all PPS students have access to the possibility. But at the same time, given the significant budget crisis our district is facing, directing our superintendent and staff to reallocate existing resources toward funding an additional day of outdoor school is not a plan

218we can support. Doing so risks diverting resources away from critical K12 services, undermining our ability to implement the district's strategic plan with fidelity, and pulling focus from priorities essential to student success and learning. For this reason, we respectfully urge the board to reconsider this directive. At this point in our budget situation, assigning our superintendent and her team to this work directly impacts their ability to stay focused on the strategic plan and effectively serve our schools. Um, instead we would encourage the board to pursue alternative avenues of advocacy for outdoor school funding, ones that preserve our district's core services and commitment to all PPS students. Our members would welcome the opportunity to partner with the board in lobbying our state legislature around outdoor school and other pressing funding issues impacting our schools. Um this letter was

219signed and you already read um Director Depass that it was read it was signed by almost um every K8 and middle school administrator within the discharge. We are in agreement. We love it. It's a beloved program but not at this time. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> All right. Board, what do we want to do? Procedurally, you have a motion before you. You can vote. If you don't want to pass it, just vote no. And you can look at the superintendent and give her a direction. I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just giving you your options. >> Those are options in front of us, right? Vote on the resolution or do would you like So, would someone want to move to table it? You could either table it or you could simply just vote

220no and accomplish the same thing >> at this point. >> Okay. >> I' I'd like I'd like to vote on it. >> Okay. >> Let's vote on it. All right. We will now vote on resolution 7167 directing the superintendent to provide an analysis of outdoor school costs and options to preserve a 5-day outdoor school program. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. All opposed? >> No. >> Uh, student representative RTO. >> No. >> Abstensions. All right. The resolution 7167 did not pass with a vote of two to >> five to two >> five five to two. Uh, with student representative Rto unofficially voting no. So then how do we do that directive thing? Okay. >> Your employee is >> we can yeah we can ask >> we can ask yes the superintendent

221>> Dr. Armstrong. I am particular particularly interested in um the cost analysis. Um I I don't negotiate at Nordstrom. I love I love my Nordstrom, but I do negotiate a lot of other places and um I would love to know if there's a way to close that gap even if it doesn't happen this year for next year because it's just it's just how businesses work. At the end of the day, it is a business. You know, if you have a guaranteed source of revenue, like I said, I'm not saying that this is what's happening. I just like to know so that if we're in the same situation next year, maybe that gap is 350 instead of 650 and it's easier to close. Does that make sense? Just a couple questions. Um, are we interested in

222this being a board item or an information um item that's uploaded for the board for October 14th? >> I guess I mean before that I just have a question. >> Oh, okay. >> Just in in general, what what would the time expenditure for discovering this would be? >> We have a lot on our plates. >> I I I don't u are we concerned about time at all? No. No, I think we're good on on that. And we have access to the information through Multma County. Yeah. So, I there's no perceived barriers and I don't think we're concerned about time for that item. >> I would love that. >> Does that answer the question? >> Yeah. >> Oh, okay. >> So, is that an information item or board like discussion item just so that we know

223how to prepare? >> I'd love to put it down for board discussion. I don't know what it's going to say and if there is an escalation I think we'd probably want to talk about it. >> Oh, I think we may have an update. I don't know. >> Sorry. Um, I just want to clarify for staff. Are you is it just the cost analysis? Because I think that is something that our CFO is saying is is not going to take a lot of time to complete. But if it's if the direction is also to try to find alternative funding sources or look at alter ways to cut that I I don't know that we have a time um for that. So I don't know we're going to have a time estimation because that is you know

224we are in the debt we are currently working on potentially a $40 million cut for next year. So that is that is taking a lot of time from our um budget team. So, I just want to point I think I mean a lot has changed in the last month in terms of like you know what we've had visibility to in terms of where we're at with staffing and um you know even elective options for our high schoolers like I'm really worried about that um based on the last you know few weeks of feedback. So for me right now I am most interested in the cost analysis because I feel like that piece could maybe help get us from point A to point B. I don't think I'd want to spend any more time until we

225have that >> support that. Well, I'd say then maybe it's just a point of information where we have, you know, I we have the information in an email. >> We can always talk about it in TLE, right? >> Yeah. >> So, we could maybe we could provide that information as soon as it's available, maybe October 14th or hopefully earlier. And then at that point, we can decide >> we could put it on >> what we want to do, whether it goes on the agenda as a discussion point or just a point of information. So just to re >> so just to restate I think I heard you say that prepare as soon as we have the information available sent to the entire board and then at that point uh chair Wang you'll decide where and

226how it shows up on the agenda. >> Yes. Is that okay for everyone? >> Yes. >> Looks like we have everyone's head nod. So I think that's that's direction. Let me say one more thing now that I just took a mouthful. I love your idea of flooding inboxes. And it goes for every one of us who has a legislator, a senator, a representative. We all have the same governor. Flood inboxes. And it doesn't have to just be about outdoor school. It can be about, frankly, a poor funding of our public education. >> I like that. Thank you. All right, I feel like we got a good amount of stuff accomplished today. And uh let's move on to >> study budget >> here at the second reading of the lobby policy. Is there I guess before

227we move on, is there any uh I know I feel bad asking this because I know some staff have been waiting for a while for this, but is there any thing that maybe we could postpone to the next meeting >> just for the sake of time? >> For the sake of the staff show at 8:00 in the morning. Power through. >> Okay. Well, let's see how we do. >> That one's easy. >> All right. Let's move on to >> for director split, but that's not a lot of >> All right. >> Mine's time sensitive. Sorry. Hopefully be fast. >> No, I was saying it was it's a quick, you know, we don't have to battle. >> Well, let's have I hope not. >> Vice chair to pass. would you like to introduce our next topic

228which is the lobbying registration policy? >> Sure. Um so thank you. This is the second reading uh so we can take uh action tonight on the lobbying registration policy. Um, in January of 2025, the policy committee initiated the drafting and consideration of a proposed lobbying lobbying registration policy, recognizing that the board and district staff regularly engage with potential vendors or other interested parties who are seeking business with the district. The policy requires an individual or entity to register on the district's website if it's engaging with staff or board members more than five hours per quarter with the intent to influence a policy or expenditure which the individual or entity has an economic interest of $100,000 or more. Other local governments uh do this. Metro um the city of Portland, Multimma County uh have similar policies

229in place. The purpose of the registration is to create transparency about who's seeking to obtain certain policy, contract, or expenditure decisions. And so tonight, we're hopefully voting um to pass this through. And it's an effort to increase transparency with people that are seeking to do business uh with with the district. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 7164, resolution to adopt a new lobbying registration policy? >> Do we have comment >> after we put it on the table? Yeah, >> I'll move. I'll move. >> Thank you. We have Director Engelman moves. >> I'll second. >> Director Sullivan seconds adoption resolution 7164. Board discussion. >> I have a very quick conversation to have. Um, I raised this at the last time. I remain concerned about why we would have

230a cap in a quarter but not a cap in a year because if I look at five hours a quarter and I do my math that's 20 hours a year which is the equivalent of one week's work which is the equivalent of one out of 52 weeks which seems like a lot and so I wish that this had a five weeks five hours per quarter or max per year. Um I raised this last time I wish we had five hours a quarter or if you get to 18 hours in any given year you have to That's my only concern. I was actually trying to envision what five hours per quarter that's like basically four or five meetings on a on a topic. Um so anyway, I appreciate the input. I don't know if we want

231to go back to the policy committee and add it. And we've already >> we've had the 21day period ended in August that it was open for public comment. I don't know that we received any public comment on this topic. >> Do we have any public comment? >> No public comment. >> Can we amend it without going back and having more >> like from the >> public comment? Yeah. >> Yeah, I can. But it also depends on if if the the advantage of sending it back to policy committee is then it gets workshopped in terms of like looking at what it means and the potential consequences some maybe. So it that's the advantage. I mean I'm not saying that that that applies to this but that's the advantage of sending it back. >> And we also

232have the um you know we can discuss it with our legal staff um if there's questions that come up. So would it be could we move it back to the policy committee? >> Sure. >> Uh you have a you have a motion before you >> you could do the same thing as you did before which is if you vote and you don't pass it then it goes back to the policy committee. >> It's the same effect. >> Or we can someone can move >> to send it back to policy and we can vote on that. >> I would move to send it back to the policy committee. >> Wait, can we talk about it for a second? >> Sure. I have my hand up. I don't know how else to >> I'm sorry. Yeah, go

233ahead. >> Um I think that delaying this for an additional month or longer to have a conversation about this about something that we've been working on for a while. I just want to see is this like something director Englesman that would make you a no or just like a concern you have and we could adopt it and then revisit it later to make the change you're talking about. If it's something that it feels like you won't support it because of this, then I think sending it back makes sense. But otherwise, I don't really see a reason to relitigate, go back and delay this any further. Um, if everybody in past meetings, we've all been in agreement on moving it forward and there hasn't been much consternation. So, I feel like delaying it >> to me

234doesn't make a ton of sense. But, if it's important, then we can send it back. But I guess I just want to say before we just send it back and like start the clock over again and then have this be like a continued thing for like a third and fourth meeting. Um maybe we could move it and then decide after we've had it for a little while if we think there's anything we want to change and then make change. So I'll just put that out there before we make a decision for conversation. >> Thank you. I kind of had the same thought too. That's our third option is that we can just approve it today. >> Yeah. It's not a no. I amend it. So, a month ago, I was even newer than I am

235today, and I expressed these concerns there. I think I probably was also jet-lagged. I expressed them there, and I said, "Let's move forward." Um, I remain concerned that 20 hours of work time a year is a lot on any single given subject matter, and it's easy to skirt around and just do 19 and a half. So, it is not a no for me. I would like to revisit it like we talked about at the last board meeting. If we start seeing, >> I don't know how we would see it because we wouldn't get there. I'm just raising the concern that I wish that if there's a quarter cap that there's also an annual cap considered in future policies. >> The question is did you you started saying you wanted to move but do you want

236to withdraw that or >> I'd like to withdraw that. Yes, I I appreciate Director Split's uh comments about moving it forward and we have um had multiple meetings, committee meetings and several board meetings um about the topic. Yeah. But if we just move it forward, but we want to change it, then it has to go back and to policy and go through this all over again, right? >> Yeah. I think for me it's um does it need to be unanimous, you know? >> I think it still works. I'm kind of a um my um success factors or whatever the that assessment said I was future focused and so I'm kind of like trying to move it forward. Um I think I just want to refresh. So the two options we have and we can either

237move it back to policy committee and then it goes through the whole process again the 21st first and second reading again or we can vote on this today and if it passes and the policy committee can revisit it and maybe even if they want to do amendment again that would go through a 21day and then we would vote on it again. The only difference between these two options is that the policy will be enacted during versus not during. I think the amount of work is going to be about the same. >> A good idea to have it active sooner than later, >> right? And do we do we know if this is going to be an issue even I I don't have any idea. I know as a board member how um when I'm approached,

238I don't have any idea what staff is, but I think that this is better than nothing. We had nothing in place at all. Um, and when it became apparent that it might be an might become an issue with modernizations, we decided to, you know, draft this policy. And I'm literally carrying the work from the previous board forward um with this resolution or with this registration policy. So, I I would be happy to vote on it tonight and um keep an eye on it >> unless we just all love meetings so much. Let's have another meeting. >> Boy. Um I forgot. Uh Miss Brasha, there was no public comment. Correct. >> There is no public comment received and there is no public comment for tonight. >> Okay. Thank you. All right, let's uh go ahead and

239vote on resolution 7164, resolution to adopt a new lobbying registration policy. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. All opposed. >> Student representative RTO. >> Yes. >> Thank you. No, any abstensions. Resolution 7164 is approved by a vote of 7 to zero with student representative RTO unofficially voting yes. All right. Next up, we have the uh nomination of director split to the OSBA legislative policy committee. Yay. Uh the Oregon School Boards Association is organized as one of as one general state association with up with up to 24 regionally elected representatives established across 14 geographic regions in the state. In odd number years like this one, member boards vote to elect regional representatives or for even number positions on the OSBA board of directors and also to elect all regional representatives on the

240legislative policy committee. Director Chrissy Split has indicated uh that she would like to be nominated for the legislative policy committee. Thank you. Uh following our vote this evening, we'll submit our nomination to OSBA for her name to be put on the ballot, which all school boards in our region will vote on in December. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 7174, resolution to nominate Director Chrissy Split for the Oregon School Boards Association Legislative Policy Committee. >> So moved. Enthusiastic second. >> Thank you. Director Sullivan moves director to pass enthusiastically. seconds. The adoption of resolution 7174. Any board discussion? >> This be a really bad time to joke about making an amendment. >> I'm kidding. I'm kidding. >> No, I think we'll be well represented. Um, and we we do need a

241champion. So, I I have 100% faith, 110 actually, um, that you'll do a great job for us. >> Super excited about having Christie in this role. >> Want Portland to have a voice at the state table, friends. Thanks for the support. >> Um, just really quick question for legal. Does does Chrissy Split, Director Slit, also vote on this? >> Question. >> That is a good question. At 9:45 at 9, I think it's probably better if she doesn't. >> What? Really? I mean, I don't have to. >> Yeah, I mean, you can recuse yourself. I mean, I'm trying to think of the benefit to you. It's just safer to say no. >> That might be the deciding vote. That's really worrying. >> Great. Unless we pass this amendment. >> At least I can vote for myself

242for school board. >> I'll abstain if that's what Sharon wants me to do. >> I I would recommend it just to be cautious. >> All right. Any other discussion besides a big thank you for doing this, Director Split? All right. The board will now vote on resolution 7174, resolution to nominate director Christy Split for the Oregon School Boards Association Legislative Policy Committee. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. All opposed. >> Student Representative Rorto. >> Yes. >> Thanks. Resolution 7174 is >> I am abstained. >> Oh, sorry. Yeah. Thank you. Abstensions. And we have one abstension. Resolution 7174 is approved by a vote of six to zero with student representative Torto unofficially voting yes. Director Split abstaining. >> Yeah, close. Integrated programs. So, ne next on our evening is the integrated programs

243annual report for the 2420 or 2425. Uh Dr. Armstrong, could you introduce us? >> Yeah, thank you. And this is a required item. The Oregon Department of Education requires that districts report out annually to the board on the six integrated guidance programs. That's high school success, student investment account, continuous improvement planning, career technical education, everyday matters in early indicators and intervention systems. Providing this year's report is Dr. Kamedra Jefferson. She's our senior director of funded programs. I will open it first though to um Howard, Christina Howard. >> Good evening, directors, student representative, and superintendent. My name is Christina Howard, and I am the senior chief of academics where I oversee academic, schools, and student services. Thank you for having us tonight. I'm going to talk a little faster. Uh I would like to introduce my

244colleagues, Dr. Kdra Jefferson, Dr. Bernard Adams and Joanna Tobin who will be sharing our presentation for tonight around the annual report for the integrated grant guidance plan covering six OD initiatives. Uh we are required to present this to the to the board of education each year and we wanted to acknowledge that while we are planning for the current year and beyond in this presentation we are asking you to look back to the 2425 school year. Um thank you and I will now turn it over to Dr. Jefferson. Thank Thank you, Christina Howard. All right. Good evening, board of directors, uh, student representative, and Dr. Armstrong. Um, you should all have received this presentation and the annual report. We will cover an overview of the integrated grant guidance, key investments, a summary of the annual report,

245and PPS continuous improvement. So, a general overview um just in terms of looking back um of where we are and where we've been. The Oregon Department of Education's integrated grant guidance aligning for student success streamlines the grant application process by bringing multiple state and federal programs into a unified framework. Upon its initial release in 2022, the integrated six programs included the student investment account and high school success. An update in 25 to 27 expanded to nine programs adding federal school improvement and early literacy success grants. This integrated application um provides district strategies and funding into a single strategic plan that supports four common goals. A well-rounded education, which is a holistic approach, including arts, STEM, and career technical education. Equity advanced, which includes reducing disparities and expanding opportunities for historically marginalized students. Engaged community, which

246includes authentic, consistent involvement of families, students, and communities, as well as strengthened systems and capacity, improving processes, professional learning, and continuous improvement. Sorry. In March 2023, the board approved our 2023 2025 application and plan to secure 115.8 million in state and federal grant funding from OD for the bienium. These are restricted grant dollars OD incorporated into a common framework focused on improving outcomes and learning conditions for students and educators. Clicker situation. Here we go. Okay. Sorry about that. This slide highlights the six initiatives in OD's integrated grant program with the allocations for the bienium. As you can see, the student investment account or SIA is the large of largest of all the grants. Grant investments strengthened our efforts to address inequities, foster inclusive partnerships, and provide differentiated learning opportunities. The plan aligned closely with the

247PPS forward together strategic plan reinforcing our commitment to highquality inclusive education that disrupts racial inequities. Targeted investment supported focal student groups and schools based on needs prioritizing culturally responsive sightbased learning and funding decisions reflected priorities identified in our annual budget process. Good evening again. In 2023 20224, as a part of the Student Success Act, OD implemented requirements for every district in Oregon to co-develop with them five-year performance growth targets for five key areas, which are referred as the common metrics and are shown on the slide before you. Those common metrics are third grade reading, ninth grade on track, regular attendance, four-year graduation, and five-year completion. Governor Cotex's accountability bill will likely modify requirements to these metrics and targets going forward. We are currently awaiting more information and guidance from OD on implementation as the regulations

248and administrative rules are not yet written and set. The next slide, please. Thank you. I wanted to take a moment to compare and contrast the PPS board goals for our students with the OD required longitudinal performance growth targets. Our PPS board for our students were are rigorous targets that were set with board direction. They do focus efforts on the success of students from our different racial student groups most in need of academic acceleration and those that are furthest from academic justice. and our board goals for our students are aligned with both our PPS strategic plan forward together and the PPS district continuous improvement plan for this current school year. On the other hand, the OD required longitudinal performance growth targets are required by the student success act. They were co-developed with OD and they focus

249efforts on a super group of students that they combi they call the combined focal group. The combined focal group student the the combined student group limits our ability to track the performance of student groups of interest because it combines 12 groups of students into one super group, including students from racial and ethnic backgrounds who have historically experienced academic disparities, students who identify as American Indian or Alaskan Native, students with disabilities, students who are navigating houselessness, students in foster care, and more. The annual report only looks at progress in 2024 2025 and includes a narrative with three main questions which we are required to review with you tonight. The evaluation framework OD uses is examining the full system, not just the programs with grant investments. For that reason, our response to the narrative question reflects information

250that may already be familiar to you. The first question asked about progress in our outcomes and strategies. Our 2024-25 work was firmly anchored in deepening commitment to academic achievement outcomes as we were writing and operationalizing our district continuous improvement plan. We intentionally align instructional practices, assessment systems, and intervention strategies with our longitudinal performance growth targets. instructional leaders and central office teams were deeply engaged in data cycles and coaching that are tied to the PPS instructional framework, highquality curricular materials and achievement benchmarks. What's make what makes this year distinct is the formalization of the district continuous improvement plan process. For the first time, all schools are preparing to engage in structured improvement cycles that are grounded in shared strategies and actions beginning in 2526. We also focused on building data fluency and decision-making capacity at the

251school level through the professional learning community structure, map data analysis, and multi-ter systems of support aligned intervention planning and coaching protocols. All of which are driving closer alignment to our performance goal targets. Thank you, Dr. Jefferson. The second question asks us about challenges and barriers. Um, and you need to discuss at least one outcome in reference to that. Um, despite these barriers, PPS um continues to prioritize accelerating learning for our focal students and closing persistent gaps and outcomes. We're committed to reaching our outcomes. These challenges highlight the need for sustained focus and support. One of our challenges was a compressed calendar. The November 2023 work stoppage impacted the instructional year as teaching and learning was interrupted. This required a significant investment in relationship building, pacing adjustments for instruction and re-engagement to minimize the disruption to

252student learning. The collective a bargaining agreement. The new agreement brought important gains in compensation and planning time for educators. Progress we fully support and endorse. At the same time, it did create additional financial pressures, reducing flexibility in other priority areas. Enrollment balancing and facilities. These equitydriven processes are critical for long-term access and opportunity. They do demand, however, care careful coordination and communication to manage transitional complexity for families, students, and staff. And in terms of federal funding, as already has been noted tonight, um ongoing uncertainty requires cautious contingency planning. Federal limitations are particularly challenging, particularly challenging, excuse me, for outcomes tied to our multilingual learners where targeted supports truly depend on stable funding. And finally for the third narrative question, it asks us to reflect on progress and discuss any shifts in strategy that are being

253implemented. In terms of progress, schools showing the strongest growth are those that are tight most tightly aligned with district priorities, consistent use of core curriculum, effective professional learning communities, and coherent and clear instruction. Instructional practices in high growth schools relied on clear learning targets, standards aligned teaching, and tiered supports to address gaps in student learning and understanding. In terms of data use with an equity focus, principles and leadership teams are now leveraging disagregated student data to identify groups not yet on track, including multilingual learners, students receiving special education services, and black and native students. Midcycle instructional adjustments are being made in response. This shift reflects a deeper commitment to equity. Schools making the most progress use real-time data to identify disparities, target supports to students in need, and accelerate growth for historically underserved groups. And

254in terms, we know that some schools are growing um more swiftly than others. In terms of support for slower growth schools, we're providing additional support to strengthen those professional learning community structures to deepen the curricular use and alignment and expand evidence-based strategies for tiered intervention for students that need additional academic support. Strategic um shifts include integrating the district and school continuous improvement plan cycles with clear progress monitoring routines, deploying interventionist tutors and content leads to highest need schools, and building and continuing to build stronger data fluency so teams can better interpret their interim results and design instruction that's responsive to what the data are telling us. So in reflection, 2024 2025 marks a move from isolated programmatic changes to a systemwide culture of evidence-based planning. While gaps persist, consist the conditions for sustained and more

255equitable improvement are strengthening across PPS. The full annual report was included in your board packet and along with these slides, they're also post posted on the PPS website. Great. And now to a little bit more about continuous improvement. Good evening. I'm Joanna Tobin, senior director of instructional excellence and improvement. Tonight, you've heard our team highlight integration and intentionality through the integrated grant plan. All of this is in direct support of continuous improvement, a named program in the integrated grant plan. Um, while this report is really looking backwards as at 2425, we'd like to take a moment to give you a sneak peek at some of the developments around continuous improvement planning. Um what we have done is really um built a system. You'll see on the next slide where this work bridges from um the

256board goals. I'd like to show this slide and then go back to the secular um cycle on the previous slide. Um as we all are familiar with the board goals. Um sorry KDra do you mind Dr. Jefferson do you mind going to that one? Okay. So we know that the foundation is in our mission our vision and our core core values. We know that you have set forth board goals. We know that our superintendent is guiding us um in this process with a strategic plan. What we've built in is a very intentional district continuous improvement plan. We look forward to sharing a lot more um with you about that in October. This is really the bridge then to the site level planning. And so, as you've heard tonight, this mention of um the district continuous

257improvement plan, this is really situated within four goal areas um of if we go to the next slide um highlighting our sorry, there we go. Highlighting our four goal areas of attendance, literacy, math, and nth grade success. And so these areas are both at the district continuous improvement level and the school continuous improvement level all in alignment with strategies and actions as Dr. Adams mentioned. And so we're really excited about this work building in those bridges and that stairst step from the board goals to be even more intentionally aligned to the integrated grant plan to really leveraging our resources in a very intentional way specifically in our continuous improvement work. And with that, we'll keep um that fairly brief this evening. We look forward to sharing a lot more with you in October around that

258work. And um in closing, I would like to um pass um or pass it back to Superintendent Armstrong for any closing remarks. >> Great. Excellent team. I open it up for the board for any questions on past work last year or future planning work this year. questions. >> Just a comment. Um my comment um is only that while um there are modest gains in reading and literacy and the district continuous improvement plan four goal areas is literacy one of the four. I understand it that a number of schools unfortunately had their reading results cut and despite still having students in their schools that are below grade level, the school itself didn't have enough students. And so I just remain concerned that for those individual students, the one the two to three um that were failing

259them that we should not be pulling reading results from any school if even one student needs it. We can cut down the amount of time they get because there's only one student there. but to simultaneously say that we are looking to support every student and that um literacy is one of our four goal areas, but then to cut from any school that has even a single student that needs support. I think those two just don't don't connect. And so I just want to on behalf of the schools that I've heard from that are really disappointed that they got their reading results cut. I just had to bring that up. But thank you for the presentation. >> You're welcome. >> I I imagine this will be future, but I'm really interested in seeing um what happens

260with the the students that need the extra help is I know that you've got these special times in the day for reading, you know, what's what's happening? Is it working? Um >> yeah, we can um definitely share that information in the future. Um we have a lot of data and information to share. Uh one of the investments that you heard about tonight was the interventionists. Um and we also have our tier one practices which is the high quality instructional materials in every classroom. Um thinking about teachers and their professional learning communities um and and other supports that exist. So we can definitely share that in the future. I want to thank you for the um for the presentation. I really enjoyed it and having um watched this work over the last several years. Um I

261really like I'd like to hear a little bit more about um the schools that are showing the pro the strongest progress. I was really intrigued by the idea that the schools that are most closely aligned with district priorities are showing better gains. And I want to say that out loud because when I first started on the board, we had um building by building adoption and um I've seen the science of reading come in. I've seen this very intentional move towards systemwide continuous improvement and and so we're seeing it here. We do have schools that are out there that are have lost their reading results program, but I'm I'm seeing like a long view of um of continuous improvement. And I would love to hear a little bit more about um those schools that are actually

262seeing increases. >> Yeah. And when we come back, yes, we're excited to share that. Um we have some embargoed data still and we're excited to share our data in um October. >> Yes. >> Um and just to speak a little bit to the reading results, we also have um other supports available to those schools. we can we can make sure to have that in there too when we when we share um our larger data and continuous improvement plan updates in October. >> Yes, I know when people are talking about the data in October, everybody gets a little twinkle in their eyes. So, I'm excited to see uh everybody kind of does a little shimmy and um everybody that talks about what we are going to be hearing in October. So, um I look forward to

263that. I know it's embargoed so we can't go into the details. Right. Thank you team. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Big thank you. This great presentation. Thank you for sharing the data. I mean it's couldn't have been just a little bit of work. It's pretty impressive. Um next on our agenda item is the seismic study report. Dr. Armstrong. >> Yeah. So, as part of the general obligation bond that was passed in 2025, the resolution directed us to address critical repairs and improvements at middle and elementary schools to mitigate seismic deficiencies um at schools assessed to pose the greatest risk during a significant seismic event. So we engaged homes and structural engineering a structural engineering firm here in Portland to develop a seismic risk ranking system that will assist the district in planning future projects

264and bond funding. So I'm going to ask our senior dire of operations John Franco to open up this evening. >> All right. Good evening, directors, superintendent, student director. Uh the purpose of this uh presentation is provide you with a summary of the results of the seismic assess uh assessment, some historical context, the process use, and then solicit your feedback or really just hear the conversation on some next steps. Uh presenting with me today is Jennifer Edgars uh structural engineer from home structures and also Robert Joel from the office of um school modernization um with this slide can you go as you can see and again I'm going to provide you just some uh historical context uh so with this slide what you see here on the left is seismic work uh done up to this

265point via the three bonds. So you could see there on the left the full seismic retrofit uh retrofits uh obviously with the new buildings and then here on the right you see partial and roof level seismic improvements uh covered via the 2012 2017 and 2020 bonds. Next slide. Again, just uh again give you some more historical context. We know that in May of 2025, voters approved a general obligation bond to complete a capital improvement projects for Portland public schools. It authorized 1.83 billion and if approved, this measure would finance capital costs, including seismic upgrades. And on May 6, 2025, the board passed resolution 7109, uh, which indicated a urgent need for seismic retrofitting of high-risk school buildings and resolution 7110, which was a resolution to affirm the board of education's commitment to track and report

266these findings, public engagement, and recommendation of seismic upgrades through the school facilities improvement and operation. ations committee now uh renamed the facilities improvement oversight committee. Uh next slide. So the current phase for prioritization in planning. So the step one just to give you a progress check was to gather detailed seismic deficiency data at all schools. That is complete. Step two was to obtain priority risk scoring recommendations from structural engineers and that is complete. Step three is we are going to evaluate those recommendations using PPS priority criteria that is to uh still to be completed. These criteria include anticipated impacts of potential school rights sizing, the feasibility and consequences of multi-summer construction schedules, and potential disruptions to ongoing programs such as summer school. This internal evaluation will ensure that project decisions do align with both operational

267realities and district-wide educational goals. And so I'm want to turn it over to Jennifer who's going to talk a little bit more about the process that they went through. >> Hi everyone. Uh thank you for having me. Um appreciate being here talking about seismic safety in our schools. Um my boys have been through a number of these schools so I understand as a parent as well. Um we assessed over 90 school campuses. Um we um broke those down based on building year and construction type at each campus. Each campus is typically comprised of multiple building parts. Um as it has been added on to o over over years. Um each of these building parts have different seismic risks inherently to them based on what building uh year of construction and construction type. Um, we developed

268a risk scoring system, and I could talk about this for hours, but I'll keep it brief tonight for everybody. Um, we developed a risk scoring system between 0ero and 10. 10 being the highest risk um, for a building part. So, I'll talk a little bit about the flowchart here. Um, on the I'll zoom in on the bottom left here. Uh we started out with a baseline score that was based on FEMA and has us risk metrics. So this is um uh databased um outside of anything we're making up. Um we use this database and applied retrofit adjustments and efficiency adjustment based on your particular building parts. Um we looked through all the drawings um went on site visits and were able to adjust based on um any prior retrofits or any specific deficiencies to then

269adjust that building specific score. We also looked at um occupancy if there are assembly areas that would also impact the the risk score. We also reported out um in the shaded info, we reported out additional information that could help in your determination on where the funds are spent. Um but it's important to note that these do not play a role in the risk scoring. I wanted to also show you a scatter plot of your building performance. Um, these are all your actual risk scores for all of your building parts. So again, these are current scores. 92 campuses were assessed. 410 building parts. So there are 410 dots. On the right hand side, you can see the shapes correspond to um building types. So this is type of construction, whether it's unreinforced masonry, concrete, shear wall

270or woodframe design. Um on the bottom you can see a range of years. So you can see when a building part was constructed. You can see there's a a number of concrete buildings built around 1925 for example. Excuse me. Um on the left side is the risk score. So zero is the the lowest and 10 is the highest risk. Um also important as a reminder each campus could have multiple building parts. So you can end up with a dot that's around a nine along with a dot that's around a five um on the same campus. >> Yeah. So um so really wanted to again give you an opportunity to so as we're as you've seen some of this data and again the the report uh is also in board book. It's about 279 pages long

271if you had an opportunity to peruse it. But where there's a couple approaches um in regards to next steps. So the ballot language is really clear in regards to and that's approach A which is to prioritize the highest risk campuses and address all seismic deficiencies comprehensively at each selected site treating each campus as a complete project. So it says pretty specifically 8 to 10 sites highest risk. Uh that is a complete retrofit. Okay. Okay, so it's definitely feasible we could do that. Uh, approach B is and you just saw in the scatter plot on the on the previous slide is we look at highest risk building parts, right? And so that means that could encompass uh hitting several building parts, which means we could hit more buildings, which means our district risk score could go

272down if we hit those highest risk parts hitting more buildings. All right. In the staff memo that I provided, there's also I didn't we didn't put it in there. There's also an option C, which is more of a hybrid uh of both A and B. And if we incorporate the hybrid, that would also uh give us an opportunity to access some grants um uh which obviously would help fund a complete retrofit uh of some buildings as well. So um I know it's time it's 10:20, but the we we were you know ideally going to open it up for you and just hear the conversation. Um but we can also have that conversation FIO committee as well. But this is here are in a sense the scenarios um uh that we'd want to take to you

273to have that conversation. Here's some feedback that then we'll take to the team. Go ahead and go to the next slide. And so really our next phase is really the execution phase. And so we'll execute the prioritized seismic improvement projects according to the the standard operating procedures for bond um funded construction programs. Uh OSM will establish KPIs or key performance indicators related to the seismic program. Accountability and transparency will be provided through the following. We'll do bimonthly reports to the FIO committee uh in a dashboard style report that communicates the status of the scope, schedule, and budget uh for each identified project. Uh quarterly status reports to the BAC, the bond accountability committee. Uh uh 2025 uh 2025 bond seismic improvement website. Uh and then the seismic improvements program will be included in the annual

274performance audits. uh that will cover the 2025 bond as a whole. >> Thank you for that presentation. And so uh this is the moment where we need to hear from you all and what feels comfortable. Um not that this has to be that single opportunity, but to give the team direction on how to move forward with the different options presented. Um the first thing that comes into my mind I first of all this is incredible like this is an incredible report. Thank you so much. Um it's almost more information than I know what to do with which doesn't happen very often. So appreciate that. Um you know Dr. Armstrong, this might be a question for you. um how it's hard for me to to look at this without thinking about the conversation that we're going

275to have this year about right sizing our schools and making sure that we don't waste a single dollar and that every dollar is a targeted spend. Um, I worry about, um, I wonder what the best way to manage the timelines is because I'd hate to spend money on a facility that ends up being put out of commission. So, I'm wondering how what that looks like. I don't know the answer, but >> yeah, I could >> Yeah, I I I have similar concerns. So I in my mind the way to solve that would be to like build an algorithm. It would be a cascading um series of questions that would be like to create a decision tree like yes or no. But I mean there's two different approaches, but we we can't have this conversation in

276a vacuum because we've got 81 campuses because we're going to be kind of looking at boundaries in Northeast and um >> so yeah uh in terms of approach I would say like what's the most important the most important down to the least important. I don't I don't think I mean ideally we would it'd be great to have every single building in the portfolio but we're not going to be inhabiting every single building. So >> I guess I wonder concern too. >> Yeah. If there's a way to you know are there >> are there buildings that we Yeah. It's just impossible to have the conversation separately. Like do we know that there's buildings that we definitely you know won't remove call from inventory. How about remove it from inventory. Are there buildings that we know that's

277not going to happen to that are in the high risk? I guess those are the kind of questions I'd be asking myself and that's not going to happen here tonight. >> Yeah. >> Um but >> no, it's a fair question and I think what comes up for me is um wondering if the um enrollment would be a key factor, but we know that um there's some other things that we'll consider when having the comprehensive conversation that we'll bring back to you. But I wanted to turn it over to one of our leaders in OSM and see if you had any thoughts on um any conversations that you all have had about what you need from the board to move forward with the team on this. >> Thank you, Dr. Armstrong. >> Yeah, just to give

278a little sample, if we were to get direction to proceed with one site today, we might be able to get something ready to go by next summer. There are so many different things. We have to get an architectural firm. We have to apply for the SRPG grant which is a six-week process and currently Oregon BIZ who is who we get the grant from hasn't given us the window when we have to apply. Um once we apply during that time we'll be doing design we'll be going through um procurement of contractors etc. and trying to get it started in such a manner and oh yes we have to go through permitting to and sometimes that can be a joy. Um we have to uh be able to work with the contractors in such a manner that

279they can get the material they need so they can do the time frame meet our time frame. We've only been able to do our work in a summer um which is only 68 days and each year it gets a little closer uh snow days etc. And most of our sites most of our SRTP programs currently are a two summer program. We work six hours a day, >> 12 hours, six hours a day, six weeks, six days a week, 12 hours a day. Um we really do a lot. Um, ideally what we would need most from y'all is direction on what sites plural singular you would like us to do and we will help you reach that conclusion. Jennifer is more than willing to help. Dr. Franco is also more than willing to help and I'm

280willing to sit in that conversation as well. Um, personally I've done I've worked on Hayhurst Lent Creative Science and I'm currently working on Mary'sville. So, out of the OSM consolidated crew, which is the part I'm I'm part of, um, I've got the most experience as far as working the projects and getting them together. >> I will say too, I think back to director Lefort and Director Depass's statement or questions around right sizing, it it really is needs to be in tandem. I mean, we we can't retrofit obviously any any building that potentially is going to be up for for any level of right sizing. So, so that conversation has to be in tandem with that level of of conversation, right? And so these decisions aren't going to be made in isolation. >> Thank you, Director

281Split. No, Director S, I'll go to you next. >> Thank you. I'm really grateful to see this moving forward. Um, I think no one will be surprised to hear that. I think one thing I really want us to do is talk to community about how they want us to approach this issue. Um, I think it'll be really important to set up some sort of process where we can hear from them about how we ought to go about making these decisions without creating a situation where it's like pick me, pick me, right? So, um, I'm happy to spitball with anybody about how something like that could work out. I'm not on the facilities committee. it feels like that would probably be the venue for it. Um, but I just really want to make sure that that

282public process plays out. I also have a question that someone else in the room um asked me about and so I'll ask here and I don't need the answer now but um one of the um one of the schools that's on this short list of um URM schools which seems like kind of an obvious place to start right with where we want to prioritize um is um Ricky which will have a project happening on the site and for those of you who don't know IDW Wells stuff super well, Ricky and IDW Wells are considered the same property um as far as I can understand um from hearing about pulling permits and some of the land use processes that are happening there. So, if there's like efficiencies of scale to be gained for tackling that one

283when we are already going to be doing a bunch of work on that site, especially given that it has a relatively low price tag, I just kind of want to make sure that we don't miss an opportunity to tack that on um if it's easy to handle while we're there anyway um on the same property and working with the city and them requiring us to do a bunch of things on the Ricky property because the Ricky property and IDW Wells are the same property technically. So, just if we could explore that. Um, I don't I don't imagine Ricky would necessarily fall on the top of the list for like reasons of like socioeconomic status if that's part of the analysis. Um, so I I definitely don't want to like be jumping the line. But if

284it's like, hey, we would be able to save money or we'd be able to tack this on or we would have a land use approval that would be easier or something like that. I don't know. I don't know what I'm talking about in the weeds. that if there are efficiencies to be gained, um I would love for that to be flagged for us so we could maybe make a decision there um since that campus will be greatly affected during IDW's construction anyway. >> And I would just love to underscore that. I appreciate that point and I um know that we'll move with strategy thinking where we have the opportunity where we have construction already activated on site and where there are significant seismic concerns um how we can move in a way that's cost-effective. So,

285I I I appreciate that and and would hope that uh we take that type of um scenario um as an example and keep it in mind. Thank you, >> Director Sullivan. >> Yeah. How many uh projects can you do in a summer? We could we could probably attack if we're doing a full uh retro, we could possibly attack two. Um, a lot of it is due to the contractor pool. Uh, if we do attack two full retrofits, we could only get one grant and the grants are 2.5 million, which is a pretty good chunk um of the overall budget. Um, we have done I'm trying to think lent in creative science. We did an overlap. We started Lent one year. Second year for Lent was the first year for creative science. And that went pretty

286good. Although I went everywhere all the time. Um yeah, but we could we could do two. And then again, if they're smaller, if they're just parts, we'd be able to do more sites, I believe. >> Okay. You could do two full ones and maybe some part or just >> ideally if we have the internal manpower as well. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Good question. Um, >> so go sorry. Go ahead. >> Um, I just I just want to clarify what you need from us. You need the board to approve some projects to move forward. >> I think soonish. >> So in terms of the scenarios, so there are three basic scenarios. So if full retrofits, I'd like to just hear we'd like to hear some that and that perspective. So scenario A which is full

287retrofits 8 to 10 right or scenario B which is the parts which high-risk parts which allow us to encompass multiple schools or it's a hybrid approach right which would allow us to then utilize some grants which >> right Jennifer grants that approach C is that >> and that's C that and that's in the memo staff me >> yeah in the staff me that's what was recommended that's what we would recommend >> that and it applies some grants. So, um just going through the staff memo, I I think C hybrid it's that makes the most sense to me. Um I also just want to just kind of shout out there that I mean while I am all for uh community engagement, I think we need to be very deliberate because too often in our history, you

288know, when we have community engagements, it's often the people who can show up that we hear from the most. And I I just want to be very just put that out there that I love community engagement, but we have to be deliberate to make sure that we we focus and center equity. Um I also want to also reate reiterate that um you know as a district you have the big picture >> and I think it's important that we really lean into you at this moment to know that I mean if anyone knows which schools are definitely safe from any consolidation or whatever you would know and also how that overlaps with the ones with the most seismic needs. And I think I mean I assume most people agree those would be the priorities because I

289mean the safest >> may may I I just I wanted to say that um that it doesn't need to be exclusive of community involvement. Just thinking back to where we were last year in the advocacy and the new organization that formed that really helped um sort of refocus the energy on seismic like we we can still go through that process and engaging the voices and bringing folks along along while also um prioritizing C and bringing more information back. So, um I guess I just wanted to share that it it doesn't necessarily mean that we move with C, but then we don't listen to uh what we're hearing out in community. >> I don't think that's what my assumption at all. I think it was both things could be true at the same time. I think

290two things can be true. >> That's what my assumption was. >> Yes. >> So, thank you. Um, I would love to see I mean I guess I don't know if how people feel but I'm ready to say see and would love to see what recommendations you have whenever you're ready. Um, but yeah, pass on to my other board members. >> I have this on the agenda for FIO next week if we want to have a little bit more conversation about it. Um, >> that that would be good because I'm I'm not sure where where I'm at quite yet. >> It's been a long week, but um Before we wrap up, let's keep going. But um I do have some questions from our friends at Safe Structures PPS. They're here and they did send a few

291questions in beforehand that I would love to ask the structural engineer why we have her here. So just want to make sure we don't miss that opportunity. >> Depass. >> Yes. Thank you um for your comments um Director Wong uh about equity. I I think about Katrina and think about how that city was uh not very well prepared for the disaster at that level. I also work in climate mitigation during my day job. And so I'm thinking about climate resilience and looking at hubs where in the case of an emergency where we will all be living in a park um in a in a large earthquake. Um thinking about those places on a map that are accessible within a half a mile from families and which ones are climate resilience, which ones can be can

292serve as resilience hubs in the case of a largecale emergency. And so if we could um I I'm also concerned or curious about what our mapping capabilities are here. I know I work for the city and we we have maps. We can make a map with all the parks in it. We can make maps with multiple layers of data. And so I'm wondering um about whether we have somebody on staff that could do some mapping and if not if we could engage a consultant to do some mapping for us. That would allow us to be able to see where populations are. We can tell what the poverty levels are. We can focus on um on communities that are vulnerable. Uh so we can we can have multiple layers of a map that allow us to

293make the decisions that get to the most vulnerable people, the the renters, you know, the the the people that have less money, the people that are higher in poverty, and also look at what we have in terms of mapping out where our assets are, where those buildings are that could be used as climate uh as as resistant resilience hubs if in the case of a large scale emergency. So, I'm also curious if we um think about disaster planning, you know, as part of this, you know, decision-making tool, not not to bring on a disaster, but we know we're expecting a large-scale seismic um event. And um it would be good to be prepared ahead of time for like what happens in that eventuality >> literally by building condition, by population, by condition of building, whether

294it's able to run on generators and solar power. So I So do I hear that the board is prepared to um declare option three as something to further explore or was that more conversation in the facilities committee? Sorry, >> I'm not quite ready just because I haven't spent the time with it, but I'd like to I'd love to talk about it next week if we can. >> Okay. >> Too many. >> That's right. Yeah. Like I'm not ready. >> And just just remembering that we can't we need to move because like you said, we just got to start getting permits. >> If we're going to >> We've got to talk about it >> and not >> talk about it forever. >> So with you, >> can we apply for a permit before we know buildings?

295>> Yeah. I just want I want make sure you're okay with this timeline. Uh so if we have this discussion facilities committee next week uh that means as soon as that because you know facilities committee can only make recommendations to the full board that means has to come back to the full board on September 30th meeting >> and that's when we can give direction and give is that >> okay a timeline or is that pushing it? >> Sorry say that again. So facilities >> so I guess >> FIO next week >> right? Yeah, but that that means the soonest that the board can give direction would be September 30th, >> right? Because at the facilities meeting it would be discussion only. >> Okay, that's fine. I think I mean the sooner the better. We we

296have some big topics topics as well next Tuesday. Are we >> I know what you're talking about. So, is there any way I work for the city and I just had a permitting conversation today and my head is still spinning from it >> because it's uh I don't know the answer to this, but is it possible to start to apply for the permit process uh before we actually have a project knowing that based on components? I know we won't have drawings or >> is is there any way to sort of stack up those two that critical path? You know, we we're going to need permits >> and we're going to need a person in the permit department that can maybe be the point person >> without having a specific building or is that >> we

297can't pull a permit without knowing where we're pulling it for. >> I thought I knew that. Okay. >> Yeah. And >> I was I was thinking about I I understand that I I I've pulled permits too and it's very difficult right now. Um I was wondering if we could bas pull permits based on the type of work, but you you need a location still. So, >> but we can have pre project um meetings with the city to determine what it is that we need to >> Yes. >> the eyes we need to dot and the tees we need to cross. >> Yeah. I'll I'll just lean in and note that part of the permitting process is reviewing our detailed drawings and our detailed calculations and commenting on that. So, we need to know site everything

298that has to be sight specific. Yeah. Yeah. And like Robert mentioned, they're more than happy to have open conversations with us upfront to make that process easier, but we need to know um yeah, project specifically. >> Well, and the same applies for the SRTP grant. We have to know what we're applying for, which is just another little tick in the system. >> Right. Well, let me let me check in with all the board members to see if we're ready because I know we have >> I've still got some questions from our safe structures. >> Yeah, it's over here. >> Okay. But let me just check in. So, I mean, we have two options. One is facilities committee, but then it comes back on 30. I mean, this is just in terms of picking A, B,

299or C, right? And um or we could pick ABC. Now I just want to check in. How are people feeling? >> What's the other option? >> Uh that it goes to facilities committee and then comes back to us on September 30th when we pick ABC. So that would be you know a 21day >> and what's the option? That's the only option right now. >> Yeah, the option is now give ABC direction >> or the 30th >> or the we do it on the 30th. >> Wong, can I come in with the third again? Third, third way. >> Could a third way be those of us that won't be at facilities defer to facilities to be able to give the direction? >> I'm not on facilities. I'm cool with C, >> but like you can decide.

300>> The issue with that is I think it violates our policy. >> We can't >> I think we can make a make a recommendation. >> We can make a recommendation to bring it to the full board on September 30th. what the tradeoff is is getting started on the work >> for nine months. >> I feel like we've made it I think I think 21 days. I hopefully I feel like it warrants the discussion. I know that there's people that want to give public comment next week. Um giving them a chance to do that. So I feel someone who always has a sense of urgency. I feel I feel comfortable with >> Okay. And my other question >> coming back on the 30th. I guess my other question is I mean well a we're just talking

301about potentially just two buildings >> right now. >> Well, if we go with plan C and do the two buildings plus potentially >> okay >> parts here parts ABC from >> three other buildings. >> Okay, got it. And then my second question is with C with the grants how tip >> just I don't know if there's a possible guesstimate but how big are some of these grants >> um >> or how much they might help? >> Yeah, I'm happy to talk about the grants. It's the SRGP grant, seismic rehabilitation grant program from the state of Oregon. So, you can get up to $2.5 million to spend on one project. Um, the caveat is that you need to seismically retrofit the entire building unless there's a seismic separation. There's a nuance there. Um, and to your

302point, the part of the grant is to help with Oregon overall resiliency. So, it's to be upgraded to risk category 4. um the assembly areas so that you can serve as an emergency shelter after a seismic event. >> Great. >> So, that' be interesting to target those grants towards locations that aren't as close to >> what do you call it? Like what do you call like a place where you go like an emergency shelter, you know, >> resilience, >> right? Okay. >> Climate resilience. >> Are you okay if we move to public comment? Thank you for the information. It's been super helpful and the report is amazing. Um, >> public comment, >> since we're not voting on anything, there wasn't any public. >> Okay, there wasn't. Okay, >> but I've got some I've got some

303questions. >> Some questions. Okay. Okay, that was conf. >> So, I've got four questions. Okay. >> Um, I'm just going to read these and thanks you guys for doing the hard work of sending the list. Um, what do the risk scores actually mean? For example, what is the difference between a nine and a seven in terms of probability of collapse, expected injuries, or fatalities in different earthquake scenarios? >> Um, that's a good question. It's a bit of a loaded question. Um, happy to get back to them with more detailed information. Um, a a lot of information goes into the FEMA and haz data. um and it looks at both building vulnerability, so building damage state and also um loss of life and and damage for life safety. So it pulls from two components. Um but

304I would need to get back to them in terms of the differences. It's it's um it's a complicated answer. >> Um why don't I get through my list and maybe at the end we could talk about like what maybe you could give us some written responses or something. Okay. Um, so what risk score do you consider safe to operate as is to not retrofit or close? >> Let me go back to that risk score slide. Um, so again, hard question. We're talking about seismic risk here. So there's always some inherent vulnerability with any building, even new construction. Um, there's no seismic proof, earthquake proof building. Um so in generally woodfraid structures perform much better in a seismic event than a concrete building and you can see by the scatter plot um in terms of a

305a risk score. I I I I think there are so many um a number of buildings that have seismic vulnerabilities that we um are focused on those. Um and we we focus on the highest risk. Um I'm not I I I wouldn't like to say that a woodframe building at a four doesn't need a seismic retrofit because it it does need a seismic retrofit. But um but in terms of comparative um we would start at the top. >> Okay. Um let's see. Um this is an interesting one. Why wasn't sight specific soil information used in calculating the risk scores? >> Um yeah, that's a that's a good question. Um we have some sightspecific data. Um but we've we found that when you dive deeper some of that sight specific data um isn't um always as

306accurate when you look at the nuance of exact block. Um and we found that some of that data has some effect um to the scores but it doesn't completely it wouldn't completely move the number um significantly. So it's something when you do a deeper dive again this is a high level study when you do a deeper dive it would be considered but um um and a geotech would need to be engaged and so on for that type of study. >> Um two more the report doesn't distinguish these are hard questions to ask like just you know talking about people's kids u the report doesn't distinguish between buildings that might kill people versus those that would be unusable after an earthquake. How do we know which schools are the highest risk to preventing injury and death?

307I guess it's kind of the million-dollar question. >> Yeah, it's um you know, we're talking about seismic risk and vulnerability um based on the FEMA haz data like I mentioned before. Um so there's a lot that goes into these numbers. >> Yeah. Um okay, last one. How are previously completed seismic upgrades accounted for in these ratings? >> Yeah, and um I I talked about that a little bit in the flowchart. We took our base score from the FISA FEMA and haz data and then we adjusted that base score based on the retrofit that occurred on that campus. So if there was a roof level seismic upgrade, that score was adjusted down a certain amount. If there was a larger seismic upgrade, that score was adjusted down even further. >> Got it. Okay, that's really helpful.

308Yeah, >> that's all I got. >> Right. I think for the sake of time I want to kind of move along and I think we're g I think the sounds like everyone's comfortable with this going to facilities committee meeting for a deeper dive. >> All right. Thank you so much. Appreciate all of this >> and answering all these questions. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next is the uh finance focus. Dr. Armstrong. >> Yes, we are almost there team. I know it's late. Um so tonight we have Chief Morrison who uh will focus primarily on the preliminary property tax collection data, review highlights of August 28th state revenue forecast, and share upcoming budget activities. Chief Morrison. >> Thank you, Dr. Armstrong and directors. I will keep it this will be a brief budget brief this

309evening. I know that you have had the information uh available to you and have had the opportunity to send questions if you have them. I'm going to um lower my hand and share my screen. Thank you, Cara. super pleased with myself because this is the first time I'm driving my own car at this show. So, yeah, it feels good. Feels good. Starting to feel at home in PPS. So, um we have just a couple highlights that I want to hit. Um, I know that uh budget is on everybody's minds. It came up so many times today and I'm going to bring some information that is just going to reinforce how we need to really continue to focus on um being careful with our resources. So, we have some preliminary property tax collection information for you.

310uh I have some highlights from the state revenue forecast and then um just sharing some upcoming budget activities you can expect to see next month. So we had some information shared with us by the Multma uh county economist Jeff Renfro a couple weeks ago and there are some challenges with our downtown property values. So, uh, they are lower, which means they're just not growing at the same rate they have historically. And as we prepared our budget, we uh projected for some limited growth, especially for our local option levy and have budgeted for more than what it looks like we will actually receive for the 2526 year. And I just wanted to bring that to your attention. And it looks as if those collections will be um estimated to be $5 million less than what we

311budgeted and that's the equivalent of 33 licensed FTE. >> I just >> I'm sorry. I just wanted to emphasize I just want to underscore that to speak to the significance of our budget. So that's $5 million that we would have received this year that we're no longer receiving which makes up about 33 licensed teacher that we will need to f that we are funding this year out of um our current budget. So just I I just want I I know you said that. I just want to pause and and emphasize and underscore the state of our um our budget this year and um future. >> Yeah, >> thank you Dr. Armstrong. I do appreciate that. I think when we proposed and eventually adopted this year's budget, we shared um concerns that it was fragile. There's

312not a lot of room for movement in it. And so this is a significant factor for us. >> Yeah. And I think it also speaks to how important it is for those levies to be able to fund our teachers that directly impact class size. Yeah. Thanks. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Um next up is our quarterly state revenue forecast. Um it was not positive. um really uh negative forecast based on the impact of the some federal legislation that has been uh moving forward in Oregon. Our um income tax rules really kind of follow along the the federal and so when they make changes that impact uh at the federal level, Oregon is also impacted and income taxes are um about half of what we rely on for the state school fund. So this little table was

313directly from the revenue forecast and there's a link um embedded if you are interested in learning more. So our um colleagues across the state they uh gather and they discuss the revenue forecast and um provide us some information and really this is uh it's time to prepare and plan not panic. We already know we're in a challenging situation moving into 26 27. Um, but what they're saying to us is at this time they don't anticipate a lowered K12 appropriation than what we already have at the state level. But it is time to start planning and being very conservative from that perspective. And um, and for us, I think that we just need to be extra mindful. All right, we have uh budget uh calendar and activities. My team is really working hard to um prep

314leadership and uh begin those early exercises and reviewing our programming and uh some options for next year uh as we move into budget development in the spring. Here are a couple slides that are more justformational. I know that director Englesman asked specifically about uh more the history trends and kind of context around our um revenue types and also our expenditure types. And so I've included some slides here. I'm happy to follow up if you guys have any questions. I don't think we need to spend a lot of time looking at pictures tonight, but um I'm available and my team are available anytime you'd like to have more details. have our general fund revenue. I think this slide uh is significant because we have opted to use some one-time funds for operations. You can see that

315trend began in the 2324 year and has continued and at this time uh we have exhausted all of our um reserves as we move through this current year. And this is a stack chart just to show you what the revenue uh streams are. Again, I can take these offline anytime. And this is where our costs are. So you can see salary and payroll costs combined definitely make up the majority of our budget. We are a service business. And I know people think about, oh, turn the heat down, turn the lights out, you know, yay, that's all really great, but this is really going to be impactful in terms of um people and services. And I just wanted to also underscore that because I know that there has been questions about like for instance when we

316have a a contract or when we choose to use a budget item like like why doesn't that just go towards the classroom? And so when we go through the budgeting process and departments are allocated funds whether that's technology, curriculum, instruction, um knowing that we have grants, knowing that there are bond dollars and then the general uh fund where we um typically pull items. Just want to note that like all of those those uh funding or those budget codes are diverse and go to different needs and you know for an organization our size with the amount of employees right it wouldn't be feasible to put you know 95% of our resources um into um people. I think we do invest a pretty significant amount in people as we should as we're a service organization and we

317still have buses to repair. We have technology funds. Uh there's research, there's data, there's innovation, there's many other things that um we believe will we expend on to keep us competitive. And so I just I I hope that in some of the other um opportunities that uh budget conversations that we begin to share a little bit more about the way in which we allocate funds. And I I know that there's a lot of questions around contracts and um and how they fall and why or way why they may or may not be um able to be reallocated to a different department to spend on humans or services. Excellent. Thank you. We have been very careful and you can see in this stack chart here where the red and the blue in the bottom, those are

318all our staff costs. Those are salaries and then all of the associated payroll costs which include PERS. That yellow band, those are services and that includes almost $50 million in transportation contracts. So that's the bulk of our services as you see it there. Um, and supplies. You can see those are we're actually really pretty careful with our spending. So, uh, really appreciate you sharing that. I think we do a pretty good job. >> For Yes. >> How much of how much of that is PERS? >> Oh, somebody just asked me that question. I want to say it's out of our $868 million operating budget about $100 million goes to PERS. All right. So again, this is just for reference. I think we're coming close to an end. Chair Wong's going. Yes, we are. So coming

319in October, more relevant information is we'll be able to update our projections for the current year and the out years based on uh student enrollment, actual enrollment and then our first full payroll for the year. So thank you very much. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I'm sorry we put this at the very end. Um, so thank you for being for uh that's being patient or or taking our >> tolerant. Yeah, thank you. That's the right word. Um, all right. Next up, we have the consent agenda. Let's do this before people start passing out. Um, uh, board members, if there's any items you would like to pull, uh, for a separate vote, please indicate that. No, Miss Bradshaw. Has there been any changes consent agenda? >> No. >> Do I have

320a motion and a second to adopt the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Directed to pass moves. Director Chase Miller seconds the adoption of the consent agenda. Any board discussion on the consent agenda? >> Um I assume there's no public comment, right? Great. Uh the board will Are we doing 7171? >> Yes. Okay. Yes. I just would like make one comment please on 7171 which is the >> nutritional Yes. for head start. supplemental nutrition. >> Yes. The only comment that I want to make is that um it sort of ties into the nutrition options at lunch and breakfast at at all schools, but certainly not a head start, but at all schools. I have noticed that the little green um letter next to lunches is denotes something that is vegetarian or vegan friendly

321and that at any given good week it's at two maybe three. And so that there are days that goes by when there are vegetarian or vegan kids that just have to choose something else because PPS doesn't make an option for them those days. And so I in this day and age of people becoming more aware of the conditions in the farms and more the health benefits of choosing different alternatives and also the environmental benefits of leading a plant-based life. Um, I guess I would just like to, um, I would hope that in this Head Start nutrition, um, opportunity to make sure that there are options for all kids all the time that are healthy and plant-based rather than just sort of being a green leaf next to a calendar day that is not every day

322of the of the month. I'm not very articulate, but I'm hoping that there'll be more vegetarian and vegan options every day so that all kids can have lunch. >> Thank you. I appreciate you pointing that out. Um, >> very quickly, I just uh have to say I trust your guys' judgment completely on this, but I unfortunately have to leave because it's 11:00 and my school day starts 9 hours from now. >> So, >> yeah, get your sleep. >> I'll see you guys next meeting. >> Thank you. >> Uh, Director Split, I think I saw your hand up. >> I did. I actually was thinking something else was happening, but u I just want to second what Director Englesman said. Just I know we're it's late and you guys don't want to hear me talk about

323this, but I have a my boss has a new kindergartener and her one complaint is that they can't figure out lunch because they're vegetarian and it's been a real challenge for them. So, we'll just concur and do a shout out for my boss if you all will let me. >> Yeah, me too. >> All right. I'm really glad that both of you pointed out that and is a very important topic to me as well. Um let's move to or sorry the >> the board will now vote on resolution 71 68 through 7173. All in favor please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. >> It's also 7174. >> You forgot to say that last one. That's what's in your vote. The consent agenda includes. >> Okay. Let's do this again. or no vote on resolution 7168

324through 7174. >> All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. >> All opposed. >> All right. The consented. >> Sorry, director split. I don't know if I heard yours. >> I'm sorry. I was going to avoid voting because I don't see 7174 in bucket. I don't understand where it is. But that's okay. It doesn't matter. I guess I'll vote yes. But I just don't see 7174. >> Four books is only listed. >> I see it on the agenda, but I don't see it. >> It was Never mind. The number >> the one for >> You were right. I apologize. >> Do we need to correct? No, you you already voted once. >> 7714 includes three. So >> different >> resolution 7168 through 7173. >> Yes. Okay. You already voted. >> Vote yes. >>

325Great. So consent agenda as amended is approved by a vote of 7 to zero. Uh resolution 7175 uh is to consider a contract for procedio. Dr. Armstrong, could you introduce us? >> Yeah, I'm excited to introduce this um item. I know that there has been questions and I want to make sure that uh we create the opportunity to answer those questions. And one of the um things that I heard from a couple of people was why Prescidio. And I I I want to make sure that I state that it is a um Prescidio is a nationwide firm that is headquartered in Texas. Uh we have several firms that we do business with that are headquartered either in another country or in the state of Texas. But really um why Prescidio in in this moment we

326have six vacant positions in the office of school modernization. And so we have Sarah and interim leadership from Prescidio coming in to move the work that we have around our three high school builds. Um one of the other things that I'd like to point out or a few other things I'd like to point out is that they are a K12 focused firm. Um impeccable references in urban areas. I've already said that they're a national firm, but uh more than that, they are experienced in executing billion billion dollar bond programs with multiple builds in the same bond um measure in the same time frame. And so we are well aware that we have the largest bond in Oregon state history and we are attempting to do something that hasn't been done in at least a dozen

327decades and that's to build three high schools um at the same time and we're confident that um we have the group to come in and and I also want to stay because I think some of you may have heard um from others or received some communic communication that one of the things that we were looking to do was to replace the entire um OSM and that's uh not correct. I think you you heard from um a gentleman that represents Seismic, we have so much more than the three high school builds and not to say that the high school builds aren't important, but we have some pretty significant projects that are happening um down in the the school of modernization. I say down because they're um a couple floors below. And so I just I wanted

328to lift that up and make sure that I'm on record stating that uh it isn't replacement of a department, but it's more of a strategy and bringing in a team that has national expertise on executing a billion dollar bond program with multiple high school builds happening at the same time. So with that I have um both uh two of our leaders who can speak and answer any questions that that you may have. And we also I know another question that I had was um why not an RFP and um why a cooperative contracting procurement method and so we have Emily Courtnage um who can speak to that as well. So, um, whatever questions you may have, I believe the team is ready. >> Thank you. Let's put this on the table first. Um, do I

329have a motion and a second to Sorry, I forgot what resolution number this is. >> 7175. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 7175 contract seating $150,000 for the delegation of authority? >> So moved. Second. >> Thank you. Director to pass moves. Director Chase Miller seconds. All right. Board discussion. >> Yes. If if I start out um my biggest concern when I first read through this was like why not a local firm? Uh because I value the idea of spending locally especially on bond projects where we want the money to circulate. voters put it put the money, you know, vote for this and my hope is that we circulate the dollars in the in the local economy. And I understand now that they're headquartered elsewhere. Um, but there's also, um, I

330think a lot of value having managed construction before in having an experienced firm, especially for this type of work. Um, yeah, they have K12 experience. They they can get up and running quickly. And even before we had all these vacancies, there was some deep concern about the capacity of that uh office of school modernizations, it was surfaced to us that they were worried about the the capacity to carry out the sheer amount of dollars to spend in the amount of time we had to spend it. Um the last thing I'll say about this is um I forgot because it's so late. Maybe it'll come back and maybe it won't. Um, but the local spend was was a big deal. Um, I wanted to say I guess one last thing and that's about the type of

331cooperative um project is the city of Portland if they want to buy paper. Mhm. >> There's a statewide everybody can kind of glom onto that same paper product uh um order and it does save uh in the staff time I guess in putting out an RFP and every time a local jurisdiction needs paper they have to do their own contracting versus um being in a cooperative purchase. So it makes sense to me to economize that way as well. Yeah. I guess my question is so it it looks like you want this company to kind of take over for the what three to five years it's going to take to do the high schools because I when I read the contract it went through December like quite a large amount 414,000 for three months and then

332said 5 to 10 years. >> Yeah. So, >> I didn't get it. >> So, this is an amendment to an existing contract that we had with them >> and it's been accelerated because Stormmy uh Shanks resigned. >> Yeah. >> Right. And so, I think we all know and as Dr. Armstrong put, there's um we have a leadership void in the office of school and modernization in NOSM and obviously we have a $ 1.83 83 billion bond and we need a single point person within OSM to help lead this work. And I just want to sum up a few of the things that and and also to just like with what what Dr. Armstrong said along with the void left um from Stormmy, we also have six vacant positions. So having Prescidio come in, it's not

333just having a point person, it's actually having a team of folks to help alleviate those vacant positions and responsibilities. So some of the pieces include the interim leadership with immense experience in leading bond work in K12. Like that's huge. >> Uh and we're talking about bond work in the billions. uh and this person will be leading this work and also be bringing in a team and we're talking about working with contractors approving PCAR purchases change orders things that have to happen in a timely fashion because I think we know that this work can't stall because time is money right >> right we I think we all have experience with those pieces >> uh meeting with the OSM team we're talking about meeting with project teams adhering to timelines but the BAC right we have um

334frequent meetings with the bond accountability team. We expect this person to be a lead on um the FIOC committee providing monthly updates uh to the board uh leadership with bond communications coordinating OSM with facilities and maintenance that's another piece too right in terms of uh improving that level of communication also the reality is too that the right sizing conversation is going to happen we do expect like this person to you know with the experience to be involved in that level of conversation And also we expect um um this person to is going to have some specific direct reports right is also uh if you look at the senior director currently the senior director currently has two directors of construction who report directly to that position also two business um uh positions that report directly to

335the to that position and then also uh another uh finance services manager. So, those are five very specific direct reports. And I'd like to think that both Tom and I potentially can fill in, but we have also other pieces that we're also responsible for. And it is a lot that is happening. And just in a short time, I would say that I've that I've transitioned over as being in the chief of schools, we need and I can't implore this enough, a a dedicated person and team. And I can't I can't express to you the sense of urgency that we all feel in regards to this. >> Six vacant positions plus Stormmy. So that's really seven. So how many >> Well, it's actually six with Stormy. >> With Stormmy. Okay. >> Yeah. Six with Stormy. >>

336Okay. Um so is this a team of people coming in then like or are you having this group? Are we hiring more people too or >> so? So it would we'd have a point person very specifically and then depending on the area of need a team could come in or would come in. Does that make sense? So >> this firm could could provide those people. >> Let me let me speak to that too. I I want to be able to answer that question. So in the interim we have um Sarah who's actually here with us. You can wave at us. We won't call you up. Um and the the who rep who is a part of Prescidio and we'll have other staff from Prescidio at her disposal as needed to fill in the interim um

337uh post as we work through the scope and the need and then begin to think about what we really need um to bring forth to the board next month. um um as a uh as a proposal to um really keep the work moving for the three high schools. And so um that is something that I'm anticipating bringing forth next month. Just I I want to be clear about that that it's not just a few months and then we're done. that this is a long-term strategy for our um our three high schools and we will have more information as we dig in a little deeper and understand um what the need is. I mean there's so many things that I've uh learned in the last couple of months and I think you all know um even

338for our new folks the previous board in the push to dig deeper to understand the way in which we're doing business and executing our bond program to think outside of the box to be innovative like I've answered all of those calls and um just excited that we are going to move forward with you know we have uh great leadership over the uh three high schools um now that the the team is excited about. And so um being able to support that team and wrap around and and move these projects in a way that will see us cutting ribbon all within a year uh within the the calendar year uh is exciting to think about. And so um that was a lot. I think I may have rambled a little bit but uh I don't know

339if that answers your question. Okay. Yes. Yes. Dr. Smith, >> I have um a lot of thoughts, but my first question is as related to the May scope of work um May 27th, 2025 that is um I have not seen but that does not mean it has been provided but is there a as it relates to the Jefferson project a comprehensive written summary of the existing conditions of PPS's decision-making pro protocols? project and construction management team structure and oversight structures. Has that been >> you're talking about the final report? >> Yeah. >> No, that that's scheduled um October 22nd >> is when that report is supposed to be okay. >> Delivered. We have had several briefings and I know that there was like a two-pager that was put out that was uh just a report

340that was an update to um our d our senior director uh Stormmy that was shared as if that was the comprehensive report. That was not the comprehensive report just to be clear on that. >> So that's so number one of the contract deliverables is not yet done and scheduled for October. um an an analysis of JHS Jefferson High School project challenges and recommendations per above. Is that done? Okay. Um and number three, a dedicated project staffing plan for JHS adoptable adaptable I got to use my glasses. What am I doing? It's 11. Adaptable to other high school modernization efforts. Has that been done? >> I think that's all going to be as a part of that final report. >> Okay. So, >> no, no, no, that's fine. So, final report for the May 2025 contract

341deliverables. We haven't finished this contract yet. >> Correct. >> Um, so transparency again. It feels premature to me to be entering into another contract, especially one of the significant value that we're looking at right now and the length of time. They also have large concerns with going outside Oregon or at least outside the Pacific Northwest or the West Coast. Um, we are entering a fiscal crisis. We are entering an economy crisis. We are entering a job loss crisis. Why are we looking at sending jobs outside of Oregon or outside of the Pacific Northwest or the West Coast? All of which I will also say are politically aligned with Oregon and certainly with PPS's, which no offense to those sitting in the room, the Texas politics are not. And so it makes me uncomfortable to be

342looking that far. Um I also am concerned that working with a firm um in the Pacific Northwest, Washington, Oregon certainly are going to understand our climate, our weather. It's unique. um how things are affected is different than they're in dry Texas. They're going to know our natural resources really really well. They're going to know what to use and what not to use. Um and they're they're here. So, um I think that I would I would feel comfortable. I mean, I certainly want to see our first contract realized and followed through with before we enter into a second contract. And so, this feels very pre premature to me. All of these other concerns aside, um, and so I would like to see an RFP or at least a some kind of bidding that happens that opens

343it up to firms that I understand are located close or here to give them an opportunity. >> I and I just I would love to to respond to to that. Um, first, it is a an amendment to a contract increasing the amount because of the departure of one of our senior leaders, right? So, we have lost uh our chief operating officer who was originally up through the office of school modernization and um now Stormy and so one of the reasons why we've made this um the shift to increase the amount and extend the time is because of that departure. And the other only other thing that I wanted to point out um is that we have um two other uh firms that do work with us. Uh the first one is AECOM. They're a national

344form firm. They're headquartered in Dallas. Um back in 2023, we entered into a 5-year contract for up to $5 million for on call project management services. We also have Turner Townsen, which is also a national firm that's headquartered in the UK. We entered into that contract in 2023. It's a five-year up to $5 million on call project management services. So, that's been going on for the last two years. So I know that like when if we were to quantify it, we have about already 30 33% of um our work in OSM being um directly uh serviced or handled or managed by firms that are um contracted out and the ones that I mentioned uh the larger uh ones are not uh headquartered in in Oregon. And then I also just wanted to correct because Prescidio

345is a national firm and they do work on the west coast. So it's not like they're only in Texas wanting to, you know, uh start business in Portland. They're they are in other places and they have a K12 focus. So, I just want to say like this is a a national well um uh repped firm and I just want to make sure that I am putting the correct factual information out and um if we were to look at the contracts and the firms that we do do business with and where they're headquartered um that there it's not uh a majority in Oregon. And I also want to just take this opportunity to say that Portland, as you all know, we're the only urban school district in the state of Oregon. Um Seattle is the only

346urban school district in the state of Washington. So that's two states, only two urban districts. I will tell you that Seattle has not passed a billion dollar bond where they've built multiple high schools on that same bond measure. So, if we were to think about firms in Oregon and Washington that can come in and do um what Prescidio has done in other places, we're not going to find them. And then the other thing that I want to say, and I really hate to put this out there, but what I've been told and what uh previous board members have been told and what we know to be true from folks who do business with Portland is that we have a reputation that we need to repair that make it attractive for folks that want to do

347business with us. Well, we're excited about the CMGC that we have from Jefferson and I do believe that KAS Hoffman is the right firm to do the work. Note that we we only had one um one company that um put in for a CMGC in one of the most expensive high schools that will be built in the United States. That's rare. That's unlikely. And I think it speaks to some of the work that we need to do out in the field on how we make sure that um businesses aren't failing because of some of the procedures and and the process that we have in Portland public schools. and I'm I'm happy to provide any and all the information that I've received on that. So, I mean, I ju I just want to make sure that

348if we're we're talking about a firm that we're we're truly doing justice um um because I I know folks reputation um is at stake and I know that I appreciate the work that we have going on with AECOM and Turner Townsen um despite them being uh you know headquartered in in Dallas, Texas or in the UK. And I would hope that um that wouldn't, you know, lead to a conversation of discontinuing services just because of where they may be headquartered and um how some of those beliefs may not align with ours. And I also just want to note that uh Prescidio is a um is a minorityowned firm and um significantly committed to moving work in um in Portland. So, >> thank you. That was a lot to respond to, but um yeah, we want

349to also kind of grow your own so we can have the firms so we can you know, but we need to um start somewhere like the chicken eggs discussion. We need to get the buildings built as per voters want and not dillydally. And I I know just I'll take on full responsibility. A lot of a lot of our delays are because of us. We we we cause them. And so I I just hope that we can be like conscious of this moving forward. There is a ton of work to do and we can either move it forward with caveats or skepticism or we can sort of just say like let's kind of get it going. The um the delays make us look bad and uh can contribute to being not being the you know the

350district of choice for people. We're not saying what we're going to do when we're going to do it. >> Calling you. So, I'm going to take that on just that personal responsibility for I don't want to delay anything anymore. I've been on the board six years and I've seen a lot of delays. >> Like, let's go. And I just I wanted to pivot over just because I know I heard the RFP and the corporate cooperative contracting procurement method just to see if there were any uh thoughts to offer on that. >> Hi, Emily Gordage, director of purchasing and contracting. Yeah, I'm here to answer any questions you may have about the cooperative contracting process versus an RFP process. The cooperative contract is a result of an RFP process. It was just conducted by another public

351agency in a cooperative uh procurement group and then those of us who are members of that cooperative procurement group can access that contract and that is permitted under Oregon law as well as our own PPS public contracting rules. And then just to emphasize that this isn't a new procedure. So since 2015 specifically in the office of school modernization um not including procedio we have 18 other cooperative contracting procurement method agreements and we have even more if you were to look at nutrition technology for furniture. So I I think I had saw a suggestion as if like this is some new thing that we're doing and for the last 10 years we have been using cooperative contracting procurement methods for um to save time and to vet um and and u make sure that folks are

352qualifying through a cooperative. >> Um let's have director Lefor and then director split. >> Um okay so the final report on Jefferson um sounds like it's due October 22nd. Is that correct? Will we have that before we're voting on a larger contract? >> Yeah. >> You said something about voting on something next month. >> So, I just want to make sure that we see that before >> any further votes. >> Absolutely. Yes. >> That's one of my questions. Um, okay. So, I've got a couple. Uh, just want to say that, you know, I have no issue taking big swings and changing things if they're if they're not not working. Um I do um when I was looking at this I actually love this board because we really do look at everything from a different angle.

353Um I was looking at the it was a required summary of the five highest value similar projects. And um there was one um that was in the close to $2 billion range but was actually two bonds. It was a $1.2 billion bond and a $750 million bond. The rest were much less like it was like three 387 um 75 million 342 104 million. These are um actually significantly signific significantly smaller than the other bonds that we've implemented at PPS. So I was actually curious about why Prescidio um versus I mean I wasn't seeing that there was a and maybe it's not in here. This is kind of why I'm asking that there wasn't experience managing $2 billion bonds in multiple school districts across the country. I wasn't seeing that in the paperwork that they submitted.

354Um, so I'm just wondering experience-wise, do they? And is is there any outside of Texas because everything in here is in Texas? Yeah, >> I was going to ask if they're if it's a cooperative um purchasing then are there are they working in Oregon in other places that you know of? >> Not in Oregon. Uh >> okay. But like Arizona >> for the state of Oregon this cooperative purchasing I would think that maybe they just bid on so they have the ability to do work in Portland. But are do you know if they have any other work in Portland or in Oregon? I as part of that cooperative agreement. >> Let me say that the cooperative was not done. It's not an Oregon specific. It's a national cooperative purchasing organization. >> Okay. Thank you. >>

355Many. >> Yeah. >> Go with Director Splade and I'll go back to Director Lefort. >> Did my question did not get answered. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Go ahead. Answer the question. >> So my question was, does Prescidio have experience managing $2 billion bonds? Because what I'm seeing here is a 1.2, a 750, and everything else is much smaller. So, we've had much larger bonds consistently. Most of these numbers are smaller than the bonds that we've managed in house. So, I'm wondering if they have that experience. If >> it's just the high school, >> I think I think we can pull that information, but I would say for our high schools, our our high schools are just um above uh 1.0 something. I I got to look at the actual math. Um our total bond

356we know is 1.82. Um but we that also includes technology, includes um some of the seismic and um some of those items. And so in terms of looking at one of the things that was really important to the team was looking at a um a a firm that had executed multiple builds um with a uh bond issue that matched ours which uh would be a billion for um for the high schools. Um, >> I'm wondering if there's more than that. Like if there's if it's just this I've got one example in here in the materials they submitted that it's a 1.2 that's the highest one. Is it the only one that >> We can get that information. We can get that information. We'll we'll bring that back. >> Um, so that's one of my questions.

357Um, have they implemented school bond work outside of Texas? >> Yes. >> Okay. Do you know where? >> Uh, definitely Hillsboro County in Florida. Massachusetts. >> Arizona. >> Okay. They're just asking because they weren't included in the materials that they submitted. So that's why I'm asking. Um I think you answered one of my other questions which was Y487. Um it's multiple bodies, which explains that it's not just one person. Um and let's see. I was just curious why um why you chose to negotiate an hourly rate versus a flat rate. It looks like there was a choice in here and I was just curious why why we chose the flat rate. >> I I'm going to did the team any thoughts on that? >> I'll have to review the contract and get back to you

358though. Happy to look at that and give you a good answer. >> And then um I think Steph touched on this a little bit, but is is district leadership considering a full RFP process for any future scope? >> No. >> Would use the cooperative agreement. >> Okay. Director Split. >> Hi. I've been on like a Zoom call for a really long time. So, uh, feeling like I might be losing it a little and I can't see any of you. Can you guys hear me? Am I still on the call? >> You're all good. >> Okay. I just lost. Usually I can see you guys and myself and now I'm just seeing multiples of myself. Okay, great. Um, so, um, I plan to support this motion today, um, and move forward with this contract extension. But

359I just want to say a few things and make a few recommendations. Um uh so I share the concerns that I'm hearing and the questions that I'm hearing um about whether it's you know an out of state business that hasn't worked in Oregon before um regarding sort of process and um concerns about you know sort of outsourcing instead of hiring local folks into positions with the district um and that being sort of the a thought on a possible or likely long-term path. here. So, I was thinking about some ideas toward mitigating risks and concerns so that we can demonstrate that this contractor is leaning in on Oregon and getting to know Oregon and Portland and what makes it unique when we do have this conversation down the road about potentially um renewing and extending their

360contract for a longer period of time. What if for example they can meet with labor um the places that you just mentioned Florida do I want to talk about Texas again um Arizona don't have the same requirements I'm sure um regarding prevailing wage and labor requirements and um potentially some of the minority contracting rules that we have in Oregon that I know a lot of us are really excited about and support and I'm really glad there are minority own business cuz I'll probably be pumped about that stuff. But I think it'd be great if when we do have this conversation again to mitigate the risk, mitigate the concerns for ourselves and for others. I mean, I think we all are aware that there's been some press on this. So I think we can do a

361good job um as a board by having or or um as a district um by having when they do come when there is that next conversation about moving forward longer term having some of those concerns we've heard and like what we're doing to mitigate those risks or concerns. So I gave one example. Another one for me is like I've been relatively new to the DAG for IDB Wells and it was it was obviously closed down for a little while but um there's deep institutional knowledge and relationship knowledge and awareness of neighborhoods and communities that has been formed over these really robust processes across the three high schools. And as we lose if we lose staff that have been working on that to this new model, you know, that to me is concerning. So what what's

362the plan for making sure that we retain that institutional knowledge or is that is there Oh, I know. I'm tired cuz I immediately started thinking of like sort of like a metaphor of like we have like a like a robot human hybrid. We've got the contractor but also the Portland public school staff and they're working together um and not one or the other. So, I'm just throwing out um a couple of ideas that I think could be considered for when we do have this conversation again to show the district's listening. We hear the concerns from the board. We hear concerns from the community. Here's how we're addressing them. They could come visit the bond accountability committee when they meet in October. Um things like that that I think could be done to just like make

363everybody feel more comfortable before we make the the big decision down the road. So I will just leave it at that and thank you very much for listening to me from afar with some ideas. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Um I just have one last comment and I want to I think we have public comment. >> All right. Um so um just really quick. It is a real thing that things are more expensive for Portland. We do have a reputation that we need to repair. There are uh this is something that I've known. I have friends who are contractors contract Portland and you know things are more expensive. I think it sounds like this is also an opportunity where we have SASar come in with different kind of experience that we can also learn from

364right and this is it presents a new cool opportunity to help change things. It is also a real thing that uh unfortunately PPS boards are famous for you know the waffling waving that does also increase costs a lot for us. We are kind of a metro island. It's very difficult to find people with this kind of experience in this area. So um I see this as an opportunity for trying something different. Um we do need a change. Things are getting rapidly expensive as you know from our last bond. Uh there was a lot of discussion why things are so expensive here. This is part of it right and so I I think uh this represents an opportunity to kind of try something new different and learn from it and and um I I it is

365getting late. Uh, I know a lot of people had comments and questions. You know, to I just want to respect time. Typically, people are, you know, if you remember Robert's rules orders from the OBA, you're supposed to, you know, two questions is what is expected. We'll allow a little bit more, but I do want to get to public comment first and then, uh, we will pull to the vote. >> We have Kesha Lleier who's here in person, and then we have, um, Paul Weber who is virtual. Thanks. Okay. Okay. Good evening members of the board and welcome to the new members. I really hope to continue working with you. My name is Kesha Lleair. I'm a senior project manager here in OSM helping lead the Jefferson modernization team and it has genuinely been the highlight

366of my career to do so. I'm a licensed architect with almost 20 years of experience and I am here to provide important context and guidance towards to 7175. A few months ago, Presidio claimed that they could cut up to 12 months and $100 million from Jefferson project. Anyone in this building with the expertise to engage such a consultant would have known that that was impossible and would never have hired them. Instead, against our former director's cautions, leadership insisted that they be engaged for full program management services, and they are almost 90 days into that original contract. So, in that time, they have only attended three already planned Jefferson team meetings, one of which was our very first meeting with our new contractor. They did not call any other meetings with anyone in our department, any

367other department leaders, directors of construction, senior project managers, no one. A and as of last week, so as of last week, a consultant hired for bond program management has not met with a single staff man member to understand what it's actually like to manage this work within the district. How can they assess performance or help us if they haven't spoken to the people doing the work? Requests for one-on-one one-on- ones with us only began in the last few days after our entire department was called into a meeting last Tuesday and told that Sarah from Prescidio would now be leading OSM. And from that moment on, anything that was in our previous director's court was now in hers and she is already working out of that office here in the PEC. before you have even approved

368the amendment and despite not coming close to meeting any of those claims of their original proposal. There was also no attempt at transparency or collaboration with our department. Multiple members of leadership flew to Texas rather than take the elevator down a few floors to troubleshoot their concerns with the people who actually do the work. Reminder, OSM already has oversight. The bond accountability committee is the impartial expert body that evaluates bond projects and it's in its July audit they indicated that we need support but also that leadership's direction to pause projects to chase an unachievable $100 million reduction has already increased the risk of further delays and increased our inflation costs. So please do not distribute any authority that would make those findings worse. The board must intervene to empower our department to implement BAC recommendations.

369To date, we have not been so been permitted to do so. Our previous director made multiple requests for staffing report um staffing support and was denied. Do not undermine our department by allowing outsiders unaccountable to the Portland community to be the ones to define how successful OSM is in serving Portland's children. Also, the director of OSM is responsible for a multi-billion dollar multi-year program. And as these events have shown, I would suggest this requires a cabinet level position so that there could be more transparency and accountability between leadership and the bond program. I also encourage leadership to take this opportunity to correct this mistake and work with our department to rebuild the trust that has been broken. Please do not pass 7175. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any more questions? >> Um I

370have one question only because I've completely lost the plot because we've been going for almost seven hours. So, are we would this be um would this amendment be voting on giving over 400,000 more to a contractor that hasn't finished the original expectations? And I guess the other question is why can't we just see the report, this extensive written report that's supposed to give us all of this? Why can't we just see that and determine whether we like the work that this contractor is doing before deciding to engage in additional? Is there any can we just wait until we get this written report? Yeah, I'd love to answer that. Um, so I think two things. The work that they were originally asked to do was to come in and uh provide some uh support and um

371an assessment of ways that we can find further cost savings with the Jefferson project and perhaps even speed up that timeline. Um, and so with the transition, and I know we've heard some some quick timeline and shifts. Um, as you know, the the team found out just a couple weeks ago that uh Stormmy um had chosen to resign. And so what we're asking for now is um a larger contract so the team can come in and uh provide staffing augmentation and support around um the bond programs for the three uh the three high schools. And so what would be at risk as I hear the report about um one Jefferson High School and um knowing that they you know perform the duties that were uh expected. I mean, to our belief and as we've been

372given multiple verbal updates and have had multiple conversations, we're pretty confident. Um, which is why we bring this this item uh forward to you today. Um, I think the only other thing that would be at risk is um a hard pause. Um, and what that would look like is pausing on the work that we have going on and looking to, if we weren't going in the direction um, that we're going with Precidio, it would be looking to hire an internal person and going through that recruitment process and then also recruitment for those team members in a a process that uh, Portland has used for for many years and we'll probably get the results that uh, we've gotten. So, um I'm just it's an opportunity to be uh creative and innovative and um uh utilizing a

373firm that I'm pretty confident in um as superintendent of Portland Public Schools and doing the the job that you all have charged me to do. >> Director, >> I'm sorry. We have one more public comment. Uh, am I allowed to start? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Hi. Um, my name is Paul Weber. Um, I know it's late and I will try to be as brief as I can. Um, I want to be clear. I was not going to invoke the name of my company as part of my comments, but because I'm I'm here as a a PPS parent, taxpayer, and uh a concerned citizen, but in response to the superintendent's comments, I feel I need to clarify. Um I am with AECOM and we are currently a PPS master contract holder with past and active

374contracts. Um but I want to clarify our K12 PM CM group is actually headquartered in Los Angeles, not Texas precisely because of Texas politics and we do have an active robust Portland based office. Uh we are an industry leader for K12 bond and program management and just in California alone our annual billings are over $20 billion in bond support. We are the national leader in doing K12 bond and program management. Um but that's not why I'm speaking here tonight. I'm speaking because I am a parent. I have and I'm going to come to you from that perspective as a parent taxpayer and industry professional. I'm not trying to sell our services. So, as a com uh committed, engaged PPS parent, we put all of our kids through PPS. Uh Hayhurst, Robert Gray, Idb Wells. Our

375last student is a sophomore at Wells right now. As a family, we believe and are committed to public education and expect engaging in modernized facilities out of that. And that's why um you know as a 20year property owning taxpayer in Portland, we have voted for every bond measure from 2012 on up. Um, we even supported the 2025 bond even though we had grave concerns about uh the way PPS has performed in their lack of stewardship on the previous bonds, the overruns, but we still believe that it was necessary and that these modernizations are desperately needed and that any investment in our collective children's future should not and cannot be deferred. Um, the third perspective I'm coming to you for from is a 30-year career industry professional. I'm an Oregon registered architect. I'm a K12 program

376manager. Um, and I understand and I'm informed and competent about the goals, demands, and challenges that PPS faces in modernizing their whole inventory of facilities. But I'm also aware of the district's problematic approaches, their questionable decisions, and their failure to learn from past issues and they keep repeating problems with every new bond. And I think it's time that the district try to improve the delivery process, safeguard the programs, maintain quality, preserve budget, and deliver projects on time. They also have an obligation to meet stakeholder and community expectations. Um PPS is at a critical crossroads and they need to handle what's going on right now with professionalism and responsible stewardship. After 13 years of modernization and construction management that have tended to overspend and underdeliver, it's critical that this bond gets done right to achieve the

377optimal needed results and to rebuild trust with the community. A review of the proposed agreement with Equalis Group Precidio raises real questions about their ability to lead the modernization work of the district. It also begs the question of why the district isn't seeking a more honest, constructive, true advisory peer in order to become more accountable, more organized, committed, and successful. Some of the obvious questions that come up from this is why are they hiring Equalist Prescidio? It's a firm that has no business presence or business license in Portland. They're a firm with no K12 bond management or owner's representation experience in Oregon with any school district or with very few on the entire West Coast. The conditions surrounding how Equalis even attained their original direct work contract is worrisome. And the quality of their report,

378which costs $74,000 per page for a two-page report, is also questionable. And this calls into concerns why this is even being pursued through the cooperative contract which bypasses the typical fair full and open RFP process especially given the critical nature of this bond to get it right. >> Yeah. I'm sorry to interrupt. Can you please finish up? We're at time. >> I got almost done. Thank you. Lastly, I want to know how we can trust this move by PPS when the contract was already in place before the senior director resigned. And now immediately following her resignation, you're allowing the installation of a Texas-based consultant, not to augment, but to lead PPS and OSM. They know nothing in the community, nothing of the school district, nothing of the OAR and uh or the revised statutes or

379administrative rules. They have no contact with the local AEC market. No, no relationship with certified contract. Can you >> please finish up your last sentence? >> Um, bond projects take years to complete and if you make missteps now, you're going to be paying for it for years to come. So, I would encourage you to not move forward with this rushed, uncompeted, actually dubious award just for the sake of efficiency. put it out and do it right and give PPS the success it needs. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Can I can I ask them one clarifying question? Thank you, sir, for the correction. And we did note that the K12 entity um was in a different location. Um how how many um from from the team that you currently have for AECOM here? Uh we have

380we have uh one person under Darren Lee and we have bid on the bond management and contract positions for uh program manager and project manager but they were all rescended last November because they had a problem with the RFPs and they were supposed to be put back out and they never did. So we have 20 people right now waiting to support PPS and nothing has come out. But currently we have one individual on the 23 through 28 of the $5 million bond. Okay. Thank you. >> That's correct. >> All right. Thank you for your comments. Any other board questions? Comments. >> Comments are that I can't unhear what I just heard. >> Me, too. >> The whole thing. Um I I feel like going into problem solving mode right now. um knowing how critical it

381is to get back on track, but I can't unhehere uh the last two testimonies and we do need to get this right. And all of the other comments that I heard up tonight, I was like I was like, "Okay, okay, let's just get this through." And then public testimony and this is the beauty of it is pre presented counterpoints. I'm curious what it would take to have a consultant that doesn't have a stake in a financial stake uh in the outcome, a professional firm to come in and tell us what we need to do. So, I ju I just want to reference that we had Cobblestone. We we had opportunities to um hear uh a review from Cobblestone back when we were considering the cost reduction in the framework from the board and some of

382the things that that we needed to do. We heard all year um or at least all through uh last fall and winter um how we needed to reook at the way in which we were doing business through procurement through CMGC and even the execution of the office of school modernization and the amount that we were spending in admin costs. And so, um, I know that, um, Chief Kapori and I, um, specifically Chief Kapori, as I, uh, charge this as one of her, um, leading priorities is to, um, really get out there and find ways to, um, do things different in a way that is going to save us money and, um, to get our projects going. And look, I know it's an awkward and a tough conversation. you know, we know that that they'll I

383mean, I I'm not going to deny the fact that there won't be some staff changes, right? I mean, that that's hard. Um, and I I mean, and that's real. Um, so, you know, I just I'm I'm confident uh that Capori can offer more words on that. >> I would just um offer up that we did an extensive background check on this firm. um and called multiple people who've had direct contact with them, talked with people who projects they have run before and the results. I didn't personally take those calls, but the people that did those said that there were stellar recommendations and no red flags that they had. I just I find it very very difficult to uh understand how we could shave $100 million off when we've been just shocked by the large amount

384that we're spending on Jefferson. I I'd like to see some proof of that. Like where are we going to save? We're talking about mass timber and all of the bells and whistles and um how are we going to even shave 50,000 50 million off? I mean, we couldn't corn Cornerstone didn't their their report report wasn't even that robust to be honest. >> So, I I love that question. Michelle, one of the things I'd love to say uh director to pass is I think you've been to uh some of the same community meetings that I have been where we know that we have our um design firms who are still grappling with some decisions that need to be made that need to be made by us here at PPS. decisions that probably should have been made

385a year or two ago, right? Are we still having a conversation about mass timber? One of the things that I've learned is for us to um do an all-electric high school, potentially it's going to take two years to even receive the cor uh the all of the equipment to make sure that we can power the school. Like our our timeline to get these buildings open uh by 2029 is moving every day. Um, and you know, we've made some pretty bold commitments and uh, statements about what we're trying to do to make sure that all of these high schools are open by the fall of 2029. Um, and I I mean I just want to I just want to emphasize that that these are those um uncomfortable, awkward uh moments when we're going to need to

386make some tough decisions about the way we do business and have confidence in leadership that are bringing you the proposals that we believe is going to get the work done on behalf of our uh voters and um ultimately on behalf of our kids. The other thing that we learned is the amount of money that we pay in taxes by not um getting to the expenditure part of the bond program that could be used to go back into other schools. I don't think in any conversation um that I've had since I've been in a seat of superintendent where I've heard us talk about the timeline and the work that's needed to even get the equipment to power three all electric high schools. I haven't heard not once any conversation in this boardroom on the tapes that

387I've watched in the past or in the last 13 months about the amount of money that we can recoup through taxes um and interests and put that into other projects that will benefit. Like there are so many things that are coming to light that's came to light in the last couple of months with Prescidio's leadership that we had never had conversations about. And I I'm not, you know, judging previous leadership. I'm think I'm just simply saying that that we're at the table having the conversation. Um, and that's I mean that's that's what you all hired me to do as superintendent. >> Um, for me, I'm just going to jump in here. Uh, I would like to see the report um before I make a decision. And their current contract runs through October 22nd. Um, I

388have concerns about the size of the bonds that they've worked on. I have interest in the testimony that I heard. Um, I'm not sure would there be any harm in postponing the vote. We have new information here tonight. Know we have some questions. Um, I admire the I don't think like I said, I like the big swings. We just have some questions. I feel like Stormy leaving was a little bit of a surprise and um >> I think the only um thing that you would be aware of is that we don't have we are we are missing that position >> and it it is a key position in pushing these three high schools forward. It's a >> Can I just say we have the staff that can supplement and fill that position. There's so many

389people here who have decades of experience working here and I'm sorry. Are we in protocol because I didn't I think we public comment has >> Thank you. You had the public comment. >> Um yeah, can you just uh just answer the question. What is the is there uh director Lefor's question about can we postpone and what is the consequences >> uh again? So it is September 9th October 22nd. So, it's over a month and I think we all know I mean you've all you've all seen what Stormmy can do and the immense knowledge that she had and again so in terms of and this is why we're advocating for this immensely is we're talking a $1.8 billion bond just the 2025. We also have 2020 and we also have 2017. Right? There are multiple things

390that are happening. We need a very specific person with immense experience. The great thing about this interim piece, it's not just one person. It's a team approach coming in. And I can tell you as the new senior chief of operations, having that level of support as somebody who's not just oversees OSM, but who oversees athletics, who oversees facilities and maintenance, who oversees, you know, technology, safety, and security. Like, we need a very specific person in a team. And not to say we don't have these pieces, but I I tell you what, like this, it's go time. I there's there's no other way that we can say it because time is money. We can't wait a month and a half because we are we are and I I just expressing immense concern about waiting this long

391for for you to see the report to ultimately make a decision. >> Well, I would say what's at risk is like I I don't I don't feel comfortable with uh some of the things that I mean some of the things that we're fully staffed for and we can move forward. But I will tell you as superintendent, um, knowing what my responsibility is to execute and make sure that there is leadership to ensure that these three high school builds are are off and going. I there's some things that we're going to have to pause that I don't feel comfortable with without leadership in place. And I I mean, I feel very strongly about that. I have a very difficult time knowing that there is potentially a vote coming towards us next month that doesn't have a

392full RFP process around a piece of business that would be a multi-year piece of business. For me, I would have a very difficult time voting yes. >> I think I'm just going to say I I support this uh strongly. I think one of the things I want to also reiterate, it is a one-year contract. If it doesn't go well, we have a chance to revisit this um at the end of the year. It is also a lot less expensive than 6ft FTE. Just saying, right? And so, um, I think the the risk of delay and the risk of rising costs is much greater than, um, the risk of approving this. >> And Director Sullivan, >> so in the meantime, you're you're looking for people though um to take Storm's place. I mean, are are you

393looking while you have this company working with us now, are you also looking for permanent people? >> That's the plan. >> Yes, that's the plan. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> That was a question I had too. So, it's a stop gap measure. Are do we have a um are we looking at what's going to be performed like what what what tangible what what what are we what are our look fors if this isn't working out? >> Yeah. So I think that's another piece >> or is it just a contract end date? What are we expecting the what are the key performance indicators we're looking for right now? And I'm going to support it too because I feel like we do need to do uh business not as usual. Um but I'm really curious. >> Yeah.

394So I think if so there are very specific KPIs that we are going to map out for this next three months. >> So >> such as >> so I mean obviously we we've heard throughout the course of this meeting there are se like seismic for example like there are some very specific things that we're going to have to outline tangible things that we're going to have to report. Right? So those are things we have out we have ongoing things with BAC reports, quarterly reports, those types of things. FIO committees we have we're going to be presenting at FIO committee next week the three comprehensive plans for the high schools, right? And so that's a big deal. And so it's not just the presenting of the plans. That's the first initial piece. But then we got

395to get things rolling on those types of things. we need a dedicated person and team to help lead that work. And so, and then I will say also too, this is a great opportunity to have outside perspective actually come in and look at the systems and the processes to look at any level of efficiency, what we're doing well and any level of redundancy. I think we that's we're doing that across the organization. I think that's a very important thing that we have to do regardless, right? And I think that now is the time. It's a great opportunity to do that. And if you actually listen to the gentleman from from AECOM, he came in. He was talking, you know, about, you know, the importance of getting it right because the work that was done in

396the past wasn't done right. So it's like he was talking about one thing, but yet he's saying it's because he was made. Yes. He he was proving our point, >> right? >> And I I just the the the last thing that that I want to say to wrap this up because I know that it's getting late is I would uh just turn to the board and ask you um and since you know maybe you've been elected or even in this last academic year for the start, are you able to name any bond project that has happened since July 1 or since January 1 or since September? Can you name the site? Do you have the data? Do have you referenced the data dashboard? Like you are you are you able to to pull down knowing

397that we have now since May um $3 billion of bond funds when we look at 17 20 and 25 like what can you name that has been executed in the last six months or any project? didn't Presidios when did they start? June or May? So, >> so I guess what I'm alluding to is um we have a lot of work to do >> and I wish that I can name off a ton of things that we're feeling extremely proud um and successful about and I know that there are teams that are working hard and that's not to dismiss or diminish and we know that we have work to do still and like both things can be true, right? we want to wrap around and provide support to a team. And it's uncomfortable for me to

398say um as superintendent because I believe in um our teams and our staff and I also know that sometimes that means that you make need to make tough decisions to move the work that you need to move. Um and I I don't know how else to say it. I mean, it's a public meeting. We talk about business. I mean, here it is. I'm not dancing around. I'm not sugar coating it. I mean, we have work to do. And I know that this time next year, I want a board to be able to say I can name five projects that has happened as a result of 2017, 2020 or 2025 bond. Thank >> I I I also cannot unhear what I heard. It's a very powerful testimony and I I guess I am struggling to understand

399why if a firm came in and promised to knock $100 million off a project, why we wouldn't wait for the report to see if we like what they're saying. >> There there was never a promise to knock 100 million off. And I don't I don't know what communication um came down for the team. Like I said, there's the the leadership transition. I think there may have been some communication woes. I mean, we had um uh Dan uh Young and then from Dan Young, we went to uh Stormmy, but there was never a promise. What I asked the team to do was come in, assess, and make some recommendations on ways that we can speed up the Jefferson project and identify um missteps and some of the other things that we heard after reviewing the cobblestone

400report. And we heard about some practices and things that uh we can strengthen to be able to uh move forward at a greater speed and perhaps save money along the way. So we have received like I said we've received um a few uh verbal reports and conferences already um >> and you will see at FIO when you see the comprehensive plans you will see um a Jefferson a $25 million savings. >> And can I just finish what I was saying? Sorry I didn't quite finish. Uh, I would like to wait for the report and it sounds like if someone's working out of profit center right now, that would give us six weeks of getting to know someone and seeing what kind of work they're doing and how they work with the staff and how they

401work with the team. Uh, for this to frankly to become a yes for me, I need to see a report and I need to know that staff is working well with this company that's coming in from from out of rather than extending a contract for a year which is a very long time um without seeing this. I mean like the the contract is so clear. It doesn't say give us a two two-page report. It says a comprehensive written summary of the existing conditions. I mean it's so so I don't know why we I don't know why we would extend it. And so for me to get to a yes, I would want to see a report. And so I'm I guess I'm moving to table I'm moving to to talk about this after we see

402the report in October. Like what what harm is there? Someone can just give us a new contract in October rather than September 9th. And then we see a report and all the work keeps going because they're under contract already, right? >> Well, the the current contract we have is specific to Jefferson High School, not to come in and provide um interim staffing and leadership for OSM. So, it's a it's a different um it's a different ask, but um yeah, I'm I'm happy to take direction from the board on the contract in terms of um leadership of uh OSM and and uh what we need to do. I think we uh have a plan. >> Yeah. I'm going to um we need to get to the vote. Are you moving I just want to clarify. Are

403you moving to postpone? Yeah. >> Okay. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Discussion. >> I think I already said everything. >> Uh, so Patty, >> well, I'm as one of the three board members who kept putting things off and trying to learn more and cost going up. I'm feeling like we just have to respect what our superintendent is doing and go for it cuz we just I I feel we can't keep waiting. It's being we paid for it last time. Um trying to get trying to be perfect. >> Director Chase Miller and then Director Split. So, I'm also really concerned about the testimony that we heard. Um, and our job as a board supervise superintendent. Like I said earlier, I um as a new board with a newish superintendent, I want to presume

404competence. Um, I'm really concerned about the delays and it's a year. I have so much respect for the staff and what they shared and um this is a really difficult decision. Um but I mean I think you know Dr. Armstrong knows she's going to have to own this decision however this goes and um you know I I want to trust in her making the decisions that she thinks is best for the district. >> Thank you Director Slate. >> I think you're on mute. Start over again. >> Now we can hear you. >> Now, >> yes. >> Okay. Sorry. The last couple times I've tried to talk, I don't think it worked. Um, but glad to be here now. Uh, I'm ditto. Everything that was just said, that's where I'm falling to. I think I think

405something got maybe a little confused along the way, too. And I just want to clarify and maybe just in the interest of time, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the what we're doing is extending the contract to expand the scope of work temporarily. And so I'm comfortable with that. And then I want to see what has come up tonight taken taken very seriously and addressed before we have this next conversation so that we can see that this procedio has done these things that we've been talking about before we move forward with a longer term agreement with them. um or even discuss um in facilities or elsewhere wherever we need to discuss it if we need to if we really need to see like an RFP or some sort of process like that

406to feel comfortable to move forward with such a big change. Um but I think today all we're doing is that like oh man Stormmy left and we need to keep going and to keep going we can grab this person who's already here that's already working on stuff and they can expand their scope of work and bring in some friends and just keep things going in the meantime. I'm comfortable with that. And I think just making sure everybody's on the same page that that's it's not like um the it's just expanding their scope of work, not a a part two that follows the work that they've done. It's like they were already they're they're in the middle of part one and we're just expanding what part one looks like is what I would say. That's helpful

407freak. >> But that part two that's coming will not have an RFP process. I I think that I don't think that has to be decided today. >> I agree. And if it's over $150,000, it would still have to come to the board. I'm ready to uh move move forward. >> Thank you. Yeah, I I agree as well. Um we are we are actually now voting on whether to postpone or not. That has been moved on the table and seconded. So uh again, this vote is for whether we will uh postpone resolution 7175. A yes vote means that this contract will be postponed to a later date. A no vote means that we will go back to voting on resolution 7175 today. Uh all uh in favor of postponement say yes. >> Yes. >> All opposed.

408>> No. No. >> Um the move to postpone is did not pass by a vote of five to two. Two to five. I got to say it right. Thank you. Two to five. Um all right. Now we are back to resolution 7175. Um let's go ahead and vote on this. Uh we are now voting the board is now voting on resolution 7175 expendure contracts to exceed $150,000 for de delegation of authority. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. All opposed. >> No. >> Uh abstensions. >> I'm having a really tough time deciding. Um I'm going to vote yes, but just know that without a full RFP for the next round, it's a no. That's where I'm at. Right. Thank you. Uh resolution 7175 has to pass by a vote

409of 6 to1. Um I am because of the sake of time, there's some things I want to share with the board in terms of me checking, but I think for the sake of time, I think I'll save this for next time. All right. Thank you. Get some sleep. This meeting is adjourned.