001All right. Are you ready to get started? I'm expecting a long meeting tonight. So, let's get started. All right. Uh, this public regular meeting of the board of education for May 5, 2025, May 6, sorry, is called to order. All items being considered this evening are posted on the PPS website and on the board meetings tab. This meeting is also being streamed live on PPS TV services website and on channel 28. and will be replayed throughout the next two weeks. Please check the district website for replay times. Uh good evening and welcome. Thank you all for being here and being part of Portland Public Schools. U just a few housekeeping reminders. Um we ask that everyone attending tonight's meeting. Um members of public staff, board members, we all treat each other with respect. We are
002excited that you are taking your time out of day to be involved here. Um whether to testify or just observe. Uh if you wish to display signs or banners, please hold them below chin level so the people behind you can have a beautiful view uh for safety reasons. Uh also keep all the walkways and aisles clear. In general, we appreciate if everyone could be mindful of everyone else in this room. Um next uh tonight, let's get started with some amazing stuff. I'm thrilled to uh start with this resolution which is uh recognizing our educators, our amazing educators and our amazing administrators uh for the uh appreciation week. So, Dr. Armstrong, could you uh introduce this item? Yeah, thank you board chair. I am excited to announce that it is uh national appreci teacher appreciation week
003and a week ago we had administrators day and I also like to think of this week as outstanding Portland public school employee appreciation um week and so I have in front of us Dr. John Franco who is going to introduce a resolution. But before we do that, we wanted to share a video with the board. I appreciate my teachers because of the supportive and caring nature they show especially to enhance our education. appreciate my teacher because even if you're struggling with something, they'll continue to help you. I'm Katie Parmman. I'm the principal at Roosevelt High School and I appreciate my teachers because they work so hard every day to help all of our students succeed. I appreciate our teachers because of the learning opportunities they give us through clubs and field trips to colleges, for
004helping us succeed in our academic high school career. I appreciate our teachers because they show up every day intending to do the hard work of helping our build citizens for the new generation. I like my teachers cuz they're supportive. They all embody what it means to be a community and really jump in and help each other. All right. Check check. Okay, great. Yes. So, thank you uh first of all uh school boards uh director, student director, superintendent. So, thank you for bringing forward this resolution. It means more than words can express. It is a meaningful way to show gratitude and appreciation for the tireless work our educators do every single day. Being an educator is not easy. It's a demanding, complex, and a deeply human profession, but is also one of the most important callings
005in our society. And this resolution is a powerful reminder that we see and value the people doing that work. My journey specifically in education began long before I stepped into a classroom. I t I started teaching swim lessons, working as a lifeguard, later serving as a gang intervention leader, and eventually a baseball, football, and basketball coach. Those early experiences showed me something powerful. The impact a caring adult can have on a young person's life. I didn't know it then, but I was already answering a calling. one that would lead me to become a math and science teacher, an assistant principal, a principal, and eventually a district level leader. What I've learned along the way is this. Educators are so much more than people who work with students. We are mentors. We are advocates. We are
006difference makers. We create safe spaces where students feel seen and supported. We help them believe in their potential even when they don't believe in themselves. That's the power of education and that's why this work matters. Every student, no matter their background or circumstance, deserves access to educators who are deeply committed to their growth. I chose this path because I wanted to work with kids. But I've stayed in it because I've seen firsthand how a dedicated educator can change the trajectory of a life. This isn't just what we do. It's who we are. It's why our continued investment in educators in schools and in our students. It's not just important, but it's essential. By recognizing our educators through this resolution, you affirm that their efforts do not go unnoticed. you remind them that they are seen,
007that they are appreciated, and they are supported, and that matters. So again, thank you not just for this resolution, but for standing with us in our shared commitment to our students, families, and future of this community. Thank you. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 71000 resolution to recognize teacher and administration appreciation week of May 5, sorry, May 6, 2025. Second. Director Split moves and director Holland seconds. [Music] Is there any board discussion? We have a we have a lot going on tonight on this agenda. So many folks are here for for so many different reasons, but um I think we all know everyone in the room that our teachers are what make our schools amazing places for our kids. Um I have a saying our teachers hold my school together
008with magic ducting. That is how it feels sometimes. Um and are creating um a wonderful experience for my own children and so many children at my school. So, I wanted to give a shout out to the teachers at Hayhurst. I know you so well, but also I know that there are many just like you all over this district who give so much time, energy, and love to our schools and our kids, and I could not be more grateful. I know we all want to say something like this today. Uh, I said it first. You guys can just say ditto all the way through. And I gonna say just a little more than ditto, but ditto. I was had been fortunate enough to go and observe some of the preschool programs which of course are so
009wonderful and you just come out of there happy those teachers do so much. I also just um um Saturday night was able to see the dance program at Franklin. So there's the other end and the teacher who taught the dance, she was so, you know, it was her last night and she was weepy about how wonderful it was and it was I think Michelle saw that too. It's just amazing. So all the way through from three-year-olds up to 18 year olds, there's wonderful things going on here. And lots of times we talk about stuff that's hard, but there's a lot. It's really wonderful. And it's because of the teachers. They're the ones. Okay, it's okay. So, this is probably the last time I get a chance to say it. Um, I did the math really
010quick and uh for my three kids in PPS, more than a 100 teachers um taught them through their years in PPS and um they're young adults now and I see um all the gifts that they got from teachers um and PPS. So, I want to thank all the the teachers who had them and I know that's um true across the city. Um I'm also a product of PPS and there's some good things and bad things of that because um I'm still in the community in which um my teachers and administrators lived so they know what I was like in high school. Um but I also have had a chance um to understand the gifts they gave me as a student in PPS. Um so I really want to um share that appreciation. And finally, since
011this is educators like teachers and administrators, I want to say um that in my 12 years on the school board, um I've learned so much from our building administrators um who gave me the unsanitized take on uh what was working and what wasn't um how to do things better and kind of give me a kick um when we needed to do better. And so I just want to um thank everybody who made me a better board member, a better community member, and who get up every morning and um put everything on the line 100%. That's for two for our teachers and our administrators for our students. So thanks everybody. Oh, I guess go next. Um, I'm willing to bet as a general average, if you bet on teachers as a group, that on average they
012probably have bigger hearts than than average. And one of the things about people with big hearts is that you really need to go fight for them. I need to go fight for them. And I fight for them every as much as I can every day. I've been to Salem multiple times. I've called so many representatives. We need to really One of the things about people with big hearts is that they won't let things get bad for their kids, right? So the state can underfund our schools and our teachers will keep making up the difference because they care and that is an unsustainable situation. So if you can do anything for teacher appreciation week I am going to continue to keep pushing our state to dream big to think about how to revamp and make our
013funding system stable. Um because we need to get our teachers something closer to what they actually deserve. Um, so, um, I am here and I'm dedicating my work to continue to improve our work environment for our most loving, um, population. Thank you. Is there any public comment, Miss Rashaw? No. I didn't think I was going to finish that off. Okay. All right. The board will now vote on resolution 71000 recognizing teacher and administration appreciation week of May 5th. Sorry, May 6th. I'm stuck on Monday. Um 2025. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. Yes. All uh student representative cance a strong yes. Abstensions. Awesome. The resolution 710 0 is approved by a vote of seven to zero with student representative cance voting yes. Thank you to all our teachers out there. All right,
014ne next up another very important personally too. Uh May is the Asian-American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Um, Dr. Armshaw, could you also introduce this one? Thank you, Chair Wong. I am happy to and I am going to pass this to our amazing staff. And I don't know if you've had a chance to meet our amazing director in the office of civil rights. And so, um, I am looking forward to our staff introducing themselves and reading the, uh, resolution. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Appreciate that. And I should have just stayed up here, but um I'm happy to introduce uh to my right, we have Dr. Bobby Cruz, who's the director, uh of civil rights for the district. And then we also have Elizabeth Ellis who's the vice principal at Virtual Scholars. And so
015they're going to be speaking about the importance of uh this month, what it symbolizes. All right. Huffed Antio. My name is Dr. Bobby Cruz and I come before you as a proud queer indigenous Chammoral from the Northern Marana Islands. Humbled to serve as your director of civil rights and it's an honor to celebrate this uh uh occasion with you all tonight. Um this is difficult. I'm a person with a speech impediment and so it took a lot of courage to be able to come in to this space and to share my story. And so I want to be vulnerable with you all tonight. And so I ask for your grace as I share very deeply stories from my people. Um before I held this title, before the degrees, the accolades, I was a closeted boy
016from the small village of Kagman on the island of Saipan, a US territory that many Americans have never heard of. But it's a place whose ocean winds shaped my voice and whose soil shaped my values and whose people taught me to rise both with pride and also with confidence and humility. I was raised in a in a humble tin roof home with no electricity, no indoor bathroom, no modern plumbing, no easy access to drinking water. We collected and purified water. We fished and farmed for our meals and we shared whatever we had. We made do with what little there was, not because we were helpless, but because we had each other. We had elders whose hands carried stories older than any textbook. Wisdom passed down not in classrooms, but around farm tables and under starlit
017skies. Our way of life was not shaped by comfort. It was shaped by a deep sense of community. And where I come from, dignity isn't measured by what we own. It's measured by how we show up for others. not by status or wealth but by generosity and by heart. And this way of life has a name in my chammoral culture. We call it tentuli. So I wanted to ask you all to learn a little bit of chammoral tonight. And we're going to say it together if that's okay. Tentuli tentuli. That is awesome. All right. Tentuli. Tentuli is more than a practice. It's a world view often translated as reciprocity, but it's so much deeper. It means when someone suffers, you show up. When there's joy or sadness, you give what you can. You offer food,
018time, presence, not out of charity, but out of shared responsibility. It's an obligation born from love. It's how we endure. It's how we repair. And I just want to take you back to my uh homeland for a moment. Imagine an island evening after a typhoon. Coconut trees bent but not broken. Families gathering under tin roofs to share a meal by a kerosene lantern. When I was a child, a super typhoon tore our village roofs uh roofs were ripped off from homes. Roads were flooded and yet neighbors came. My aunties brought warm rice, coconuts, and canned goods. My uncles cleared trees and patch roofs. No one kept score. No one waited to be asked. Everyone just gave. And that was Tentuli in motion. To understand the depth of that value, you also have to understand what
019we've lost as a people. As Pacific Islanders, as Chimro, my people have survived four colonial regimes. Spain, Germany, Japan, and the United States. For over 500 years, we were told what language to speak, what gods to worship, and what names to carry. Our lands were taken. Our proas, oceanic canoes more advanced than anything Europe had seen at the time were destroyed. Not because they were primitive, but because they represented self-determination and freedom. Our culture wasn't just colonized. It was almost nearly erased. And still, my people, Pacific Islanders, we remember. We remember in fragments, in song, in silence, in survival, that we're not just resilient. We are rebuilding a story, a renaissance that was never meant to be forgotten. Leaving the island and stepping into western spaces, I carry that story with me. But I also
020carry silence. The kind that so many marginalized people know. The silence that comes when you when when you walk into rooms where people don't look like you, where your history isn't taught or known. That silence that one that says that you don't belong. I see that same silence unfortunately in many students still that we serve here at PPS and I think of a middle schooler I met recently, a queer and Pacific Islander child who told me, "Sometimes I feel like I don't belong anywhere." And I remember thinking, "I know that feeling. And I never want a child to have to carry that alone." That's why we do this work. Civil rights for me is not just about policy or compliance. It's about addressing stories that systems have too often ignored. It's about asking who's at
021the very back of the line, who has been waiting the longest, and who still doesn't doesn't feel safe speaking up. Today, across our country, protections for the most vulnerable and under are under attack. Trans and non-b non-binary youth are being legislated out of public life. Immigrant families, many of whom are Asian and Pacific Islanders, are being surveiled, scapegoed, and silenced. Disabled students, especially those of color, are being misdiagnosed, underserved, and criminalized. The back of the line is getting longer and quieter. And in moments like these, neutrality is not compassion, it's complicity. When we remain quiet while others are pushed to the margins, we become part of the silence that harms them. We become part of the silence that harms them. Tensuli calls us back to each other. It says, "Whatever you have, use it. If
022you have a seat at the table, make room. If you carry influence, send it. Use it. Use it on behalf of those who are still waiting outside the door to be let in. Growing up, I didn't learn sensuli from a textbook. I learned it from watching my people live it. My mom would often remind me, which means we must all help each other for everyone's sake. Dr. King wrote, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mu of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects others. And I think he was describing tentuli. Our destinies are intertwined and we rise and we also fall together. My greatest teacher, my grandfather, Santiago, a survivor of World War II. As a boy, he lived in caves while bombs fell on our islands.
023He lost family. He lost his sense of safety, but he never lost his compassion. He once told me, which means open up your heart and mind and truly listen to the stories of others, especially those whose lives don't look like yours. When we look beyond what's directly in front of us and consider perspectives of those at the periphery, we find unconventional wisdom and solutions to problems. When we protect diversity in times of scarcity and conflict, our diversity then protects us. That to me is what civil rights demands. Not just policy, not just good intention, but deep listening and compassion with structure and action with heart. Today, we need the spirit of tentuli more than ever. When I see students working together, I see tents. when we speak up after acts of hate or when communities
024rise up together across race, language and gender lines. I see I I see Tentuli alive and well in our modern days and the pain and injustices of the past cannot be un undone. But we what we choose to do now, how we show up, how we show care, how we remember can shape the future that we leave behind. Education has long been a sword against injustice and access to education the battleground. When we practice tensuli, when we practice civil rights with humanity, we rise together with great respect. Happy AAPI month. [Applause] My name is Elizabeth Taoamoto Ellis, vice principal of Portland Virtual Scholars. Thank you very much for the opportunity to lift up our Polynesian, Melanesian, and Micronesian villages in honor of AsianPacific Island Heritage Month. My story is one of many samoons born in
025the United States. I am the daughter of a woman born in Pango Pango, American Samoa. I am the granddaughter of a high chief from the island of Ofu. Now, if you are looking on a map, y'all don't blink. Ofu is very small. Don't blink. You'll miss it. My grandparents had a vision. They had a vision for their children. Their vision was access to education. in the late 1950s as immigrants from American Samoa to Honolulu and then finally to San Francisco, California. The all of these moves were in an effort to see their vision come into focus. They prioritized getting their kids into schools, connected with community resources, getting connected through local groups. What is important to acknowledge about education is how quickly it can shift the impact of generations to come. In one generation of
026my grandparents prioritizing access to education, they permanently altered the trajectory of many generations that followed. In my family now, we continue to mentor our next generation in stressing the pursuit of excellence in education. Right now in my family, we have new teachers, we have a counselor, we have social worker, we've got coaches, international MBA executives, attorney, nonprofit leaders, and even a school administrator. and we continue to mentor and lead together in our village to lift each other up. PPS is also a village, a collective of people working together to increase equitable access to education for everybody. And you know what? The Pacific Islander population of students in PPS, yeah, it might be small, but they are very mighty. They are mighty. I am proud to work in a district that prioritizes highquality instruction and also
027one that highlights and celebrates multicultural perspectives and diversity. We've got student affinity groups across this district like McDaniel's Pacifica Society group. We also have clubs uh like sun and community partners sun and who are working with students and even more importantly their families to make sure that they have got the connections to understand the American education system. They continue to focus on advocacy and outreach especially to our Pacific Island families. And here in PPS and our village here, we can we celebrate and hear the sounds of our students at multicultural nights uh across the district. And we invite staff like Dr. Cruz and myself to speak in front of the board and open Asian-Pacific Island Heritage Month for the district. This month and throughout the school year, let us continue to celebrate the gift of
028our village and work together. Thank you very much for having me. [Applause] Well, before our leaders go, I just I I know that you all are going to take your vote. I just you are um looking at us parts of our system that are wonderfully reflected in Vice Principal Ellis and Dr. Cruz. And I don't know if you've I assume you've probably met um Vice Principal Ellis as she's very active in the evening scholars. Hopefully, you've had a chance to cross paths. I know Dr. Cruz may be new to you, but I just want to uplift that um while we recognize all people, I want to pause and recognize um our staff and just being part of what makes Portland Public Schools so special. So, thank you for your story and your time and presenting
029um in this space. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you so much. That was absolutely amazing. There's no way to top that. So, if any of you want to leave during the high part of this meeting, now's the time to go. No takers. All right. I guess we'll move on. I warned you. Um, all right. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 7101? Resol. So moved. Second. Thank you. To recognize uh May as Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Director to pass moves. Who second it? And director Sullivan seconds the adaptation of resolution 7100. Oh, sorry. 71101. Is there any board discussion? Public comment. No student. Student rep. It's always amazing to celebrate our Asian and Pacific Islander students and it was really amazing to hear from our staff. I know
030from our the student group, we always see the bright culture and music and joy they bring into our schools. I'm really grateful that here at Portland Public Schools, we center our Asian and Pacific Islander students. Thank you. Beautiful. All right. We will now vote on resolution 7101 uh to recognize May as Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. All opposed. Student Representative Kavi. A strong yes. Thank you. Resol uh resolution 7101 is approved by a vote of 7 to zero uh with student represent voting a strong yes. Thank you everyone. Next uh we have the superintendence report. Um Dr. Armstrong. Thank you. I think we have slides that'll be populated here soon. All right. Well, as you know, we kicked off, right? Just a appreciation
031and appreciation and a thank you to our educators and administrators for all that they do. I am. There we go. Oh, I'm moving quick. All right. Well, um I just wanted to I like to get some shots around if I'm not bringing you a learning, just some activity and a had the opportunity to spend some time with our district campus safety team. And so, yep, four schools in one day as I got to hang out with the security uh leadership team and it was amazing seeing our folks at work and all that they're doing to keep our students safe. All right. The other thing is I don't know if we can get rid of the bar, but it's okay if we can't. I just want to talk about lobby day in Salem. We had over
032100 parents involved. Yes. Gathered. Yes. Just want to take the opportunity to recognize the work of our board director Split. I know that we also had director Holland. I'm not sure if anyone else was there at lobby day. I know you were there in spirit. Um, thank you for all of those, not only our our board team, our staff team, our um our wonderful team that keeps us connected to all things happening in a um session. And then of course our community and our families who show up and show out. It was so exciting to see all of our uh families and community partners gathering for um that lab lobby day. So, thank you to that. And that's a picture from Rose City Park Elementary in northeast Portland. I think you can see some cameos
033of some other folks in that picture. So, thank you on that. Sorry, we're moving a little slow here, guys. There we go. Oops. No, maybe you should just navigate for me and I'll just talk quickly. All right. Well, this is exciting. A huge congratulations to Lincoln High School's 2025 Constitution team. They recently took first place in the prestigious We the People National Championship. Nice. Initially, there was a scoring error that showed that they had third place, but that was corrected to show that they actually was in first place. So, well done to that team and congratulations [Applause] All right, Earth Stock 2025. So, as we head into prom season, we know that that is everyone's favorite. We wanted to highlight PPS's Earthstock 2025. This is where special education students from across the region gather at
034Portland's Crystal Ballroom for a one-of-a-kind high school dance. It began in 1992. It now entertains more than 700 students, staff, and volunteers, and it's becoming one of the largest events of its kind in the country. And so all of those who came together to make that evening special for all of the staff that served, we appreciate you. Thank you. And rock on to our young people. Verse Landia. Oh my gosh, it was amazing. I had an opportunity to attend verse Landia for the first time and I, you know, one of these board me have to bring those students forward that said their poetry. Oh my goodness, they should be published now. It was amazing. I had some favorites. Uh, my favorite did not win first place, but that's okay because there's always next year. Um,
035I will say that our Portland students placed second, third, and uh fourth, I believe. And so super excited uh for them. It was a um a grand slam that was hosted in the area. And so Cleveland's Al Matthews came in second place and it was among 30 plus high schools that were there. Grant High School's Geo um Calderella, sorry on that name, placed third. And on my mistake, we had a fifth place from Franklin High School. Emma, Emma, Carolyn, York. And just congratulations to all of those students who shared during verseia and competed and won some money. So, congratulations. As you know, literacy is a major initiative at PPS and so I want to keep you updated on how we're lifting literacy. This means sharing our the work that's being done around the district to
036improve literacy outcomes. And so just a quick little slide next showing um the data, right? So the data tells the story of our impact and it shows how what um what's working and where we're growing. So this year 58% of 10th graders were on track to be college ready on the preac. That's an 11point jump from last year. The preac measures key literacy skills. So this gain reflects the real progress we're making in lifting literacy across classroom. And while the data shows the what the stories we tell across the district shows the how. And so together they capture the full picture of our work and our students success. And so if we next slide, um at MLC, Camp Read a Lot, right? We continue to do programs and initiatives like Camp Read AOT at MLC.
037Um our fifth graders or our students kindergarten through fifth grade stepped into Camp Read AOT and uh had an opportunity to uh show what they know there. And then in um Skyline, we are excited because those students were able to um develop creative avenues for students to read. And so Speechless is a book written and illustrated by Mr. Stany Stank Stink Stinky. Stinky. Okay. Stinky. Stinky. Stinky. Okay. Well, so now I butchered his name five times. GJ in my school. Okay. How do I say that? Stany. Stanyanky. Stanky. Say it like you mean it. Okay. Mr. Stanky was shared with third, fourth, and fifth graders at Skyline. And he shared how he got started as an author despite struggling to read and write. And so just really excited to continue to share the work that
038we're doing around lifting literacy. Next, um I just wanted to share uh CBSC update. I have been in conversation with most of you and I know that you are eagerly eagerly anticipating um some information. We are waiting on an updated appraisal from a third party and we are active in negotiations through our letter of interest for a property in Portland and we will bring information back as soon as the conversation progresses. And I have received information from CBE a letter and we'll review the contents of that letter and respond next week. But I just wanted to let you all know that we are active in that work and we're looking forward to bringing you back progress as I know there's significant interests um in that northeast property. So so thank you for that. That concludes
039the update and uh as always together we rise and thank you for uh being on this journey with me. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Armstrong. We need to host a poetry slam uh here of superintendent slam off with students. So, um I want to suggest that we have a special meeting around the center for black student excellence. I know we got a letter and we should be doing our work in public and I feel like um we we haven't had a public presentation. We had a very brief one and I know that lots of members of the board have um concerns about the speed if it's moving forward and I would just ask that we um not do something offline but actually do our work in public and um bring it up and have a
040conversation about it. Thank you. All right. Okay. Next up, we have our uh student represent is has a report for us. All right. Good evening. Good evening, everyone. How's everyone doing tonight? Yeah. All right. So, our our seniors have a couple more weeks left of school till they graduate and they become PPS alum. I'm excited to announce that the district student council has elected our 2025 to 2026 student representative, Ian. Ian is a rising senior at Roosevelt High School. Over the past years, Yeah. Go Riders. Over the past years, I've seen Ian grow in his advocacy for Title 9 increase funding at the state level for education, and I truly believe he'll be a great asset to this board. I look forward to formally introducing him to all of you. One concern I continue to
041hear across the district from many of our students is how they feel that this board is very disconnected to them. This is very sad to hear because I get the firstand experience to see how all my board members and my fellow colleagues truly care and center our students in the decision-making process. to help bridge a gap to help to help build a bridge to this gap. I'd like to invite each of you to shadow a member of the district student council at their high school this month. You will attend one of their classes, eat lunch with students in their cafeteria to better understand the student experience. If you haven't already gotten an email from a district council representative, you should be expecting one this week. Last Friday, I had the great opportunity to attend Mayor
042Wilson's state of the city address at Franklin High School. Members of the district student council and I met with city counselors to talk about the student experience at PBS and some of the impacts we have due to budget cuts due to a lack of funding from our state. I was also proud to provide an opening question to Mayor Wilson about what is he planning on doing to partner with Portland public schools and other school districts regarding budget cuts. At a recent student student voice advisory committee meeting with members of the district student council, middle school students and the student repres and our superintendent, many students raised concerns around bathrooms, bathrooms having lack of menstrual products and constant vandalism in their bathrooms. Also, how normal how hate speech has been very normalized across PPS and how
043we need a quick and efficient response to this. We also heard a lots of concerns around lunches. How lunches are not appealing to students and students want to have more say into what they eat and how lunch lines tend to be very chaotic and make it really hard for students to be getting their lunch on a meaningful time. Lastly, I would like to invite all of you and all of you watching to come to Maplewood Elementary to help us canvas for the bond because we need to get this bond passed because it's in service of our students and it's what our students deserve and truly need and to change our generation. And I believe that this bond is the work that it's doing is change revitalizing and changing our city. And I hope all of
044you watching, all of our voters, all of our press, please vote yes on this bond because the impact on our students is it's amazing. And I can't wait to that f seeing that future where all of our students at Jefferson Cleveland ID Wells has a brand new school to be in. So thank you so much. I am already signed up for my shadow by the way. Um I was wondering about your point about um being disconnected and there's obviously a generational uh age gap u especially for me and Julia director Bram Edwards and director Sullivan. Speak for yourself. I'm in touch with kids every day. I was talking about the age gap. Um but I wonder if there's a way you could institutionalize. Um, I know that when I'm invited to do things with students,
045I never say no, even if it's something I wouldn't think of doing myself. So, I'm wondering if, um, there'd be a way to institutionalize it and just in your onboarding of the next student rep, make it a point for students to reach out, um, regularly, like give give people permission to do that because I think all of us here would gladly show up. I like that idea. Yeah. change the system. I I just wanted to add that the Maplewood event is at 1 PM this Saturday. Yeah, I'll be there too. See you there, JJ. Student representative, I'm sorry. Awesome. Thank you, student represent. All right. Next up, uh we have what do we have? General public comment. Uh first we'll start with student comments. Now, before I begin, uh, just like to review some guidelines.
046First, the board thanks you for taking your time to attend this meeting. Public input, especially from our students, really helps us inform and improve our work. So, we look forward to hearing your thoughts. Um, our board office may follow up on board related issues raised during public testimony. We request that complaints about individual employees be directed to the superintendent as a personnel, sorry, superintendent's office as a personnel matter. I will remind PPS staff who are giving public comment that they may not provide testimony about students that could violate confidentiality protections under FURPA. This includes testimony using information that could identify students especially in their school community, direct or indirect le linkages such as school grade, special education or other status. Uh for materials that you would like the board to receive, handouts, etc. uh please
047hand them over to our board manager over there or uh or Miss and Miss Bradshaw and she will distribute them to us. Uh if you have any additional materials or items that you would like the board to receive, uh we ask that you email them to public comment all one word pps.net. Please make sure that when you begin your comments, you clearly state your name and spell your last name. You'll have three minutes to speak. Uh you'll see the yellow light go on which means that you have 30 seconds to wrap up your comments. Red light is done. Uh let's start off with our students. Miss Bradshaw, do we have any students signed up? We do not. Oh, okay. Guess I'm reading that all again. Um or can you remember it and let's go to
048the adults? Yeah. Okay, I think I got it. All right. All right. Let's move on to our adult pull a comment. Uh, do we have anyone signed for for that? We do. We have Zakaya Robes, Bill Schnobble, Derek Ra. Guess it's just me. Thank you. You may begin when you're ready. Okay. Thank you. My name is Derek Rant, RTA. I'm a parent of three students at Cleveland High School. Uh, one of which is excited to join the PPS student council next year and we're looking forward to her involvement with that. Uh, just a quick note um before I get to my meat and potatoes. We do have an event at Cleveland High School if you want to connect with students. Uh, it's called Stronger Stronger Together. It's this Thursday night at uh starting at 6
049o'clock. doors at 5:30 uh in the um in the uh auditorium there. Uh it's on practicing a community of consent and connection. It's put on by our um students uh involved with the consent culture group and the healthy masculinity club and it's a really great opportunity. We did a similar event last year. I think it's a really great opportunity to bring those ideas forward. But onto my uh my four items so I'll be really quick. Um, one is and I'm uh head of the uh Cleveland Booster Club uh this year and uh so I came last summer to ask for um just one thing and we haven't been able to follow through on that. So I want to follow up on that. We've asked for lights to be added to the outside of the stadium.
050Uh we're a one uh turf field program with a lot of kids interested in it. So we have a lot of young teenage girls exiting the stadium at dark in the nighttime in the fall. And we only have 120 days left until fall sports start. So, we have the clock ticking again. Uh, we had lights added underneath the bathrooms which don't do the job that we asked for. And I feel like it's important that we ensure the safety of the students at the school um that they have that opportunity. So, please follow through on that. Um, and I'm I'm bringing these things forward because I've I've gone to the school. I've gone to the administration. I'm not getting action. So, I feel like I need to take the next step and bring it forward to
051you. I'm not just trying to be the squeaky wheel, but I am being the squeaky wheel. Um, the other thing is it would sure be nice to have hot water and potable water at our concession stands. We have neither. And that seems like a pretty sizable health risk for the community. And I'm not sure why we can't get the basic needs uh for our students when they're attending events to have water or hot water to wash items. So, I would love to see somebody uh follow through on adding hot water to that. Uh the third thing is I've requested and not been granted a copy of the Cleveland High School athletic budget uh or the PPS budget for athletics. As as a parent who pays over $1,000 a year for my students to um play
052athletics, I'd certainly like to know where the money's going. And then as the booster club president, it helps us really be able to target equitably dispersing of funds so we know where everything's going so we can support all the different groups. I think it should be transparent. I don't think it's a big ask, but I have not been given that opportunity to see that budget. It just helps us make a decision. I've had a lot of other parents ask that same question. Where did my 2000 400 $800 go every year um that I put into this? So, I'd like to see that. And then my fourth and final item is just uh to thank you all. Uh I really appreciate and I know the Cleveland community really appreciates you bringing the bond forward. I think
053it's really important the work you've done. It's been uh entertaining and interesting to see you all tussle with it. Um and I know it's a very complex process and I think you guys have asked some really important questions and so I've been really impressed by that process. Um I know we have some parents who've really put a lot of work and effort into it and so I want you to know that we're behind you the Cleveland community. the young woman behind me uh is here all the time and she puts an immense amount of effort into trying to get people out to the curb to uh to get the bond support going and we're we're behind you guys all the way on that. So, thank you for your time. Oh, and we and we did
054beat Grant tonight in softball and we are in first place, right, Megan? Yeah. Go Warriors. I'm sorry. Your timing. Thank you. Anyone else? No, we have someone virtual, but I don't see them. Okay. All right. Next up, we have um time for our union partners. Uh I would like to welcome Kelly Bond from our district council of unions and Elizabeth Held, president of the Portland Federation of School Professionals. And I also see Angela Bonia from uh the Portland Association of Teachers. Thank you. Oh, go for it. Good evening, board members, um, directors, superintendent. It's nice to see you again. Um, the first thing I'd like to say is that I appreciate the board. I appreciate all the work that you do. I appreciate the superintendent especially. I know that you're uh hitting the ground running
055and for the first time since I've been a member of the DCU and I am the president um we've had a voice with the superintendent and I truly appreciate that and our membership appreciates that as well. So, thank you for that. some things that I want to bring up tonight. Um, and I want to start with a very positive aspect of this because I know that this may be a difficult topic for all of us to to have a discussion with. There is a a resolution on the board um regarding uh passing some minimum criteria to review by the by the district and and moving forward with the deal that will be transpiring between the Albina Vision Trust and uh the building the profit education center with Portland public schools. I want you to know
056that the district council of unions which is the DCU as some of you may hear us from are very supportive of this action. It is visionary by AVT. It is something that is interestingly enough um I'm supportive of for another reason. Uh some of you may not know but in 1850 this property belonged to the indigenous people which is the uh the tribal nations here in the United States and here in the Portland metro area. There was a law that was passed that within 7 years pushed every indigenous person out of this region. So, I truly applaud the gentrification moves that are trying to be eliminated by the Albina Vision Trust. What I am concerned about with all of this is DCU brought to this district board's attention last year after a study that was
057done conducted led by the the uh board and the district in 20 2018 2019 and again another one in 2021 2022. While administrative structures were looked at, reviewed and discussed, the people that I represent with the district council of unions is 13 trades and locals. Those people maintain the buildings and structures. And uh if you didn't know, there's a 177 buildings within this district, over um 700 acres and 9 million square feet of building structures within this district. That's what less than 100 people maintain for this district. I I think that's uh something that really needs to be heard. Recently a report came out and it was uh dated April 23rd, 2025 and it's talking about the minimum criteria of um this exchange for the building for PEC and where they're moving on. I have
058some serious concerns about that when I look at the major groups that I represent and I have members that are in the music music repair shop, the electrical shop, the mechanical shop or machine shop as some may know it as the multicraft group and I even have people that work down in warehouse. And when I looked at the small the shorter smaller groups, the electrical, multicraft, music, instrument repair, and the uh mechanical machine shop, this report cut their space by over 60%. Now, I know that people were looking at that saying, "Oh, it's, you know, there's a lot of stuff in that space. A lot of storage stuff can be gotten rid of." Our buildings in this district are anywhere from a year old to over 100 years old. The DCU members go out and
059scrap and scrge and maggyver everything that they possibly can to keep those buildings, the structures and and the space safe for our students. So when I saw this measure come forward or this uh resolution, I was really concerned because the resolution reflects minimum criteria. And as somebody who has worked around the public for a long period of time since I was 19 years old, and I'm not going to tell you how old I am now, but I'm old enough to be a grandma to several people probably sitting in the audience. Um, I understand that in bureaucracy and things that happen, we tend to take the minimum, the lowest amount, the least denominator. And if that happens with DCU in this measure, it will essentially send a message to our membership that they aren't important, the
060space that they have isn't important, and what they do isn't important. Because when we see a space cut, for example, the the uh electrical shop was taking a 75% cut in their space. Now there are 23 people that work in that space and they go all across the country, all across the district. They maintain the fire suppression systems of which there are 102 in this district. Some of you may recall not too many years ago, and I'll take you back to 2009, there was a school that caught fire. The reason that school caught fire was because we've been deferring maintenance for many, many years. We also know that at that time, the crew that would normally have taken care of that had been cut as well. To me, cutting the space. so drastically and not
061being um reflective of the current st at least the current space that's available to our people to properly do their job is a disservice and puts our students, our teachers, our buildings and our community at risk. So there is there's some food for thought right there. I also want you to understand that our members have had a hard time feeling like they were heard. our I had members that came forward last year and brought to the attention of the board that they were feeling left out, that they were feeling not heard, that there was an inattentiveness to those needs because the focus was on the administrative staff in this move. But they still want to support AVT. They still want to support the vision. They still want to believe in this But one of the
062things that happened was that the then president of DCU and myself went and actually spoke with AVT. We sat down with JT Flowers, went to Johannes and we had a lovely conversation about the vision of AVT. We believe in what they were telling us. We believe it's a lofty goal, but we can't wait to see it happen. and we turned around and invited some of our DCU members that actually work in this building to come and ask questions after we gave them the rundown on what we saw when we were there. We went after work hours, presented and had a lovely conversation. We're very appreciative to AVT for what they shared with us and the members were actually quite impressed with what they heard. So still wanting to support that. What was troubling to me
063was approximately two weeks after that meeting with AVT, our membership, specifically the maintenance crew received an email, a directive that to me was appalling and it was brought to the attention, but our members were still hurt. They were feeling like their voices didn't matter again and they were feeling shut down. And I want to share that email with you and I will not reveal who wrote the email. I don't think that's this is a fair forum for that. So the message says maintenance team. This message is intended to clarify the expectation and protocol for PPS maintenance team members regarding engagement with planners and external parties related to the planned move of the Portland public schools facilities. So this is directed at the AVT move specifically school facilities. Okay. The intent is to ensure a coordinated
064and efficient process maintaining clear lines of communication and decision makingaking. With the upcoming sale of the Dr. Matthew Profit Center and the search for a new facility, there's been an increased interaction with external planners and other parties. To manage this process effectively, it is imperative that all such communications are channeled through the appropriate management team. All requests for meetings or communications. Employees seeking to meet with planners or other external parties regarding the facility move must route their requests through the immediate supervision team. Coordination management will coordinate with the appropriate department heads to ensure that all engagements with external parties are aligned with the overall strategy and objectives of the move. Approval process. Before any meetings or communications are conducted, they must be approved by the designated senior manager to ensure consistency and alignment with our
065strategic planning. Communication channels. Maintenance team members must not directly initiate or engage in meetings with external parties without prior approval. All communications should be channeled through designated points of contact within the organization. Compliance. Compliance with this message is mandatory for all PPS maintenance team members. Failure to adhere to these protocols may result in corrective action up to and including disciplinary measures. Acknowledgement. By continuing in your role within this organization, you acknowledge and agreed to abide by the terms outlined in this message. These protocols may be modified or amended only with the written consent of the senior management team. Duration. These expectations will remain in effect until further notice. Our members were threatened with discipline for doing something that they had the right to do off school time. our members were shut down and that's concerning
066to me that we would allow this and I have spoke on behalf of several of our members for quite a while now. But what is this demonstrating to our students? What is this demonstrating to our community? That our people don't matter. That they don't have a right to speak. That they don't have a right to their opinions. and that they don't have the right to support this district in a positive way, to do the right thing, to come forward when they see a problem, to try and get the attention of the people to make things right. To me, that's not a good lesson to be demonstrating to our students or to our community because my members love this community. They love what they do here and they wouldn't do it if they didn't want to
067be here. And believe me, the dollars that they make here at Portland Public Schools, I can tell you there's a lot more on the outside, but they're still here fighting the fight and doing the right thing and doing their job every day the best that they can for this district. 7103. While we agree in concept with that, what we're looking for as the DCU, and we're not only talking about DCU, we would love to see SEIU, PFSP, nonrepresented members that work here also have a voice in this process of this minimum criteria that was set forward. Please give my people, our people, a vote, an opportunity to speak and understand what's happening, to set forward some standards because this is a once- ina career, possibly a once-ina-lifetime opportunity for many people to do a very
068positive thing. lift AVT up, help their vision, but also make this community and our groups safe for the future. Give them a space and give them the opportunity to do their job as they need to do their job. They need a voice. And without that, why would they be here? Because that's a matter of human dignity to be able to speak up and do the right thing for everyone. And to quote a phrase that I just saw, together we rise. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Kelly Bond. President of DCU. Thank you. Um, and good afternoon, Chair Wong, and the rest of the board. Um, my my name is Elizabeth Held. I'm the interimm president of PFSP. Um, I'd be remiss if I don't take a at least a very brief moment to offer my thanks
069um to all the teachers and the licensed educators within PPS. Um, as a PAR educator, I am all too aware of how important our PPS teachers make the everyday lives of our students. Um, so thank you all so much for everything you do. Um, I'm here today to speak um about my concern about the privatization of the services in Portland public schools. Um at the recent board budget uh feedback session we had there was an outpouring of concern for our language access specialist program. I think it's important to highlight the fact that that program is served by only five people. So everyone who came to that board meeting and spoke to those services are talking about those five people. Um our our language access specialists are trained in Furpa and confidentiality. They've translated legal documents
070and they manage the five lang uh the five languages um that our language access line provides. There's a federal obligation through title six to provide those services. Um and the current proposal of the budget would eliminate this program and replace them with license with um contracted services. We've seen the impact of contracting out bargained work of PPS staff. I'd like to thank the directors that noted that the impact of closing the print shop and contracting out those services nearly doubled the costs. Our contracting is not a cost-saving measure. Um, closing the print shop was a mistake, but it was not unforeseeable. We had members of the print shop come before the board last year who had documentation that showed that it would be a significant increase in cost. It's not too late to bring those
071staff back on their recall rights. We don't have to continue. We can correct that. Um, in the same way PPS made a mistake in contracting out custodial staff, those positions are now returned to regular PPS. um employment. We can we can correct mistakes. I think the second thing that I would like to speak to is to um highlight and reiterate some of Kelly's concerns um and show support for the amendment to the resolution 7103. Um when we're considering the impacts of reallocating uh or relocating the PEC, it's imperative that all impacted staff and their needs are considered and will be provided for. Ensuring that maintenance, SEIU and non-represented staff are involved in the consideration about the necessary square footage is the only way to make sure that wherever the district office moves, it will actually
072serve the needs of the students. Thank you. Thank you, Elizabeth Hill. PFSB present. All right. Hello. Um, my name is Angela Bona and I'm the president of the Portland Association of Teachers. Um, I'd like to start with kudos uh to every educator who wakes up every single day and chooses to keep working in this profession and for our district. Um, it is near impossible to do this work when we are overworked, overextended, underresourced, and under supported. But you do it every and every day anyway. You wake up every day and recommmit to supporting our schools, our students, our community, and each other. So, thank you for your advocacy as well last week in Salem. Um, I know that photo that we saw about the Salem advocacy, if you look for someone with green hair, that's
073our vice president, Alicia Chavez. Um, and we had a few parents there as well, uh, uh, that are also PAT members. Um, so, thank you for your advocacy. Thank you for your advocacy at our budget meetings, in the community, and in canvasing for our bond and our endorse school board candidates. Um, so I'm going to get a little wonky uh tonight because I want to speak to some of the work that's before this board. Um, I know we're all working very hard to get our bond passed this year. I've seen director split at our canvasing events almost every weekend along with our pat endorsed schoolboard candidates like Michelle Chase Miller, Jorge Sanche Bautista, and Stephanie Englesman. Our members have also shown up uh knocking on doors and telling folks why it's so important for everyone
074to vote yes on the PPS bond measure 26259 on the back of your ballot. So don't forget to flip that ballot. Um at the budget hearing last week, we heard loud and clear that community members are worried about the seismic upgrades and I appreciate the effort to put forth a resolution so quickly to react to these asks. However, I want to point out that the resolution 7109 has a lot of beautiful language that shares the status of our buildings currently and the commitment to discuss and direct future bonds and future funds to the seismic retrofitting of our schools. And it has words about transparency and an equity focus. However, that resolution does not have concrete steps for this work, doesn't assign this work to any committee or body, and doesn't identify any accountability systems or
075steps on how to make that happen. Um, and so I want our directors to not lose sight that in every action we must center our students and communities. Um, you know, and make sure that these are actionable responses as opposed to uh reactions. Um, and that we must center our students and communities over the possible wins that can be reported to the news. But luckily, our directors also have offered an additional resolution 71110 um which seems to remedy these concerns by assigning the work to the school facilities improvement and operations committee and then commits them to meeting six times specifically about the seismic upgrades. So, I implore y'all to pass both resolutions because the first does not meet its goals without the second. And I think passing both of these resolutions is a commitment. It's
076a sign of the unity possible on our board. Uh where instead of just focusing on, you know, words without substance, they can come back together to do the listening, the work, the homework um and and bring this home for our students and communities. So again, please pass both resolutions to show our unity to make the work happen and to prioritize our safety. Lastly, I want to speak to the reallocation to the relocation of MPEC. Um, as important as it is for us to make space for AVT to bring Albina to its former glory, I don't want our black community to be pitted against our union workers. Our union siblings in DCU who work for the districts as maintenance workers have largely been left out of the conversation. They have provided an amendment to resolution 7103
077that includes them in the conversation. The reallocation process and evaluation thus far has recommended a large decrease in space, but it hasn't acknowledged that a lot of the work done for our schools is done by staff that is based out of this very building. In order to maintain the quality of work done across the district, we need additional visioning and discovery that includes input from DCU maintenance employees, SEIU employees, PFSP employees, and non-represented employees impacted by the move. So, please consider amending resolution 7103 to include worker representation. More voices from those impacted by decisions will always support a clearer path forward because we can only rise together. So, thank you for your time. Thank you, President Bon. [Applause] Chair Wong, before we move on, I just wanted to let you know that the person who
078was going to provide their comment virtual is here. That's right. I was wondering if Yes, we have a time for them. Yes, we have a um person who tried to log on online during public comment, wasn't able to, but now are able to. So, we'll go back to public comment. Thank you. I'll bring them in. Oh, they're in the room. I'm going to bring them in um virtually. Yeah. Katherine Hubard, you can go ahead when you're ready. Hello. Can you hear me? Okay. Yes. Okay. Thank you so much. Hello everybody. Sorry I can't be there in person. Um, but my name is Katherine Huard. I am a PPS parent. Um, a PPS graduate and from like K through 12. Um, and I grew up in Portland and um, I'm a part of the native community
079here in Portland. And um I wanted to um just I am also a part of the Indian parent committee um the Portland public schools Indian parent committee and um I just wanted to make comment um from a statement that was generated from multiple community members u to address um the needs of like the native students and families in Portland public schools. Um, so I will read that statement here. um uh in reference to um what the native community is needing to have our students be successful in our graduation rates, in our test rates, and um I am also a part of the culture in the classroom uh initiative project that has been happening over last school year and this school year. I'm a part of the guiding council as well. So, um I do have
080kind of like a uh some insight to um the work that is trying to be done to kind of combat um the disparities that native students experience in Portland public schools historically and currently. Um there's just a lot of harm that has been done um historically and that is currently happening to our native students and our um and our families. Um so I will go ahead and read that statement. Um it is um and this is also in reference to um the decision that was made recently and I from what I've heard it was a decision that happened at the level of the architecture firm or the contractor that is um kind of helping with the renovations going to be happening for Jeff uh Jefferson High School where the Indian education ation department is currently
081housed and um the Indian education department was not included in the most recent um kind of plans to be at Jefferson. Um so this statement is in reference to that and it is saying um this is not just about staying at Jefferson. This is about finally giving Indian education and the native students and families it serves a permanent adequate home in Portland public schools. We don't need a new building. We need followth through. PPS has empty buildings and Meek School is one of them. It's located in the Colleen neighborhood and where Superintendent Armstrong has publicly pledged investment. What better way to honor that commitment than by transforming Meek School into a native student center. We need a gym, a kitchen, a working kitchen, outdoor space for growing our plant relatives and for our youth, a
082place where native students are not guests, but are the heart of the space. where culture, identity, wellness, and academic success are all nurtured together. The research supports this. The National Indian Education Study, NCES 2019, found that students with access to culturally relevant education and support perform better and feel more connected to school and their community. Thank you. Yellow can strong demonstrated that native student centers foster belonging, retention and success outcomes PPS must prioritize for our native youth. Indian education has been displaced for too long. Can you hear me? Move from sight to sight without permanent I'm sorry, but can you um finish up? instability mirrors the same colonial systems that forced relocation and land dispossession that have harmed native communities for centuries. Displacement by bureaucracy is still I'm sorry I don't know if you can
083hear me. We deeply appreciate director Brim Edwards and Hollands for joining the Indian education public hearing on April 10th and we especially want to lift up and hold the necessary truth doc director Holland's voice during that April 17th facilities and operations committee meeting. I think if we quote I think if we really trying to make amends for some of the ills that we've I'm sorry but that that's time if you some land that You're not done, but please can you email us the rest of your public comment? We would we would like to to read what you have to say, please. So, thank you for your time. I really appreciate you uh showing up here today. Thank you. Um next up, we have uh someone else who also didn't hear their name or didn't didn't
084get called up earlier. Phil Schnabble. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to address actually I made this presentation uh it's about curricula and I made this presentation at the five o'clock meeting thinking that there were five of you and five of you didn't show up. So, for some of you, it's going to seem like it's going to be the identical presentation. So, some of you uh will leave here knowing that at least I know one thing. Thank you. I was going to say thank you. We appreciate this. I passed out at the at the first meeting. I passed out some uh sheets. There still might some be some up there for you, but it uh and then I had some for the audience. So, we're going to have a little audience participation. Actually, I'm a
085longtime board member of the alumni association at Franklin High School. I'm not here under the o those opioes. I'm here Thank you. I'm here as a father, a grandfather, and a concerned citizen. Two years ago, my granddaughter graduated from West View High School out in Beaverton. She had a GPA of 4.42. She was an honor student. I sat down and I wrote out a a congratulatory letter for her, handed it to her. She looked at it. She said, "Grandpa, I can't read this." cursive. I had to read it to her. She's now a sophomore down at the University of Oregon. Now, I'm going to enlist. You guys should know the answer to the questions that I'm going to ask. And the this lady filed me up last time. But I'm going to ask I'm going
086to appeal to the audience. I'm going to read some some things, some excerpts from documents that are very important to our nation. And I want somebody to tell me where I got that. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds da we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. Where did I get that? Somebody declaration of indep declaration of independence. That's accurate. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union. Where did I get that? It's the preamble to the constit constitution of our United States. Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty. Where did that come from? Gettysburg address. Gettysburg address. That's
087correct. Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God. Tomb of the unknown soldier. That's correct. And I've got another sentence here that the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog's back. What is unique about that sentence? Has every letter of the English language? Now, thank you. You may or may not know, the board may not know that as we speak, there is a a uh legislative uh issue in the Idaho legislature that is a bill that would require students to learn cursive writing in school. And every student in the state of Idaho should be proficient in reading and writing cursive by the time they reach the fifth grade. The fifth grade. Now your educ your predecessors educated me. I'm not an educator but you educated me. And I can remember
088in the second and third grade in Milwaukee School out in Milwaukee doing all the all the good things in the things on the around the blackboard. I'll bet next month's salary that if I took the original. Now, I I appreciate the fact that there's printed. All of these documents are printed. You can get them on your phone. You can get them on your computer. But if I presented all of the if I collected all of the soon to graduate seniors in the Portland public schools and handed them the original documents, I guarantee you upwards unless they were homeschooled. Now, if they're homeschooled, that takes it off the off the the table. But I would I would venture to guess that 90% of the soon to graduate seniors wouldn't have a clue what these documents read.
089And to me, that's a damn shame. Every every Thank you. important document in our culture, in our nation is written in cursive. Everyone and I just think that we have a whole generation I'm sure some of these young youngsters here could you finish up really quick can't can't read cursive. But what bothers me even more than that without learning cursive, how how do they even sign their name to the back of their ballot when they vote? Think of that. Are they going to print their name? Great. Thank you. I This This is something that I over time right now. I'm sorry. I just have one second more. One second. Yes. I implore you can make the decision to start teaching cursive again in our grade schools. It's important. Uh it's a passion of mine and
090I implore you to do just that. Thank you. We did get trivia with that. So, it counts as extra. Sorry. All right. Um, thank you for that. Really appreciate it. And also for the trivia and the education. Um, what's next? I am lost. All right. Next up, we have um board committee reports. I believe Director Sullivan has uh a committee report. Right. Um, thank you. Um the audit committee had a meeting on April 15 and I would like to provide the board with an overview of the topics we discussed. First uh PPS staff provided a status update related to the implementation of recommendations included in the student body funds audit. We found applicable staff have fully implemented one of the seven recommendations and there had been progress towards the implementation of an additional four recommendations.
091There were two outstanding recommendations and the audit committee was able to provide some guidance and expectations related to progress on those two. Thank you to the PPS staff that attended the meeting to discuss this progress. Next, uh, PPS staff provided the audit committee with an update related to the selection process for the district's external auditors who audit the district's ACFR. That's the annual comprehensive financial report as well as the district's report on requirements for federal awards. PPS has contracted with the same firm for these services for more than 15 years. As a result, PPS completed an RFP, that's a request for proposals, process this year. There were no issues with the auditing services provided. However, it is considered best practices to complete the RFP process every 3 to 5 years. As we discussed in the
092audit committee meeting, I am happy to report that this process has now been completed. The contract with TKW, that firm is Talbot, Corbola and Warwick LLP to provide these auditing services was approved by the full board in our regular board meeting on April 8th via resolution 7081. The contract with TKW will continue through March 31st, 2030 and may be renewed for up to an additional 5 years by amendment signed by both parties. The audit committee would like to thank the staff in the purchasing and contract department who were able to provide assistance and guidance for those of us on the audit committee who were participating in the selection panel for this contract for the first time. Also, the audit committee reviewed the annual budget request for the office of internal performance performance audit. Just as
093a reminder, the Office of Internal Performance Audit reports to the PPS board and the related budget is within the board's budget. The audit committee unanimously approved the budget request and instructed the auditor to submit it to the chair of the board for further review and consideration for inclusion into the budget. The audit committee also reviewed our progress on the audit committee's 2024 25 work plan. Although there are two items that may roll over to the 2025 26 2526 school year, the audit committee has made progress toward achieving each of the items in the work plan. Lastly, our district's internal auditor talked to the audit committee about planning for future audit topics for consideration. Our internal auditor asked each of the audit committee members provide at least three risks for consideration. Please note, although our internal
094auditor does this exercise with audit committee members, it is the work of the full board to provide input into the development and selection of future audits. For those of you who are not on the audit committee, everybody uh please be on the lookout for an email with a meeting request from our internal auditor to discuss this topic with each of you separately. Has she contacted any of you yet? Okay. She will be um the district's internal auditor will do some preliminary research on audit topic ideas and provide the audit committee with an audit plan proposal in our next committee meeting. Our next audit committee meeting will be held on June 23rd at 11 a.m. And this is going to be virtual in order to accommodate our many busy June schedules of staff. I will provide
095the board um with the agenda for this meeting at the June 20th regular board meeting. And that is all. All right. Thank you, director. All right. Next up, we have our uh community budget review committee. Uh Dr. Armstrong, hand it off to you. Excellent. Well, we are excited to welcome the CBRC before you to present and I will have them introduce themselves. Thank you for being here. Hi, I'm Mariah Hudson. I'm the chair of the CBRC and uh I am joined here tonight um both by a colleague, I'll let him introduce himself and by colleagues uh online from the CBRC. Um, hello. My name is Stefan. I'm one of the members of SBC committee. And I'm not sure if our colleagues can unmute and join and introduce, but uh we have several online and we'll
096invite uh looks like Grace and others um to participate in our presentation and take uh pieces of that as well. First, uh we just want to thank you directors um and really thank the school district and the superintendent for having a community budget review committee and offering this opportunity for our communities to come together and take a deep dive into the district's financials because we realize that budgets are a representation of our values and who we are as a committee. Um we are 14. Um we are former uh and current educators including myself. Um we are parents of PPS students. Um we have two PPS students. We are from all quadrants of Portland. Um we are from title one schools and from not title one schools. And so we try to bring um a diversity
097of perspectives um to our review of the budget and the priorities that have been presented uh by the superintendent here. So, um I want to start with a little bit of background here and just what we what was what we were considering as we uh took on this 500page document uh again this year. Um first um we really take to heart the board's goals um closing the uh the achievement gap, the racial achievement gap, especially around these these four goals. third grade reading, fifth grade mathematics, um eighth grade readiness, and high school graduation. We look at those as critical points in learning and know that um those are points where we can see students either gaining or falling behind. And so that's where the board is prioritized. Um we also bring the the focus, you
098know, of our community for outcomes for all students and we think about that as we're reviewing. So we have some core messages um that we bring respectfully for you, some observations and some recommendations. I'll go through and I'll pause at different points. I see my colleagues are coming online uh to let them jump in and um offer their um offer some of their recommendations as well here. First, we want to recognize um that this is not an easy budget. There are no easy cuts or choices left. Um this is my third year on the committee and we've gone through three consecutive years of substantial cuts and we're looking at um more. Um we recognize that despite the 2019 student success act which will bring in $2.4 billion for for education. We've had a decade of
099increased ina education budgets and this is the most we've ever seen. Costs have also increased and that's the reality of what we're facing. Um, but the legislature is also, it does not seem going to fund up to the QEM. That's that's the reality of our budgets and what we're looking at, what we're facing. That is what we were considering as we looked at this budget. So, first we want to we want to begin with a note of thanks u for our superintendent and for the staff um and really noting um that this budget seeks to mitigate the direct impact of reductions on students and classroom staff and that is a top priority for our communities as a community budget uh review committee. We recognize that that's that's where uh that's where it's happening every day.
100Um but we also want to begin with the acknowledgement that we are in an environment and when we look at out and forecasting you know not just a couple of years the next three years or the next bianium but really at municipalities and the future of school districts a decade out we're going to be looking at um you know reductions or reduced spending power probably for a decade. That's what you know we can see forecast the economic forecast is likely. So you know our first and kind of overarching recommendation is a structural plan um for budgets looking out multiple years. Um and that is what we would love to see um as a community um to be able to assess that and and see the trajectory um in these documents that span several years because
101our fear is that the district we've cut the easy things now um and not and I should not say any of them are easy. We have lost jobs. We have lost staff. Um we have lost valuable expertise. Um that we we risk drifting into austerity and losing sight of those goals of equity and excellence and [Music] innovation. So I've touched on this our long-term outlook. Um our our a couple of points here. Um as your community committee here, we urge the board this year um we see recommendations that have taken more from central services um from the central administration. it looks pretty lean. Um and have spread the cuts around. Um the cuts that have um that are based at the school level are aligned with enrollment largely. Um we've seen we'll talk about some
102where they are not uh here in a moment. But going forward particularly um our recommendation is to for the board to consider more targeted structural reductions um to really consider the things that are very essential to the to education and those which may not be um whether it's programs or locations. And we know that is a hard hard message and it was a hard thing for us to consider as a community. and also the realization um that we continue as we continue to advocate with the legislature. Um we recognize you directors are going to need to make progress toward the QEM whether or not we are receiving generous um generous allocations from the legislature and that is a difficult thing to do. We'll move forward here. Hold on. So I'm going to invite some of
103my colleagues to jump in here as we move into our recommendations. I have a quick question. So you say you want you want us to look at how do we proceed towards the QEM model without QM dollars. How does that work? Well, I think um I think what we're saying is really looking at what are the most essential things and it's not our job as a a CDRC to identify programs or identify what those deep and narrow things might be that are not the most essential to getting to better outcomes for all students to addressing you know the racial equity gap that addresses your board goals. I guess I just I just worry with a caution of saying, you know, well, we can work towards those goals without getting those resources because that's what they
104say in Salem, right? We we want you to get to these goals without us giving the resources. So, I just want to make make sure we're cautious that, you know, with without really resourcing us the way that they feel that they need to, at least the way that the QM states that it's going to be impossible to get to those goals that they have in the QM model without the resources behind it. I just want to do a clarifying thing really quick. Um, so I got two questions or one clarifying thing. I I believe the what you're referencing there was in the report that you gave us which is like the idea of benchmarking our budget to the QEM. That's correct. So that it's easier to report and show the state how underfunded we are.
105Right. I think that's what that reference was too. And then my second question is um would you do you want to present the whole thing first and then ask questions or ask questions along the way? Me to I just want to know what your partners are. We would love to have your questions along the way and um I would open this to all of my committee members to uh to respond and ask questions as well. And I'm just I'm going just respond back to Director Wong here. State knows already. We don't have to keep showing them our our test shows it. This the the finish. Okay. Okay. Well, could you I thought you was finished. You stopped talking. Okay. My thought was like the idea that we're in the report was said benchmarking to QM.
106I guess I sorry it was my fault my I forgot to ask the question. What does that even I mean what does that look like? Right. And I think also adding that adds to director Holland's wit. Yeah. Yeah. What does it look like moving toward the QEM? Uh yeah benchmarking. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. In the report it mentioned something like benchmarking our budget to the QEM so it's easier to Okay. Compare. One of the things that we wanted to specifically look at um is um looking at the the superintendent as presentation on the budget talked about 98% 98.7% or something of uh K through five classrooms were um at uh enrollment at um class size targets at or below class size targets and we wanted to particularly around class size benchmark that to um QEM
107class sizes and look at that as one metric. That's a for example. Um so class size would be one thing that the QEM looks at. I want to acknowledge my colleague um Grace Groom uh I think who had her hand up online if she wants to jump in here. Thanks Mariah. Um my understanding of that comment about benchmarking to QEM was just as Mariah's explaining um looking at where what the QEM calls for compared to where we're at and um just calling those things out and I hear you director Holland um that you know the state knows but I think the more public we are about how what we are able to offer with the dollars that we have and what we're not able to offer you know specific specifically around class size, around um
108counseling supports for students. You know, how far off the the mark we're able to provide at this point um would help to put, you know, more to get to get more heads in the game on how we're funding education in Oregon and particularly in Portland. Okay, we'll move on to our observations and on staffing and student impacts. Um, so we note that this budget continues investments um that are identified as aligned with closing racial achievement gaps. Um, we're not seeing a lot of um kind of new things here. Um, we we noted in our report it seems like kind of more of the same. that was a concern for us and just an observation. Um we observed that you know our school-based reductions um when we looked in budget book two seem largely aligned um
109with those enrollment declines um with with an observation um that title one schools have experienced greater reductions and we did the math um looking through on that. It's a little bit complicated to do that. Um and those title one schools particularly because of the 25% cut on in title one funds that the district is anticipating um are taking a greater hit um to their staffing um b um versus non-title one schools. So we are seeing that impact there and we're concerned about that. Um we will note we appreciate the effort of the district to preserve special education funding. That's been a concern for a lot of parents um especially with the changes to special education and kind of the new school-based um work there. And we want to note the continuation that there's a significant
110variance in staffing FTE um at schools per student. So our recommendation here is really to conduct and publicly report our analysis on class size. This is what we we just talked about with the QEM. So, I'm I won't dive into this here. So, I know some of my colleagues wanted to speak specifically to the title one funding here um and the very concerning um 25% reduction um that we are uh we are baking into this budget unfortunately and noting that this is disproportionately impacting students with the highest percentage of historically underserved students already. I'll just pause here for a second. Hi, this is Grace again. Uh to kind of uh flush out a little bit of these observations. Um, while the district just says you're not in control of what the legislature gives you, you're
111not in control over what the federal government gives you. Um, but it is concerning that we were able to anticipate, you know, set the budget at a 25% reduction in title one. Yet there was no response to that reduction to either backfill or look at what are the specific positions being cut um that we could see from the budget document. There wasn't um we were appreciative that the 4% equity stayed steady but staying steady in the face of big cuts um really is losing ground for those schools. So, I would urge the board and we did in our um report there to really look closely at the reductions in staff and make sure that those Title One schools that are losing disproportionately uh a percent higher percentages of staff compared to their enrollment um pay
112close attention to that. Okay. Um, this is this is really important. I was wondering if we can have like our superintendent kind of speak to this. [Music] Yes. So, um, the 25% hold back um, as we wait to hear if Title One will be fully funded was so that we would not have any pullback in the middle of a school year. and have to have negative um staff consequences like a uh a reduction in in force based on a title one in the middle of the school year. I think what is also being noted is that uh there seemed to be greater impacts in title one schools versus non-title one schools. We as a district have um added additional investments with our general fund dollars to title one schools that were no longer able to
113afford. And so um I think if so I I mean I think that's factually correct and um we're we're just not able to so we still have the baseline um staffing with a 25% reduction. Is that what you're asking? Okay. Yeah. Can I speak to this from the from the committee perspective here? Yeah. I want to note that this was one point where there were a diversity of of perspectives um around the issue of backfill. Um, we all know that when there are decisions to backfill um, one-time money with general funds, and this this comes kind of later in our report, um, that that gets us in trouble financially down the road. Um, and so there's the concern here. I mean, on the one hand, you know, the concern for our title one schools and
114the need to, you know, sustain our students and things like remediation are really important, but we also want to acknowledge what happens with with one-time funds. I don't know what that means though when you're saying backfill with one-time funds. So, for instance, and we'll talk I guess we can just move on to this now. Oh, when we have um when we've had CO programs and things that have moved from ESSER funds to being funded by general funds, um that is a commitment that the district has taken on and it is a it is an additional load. So, oh yes. So that I think speaks to your first bullet of why there were additional cuts in title one schools is because we use general fund to add to the staffing uh because of the impacts in
115title one schools and so we're just not able to you know staff in that way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We acknowledge that and just wanted to acknowledge that there were diversity of perspectives on that. Sorry. I will move on. questions. Oh, it's Karanja. Yeah. Yeah. Mr. Chrisa. Yeah. Thank you. Um I just have a question since this is an anticipation um cut potentially cut of 25%. I just did some research and it looks like the Trump administration wants to maintain the title one funding. Let's just say hypothetically that it is maintained. Um what what happened? Um, since this is an in anticipation and cuts and and the 25% is not actually cut, what's going to happen with that 25%. Yeah, the funds will be um allocated back to the schools that did the 25 uh% reduction
116um the title one schools. So those funds will be reallocated back to the schools. So if C so if staff was cut um so would we have to rehire or what would be that process? Yeah. So with 25% when we look at the budgets of our schools most of it would be like partials like a point 2 some of our staff may um utilize some funds for uh part-time support staff or maybe it's like a 2 and reading interventionist. I don't know if any of the uh 25% would be a full 1.0 um reduction. And I will say that I I have talked to my neighboring peers because I know originally we were all at like 25% in anticipation and as we get more information coming out of the federal government and we are hearing
117that title one may remain flat. When we have that confirmed we'll be able to take action a little bit sooner. some of our peer districts were um able to release that 25% hold a little sooner and I think it's because they have healthier fund balances so they have that safety net so that if there is like a midyear change they're able to um continue to fund staff through the end of the year based on their fund balance and we don't have that right now but we are monitoring um it's going to be very important in the next couple of weeks um to see how things go and if we know that uh we're covered for the fiscal year then we absolutely want to make sure we get those funds to schools. Is it possible that
118we can cut based off of act rules like later on or do we have to is or is best practice to uh do a cut based off of anticipation? [Music] I'm not sure I do you get that Michelle? Yeah, I do. Thank you. Um Dr. Armstrong and uh Mr. Cruz I we will always try and take a conservative approach. We were early in our budget. Well, we're middle of budget development in this time, but we have already done our staffing for next year. And so, in the flow of that, we've decided to take a more conservative approach knowing that if we realize additional dollars, they can be distributed through the to the schools. Unfortunately, like Dr. Armstrong shared, we just don't have the flexibility in the budget going into next year um to support that
119if if all of a sudden we lose funding. And I would say conservative to a point because our budget does include the governor's current service level. It does include the um the decrease in the PERS rate by a small percentage point. And so we are needing to count on those funds otherwise our reductions would have been twice what uh what we proposed. All right. Thank you. There were a couple of specific impacts to students that we were concerned about and wanted to call out. Um the loss of the or potential loss, it depends. High schools can choose on the high school career coordinators. Something we wanted to call out. Uh we understand there's some flexibility there and particularly around the language line access staff. I don't know if uh Grace wants to speak to this
120particularly since she's knowledgeable on this. Yeah, sure. Um, my understanding is that the um from the director of communications was that uh most of the language interpretation services I think she's presented was 80% was used contract services and at a lower cost. Yes, an educator. I I understand that a lot of the interpretation services originates at the school level like during conferences or when teachers need to reach out. We could use a language line, a contract service um to connect to the families. And it seems that the language access line is can be used by teachers, but it's really more a way a way for students and families to initiate that conversation. And I understand that the community agents are are being viewed as sort of the way to to meet that need. Um, however,
121there are only five community agents um for the whole district. So, that's not sounding very accessible to families and students who want to initiate a conversation with the school. So essentially our recommendation here is just we want to make sure we applaud efficiencies and looking for ways to you know make our budget stretch but we want to make sure that families can initiate conversations as well. So I have a question before you switch slides. I'm not sure I understand the recommendation on the career coordinators. Um ensure partnership coordination with community resources. How is that going to be done without staff? Oh, so this recommendation is in the budget the career coordinators staff position was cut. So actually I think in our report this is specific to the language line and not actually to the career
122coordinators. Um yeah, it's around the language line access and there are if if there are community resources where we can coordinate access um for um for families. Um so you call out the career coordinators but there wasn't a recommendation on it was an observation. I'm sorry that was unclear. No problem. And we realize these are all tough choices. Um we've looked at uh differentiated uh equity funding um and differentiated supports. Um one that we noticed um you know again applauding keeping the um the equity allocations in place. Um one that we noticed was uh the reduction again of uh talented and gifted or tag funding. Um that's something that is statemandated um to support those students. I'm not sure what our percentage or number is here in PPS. Um it looks like a couple of
123years ago there were about 30,000 statewide. So I don't know how many we have here. Um but you know our supports have gone from about 600,000 uh 3 years ago I believe to it looks like it's down um you know around 150,000. And kind of more importantly we're not clear how the district will support those students without staff to um to implement that. So, we want to do more than hope there's a plan. We would would like to hear that. [Music] And I think another thing just to bring out from the report um the equity funding again appreciating that 4% was being retained um and noting that 9% is uh awarded to all area high schools regardless of their percentage of um black and brown students. and or just a question of how that is
124um supporting the board goals for high school graduation when all schools get 9% of their um ADM added in staffing even if they have low percentages of black and brown students. Yeah, I I would like I would like someone to to respond to that question because that's a question I had last year as well. [Music] Yeah, absolutely. I will ask um Chief Howard and uh Chief Okay, I guess we have Chief Adams coming forward to talk about that. Good evening again, everyone. uh the 9% isn't allocated equally across the high schools. It's allocated based on the number of students who are um receive free and reduced lunch via direct certification. So that might be a misunderstanding that we're having. So it's not 9% at each high school, but an average of 9% or something, right?
125of the entire staffing pot we hold back 9% and then we distribute that based on um differentially based on the number of students who are receiving direct certification. I think that probably addresses our concern. Thank you for clarifying that Dr. Adam. Sure. Thank you. Yeah. I just have a clarify clar clarification question. Um if you look at that slide, it says um to support the district's role to u close the racial disparities and academic achievement. So are we um are we equating the um the free and reduced lunch to um closing the racial disparities? I'm just trying to get an understanding clarification question. No, we are not. I'm sorry you probably didn't hear me, Mr. Cruz. My mic wasn't live. No, we're not equating um receiving free and reduced meals as um equivalent to race
126and ethnicity. We do recognize when we look at students who are living in um who are experiencing poverty that they do represent a large proportion of our historically underserved students based on race, but they are not the same. And we are not um treating one or the direct certification as if it is race and ethnicity. But the the equity allocation is geared towards the free and reduced lunch, direct certification at the high school level, race, ethnicity, and direct certification at the elementary and middle school level. Another one of our areas of inquiry were the blended classrooms and the staffing strategy around that. Um that was highlighted in uh the superintendent's uh uh budget and also the report there. Um we learned from staff that uh that encompasses 18 new classrooms uh this year. We weren't
127weren't sure initially how how large and widespread. We're not sure how many schools uh that's covering. Um that would be an area of inquiry. Um but thinking about um our recommendations here are really thinking about whether that is a long-term strategy or a stop gap strategy. Are we keeping open schools um that have low enrollment and using or using this as a strategy to help us get by? Um so it's just it's it's a kind of a question from us. Our recommendations here um also thinking around um staffing strategies. We noted that um overload pay has significantly increased. It's not a huge number but from you know $1.7 uh million to uh $4.1 million uh over the last five years. We also realize that wages have gone up but not not in that amount. Um
128so asking you know how is overload pay being used? Um how are our classroom sizes um you know where are we using EAS is that being used essentially our committee would support more adults in classrooms and I think most parents and most students and most educators do as well. I mean that's a better better educational experience for students anytime we can get more adults in classrooms. Um so that is our area of inquiry here and we'd like to see um you know a report on the savings um by these blended classrooms. We understand this is a strategy that's being employed this year in a broader way than than previously. So um be interested in knowing that. I'm curious was there research done on the effectiveness on the blend classrooms before we made a we made
129a wholesale move? Yes. Well, and not only uh did we read about it, we also talked to some of our administrators. There's been blended classrooms happening in Portland uh for several years now. And so we reached out to those principles. We also had conversations with um some of our principles who don't have blended classrooms to talk through what that would be and what they may need. And so it seemed to be that we had support forward and I think it allowed our staff to um keep some support positions in their building and so they uh were leaning in. I' I'd be interested in that being shared with the board because and my recollection in the past we haven't had looking at the heat map very many blended classrooms at at all. So, it'd be great
130to get that because there's a pretty big shift this year. I think we're saving $2.5 million by having fun classrooms and it would be great to have that sort of evaluation or any data we have um before we vote to make this big shift. So, can I just ask clarifying uh what specific are you interested are you interested in hearing where blending has been happening in Portland or because we won't since it hasn't happened yet, right? For the new schools, we won't have that data, right? I thought you said we had some already and my recollection is we have had very little just looking at um the blended looking at the heat maps in years past. generally when they reach the class size um cap they got a or the threshold they got another staff
131versus going to blend in classroom. So I'm curious what PPS if we have PPS data I'd be interested in seeing yeah we can actually call um tonight. Oh okay but before we get into the budget process because it's part of what we're voting on. Sure we can get that to you if it's a helpful hint. Hayhurst has had blended classes in the last few years. We didn't the last two prior to that couple each year for a few years. Yeah. And just as a quick comment, you know, in third grade, I was in a blended classroom and I truly love it and I think our all of our students would love it as well. Yeah. Same. weird sport. And just to jump in quickly here as an educator, um to to be clear about blending
132being um a looping option where you would keep the same like say if I had a fourth and fifth grade blend, then I would have those fourth graders uh be in my fifth grade group the next year so that it's not a split where um the students are in a class where the teacher is dividing their time um teaching two different levels of curriculum, but that it's a rolling over through a loop would be important to define those if that's a strategy moving forward to make it more sustainable. I second that and I I appreciate I guess I'm looking for the question about not necessarily whether students or teachers like it but I think the point that was raised here about the efficacy I mean it's um challenging to create to create a curriculum which
133is in the past why they said the district said they didn't do that and instead they gum FTE when class sizes reached a certain point. So that's that's what I'm interested in, just student outcomes. We were interested in that. And also thinking about it lowers a class size cap um and other things like um if you have a school with um a more transient um student population um you know, how does that how does that impact a student over the course of their education? So questions for consideration. Uh so I'll turn this over um to uh to Mr. Cruz here. Um this is something that our committee brought forward as a recommendation. Yeah, thank you for that. Um so I've been advocating for this for a while since my kids been in elementary school. Been
134trying to educate our community that we are comparing two different types of assessments. It's like we're comparing apples and oranges. For example, if we are conducting the MAPS assessment, that would be considered like an orange. So, say the orange is a norm reference assessment. However, our state standardized test uh where we have all of our board goals, we want to raise achievement that is a multi-tier criteriab. So, it's kind of it's not really best practice to kind of compare an apple and an orange. Um, since my kids been in elementary school, um, for example, my kids did really well in the MAPS assessment. However, they did not pass the state standardized test. And when I was asking questions about the alignment, um, even though it stated that the MAPS assessment is aligned with the state
135standardized test, but however, um, it's two different types of assessments. um HB House Bill 2009 is um is most likely going to get passed which is going to require school districts to have an interim assessment. Um interim assessment is probably assessing around three times a year and we are recommending the district kind of stop using the mass assessment to save some money. Um I believe we're paying about over a little bit over 200,000 a year and that can be used allocated towards maybe professional development or maybe even hiring um another staff member. But um the recommendation is to use the standard aligned interim assessment that the Oregon Department of Education provides which is a free interim assessment tool that we can directly see how our kids are performing throughout the year that is directly aligned
136with the state standardized test and then we can have a better comparison to really align and do the proper adjustments that we need to do in the classroom to really help our kids to achieve. So the recommendation is basically um and I'm not and I believe MAPS has other forms of assessment. So I'm not uh referring to the fluency assessment uh that our kindergarten um students and first grade students are using but it's more so geared towards um the upper uh elementary, middle school and high uh I believe in the high school um where we are conducting maps assessment. Um I think it's a waste of waste of instructional time. um if we can just have a better practice and have a more aligned assessment practice and instructional practice. So the recommendation is to um
137discontinue the maths assessment and to use a free interim assessment that the Oregon Department of Education provides for us. Thank you so much. Yeah, that is our budget recommendation um is to use a free ref. Just um quick request. Um would it be possible to have like a pro and con list of the maps versus the uh the interim assessment uh that the OD is is providing. I think that'd be interesting to look at. That would be great. I believe I I provided that to Dr. Armstrong. And Dr. Armstrong, would you able to find that school that's actually using the state standardized uh interim assessment? Not yet. We're still um collecting information right now. Um well, I recognize we're limited on time here. Um so we'll move on to uh our operational efficiencies. Thanks. Yeah,
138I'm going to cover this slide. Um so uh what we want to you know just just highlight here is there has been um central office reductions um not just this year over the last two years um we have you know um continued and um would be you know but our um observation here is that there's um relatively little information on like the uh the types of positions eliminated. Some of that you know we can't share out but um it does pose a question about like you know what what is how does it affect schools? um how does that affect in instructional services? Um and so it would be good so from a you know community perspective looking at that budget right you just you see these cuts you don't know what's happening here um maybe
139you have better information but like you know for us or like for for people looking at this budget I think that's a bit of a question mark um I think one thing I want to also um mention here we have this a little bit this with some sort of model in mind that there's the student facing staff and then there's this central office staff right and and you know we we're trying to preserve the First it makes a lot of sense right um by cutting the ladder right but but of course it's a fiction right um right so it's called supportive stuff for reason right it has really important services provides really important supportive um role here so so something that I give here right so and I think it would be I think it
140would be helpful to know what that is and um and see and and also have an eye on like you know is there are things that that might not be perhaps tracked in a way that could be tracked maybe research is not done in a way it could be done maybe other things um and and and and be mindful about that over next coming years. I think our next two slides are really around enrollment. Um, and I'll uh I'll ask Deselle if she wants to speak to this a bit, but just recognizing that, you know, PPS has accelerated our enrollment decline since the pandemic. And, you know, part of the the budget gap is around the loss of those families and the structural cost of running a school system, of having schools that are here
141in our neighborhoods and keeping those schools open and filling them with families and children. um is a part of um being able to sustain our system. So in so far as we can support enrollment, we have offered some recommendations here. Pause if available. Oh yes, sorry. I didn't know if you were going I'm going going to read that but um yeah so for some of those recommendations we really wanted to look at highlighting positive attributes of PPS. We know um that there are a lot of you know critiques and criticism, but there are also lots of positives within the school district and really working on um a PR or um communication strategy that helps to rebuild family confidence and also um conducting additional outreach to families um by leveraging some of those partnerships and those
142referral networks um that could really add to the true and tangible testimonials of people who have interacted with PPS on all levels, stakeholder, parent, teachers, um, and also just marketing that value of a PPS education, the pride of a PPS education. So, really being able to bring that back, um, especially during these times of uncertainty. And I'll I'll kind of keep it brief, but, you know, those exit interviews of withdrawing families, why they left, really understanding um, why that's happening could also inform that kind of intake and outreach process as well to help folks who are falling through the gaps. um perhaps perhaps yes it's cost of living but also there could be so many other factors um that may be helpful to mitigate um through some PPS strategies um and then lastly you know
143just uh reviewing and sharing that transparent um enrollment building strategies um and making sure that that data is not only measurable but also um realistic for folks to understand um on a level that allows PPS families to have data autonomy um in multiple language multiple languages explained as well. Um, which PPS has done a great job at doing, but just encouraging that continuation as well. And um, we don't see a lot of lines in here directly in the budget about attendance and absenteeism. Clearly, we have attendance officers that appear in the budget, but you know, as we consider our budget and how important um attendance is to our student experience, to our student outcomes, and what a high abs chronic absentee rate we have here in Portland public schools at I think it's like 36%
144uh this past year, how much higher that is than our national average. Um it's it's deeply concerning to us. um we know that that probably perpetuates you know achievement gaps and so we've offered some recommendations here. We have some observations um just around how many of our school weeks are chopped up and the research around that. Um wondering if there are, you know, again, this might seem a little outside of a budget observation, but if there are ways that are non that don't cost the district, but could, you know, improve attendance or help our students succeed in the classroom. Um so just kind of trying to think a little bit outside of the box in this constrained budget environment in and as long terms you know long term as funds are available we have some
145recommendations and we urge the district um you know to essentially invest in those wraparound services that we all know really support our ser students you know counselors you know things that help our students address their non-academic barriers and be here. Um but there may even be things like moving um breakfast into the first period that could support our students in being there. We know that that improves tardiness. Um so looking for those looking for those ways that can help our students succeed. We're getting there. We're almost done. Thank you for bearing with us. It was a 500page budget. Yeah, you did. Um so lastly, we recognize that this this budget is built around uh the success of the bond um to uh modernize our schools that so much of that is necessary um from seismic
146updates um to revamping our high schools. Um our committee as a whole is supportive of the bond. Um, you know, our recommendations are simply around transparency and stretching those funds to cover as many students and as many schools um as we can. Just recognizing the fiscal environment there. Move on. We haven't seen this talked about a whole lot, but around revenue diversification and innovation as offering strategies. We know that Fabian's one example of a collaboration with um you know an external partner, an educational partner in that case. Um but you know thinking as a budget committee long term you know are there opportunities um for the district to you know it's we are always going to be supported by public funds. We are public schools and we should you know that is that's the basis
147here. but you know to bolster or support um or increase our sustainability through partnerships. Um and we've suggested you know a few ways that that might be possible. Um I know Deselle has put some thought into this and if she wants to speak to it at all. Yeah. Um just briefly, you know, we appreciate the district's commitment to sustaining core services under a lot of pressure. you know, our recommendations um are really around proactively exploring new and diverse revenue streams to reduce dependence on state school funds and also local option levy. Um, so some of those potential strategies you see in front of you, but just in a shorter kind of bite, uh, a smaller bite, school-based health partnerships, uh, ships to help to address absenteeism, um, tech partnerships. We live in a part of
148the country um where they are plentiful for digital learning and infrastructure support, green energy projects like solar for efficiency retrofits that reduce cost and bring in new revenue and also community focused facility use uh such as long-term rentals or shared use agreements. Um, we think that these innovative models not only help to bring in new dollars, but they align with the equity and sustainability and community investment that um, PPS um, looks at quite closely. And um, also just looking at our just asset strategy overall. Um, so really having um, access to um, accessible asset inventory. um being able to see better cost benefit analysis of maintenance versus reuse or versus divestment and also just transparency around the criteria of decision making. Um in addition to options like nonprofit collocation or community partnershipships um strategic sales
149should remain on the table when tied to long-term community benefit and reinvestment. So um lastly we just we must ensure our physical infrastructure supports the the overall educational vision um not just drains it. Thank you. So on our reserves and onetime spending, we realize that the district has um you know over the past particularly past two years really drawn down our our reserves to that that 5% minimum um established by the board that threshold being between five and 10% uh in the good years. Um and you know as a committee we've always encouraged um the district to um hold as much as they can in reserves. We realize it's also student education and we've spent it down um to support the you know education today. Um but long term to commit to a plan of
150gradually um rebuilding those reserves as that's possible. Um, and we look at some things, you know, that have been placed on one-time funds and have drawn down those reserves and just call those out. And so things like if House Bill 3435 passes and there's a backfill in terms of uh the free lunch uh money, you know, suggesting that that be put back toward reserves or other things. So that concludes our recommendations here for the budget and then we do the review of uh the local levy. I'll pause. All right. Part of our duties are to review um the spending of the local levy. So this year PPS received um 1.46 46 million in levy revenue and we reviewed those numbers and found that those supported 744 teaching positions. Um that number continues to fall just
151as um although levy revenues generally increase uh over time just as you know costs of staffing have increased. So in 2019 2020 for instance that supported 916 teachers. So just just one quick clarify question. Um 744 teaching positions. Do we know how many FTE that was? I can't recall off the top of my head. It should be the same. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Um and so that's projected for this coming year to fall to 718 teaching positions. um just reality of our of our environment [Music] here. So kind of uh finally um you know our recommendations around this is um just to you know in so far as develop a public facing dashboard. Um we think that that might be something that that would be a useful tool for the district to talk about with
152the public about the way that those funds are are spent. Um and lastly to create a five-year um you know kind of sustainability plan um that anticipates cost growth and strategies um to avoid steep staffing reductions. That's kind of our overall recommendation. So, so to kind of clarify, so the way that looks is like for example, if it can pay for 718 FTE, um, you would maybe only pay for 600 for one year, save that money for the following year, and pad it as we go along. Is that what you're recommending? Like how that looks? So, the levy has to be spent on teaching positions, right? And I believe it has to be spent on those in that year. levy funds I don't believe can be saved. So my my gut so that gets to
153my questions then how do you create that fiveyear sustainability t to anticipate cost is is it moving around general fund so we would recommend that for the district's budget as a whole. Thank you. That that makes sense. And I think just one thing to note, if I may insert, this is one of the reasons why on average you see the bulk of our classes with class sizes of 23 and 24. And um I think you probably can reference in the data the heat map that is in the proposed budget book. And as we continue to move through the years without the quality education model, as our um expenses continue to climb um and the cost of the FTE um is higher and higher, we may see more on that heat map of the class sizes
154being a tad bit larger over time because we'll have less teachers and if we don't have the revenue to come in to address that, we'll see that. So I think this is an important thing to note. If you look at the change over five years from 916 teachers to where we'll be at this academic year of 718 almost 200 positions in the last five years. Thank you for considering the recommendations of the CBRC. Um we have appreciated um the resources the district has um devoted to staff time to support us through this and to the staff who have answered our many many questions over the last many months. So Thank you. Thank you again. specifically want to thank you for all the hours that you put in there as volunteer hours and everything and this
155has been extremely helpful. So, thank you for all your work. Sorry. Um, student rep. And then my question, if we as a board are in agreement with the recommendation, how do we ensure the recommendation gets followed through? That's a great question. Is there a response? I'm happy to answer that. Thank you, um, Rep. Conceive for your question. I do think that, you know, through work, uh, with the superintendent and through the staff, the recommendations that come forward that we aren't already acting on, some of these things may already be in place. And so, it's just an additional accountability action to bring forward the information that was requested um, from the perspective of the CBRC. and um show what we find. Yeah, director Sen. Oh, this is weird. And they were so phenomenal. I mean, they
156are such a bright group of people who caught on to things so fast and had to do it so quickly. So, it really makes me humble to think the time they spent on that. It was amazing. Thank you, Director Sullivan, for your time on the CBRC. It was time not as much as Mars for me, but at the time it was I learned so much from them. They're amazing. Yeah. And you I just want to echo gratitude um for the public service of the folks volunteering to be on the CPRC as well. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have our bond update. Uh let's start with this and we have a presentation first. Uh Dr. Armstrong. Yeah, absolutely. If I could call up our chief operating officer, Dan
157Young, to provide an overview of seismic assessment and prioritization for upgrades. Here we go. Good evening. Uh Dan Young, chief operating officer. Good to see everyone. Uh we'll keep this fairly quick. Um we have uh a seismic assessment and priorization process underway. Uh the district completed an assessment of all of our facilities last year. year late last year I think the project uh that assessment was completed where we looked at every one of the schools and documented all of the seismic deficiencies in those schools. We are now underway. We have a three-part process to this assessment. And so that part is complete. The second part is getting some uh recommendations from our structural engineer about what the highest return on investment would be for those projects. So if we're going to invest funds into seismic,
158what would they recommend would be our best options? They're going to look at, you know, specific deficiencies. Uh they're going to look at types of space like occupancy and those sort of things. They're going to give some recommendations. And then the third part is PPS applying its own lens to that uh to that assessment. So that we prioritize based upon a number of factors that conclude include um you know if we're looking at changes to school models do we or even consolidations of schools we want to put investments into schools that could potentially be consolidated. Um these projects are very invasive. Sometimes they can't be completed in a summer or even two summers. So we actually might have to do it during the school year. Is that something that is achievable or recommended? We need
159to weigh those things and other factors that that the engineer is not going to know. So that is that third piece. We haven't yet started that. So we're we're in that second phase right now. That's it. Any questions? Questions? Can I um I do have a question. So we're going to do the assessment's been done, but now we're going to do a kind of a PPS lens. Are we going to um assign some criteria such as enrollment? That's exactly what addition return on investment. That's exactly what that's exactly what we're doing right now with the second phase where we're going to get that recommendation from the engineering and working with them exactly what those criteria are. Uh and then we'll we'll provide kind of the PPS lens on top of that. Okay. When when would
160we expect to see something? We expect to see the recommendations uh on the current phase. Sometime this summer, probably in July. uh and then that'll give us an opportunity to to take a look at it and apply our own criteria. Great. Thank you. I shared a story when I was a um brand new construction manager for tenant improvements in the Lloyd Center towers. I gave a tenant um a hard date, you know, when we can move in occupancy. And it was a dental office that was like the most expensive I'd ever done, $125 square dollars a square foot. And um he c my boss called me into my office and he took a roll of blueprints and he shut the door behind me and he said, "Don't ever give us a hard date on when
161when people can move in." But I think as long as we have some, you know, something in our hands, we can make decisions on um over the summer. And I I know this work is ongoing. So, thank you. Thank you. All right. Now, up for what I'm guessing half of you are here for. Um, we have two resolutions uh on that have been proposed uh for the seismic retrofitting and committing bond, the 2025 bond, uh producing more specificity. [Music] Um I believe over the over the weekend and also a few days ago um a few of our board members have started working on this resolution. The first one we're we're talking about is 7109. Um would one of you like to introduce and talk about this? Absolutely. Where' Dan go? Oh okay. Um, so this
162is actually one that I am really excited um to to bring forth. Um, when I was part of um I got on board part of the facilities and operations committee. Um, one of the big things that me and Dan had talked about over the last three or four years was this billion dollar deferred maintenance. Um and then of course also the upcoming maintenance that happens the recoccurring maintenance that happens every year. And so you know one of the things that we had talked about was the stability of our schools. you know, um this is the first time I learned about unreinforced masonry um was at these committees and realizing the the potential dangers of those type of um facilities um and give credit where credit is due. We have done some seismic improvements um to
163a lot of our schools mostly around roofing um and things like that. Um, but I thought this was time to really put something in writing. Our our community start talking about it as well, which made me even happier um that this is has came up. Um, and so the goal was to put something um for to make sure that we have a focus on one of the most urgent needs in our district um which is our seismic um seismic retrofitting um of our high high-risisk schools. Um, this was done in partnership with community members, with director ber, director green, um, and really trying to make sure that we are, um, putting something forth that is going to start that process that uh, Dan had just talked about with those three stages of um, assessments that
164we're doing and just kind of have a structure some to hold in with this with this um resolution. Um some of the key points of this resolution is, you know, we really want to make sure that the superintendent um presents a comprehensive districtwide um risk risk reduction plan. Um and also we want to make sure we are committing um upgrades out of our 2025 bonds. And we're asking, we're not telling, but we're asking future boards um to have this as a priority as well. One of the things that we did not want to do is we did not want to um put things forth for other boards to have to comply with as you know, things come up and they may need to shift and pivot how they see fit for for our kids. So,
165we ask for them to um continue just to call on future boards to continue to prior prioritize the seismic upgrades um and future capital bond measures because there's a lot of schools um right now we're at just for the seismic is a little bit over $130 million just for that one piece of our billion dollar deferred maintenance. Um and also I wanted to speak to um PAT president Bonilia. she had mentioned that there wasn't really any um things that kind of held this thing and I I want to disagree with that. You know, we actually are directing our superintendent to make sure that she comes back with full um transparency and equity focused approaches. Um we also make want to make sure that she have regular uh progress reports. um and we had put in
166u preferably quarterly to come in um to give us the status on seismic improvements as well. Um so I wanted to I wanted to make sure that was stated because we did put um things in place for accountability and for transparency. Um and so I will this is something that is great for me. I mean I am so excited about this um this u resolution. Um, I hope my board colleagues will um pass this as I think this is something that's going to be great for not just our kids today but for the kids for the next hundred years and I will pass it off to anyone else who want to speak. I just want to add to that. That's huge. All our high schools after this bond is implemented will be up to ourism
167standards. So, we should count those um in this bond. And this resolution is going to be a powerful addition to the three high schools that will be rebuilt to the seismic standards. Um I want to thank the parents who um really pressed on this and asked for specificity um and an allocation for the highest risk schools. And this resolution, again, I've joined um director Hollands in saying this isn't just words. Um this creates the road map and an allocation. It outlines where the funding is and sets what the priority is. And that that didn't happen in the last um several bonds and this this bond does it. And I think the staff has really built the foundation with a lot of data about exactly um what needs to be done in the schools in order
168to to bring our highest risk um elementary and middle schools up to sizing standards. And um I also want to um just note that while there is specificity and direction, it also provides the district with flexibility. And I think that's really important. And I appreciate that parents were who were participating in um providing uh language and um you know how we might structure the resolution that um this does recognize that staff um we're going to rely also on staff expertise on um as we move forward with um both the creating the seismic risk reduction plan but also um with the actual repairs And I think without that flexibility, this this this would not be something that would be a good plan. But because there's flexibility built into it, but also some certainty for for schools,
169um that it allows us over a bond that is longer than our most recent bonds, 8 to 10 years, provides really necessary flexibility to get after some of the other important um health and safety issues that we have in our aging um elementary and middle schools. Um so I'm looking forward to getting it on the table. I don't know if Director um Green is one of the co-sponsors whether you want to add it in. I'm tell I'm not going to say the same thing all over again. Y'all already said it and then I just be talking to talk. And as a preacher, I could do that, but I'm not going to do that tonight. We appreciate that. I have a bedtime to meet. Do you want a motion to put it on the table? Let's
170um I ask for it. Yeah, let's let's ask for it. Uh do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 7109, the urgent need for seismic retrofitting of high risk school buildings? Motion. Second. Uh Director Green moves I'm going to give it to Director to pass because she hasn't had one yet today. uh director to pass seconds the adoption of resolution 7109. Board discussion. Is there any board discussion? Oh yeah. I No, I'm just I'm happy to see this. I appreciate the work of um directors Hollands, Brim Edwards, and Green in getting this um to us in front of us tonight and also the community members that are here um that we heard from um on Saturday for certain. before that on the um their their concern about their building uh because I
171think it's a concern for all of our buildings in Portland. So, thank you Director Split. Thanks. Yeah, I similarly just want to say how much I appreciate and I'm inspired by parents um when they get engaged in um the processes we have here at the school district for getting things done. And like some of the parents that I've talked to over the past week or two about this particular issue, we've I've also had those experiences of frustration um of not being heard. Um and I'm glad that today you're being heard. Um and I just really want to appreciate your um just continued advocacy over years um to get to this moment. Um I see you and I just want to make sure we acknowledge that. Um, I also just want to say a couple things.
172One, um, I said in a very public space that my kids go to school in an unreinforced brickmasonry building. Um, that was the case, but it was one of the 2020 projects. And so, um, there was a image talking about which schools floating around that included the name of my school and I should have fact checked that first. So, I just want to make sure to correct the record and not perpetuate something that I said not being true. Um, yeah, always want to have integrity. Um, never afraid to to look like I make mistakes. Um, so I wanted to clarify that. And then also, um, just, uh, voice support for this, strong support for this. I'm going to vote yes on it today. So when I say the next thing, I don't want anyone to
173be concerned about my vote or my support. I think safety first is just like a guiding principle that we hear about starting from when we're, you know, a toddler. Um, and so I think that's that's the approach that I think um, we're taking in this case. But I also do want to say that I think there's really important work to be done at our schools that has nothing to do with seismic safety that because of this choice will be pushed further down the road. And I'm really open to considering how we can find additional funding in other places or in other ways down the road to address, for example, HVAC issues that are going to be more of an issue as climate change continues to impact weather. It's May. It was 81 degrees um out
174today and I promise you our school was really warm today. Um we had the discussion about my daughter not wearing pants because she was going to be hot at school. Um she needed shorts. Um so um because we know that our our school gets really really hot and I know that we're not alone. So, I just want to make sure to acknowledge that um I understand we're setting a priority and I want to be clear that I'm committed to finding other ways to get to um a pathway for some of the other issues that we know we have at our schools. Um and I also wanted to say that um I'm really glad the resolution mentioned state funding. There is a state program that um I believe it's general obligation state bonds that can be
175used to support seismic and I hope we can also look at um matches or whatever we can do to get creative with the financing to use some of those state dollars. Never forget it's the legacy of Senate President Peter Courtourtney who passed away not too long ago um to have seismic safety in our buildings. That's why the state capital has been under construction for like seven years. Um, but it's also why we have those dollars for schools. Um, so I really want us to be considering how we can stretch those dollars, use matches, find grants, whatever we can do so that we can get the seismic work done, but also try to find um additional resources for other essential projects. Thank you so much. I just have Yeah, thank you for that. Very well said.
176Um I just want to add that um again thank you board members for putting this commitment on um the docket today. This is very important work. Uh I also want to just add that it the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that our buildings are safe should be with the state of Oregon. They are the ones that have the ultimate responsibility for making sure that our buildings are safe. However, uh because of historic insufficient funding in that matter and critical infrastructure, it's up to us. It's up to PPS. It's up to our and thank you are the support of our Portland voters to help support uh this important work to keep make sure that our students and our staff and people who work in these buildings stay safe. Um so through this resolution we are stepping up
177and making sure uh that this deficiency is taken care of. Um I just want to also add that um you know this bond even before this resolution had you know anywhere from 200 300,000 for or sorry million thank you um inflation hits you hard uh 200 300 million maybe even potentially 400 million for um everything all the above seismic upgrades uh uh HVAC deferred maintenance um roofing that is unprecedented we haven't had a bond in the past that had this much allocated to all the above. And so having this amount dedicated seismic um safety I think is a good good call. It's it's it gives some confidence with our voters. And I think that's important. So thank you for your support. Thank you Portland for continuing to support our schools and and um helping out
178where others when others didn't help. So thank you I think we are ready to vote. Um, let's Yes, thank you. Public comment. Do we have any? We do have public comment. Awesome. Perad, Catalina Gonzalez, and John Diablo. And I think I recognize all your faces from earlier. So, I I assume that you've heard the protocols and the recommendations for public comment. Yeah, just a reminder. Several hours ago. Several hours to go. Yeah, I think we got it. Okay, green light, three minutes, yellow light, got 30 seconds left. Thank you. Good evening. Um, thank you for having me and thank you for everything you do. My name is Catalina Gonzalez. I'm the parent of two children at PPS. I'll never forget my daughter's first day of school. her huge smile so excited for the journey ahead
179until that joy turned quickly into fear. That same year I learned her school Beverly Clearary had serious seismic risk. This means in an earthquake children some as young as five could die just by being at school. I don't have words to describe what I felt and it is a burden I have carried every day for the past seven years. I didn't sit still. That year I joined the school safety committee to push for a change and my neighborhood's emergency team to get trained and be ready to help my community in a crisis. I've done what I can as a parent and as a community member. Now, I'm asking you to do the same. Please vote to pass this resolution and allocate funding to retrofit our at risk elementary and middle schools. I don't want to
180use my training to pull children, including my own, for from collapsed buildings. Hearing about this new resolution brings me hope and some peace. If we don't approve it, we're not just failing to maintain old buildings. We are failing our children by accepting avoidable risks. Beverly Clearary is just one example. My two kids and thousands of other students and staff spent most of their day inside these unsafe buildings. The time to act is now. Every child deserves a safe place to learn. Every teacher deserves a safe place to teach. and you as the district leaders have the responsibility to act. I'm proud to be here today to support this resolution and will be ready to then campaign with all of you to pass the 2025 school modernization bond. I know my fear as a parent won't
181disappear overnight, but I will sleep a little better knowing we have taken this first step and are no longer ignoring this. Thank you. [Applause] Hello. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight about seismic safety of our schools across PPS. Um, my name is John Devolio and I am a parent of an Access Academy 8th grader, but I'm here to speak as a Grant Park neighbor and someone who's been involved um in emergency preparedness. Um, I have a much shorter statement today because of what I heard tonight and I'm greatly encouraged to hear so much about seismic safety, such awareness at the board, seismic safety, as well as even unreinforced masonry. Um, so I'm going to switch going to go right to um my what I'm the building that I'm most uh familiar with um
182which is Beverly Clary. And um I just want to point out that Beverly Clary had has was surveyed about 15 years ago and assessed for seismic risk. I'm going to read you just a quick a quick uh quote um of that survey which is in 2011 when the building was 100 years old an evaluation for the seismic retrofit concluded that the deficiencies identified are significant and the primary concern is the prevalence of unreinforced masonry walls consistently performed uh poorly in earthquakes. So that study was done approximately 15 years ago, but the upgrades were not. Um, and some of those upgrades were actually promised at that point. So what I what I'd like to ask the board is to um vote for the resolution, but also do what you can to ensure that the funds get
183to this the the these unreinforced masonry buildings, particularly the the the the multi-story ones like Beverly Clary, but not only Beverly Clary. um and uh just to ensure that our our our students and our and our staff are are safe um when they're at when they're in school throughout the school year. Thank you very much. Thank you. Um hi. Uh my name is P Olstead. Um uh thank you for having us back again this week. U I am the parent of a second grader and a fifth grader at Beverly Clearary. I'm also here representing uh the safe structures PPS coalition which has gone from a few households at Beverly Clearary a few weeks ago to over 400 families representing over 40 schools in the PPS system. Um what a difference a week makes. Um last
184week I was in front of you all uh imploring you not to ignore the risks at for the thousands of children attending elementary and middle middle schools in dire need of seismic retrofits. I spoke to each of you after the meeting last week and I just lost my document again. Um, and left feeling that you had heard us and that you were um, sincerely listening and would be willing to work with us and with PPS management to solve what is admittedly a very complex problem. Um, but I wasn't necessarily confident that we would get there. Um, and I'm uh very grateful that we did and it does feel like we did. This resolution is what we asked for with our petition and the founding of the safe structures PPS and it's what we need. Uh,
185to the best of my knowledge, it represents the most meaningful one-time commitment of resources to address the seismic risks from these bonds at PPS's elementary and middle schools ever. It prioritizes the highest risk schools while maintaining the flexibility for PPS management to ensure the resources are invested for maximum impact with oversight from the board of course. And while we all know that the bond does not include enough resources to address all of the capital infrastructure needs across PPS's entire portfolio of elementary and middle schools, it does call for the first ever district-wide plan so that all families at all schools will at least know what to expect. It's also worth noting that beyond the substance of the resolution, it was reached through genuine collaboration with the parent community across PPS. That engagement and the feeling
186that you all as our elected officials were ready to listen to us, to hear our concerns, and to take meaningful action is invaluable. We are excited for that level of engagement to continue as the bond is passed and the real work begins. It means the world to the PPS community of families as well as to the broader Portland community. Um, like others, I am very excited to see this resolution pass and to get on to the work of passing the bond. After tonight, we will be ready to mobilize the families of the PPS safe structures PPS coalition to ensure that the bond gets passed and get to work on fixing our elementary and middle schools. So, in closing, I just want to say thank you to all of you for listening to us, um, for
187wrestling with this, especially after hearing all the testimony last week and this week about how many insanely complex problems you are wrestling with. Sorry, I'll be quick. Um, uh, we can't tell you how much we appreciate you engaging with us and working with us for a resolution to address the risks that our children and our teachers and staff face. Now, let's get the bond passed and we'll be ready to work with you to get going on the real work. So, thank you very much. Thank you, too. Thank you. Thank all of you uh for being here today. All right. Uh the board will now vote on resolution 7109, the urgent need for seismic retrofitting of high school buildings. All in favor please indicate by saying yes. Yes. Yes. All opposed. Abstensions. Student represent a strong
188yes. Thank you. Tonight resolution 7109 is approved by a vote of 7 to zero with student representative canvi unofficially voting yes. Just want to be absolutely clear tonight. The board is making clear that improving seismic safety is an urgent district priority. Um we are making a strong commitment here tonight to prioritize seismic upgrades as part of the 2025 bond. So thank you [Applause] all. Okay. Uh, next up we have resolution 7110. Um, sorry, I'm looking for the title. Resolution to affirm the board of education's commitment to track and report findings, public engagement, and recommendation of seismic upgrades through the school facilities improvement and operations committee. Uh first off, I just want to say I'm sorry for naming that committee with too long a name but uh and the consequentially as one of the things that
189this is one of the resolutions I I worked on with help and input from director split uh director to pass and director Sullivan. Um in terms of what we are trying to do with this resolution is that resolution 71019 sorry 7109 uh that we just passed. Thank you. Uh is the commitment and what I wanted to do with this and what we want to do with this resolution is make sure that there was a process because one of the one of the things that we really wanted to make sure that we provide is not just transparency. There's a difference between transparency and accessible transparency and that's what this this resolution is trying to do. So 7110 uh is committing the school facilities improvement operations committee um to uh commit six meetings per year at least.
190Uh the the chair of that committee has the discretion to add or or change the dates uh to meet bionly. The other meaning of bimonthly, do your math. Um, and uh to make sure that we have regular updates about the the seismic issues in the district, presenting new findings like for example the study that was mentioned that is hopefully expecting to be finished the engineering study uh cost study analysis done in July hopefully um to provide a venue for uh that data to be presented. But ultimately, the other important factor is to make sure that we continue to be able to engage and hear the voices of not only our community, our staff, but also very importantly, our school-based staff to make sure that their voices are also uh they have access to be able
191to provide their voice and their um uh input and feedback and helping us prioritize where this money go. The ultimate goal of this, of course, is to make sure that our limited funds, and let's be very clear, they are limited funds, go as far as possible to making as many students as safe as possible and, you know, ultimately also as comfortable as possible in school because you can't learn when you don't feel safe. And so, um, thanks for distracting me. I lost my train of thought. I had the biggest wonderful finish in the world. And, um, I guess we'll just move on. Uh, all right. Let's see if we can put this on the table. Do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 7110, resolution to affirm the board of education's commitment
192to track and report findings, public engagement, and recommendation of seismic upgrades to the school facilities improvement and operations committee. So moved. Second. Director Sullivan moves and director pass seconds the adoption of resolution 7110. Is there any board discussion? Uh just a couple comments and a question. Um in the resolve part, the very first one, it affirms its commitment through the school improvement and operations committee um for ongoing track and reporting findings, public engagement recommendations to the full board. I just want to note that the audit committee has a very important role because they are the place where the bond audit um findings are reported and so um it shouldn't just be the uh school facilities and improvement operations committee and I really appreciate um the leadership that director Sulvin has provided this year to have
193regular meet to have regular meetings and to sort of facilitate that oversight. Yes, there really should be a board member, probably someone on the audit committee who goes to the BAC meetings and then to have the BAC report to the board. It didn't happen this year and it it needs to. So, um yes, that's something we're thinking about on the audit committee for sure. And that was actually going to be my second point is there hasn't been a school facilities improvement and operations committee meeting um all year, all this this calendar year so far. And that is the place where the be the bond accountability committee which is an independent uh group of experts and community members. Um they used to bring their reports into the uh into what was the facilities and operations committee
194and I would really recommended that happening. Um so not just one board member but um but the committee members who then reported out to the full board. Um so a couple other comments. um I'm not sure I'm in a complete complete agreement that the state has the responsibility um to provide those public school buildings. Um with state funding always comes um they they may decide that we actually need you know 40 schools and not 80 um and that's what they're willing to fund. So um I'm just not sure I'm agree with that but it's a recital so it doesn't matter. And my final comment is I'm going to I'm going to support this um because I love oversight and I appreciate that um when the board takes its oversight role seriously and our committees are
195a really good place to do that. Um but oversight is more than just committing to meetings. is actually providing oversight, asking um thoughtful questions, seeking out a diversity of opinions um not just in this building um but but from community experts getting the bond accountability report. So, um I would hope that um the committee meetings that are committed to are substantive and actually the board pres provides its oversight and that it not um be and there's think flexibility in here but as uh director split mentioned earlier um because we have aging buildings we have a whole host of um issues that should be monitored and tracked and the board providing oversight whether it's leading water in the paint asbestous um security, accessibility um and I would encourage that this be expanded not just seismic and
196I'm not not saying that seismic it shouldn't be a focus but it definitely shouldn't be the sole focus of the board's um oversight perhaps we could confuse a focus on safety. Yeah. S I should just say if we can amend it to not just seismic but just say maybe deferred maintenance reporting which would include seismic and everything else that um that we have to work on you know for our buildings and then only other recommendation I would say is I wouldn't necessarily maybe commit to six meetings as I mean as well as just letting the chair of that committee dictate how many meetings that they're going to because if you say six meetings they could have a meeting where nothing is shared and so I think that chair that committee should be able to say
197okay we going we have enough information for two or three or whatever um so those only recommendations I would I would look at thank you for that to answer those questions so in in the resolution it does include that this is also to provide consistent upgrades or sorry seismic updates as well as other facilities issues such as HVAC roofs plumbing and deferred maintenance So that that is included. Um the the the other thing that is included to also address that question or issue recommendation is that if you notice in the in the wording it says that it is um to focus on or inclusive of. So for example um if there are other things that need to be done as well. This again this is just a minimum of six meetings through the year uh
198with a focus on the seismic upgrades. It can also include other stuff and I assume that the the chair for the facility committee for the next year is also going to have much more meetings about some of the other stuff that we need to attend to. Uh the BC meeting was scheduled but it it had to be postponed because of some stuff that they had to be still working on. So um yeah to answer your question uh that that's what the whole point of this is. It does say that the the facilities committee chair does have the um discretion to add more or adjust the dates accordingly. So if by monthly doesn't work or for example there's something that's just coming down through this they are allowed to change. So just one question because this
199happened this year. So what if a chair say you know next year or two or three or five decides that they don't want to do a facilities and operations committee then what happens cuz that's what happened this year but we we did it as ad hoc. So if that board chair decides to do that so I just want to make sure that we're not committing you know pre and the other board chairs from being able to conf you know do their duties as far as what committees they see fit at that time. So I just want to make sure that we're not just like I said committing other boards to decisions we make today. Actually the board is responsible for forming the committees and the chair just assigns the chair and the membership but the
200board is responsible for the committees. Um but I say for the last six months we haven't had a meeting of that committee the last four months, five months. I guess I would just say um I hear the concern about dictating future boards and board chairs, but I also have heard a lot of concern about the fact that the committee hasn't been meeting more often. And I think that it commits us to having those meetings and having those conversations. And I think that's an improvement and might actually address some of those concerns that I've heard in the past. I want to say that um we did talk about you know every summer we have a discussion about kind of what the work ahead is and we decided uh last summer that that real not to meet
201to have just to have meetings and so we took a critical look at the committees and that's why there was the facilities committee we just thought we could wrap that into our work in other either either here or in the audit committee for instance there was I I mean, I'll just note it's in addition to the seismic work, there's going to be a billion dollars of high school modernization to oversee as well. So, I mean, that that was not a board level decision not to have any committee meetings last summer because we could have actually been working on the bond, which had very little vetting and engagement. Um, so I guess maybe it's good to commit the the board, but I'll just say the fact that there wasn't committee meetings was not like a board
202level a board discussion or and so I would suggest that that be a board discussion about whether there's not not just the deciding decision by one or two board members that we're not going to meet during the summer. Sure. And again, the the board will take a look at the work plan, the work that's in front of us. And next year, it makes a lot of sense to have a facilities committee. There'll be a lot of uh tracking and monitoring to do at that point. Also, I believe we we do have a bond oversight committee, but I I personally haven't attended any of those meetings this year. Well, they they used to come and present to the facility and operations committee their like quarterly reporting. Okay. And when our committee when the committee facilities and
203operations committee or the new name longer name committee didn't meet then there was no opportunity to have that present when director Holland was the chair of the committee we had regular regular reporting and re and received it. One thing I heard um that changed was we had a board member who sat on that committee and that helped improve communications between that board of accountability committee and the board itself. and I've already committed that if I'm elected to retain the seat that I currently hold by appointment that I would step onto that committee and help to be a better liaison um since we haven't had a liaison um to help serve that role um because I think it's critically important and I've been really committed to the bond and I want to make sure that we
204um we hold feet to fire I suppose on getting the work done. Thank you. All right. Is there Miss Brasho? Is there any public comment? No. No public comment. All right. The board will now vote on resolution 7110, resolution to affirm the board of education's commitment to track and report findings, public engagement, and recommendation of the seismic upgrades through the school facilities improvement and operations committee. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Director Holland. Director Holland. All right, let's uh hold the vote. How about uh let's just take a five minute break and we'll come back and I think people want a five minute break. Yeah. Yeah. Five minute break. Five minute break. That means 9:30. Extra minute to orient yourself. All right, everyone, please return your seats. By everyone I
205mean board members. Everyone else you can do what you what you want to. Board members please return. It is 9:30. Director Holland. So even after and still back. Yeah, I know. I was going to say, oh, mic is on. All right, we will now be voting on after commercial break. How do you vote on the 7110? Do we all vote on it? I think everybody but him. He's the whole reason we took the break. We only did the yes votes. No, I took a break. Let's do it all again just to be clear. Uh we are now voting on resolution 7110. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. Yes. All opposed. Extensions. Student represent. Yes. Thank you. Resolution 7110 is approved by a vote of seven to zero with student representative Gi unofficially
206voting just a yes I know JJ yeah I'm a little hurt okay all right moving on uh our next item uh we are looking at this evening is to approve the minimum criteria for the property search and analysis to relocate the profit center. Could let's have uh Dr. Arshaw, could you go ahead and introduce us? Yes. Thank you, Chair Wong. So, in February of 2024, the board of education approved a resolution with authorized us to prepare for the sale of this building on an all-in costneutral basis to the district to share with you the minimum criteria of the property search is Dan Young, our chief operating officer. Dan, hello. Good evening again. I'm also joined by our senior director of real estate and planning, Dana White. Um, back again. So, as we're preparing the presentation,
207we have a very short presentation. No new uh content in here just to help walk through some of the materials. Um, as Dr. Armstrong noted, the board approved resolution 6861 in February of last year. And as a part of that resolution, there was a directive uh to produce two fundamental documents. One was the minimum criteria for facilities which is a document outlining essential requirements and key considerations such as location, parking and cost neutrality. Uh that will guide the evaluation of potential new sites for the functions currently at the profit center. Uh also was the a deliverable of a work plan which is really a road map highlighting the tasks and milestones necessary to successfully complete the sale and relocation process. Both of those materials are in the board packet tonight. To support this effort, staff
208collaborate with consultants, PEC personnel and other stakeholders. The insights and feedback gathered through this engagement are included in your packet. Uh and it's important I think that we'll call out and and Dan and team will talk about here in a minute like we broke this effort into two phases. What we would call uh 1 A and 1B. Phase 1A focused on uh researching the operational practices, workflows, and facility models of peer districts to identify strategies that could inform PPS's own planning efforts. Whereas 1B involved a more in-depth analysis of PPS's internal operations with an emphasis emphasis on aligning our practices with modern efficient approaches. This phase helped define the spatial and functional needs necessary to support effective and sustainable delivery at a new location. As required by resolution 6861, staff are now presented the minimum
209criteria for the board's review and approval. Uh tonight, the board is being asked to approve the nine criteria outlined in exhibit A. Uh this approval is a critical milestone that allows staff to begin the next phase, which is the property search and evaluation phase that we call phase two. Uh and I just I really want to emphasize that this is really the beginning of the relocation process. It's it's not the conclusion. The board will be actively engaged throughout this process. Uh in addition to the board's authority to approve all binding property transactions through formal resolution, the board will also play a central role in evaluating potential sites and to provide guidance to the superintendent and staff uh through that process. And importantly, if the process does not result in a viable relocation option, the board
210retains the authority to determine that the PPS headquarters should remain. So, approval of the criteria does not approve any any uh real property transfers. It really just allows us to start the next phase of searching and evaluating property. Uh, additionally, ongoing staff and stakeholder engagement is essential to the success of this process. Again, this is not the end, it's the beginning. And let me talk just a little bit about um engagement. So to date the relocation team has engaged PPS staff or PEC staff through a number of channels including uh all staff surveys, inerson Q&A sessions, interviews with department leads, email updates, and open feedback opportunities. And while not every piece of input is directly reflected in the criteria, all that feedback has been considered. uh in many cases staff insights are reflected either in
211the criteria themselves or in the supporting materials which will help inform this next phase of the process both the search and evaluation and I'll just want to talk you know briefly about engagement um considering some of the comments that we heard tonight you know which are sometimes hard to hear um we want to authentically and we think we do authentically engage our staff our team members uh and there's always an opportunity to do more so when we hear that people are are do not feel that they're fully connected that's that's an opportunity for us to improve and engage more and there's lots of opportunity for further engagement and I'll talk about that here in a second and just one clarifying note that um there's a lot of materials here what the board is approving is
212the moon criteria that helps us inform that next phase that moon criteria doesn't include square footages really talks about the functions that need to be supported elsewhere we have some material that we think of what what those square footages are, but square footages in and of themselves do not identify what is a functioning space. That will require much more evaluation. Um, so to that end, staff engagement will become even more essential as we move into considering real real property options. We anticipate sharing site options that are identified with staff, hosting lunch and learn type Q&As's uh uh h you know continuing with surveys and 101 ones and also even facilitating site tours for select staff. Can't take everyone through potential sites but we will take some uh select staff through sites. Uh and a particular
213note where staff will be involved is during the test fit phase, each potential site will undergo test fit, which is basically a preliminary space planning effort to determine whether the property can realistically support current options. So these properties that in the future that we haven't identified yet uh simply meeting the square footage requirement is not sufficient to determine if property meets all of PPS's functional needs. We know this. Uh so the staff will be actively involved in these assessment and critical insights into this evaluation which will ultimately result in recommendations to the board. uh are immediate next steps pending approval of the minimum criteria will be to issue a property solicitation. So unlike residential real estate where most properties are publicly available and listed um commercial property is not always that way. So PPS will
214will use the process of a property solicitation uh to request essentially that property owners submit respond to our solicitation of sites that could potentially be the fit for the office andor the headquarters or operation center. Uh I want to note that the criteria that you have are intentionally designed to be to balance specificity and flexibility. They're specific enough, we believe, to rule out sites that are that clearly do not PPS's do not meet PPS's essential requirements, yet broad enough to ensure promising, unconventional, and un unforeseen options are not excluded too early. Uh staff are intentional in avoiding overly narrow parameters recognize that the best solution may come from some unexpected direction. We can't totally predict the future, so we don't want to eliminate things that ultimately might be a good solution. uh approval of the
215minimum criteria uh enables staff to move forward in a focused strategic way. While it's natural to consider hypothetical scenarios at this stage of which there could be an infinite number, we believe the most cost the most effective next step is to begin identifying and evaluating real property opportunities. And just to last thing to say before I turn it over, just to reiterate, the board will remain deeply involved at every stage of this process. The board makes all binding property decision and retains the authority to determine that that the district needs to uh remain in its current space if a suitable solution is not found. Dan, thank you. Thank you, Dan. Sorry, I'm a little raspy, but um just yell at me and I'll talk louder if I can. Um so, first you see the relocation
216process overview um on the screen right now. Now that gives you some idea of how the process at very high level will work. It takes a lot of time. There's a lot of moving pieces as we try to move through this. So we want to just give you a sense that it's not an overnight thing. It's not like hey great we're going to move in December. Um that's just physically not possible. So for as part of our relocation process, we engaged um a couple of consultants. McKenzie is here with us tonight. Kathy Vowman who will be speaking in a moment is on your screen and she is the primary project manager from McKenzie. Uh we also have Bainbridge worked on the office side of our uh needs assessment and then we had Makers and Raymond
217West who worked on more of the operations piece as well to help educate us a little bit on what current standards. It's been 45 years, right? Like what would a warehouse look like today or or a fabrication area like for the shops? And when we talk about um size of those things, it's important to remember it's not about square footage, it's about volume because you're using a vertical space. So we we go up about 14 ft right now in our racking systems. 20 to 25 I know, right, Gary? Exactly. I mean, sorry, Director Hollands. Um that's that's 20 to 25 feet is more normal and and even 30 feet, which doesn't actually exist right now in Portland, but that's what the industry is going to. So you can have a much smaller square footage because
218it's a lot taller. So I don't want to get hung up on square footages. Like Dan said, that's not a a criteria, but I do I did want to make sure that people understood that piece. So we looked at um six other uh districts that we feel were our peer districts up and down the West Coast. Seattle really being the most like us in the sense of an urban school district, you know, not not as a lot of money, lots and lots of old buildings, that sort of thing. So, and we toured three different school districts, Beaverton, Seattle, and um uh Everett. Well, yeah, that's right. Yeah, I think it was Everett. Um to kind of see how they're doing things. And again, Seattle really was the the one that was the most like us.
219So, um we went through that analysis and then we also went through and conducted interviews with every department, all of their leads. They answered questionnaires. Um we walked their spaces. So we've got a really good sense of what we've got now, what works, what might not work, and how we might be looking to do in in the future. We also discussed with every department the the what will happen if we need to change our operations so that we're in two different locations. If administration's in one location and the operation center is somewhere else, this is most likely what will happen. This is while it's considered the industry best practice for everybody to be colllocated like we are here, it's not something that many districts haven't been able to achieve. It's that's a that's a tough
220thing to pull together. So um we're but we want to understand what does that mean for whatever department we may be talking to if there's two different locations going there. So that's that piece. Um, and I'm actually going to ask uh Kathy to take to do this one on the summary of the anal area analysis what we learned. But I do want to point out that um staffing levels were considered as of March, not not after our latest round of position eliminations that we just needed to go through. So, and and the idea is that everybody has a seat. So, there's no cube sharing thought of in here. There's no um shift work, none of that. If you were employed here on March 1st and 25, that position has a seat is in in this
221piece. So Kathy, again, I'd like to introduce Kathy Bowman. And if you want to go through the summary of our analysis, that would be fantastic. Thank you, Dana. I hope everybody can hear me well. I'm also getting over a cold as well, so I appreciate your um entertaining me through Zoom. Um my name is Kathy Bowman. I am an associate principal and architect at McKenzie. Um as uh Dana noted and Dan noted um we were brought on as consultants to collaborate with PPS to develop um some very targeted programming questions. Um after we did an analysis and review of the peer districts, we did several interviews. We did over 20 different interviews with department staff um to identify really what are the challenges and what are the space needs in order for us to really
222understand what your um needs are as Portland public school. Um we did a detailed program sheet for each department. Each of these was very um influential in determining um what was the three different schemes. There's infinite number of possibilities of what um a new profit center uh or a new headquarters might look like for Portland public schools, but we really narrowed it down to three different schemes and really discussed um what those needs are going to be. Now, scheme one was very much similar to what you currently are in now. It is a combined administration and operations facility where everybody is housed in one uh building. Scheme two was um thinking outside the box a little bit. Two separate facilities. One for administrations where all your office spaces are and one for operations. And this
223will operations really meant u primarily shops, warehouse spaces, nutritional services and did not include um select administrative departments. Now, while we were going through the department interviews, we did hear several departments tell us that they'd rather be with their staff um who are at the operations. And so we for scheme three, we have two separate facilities, one for administration and one for operations. But in addition to just the warehouse and the shop and nutritional spaces, we have included select administrative departments that have said that they have a a real benefit by being colllocated with the operations facility. Now, Portland public schools do um preference is to remain in a similar model as u they currently are. There is definitely efficiencies in seeing this. There's less redundancy in spaces um such as security. um you wouldn't
224have to have two front desks or two securities, two lobbies, um different things like that. And so we do definitely see a um a savings in going with scheme one but where all departments are colllocated. Now the second preference was scheme three in order to maintain your operational efficiencies uh to locate um certain administrative departments with um the operations department. So this is just a very highlevel overview of kind of the um analysis that McKenzie and Baybridge was able to accomplish and I'll turn it back to Dana. Thank you Kathy. So uh at long last the actual minimum criteria uh that we are proposing for approval tonight. One is that the sites will be owned and not leased. We don't want to burden the district in the future with additional operating expenses by having leased
225space. So we obviously currently own this location and we want to own um our new location or locations as well uh within district boundaries and I put an asterk there for one reason. It clearly administration has to be within the district boundary. We can't very well move uh Dr. Armstrong uh into Beaverton and say she'll be happy to manage you from over here. Um but but for the operations center central location is more important frankly than being in the district. So if uh the appropriate site that was more centrally located was across the street for example or you know just a few blocks away from a district boundary um that that might be a preferential that might be a preferred option versus being within the district but far north or far east. So uh the
226central location then would be the third major criteria. Again, the operation center, that's really important and it's important for uh our community to be able to come to the administration center um easily and without a lot of headaches or costs or any um barriers to that. Easy freeway access. Again, same same reasons. Um ready access to public transit. We have a lot of folks who would use public transit more often if uh it were more readily available. It's it's there is public transit around this building, but it's not very close. you have to walk a fair amount in the rain, in the dark, and people don't like to do that. So, I certainly don't. Um, sufficient parking. This comes up in every survey that we do. Um, folks want to make sure we have enough
227parking for our visitors, our staff. Um, and that's important for us as well. Um we currently own about 318 spaces uh following a one per thousand for operation center or two per thousand for office which is the industry standard for those kinds of operations. Um depending on which mix we go with in terms of square footages um we we will actually likely have more than that. We do however lease parking here. We also have a a no cost trade with a modus center for an additional 100 spaces. So, it's important when we get into parking to understand that there's different pieces to that. There's what we own, what we lease, and then in the case of our operations here, what we um are able to trade for. Um, but the probably the most important criteria
228is that it meets our functional and spatial needs. It's it's absolutely imperative that we don't make things less efficient. Um, we've been in this building for 45 years. Um, if my basement is any indication, there's probably things that we don't even know we have. Um, and maybe don't need, but um, but we need to make sure that we have appropriate spaces for all of the various departments. Safety is a big piece as well. Um, we've had a lot of discussions about going downtown. Folks get kind of nervous about that. I think it kind of depends on where you're at downtown and we could be a big a big catalyst for helping make downtown stronger as well. But safety is going to be an important piece for staff and and for visitors as well. And then
229allin cost neutral is the agreement that the board has made to date with AVT. So um that's an important component as we know we have virtually no we have less than no money. Uh perhaps that's a better way to say it. So those are the minimum criteria. You note square footage size is not part of those like Dan said earlier. Um, we will continue to work through right sizing departments as we get into looking at actual buildings. There are just so many different possibilities and variables there. It's it's just it's not fundamentally possible to say it's going to be this many square feet for this department in this location. Uh, so the next steps are the property solicitation as Dan mentioned and then we'll begin to do evaluations and look at test fits. So, if
230something kind of checks our boxes, meets the minimum criteria, then let's go ahead and do some test fits for that and see what um how it might work out. Will this this building be functional or not? So, that's the next piece of this as we continue to work through this process. And I'm going to invite our AVT partners, folks, if they're here. There's Win. She hasn't given birth yet, thank goodness. So, but if you go, I'm sure Dan can deliver a baby if need be. Um right. That's right. That's right. That's right. Got a go bag. Okay. Director Greener, a little little prayer. It'll all be fine. Um, and Carly, just tell me when you want me to advance the slide. I'll be happy to do that. Yeah, that's good. Thank you so much. Uh,
231good evening. I'm Karly Harrison, senior vice president of real estate at Albino Vision Trust. And, um, it's really been a privilege to collaborate with the PPS team over the last, you know, 12 months and change since we were last here before you. and I want to thank them for the amount of really extensive and thoughtful work um along with the the the long list of consultants that have supported this effort. uh the the staff in this building perform tons of um essential and very operationally complex functions and so we just want to recognize there's a lot of work and evaluation um that went into that and you know I think during this process um something we also have remained uh very opportunistic about is evaluating other properties too as they come up as Dan and
232Dana mentioned will be this is the this is the beginning now of the next step which is exciting we want to um yeah keep keep you all in involved in the next step and then stay eyes wide open as we as we pursue what that looks like together. And I'll pass it off to Win Johannes. Thank you. Good evening, directors and superintendent. Uh for the record, my name is Win Johannes. I have the privilege of serving as the executive director of the Alpine Vision Trust. I'm trying to figure out how you all survive without dinner at these meetings. Um uh and and Okay, that's the secret. Yeah. Well, um no, no. All that to say, I appreciate uh your your public service. Um I also want to acknowledge we've got some uh supporters in the
233audience who've been here since 6:00. Um and so thank you to those of you who showed up uh tonight. So tonight, uh, you're asked to approve the minimum criteria to enable the formal property search process to begin. Of course, this is a critical step forward, and I hope you will continue your tradition of unanimous votes in support of keeping this moving forward. Over the last year, I've learned a lot about this building. A long tenur local journalist taught me that 25 years ago, one of their first stories covered an audit produced by the school district, acknowledging that staying in this building presented operational uh and financial liabilities. A decade later, a staffer at Multma County, who would go on to join the AVT team, uh was tasked with supporting an effort to help the school
234district relocate. Another decade after that, all kinds of uses have been proposed for this site. It has been abundantly clear that for too long the district has been providing minimum value. This is true for workers who provide tremendous value despite daily despite suboptimal facilities. It's true for working families who are continuously pushed to the outer edges of our city in search of an affordable place to call home. This is true for voters who want to see the Portland Public School Board exercise fiscal responsibility in your stewardship of your unfunded liabilities. We know we cannot afford to admire the problem. Of course, I'm here because we have the opportunity to finally move the needle forward together and to turn the page and the conversation to talk about how to provide maximum benefit. This is not about
235the minimum criteria you will uh I hope approve tonight. It's how do we deliver maximum benefit. We have the real opportunity to work in partnership to deliver a nationally precedent setting child- centered redevelopment and to reactivate the communal fabric of Lower Albina. As you've heard me say many times, this catalytic step will enable the development of over a thousand units of child centered housing, an education hub, mixeduse commercial opportunity spaces, and abundant communal green space right in the heart of our central city. This is the inheritance we're asking you to leave for the next 50 years of Portlanders. Your actions today are supported by a significant and growing coalition, including, of course, the Portland Metro Chamber, the state of Oregon, which has already contributed $25 million towards this effort, the Portland Trailblazers, with whom we've
236launched the Albina Rose Alliance, and co-written opeds in support of this relocation, and most recently, Lewis and Clark College, who just two weeks ago announced their commitment to be an anchor partner in the redevelopment of this site. They will work with us to develop an educational hub, again to reinforce the creation of a neighborhood that is centered around education. These supporters don't begin to capture the tens of thousands of Portlanders and the decades of community members who have long contributed to this vision. So today's step of course is one small one that's part of a much longer process, but it's important for us to zoom out and remember the context for the decisions that we're asking you to make. In the process of solving one of your facility challenges, the redevelopment of this site will
237provide additional measurable benefit to the school district by way of strengthening and stabilizing enrollment. We know the school district is investing nearly a half a billion dollars into Albina through the modernization of Jeff and the creation of the center for black student excellence. Ensuring there is adequate affordable housing for families at scale through the redevelopment of this site is a key part of the strategy to stabilize enrollment at our neighborhood schools. I hope you will reinforce through your discussion and your vote today your support for us as your partners who are willing and able to bring political, financial, and human capital necessary to provide a collective and generational win for all of Portland. I hope your actions and discussion will also reinforce support for staff who have done a tremendous job getting us to this
238point. The criteria that they've so elegantly presented make a year's worth of complex work look simple. But please do not be deceived. I can attest to the depth and rigor of what has been a very intensive and thoughtful process. And just because it's distilled into nine simple criteria doesn't mean um I hope doesn't take away from that. And of course without a doubt there are still many questions that need to be addressed. But those questions and the next level of meaningful engagement including with those who work in this building every single day can only happen in the context of real property evaluation. If we continue to remain focused on the relocation uh on a hypothetical basis, we've gotten as far as we can go. And I also want to be clear that if we were
239only focused on relocating the administrative functions in this building, this process would have been considerably faster and cheaper. We know that finding the office space in this market is the easiest part of the equation. The reason that we're coming to you near a year after the last time we were here is because of the significant and shared commitment to thoughtfully relocating the operations center. Again, we can't do this hypothetically. We need to be able to evaluate the needs against real properties, which is what your vote tonight allows us to do. And so with that, I'll just say, you know, one of the most common um things that I'll hear in my role is support for the vision. And then there's a but but that stops the action necessary to implement the vision. The charge for
240the school board and our commitment is to action. You cannot support a vision without supporting the actions that make it real. So again, I want to reaffirm that we are coming to you as partners who are committed to our collective success and that this relocation is not just about the benefits to the redevelopment uh as you see in the images. It is about the measurable benefit to the school district uh in all of the ways I've said. And so with that, I'd like to invite our chair, Mike Alexander, to just provide some closing uh and brief thoughts. Thank you. [Applause] Tough act to follow to say the least. Uh impossible act to follow actually. Mike Alexander for the record. And um it is always good to be in this room. It's been some time since
241I was able to address this body, but I would offer a perspective from the board. Uh, this dream and this initiative um goes back over many decades, but the time to sort of bring it to fruition is today. Um, mountains are created by tension and clearly the process of the last year has brought multiple perspective and lenses to this work and the comprehensive recommendations that have been offered are a foundation for our path forward. I would say that there is value in looking at detail but there's also a risk of being overtaken by what I call analysis paralysis that we can spend too much time looking at depth of what else we can ask what else we can ask as opposed to where do we start this is an opportunity to identify where we start
242and I would offer that the district the board the leadership here has the ability to begin to put legs in this in a way that will allow us to model this not only for Portland but for other communities around the country who are facing similar challenges and opportunities. I would view this as as much an opportunity as a challenge and I would hope that we would not miss the opportunity to sort of separate the two but thank you. [Applause] With that, we will take questions that the board may have. Uh, let's put this on the table first. Um, do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 7103 resolution approving minimum criteria for the property search and analysis to relocate from the Dr. Matthew Profit Education Center. Second. Director Green moves and director
243pass seconds the adoption of resolution 7103. Uh before we begin, I also just want to um make a point. I am really proud and happy to be actually part of this historic moment and to be supportive of it and best time to be aboard is this this is one of the highlights I'm I'm hoping. Um I also want to I also want to raise some uh concern and voices. Um, you know, many of us have been hearing from staff. I wrote this down so I didn't forget anything. Um, many of us have been hearing from staff about some of the, you know, this potential historic step and how important this is to be part of this and it's been great. Uh, there also have been and I want to make sure that we continue to
244do make sure we do outreach to our impacted staff. I want to thank Kelly Bond uh, president of the DCU for um, highlighting some of the issues that occurred last year. uh some people didn't feel like they were heard and and I want to make sure that that is taken seriously and appreciated and and also remedied as well uh moving forward and as thank you Daniel Young uh showed how this works this is just opening the door uh there's multiple steps in this we have property solicitation property evaluation you know all these steps that are uh the phases that we can keep intervening and making sure that we have all our staff's interests uh taken in account So what I would like to do to ensure that staff voices continue to be part of the
245process, I would like to propose uh to the superintendent uh that at the June 24th board of education meeting uh the superintendent will present a comprehensive PEC staff engagement plan outlining the opportunities for meaningful staff involvement during phase two of the PEC relocation initiative. So pro the property search and evaluation phase. Um, I would like um this plan to have a detailed schedule engagement dates uh and the types of information to be shared. I would like it to include things like uh having the department Q&A briefings, staff surveys. I have this all written down so I can just email it to you. Uh one-on-one interviews, regular progress updates, also the test fit, um having test fit examples and other forms of engagement that that you feel would be appropriate for the super that you would
246feel appropriate. So this is what I'm proposing. Amendment. No, I am I am directing Will the board chair direct the superintendent? I'm proposing. Okay. So proposing for the board consideration because that would be something. No, I am proposing for that the June 24th board of education meeting that the superintendent present a plan for the following that I'd listed. Can you send that around to all of us so we have the benefit of what has been offered um since me repeat it too? I I'll copy it. I'll email it to you. Send it around so we can all look at it. Absolutely. And and provide comment before the end of the meeting. Oh, right now. Well, go ahead and finish your statement and we're going to have public comment and everything else. Okay. So that sound
247okay superintendent? Yes, absolutely. We can I will make sure that that happens. Thank you. I think that's important for um alleviating some of the issues that have occurred from the you know 20 back in 2024. But I want to make sure that we have staff that also you know who haven't felt like they've been heard to feel heard. So thank you for that. Um all right, now that we have this on the table, uh let's start board discussion. Are we going to have public comment and then public comment? Can we do board can we do board discussion again after public comment if the public comment informs the discussion? Yes. Let's just Can we just do public comment first? We do. We have um Jeannie Johnson and Adam Mau. something else. Shall I start or do
248you want to start? Okay. Yes. Go ahead and start. Um, same rules. Three minutes. Yellow light. 30 seconds. Thank you. My name is Jenny Johnson. J O H N S O N. Uh, thanks for having me. I've been working in this building for 11 years now and I am so excited for the possibility of moving into a new updated and more efficient space. If you roam the Profit Center in the summer, you will find a sea of musical instruments piled on both sides of the music shop hallway that we clean and repair with the goal of finishing them before school start. We get plenty of steps in daily as our equipment is in four different places in this building. I look forward to a location where all of our music equipment is in one easily
249accessible and secure space. This report has crucial and important information for finding a proper space for central services. But I ask that you do not approve the recommended minimum square footage until you are confident those numbers are adequate. In most of our modern modernization projects, the edspec size minimum is what we get. which leads me to believe that if we approve these minimums size requirements for a new space, that is what we will get and nothing more. I am using the PPS music shop as an example since that's my area of expertise. There are discrepancies between the full report and the executive summary. The report states the Seattle music shop is described as too cramped, yet the summary lowers their size. It states they have less square footage by storing instruments at individual schools. Our
250schools don't have the space or the security to do that. It also states that music repair is outsourced in most districts except Seattle. Actually, there are many larger and smaller districts than ours that have in-house music shops. It is it is far more cost-effective. If accurate size requirements are to be attained, then a comparison of other in district music shops should be included. The report states that our shop size is 8,000 square ft, but our working shop space is around 2,000. Our combined storage all over this building is around 8,000. A walkthrough did not happen with me or the VAPA director who are the only folks in this district that understand our flow and utilization. Since the info about my shop is off, I started to look at the other shop space minimums. It looks
251as though the the recommended minimum square footage was calculated as a percentage based on student population numbers. This formula doesn't really work for shop spaces. Whether we're repairing 5,000 or 12,000 instruments, we still need a lathe. We can't repair something on or even purchase half a lathe. Most districts in the study say they need more warehouse space. Why would we then lower our warehouse space minimums when we have over 60,000 square feet of storage space that we are having to rent offsite? My worry is that these minimum size requirements will be approved, which then defines those numbers as the net zero or costneutral to the district. We then realize we need more than that, but are stuck with another inadequate space where in the summers the sea of musical instruments will remain in a hallway
252unsecured and against fire code because there was not a proper comparison study. Our goal is to ensure a move into effective, safe, secure, and adequate space to serve our students at the same level or better for the next 50 years. Let's make sure that gets accomplished. Thanks for listening. Thank you. I've got some handouts for you. Um, can we hand Just bring it over to Miss Bradshaw over there and or has them. Never mind. You want to pass them out? Yeah. Yeah. And I want to put give a shout out to the DCU members of maintenance and the warehouse workers that have to start work uh between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. here. Um, so let's raise your hands. We get it. Uh, good evening, Superintendent Armstrong, board of directors, Albina Vision Trust guests, and
253esteemed PPS colleagues. My name is Adam Mau, spelled M A R E R. I am a 20-year employee here at PPS in the maintenance electrical shop and I'm compelled to give you my perspective on the latest Banebridge Makers McKenzie and Raymond West evaluation where it concerns the minimum criteria for the future relocation and size of the profit education center. My perspective is directed specifically to the maintenance electrical trade shop size as it reads on page 01-03 of the evaluation and resolution number 6861. Please see your handouts. is highlighted halfway down the page under the electrical shop. You'll see the current square footage area size is 12,526 ft and is recommended to be reduced to 2,975 ft in the new building. This is a 76% reduction in square footage space to our one maintenance electrical shop
254alone. This is concerning to me on three points. The first point is why are we reducing square footage area where it counts for productivity in our financially struggling district and what happened to quote meets or exceeds the appraised value of the PEC site end quote as read in the resolution number 6861 giving this space away concerns me as a taxpayer. Secondly, our shop space is mostly storage for parts and material. Your PPS maintenance team provides prides itself on quick response, cost-effective repairs, and carefully designed permanent solutions. The majority of our buildings are 50 to 100 years old and still have original and aging devices and equipment to maintain that are hard to find. The efficient repair of our work would be impacted by not having our current shop space. With over a hundred years worth
255of electrical technology inside of our 90 plus buildings, we are acquiring material to repair modern and obsoletebound equipment all the time. If we do not have the needed space to store these needed parts and material for making these repairs cheaper, then the district will be forced to modernize equipment immediately at a higher cost. Can PPS afford more modernizations? Now, my third point is to make our electrical shop storage space even more precious. The electrical world in the last 20 years since I've been here has exploded with electrical technology in our newer buildings that has shown more need than ever to expand our storage shelves with repair parts. We need room to grow. Specific code required and modern building design systems require more parts on as time rolls on. Our desire to standardize parts has not
256always been honored as projects get contracted out. We need centralized storage for these materials and parts and general parts should not be stored in schools. In conclusion, please do not accept this new evaluation study as it hugely impacts your maintenance department's ability to serve you promptly, spend less money, and give the taxpayer their best investment return. Once again, your PPS maintenance team wants to serve you as quickly, efficiently, and as coste effectively as we can. Thank you. And are there any questions? Actually, I have a question. So, is your position that the um square footage that you guys have now, you want to at least keep that or and expand that? We'd like that with the criteria. Okay. And so is there any inefficiencies that you see in the warehousing space and configuration you guys
257have now that could be that would ident that would lead to reduction in square footage. Can can you see that in a different way? So, is there anything that you see that could lead to reductions in square footage? I think so. One of the things is the height of the ceiling. Um, if we're given a 7 ft tall ceiling, for example, right now we have a like a 20ft high ceiling and brass that go all the way up that are seismically stable. If you were to give us a IKEA shelving with 7 foot high ceilings, it's not going to cover anything. We have a lot of weight. We have a lot of stuff that can fall. That's seismically obviously. So, we have warehouse size racking and we're loading it up with everything from hot water
258heaters um to the smallest little electrical device. So, if it and there's only because I'm into I'm in trucking so I I know about warehousing. So if you was able to get like a standard type warehouse where you can go up 20 ft, 30 ft, you know, with the correct configuration for, you know, standard size pallets and things like that, the overall the the footprint of the square footage could be smaller because you can go up higher. Okay, thank you. If it's Yeah, gotcha. But not for the shops in general because the shop tooling still has to have space the correct amount of space which in the report says you have to have more according to current which is standing. So as far as square footage of storage yes definitely hire you have less square
259footage but um but our working shop spaces in general um should be minimized. We also do have a fabrication plant for our motor technicians and that's a very special specialized area with the tools that they use. So uh echoing what uh officer Young said earlier about rediscovering uh minimum uh sizes for this study. Um we hadn't heard any engagement until tonight about that one point. um we've been discouraged from expressing our needs. So, this is our chance to bring up our needs and especially where it comes to the taxpayers and their investments. We do believe in the ABT uh vision, we're all behind you. We hope that this goes over well and that this is a thriving, beautiful community for you. Thank you for your comments. night. Are there any other Are there any other
260public comments? No. So I know [Music] [Applause] is there is there a way cuz I know there were some people who couldn't sign up. Is there a way to maybe hear from those if they're here still here? People wait listed. I know there were some people here who could not sign up. Are they still here that wanted to speak? No. [Music] uh for this session. All right. Thank you. Um well, I guess I first just want to say I'm I think maybe along with student representative Conce um haven't had a chance to didn't have a chance to vote on the initial um ABT um resolution uh whenever that was. I saw it on a time on a timeline earlier. Um, and I just want to make it very clear that I would have been a
261resounding yes. I support the project. Um, and I don't want to say but. So, I'm gonna avoid saying that. And I'm also pretty frustrated that we have a situation today that seems pretty avoidable. Um, where the people on our operations and maintenance team had to come in today and feel that this was the only chance they had to have their voice heard in the process. and we're being told that we have to make this vote today or we'll be part of a continued tradition of delaying progress on a variety of projects that center the black community. I find that unacceptable also. And so I find myself very frustrated to be in the situation that we're in today and I really appreciate your willingness to improve the dynamic going forward. But I'm also really interested in
262what we can do and maybe it's a conversation with staff to not delay progress but at the same time take what we're hearing today and apply it going forward. And there's been some back and forth on amendments that would slow down the process. And I had I tried to come up with a middle ground version of that amendment that I thought would allow things to proceed and then revise if that we didn't already have um something in on the line for a place that we could then revise without having to slow things down. But what I've been told by staff today is that there's if we were to do that, even if our intention was not to delay things, they would still delay things because they would want to wait until that final version of
263the um minimum qualifications was arrived at and not use a preliminary one to get moving and then adjust later. So, I feel very trapped. I feel like and I I I imagine some people won't mind that position. Maybe it's just because I'm new here, but it doesn't feel very good to me, frankly, to be caught in this position where we are given something, we can't make changes to it without causing delay, and I don't want to cause delay. So, I don't have the answers. I guess I just want to put it out there that I really feel like I want to be in a position where we can add the pieces that we're hearing today on the square footage piece without delaying progress. like is there a path to leave here tonight that makes this
264crew that are staying late and have to be at work early in the morning feel better about what's moving forward tonight while also making sure and so are you are you happen to be sitting on opposite sides of this table but also they feel good about the progress we're going to be moving forward so I don't know if there's like a magic way we can make that happen tonight but I'm just going to put it out there that I would let that be the case I would like to speak briefly also about the students I'm have some questions um to ask tonight, but I I do want to talk about the process um because we shouldn't be in this place. Um I support the underlying initiative. I voted for the first right, the right of
265first offer and our plans and the plans to redevelop the site and I also know it's on the board and the district staff to ensure that the relocation of our headquarters is done in a way that creates a work environment that our staff can effectively and efficiently support our schools. I want to thank you for the presentation and also Dan and Dana uh for answering my questions that I had about the recommendations and for posting those answers today so that some of the commitments and explanations about the process are actually available to our staff and community. I had to submit my questions in writing because there was no public meeting until this evening when we're going to vote in which we could ask our questions or discuss the recommendations on minimum criteria. Um and that
266shouldn't be the position we're in. Um we should be in a position in which um we could have had the time to discuss the recommendations here from staff. Um we have board approved protocols that we operated which states the majority of items which require board action will be first reviewed in a board committee meeting an executive session or a board meeting. Not the same meeting you're voting in but a meeting before. There was no board or committee meetings about this topic since last fall. When we were informed about that this would be brought forward for discussion and a vote in the same meeting, I requested a committee meeting for public discussion of the staff recommended minimum criteria and the desired features which didn't appear to be in the recommendations which could set the stage for
267the site search and identification. A committee meeting was scheduled for Monday evening which would have been yesterday 24 hours before this meeting. Not ideal, but technically could work. Then a note was sent out that that was going to be cancelled because allegedly no one else in the board felt it was necessary to have a meeting. Regardless of that, there are 600 people in this building and many in the community who might be interested in hearing the staff presentation and recommendations about the pro proposed minimum criteria. Not at this meeting at 10:30 at night and the plans for the space and hear questions about the discussions about the plan. answer the questions that maybe this isn't actually about the square footage even though the report talks about a huge reduction in square footage. So that would
268have probably been good for people to know yesterday. There would also been space for public comment yesterday um and not at 10:30 at night. Um while there was engagement by the uh profit staff in the early stages of process, there was none at all around the recommendations being brought forward tonight. An email to the recommendations only went out to staff yesterday. So, I would say like this is a shaky start. So, um I think we have a chance to write the ship, but this is like a really shaky start for engaging our staff in a really important move. And then I gota I have to say um I was super frustrated coming in tonight and then um hearing the the email that was sent to our staff. It's totally appalling and if we haven't apologized
269and withdrawn it, it should happen immediately because threatening staff with discipline for sharing their perspectives about their their workplace and their work with a PPS partner should not be a threat for discipline. Um it totally creates a chilling effect and I want to like thank the the individuals who had you know brave enough and courageous enough even the threat of disciplining for speaking up and sharing your point of view. Um our decisions and our actions are stronger when people impacted have an opportunity to inform the plans and the work product. Again this isn't about ABT. This is about sort of our PPS family how we operate with our staff. um our staff, they're not deciders, but they should be informed and consulted. And so I I would hope that um we take the lessons of
270how we got here tonight because this this is not how we should get here tonight and how we're going to move forward together in a really productive way. Um so, you know, hopefully this is a mulligan and we get at change things going forward. Um because we're only this is only going to be uccessful and I know this from as somebody in my profession who cited warehouses and headquarters and retail operations and manufacturing facilities all over the US is the very first thing we do is talk to the people who work in the building about the work they do and how we create a space that um will make them be successful and I really hope that's the approach we have here because um a new facility um you know I spent a lot of
271nights and days in this building and a new facility will I I think be groundbreaking for the staff, but we and and for this district and how we serve our students, but it needs to be informed by the people who do the work. Um because otherwise we're not going to create the best possible vision of the of the new um PPS headquarters. Um so, thank you. Thank you for letting me say my piece. I really am upset about the how we got here tonight without our staff having an opportunity or the public to engage in this discussion. I I have a count I have a counterpoint to this and I appreciate you being here. I understand I used to work in a maintenance facility also and we started really early. I wouldn't have been able
272to um uh to to hold up. So, um, and also I just want to say this is not for me, uh, like a labor versus Albina Vision Trust thing. I want to let you know that I'm currently in a union. My grandfather, my grandparents settled right up the street from here, walking distance. You could get there in if it weren't for the freeway, you could get there in like four or five minutes. Um, they were able to because of my grandpa's eighth grade education and his union job that took him out of Portland four days a week away from his family, they were able to buy a home um and pay it off in three years and send my mother and her four siblings to school. The house is still there four minutes away from
273here, but the neighborhood is gone. And so I just I don't want this to come off as like, you know, labor versus AVT. I don't see it that way. I've But I do want to address uh Mrs. Bond and Miss Bond and what she said. I I appreciate her meeting with me over the weekend. Really appreciate your time because I know you've got a million other things to do in but not including driving all over town to meet with me. So I appreciate your time. What I heard is there's cons concern about space reductions. And I want to remind everybody it's a minimum we're talking about today. We also heard from Dana that square footage, it it's not square footage, it's footprint, it's volume and height. We heard that we had 14 uh foot ceilings
274here in this building and we would be looking for 25 foot ceilings. That's a net increase in square footage. I also heard that members have not been heard and I think I take that really seriously. And then I also heard about the rather strongly worded top-down email that would have been offensive had I also received it. Um in terms of space, the very nature of work is changing. I myself do not have a desk at my job anymore. In fact, uh about 40% of our workforce do not have desks, which is kind of awkward because you're kind of carrying your stuff around every day. But that's the nature of work post pandemic. Um we're starting to relook at how we use space. Um so that idea that everybody has a desk is out outdated and
275yet personally I agree that people should have a desk and I hear that your members have been heard. They've been meeting on a regular basis with a superintendent. I just learned that a couple days ago and I'm sorry it doesn't feel like enough but I actually get the same amount of time with the superintendent once a month, one hour. Um, I don't have a comment about the email except that it was again it was offensive and I'm sorry the manager sent that. It it was off-putting. Um, so all of these concerns that have been raised are absolutely fixable. Uh, what I don't want is for your concerns to hijack this project moving forward. I'm going to reflect something back to all of us here and that is your concerns are holding back progress. you're holding
276back pro the Albina Vision Trust. Um, so I understand that people have concerns. They're well-intentioned, but the end result is it's delaying the process yet again. And we can change that. We don't have to show up that way. The other thing is I see a pattern. I've been at this um deis for about six years and I, you know, I was here when we passed the right of first refusal. He had parties. Everybody remember the confetti? I mean, people were going crazy. It was a really momentous um and joyful event. And then here we are today, you know, putting roadblocks in the way. It just it doesn't make sense. So, progress is stalled. Forward movement is stalled. And the promise to this community, many many promises which have been broken, but this one won't be.
277But the promise to this community is stalled. And that that hurts my heart. The promise specifically to black Portlanders, many who have been displaced over 50 years is stalled. And I'm not okay with that. I'm not okay with that. I'm seeing my neighbor here. I live in this neighborhood still. My parents, you know, grew up here. My my dad immigrated here right right to Williams Avenue in 1947. So, I'm I'm not okay with any more foot dragging on this transition. I would like maintenance staff to be heard. I mean, pick the color of the paint on the building, whatever engagement that you need, but let's get together and work on this and get this done. This is not a time to stall. We've got real big fish to fry other places. We can do uh
278we have control over what we do in this district and in Portland. And I hope my board members uh will join me in this messy process because I know that we can build the plane as we are flying this plane. We can do that. We've done it before and we do it all the time. Thank you. I had to the team. Did you want to comment on Yeah, just Thank you. Um just to clarify a couple of points and I appreciate um uh the comments that I also believe that this is fixable and I think it's fixable without slowing anything down. Um you know, our our goal and the team's goal is to engage all the staff. there's almost 700 staff uh that work in the PEC and so we put together a plan that
279that we thought did a good job of reaching out to everyone. It obviously wasn't perfect, right? And and it can it can do better and the team will do better. Progress is incremental. Um so that's something that that we can focus on. Uh and I do believe that we can do better. Uh but I do think that a lot of the feedback that we have received from 700 staff are reflected in the materials. They're reflected in the criteria. They're they're they're also reflected in the assumption material materials that are in there. So, I know not 100% of it is in there, but that doesn't mean it isn't valued and it wasn't considered, but a lot of it is and you can see it in there. Um, I also just want to clarify that the minimum
280criteria, so specifically criteria 7 states to accommodate PPS spatial and functional needs and it identifies those functional areas. It does not identify square footage. That is the backup materials that we want to show you to show that how you we got to these seemingly simple uh criteria. But that is informative information and those are those square footage generally minimums and we know that just doing a square footage comparison is not adequate to identifying functionality. We're going to have to go further. We're going to have to do detailed analysis and staff will be involved in that analysis. So I think hopefully that provides a little bit of clarity and comfort. Can I ask a clarifying question or just make you say something very clearly? So because you were like it doesn't the square footage isn't part
281of the minimum requirements. That's the nine pieces. But then right after you were still saying the square footage that's cited is still just a minimum and we could go beyond it. What I would like you to say is that it is not part of the minimum. if it's true it is not part of the minimum criteria that and that that that you're not going to use those square footages to make decisions about the whatever the property securing. Let me clarify the board is approving the minimum criteria that are in section one of the report which is the nine criteria um that do not include square footage. The additional information is supportive to inform of how we got to these criteria to the minimum criteria without using those numbers. I mean it's the natural question. Can
282you say that? I'm not sure if I'll say it a different way. If you if that was like showing your work about how you got to the minimum criteria, wasn't it used to create the minimum? I mean, sure, but it also what's the board is approving does not specify a square footage because we know that that is not an adequate in and of itself evaluation of function. You're saying the square footage is a limiting factor. And so it's not because if you say we want 500, we want 500,000 square feet, you only consider a building with that footage, right? Versus having a minimum the very minimum bare bones allows you to look at more is that's what I'm asking. It allows you to be a little bit more broad in the search. Yes. The the
283reason that square footage is that we use what we're going to use the square footage for is to help us inform a a range of sizes when we go to the market. We can't just go out to the market and say, "Hey, we'd like to relocate the the administration and the op center and show us what you have. Show us what you got." Right? It could be 10,000 feet. It could be a million feet. Oh well, whatever. Right? So, we know that we need overall about 300,000 square feet. that roughly breaks down to 100,000 for administration and 200,000 for the operation center. Those are funible depending on what departments go where. So that that I wouldn't get crazy about those numbers, but as a a highlevel number, that's kind of how that breaks out. Um
284it's important for us and for AVT as as the folks that are frankly bankrolling this to have some sense of what we are looking for out in the market. So, and every department was worked with um those managers who they chose to bring into those discussions I can't speak to and wouldn't be appropriate. Um but that's what the square footage helps us do is to make sure we're kind of checking against the bigger picture. And additionally, looking at square footage is how we compare to our peer districts. Um we have in several cases three times as much space as Seattle has for and they have more schools. So you think well why is that and that and there may be different reasons for that and it may be completely legitimate but it's worth looking at
285because space costs money not just to buy it or build it but to maintain it. So is there a um square footage uh like a standard you know like a specs is there a standard for this? You do for office space but not really for operations because we do need floor space we need transition space when product comes in and product goes out and things like that. Sure. Right. Exactly. Exactly. Director Green. All right. Thank you so much. I've I've enjoyed all of this this conversation and the back and forth and I'm I'm really excited about um about us being here. Um this has been a long time a long time coming. And so I just want to I just want to make sure that I state a few things to to help keep to
286help keep us grounded. And that one is that what we're looking at is first and foremost the the notice that if it does not if we do not bring back something I'm I think I'm I'm trying to quote what Dan said. If we do not bring back a viable property um then we can um we can stay. He didn't say we can stay in our broken building, but essentially that's what he was saying that we're going to go out to look. We're going to try to find something and if we don't like what we see, we can stay in this broken building that we all agree is falling down. And for the last three decades, we have been talking about how we need to move out of this building and that we need to do
287something. We need to do something different and that this building is no longer a viable resource for PPS to stay in and that it cost us a lot of money just to be in this building. We haven't even talked about the amount of money that it would take us to stay in this building should we decide that we want to be here because the money isn't there. So, we're not even talking about the fact that we're winning that we've got our next point which is we're all in costneutral in that we're not even paying that much for this. We're not even talking about that. We're not putting that out there and for for whatever the reason. I'm not sure why, but that should be uh a huge point that we're going to possibly get a
288new space that's going to that we all have agreed is something that we need and that works for us and that would be great for us and we can't wait to see this happen and this is going to be absolutely amazing. And what? So that's that's another thing. And then the the the other thing is that in what you stated or at least unless I'm being lied to, unless I'm being lied to, the minimum criteria, although you may have used a a number in the background, the minimum criteria you said and you said it for the public, and I'm going to say it again. I'm repeating what you said because as as as people, our word is our bond. You said the minimum criteria does not include square footage. That all we are simply doing
289right now. The point of this whole exercise is to move us forward so that we can see what's there. So we're not we're not trying to commit us to anything right now. We just want to get permission to go and see what might come back to us because commercial property isn't out for the general public to see. You have to request it. So, we need to poop or get off the pot. This we have been here. We keep kicking the can. We keep kicking the can. We keep kicking the can. And I don't want to make this I don't want to make this bigger than what it is. But I feel like we have a pattern of kicking the can when it comes to specific things and specific groups. So we need to do better.
290So I'm saying as a whole as a whole what what in here what in here prevents us physically you know like what prevents us from moving this forward if we have a a clause a clause that says if whatever they bring back does not meet what we believe is a standard that we say keep it and we're done. AVT, it would have been nice, but sucks to be you. We're keeping our broken building. And we have that clause. We have something that says the minimum criteria isn't going to um doesn't have to include the square isn't including the square footage. So, nobody has to be afraid of I'm losing my space. Okay? So, we don't have that. And most importantly, most importantly, in a season where we're pitching pennies, in a season where we're trying
291to figure out where all the dollars are going to come from, how we're going to maintain our buildings, how we're going to do our different stuff, and we know that we don't have the money to do all the stuff that we need to be done. In that season, we get a gift horse that says, "I'll take care of all that for you. Don't even worry about it. I'll give you the money. I'll fund it. I'll make sure it happens. You want two buildings, I'll buy you two buildings. And one of the things was according on the le on the thing, it has to be owned, not leased. So they going to buy us two buildings. Now granted, you might be giving us another problem cuz we going to maintain them two buildings. And that's a
292whole another thing. But guess what? Our portfolio increased. And so it looks better when we own newer buildings versus us owning a bunch of older buildings that are dilapitated and we can't do anything with. I'm a I'm a yes. I'm encourage all the board members to be a yes so that we can get the show started and let's let's move on because it's late. Yeah. As a preacher, I got five closes. Yeah, you're still going. I'm done. I'm not going to use I just I wanted to come in and just also make a note that the when I started talking, one thing I said was I wasn't comfortable with any delay tonight. Um, so I'm just making sure folks know I think the votes are are here for us to pass this resolution. I just
293want to make sure that we have a plan for including these voices in the future. Um, with that spirit in mind, a couple of things I just want to um ask I'm not directing you. We're proposing um but when you're developing the plan for June 24th, can I ask you some questions? Sure. Okay. Um when we developing the plan um for June 24th work um SEIU PSP and represented staff that work in this building to um have them or you would like work with you on developing that dance presented they'll all be comfortable with update presentation going forward. Yes. So I have regular meetings with the uh labor leadership and so that could be a wonderful place. I also have quarterly meetings that they all attend together and so that could be another place where
294we collaborate on the document and I think we should have one more before the end of the school year. Great. And um having heard the main concern around square footage and hearing loud and clear that that's not part of what we're agreeing to tonight, I believe that's something that can be considered going forward as part of that conversation and work plan. And um I commit myself too to talking with those four represented parties before June 24th to make sure you're comfortable with the plan going forward. And with all that said, again, my bottom line is I don't want to delay things tonight. Um so I just want to make sure it's very clear that I will be a yes if and when we call the question, which I'm totally down for us to do anytime.
295Director Salt, you're talking about a minimum. So that means you can go a lot bigger, right? So, we're not saying that has to stay at that small size at all. Correct. We're we're not designing and building. We are going looking for property that has at least this square footage. Okay. Thank you. I just I'm going just have one little quick um suggestion. Well, two. one, I want to make sure that we as a board is directing the superintendent to with the proposal that we're talking about first because I think as a board, we need to be given that direction, not just one or two board members. So, I just want to at least make sure that we're all in agreeance with the direction that she's getting that we're all in agreeance with that. That's the
296first thing. Second thing is I think this would be a great place to when we talking about the being able to hear their voices is do this in the committee right so we talking about the facilities and operations committee piece like having that piece there again to where these conversations can be had their voices can be heard and action can be taken [Music] thank you director Benz do you have a question a number of questions Do you want me to do How long is it going to take? Okay. How many? Okay. This is this is how many meetings and we could have been meeting yesterday. So, let's start with two questions. No, like if you want to have somebody else go ahead, go ahead because I want to just get through all my questions at
297once. So, if you want to please pass it down. I want to do it all at the same time because if nobody else has any questions, then if we wait for perfection, we'll never start. I just that's all I got for tonight. That's my last note. Okay. So, okay, but I'm not gonna we could have had a committee meeting yesterday. The operating agreement provides PPS um allows provides that PPS will set minimum criteria and desired features. So, they're two kind of separate things. Yet, we are just getting the minimum criteria recommendations, which I think is what caused some of the concerns. And since this is the first time we're having a meeting, um generally minimum criteria, which is my experience, minimum criteria and desired features and they're called different things like preferred features and um
298or preferred design generally provide optimal search criteria. Um and the minimum criteria here I think because it's being offered in isolation with um and not along with the desired features which was contemplated um it seems like you're setting both a floor and a ceiling and I think that's a little bit what you're hearing is that um when there's a minimum criteria it's like that's what we're going to end up with. Um so I'm wondering since it's in the operating agreement um the working agreement that we have with ABT um and that my understanding is the district can set the desired features and there's reference to like these might be preferred. Why um don't we have that and can desired features be designed so that as the site selection process starts that they're built in as
299well? Yeah, I think that's a that's a great question. uh the desired features there's certainly if you go through the materials you can you can call out you know some of the desired features we don't have them you know identified and and listed out here uh but certainly those will come into play when we start um evaluating sites and that will be a part of the recommendation that ultimately comes to the board but that can also be something that we develop over over the course of the next couple of months. Yeah, on that I would strongly suggest that it's before we're looking at sites that that be set because otherwise it'll just seem like an afterthought or like we're going to keep that site in play and we're not going to add that as be
300a desired feature because it doesn't have it. So it will seem more like you're setting the desired features as an afterthought. So just a point. Um then colllocation um some of the mineria collocation and central location were preferred by staff and is likely to have lower operating costs and yet the minimum criteria is two locations. Couldn't centrally located and colllocated be desired features because I I I don't see again you were saying that the operation center would be centrally located but outside the district I don't see how that's spatially possible. There was a there's a building right now that we're thinking about that that we might want to look into um that is is centrally located in terms of access to freeways and things like that. Um it's just right up think most people centrally
301located is centrally located if you think that that is being we are in central district right now physically right there there is not around here operations type space we're looking like the airport things like that closer in but across the street from our border that seems like a better solution I just don't want I'm the tying that down to being absolutely inside the value of the operation center. Yeah. could could add violence. So if we set minimum criteria as like um one centrally located, the other outside of the boundaries and um and two two facilities versus one as the minimum criteria, couldn't we have like desired, you know, desired would be centrally located like within the district? I guess again by setting the minimum it makes it sounds like that's like going to be the
302default versus like we actually would like to have it inside the district boundaries. Of course we'd like it inside that would naturally would want it inside and as close to freeway interchanges as possible and things like that but again it seems like we should be stating that as a value as a as a value statement and we can still have the minimum criteria but like ideally this is what we we'd want. Um, I'm sorry that I mean that that's three questions. Do the rest of your questions asking them knowing the answer do would they are they going to affect your vote? I mean I want to ask that question because we are kind of running at 11 o'clock right now. She has a right to ask question. I have the right to ask my questions.
303And you know what? We could have had a meeting yesterday and you canceled it. So, and it's not just for me frankly. Um there wasn't any meetings with the staff either. Okay, you have to write this. So, uh parking. So, free parking was a big one for our staff according to the survey. Um and not just of our staff, but our making our headquarters more accessible to our families. Many of the senior staff get uh monthly transportation stipens. of limited partner parking or paid parking would most impact our lower or middle um middle paid employees and their families. On Friday in a private meeting, I was told that it was4 spots at the admin building and 200 at the operation center. Um that's what I was told on Friday in this meeting and then the
304documents the answers to my questions came back which would be about half of what we have or twothirds of what we have currently in the answers that came back it said it was more than that what is the actual number that's in our minimum criteria like what's because it apparently what I was told on Friday is something different. Sure. So, if you reference the the staff memo on the front page, it notes that uh the PEC currently has 318 onsite parking stalls. So, that's that's parking stalls that are on PPS owned property. Uh and then, wait, I'll stop there. I think I know your next question. 188 owned and owned and leased. So, 318 on site. So if we're looking for a comparison property, I'm not saying we're doing comparison. We would look for 318
305on site for looking at for 318 for that's the middle criteria does give a number. It gives we currently have 488 owned and leased including offsite leased. Correct. Okay. So you're looking for 38. So the minimum criteria identifies a number of parking stalls based upon square footage of the function headquarters versus office because again the actual size what we look at could be can you know could be very different we can't predict what that is in the the responses to the questions that were sent yesterday this morning um the we we compared how many on-site spaces there are here 318 versus scheme 2 and that was an additional 70ome uh spaces. So scheme 2 at with the minimum based upon the rate the ratio there would actually be more on-site parking than what we currently
306have. That said, there's a myriad of options of how parking might actually work. When we're looking at these options, we already have a hybrid situation where we have on-site, we have on street, and then we have leased, and then we have this kind of inkind donation. It's very possible that the future scenarios will have some version of that. There's so many it's it's hard to to play out every possible scenario. So that's why we focused on on-site because we were looking for to purchase property and free or paid. if it's on site free um the warehouse shop and maintenance space um which have significant reductions would um and I know that's based on the documentation behind the report in desired features would that have a different space or would that be um decided later. I'm
307not sure. I mean, for example, if you take a shop, it has like there's certain amount of machinery and everything else. I mean, I don't see how that changes. So, I'm trying to I'm trying to understand where you're getting the flex and the between what you've written and what we might actually get. I don't know if if Kathy or Dana are better, but I think generally if there's space, generally more is going to be better. Um, you're going to have more options for storage. You're going to have more options for future flexibility. Uh, I think that's generally accurate. Um, I don't know if there's anything more precise. I Doesn't the test fit part take care of a lot of this? If you find a place and then you're trying to figure out everybody needs something
308different, but you figure it out, right? Correct. it doesn't work. It's going to be very very difficult to come up with every possible scenario that we could encounter. So once we get into that that chance of looking at real property options, we'll be able to do these test fits. We see how how they fit. Um they're not going to be the minimum square footage that's in the materials. It's going to be something else. And so we want to see how that works. And we want to get feedback from the people doing the work if that is adequate. And that's where you could also get feedback from different people whether it works or not. Okay. Absolutely. Would that be people doing the work or supervisors? Both. Um, is staff willing to if based on now now
309that profit um employees have had a chance to look at the recommended criteria if if and this is the first time that there's been discussion about it. if they had recommendations. Um, is staff willing to modify the minimum criteria if there's something not delay the process but actually modify it if staff comes up with a um some reason why the methodology that we've come come to. Excuse me, chair. I'm going to call for a vote because it's 11:00 at night. We still have five agenda items. I'm going to stop us. We need to get We need to really caution ourselves when when board members have questions that they have not been able to get answered. This is the first time that has come up in a public forum. We cannot because we are frustrated with
310someone asking questions or feel like they they're asking too many questions. Just push past the issues. This is our this is our space. This is a business meeting for us. We need to allow her to get whatever she needs to get out so that she can feel comfortable so that we can all move forward. Otherwise, shut the whole thing down. Start all over tomorrow if it's too late for y'all. So, if it's too late and we can't go forward, then let's stop. But that that is the chair's call. Run the agenda. Run the meeting. We're board. We're a board. Sorry. This is the chair's call. It's under our protocols and it's al also under robert's rules of order at our audience that have to be at work at 6:00 in the morning. I get up
311at 4:30 every day. Okay. Well, I'm sorry, but you had an opportunity to tell people that their concerns were stopping progress. And the way that you address people's concerns is you actually have a conversation in public and you take their input. You don't tell them they're stopping progress. And we can't fix the past, but we can move forward and fix the way we do it. So we have we did propose and sounds like enough board members are one question in agreement and same with the superintendent agreeing as well to propose a plan for phase two and uh fixing this the issue of proper staff engagement. We want to be responsive to our staff members to the union but we also need to move forward and um do what's best for our community. So I appreciate
312everyone being here superintendent we plan we have a call to question you can override it with the majority board vote nobody has seconded the calling the question so I'd like to get my question answered that will we have the staffing plan 10 days in advance of the meeting as is our normal pro protocol yes I can make sure we're able to um do that just to be clear I think I think I have written somewhere. Sorry, I might have packed up. Um that we're looking for, just to be clear, um a staff engagement plan outlining all the opportunities that staff will have the opportunity to be engaged during phase two of the relocation. Right. Is that just making sure that's and so I think I believe director Berward's asking if that will be uploaded and
313available for board and public or at least board 10 days in advance. Okay. Yes. I I think that's reasonable. Yes. And I'm going to say my vote tonight is a reflection of the board process, not of the plan. All right. The board will now vote on resolution 7102. Resolution to approve the formula for DI. Oh, sorry, wrong one. Uh, resolution 7103, which is the resolution to approving the minimum criteria for the property search analysis and analysis to relocate the Dr. Matthew Profit Education Center. All in favor, please. [Music] All opposed. Abstensions. Student represent. Yes. Thank you. Resolution 7103 is approved by a vote of 6 to zero with one abstension and student representative can save you voting yes. All right. Thank you. So, how does one suggest we roll over all of our items to
314subsequent meeting? Um, I I think the Okay. Well, we ask any questions. I can Okay. Would uh I would like to propose that we move the second reading of the policy to the next meeting. Fine. Okay. Do I have a motion? Second. I move that we roll that off the agenda. So moved. Second. Thank you. All in favor of moving the um Sorry, I just lost my place. Second reading of the policy, ethics and conflicts of interest policy to the next regular board meeting. Uh all in favor, please say yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All opposed. Absentions. Representative Kavi. Yes. Thank you. The now second reading of policy ethics uh conflict interests move to the following regular meeting. Uh next we have the proposed 202526 board meeting calendar. The only thing I want to note is
315that the um one thing I asked for change is that the December 16th and the December or sorry originally there was a board meeting on December 16th and January 6th. The issue here was that it bookended winter break which means that there was no work week in between the two meetings. That's that's not for a decision. That's for the next meeting for us to vote on. Correct. Go ahead. I'm sorry. I just wanted to call out you've skipped the resolution 7102 and those folks are waiting to go. So, oh my bad, if you don't mind. Okay, we're done with the calendar. Just trying to do a favor here. Thank you. My my bad. Um, thank you. Next, we have uh 7102, the resolution to approve the formula for distributing of funding of individual school recommendations.
316Uh, do I have a motion and second to adopt resolution 7102? Motion. Second. Thank you. Director Green moves. Director Brim Edward seconds the adoption of resolution 7102. Um, is there any public comment? I'm sorry, my brain's not working. Let me double check. Um, no, they cancelled. Okay, fitting. Uh, is there any board discussion? I just want to thank the parent committee. I think you came up to great recommendations that will benefit students all across the district. Thank you for all your hard work. Um yeah, I would just like to add that to that too. We I think the recommendations were perfect. I think we just need to get the fund to make a whole lot more money to go to their problems. They need to be everywhere. I just didn't. So, I'm just hoping we
317get enough money to really make a difference everywhere in the district. Yeah, they they will they more than double. So, we'll be sending it up numbers. And I just I just want to comment on I love the fact that we included an endowment at least a start of an endowment. Um, I think that is great for the sustainability of our districts long term. So, I am so grateful that I see that in there. We can work on that going. I want to just say that fundraising in our schools. So, it's on on people's minds. Thank you. Happily. Uh the board will now vote on resolution 7102 resolution to approve the formula for distribution of funding to individual school administered by the fund for PPS. I'm sorry the motion she's got. Yeah, we had um director
318motion and director. All right. All in favor, please indicate by saying yes. Yes. All opposed. Abstensions. Representative Kavi. Yes. Thank you. Resolution 7102 is approved by a vote of 7 to zero with student represent voting yes. Where are we now? Calendar. Uh consent agenda. Motion second. Thank you. We have the consent agenda. Resolution resolution 7108 6 through 7108. We had director Bim Edwards motion correct and director Holland seconded. That worked. It's okay. I don't I didn't That's exactly how it was. We easy. We easy. That's exactly how it was. Thank you. Uh do I have a motion or uh is there any board discussion? All right. The board will now vote on resolution 7106 through 7108. All in favor please indicate by saying yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All opposed. Abstensions. Representi. Yes. Thank you. The
319consent agenda as amended approved by a vote of seven seven to zero with representative canvi voting yes. All right. I would like to say how wonderful it is some of these field trips everybody's going on are. Our students are wonderful and they're doing fantastic things. So, I want to sign up to be a chaperon. All right. Thank you. The meeting is adjourned. Next regular meeting for the board will take place May 19th.