001all right we're we're gonna go ahead and get get started Cara are we ready to roll all right we're gonna get we're gonna get started here uh all right calling the meeting to order and we have um three potential um agenda items we have three agenda items and I am G to ask looks like we have a public comment signed up but do would you like to provide public comment when we actually get to the agenda item okay um and I'm gonna move the agenda item around just slightly um I'm G to start with the policies and public comment and um we have two two policies that have been first read the first um was the um a change to the Board of Education um policy that um essentially is just fixing something that's not
002aligned with statute we haven't had any public comment uh on that so I'm assuming we'll have a second reading um at the at the next at the next meeting so the so um unless does anybody have any do you have any comment on that or okay I haven't heard anything um okay and then the other item that's out for uh public comment is a um change to the policy um relating to ethics in the contct conflict of interest policy we had a first reading um on that change um to essentially state that um current board members may not apply for or accept opposition um at pram public schools and as part of the the last discussion in in committee and also at the board meeting uh a question was raised about that was a very
003legitimate issue of people who uh worked in schools and given this as a volunteer position versus a paid position um that if they wish to go back into a job at PPS the hiring cycle at PPS for school staff is in the spring so in theory because our our board terms end on June 30th that essentially if you waited if this policy were in place and you waited till um the end of your term you would miss an entire Year's hiring cycle which seemed not reasonable um that this is Vol position uh director Wong uh provided some uh suggested language that I built out a little bit so there would be a more clear path and so clear path of like how it actually the exemption actually would would work to allow for people if
004they board members if they did want to go back into the into a school based position and not want to miss that hiring process that they um there would be an exemption process so we have posted and um sent up to all of you the draft language I'm just going to read it anybody doesn't have access to what's being posted so the exemption uh process would be in the last six months of a board member's term exceptions may be granted with a majority approval by the Board of Education to seek an exemption a board member must send a communication to board members stating their intent to potentially pursue school-based employment with the district and board leadership will place request for an exception on the agenda the next meeting of the board in the normal course
005of agenda setting no application for discussion or acceptance of district employment should occur before the board exception again trying not being a really process but trying to provide a process so that someone would direct share deadly there should be an exemption and the method you would get it would be majority of the board and so this just lays out the process by which I'm I'm having trouble with the internet I'm not connected but um when I read through that I wondered sorry lose my question um I wondered if it'll I'll come back to it I'll remember just okay yeah and and that one you just read is different from the one that said you may not be able to vote on yes that's been removed so in a discussion with director um his preference and
006I I agree is to keep it high level and simple but like but also showing like a board like here's how you do it in a way that you could actually get your in time board and instead of having it being re press being set to board leadership it's sent to just all board members because they practice it could be somebody so just sending in the request and then there's an automatic but it did remove the other piece because that's not really necessary yeah I like the way it came out after he made the second change yeah um I was just going to say and my question was about um and Miss Colby just asked me about um the experience at Harvard and one of the things they proposed about policies was to always ask
007how it would impact students and so this is one of those ones where I feel like we're managing each other it's kind of a board management thing rather than focused on student achievement I just put that out there because I don't know how this would impact student achievement it it's just a question in fact that was just it was recommended that at every policy discussion we ask how the policy impacts students yeah I think we have a number of policies especially the ones that relate to sort of our board governance that are just around our governance that aren't necess that don't have a direct impact I would say um the community's trust in the board's operations and ethics and our credibility um is important to us um accomplishing our goals and our mission um around
008student achievement and having a like transparent and strong ethics policy I think does build credibility for the district so when you when you have questions of around the district credibility or trust or the ethics um then people have questions about a whole so absolutely and I I feel like um you know I'm a racialized person in Portland and so I've had to hold myself to a pretty high standard um of behavior in in all venues no matter where I go and I would hope that you know people that are elected would also hold themselves up to a high standard wouldn't have to um govern ourselves uh so heavy-handedly um I'm not going to oppose this but I I feel like it is a little bit of overreach and um as I've mentioned before I wasn't
009sure how how useful it would be um going forward I know that it was an issue 12 years ago I don't know that I don't I don't see this happening but but I'm not I'm not GNA block it like I did last time it can you hear me actually I don't think this one's but how about this one sorry um yeah with with the last sentence removed from the First Amendment um and that went through you too right that it's legal and it sounded all right yeah I mean in a way I don't know if we need it at all but if we need it it gives an exception which I like maybe it's better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it well I think that that's an
010excellent point is sometimes just it um sends a message um of if we did need it we had a we have a process um versus there's nothing worse than having an issue come up and like you don't have like a way to Res resolve it or it looks like you're having a reactive resolve versus I think this is a very straightforward and um I I would I would hope that if somebody's um interested in returning the classroom that they're having a volunteer position that does not analyze them in the normal course of the hiring process because I could I could definitely see it happened that especially a teacher could think oh I can take this time off and then find out well not especially anybody really could find out um you know I I need
011to go back to work and the teacher that's where they want to go and I would hope we'd get them back in our own District so this helps with that and so six months should be plenty of time for the start of anything is anyone else having trouble connecting to the internet or is it just me okay um we'll go to the next agenda item and um the next agenda item is the solicitation registration and Reporting um draft policy and this is a new policy that we've had a SE couple of runs through and I don't believe it's ready for um action today so I really wanted to have it on the agenda for whether there are further questions about it I'm sorry I'm still trying to get on the internet which one was this
012should we just take a should we take a moment to let everybody because of course I'm having the opposite problem I have um I can't find my written piece of paper I just had it do do you all have this it's it's a one pager um in addition um Emily courtnage who is our lead on Contracting sent some information that takes us deep into into Contracting and procurement um that I that I've shared which um explains some of our different procurement processes and in the vast majority of cases of our of our procurement there is a clear process by which they're scored and is competitive but there are some that aren't um competit that aren't competitive or um they're informal um including the um the uh textbooks and curriculum which um over the last five
013years we've spent 70 million dollars on so which is a pretty significant um is that the a soul Source contract so if you look at it's in the it's in the document um there's a special procurement process em um Emily's not here today um but there's a special procurement process that's used and what I what I would suggest for today's meeting is um to review the places in which we don't have a clearly sort transparent competitive process um and I would say those would be the places that we would want to have transparency and because they're obviously the ones that are most open to sort of influence and um individuals um not it's not a standard contract process um I having been around uh for I think Emily's I mean Emily's been the district for
014a long time that we have I think a very strong procurement and Contracting process that is transparent um and I know it's transparent and because lots of people who um ultimately aren't awarded contracts asked to see all the scoring and like' had the winning bids so this is really focused on those cases in which um there is a lot more disc discression I think it's a really great idea um I was really happy to see this come across the desk and um agree that uh if if there's a procurement that is kind of under the radar or going outside of a you know the Oregon Revis statutes processes that I think it's important that we look at it especially because we're in a budget deficit it would um behoove us to look at all of
015those contracts director San do you have any comments yeah well this is actually kind of all I don't totally understand caring M at all is this the one where we're also talking about Lobby people right I mean in effect yes uhuh yeah okay so so for for the example I'm going to use um whichis like when we're having the whole cell phone policy the um on kind of a weekly basis the um oh my God spring break Amnesia Yonder understood yeah exactly uh the sales rep for Yonder um was you know kind of in constant contact I I feel that not just with board members but also actively with schools um and again I think that's perfectly fine for them to do but it also should be transparent and which is you know transparency is
016the sunshine is the best antiseptic and so someone like that would register with with purchas so um this is there'd be some sort um sort of mechanism and this would be my guess an either administrative directive or just establishing it but it's um I'm happy to share with you do like the other standard registering registrations it's a pretty straightforward project and it's pretty automated once you just set up so it would be someone like Yonder someone like that would want a really big contract um so can you think of anybody else that be doing something like that well I'd say um a lot of the tech companies um also are very engaged in selling apps and software um I I feel that the um while we have a process that there are a lot of
017people involved in that um curriculum materials again spent 70 mli more than 70 million dollars in The Last Five Years on those materials and they are sort of outside of the normal process outside of a competitive procurement process and I wish Emily were here because I feel like I may be venturing into right but then those but those are those are examples but then people who make decisions on that are people with skills in that area who are looking at different materials and deciding not on Sal well to be clear yeah there's nobody alleging that like people aren't using their expertise but it's also just making clear who's actually attempting to fluence ass I think Emily had also proposed or suggested that that this language about subject to an RFP should be expanded so this
018draft doesn't reflect that kind of Midstream so that was one one issue and I think her being here will help the discussion I think the other thing um to think about and I'm is when an individual entity engages staff or board for the purpose of obtaining a contract any renewal of a contract will likely they will be engaging with staff so is performing your duties under an existing contract the same thing as engaging for the purposes of renewing that contract and I you'll see some play for ongoing service providers more than selling a thing but the ongoing relationships with our environmental Consultants architects Firs like those like and from my perspective and having been involved in monties is like it there's um most of the time it's just a very simple process to and it's
019just being transparent I have an economic interests with with the district and I and whether it's um like a renewal of a of a contract from my perspective that like the default is that they should registered they have an economic interest with the district and I don't think we don't have this is not at all cor having seen onerous um reporting systems um and you know frankly I think it's it will establish a Baseline and the board um whats Us in effect um should look to see whether it is um effectively getting the information that we're interested in or that the community should have access to as to who is going after contracts yeah and again there's nothing wrong with it that's exact you know we want people to be doing we want people to
020be doing business with the district and we want that we want um highly qualified individuals also because it's public dollars um and decisions um like I say if it's not made in a context where you can see how the decision was made there's always the you know question is like favoritism was there you know some something other than we had the most qualified the person with the best most points is it like a pre-existing relationship um I I'm in favor of um kind of daylighting this too so an RFP whenever there's an RFP it's a very prescriptive process yeah I just went through L jams yeah okay so that then outside of that though is um I think this is just a way to show any any the Yonder one was a great example because
021they've been very assertive um in contacting board members and probably staff too so I think that that this would require them to register and just say this is the reason I'm here is to sell a product so to be transparent on it yeah I mean like said the tech companies the tenure have also been uh very interested in um the district using their platforms their apps so yeah just so people know who's asking us to buy things that's pretty much what it is I will say this is the most standard thing in most local in most government jurisdictions of our size I think one of the things staff can do to be helpful is think about that language um if we have a software license get out of my Cas technically here I'm just thinking
022about if there's a public process in procuring services that are being extended there isn't a mystery that those Services exist and they've already been through a process and so the question is do you do you need belt and suspenders or is there a is is is simply executing the work um of a publicly of a public contract that was already publicly approved do you need registration on top of that and you're G you're going to get every Law Firm to register because they're interacting right all the time and so it's just to make sure that your registration has meaning I'm going to pick on the law firms because that sits in our our department but but you could pick Architects you could pick environmental Engineers you could pick other service providers for whom it is
023not a secret that they are providing services to the district do you need a a separate repres presentation on top of that I don't know the answer but I'm thinking about how if you you want it to be meaningful so that's question okay so is the question then whether an existing contractor or or versus new okay because there's also this thing you know if you're using a contractor over and over and over again then there's a familiarity that sets in and um best practices are to kind of go out to bid but I think this this this proposed policy is really to Daylight people coming in for new business that's how I understand it there are some exceptions for personal services contracts that aren't subject to the same RFP and that's why we need Emily
024here too she will make this a more informed conversation about which ones have that public process that public RFP process and and which ones don't don't and there are you as you all have approved the purchasing and Contracting rules they are very thick and she really the expert but um I'm not trying to urge you in one direction or the other I'm just daylighting the issues that'll come up as we go to implement and we'll get questions and so if we attend that existing contract holders who've been through a public process are also supposed to register in because performance of their duties under that contract creates a registration trigger we may want to say that okay I guess what I think I heard the question you ask is and I think this is different than
025like new business business of course that would apply but the question about an amendment so and I mean I kind of feel like if somebody's coming for Amendment they are like it doesn't just happen like they ask forward and I mean so they're going through like a non-competitive process in a and I mean we approve amendments all the all the time and I'm assum sometimes we ask them and so that's the we say we need to keep you know we are required to have an ending date on the contract the contract is about to expire we are going to put some more dollars on it and some more months on it because you provide an ongoing service and we have as bestus exposure we need you to be on site immediately or we have a
026pest control problem we need you to get out there so is that contract is the reality is when that contract is coming for to an end this district is often reaching out to the vendor saying would you please sign this extension because we need to make sure there isn't an interruption in service but certainly the contract the vendor is interacting with District staff throughout the execution of the contract and the and so it's just making clear who's in and who's out of the registration under that scenario maybe if there were some penalty or an onerous I guess I would be like well I could understand why you wouldn't want to be registered but it's like I in some ways I feel like people like you're registering as like somebody who actually is is whether even
027if the district reaches out like you are attempting to do business with the district or the district is attempting to do business with you and and the AR turning us down I mean they're they're very happy that we want their business we want to work with them but this the Practical realities of the Dynamics and some circumstances do you think people wouldn't want to register I mean it's I because to me it's like again if you have an RFP process that's very different which which is like for example most of our like pest control or like environmental firms they have gone through an RFP process they're an approved contractor versus things that are personal services um contracts that don't go through a competitive process right I mean I think those are one of the the
028scenarios I guess another scenario is what if when I'm thinking about Yonder I'm I'm asking these questions in Aid of helping the committee draft your intent right if if Yonder would have to go through a procurement process for a product but the Yonder rep is communicating with board members about the policy but there is no RFP that's actually happened but if they were going to do it there would be required an RP would be required do you have to register that well I think if you're trying to attempt to influence the maybe that's more legislative lobbying on the policy side as opposed to sign this contract so maybe that's a different segment I'm just trying to think through the there's no cell phone policy there's no need for Yonder other than the other schools where
029it already was but yes I see your point um okay we'll continue I mean I think our staff work is to help try to flush this out so we capture your intent and we implement the thing you wanted so yeah I I I definitely need more information and I just want to make sure necessary I just hate to put stuff on top of stuff that when you don't need it so that's where I am I think this this falls into the category again of what um director toass um raised earlier about like so of like what's the point I think this this actually um creates greater credibility and Trust in the district's actions because I mean there there are lots of places where huge contracts go based on informal networks of like hey we belong
030to the same club or you know and I'm not saying that's happening here but like like that's how business is done and in a lot of places especially like in the private sector like the private sector there's not necessarily an RFP and so again this is I think to create credibility and also to share like we have a fair we have a fair process um that individuals can um do business with district and that's not based on informal relationships or or other considerations that that nobody has access to be able to see like who's doing business with District yeah I'd like to get more information I think it's a I'm interested in being transparent and and um I think it's a good idea I just want you know we've got the questions outstanding about how
031it's implemented and um what's the end goal here and some of the procurement processes to be F through great I would suggest um so I think we've captured some of the questions um but if you have other ones next meeting have our next meeting on Monday no we're we're not having the meeting on Monday because you're not available and um it's too close uh director suvan has a very important uh conflicting appointment great uh and what I would ask of staff is before waiting for the next meeting like queue up these These are great questions like what what are we trying to get at so that um to Aid in drafting or in just the implementation uh we will capture them in an organized manner we'll work with Emily come with language and explanation circulated
032yeah so the other just the last uh piece on this um and this is more like the implementation but um having just gone through you all just gone through the SEI U process of statement of economic interest is it's a relatively automated process I mean so they have they have education materials which they've developed over the years um but like literally you get a link and there's your form and you just fill it out and you send it in and frankly you're not engaging with um unless you had questions with the um Oregon government and ethics commission called now uh and so I mean that's how I see the it being sort of a I believe like a fairly automated system that's overly nous I mean it could be a Google form right that just
033automatically pops populates I mean for example speaking of apps I mean Metro yeah um for example Metro has something that just like feeds right into their web page so when somebody um signs up as a lobbyist it just autop populates into a section of their website that is listed I wonder how the city of Portland does it because there's a requirement for lobbyists register so um they have speaking from experience um having overseen people who um have interacted with the city of Portland it's a it's a lot of people say it's a very honorous process um that it because some of the thresholds are so low that people who have very little interest um has spend very little time also get captured system so hopefully it's we design a system that's easy to again the
034whole purpose is easy to comply with and it shouldn't it shouldn't be onerous and it should be like we're not trying to play gotcha it's just it's information that's informative of like hey who got that contract and why and like I say a lot of our public we have a fair number of public records requests of people who didn't get contracts who file public records requests of like who got the contract um so hopefully this just provides more information as a public entity about how we spend taxpayers dollars anything else from as long as they don't spend a lot of money in the process well I say um I think there's a fair number of tools available that should make it the the goal is not to be playing gotcha it's to make it easy
035for somebody if they have an interest in the district to like here's the process you just bu the form and um not a set ofs all right um our last item of business is is um 4.10.2 the compulsory enrollment age and grade level at entrance um it says discussion and potential action but we won't be taking action um and um I want to call people's attention to um we received some um there was a Q&A that just was passed out and is this okay to post so unless there's a reason why we can't post it um we're not taking action so I think it's fine for you to say later um and inadvertently these are questions I asked right after the last meeting um inadvertently um they weren't captured until yesterday or this morning um
036so I appreciate staff hustling up today to get them answered um but how many do you have I'm looking at 14 questions no I'm only looking at one page I'm looking at the emailed version and yeah it's the same it's just it's a little easier to read online because it's a little bit bigger but I will say like I because we just again it was inadvertent that we just got the answers the questions were submitted two weeks ago but we just got the answers today like literally at the first question we had answers to the first questions last time so there some new ones yeah um so because because I haven't read um I what I'm gonna what I'm gonna do first is um ask for public comment so there questions that um I ask
037as follow up to the last meeting um we could give you copy it's mostly about logistics for eligibility entrance it's I suspect it will be posted eventually but I don't know that it's how many preschool slots it's a list of 14 questions with answers and then comments I can hold for sorry about that like I want to judge okay um it says five two minute slots feel free to take three minutes thinki um and I'll just note that we posted the test the written testimony that you provided online yeah we've seen it altered it a little bit for my own personality but okay ears uh Jessica Colby c b ASM boy y uh I am the co-chair of tagak talented and gifted advisory Council um and I have been part of tagak for 10 years
038maybe amongst other advocacy issues um so tagak believes as you do that to provide the best support possible for students growth and well-being every student's needs must be met where they are uh sometimes that means waiting to start kindergarten sometimes that means starting a bit early what we are cognizant of many of the problems surrounding this issue from potentially wider age G age range Gap uh in a classroom to the Deep Financial cuts that are headed our way uh not to mention that early academic Readiness can often be shaped by privilege that bias is a part of it that all Equity is an issue um although historically a relatively small population of families request early entry to kindergarten uh it's important to those families and it's highly impactful to those children um a child's needs
039should not be forfeited because concerns that parents will argue the birthday cut off argue that the birthday cut off is arbitrary or because there could be a spread of just over a year because we're not talking two years we're talking you know just under five to sixish um or because some families might want to enter their child early to save money which I don't think that happens as much as it sounds like it does but that's anecdotal while we would defer to your expertise as to the specific date that is best for entry cut off we know that a later annual cutoff date is key to allowing flexibility for children who are best supported by early entry therefore we support director brim Edward's suggestions of September 30th as a new cutoff date in addition we
040again emphasize that regardless of what date is chosen families need help determining if their child is ready for kindergarten providing such support would benefit both students and PPS to that end we suggest providing information on what PPS expects of C of entering Kinders socially and emotionally for classroom ready and classroom skills for readiness sorry you know what I mean literature for parents on how to support and assess a younger kindergartener during the school year accredited culturally competent checklists of Readiness not every checklist is going to be right for every kid but you know parents having a good idea of like the skills their kids have and where they're at compared to what PPS thinks they should where PPS thinks they should be um a suggestion to to discuss Readiness with the child's pediatrician um so
041having discussed my own kid with our pediatrician they know a lot they have a really good idea of who these kids are um and not every family has a pediatrician I get that but if they do a good person to discuss a pediatrician is to discuss Readiness with um uh support in finding alternative placements so for families who are struggling if if there's a list of you can put out or something like that that can help families find an alternative um and then sending all of this directly to uh all families with September and late summer babies so that you're ahead of the game and parents have information ahead of time to make these assessments so that is that is yes not sure there's anything else in my head great thank you uh for sharing
042appreciate it and for submitting uh the written testimony and our email two years ago is worth read because we say a lot of the same things but I I want to say something too I appreciate you I just um by the way just um met Miss Colby and um realized learned that we're we graduated from the same High School Camp runamuk um which was really interesting and I really appreciate your testimony and um but I I mean there's nothing to inform my um what I'm going to say except for my lived experience and I was a kid that um I had I skipped kindergarten and I not because I wanted to but my parents thought that was the best thing um I I did read both of the letter the went from 2025 and then
043your letter from 2022 and I'm going to stand strong on um on on speaking for those people that don't have a pediatrician that is owner to get them to the doctors that do not have the access to the Early Education and and I really want to uplift the staff memo because in it the very last suggestion is just because of the historical data that they tracked um and they're taking current trends and historical data into consideration the um hearing from the enrollment and transfer center early Learners Department the tag Department the most Equitable and logical decision is to abandon the early entry Tok policy and stick with a September one date based on what's happening in all of the other districts and nationally and so while I I know you're struggl while I appreciate your
044testimony I do want to speak for those families that don't have the privilege of um being here to testify and I'm I'm I'm from one of those families by the way so and I and and I am I am one of those families so I I feel really strongly about you know I was elected to speak for people that can't be here and resp sure but I I fully support understand do not yeah I'm not in favor of moving the date Point not early entry to kindergart in the same way at all completely different Beast this is open enrollment for one month no barriers any family can apply that is completely different to what was happening before which required large financial means the testing the testing and all of that that um we we have
045always had a problem with the way early entering kindergarten happened before so right I understand that yeah I just I'm in favor of keeping the September date there's no one date in the calendar that works for all families and if we keep moving it around we're not moving it around for the families that need it we're moving it around for the people that have the privilege to call a district to come down talk to their pediatrician and those are the kids that um we need to really be focused on I hear you particularly in tough budget Years thank you yeah I if we just let in my opinion if we just let anybody who wants to come in that month and so they'll be very very young and even if they've had some testing and
046talk to pediatricians I'm I taught preschool and I taught and I have had can imagine a huge range of abilities I'm sure there were some kids that maybe could have been tag and grade but there's a lot more than School ready Readiness there's developmentally appropriate time for things and I had one when I taught a one to blend which by the way was considered best practices not a problem um I had a second or first grader who had a September birthday and when the second graders went to third grade he wanted to go with them his parents wanted them to go with it and he did have the skills and his friends were second grade and it seemed okay to me but I'll tell you the counselor was hey think about what we have to
047think about when puberty happens too it makes a big difference if you put somebody ahead if it's a girl they may end up having their period uh really late and if it's a boy they may not have developed if they really like sports they may not be developing as much so there's way more than just are you academically ready and I just trust our um preschool people they're educated they've got they they know what's best if we could test everybody if we had the money to test everybody okay maybe but I think you said last time Emily that even the ones that you okay you figured maybe about half of them was a good decision half it wasn't um and I do know if somebody is put ahead or not ahead maybe it's where they
048should be but it seems like they should have been in a younger class boy that's almost impossible to do to put them back that's very hard on the child so I personally don't want to push people forward and I I really like what you said in best practices it says it's not whether students are ready for kindergarten but whether our kindergarten programs are ready for kids and also an approach to K we have an approach to kindergarten that meets the needs of all early Learners who by definition enter school with a wide range of entrance capacities assets and needs and if somebody absolutely stands out and says oh boy this child is so mature maybe should go into second grade instead of first grade okay maybe but I certainly never saw that happen with the
049whole range of ab abilities I had in my class and I had something in mind which just escaped but anyway um I I definitely don't want to see us push the date to October 1 or September 31st what good does that do that just makes another range of the young kids are going to be September kids instead of October kids instead of September kids and I mean I when I went to school the cut off date was when I was in first grade was uh January 1st and I'm a December 13th birthday so I was really young my sister had a January 5th birthday she was 13 months younger and my mother decided hey they're a year apart in age they should be a year apart in school so she lied and got my sister
050in um early and my sister can remember at five years old feeling that she was really stupid because she couldn't do the stuff other kids did and we moved in the middle of that year because and actually we moved from Portland to Maywood Maywood Park so Park Rose and in Park Rose they checked the birth certificate and they said no you cannot be here you have to be back um and there was no kindergarten so she was just out of school this was first grade not kindergarten and she what she remembers is she thought she was dumb because she had a heard a story that her grandmother had dropped her on her head when she was a baby and when she of course story but she thought that's why she wasn't keeping up school and
051then she remembers that we had a fight and I kicked her in the head at the same time that she was going to a new school where she was u in her proper grade and she was old now in the class and she said she thought the Kick In The Head had made her smart and she thought that for years until she uh figured that probably wasn't true and she ended up teaching kindergarten too and she said she just kept reminding all of your parents you want your child to succeed you want them to feel successful so why would you put them ahead why can't they be the smartest in the room so that's where I am I don't see any reason to make make adjustments I'm glad I'm out of kicking range of you
052director suvan smart um so I have a couple questions but I'm also gonna want to look at actually at the material the responses um but when we had this discussion earlier the um so I don't know if somebody wants to come down and answer the the question um the implication was the state had this sort of hard vest September 1 when I look at the statute it actually says however nothing in this section prevents a district school board from admitting free of charge a child whose needs for cognitive social and physical development would be best met and the school program is defined by policy the School District board to inter School even though the child has not yet attained the minimum age requirement but is a resident of the district so it sounds like the
053state statute has like there may be cases where um that cut off date or reading it wrong no you're correct and I I'm sorry if that wasn't clear last time it's it's a state guideline it's not a state requirement what you read is the statute we did provide for you um because you asked last time maybe yeah um what our all of our surrounding districts look like just sort of what the regional Norm is and they're all September one you guys have that and then we also added today at further request the national Norms um because one of you asked that question as well um and you can look at that it's it'll be linked into um the responses that you get um the majority of them are also September one or end of August
054I'll just say what I heard at the meeting was sort of like this is what OD is requiring like of their preschool programs and it it looks like they've actually taken into consideration that some students might go early yeah so I apologize if we gave you the impression it's a requirement it's not a requirement because it seems like they are like we think this is the age when kids should go but we recognize that some students school districts might decide to have that earlier so they I mean looks like the statute has that built-in flexibility um had also asked about the number of students in sort of in September and the answer I got back was there was 10 only 10 first grade students but um that wasn't quite the I think there was some
055confusion maybe how I asked the question because the qu the question is like how many students have that September one to 30th birthdays and I think the answer I got was how many students for whatever reason actually got in early I mean that has to be the 10 because it can't be just can't to be just 10 September birthdays I mean that's what I'm I'm so summarizing there were two different questions right there was that you guys had from the last meeting one was about students who are waiting and starting kindergarten older because you had questions about that Trend and one was about students who um are young they miss the cut off and then they are going to first grade in the the fall right is that yeah so it's like the question would
056be like my followup question and I'm really sorry that something and we didn't see them until like I just saw this right now but my follow-up question is like can you just clarify are you looking for every currently enrolled PPS student whose birthday not year but birthday is in that range or were there specific grades of students you were looking for in first grade because there's not every student who's enrolled in PPS that's what and but it can't be it can't be 10 students you asked for first graders who would have just missed the cut off the prior year like and there were 10 current first graders who had those birth dates of the meaning that they had been young they had missed the September 1 got off the PRI the year prior we ask
057the we we asked for just give us all the kids who have this age range and are in first grade not if they had gone through open because we didn't have um early entry so th this is just this is who we know of this is who the it has a year attach it's not any first grader with a September birthday it's the first graders who had the September birthday that would that would have missed the cut off so they are you're younger than most of their appears I'm not understanding then okay what what I do I understand what what birth dates are included it's in the sheet that um so it's on line four of the sheet um it was um 9218 to 9308 no that that's the line four is the 88 students
058those are the ones who were held that were held back um oh are we off line somehow mine f for sorry so you're you're saying there's only 10 first graders who had birthdays in the month of September who are currently enrolled in first grade meaning they came into PPS um either in um whenever they enrolled in PPS they couldn't enroll through early entry because early entry didn't wasn't an an option wasn't available they just missed the kindergarten cut off so they did not go to kindergarten and PPS and then they came back as young first graders basically is I'm not sure what distinction you're making other than well can I ask what is there's something startling about that number for you so what because how many first graders are there in PDS uh 3200 3,200
059so there's 12 months of the year year and so it surprises me that there's only 10 students born in September it there's not we're talking about two different years of September there's the year of September you would expect first graders to be um born in and then the ones who had missed the cut off the year prior there's two different she's asking for the former how I think she's asking a simpler question just how many first SE right tell us we we can find that information a different question than was asked last because the 2018 date that was in the EG students whose birthdays fall between 9218 and 93018 so that specific criteria produced that result the result of 10 but if you want the students who are both 2018 birth year and bir year
060we can get that for you what I'm trying what I'm trying to get is how many students this is apply to generally like not not who've applied or whatever but who have their birthdays in the month of September let's add that question to the list that's a it's a different question than we had last time and we can certainly get that data like I for me it's like this is sort of like calibrating like who's involved because it's like hey actually maybe only a small number of um students out of the total but to me it's like just Cali bring what what what are those impacted students because they are the ones who are most impacted okay so you're interested just in general of how many current first graders say how many September birthdays are
061there have September birthdays right and just to clarify I think I understand what both of you are answering they're different so yes and is the 10 just to calate with that is the students who would not have been eligible to go to kindergarten the year before but did go to first grade the next year anyway and right so it's like a that's the click down but I'm missing the piece in the in the middle um and if you'll just allow me to like even looking at that because I kind of like geeked out on it a little bit and was like wait who are these 10 how' they get here what' they go through I was just curious and like I we identified that a couple of them were in fact errors in how it
062was reported in the first place um that the the birth certificate and what the parent entered in the registration like weren't the same thing that there there's just all sorts of underlying factors within that she Dro them and kicked them we didn't ask yeah um yeah so I'm trying to just what what what the universe I'm sure we can we can get you that information what the universe is thank sure thank you sure so is this is this Fair there I've just um revised a little bit to say provide counts of all first grade students who have September birthdays regardless of birth year so we're the first one had the birth year of 2018 only and that didn't that's not what you were after this is every birth year but you're a September birth got
063right because I'm just trying to get the sense of like the the magnitude um and I could maybe do like oh 3,200 divided by 12 like an average would be X but I'm but it's also so like that is the most so like if your birthday is in October it's like um you're you're in the next year but if you're in August it's like hey you you get to go ahead and so I'm wondering how many students are impacted by that and then how many because I think that's the question we should ask the student Focus question like how many students are impacted um by it um so I'd appreciate that information then I guess I also want to followup because I think what I heard at last meeting is like we provide alternative Pathways
064and one was like going to preschool and I'm GNA want to um take the time I really appreciate the information coming back but like okay we're give parents preschool options the reality is like there's not enough slots for All Families to get a there's not like um even I know yeah I mean we like we have open slots right now right like there there are there are slots slots are there enough slots for every single um child in M County to have a free preschool slot no that's but we like we have open slots in PPS right right now that anybody could access that are preschool for all slots and therefore don't have income eligibility require um caps on them that anybody could access yeah um yeah Dana Styles is here if we have further
065questions um from the ear Department want to read yeah yes we provided you data provided um because I know that they just put out the preschool slots and the um answer is not everybody's going to get a slot and so I'm curious that we that PPS has slots that aren't being utilized the they meaning preschool for all is that who well or any that there's preschool Splats for PPS that aren't being utilized are they Head Start presol spots um we provided you with some data which you can look at um we are close to full we are not full we enroll all year long and we have slots available at some of our sites and I'm sorry we is PS PR which includes all of all of our funding is braided and Blended now so
066when we say PPS prek that includes our Head Start funded slots our preschool promise funded slots and our preschool for all funded slots we have all those types of funding at our various sites okay so I want to look at the data and again I apologize because normally like whatever whatever you send in advance like I'll have totally read it but yeah yeah and I apologize we just got the question it's it wasn't intentional so I appreciate that um the other question I had was um I'm really concerned like if people when people call PBS's enrollment transfer office and say and they're told like you you're allowed to enroll in a private school and then come back to PPS because I don't want PPS ever to be telling people to go to I mean we've
067got for whatever reason I believe in public education so I I don't like to hear stories that we're sending people to private schools so I'm I'm wondering like what our like better workaround than that is because um I don't I don't think that's what PPS should be telling people when we have enrollment challenges and we know what the value of public education is and we want families in our school because if they it's their oldest child and they send them to private school well first of all I don't know that they'll ever come back but they also all their siblings may go I understand um your question and um we don't encourage people to leave our system um also when people ask us well if I go to kindergarten what happens next I think that
068we owe them um a clear answer that reflects our policies and um the the answer is that if you have evidence of completing kindergarten at an accredited institution you have the right to enroll in first grade it's also by our policy or is it by State law no ma' by well that's what's in the so it's by our policy there isn't anything in state law that I think would VAR from that um you know the the law the law describes the ages um and this this um and also allows that you know kids who enter like it it it sets up those those limits um but it also says that there can be um variation so say if somebody asked that question and the enrollment transfer office answers that and that's the route they choose
069to me that seems like that's the ultimate privilege play um and because I was here when we got rid of all the testing and everything else in an effort to like remove privilege from the process um I'm curious do you think we should change our policy um because again that is the ultimate like you homeschool your kid for two months and show that like an accredited homeschooling program and show that they're ready for kindergarten and then you could come in or you send your student you do the workaround you send them to a private school and then you come back to PPS I mean should we be changing our policy um thanks for the question one thing that I was um interested in in director 's um anecdote was that when you went to a
070different district and they had different rules or they applied the rules differently they required a change and uh I would say um having I believe that um our guidance here in PPS is that we want to provide as much stability for students as possible and that that stability would mean a continued trajectory once you've achieved something you don't get stop wrong age go back start over and I I do um my knowledge and I will tell you this is anecdotal but it's anecdotal of 18 years in the same seat when we have kids coming and going it's because they've generally they've come from out of state they've come from other places they're at grade level and they just want to continue at that grade level are there students who may use this as a loophole
071to try and achieve something differently that the parents believe is important to them I I can't say that doesn't happen but if you were to um demand um entry based on age only and not on um um succession from prior grade level or continuing in current grade level I think that the potential for disrupting students who had been successful and found themselves in Portland would be um great as well so I would just encourage you to consider the other kids who fall into these categories if you look at the list of of States you see that there's a range of dates that um and some States leave it up to their local authorities to choose so we know my own anecdote my oldest child started school in Michigan where the cut off was December 1st
072it's now September 1st but it used to be December 1st so um those those we we want to continue to receive families in this in our district as movein and we want to see their children be able to continue with their education um and that they would be affected as well I I want to just interject on this um we heard from one person I think um director brim Edwards and I heard from one person that she was told by enrollment transfer and that's maybe that's their truth and I just want to appreciate you and your depth of experience um for being here in knowing what you know um and applying it equally um so we've heard this anecdotal doesn't mean that it's true and it's one person out of a district of 38,000 40,000
073kids so I hope that that my comment balances what we've heard out there thank that is that person's truth and it is not everyone's truth I also want to say like like I feel responsibility for families getting appropriate information and it's tough to hear feedback but this is important feedback and for my whole team there are families who call with these questions some of them are very frustrated and um want different solutions than what we offer and um I really value our staff who work with them who answer those questions to do the best we can but we have room to grow and so if our messaging needs to improve like we're taking that to heart and it's important that we know like what the expectations are as well so thank you thank you and
074I'll just say um there's like three people in this three people in this room have been through this discussion um Judy Jessica and I for several years and it's and it's and I think an attempt to um provide greater Equity um I think Emily maybe were you here the last time um for that your principal it's been going on for a long long time um and again I'm thinking about how it plays out so I'm not just reacting to one anecdote because we we hear lots of stories I mean we're now in our third meeting in which everybody at this board table said they went to I'm just just saying um and I actually went to I went to the first grade when I was three and a half in a different country okay I'm
075I'm going to just wrap this up because I made a commitment that we would be done by 5:30 and so I appreciate the information I'm sorry we weren't able to wrap things up and and um I'm going to read through it and I'll send my questions and I'll share them with my fellow board members as well and really appreciate it and also um Jessica for you um continuing to be part of the discussion and thanks to um everybody okay yeah thank you