001the policy committee meeting for August 28th and we'll start with introductions and why don't we start in the corner Cara hi Cara BR executive assistant uh Rachel L caral nice to see you again um oh moo mesne I'm a student at Benson I'm just I'm not I'm not part of this I'm just sitting watching yeah us do we have a student rep uh not yet I talked to Frankie about it but um I don't know maybe ask Rosanne done with the introduction SC Michelle dep pass board member Eddie W board member Julia redwards board member and committee chair Miss large contract General count afternoon guo superintendent almost the best rest in the room oh you're throwing it down almost close and we just finished introduction so if you want to go ahead and I'm Mary
002Kane senior legal council um so we originally thought we might have um perhaps any uh comment during the comment period on our first readings that we introduced last time that we recommended at last time but we haven't yet had them first read we missed the meeting so I'm assuming they're scheduled to be first read tomorrow tonight tonight tonight tonight okay all right and um so we'll go to the next um so on today's agenda we have um a number of different policies for consideration uh we have an affirmative action that would have a name change and also some regions to the policy that's been brought forward we'll go through that also one on class sizes then um we have one that we carried over from last meeting on nutrition services and from update from staff
003on that and then two other policies that we had um brought forward um that bring forward just for discussion and then public comment and I'm noticing that there's no other business at the at the on the agenda updated one one oh we added that other sorry I printed out before so then we have other business and then which I was just going to talk briefly about um a policy that had been uh forwarded to us um so with that I am going to ask staff to um pick it off with an explanation of the recommended changes in the affirmative action policy want me to do that okay uh yes so we wanted to update um this policy that hasn't been um reviewed or updated since its Inception in uh it's initial adoption in 2013 um
004there have been a number of changes this was actually um the review of it was sparked by some changes made in the last legislative session um including the change of the ACT which is now the Educators Equity act so from that we did a a more thorough review of the policy mizes that some of the processes that were contemplated uh in the initial policy are no longer um uh part of the uh process respect to our hiring process for teachers so we wanted to update to reflect current processes and the um the updated name of the Educators Equity act upon which this is based so I'm G to ask um and if the committee is okay with this for us to go through it just paragraph by paragraph about the deletions and the changes and
005sure um we can because depending on the amount of consensus or questions we can either go through it today and um recommend it out for first reading or we can um pose questions or propose changes and come back to the next meeting but maybe that's the easiest way to um see where the questions are or the the changes if that's okay sure I'll just note um that Stacy Jung from HR is scheduled to be here if there have question will may need to save them she's involved in some bargaining that's happening right now and you'll just sent me an email right before the meeting so you may be a little late I think we can address most of them but I want to just note that she will be joining us later questions right she
006can she can answer some of the questions with respect to the processes we have in place now to have a workplace would it make more sense to do the class siiz one because it may be easier or if you don't think it's too dist I I think either of it works whatever is the of the committee do you want to do it all one time when Stacy gets here and just move on to something else right now sure that'd be great I'm sorry I didn't raise that earlier that's okay think case you might walk in so um there is uh class side guidelines or it's called class SI and the proposed change would be class siiz guidelines and School staff allocations it's policy one currently the current version just says the board directs the superintendent
007to determine School staff applications of class siiz guideline for the district and to communicate that information to all district administrators um that was from 2002 and the um addition I'm suggesting which which the superintendent does follow and um does every year through the budget process and the Staffing allocations um the adding an amendment that would uh add to that class siiz guidelines of school staff applications for Focus programs Focus schools and dual immersion program shall align with school staff ocations and class side guid guidelines for neighborhood schools just the background for that is prior to last year the practice had been that principles had set the class siiz thresholds um in those schools in which there was a Lottery and this is just saying that they need to be treated schools um so if our
008neighborhood schools have thresholds of that are higher than what a principal decides is decided sort of unilateral for their own school is this um makes it more consistent um especially in places like Southeast or in some places in Northeast where there's a lot of um focused programs that are some ways competing with neighbor competing with neighborhood schools so that's the problem that solving then is to level the enrollment between Focus option and neighborhood programs yes and it's it's it's not prescriptive in how to do that because there is an art and science tool and um Dr Adams last year um did some work to provide Guidance just to schools versus the principal of saying I think our third grade should have X number of students okay do you have something yeah I would add um
009I agree with the direction that school enrollments class sizes these should be um centrally defined uh the way that we communicate these to our school administrators and communities is through our annual core programming guide so we will of course account for some programmatic uh considerations that that we have to take for instance immersion class certain grade levels but the goal overall would be to make sure that uh class sizes enrollments distributed inable fashion as much as possible great yeah I mean I agree with seems like a good direction especially adding that protection for neighborhood schools which I fully agree are there would there be any I guess my question would be do you foresee any like potential unattended consequences for this this added language here like in terms of um handcuffing the decisions in a
010certain direction that may not be what's best well that's that's why the language isn't overly prescriptive of how to do it because actually um this isn't a complete s for because what often happens with the Merion programs is um the way our class size thresholds and guidelines are structured is they are the numbers are lower in kindergarten and then they get higher um as the grades go up and say up to fifth grade the class size maximum is 34 or at 34 you get another teacher yeah and it's not perfect because what happens in dual immersion so they start out at the lower number and as they get higher generally what you see is attrition so it's not a it's not a perfect solve for because you still will have inequities of neighborhood schools saying
011hey we have 33 kids in our fourth grade class and an adjac and a a school nearby which may have like high socioeconomic um um ISS families with no free and reduced lunch and yet they um much lower class sizes just because you can't add students in immersion so but yeah so try not to be prescriptive um but to like acknowledge that we should not be having um artificially low level set for non- neighborhood schools and neighborhood schools BAS getting them set for them yeah we certainly want to strive not big disparities but you know schools emerging programs run into this phenomenon where as the years progress there is some attrition and if you're trying to join an immersion program in fourth fifth grade right like how can you meaning meaningfully participate if you don't
012know Vietnamese Russia and you're spend at that level uh and so so how do you account for that right I mean yeah I know we have person experience and also that if you have say a focus program that has 15 students in two class 15 students in two classes like they would get merged I mean theoretically because that's the same standard for neighborhoods schools unless you're unless you so those are the things that we look at every spring where does it make sense where is it efficiency uh where do we need to redistribute that staff at De to a school that maybe is a little higher it could use Rel uh we try to be as thoughtful as possible I think we've been fine-tuning it each year but we're still left with this question we
013should be setting those capacities um even if we're accounting for programmatic considerations to try to create as Equitable um optimal size as possible I guess that's that's my main because I I I I agree with the the goal because I mean we need protections for our neighborhood schols in there I just want to make sure that um it seems like from what I'm getting at this is more just like refocusing intention being like this is a priority not necessary like you said prescriptive not a prescrib things yeah well here here's what happened be before last year Focus programs let's choose let's say creative science school or Odyssey they could say we think the optical number of students is 28 and so they had a maximum of 28 and then an adjacent neighborhood School say Stevenson
014or Maplewood um near Odyssey they're like well if we if 33 kids show up for fifth grade we have to have you know the district tells us like we have to take put 33 kids in a class and we had this other program where the school is setting basically their own class size limits and their own um you know and and their own Staffing levels versus the district setting it so last year Dr Adams and again not to be prescriptive because there is a little bit of Art and Science to it came up with the more equitable yeah way way to do it so it wasn't just neighborhood schools taking having the higher boes so there's a little bit of a load up and the primary grades and the immersions were possible you know that's
015sort of the only flag here on the language when it says shall align well I may not be able to find four Japanese speaking fourth graders so it may not align uh but we're possible to do that yeah but those are the allocations and guiding not the actual okay great else director Holland thank you for joining us justserve um do we feel comfortable in moving it Forward yes yes okay we move that one [Music] up another one yeah okay um so the naming of school district properties so this was um so you should have both a clean copy and a umine red line copy and I'm just going to note that there actually is an error in the red line version um on number one number four it says the school board will take one
016of these actions and then it has some language that struck out this actually isn't in the original the language is struck is not um it's actually not in the original policy so if you look at it was an edit to the red line number four yeah so if you look between the new version the the the revised version and the dist policy there is no number four so that was I think I might be looking at the wrong version okay so you want to look at the one that says one 14 you saying the naming School District property I have just the two attachments do you do you have this policy up the red line yes I do okay if you look at number four that should be all that should be all new yes
017and what I'm saying is the part that struck out is actually wasn't isn't it looks like it's looks like it's edited it's like looks like it's editing the original but actually this whole paragraph is new the whole paragraph is new okay so so I mean walk through the walk through the changes the changes essentially in this um there's two small changes see so this policy was extensively worked in 2018 um when we had apparent complaint about um the mascot for Franklin being a religious organization and so we reworked this policy and updated it it hadn't been updated since 2004 for and made a number of of changes the primary change there's one small change in number three and then there's an addition in number four so if you go to one three just deleting the
018word every effort um because guess what does that mean and some sometimes um Michelle as you know like for example when we got to the iwls mascot um at the meeting something that even though lotss of eyes had been on it we ended up at the meeting um withdrawing the mascot name that was being submitted and chose a different name um so every effort I think it just seems like an overstatement maybe yeah and then um the addition of number four is the result of um over the last seven years we've had a number of school communities have come and petitioned or individuals who have petitioned for name changes and um sometimes they've gotten responses and sometimes they haven't and so things keep cycling things keep cycling back to the board if I had to
019get a response so this provides for a response and then there's a very one one of three actions um and there's a very extensive ad that describes the process by which it defer action request to a later um but it provides some sort of inial response versus just going into the Vortex of people want um declining the request do we want to lay out why it seems kind of um do we want to lay out why we might not accept why we might decline a request um well I see if there's a renaming maybe like who gets to decide I guess um if it's declined or not for what reasons like right a school named after a racist historical character Community might come forward forth and you know mention us another name of someone that
020might be problematic the the most common reason for declining a request that we've had in the my 10 years is usually like lack of Community Support um it probably depends on who you ask because we went through this with Jefferson several years ago I think it was before I was on the board about renaming it and there was a lot of um dissension within the community so within the community that was the Jefferson Community right so for example something like that the board could choose option number three which is um defer it to a later date I asked the superintendent to set up a process that to get a consensus on whether to change it or not which is how we dealt with that request that came to our board meeting from 2001 to 2005
021every board meeting we had a request to change Chon name but there was just one individual asking for it oh wow very adamant person like literally CLI Walker he's the one who also instigated a long time Jefferson he comes to all the Jefferson meetings um and at that time the response from the co-chair who was a Jefferson grad was that when you have a consensus among the Jefferson alumni Community to move something forward we'll do that okay um my assum my my assumption is if the board declined the request they probably would give an answer but I don't know that we need to put that in policy I just curious about that because it does depend on who's you know making that decision that's at the board you know like as you mentioned there was
022a vice chair that was from that community that you know declined on behalf of the board I was just curious if there was a set of criteria that we would use to make that decision as a board so does is it is it addressed in the ad which I don't have in front of me uh this this school or decision making the decision making yes with with that bullet point number two to decline the request maybe wouldn't tell the board what to do they distruct staff okay that's true thank you turn remember we had we had somewhere what has spr support the reason this is in here and we could add reasons if you wanted the reason that's in here is no response is not really I mean has been a def deao Decline and
023it's disrespectful to I mean the past we've had students bring things forward or community members it's like getting getting a response like actually no we're not going to do that or we're already running three other processes or pick time I think I I I understand it a little bit differently than the first than the question I asked it so that's just um saying that there will be like a formal decline some kind of a response exactly it would either be one of the bullet points yes we're going to direct the superintendent or we're going to decline the request at this time okay I like that I like having a response especially for community members I forgot there's one other change but it doesn't look like it's showing up can I ask a question um do
024do those requests usually come in to the board office or how do they they come in a variety ways I mean sometimes we get like student positions sometimes it's just a Community member there one example that I think I had shed I ordered the board a couple times from a middle school that had a request so we follow the process to forward the principal to see if that person could um take on that work and Lead their community in that conversation so so we did respond there was response I said this is the process and corrected them so it didn't go unanswered but that same group submitted a petition and I think 2018 and we also had one we had one on Kellogg before the school got rebuilt that basically nobody gotes and I just
025think it's discourteous to community members if they especially your students who I mean we're not always going to agree with them but this is this is directing response right one way or the other I'm for that well but not yet so what's being proposed here is that the board would hear the request and the board would decide are we going to proceed or not that's the prerogative if you're going to choose to direct superintendent and I'm gon toti because um the reason we try to make these teachable moments for the community and they definitely involve a lot of coordination and organizing mostly on the part of the principal and all the other stakeholders that are involved there there might be an individual who went to the school 20 years ago right now the school Community
026is focused on something else not that they don't disagree we should look at the name but they want to have a process about it and so we don't have a capacity inally to do it if we're going to make this something that we want to open up we could easily end up with 10 of these for the coming school year that's going to require a resource to be able to coordinate that many processes which a principal may not be prepared to sort of lead this coming there might be a new principle they might have other things going on so you know I would want to have a discussion about that you we can proceed with it but then we're gonna have to put resources behind it you know in order to do a meaningful job
027uh if it's a priority I would expect that but what I would say is that since 2018 lent has asked L has asked for a name change community members both community members and students and lots of students and because of a variety of things at it didn't didn't happen and [Music] then we also had I say a request around Kellogg that just got that never got responded to and in the meantime other like Wilson um and it's it's a value judgment of like who was worse would Ro Wilson or Joseph Lane I mean I would pick Joseph Lane but the Wilson went ahead so resources were spent um so from my perspective is everybody deserves a response and and I feel like especially School communities that don't have a lot of political and social capital
028of getting a response of one way or the other and we could add in here um gu Lup or superintendent Guerero if you wanted something that um you know you would lay out whatever the resource request is or sequencing you have a new principle of like we'd like to start this in the spring versus the fall I mean I don't to me this it's designed to be high level that but certainly um District capacity could be taken into account I mean we also had you know Benson's name change kind of Leap Frog over the Lane Community as well and it was mainly around just the change in understand the change in in principles but also it just never got started so is the process following the ad process which is pretty complicated and requires a
029lot of community uh School Community input was that what delayed it at Lane but that ad process was just from last year for three three years ago they asked for a change and submitted a petition as well before it was the principal I think um superintendent Guero if you would like us to add something with some parameters about what we would need to consider in terms of the for directing you to do it would we because I would want us to manage the broader community's expectations like if it's everybody if we're just going to form a queue right and a renaming coordinator to be named can do one every three to six months then you know there'll be some criteria to determine the order necessary okay we we haven't go ahead Dr um so I'm
030looking at the P so um one I don't think this this is just me I don't I don't see the relevance of the board hearing this first but even if we did this if the super is going to conductive enement process or would that take it back to the ad anyway and then whether Community groups are there or not there yeah what what's what's happened is f if you look at the ad first of all it doesn't have the board being the final Arbiter of the decision because sometimes it just never even gets to the board and frankly I think communities who bring something forward deserve a response and if if the response say say for example if the response went first the superintendent the superintendent said no then it's removing the responsibility it's for
031the naming for the Board of Education yeah when I look at it it seems really managerial it seems it just seems managerial and I guess I guess I'm thinking if we GNA really be an efficient or like I I guess I just see every two or three years students are whoever wants to change the name of the school it it's just as simple as going to talk to the board and the bo okay so attended start the process it seemed like this could be a process for every few years that could happen depending on the community at the time and so I I guess I just I just see this more as a managerial Cas for them to be able to manage that versus uh you know it coming to the board to kind of
032to manage just so this is this was the process and we had school communities that never got responses or staff deciding not to move ahead with the process or we've got a I mean literally Lane has been waiting for five years know but Lan we change the ad pardon we look at how we change we don't change the ad we only have the ad is a staff is the staff implementation of the policy but we can direct them to change ad right well we that wouldn't be um that's that's getting into that's just the current policy so if you want a a different kind of AD then you got to offer clarification on the policy which is the thing that's being actually as the person who wrote the policy I think the current ad and
033you and I have spoken about this is I don't think the current ad is reflective of what was the intent of the policy because it essentially has staff not moving forward on name changes on their own decision making yeah like I I think I I agree with you with the problem and I see where TR to solve it be helpful to maybe Define like a threshold for what it means when we have Community um uh request for changing a name you know like versus like you know one person coming up versus like an actual like you have 80% of the parents who are like not happy with this name right like some kind of threshold that we could fine that would automatically push it to um instead of just like a random right that way
034it would push Lane to the front because they've been impressing for five years but you know we don't have to worry about someone who doesn't agree with I Wells anymore two or three people you have to figure out how you define that Community engagement right like 80% of how do you quantify that all right how do you quantify this 8% of I hear and I I I hear frustration about Lane and I think you know seem like we're making a PO decision about one school um versus the Govern over all the districts I guess guess for me if this is about Lane maybe we just make an action about Lane specifically it happened with kog too I'll just say and I'm gonna just stick up for Southeast Portland you so it's like it happened twice
035to two middle schools with very little um social socioeconomic clout and they did they did come with a bunch of students and staff um so I would you know I think that could make sense and be a bigger filter to that could be a filter versus like one person so it's not just somebody randomly so it triggers an action I I like what you mentioned because it triggers action for example if so I think that's worthwhile to add another filter but if you deferred the action another thing would be defer action that the later date like you don't have enough Community Support or this seems like a to L it's a tricky part right do you want toose something um you don't have to do it right now I mean no yeah I'll think about
036it because I think I mean it it would make sense if there were some kind of petition process or if it yeah like how do you define like what it means when a a good chunk of community is requesting a name change right how do you how do you make situations like Kellogg and Lane be able to step forward automatically but then you don't have to add more manager old load because we have like random people requesting all yeah it's a totally different way to to do it and this is what a lot of other big public institutions did [Music] in um like 2016 to 2020 um was they actually set up a basically um a group of um not historians but experts State as an example they set up a group they commissioned them
037like look at all our names um and they basically prepared to report on all the names I mean some of them were just you know like two paragraphs and there were like three or four names which um organ State didn't want to have associated with its buildings I mean one of them being Benton County or there's a hall named Benton but after it's also the same person that Venton county is named after and so they so then you narrowed it down to so this is just a different way and I'm not suggesting it but just a different way to do it versus like the one versus the one-offs um yeah I'm like that IDE I think it brings people together to do that I suggested it and we could I mean you could have the
038organ Historical Society because Carrie Tim shuk has offered already just you know provide a whole host of resources but basically they came back with three names and we did not change for example Benton Benton hall because we said we were naming it after the the community members of Benton County um and then the other two we renamed and you the uo and you could look up online uo did very similar process that University of Hawaii lots of our um academic higher ed um they have the process down really well and they didn't they didn't come up with cl a lot I mean so I think uo had two or three and they changed them and then um Oregon state had a similar number out of something like 30 or 40 buildings so that's that's just
039a different way to proceed this is more of a oneoff but they basically gathered a bunch of experts they didn't it wasn't like a district sta like it wasn't ohu staff that did it it were people who knew about the more historical I got I like that idea work I think it gets and you can have the communities that and those those people community members actually take part in that as well and then I mean they can take ownership in that as well versus I I just worry about this this going to the board piece because I just see us having conversations more about what we're going to name schools and what and I'll be H I think a lot of times naming a school is just a superficial act that doesn't really get to
040the systemic race structures that have those have put those in place right and so I I love the fact that you know we talk about changing them but I think I just don't want to get bogged down with board work with having four or five people come up or or even four or five communities come we want to change the name we want to change the name we want to change the name and we we Veer off from the actual work of the students to looking at talking about this stuff all the time or if we rejected them all that would be one thing but I'll just say the fact that IB Wells a very affluent not not a very diverse Community it's pretty Chang not at all compared to Lane I mean just look
041at the demographics and not from a soci economic standpoint or or Kellog so yeah me I'll just say the the current practice has resulted in the schools with the least amount of political capital and socio economic capital of being heard so I don't know I'm thinking about Madison you know um yes how did how did Lane get skipped over five years he's Nam after the wor well we can do there a lot of buildings and stuff artifacts that's named after folks that you know historically is not acceptable now but I how how can we if is this about lane or and Kellog right how can we just focus on those two schools and have a focuses on hey let's look at renaming those two schools because I've raised this several times over the last five
042years and the answer has basically the the Comm the community has had no response and then like last year it got started and then it's like oh the process we have actually it's all driven by the principal so the fact that the principle keeps changing also has so that also has an impact on that but now that we know that these are issues right I mean I don't I was here five years ago so I don't know um but just thinking now that fact that we have different folks on on the board right now maybe we can't just they focus because there is change in community with the the regular um principal Le process but maybe we can now say you know what superintendent we need you to go ahead and start them renaming process
043for Lane and Kell okay that that's what this exactly says but but I have a problem with this in the policy because I don't want so for instance if business kids know two years from now I want to name it from Astros to you know I don't know and we can we can Gary we can decline the request but then I don't think that's a board issue I mean at that at that level as far as just you tell me how you're going to solve for schools that don't have any socioeconomic Capital who are being ignored by the process what their solution is because I've been assured for three years four years that something will happen and nothing has happened so this and so I think it's disrespectful to our school communities who come and
044petition to get no response and maybe we make sure that staff make sure their responds but but but I'm hearing more how do we just how we fix the how we deal with it now right deal with it now as far as hey so and we can have the board say hey so we need we can pass a resolution on Lan and Kellogg if you want to but but the issue is also well you want to know what happens for the next time and I I feel I feel it's disrespectful to school commity in school communities who most often get ignored are those the ones ping to the choir I I hear you and I agree with you I'm just say I think it's I don't think it needs to be this point I think
045it needs to be more of how do we as a board dictate say hey staff we need to make sure we get a response to those folks one way and if that doesn't happen and if that doesn't happen then as a board we can say you know what this is going along long enough the the principal um driven process is not working because we Chang principles every two or three years so by the time they do get some momentum going and all of a sudden well then maybe at that point say you know what this has been happening we need to take a different approach now we do something different I just don't I I guess I just see this getting bogged down so what you're describing though is like the board can't what you
046just said is the board will tell the superintendent to respond it's like the board can only do that in a board meeting in official action because none neither none of us individually have the authority to tell the superintendent to do something or to respond to something I me that's the board hey that's this is exactly what this is doing but no this is how us respond not superintendent responding well I think there's like a fundamental or like whole or you know it's a common problem with a lot of dishes right which is loudest voices yeah issue right I mean that that's just fact of life I mean everyone struggles with that I mean so I mean would it be helpful I mean I think an ideal solution would be something that doesn't increase the workload
047on our on our central office at the same time it filters you know the stuff that we don't need to be looking at um like I hear what you're saying like you creating more workload and or maybe even bogging down some taking time away from like real work that these done but like there like I think you're addressing the most important issue there is a core systemic issue which is you know the loudest voices effect there some some places are getting more attention than others would it be helpful to I mean I'm just brainstorming but like there's a lot of people in our community that would love to partake in in like the experts of renaming schools and stuff like that like having something similar to like um the CVC or something maybe like Southeast
048guiding no there right um but like you know like a committee of community people who like are the experts of naming that requests can go through them and they would be the ones that right um I'm I'm just I'm just brainstorming but IDE of I like that idea have something that says that we we look at names maybe every five or seven years so that way those schools that are not getting heard it will be looked at because we're looking at the whole thing in totality right so now everybody gets looked at I say I suggested it five years ago and let's make it happen now again so I just want with you I'm getting texts from so there was there was in November of last year a meeting where PPS representative was attending a
049meeting to talk about about it on June 133 2023 there was a letter to the Lange Community um saying that it will happen I was not involved in these so I'm just I don't have a lot of the knowledge but I think there has been it has taken time but there has also been some interaction with the c so my understanding is that lane is slated to occur this fall they were first on De and I believe that that's been communed to the school community of course we have a new principal there we'll make sure to reiterate that get the school opening that their turns up uh but we need to fix because like it's been six years that this is and I feel like we're just going to fix if we just fix it
050for Lane it doesn't get after the the core issue which is school communities that came that come to the they come to the board and our policy has the board has the sole responsibility of you know naming naming schools or renaming it is that a communication that happens you know a year after almost I mean they were promised last year was going to happen and then it didn't happen but it also was something they students raised I mean frankly those students are now in high school I think we should invite those students in and we can it sounds like it's happening it's happening now for lane and then do we need to solve for Kellog I like your idea about setting a time to consider every few years I don't know about every seven years
051but I'm also wondering how much how often this will be coming up I mean 2020 everybody wanted to rename everything after George Floyd I mean I don't think there's that many more that we're gonna frankly re rename or that we know that well there might be in the future we just don't know because seen any individual could say I don't like the name of this one or yeah I really love prob after her if it had no historical basis for why we would accept it we wouldn't just change the name of the school sure I just I don't think I don't think you're I hope you're not I hope we're not making assumptions about my leadership core values or this administration's not wanting to always take critical look at our most underserved communities because I
052think we've taken and shown evidence over the last six years of that there have been other things that have been happening that our limited capacity as an Administration has been focused on we know that this is one that's been on deck that it's one we need to make right there's lots of schools that we shouldn't be honoring people that there but it's partly like we've said from the beginning we could be like other school districts and say Here's 10 names we're going to change tonight and these are the 10 new ones we took a different approach we said we're going to make this a real teaching educational opportunity and that to do that well we wanted to support that and make it educational and do the background do the history and you've heard our students
053show up and talk about that process it was very meaningful for them to land at the recommendation that they could share ownership and feel good about and we want that to be the case with each of the schools that we want to look at so if it's not going to be the Principal that's coordinating this because you know I'm going to need a rename team you know to do these depending on how many we're we're we're think contemplating taking on I see that you need a rename renaming team because there haven't been that many requests but when we get a request it seems like if because if I it seems like they should get a response from response they should get a response and if it gets rejected or just not dealt with it should
054go to the it should be the board should be making that decision because we're the final arbitr of whether or not um a school name change happens and so what's happened in the past is it and even the way the ad is written actually the ad is written the principal could or the principal supervisor could decide not to move ahead and that is to me then having actually a staff person make a decision that we're not moving ahead head no it's clear you would like the board to make that decision versus a principal who maybe it's their first year they got 10 of the things are trying to focus on that year but if the board wants to say irrespective of that superintendent we want you to support SCH the process and I'm saying okay
055uh that'll require some resource and we'll have to work around the other work that school community may be focused on but we can do that so long as you know we don't inundate you know with with requests to do that in any school I want make a suggestion um Eddie you could think of some potential filters so there's not a whole bunch of requests superent Guerrero if you have um parameters or things you think the board should consider whether it's timing resources um you do it that way in the meantime um maybe director Hollands we could have an offline online discussion I can share with you the U ofo and the OSU process that you can see what that looks like and you can see if that's an alternative approach um I will just say
056on the the broader look um I wouldn't recommend having just regular community members like um for the initial cut because the initial cut is who historically these people the these people are I mean obviously you'd want a diverse group of historians or people who understand but it's it's not so much um like hey we' just like to rename our school but is there a reason for renaming our schools I mean Lane students have said they don't even like calling their school Lane because of who Joseph Lane yeah was so so that's like different approach so I think I like that and the reason why I like that because it don't have to just always be because of somebody's you know historic downfall right you can also be we want to celebrate somebody else new right
057I love the idea as far let's look at how we can bring Academia together whoever historians together because like said I think don't always have to be we try to get rid of the negative could be we can't beating the positive too and we want to honor not like we did the prop we want to honor someone as well and I think that that I would be Lov to have that uh off worker conversation also say the level of communication between staff and the board has not been um very robust so for example about the whole Lane process so um whatever we decide having um the board know what the the process is so if it's being delayed or it's not going to happen that there be more communication because that is an I say
058when when the petition comes to the board and then it gets it doesn't happen as a reflection we can run a tighter process with the dedicated staff that is true how I mean I feel like number four one 14 is actually kind of two sentiments number one is that the issue of like kind of respecting the these people who are coming to to petition for a name change is a timely response right so like the request for name Properties by individuals you know uh it should be a timely response you know one of these responses right in a timely manner but then the school board is also a separate feel like it's a separate thing a timely response from the district it could be from the district and then maybe the school board you know
059it could take one of these actions the district can direct as a decline request or should sorry um or may refer it to a school board yeah one of one of the issues I have with the district declining the request is that actually then that is a decision not to rename and that actually the decision on naming is the boards to do okay but you could divide it in two so if you want to come up with two potential homework we ready for of action Stacy is here uh Mary's gonna walk through changes in a little more detail and St provide technical advice on data um so the first paragraph as I as I mentioned this policy uh is reflected uh reflective of state law regarding um the diversity in Workforce uh statute and so
060the first changes are is language that I is pulled directly from the statute um as I mentioned earlier um the ACT is now called the Educators Equity act um and so that's that first purple section um and I took out the old language and um uh I we also took out the the language in the first paragraph that directs the superintendent to create an Implement an affirmative action equal opportunity plan um this may have been established at the time but it's not in existence now and the district has um Within in HR and Stacy talk about that uh A diversity protocol uh had um dver diversity Workforce protocol and it's on our web page but I'll let Stacy talk a little bit about that um oh and I can also add what we have added
061to in um I think what was what that original plan was to do was to be reported back to the board of what gains we had made or what what progress we were making and so we have because we've removed that language we have added it's on page two on the second paragraph that we that the district shall provide an annual report to the board see what um how we are making gains on that on that promise Stacey do you want to talk about the the the programs within HR that um this action plan oh sorry I I have a question about um I just have it highlighted here on my copy about um I'm just curious why we removed the number of minority teachers including administrators employed by school districts and education service districts
062shall be approximately proportionate to the number of children is it just the use of the word minority uh that was the old language I take the old language out and and the proportion is a piece I was curious about it seems like we would want to aim still want to aim for some I think if you look above that it talks about in a manner that reflects the percentage of diverse students in the public schools of the State trying to get the same language idea it's different language with the same idea that sits just above that Del um I guess on that yeah I saw that also above um if we want to mirror the population in the state or do we want to the state overall has a a very low African-American population and
063Portland of course has has a higher number of uh African-American folks yeah as I said I was so if we're mirroring the state you know proportion we're looking at 06 so you're just saying Michelle you would drop the of the state um so you just have refle the percentage of students in the district I have few Concepts there I can see it causing some trouble I mean because like the the um it's an or there's a there's like a generational La in terms of diversity right like our younger kids are way more diverse yes and so like teachers if you're trying to employ all these teachers and 99% of them are white right like there's no I mean there's almost no way you can achieve that goal I mean so I feel like I mean
064I I that's I'm not saying they wrong I'm just saying like that's that's the kind of problem I can foresee happening and that um you know like what if it's binding you to hiring maybe not the best candidates people because you're I mean like I think there should be some things where we're we're pushing or recruiting and that I think I like that um but I I can see the problem because of that kind of generational lag and in our diversity numbers I think that's why the languages shall strive to is in looking at it's creating those educational opportunities that will bring in more diverse uh applicants I think that and again I'm G to turn to Stacy about what that looks like it's about bringing more applicants to the table so that we can
065get the best we can have both right so you can have the both things they're not mutually exclusive I have a statistic to share um so um 80% of people people over 50 are white and then 50% of people under 50 are not white and so there is that generational kind a demographic lag um but we still have if we're looking at people under 50 would be we would be hiring people that are coming out of college um we still have a larger pool than we would have had 10 years or 20 years ago that's nationally not just Port that's National it's it's mirrored in Portland as well yeah um yeah I have all kind of issues with this um one we talk about can I just adest something um let's cat them so if
066you could go through it section by section what your issues or questions are and I send me in or no just go ahead go through just to make sure that when you start talking about a section just tell us what sections it's in so we can so we start with the right under affirmative action employment actually let start with page one Educator's Equity what did that mean are we talking about gender Equity are we talking about lgbtq Equity are we talking about race Equity what what kind of equity are we talking about the issue the is I have with this is because Equity is just so ambiguous that that it forgets the fact that we're talking about race and if we're doing that then that's like very racing race like it's not there anymore because
067Equity could be that income equity for you know students who parents have money or not money what Equity are we talking about well the state looks at a number of different protected classes and we we we also have that in within our 1802 policy where we talk about those protective classes which include race but it also includes gender uh uh gender identity um religion uh it's it's noted and um the language that you see in the first par paragraph in the equal opport equal employment opportunity section is the language that comes from our current policy 1820 so that is what we're talking about okay so we're no longer talking about minority act piece when we're talking about specifically teachers of color corre could be now we need now we need c teachers now we need
068you know right disability teachers so now so we just got rid of all the other stuff we just adding all this other stuff as Equity so that means we're erasing Equity from us because that case if we talk about like say superintendant so say superintendent equals the portion of the students as well and and that's what I have a problem with this Equity piece because racist what the in Act was in the beginning so I I wantan to I I don't know the intent when it was drafted director Holland I think the first section the minority theater act no policy that we are amending so the first section does I think speak to race the second equal employment opportunity was part of the existing policy we can take it out and put it elsewhere that's
069a equal employment opportunity is a broad statement that applies across lots of protected classes and has for a long time so it's not trying to it's it's an and not a grab if you will um and and it's not trying I don't think it's trying to dilute but we could maybe make that cleaner or we could move it elsewhere yeah mean I'm not talking about I understand the Equal Employment Act I get that I'm talking about you know from the education Equity ACT versus the minority teacher act you talking about when you diluting we exactly that's exactly what we're doing is that we're not no longer talking about educators of color now we're talking about educ education Equity I think we're talking about diverse a diverse um uh a more diverse educator population that reflects
070the population of our students as well it's more reflective but it starts with I mean the policy still starts with to close the racial achievement Gap uh we must Portland Public School staff must reflect the diversity of the students and it references the racial education Equity policy again we can make it more I I think the intent is not to dude it even though the legislature changed the name of the ACT but the policy you know the board here owns how we how we talk about that and the intent was to update it to reflect the current act language but you no one changed that recitation of racial achievement Gap uh racial education Equity policy I me I think that was at least the intent of the edits but I want to make I mean
071this is the the board gets to help craft and strengthen so we are I I like the word minority take being changed out because we're actually the global majority people of color art um but I think maybe it would go um further to be more explicit about that because I I have that same sentiment that when you don't explicitly call something out because you're trying to be polite and inclusive it can have the effect of of seemingly um being being erased if it's not specifically called out guess I'm confused um D holl are you talking about the Oregon educ uh Equity act the name of that or just the the way it side here isn't the educator Equity act that was just passed like this right well it was it was it was revised and
072it was originally called the minority teaching act so that's and then they revised it and updated the language and the and the title and they had those definitions in the educ Educators Equity act right and so I guess should we also be including that in here just be like direct and you bored about it think we we need to call out what it is I I just I just have a problem with the system to dilute or you know what what it is that we're actually really trying to do and I think I think we need to be an example of no not going to we're not going to follow the step status quo right we're actually going to do what we feel is best right um when you start looking at and it's not
073just this it's the Supreme Court it's you know certain laws that's happening if we are going to be really really a different organization right we have to do things totally different and this I feel this is just keeping with the status quo of how this the system is trying to change and know I like that sent it's like PPS we should be the leaders the examp set the example right not just follow the law I'm also noticing a trend in you know getting rid of equity departments and removing language and you know we don't need Equity committees anymore and you know we're we're already there and so I think it is important to in this time in in history to be explicit I don't think anybody would argue that yes we need diverse inclusive workplaces
074but we can't use the explicit emphasis on engaging in efforts that increase educators of color being in our classrooms and yes all other so just want to make sure that also comes through as the main goal and and I'm curious to hear um some of the things that we're doing um I've heard some of them but would love to so related to that I see a sentence that's been added in the first paragraph at the end the superintendent budget shall incorporate diverse Workforce rols provided in this PO I think I think what it's trying to is strategies that steps F them to be able to have strategies and actions implemented Stacy can I lean on you at this point yep uh Stacy johnes Senor director um we uh through the Strategic plan this last couple
075of years we've been focused on the diverse high quality thriving Workforce strand in the in the Strategic plan uh we we did a partnership with education Northwest this last uh school year using the house bill 4030 funds to do an environmental scan where we looked at the life cycle of PBS employees to better understand some best practices where we can improve and started to get recommendations back on that so we're looking at how we utilize that information uh to build a plan going forward so looking at things like evaluating envisioning our um entire attraction and recruitment process building our recruitment plans seeking and establishing pipelines and Partnerships with our hbcus strengthening our relationships with current local uh universities to build uh student teacher pipelines with the Wallace Foundation that we're leaning into and the work
076for the for the principal pipelines there one of the things that we heard from the environmental scan was on boarding and how that supports new Educators new employees and how we build that more sustainably across the board uh will also help with retention uh and looking at some reimagining Wellness plans and thinking about our kind of r and also our separation uh how how how how have or at least since I've been on board how has our initial um Recruitment and Retention how have that been going for the last few years uh I think all of it has been Trends in the right direction uh we are looking at providing uh data I think it Sharon said October 1st uh in alignment with the student enrollment timing when they release student enrollment pulling that data
077forward to take a look at how we're doing in comparison to our students actually match that and then you can look at the trends from year to year we don't don't know that it don't have it off the top of my head um we have some data that I do not have ready for right now dror Hans we staff would be happy to take back that first part of the the whole Community the first part of the policy and try to draw out very more explicitly about race um I think director a reference to this definition I've been over here looking looking at also add they're including it's not a it's not an entire definition it's diverse um it means culturally or linguistically diverse characteristics of a person including origins in any of the black
078racial groups of Africa but is not Hispanic Hispanic culture or origin regardless of race origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East South East Asia the Indian subcontinent or the Pacific Islands origins in any of the original peoples of North America including a Indians or Alaskan natives or a first language that is not English so that apply That's the Law um and we can incorporate that into least sorry go ahead go I was gonna say incorporate that into the paragraph for clarity but it's also I want to be sure um I know what I'm hear what we're hearing also includes the law is the floor not the ceiling so we at least comply with the law but do we do some things over and above that legally compliant into perhaps more B
079yeah I like to see what that looks like um and also went from actually got out of it but they said know the minority teacher act said we must get there and now we now we should strive to there I think that's to me that's like it going backwards so we go from saying we going to do something oh no something um so the success is in the trying right not right um I think I have issue with that I think we're really striving to be the leaders an education that we're trying to strive for us to get to that top five you know School District in the country right we we don't try to get there well our goal is to get there right our goal is to eliminate not try to eliminate not
080you know that's to me that's that's a that's an easy way out um of something if you know we said say we're going to diversify our staff of other do it right not what we're going to drive because then the accountability is oh well this is what we tried to do this what we tried to do well we made that not what we are going to do that's like me said I'm G strive to pay I'm G strive to give you your paycheck right yeah that probably wouldn't go too well you know in the interview right do my best yeah I'm GNA do my best right um so I think as we look at this policy um I think we need to really be really intentional like we have been I think we need to
081be the leaders like we have been um and if that means in standing against the status quo that's out there then that's what we do um change Don't Come Easy change don't come you know easy and soft and it comes with intentionality and I think if we really are talking about you know who we are as the district and we need to pay attention sorry for Tak over you know just Sor we're happy to take that back it's really helpful feedback and that would be the intro intro and any other conforming pieces um the out the emplo equal employment opportunity again is a is a related but different section and we would we would find the other there was a lot of redundancy it was repeated in the first part on the third part so
082we tried to streamline it so we would we we look at all of it and not try to do it here in the middle of tell exactly where it is but we want to make sure but if there are other aspects in other than the first paragraph that you'd like us to revise keep questions coming while we have all the relevant staff here okay I don't want to think up too much time though forance we took out the board of further director superintend to designate affirmative action officer what do that I don't know what did that mean do that mean we not focusing on that anymore or is there a different office on page two so the the the board is designating chro to oversee compliance with and commitment to the practices most policy so
083that's so that so once again that takes out that in the intentionality saying well Chief you know research officer which that's their job as far as any any any way to recruit and hire folks so it kind of takes away the yeah just director Holland I didn't realize how late it was so what I'm gonna ask is that you um share any questions or comments okay to all the committee but nobody re and the staff but don't nobody respond back so we don't have a public meeting but so that we understand um what your questions and conerns are and we can um work through at the next committee meeting um and I only putting a pin in it because I know we have two people who have signed up to speak public comment and we
084have two minutes each and also I want to also just briefly we had another agenda item but two um School initiation closures and um on that particular Poli I've added some language which makes clear that closing a neighborhood program um is would require a school initiation and closure report um neighborhood same school programs um school and then in addition but we can talk about more more about that the next meeting the nut nutrition services did you confirm that all the all the items that are currently in the policy are already in federal law or state law I did not but these two did federal and or state law so the everything in there like the meal shaming the the board setting the price of school lunch that's all in federal law so there's state law
085or state law and so we don't need to have a policy we don't need to have a policy okay with that is are is the committee okay with resending it do we need a policy that just restates state law and and federal law no so the meal shaming piece do we still charge fees though it's it's not and it's not allowed okay it's not allowed I didn't get that from reading it because I skied it really fast today about it too are you we okay with recommending resending it yeah because it's um with that you signed up for public so come on come on up to the main table and um you have two minutes CL Clark c l a r ke I'm a member of the reform PPS funding group and a Roosevelt High
086School parent uh parent of student M school I'm here to today to express our group's gratitude that the policy committee is continuing its interest in reforming Foundation policy after three years I'm sure that we're all feeling a little bit stuck on this um and so at the request of the committee chair our group spent the weekend working on a draft policy that was emailed to all of you and Chief of Staff Jonathan Garcia we hope this policy this draft policy lends Clarity on how we can bridge the gap from where we are now and where we'd like to be as a district in regard to Foundation fundraising for FTE as our group has stated in Prior public comment We Believe new policies would be the product of community collaboration during a transition period therefore our
087draft policy recommends the following the board will establish a working group of community members to prepare a transition plan to manage districtwide Foundation the working group will review and determine if existing Foundation relevant policies should be replaced revised or repealed after three years of deliberation we feel it's mandatory to include in our draft policy a sunset Clause that terminates the current role of local school foundations and lsf fundraising June 30th 20124 our group is eager to meet with any or all of you before the next policy committee meeting to answer questions about our draft policy so efficient and constructive discussion can occur at the next meeting and because we hope that this committee can move our policy forward to the full board for a vote immediately after the next policy committee meeting thanks very much
088thank you we have somebody online as well we do Donna Ingram Hi how are you thank you for having me Donna Ingram she her and I don't have as much of an eloquent presentation because I just found out about this situation about five minutes ago um I'm with h keep local school foundations and many of you have heard from me in the past um you know this is really surprising to us because we had been working with reform PPS over the summer and at the end of a school year and having really wonderful and productive conversations and to find out that the uh committee chair requested a proposal you know days before school started and didn't bother to include Us in this conversation is very disappointing we want to work together we want to come
089up with a plan that works well for everybody in the district but this is not how it's done we need to work together in a committee we need to work together in groups and we need to work together in public so that we can find something that works for everyone we want this to work out and we know that really smart planning including really smart communication with parents and donors across the district is key throwing out a proposal at the last minute that doesn't have identifiable targets or goals does not do that it does not build trust with parents who are struggling to trust the district it does not build trust with me who's struggling to work on this project as well I really hope that everyone takes the time to consider slowing this process
090down so all of the key stakeholders can be at the table and have their voice heard I'm happy to talk to any board members I've already talked to many of you and I really appreciate your time and your efforts and I hope that you'll keep considering involving everybody in this process thank you so much and I'm happy to answer any questions thank you showing up today comment um so can I just make a note we can look into the question later I noticed that the proposal submitted uh contemplates the establishment of a districtwide foundation which I thought we' worked really hard over the last couple years to launch the fund um uh which is aimed at Gathering philanthropic funds and could serve this for that that's for whatever the next discussion is I guess so
091um I because we had a Consolidated end of the meeting I didn't have a chance to um in the other business I was going to mention that there had been a proposal sent in and to everybody it got it got sent to everybody at the same I saw at the same time it got sent to the other committee members and um and and Jonathan Garcia and as with anything um we'll have a full public discussion of it um I will say this has been going on for the conversations have been going on for five years and we've had as director the pass knows engagement um director hland recommended a lot of people to be um engage recommended people to be part of the engagement um so this isn't a surprise U the topic is not
092as surprising that it's still happening and and we also using our racial Equity policy tried to Sender the voices that um would not normally be part of the conversation um so that have from them and I'm expect we'll hear from anybody else but this is just a starting um there's been no fitments made to move anything or move particular policy but um the agenda this year um may I say that um I Heard um that you'd like this to be on a schedule and I have a problem with that as well um this this needs to be done well um we do have timelines proposed um but I I would like to I'm I'm very glad the second person showed up to testify just for there's been no agreement oned I want to finish talking
093we need to make sure that um everyone's at the table it needs to be at the table uh for this conversation and that we don't rush through it um that's just a suggestion that's thank you for director pass um I don't think in anything in my comments I said there was going to be a schedule I said it's going to be on the schedule for the committee this year so I'm just saying that I would like to make sure that we have both sides of the table yes that's it's important and it's important to do it um well versus fast and that's my intention and also I'm going to follow the racial Equity policy of elevating those voices of people who um wouldn't normally have a place at the table and um as I said
094we're all of our discussions are going to happen in public meetings and the last conversation that was referenced actually was not a public meeting that happened in the parking lot and um our meetings are going to be transparent and everything else I I say um the committee members and Jonathan got the proposal at the same time and I would just also ask umen Ferrera fund for public schools that they provide um a lot more information because if that is our fund then we should have um access to their financials and how they operate but right now we don't have that so as part of the discussion we'll include that as part of the discussion but um there's no intent to um Ram anything through um I think you saw last time and we spent a
095whole year discussing it and lots of people had an opportunity to speak up and we did hear from also those who um in a very deliberate way from those who don't often have an opportunity to and I encourage us to do more of that so thank you okay with that we're adjourned and set up and be here the work session here yes okay okay that okay about