001Everyone else is. Thank you, Craig. Dr. Warren, are you ready? >> Beautiful. >> I'd like to call the business meeting of the public board of public of the Portland Board of Public Education to order. It is Tuesday, December 16th. We are meeting in a hybrid format. Some of us here at Casco Bay and some online. Vice Chair Bondo is traveling um and board member Yuzura Ali will not be present here tonight. Um Dr. Warren, would you go ahead and please call the role? >> Board member Ali Ali. Member Yus Ali >> here. >> Ali. >> Oh, thank you. Vice Chair Bondo. Member Lena. >> Present. >> Sorry, I apologize. Uh, thank you. Member Brighten >> here. >> Member No, >> here. Member Operman >> here. >> Member Sautell >> here. >> Student representative Grant. >>
002Student Representative Milstein Jones >> here. >> Student Representative Muhammad >> here. >> Student Representative O'Brien. Chair Lent present. Uh, thank you. And now the pledge of allegiance. Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Portland public schools recognizes the original inhabitants of the land on which our city and schools stand. the Wulis Tiguay or Maliset, Mcmack, Ponobscot, and Pasimquati tribes known collectively as the Wabanaki Confederacy or people of the Dawnland. We are honored to have Wabanaki children among our students today. And as a district, we are committed to making the past, present, and future of Wabanaki peoples visible in our schools and classrooms. As a reminder of our mission, the Portland
003Public Schools is responsible for ensuring a challenging, relevant, and joyful education that empowers every learner to make a difference in the world. We build relationships among families, educators, and the community to promote the healthy development and academic achievement of every learner. and our definition of equity. Equity is all people being held to high expectations and having access to opportunities that are reflective of their individual needs, identities, and experiences. Equity is achieved in Portland public schools when there are no identifiable differences in outcomes and experiences for any population subgroup. Um, I do have one um slight change on the agenda tonight. We will be having an executive session after public comment to meet with uh legal counsel. Um uh but right now we are going to move into public comment. Um so if you would like
004to give public comment you can come up to the um uh podium here or you can raise your hand on Zoom. And um Greg, could you please move me over to a panelist on the Zoom, please? Oh, thank you. >> Okay, just one second please, so that I can see Um come on. Um let me just read the uh guidelines of public comment. Um and then we will um you can give your remarks. Um uh public comment. So members of the public may speak on any subject directly related to the operations of the schools except for personnel matters or complaints concerning specific employees or students which shall be addressed through established policies and procedures. If an item is on the agenda, please use the public comment time associated with that item. Comments are limited to
005a maximum of 3 minutes or 6 minutes for individuals using an interpreter to make a comment. Individuals may not relinquish a portion of their allotted time to another speaker. The board may not respond to comments and please refrain from responding in the audience. Speakers must refrain from engaging in disruptive conduct, including but not limited to using vulgar and/or obscene language, threatening others with words or by other actions, using pjorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or group on the basis of their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender, or other identity factor. Making defamatory comments, exceeding the allotted time limits, talking over or interrupting others. offering repetitive comments and offering comment on matters unrelated to the school district's programs, policies, or operations. I will stop any public comment that is contrary to these
006rules. To give public comment, please come forward to the podium or raise your hand in Zoom. Please begin by introducing yourself with your name and address. We'll alternate if needed between Zoom and in person. I will keep the time and raise a yellow folder indicating you have 30 seconds remaining and a red folder at the end of your time. Um, if you get to the end of your time and would like to request more time, you may do so. Um, so go ahead. >> Uh, thank you, Chair Lentz. Um, thank you board. My name is Laura Rosa and I live at 59 Edward Street here in Portland. Um, and I had meant to give public comment last week, but uh, we I had to get myself and my child fed. Um, so I'm glad to
007have the opportunity tonight. Um, it's been a very hard couple weeks of public comment. And as somebody who thinks I pay a lot of attention to what's happening in the Portland public schools um and feel myself to be an engaged member of the PPS community, it was um incredibly distressing to hear the comments especially two weeks ago or two meetings ago. Um but it was also heartening to see some of the progress that the board has made. The fact that um and the district and superintendent, the fact that staff is getting ICE deescalation training um active bystander training, the resolution that you've put forward that addresses a lot of the specific comments is feels responsive to me. Um, and I wanted to express gratitude for that while at the same time acknowledging the um the,
008you know, the harm that people have experienced in the system. And I just want to make sure that we all sort of hold space for that both and um and that the board and the district is doing a lot of work towards equity goals even if it's not in the way that we're used to um and not in the way that um that we have necessarily been hearing about. So, I look forward to hearing more about how decisions that are being made address equity and what those relationships are and why those decisions are being made as indicated in the um in the resolution. I look forward to the investigation and seeing what that all um what that all brings out. And also, I just want to again express gratitude for the complexity and nuance that
009the resolution holds. And then finally, just one more acknowledgement of the context in which all of this is happening. um in terms of white supremacist threats being made to people across our community. Um our community members being called garbage by our president and appreciation for the fact that the superintendent has responded um and that the board has responded very strongly in support of our community members. It may feel performative to some, but it is very very meaningful. Um, and so I just uh again want to make sure that we're thinking about all of that as we're um looking forward into um into the equity work that the board shall continue to do. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is there anyone else that would like to give public comment? And I'm going to go ahead
010and close public comment. Um, and I will be making a motion. Um, let me just get the motion language. Ah, yes, I can reopen public comment. Hi, my name is Kate Meline and I live at 256 Conquered Street West. Um, I have the great privilege of being the school counselor at Row Elementary. Um, which is a just amazingly diverse and dynamic place and I love it with every ounce of my body. Um, and I also am the parent of a third and first grader at Longfellow Elementary. Um, and I'm here tonight um because I'm I've been following the boundaries committee um process and I see the um scenario 9 and I I'm I had I've been looking very deeply at the website and following very carefully and it's unclear to me where we're at in
011the process now and when that's going to be voted on, how that gets voted on, if it then goes to city council um because I have some concern concerns that currently the way um the map is currently drawn and the proposal continues to um recommend is we have students being bus 2.6 six miles from their home to Row. Um, and the numbers in the table are actually inaccurate because the Rose Row's current enrollment is actually 474 students. So, our utilization is actually at 79% currently and the scenario 9 has um just has that elevated as you know. So, um I'm concerned that this new proposal, it doesn't uh it doesn't at all address the very stark disparity between Longfellow and Row. And they share a boundary line. And there are currently students being bus 2.6
012miles to Row when they could go walk a mile or bike a mile to Longfellow. Please give Longfellow a chance. If you could sit in on my third graders parent teacher conference, you would be blown away. Go to one of their um their assemblies. They're amazing. Sit in on a second grade classroom of Miss Holmes. Like you want you want you want more students at Longfellow. Invest in Longfellow because this current plan sabotages what Row can do. It's giving us way too much to do. We had an incredible administrator who's highly capable and they left after two years because row is being given way too much to do. Please, please, please take these into consideration and I'd really like it to be more transparent on the website. What are the next steps because the community
013needs to be able to weigh in. Thank you very much. Uh, good evening, Madam Chair. My name is Rachel Talbert Ross. I reside at 39 Washurn Avenue in Portland, Maine. Um, I just had a process question. Um, I know last week when I was here, you were um talking about a resolution. Is that on the agenda tonight? And when you take it up, will there be public comment related to the resolution? >> Uh, there is no public comment on resolution. Um, you can give it now if you would like, but there is no public comment um with the resolution. >> Okay. I'm I'm curious because I'm trying to figure out the sequencing of events here based on the last couple of meetings that I have attended and a question for the board, I guess, based
014on all of the um comments that I've heard um is is there an investigation? People keep using this word investigation and I'm not really quite even sure. Are you conducting an investigation based off of the claims and charges that you've heard repeatedly over the last couple of weeks, both at this public meeting, but also um internally and in in private conversations? So, I guess my question is, is there an investigation going on about the horrendous uh claims of hostile work environment and proliferation of of racial discrimination? Um, that that is a question. I do understand you can't go into personnel issues, but you can answer that question for the public uh who has come, you know, week after week pouring their hearts out to you um talking about the harms that have been caused and
015yet very little public response uh has been given uh about the harms that have been caused. And so my second question is, is the resolution supposed to somehow pacify the charges that have been brought before this committee um in some in some passive way um if there's not an investigation because a resolution does not address the current harms. Um it is perspective. It is moving forward. It is not looking at what is currently before us. So I have those two questions. I also have a question for the board about um how seriously the public and then uh the folks who are um working at Portland Public Schools, how how serious are they to take a resolution um that has no deliverables um or time frames to them? Um, and if the same people are conducting
016investigations or hearing about these charges, um, how how are we to trust that those are the people going to carry out um, a resolution when they haven't even started to address the the harms? So, I'm really concerned about um, uh, investigation. I'm concerned about resolutions that are are um I I actually would use the word performative um because they do not address any of the the harms that are happening right now unless you can tell the public how you are doing that. Um that would be very very helpful. Um and the last thing I would say is that the resolution um is really based on a system that people don't trust. And so how are you going to regain or gain in many many many cases gain the trust of people um in this system
017um no matter what level of interaction they have with you. It feels like um week after week there are charges and claims that suggest a pattern in a practice um that is unhealthy um and is prejuditial. And I would love to find out what you what are you what are you doing other than taking up time uh talking about a resolution uh that addresses what you will do in the future not what you are doing currently. >> Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other um public comments? Okay, I'm going to close public comment. Um, and I will make a motion for the consideration and action to enter into executive session pursuant to 1 MRSA 4056E uh to meet with legal counsel. Is there a second? Thank you. Board member Brighton. All those in favor.
018Okay. So, that is um uh unanimous. Um so, we will move into executive session now. We'll be back. Yep. Um, I'm going to go over public comment guidelines again. Um, uh, we've had some, uh, we're back from executive session. Um, we've had, um, some folks, uh, that have joined us that wanted to give public comment tonight, uh, and missed public comment. Um, but I'm happy to open it back up. Um, but I wanted to just go over the guidelines again for public comment. So, members of the public may speak on any subject directly related to the operations of the schools except for personnel matters or complaints concerning specific employees or students which shall be addressed through established policies and procedures. If an item is on the agenda, please use the public comment time associated with
019that item. Comments are limited to a maximum of 3 minutes or 6 minutes for individuals using an interpreter to make their comment. Individuals may not relinquish a portion of their allotted time to another speaker. The board may not respond to comments and please refrain from responding in the audience. Speakers must refrain from engaging in disruptive conduct, including but not limited to using vulgar and/or obscene language, threatening others, using words or by other actions, using pjorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender, and other uh identity factor. making defamatory comments, exceeding the allotted time limits, talking over or interrupting others, offering repetitive comments, and offering comment on um matters unrelated to the school district's programs, policies, or operations. I will
020stop any public comment that is contrary to these rules. To give public comment, you can come forward to the podium or raise your hand in Zoom and please introduce um yourself at the beginning of your comment. Um, and I will keep the time and uh, at 30 seconds before your time is over, I raise a yellow folder and a red folder indicating the end of your time. Um, if you get the end into the of your allotted time and would like to request more time, you may do so. So, if you wanted to give public comment, now would be the time um, to come to the um, podium. Good evening everybody. My name is Muhammad Bar. I am the executive director of main access immigrant network and former president of Somali community in Poland. Uh
021I'm a father of 10. All my students they went to school in Poland public school and some still they are in still enrolled. We spoke with you last week regarding the treatment of Somali black and other minority staff within the district. I'm writing to I'm writing to follow up and seek clarity and accountability. Especially we are concerned about what happened to Haleima and Mana both of whom worked of PO public school and were removed from their roles. Their removal have raised serious concerns within the community. What are the next step the border branch to take to address this situation and the border issues impacting Somali impacting Somali black and minority staff across the district. We would appreciate transparence regarding the process decisions making and any actions being taken to ensure fairness and equity moving forward.
022Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to give public comment? Okay, I see none. So, I'm going to go ahead and close public comment. I'm going to go ahead now and um move um to my remarks. Um and I wanted to begin my remarks um by celebrating the joy and creativity that our students and staff have brought to life in recent productions of Peter Pan and Mamma Mia. I was lucky enough to get to join Mamma Mia over the weekend and these performances have reminded me of the power of the arts to build confidence, connection, and a sense of belonging, especially in moments when the world feels incredibly heavy and sad. Today, my heart is uh heavy as I continue to reflect on the comments we've heard the last several
023weeks. And as I reflect on the recent acts of violence reported in Bondi Beach, in Australia, and at Brown University, the anti-semitism that fueled the Australian shooting is wrong and has no place in the world. It's especially hard because this heinous act took place during the first night of Hanukkah. is also heavy on my heart um because of the life that was lost today in Standish uh when another student was hit by a bus. We grieve for all of the lives that have been lost and we hold all of these communities in our heart. Thank you. I did want to um also just follow up on a couple of things that we heard um uh during public comment tonight. One of which is the resolution, but also um just a quick uh few notes on
024what is happening with the boundaries committee and that work. So uh the boundaries committee is in process of um writing up a report of recommendations and that report along with kind of um background knowledge um and uh resources will come to the board uh in the Jan 1 first January meeting. Um but I that was a great note to make sure that the website is updated um and we will um for sure work on that um before the next meeting to make sure that that is out there. Um but in in summary, the um the last proposal that um uh was given to the um the boundaries committee was mostly um uh rejected by the committee. So um there's very few actual boundary proposals at the elementary level that are going to be recommended. Um
025and the committee was not able to come to consensus on the middle school boundaries. Um so that will be reflected in the report along with other recommendations around um policies um and uh and such. Um so more to come on that in in January and we'll make sure to get that website um updated. Um and I did uh now want to move just into the to the resolution. Um, you know, there's a an updated draft of the resolution that is on the website um tonight. Um, that that draft has had um uh input from a lot of sources and we feel that it is a response to what we have been um hearing um both now and for um quite some time. Um so I would like to read that uh that resolution out. Um
026and also just a note to the community that the board is doing due diligence on everything that we have heard um over the course of these last few weeks. Um so the the resolution that is before us and this was um co-authored with Vice Chair Bondo and myself um is a resolution affirming the district's commitment to equity, belonging, and supportive schools for all staffs as all students and staff. Whereas public Portland uh Portland public schools is committed to ensuring that every student is prepared and empowered to thrive academically, socially and emotionally. And whereas 28% of PPS students are English language learners, 18% receive special education services, 51% are economically disadvantaged, and 7% face housing insecurity. And whereas PPS students bring various life experiences and identities to their learning that cannot be measured or quantified but
027impact their daily experience. And whereas national, regional, and local events have intensified concerns about safety and fundamental rights at the collective and individual level. And whereas the board of education defines equity as the condition in which all people are held to high expectations and have access to opportunities reflective of their individual needs, identities, and experiences and where no identifiable differences in outcomes or experiences exist in any population subgroup. And whereas community members have expressed that despite our longstanding stated commitment to equity and our best efforts of implementing equity best practices, challenges remain and there is additional work to do in these areas. And whereas the National Institutes of Health um recognizes that oppression can lead to poor mental health. And whereas inconsistent implementation of equitydriven practices, disproportionate experiences of harm among students from historically marginalized
028communities, and systemic barriers affect both student learning and staff working conditions. And whereas the district has identified that disparities in student outcomes, while improving, are not improving at a sufficient pace. And whereas community feedback and the 2021 educators of color report highlight that PPS is not yet the consistently welcoming or affirming environment for all students and staff that we wish it were. Particularly those who identify as black, indigenous, Latin, Latina, um, Asian, multilingual, LGBTQ plus, immigrant, disabled, or from other communities that are historically marginalized in education systems. Whereas the board acknowledges that schools are deeply impacted by targeting of communities based on identity, including the trauma of immigration, enforcement actions, detentions, and discrimination experienced by students and families in our community. And whereas the board recognizes that practicing equity is an ongoing effort that requires
029learning, unlearning, reflection, accountability, and courage from every member of the PPS community. And whereas it remains critically important for the board and leadership staff to publicly announce their continued commitment to this work and to act accordingly to maintain equity initiatives in the district. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Portland Public Schools Board of Education affirms that equity, belonging, and safety are foundational responsibilities of PPS. The board affirms its commitment to creating and sustaining environments where every student and staff member is physically safe, emotionally supported, and academically challenged. It directs the superintendent and district leadership to continue to support activities already in place, such as delivering regular district-wide training with the goal of ensuring all staff can recognize the acts of bias or discrimination, interrupt and deescalate harmful behaviors, prevent escalation, and act as strong
030allies for students and colleagues, strengthening instruction for multilingual learners, continuing to provide guidance and updates on ICE protocols, expanding equitable access to challenging coursework. Expanding and deepening Wabanaki studies and local black history curricula. Using disagregated data to regularly track student outcomes and identify areas of focus of uh of focus and additional support. Improving systems of hiring, onboarding, and retention. strengthening communication systems to explain why changes are taking place or to explain why information is confidential as applicable. Maintaining a clear pathway for reporting harassment and discrimination concerns for staff, students, and families. The board reaffirms that anyone may report discrimination, harassment, or retaliation through the district's online reporting system. District staff shall ensure that the system is easily accessible in multiple languages. Anyone use utilizing the process shall be protected from retaliation. Additionally, an individual who
031has reported an issue shall be notified to the extent legally allowed of the status of their report. However, staff shall not disclose confidential information. Um, the board directs the superintendent and district leadership staff to create and or implement activities such as creating ongoing community partnerships and accountability. Recognizing that this work will be ongoing and require consistent input from students, staff, and the community. The board will provide funding for this work required to develop a district-wide equity advisory committee led by the director of people and belonging. This committee will gather regular feedback from students, staff, and community members through surveys and small group dialogues. The board will also ensure that there's proper funding for ongoing community healing work. Creating an equity dashboard. This dashboard will include existing data points from the strategic plan and others. The
032data will be reviewed quarterly by the board. Developing communities of practice for staff. Staff will have access to structured, meaningful opportunities to reflect together on equity focused practices, build shared understanding, and strengthen a culture of belonging for students. Clarifying and implementing district-wide expectations for how staff work together. The district shall develop and communicate clear standards that ensure daily interactions, instructional practices, decision-making, and leadership behaviors in alignment with our goals. developing a student-based budget formula that aids in allocating resources more equitably across schools where there are higher concentrations of multilingual learners and students facing poverty and housing insecurity. and uh initiating a process within the fiscal year 27 budget process to explore all formal discrimination and harassment complaints being h handled by a single individual such as a civil rights officer that operates with structural independence
033and reports directly to the board. This analysis uh may include budget implications, reporting cadence for data and trend analysis and recommendations for policy improvements. And uh the board directs the appointments committee to act with deliberate speed to appoint an ad hoc um board committee consisting of three board members with support from the superintendent and director of people invol belonging to complete the following work. identify and hire an external company to complete a district-wide investigation of our equity practices to help us understand where we are utilizing best practices and where we are not, including where we are meeting the needs of all students and staff and where we are not. The firm should also provide comparative data to other districts, organizations, and institutions regionally or otherwise similarly situated and comparable to PPS. The committee will specify
034the scope and measurable goals of the review. solicit proposals from companies, review those proposals, and if at least one suitable proposal is received, bring it to the board for a formal vote. The findings of the review will go directly to the board, and subsequently the board will support the superintendent and district leadership to create an action plan based on the findings to be integrated into the strategic plan. Be it further resolved that the board of education recognizes that this work is urgent and requires thoughtfulness and intention. In the place of this in this place of tension, the board dedicates itself to practicing transparency where possible reflection and the shared responsibility required to build the equitable and welcoming schools our students and staff deserve. To that end, the board of education commits to receiving quarterly reports
035in executive session detailing the findings and outcomes as allowed of any staff or student complaints or reports received during the previous quarter. Such quarterly reports will include action taken, policy changes implemented or recommended, and a summary of follow-up communication provided to relevant parties. Finally, the board shall in public meetings actively monitor this aggregated data with specific names kept confidential to evaluate the efficacy of the district's anti-discrimination, anti-retaliation, and other policies as needed. That is the entirety of the um resolution. Um uh and so uh I would make a motion to um pass this resolution. Um and I would be looking for a second. Thank you, board member Brighten. Um uh are there any questions on the resolution? Yeah, go ahead. Um, I just want to say uh for everyone here and anybody listening, thank you
036guys for um your patience and everything that uh has been going on. It's been tough uh even, you know, for us as well. Um trying to find time and make making sure we're doing everything legally. Um and we have agreed, right? you know, in in in what we could have what we could agree um and if there are any other changes personally um I can or anybody can um uh request a change into the resolution, but as of right now after it's been 3 weeks since we first heard about of of all these incidents and it doesn't that's not enough time to do everything right. Um but this just reassures everybody that uh this is the beginning of a resolution and this is not this is nowhere close u to the solution. Um and yeah
037there's going to be more information provided but uh that's all I want to say. Thank you. >> Thank you board member Ali. >> Any other questions on the resolution or discussion? >> Then um by roll call vote please indicate whether you are in favor of uh passing this resolution. Dr. Warren, will you please call the role? >> Member Ali Ali, >> yes. >> Member USA Ali. Vice Chair Bondo. >> Member Brighten. >> Yes. >> Member Lena. >> Yes. >> Member No, >> yes. >> Member Operman. >> Yes. >> Member Sautell. >> Yes. >> Student Representative Grant. Student Representative Milstein Jones. >> Yes. >> Student Representative Muhammad. Student Representative O'Brien. Chair Lent. >> Yes. So, the um resolution passes. Um and just a note that I will be um gathering the appointments committee uh this week
038uh to start the the ad hoc committee process. Thank you all for your input and um your support of the resolution. Um now I'm going to turn it over to the superintendent for your remarks. >> Yes. Good evening. Uh thank you chair. Thank you u members of the public and um board. Uh first uh similar to the board chair I just want to take a moment um in uh recognition of the Bonnie Eagle Standish student who died today after an accident um with their transportation. As I go into my regular comments, um I want to acknowledge the public comments over the last three meetings. I continue to sit with the comments and the evident impact on the individuals and entire PPS community. While some concerns go back many years, as indicated by the educators of
039color report, I want to work with our community to restore, heal, build trust, and collaborate on a path forward. To that end, I both support the work that is happening across our district, including the leadership training with TLA, our integration of culturally responsive practices into our teacher profession led by Allison Dame, Jesse Robinson, Carlos Gomez, Terresa Lee, and the work that um Jen Brady, director of people and culture, Rosa King, director of recruitment and staff development, and Jen Sullybank uh presented at the meeting before Thanksgiving. I also support the work called for in the board resolution, including the equity audit uh and hopefully the appointment of a civil rights officer. At a time when many districts and organizations are deleting equity from their vocabulary, I appreciate that this district is not following that wrong path.
040Instead, we need to sit in this work and uh engage in a continual improvement process and to really uh interrogate how we can move this work forward in a way that has lasting impact. As one small piece of that action, as I shared in a previous set of superintendent comments around ICE deescalation training, uh the first training is scheduled. It will occur tomorrow with our multilingual team um as the first group who's able to then provide feedback and help us shape it for the remainder of our staff who will receive it in school or department meetings over the next couple of months on Wednesday. Um I now have a number of other pieces just to both share some announcements on and some reflections. Um, in education, we often refer to challenges um as being the
041cause of the grade band below us or grades below to explain uh student performance or concern. Uh, for example, as a high school principal, it wouldn't be uncommon to hear myself or uh teachers talk about middle school and um if only middle school did this. And uh in the last month, I had the opportunity to visit Portland High during their stepback meeting. Um, and in that time, uh, they talked about, uh, their freshmen coming to school better prepared than they've seen in years. Um, and they talked about the algebra program in 8th grade and the work that our middle school teachers are doing. This past week, I had the opportunity to be joined by board member Operman and board member uh, Sautell for a conversation at Lincoln that covered a range of topics, both areas
042of improvement um, as well as some progress that we've made. And one of the comments that stuck with me was a sixth grade teacher who talked about how the students coming to them in sixth grade feel uh more ready in both reading and math because of work that's happening at our elementary uh level. And then um right after that we went to a conversation at Lysath and board member Ali was able to join and board member Sautell um and we heard a first grade teacher talk about uh her students being more ready because of the work that they were doing in kindergarten. And so just want to acknowledge when we think about where we can look for numbers and support not just in test scores but anecdotally um it's been nice to hear that reflection
043from staff really recognizing the work that is happening from their colleagues in other schools. Uh we recently uh shared around rise award nominees. Uh this was created by Congress in 2019 and overseen by the US department of education. The prestigious Rise Award honors classified employees in the education workforce who provide exemplary service. The Maine DOE in coordination with the office of Governor Janet Mills selected 10 finalists from a pool of 32 nominees from across Maine. These nominees were submitted by school administrators, teachers, professional associations, nonprofits, caregivers, students, and community members. Uh we had several that were recognized in this. uh Liz Me, administrative assistant here at Casco Bay, and uh Reinie Quadruchi uh the head custodian head custodian at Ocean Elementary School are both finalists this year for the RISE award. In addition, uh Sham
044Sofara, a family and community engagement specialist for the district, Lauren Ostus, a community partnership coordinator at East End, and Melissa West, administrative assistant at OceanVav were all nominated for this recognition as well. And so I want to pass along congratulations to them for this. The next piece is uh that just a reminder that we are in flu and cold season. And so anything we can do uh to encourage hygiene as well as if you have a child at home that has a fever to make sure that we are not sending them to school until they are fever-free for 24 hours um is helpful for the overall community. Uh on Monday and Tuesday this week uh Row Elementary School in particular has been um hit hard uh with over a hundred students absent um in those
045two days. And so just want to share that. Uh switching over to high schools here for a couple minutes. Um the high school selection process has occurred and families will receive notification uh before break. And so we're anticipating that that notification goes out on Thursday or Friday. And so families can look out for that notification um and letting them know. Uh good news is that uh I believe everybody was able to get a first choice again. Um and so we've been able to do that now uh for three years um on that. So that's exciting. Uh high school FAFSA is there's a session on January 7th. It's from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Portland High School. It is open and I encourage folks recognizing how important that is in the high school process to join
046us there. again, January 7th from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. If you have a little one as well as a high school student, after you finish FAFSA, the next night, I encourage you to attend the prek information night. It is January 8th from 6:00 to 7th, 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. and is happening virtually. And then last, I just want to recognize two additional staff members uh for recent recognition that they got at the state level. Melissa Fron works with both uh students that are both multilingual and um are identified as having an IEP and uh got recognized by the state uh for just the exceptional work she's doing running some professional development uh to share not just the practices we're doing here uh but with the whole state around best practices working with that complex population
047and so just a huge recognition to Melissa we're fortunate to have her in the district and as Well, Priscilla Bitten court uh she had a feature in the state main DOE McKenna Vento newsletter and it recognized the work that she's doing to support uh students experiencing housing instability across our district and just the work that she's doing not just to support but also make sure that they're identified and receive the support that they are due and so just wanted to recognize both of them for their amazing contributions. Thank you, chair. >> Thank you, Superintendent. Um up next we have our committee reports. Um so we're going to start with finance personnel and operations. Thank you chair. Um so uh in December uh the finance uh personnel and operations committee has uh gotten November financials. Uh
048um I'm really pleased that the um monthly financials report uh continues. uh you know it's not especially uh flashy or exciting but it's really important and you know that that's that's this committee. Um and then uh also we have begun preliminary conversations about the FY27 budget um with a uh presentation on uh the roll forward posture that we're in um and just the very very early conversations about what that means for um the FY27 budget process that we are heading into. Um we also and um folks who have been uh you know listening to other committee reports and um attending or watching recordings of our committee meetings will know that we're also engaging in um a policy review project. So policies that are relevant to finance uh personnel operations, we are taking them a few
049at a time, reviewing them and then um uh committee member feedback is being um essentially packaged up and sent forward through the process um to be reviewed by legal council and then over to the policy committee for potential um updates or revisions to uh policies. So um in December we um we uh tackled five policies and just to um quickly summarize the uh committee member feedback that we moved forward um the recommendation of potentially having a chemical hazard safety officer uh named and then also some um potential uh adjustments to the superintendent evaluation uh policies around um potentially looking at um more specificity around evaluation timelines. um the R2 procedure uh uh that speaks to staff involvement, making sure that that is uh clarified and then also um looking at whether the policy needs to
050um or should or could um be more specific about whether documentation um relative to that process um would be made public in what circumstances and whether it would remain confidential as um personnel uh bio material. And then finally, um, we also in our committee got a, uh, capital improvement plan presentation from our director of facilities. Um, and, uh, so it was a sobering look at all of the, uh, investments that we would love to be able to make, um, across our district. Um we will be voting um in January uh on uh that list and whether to we'll be voting on what list needs to get moved forward to the full board for review. Um and then also our facilities director um uh walked us through uh again preliminarily the um RFP that needs to
051be done around um facilities needs across the district because the last one was done about 10 years ago needs to be done again. um and uh led us through a discussion about whether to have an RFP that is constructed in a modular way that would allow um vendors to potentially bid on pieces or components of um that review work specifically around sustainability efforts. Um and the committee um and staff uh essentially discussed um the merits of breaking off the sustainability work as a separate smaller RFP to allow that work to move a little bit faster um and be incorporated in the larger picture eventually. That's uh that's finance personnel and operations. I would welcome any questions. I just had one question around the capital improvement um or CIP. I can't remember what the P stands
052for, but um uh you know, I think that there we've had conversations in the past about potentially seeing if there if we could raise the limit um with the city and I didn't know if there has been any progress on that or if um not for this year. >> Um that was not part of the conversation that we had in our committee. Um it was more of a um a discussion of the items and prioritization of specific projects uh needed work. Um and uh in the past the phrase has been um keeping f keeping students safe warm and dry. Um, and just the I I will say it, um, there's so much work that needs to be done to keep students safe, warm, and dry. And, um, it's it's overwhelming the amount of investment that
053would be needed to do everything that we wish we could do. Um, I see the superintendent um, adjusting his mic. So if you know by all means if you have uh thoughts about that in relative to you know that the bigger question of um bonding and how to you know um navigate that. I would welcome that. >> Yeah I think there's when I hear that question I think of there being two pieces to it. one is as board member Bryan was saying the amount of work that needs to happen is significant and we're referencing back a report that comes from 2016 2017 and so one is I think we really need to get that report updated which is why we're doing the RFP and putting together a new facilities master plan to really become that
054roadmap and it makes sense to do that before we talk about significant increases in investment in this area That said, um I think that the question around whether or not to increase the amount on which we think about um doing projects, right? It's been about $3 million has been about uh that spot. I think it's first a question for the board around comfort there. When a project gets bonded, it does eventually go to the city um to approve it as well as part of their capital plan. But just in the back of your mind, um a bond project is for 20 years. And so when we think about uh a $3 million um it is uh a couple hundred,000. I think it's about $400,000 uh per year as we go out. And so that just
055helps you get think about scale. So if you go up another million, you're talking about probably about a little over $100,000 >> in debt service each year. >> That is helpful. Board member Upperman, go ahead. Um just the sips were dramatic and I just want to give a perspective on the size of some of them. Um I looked at last year's supply academic supply budget and I compared it to one or two of the incredibly important items. um the items the repairs were greater than our total district budget on supplies. So as we go through we need to be very cautious about what we choose to do. >> Thank you board member Aperman. Can I just add one more point? Um in addition to what Dr. Scallan shared just a um a note that when
056we add more projects and there are infinitely more that we know need to be done at the same time we have um limited staff capacity to manage all of those and we are still working our way through a backlog of deferred maintenance old CIP projects. So um it's not to say that we shouldn't make the board shouldn't make that decision or or have that discussion with the city. um continuing on a continuing basis, but that at some stage we would probably need to look at what the tipping point is and there might need to be other staff added to help manage all of that. >> Thank you for that additional context. Any other questions or highlighting of more bad news? Thank you, finance uh personnel. Um how about policy board member Lena? >> Thank you.
057Um so the policy committee has been working on um a few policies uh for the past few meetings. We re we received um the send back of ACA and ACAB which are the harassment and sexual harassment of students and the ACAB is uh school employees. Um the board sent that back to the committee. We reviewed it. Um and we the reason it was sent back was um former employee uh Tyler Schwaller came to speak and gave us some recommendations. We did adopt one of his recommendations which was to um change the wording about having an online reporting system. So that wording has been put in to ACA and ACAB. We chose not to adopt the part about the um civil rights officer because it was coming through the resolution and we weren't sure about budget
058implications for that. Um so we wanted to allow that process to happen through the resolution. So those will be coming back to the board um next year. We also have voted on and approved updates to uh the public comment policy beed. Um there were a few changes. I'm just pulling it up in front of me so I can make sure I get those. Um, one was that we were suggesting uh limiting the the amount of time for public comment at specifically at committee meetings because those are just so short. Um, and that would be at the discretion of the committee chair if necessary. Uh, limiting it up to 30 minutes and then accepting written public comment if there wasn't enough time. Um there were oh another thing that we have updated is um currently we
059only allow people to speak about um agenda items during that time it comes up in the agenda but we felt it was would be helpful for the public to have an opportunity to speak on agenda items during the general public comment so they wouldn't have to sit through three hours of meeting to then come and speak about one thing. So that is an update as well. Um so that will be coming to the full board and we also um have with the guidance of legal created a policy GBE staff conduct with students. That was one um that does not currently exist in Portland, but we took feedback from staff and from the uh committee and we feel like the one that we have um drafted is a good fit for Portland and will give clear
060explicit guidelines to staff on appropriate conduct with students. Um so that will also be coming to the board soon. And last night we had a first presentation from Jesse Applegate and Kathy Ball at central office about chapter 104 services. That's policy IHBB. So it was just a first discussion and some recommendations from um the staff about some policy updates and we haven't had a a chance to really discuss all of that but that was just a first read. Um, we are still continuing to talk about the creation of policy III, which is class size, and we will be talking about that again in January. If staff are listening to this, please reach out to me if you have thoughts about class size. Um, you can send me an email. Um, we're still in the process.
061Again, that's a policy that does not currently exist in Portland. Um, and one other one that we are looking into creating is an extreme temperature policy. So that will be coming soon. Thank you. Any questions? >> Yeah. Any questions for policy committee? >> All right. Then um curriculum and student success. Go ahead. >> Thank you, chair. Uh before I talk about what we have, uh and it is four pages long. I will not read it. Um, but I would like to um report to the board um with a reflection of how much I and the other members of the committee appreciate the clarity, completeness, and cander that the members of the staff have had in reporting on the details of the programming in Portland public schools. These individuals are working hard in producing clear and
062positive direction for the district. Um, and that's a good good movement and good change. Um, reference to the meetings. I will as I said be brief. Um in two week a week ago um we heard a a group of um reports on aspects of high school um preparation and high and postsecary uh preparation. So uh among those um the middle school um pro in order middle school programs to prepare students for high school as we heard um Dr. Scallan mentioned earlier uh there is a comprehensive staff collaboration in action. The group includes eighth and nth grade teachers uh in the core elective in unified arts, ELLL, MLL teachers, sped school counselors, social workers, assistant principles, and just about anybody else. Um they met in November, meet in March, uh where they look at general programming
063as well as individual student needs. uh the after they're in high school, ninth grademies um are in place at the schools and high schools and the students are taught by team that uh meet weekly to review academic and social data and a variety of other things. I suggest you read it if you wish. Um, one of the things that has come up in several areas is that measuring and reporting student academic performance requires multiple data collection systems, well-defined met metrics and analysis at various levels. Um, so there are many that are going on. Uh, and the Portland public schools has a the systemwide data collection called a dashboard which has great potential for sharing information within the district and with the board. Theoretically, it is possible to know achievement across the district as a whole.
064Currently, there's a discrepancy among the details available at various grade levels. Much can be shown about the elementary students, how they're progressing. However, secondary outcomes across the district are difficult to um excuse me assess because the grading scales in each high school reflect the individual school philosophies and do not necessarily co go work. For example, one school uses a 100 point grading scale, one use ABCD F and another uses a scale of one to four. So this is the staff recommends that a a task force be formed to make recommendations to the committee on a potential um unification of this information for the district. Um ultimately the Portland public school student sends students off into the world upon graduation and to facilitate each student's success the high schools meet twice monthly to ensure every senior
065graduates with a postsecary plan. They meet September, December, January, March, April, and May. Um, and they report post-graduate plans and applications to various colleges. Um, currently more than 90% of students have at every high school have completed a plan and um between 30 and 100 99% of students have actually sent college applications in. They might be sending applications into a 4-year, two-year, or a trade school workforce certification or continuing education. Dr. Scallan mentioned FAFSA, which is the uh financing of secondary education. It's challenging. The applications are difficult and um it t there's sometimes needs for parents um to have interpretation to discern how to complete the form. we have the the events. There's mentioned that more um possibilities of uh ways of meeting the needs of the families uh might be brought up uh as
066they are done in other school districts but at an increased cost to the taxpayers. And that's it. Did I get that? >> Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. That was half Sorry, I I talk a lot. You all know that already. Um uh last night we had uh updates on SEAL, Wabanaki, Black History, data analysis for improvement and preKCDS proposal. Um the elementary school curriculum is called purposeful people. We've heard about it here. Positive staff feedback includes ease of implementation, schoolwide co coordination and consistency of the message across the the school. Um teachers however are concerned about the time commitment the program requires and modifications are in the works um so that there are more languages included. Uh at least one study of Wabanaki studies is in place in each of the K through 12 grades.
067Uh we've heard much about fieldwork iss awesome. Other districts are equal to use the materials but we're being very cautious about how they use them. Um, and the studies have been tied to state standards in life science, social studies, environmental literacy, and language arts. Black history is largely in design and development phase. Um, they had a committee in place since 2021, but the there's a um difficulty in getting more local information. Um, and that's on on its way. data collection um is like big for us at the between Mickey and myself and other members of the committee. Um but to understand the step back meetings uh which occur with school leadership and network teams and district leadership uh are looking over the data and they were uh to see how things goals might be improved
068on the individual school improvement plans. Concern was expressed about the findings of the teams might not be considered. They might not be considering inherent bias in the analysis and it's unclear how teachers provided insight into the data or the findings if or if the findings were effectively shared with the studentf facing staff. And I will say nothing about CDS transitional proposal because we will be hearing about that tonight. That's it. >> Thank you board member Aberman. Any questions from other board members? I'm going to watch the recording because I am like that. But um thank you for that report out. I appreciate it. Um and then I've got the public and legislative affairs um committee. Um so we have uh been continuing to prioritize legislation that we know um is going to come uh through
069uh the state house um very soon. So the the second session starts on January 7th. Um and just as a reminder, the priorities of that of this committee and the legislation we're tracking falls into the categories of school funding, school construction, um curricula, and student/human rights. Um additionally, uh Dr. for Valenuela uh presented on potential pathways of getting um information to our community to help them advocate um for issues um and also be able to understand uh the legislative process um which is quite complicated um uh and so we'll be um prioritizing some bills potentially two or three bills uh to start to build that muscle within the community and our communications pathways. Uh, and then finally, last night we had um, Representative Michael Brennan come to talk about the legislation that he is working
070on and supporting. Um, I think things that were um, kind of hopeful about that is there does seem to be several bills around funding school construction in a different way. Um, in a more substantial way that would take what is now a seven-year cycle, potentially longer, to be every 2 to 3 years with potentially more funding. Um it's still unclear kind of like what those bills will finally um look like, but uh Michael Brennan is hopeful. So that made me hopeful. Um and then um the other piece that's really been being looked at is around funding and specifically funding for specific groups of people, economically disadvantaged students, multilingual learners, um and students um experiencing housing insecurity. So, those will probably be be also on the priority list um of our bills. Um and I think
071uh that's it for all of my updates. Any questions about any of that? Nope. Okay. So, we're going to close um committee reports. I did want to um just turn it back over to board member Ali. I think you wanted to uh kind of go back a little bit in the agenda and just make a couple comments that um around the resolution. not around the resolution in particular, but and just for um the community um to uh get the information that uh they needed um and I'm sorry that I didn't mention this earlier um for any type of and this is just response to um you know everybody that's been coming up uh for any type of complaints that uh anybody has the legal route um and policy as stated um is to go online
072and um submit it through there. Um these these are personnel issues and um from there it will be handled um and outside of uh um uh board um yeah information because this is confidential. This is not information that we should be discussing or discuss or could discuss. So uh please use your link um and you know that's that's the process. Um aside from that we'll have more for you um um next board meeting or whatnot. Thank you. >> Thank you board member Ali. Um, and then also I just wanted to circle back. I know that the last board meeting we had um tabled a motion you were particularly considering, but you've decided to w withdraw that motion. Okay. Thank you for that. I just want to make sure folks know um that we're not just
073um skipping it. Uh so up next we have the report of the secretary. Um so we've got the consideration and action to approve the meeting minutes of December 9th. Uh are there any correction to the meeting minutes? Um, so I see no corrections. Um, so the meeting minutes are approved as distributed. Um, and then up next we have uh some old business. We have policy JHB truency. Um, I don't know if you wanted I know we talked about this last time, but if there's any context you'd want to give Dr. Warren. >> I don't have anything to add unless there are questions. >> Okay. Um, so is there a motion for the consideration and action to approve the changes to policy JHB? Uh, truency. I saw board member Operman first. Um, we'll take a second.
074Board member Ali Alle. Are there any questions from the board um on this policy? Any public comment? Let me just double check the chat. Um, any general discussion from the board? I will add that U. Michael Brennan also uh mentioned last night that he is trying to do some um I think great legislation around redefining what truency is and that it's kind of a an idea from the 1950s um that we just haven't updated. Um so I think that that could be um relevant to this policy in the future. Um then if there's no other discussion then by roll call vote please indicate whether you are in favor of the consideration and action to approve the changes to policy JHB truency. Um Dr. Warren will you please call the role. >> Member Ali Ali. >>
075Yeah. >> Member user Ali Vice Chair Bondo. >> Member Brighten. >> Yes. >> Member Lena. >> Yes. Student Representative O'Brien, Chair Lent. Yes. So, uh, the motion passes. Uh, and up next we have, um, uh, we've got two presentations. We're going to move the transportation workshop up also before executive session, but we're going to start with um our CDS uh transition proposal. Um and just so the board knows, I'll be recommending a recess um before executive session. Um but if you need to take a break before then, please do. One second to load the presentation. Oh, that's wonky. Greg, are you able to expand the street here inside? Um, as right now it's showing up just as a small piece. >> The meeting's been knocked offline. There's too many people signed in as PBS. >>
076I'll come up. You just make it full screen so people see it. It's just coming up small. >> It might be able expand too far. Let's see what happens. Yes. >> Thank you, Greg. >> Sarah, you're good now. >> Okay. Um Oops. Sorry, I overexpanded it. How to get out of this escape. Little too bad. Okay, we're going to roll with that. Okay. Good evening, board members. Um, I'm Sarah Warren, the chief of strategy and operations, and I have the distinct pleasure of introducing Katie Susi, who is our relatively new, still senior director for early childhood education. Um, and Katie is not only leading our work around the CDS transition that you're about to hear about, um, she's also overseeing our current preK programming. um and she comes to us with a wealth of experience
077and years working in our own community around early childhood um programming. And so we were incredibly lucky to snag her and bring her into the team. Um so I'm going to hand it over to Katie and take it away. You >> thank you everybody. Um as Sarah said, my name is Katie Susi and I'm pleased to share more information with you all about the CDS transition and our proposal for the work. There we go. Um, so tonight I'm going to talk about Oh, this isn't showing up. There's a lag. Okay, great. So, tonight I'm going to talk about some context for this work, our recommendation, all that our recommendation entails, the timeline that we're looking at, and our communication and engagement strategies, how we're going to uh track success as we know it so far.
078and then uh a summary and some next steps for your consideration. Um I've included a slide in this presentation that goes over some of the definitions that are common um in in early childhood special education. Um I won't uh take up too much time reading all of those definitions for you, but you'll have them there for reference. Um, and if I use some of those acronyms, you can um, look at them as well or call me out and I'll try not to use them in the presentation very much. So, um, in, uh, as context for this work, um, in April of 2024, uh, our legislature, um, approved a bill that mandated that all, um, special education services for children aged 3 to 5 transition from an organization called Child Development Services or CDS to SAUS.
079Um, the way that districts are assuming this responsibility is in cohorts. So, they have um until July of 2028 to opt into a cohort and then assume this responsibility. And there are different options and we'll go over our recommendation for how we join a cohort um a little bit later. Um in terms of finances, um payments for this are made quarterly to districts because children come on to IEPs on a rolling basis. Um and um uh this is 100% covered by the state. All reasonable and necessary expenses related to this work um will be covered. Um, so I I'm personally very excited about this opportunity um, for many reasons, but I think we know that CDS has been out of compliance and has been unable to meet the needs of kids ages 3 to five
080in our community. So I think we have a a unique and um, exciting opportunity to do this work well. Um, however, this is a large undertaking for not only Portland, but all of all of the school districts that are doing this work. Um, and it will require us to grow our capacity. Um, it also touches upon policy, um, staffing, facilities, transportation, and more. Um and so part of this work is really thinking about the organ organizational change that um it will require. Um to get started with this we formed a small internal steering committee. The charge for that committee was to look at data um and the guidance that has been offered by the department of education thus far. um they are charged with really guiding the overall process and transition timeline. They have come
081up with an initial recommendation um for which cohort to join. Um they're responsible for ensuring that all of the decisions um that we're making align with IDA. And then of course we're always keeping um family and community partnership and engagement um equity, consistency, and developmentally appropriate practices at the heart of our decision-m. I want to share um a little bit of context for how we enter into this work. As Sarah mentioned, we already have a uh a large uh prek program. Um we currently have 18 pre-K classrooms in our district um which serve up to 264 four-year-olds. Um three of these classrooms are located in community partnerships. Um of these 18 classrooms, uh one of them is already a special purpose classroom, a specialized um program. Um we have a slew of staff connected to
082prek. So, I won't go through all of um those numbers, but there are uh general education teachers, special education teachers, edte um and as well as um uh some itinerant teaching staff. Um and we do related services for kids in our programming. And about 31% of our current preK population um uh have IEPs and receive support services already. So when the steering committee began this work, they really wanted to understand what it was um we were being asked to solve for. So how many students still needed services in our community and how we could um uh build our capacity to meet that need. So we've looked at a number of data sources. Um, child development services has been providing us with number or monthly counts of three and four year olds in our community who
083are coming um onto plans and or who are in the child find process. We also pulled kindergarten data to look at um how many students in kindergarten receive services and what types of services. With that data in mind, we are anticipating a need for more PPS inclusive classrooms and specialized classroom settings. We hope to pilot a co-taught classroom teaching model. Um and of course we will need to expand our itinerant services which are um in which would include speech OT typ um the related services that are common with um special education services. So looking at all of what we needed to solve for and what we had in place already, um the steering committee in consultation with senior leadership as well as our current preK staff, they've been part of this process to date. um
084are recommending a phased approach um which would have us opting into cohort three, beginning this work with the next school year um and assuming responsibility for schoolaged four-year-olds in the next school year old in the next um school year and then uh adopting three-year-olds the following year. Next year is the first or is the last year that school departments will be um allowed by the department to assume this responsibility in a phased approach because of that 2028 deadline. Um the reasons that uh uh this recommendation is being put forth um because the phased approach allows us to build our capacity to meet the need of three-year-olds um uh uh with a year of additional planning and preparation. Um we're excited to serve four-year-olds. As I mentioned, we're already serving a majority of four-year-olds with IEPs
085in our community. So that feels um doable in the next year and would allow for a smoother transition process for four uh for those four-year-olds. As soon as we can help support them um this the sooner we can help support them, I think the better for families in terms of minimizing transitions. Um and the phased approach will really allow for us to build our capacity to meet all the requirements that come with this work. We also know that a number of neighboring districts are um moving forward with cohort 3, so assuming responsibility next year. And so we're excited to be joining with our colleagues in learning and doing this work together. But also, we don't want to get behind any of our neighboring districts when it comes to um adding capacity to our staff. Um
086uh so I think that is another key reason to move forward in the year ahead. Um, this next slide really kind of just talks more about what that would look like more specifically. So, we anticipate adding six additional prek classrooms um to our programming. Um, and that would be approximately 5860 additional preK seats. Um that includes expanding access to special education seats as well as general education seats so that we can um continue to educate kids in what um is called least restrictive environment which is a mandate of this work as well. Um and then in year two we would expand to include uh services for three-year-olds um with the aim to do so in partnership with community- based organizations. So, we would strengthen and grow our partnerships in the community with local childcare providers
087and service providers to help support the three-year-olds with IEPs as well as child child find. I can't forget the child find component. Um, this work will um require a number of staffing um and program um uh uh additions as I just mentioned. So, with those additional um responsibilities, we've proposed um a number of additional teachers to include or I'm sorry, a number of additional staff members to include a uh early childhood special education director. Um of course, case management capacity, special education IEP coordination, um as well as um some capacity in our um uh administrative or business department, um coaches, itenerate and related services, etc. Um and that is all in addition to highly qualified teachers um and special ed ed techs. And we aim to um really beef up our professional development for our
088early childhood staff in the year in the years ahead to kind of meet this need. And of course continue to monitor and refine everyone's case loads as we do this work um so that we're maintaining quality um in our efforts. Um the timeline for this work uh we have been planning um for the last at least three months since I've been here for this work. I'm really looking to align um all of our efforts with existing um uh programming in the district. We've also been working with like other department, you know, I've been working with other departments and schoolbased staff to kind of inform this plan. uh we're going to move into a phase where we're doing more uh community engagement and partnership development with external partners now in the um spring and into next
089year. Um as I mentioned, we hope to um support four-year-olds in next school year. That would begin on the first day of school is how um the state um has that work um timelined. um and then three-year-olds in the year after and then again um ongoing continuous improvement efforts. Um I want to emphasize the um the need for uh communication and trust building both with the families of young children but also with our community partners in this work in order to um do this work well. Um so we do have in mind um uh a family and community engagement strategy. Um and that would include um creation of new materials, launching of um new web pages for our website, um developing toolkits for families when it comes to um early childhood um special education, etc.
090as well as just um partnering more closely with several community partners, pediatric um clinics, etc. to ensure that when kids or providers have or families or providers have concerns, they know who to turn to. Um and then of course establishing, you know, advisory opportunities for community members and parents and other stakeholders. Um we're in the process and I've included in the next slide which is loading um some progress monitoring metrics. Most of the ones um on this slide are connected to um development and implementation of IEPs for young children but we're looking at other metrics that are more processoriented metrics for this work as well. Um I I my last slide is kind of a summary slide and so I smile because I'm really excited about next steps and this opportunity. Um, I've started meeting
091um with elementary school leaders and really closely looking at space and speaking with them about their capacity and doing that um like I said with our building leaders, not just ele it says elementary school leaders on the slide, but not just our elementary school leaders um with just leaders in the district in general. Um as well as our community based organizations to talk about this work um and that's been um uplifting I will say. Um so I'm excited about that. Um of course we're looking at the budgeting that needs to happen with this right now. Um looking to design uh some collaborative governance structures for this work because it touches upon so many different domains in in our in our district. Um we of course want to continue to support the community partnerships that ha
092we have but also grow them. Um and all of that within a um what feels like a whirlwind, a rapidly progressing timeline. Um we have some decisions to make um soon so that we can inform uh the main DOE about our decision to join the next cohort and then just really solidifying our commitment to this work by doing so. Um, I also want to draw your attention to the proposed resol Oh, great. Sorry, that's okay. I don't want to speak without no carrying me at all. Where is it? I'm missing it. There it is. Sorry. Um, and sorry, just to note as Katie's going to speak to this, um, but apologies because there was a a ball that dropped between us as we were trying to do the the documents for tonight. Um, I have
093now uploaded this to Diligent. Um, so this is the resolution that that Katie's going to just um talk through that we're hoping for your um review on and we'll bring it back in January. >> Thank you, Sarah. So, this resolution um uh covers much of what was included in the presentation I just shared with you. So, I'm not sure that I um need to read through it, but um it asks for you to approve the recommendation to move forward um with the next cohort and with this phased approach of four-year-olds next year and three-year-olds the following year. >> Great. Are you ready for some questions? >> Sure am. >> Beautiful. Board member Lena, go ahead. >> Thank you so much, Katie. Um, I have a few clarifying questions. In the beginning, you said that this
094is all being uh funded by the DOE, but can you talk specifically about like what at all? Because I'm imagining that the prek staff is not funded by the DOE or it is. >> So, anything connected to special education special education, okay, >> for children 3 to five is 100% funded. all reasonable and necessary expenses related to the delivery of FAPE and child find. Oh yes. >> Okay. Y I just want to add one point. Sorry, I meant to um throw this in before. One of the advantages of going sooner than later with the four-year-olds is that it allows us to get into the cycle and the process with the state and allows us to start accessing funds early. So, um, we would presumably make our intent clear in January. We have a February 2nd
095deadline, but once we have done that, we would start working with the state on establishing what our proposed budget is and our proposed staffing list, and then we'd be able to start tapping into some of those funds to cover the cost of staff who are doing this planning work. >> Great. Okay. One other question I have is um, with regard to the three-year-olds in the partner sites. So the way that would look is that um we would be identifying them and providing them services but they would be going to school at a partner location or am I not understanding that correctly? >> That is that is in theory um one of the approaches that would most likely happen. Yes. >> But Portland public schools wouldn't have a third three-year-old classroom or potentially we could in
096in a house. I mean, it would be allowable. Um, but three-year-olds are not um general education three-year-olds are not uh covered. Um, and so ideally, three-year-olds would be in community based settings where they already exist. >> Okay. Thank you so much, >> sir. Um, board member Brighton, go ahead. >> Thank you, chair. Thank you so much. This is, as you say, very exciting and just like the opportunity to help people, right? like, yay. Um, thank you for doing this work. Um, my follow-up question actually has to do with um, board member Lena's question about the funding. Um, and so the follow-up question I have is who defines reasonable and necessary? Do we just like submit here's what we spend and or is there a definition at the state level in terms of how that gets
097determined? >> They have not defined that clearly. >> Okay. Thank you for that. >> Sure. Yeah, it it would um so there is an allocation based on the numbers that we report quarterly and then every quarter our expenses would be anything that would um >> any any expenses above the allocation would be reviewed and then reimbursed >> based on the results of the review. I'm just thinking about, you know, if we as a district are investing what we feel is reasonable and necessary to make this work and then if the state DOE were to say, "Oh, we don't think it costs that much money to do the work." Um, I'm curious about where that would go, >> right? Um, and that I think would be TBD. One safeguard against that unexpectedly happening is they are
098asking us to submit a budget for those positions ahead of time. And so there is some uh conversation to be had with the department ahead of time about like what we think staffing requirements would be. Um so that is a safeguard against this one safeguard that is in place against >> Yeah. So there's if there's a misalignment it won't be a surprise >> hopefully. Yes. Exactly. Okay. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, chair. >> Thank you. Other questions? Yeah. Board member um Sautel, go ahead. >> Hi. Um I apologize if you already covered this, but how does a student how does a child as young as three receive an IEP? Like is that something a pediatrician would flag or if they haven't yet been in a school or daycare setting? >> Sure. A
099pediatrician could make a referral. A family member could make a referral. Yeah. I think um if there's a concern, it could come from home visiting um services, pediatric services, family. >> Can I add one piece to that? Um and um Katie, maybe you could just talk to this. Uh I assume that as we take on FAPE responsibility that we're now legally like required to make sure that we're meeting the needs of these students and that includes childf find which is identifying them. And so I assume that recognizing that this will be a new process, there's a fair amount of community education that will need to take place as well as uh engaging with community partners, doctors, etc. around this process to make sure that they are uh participatory in the referral process. Is that right?
100>> Correct. And I will say that um child development services is also staying in place and so if a referral goes to CDS, they will route it to the appropriate district. And so there may be a lag, right, with some pediatric provider that doesn't know which district to refer a family member to and that's okay because if it goes to CDS, they could reroute it to a district as well. So there's a couple of safeguards in place too as the transition happens from a family perspective. >> Board member Aberman, >> I have a question about McKinto students because you know at what point I mean if they have an elder older child that would obviously put them in place, but just a thought. >> Good. >> You don't know? >> Uh I don't I can't
101answer that right now. Um, >> Vento, >> what what's your specific question? >> Well, my question is is you know um how if a stu if someone a family is unhoused, how which district do they get sent to? >> The services would follow the student in the same way. So, whatever their home school is um would be where the the IEP services follow. Um >> I've got got just a couple of um questions and want to just make sure that my understanding is correct. So like right now in the world with CDS operating the way that it does. Kids get referred to CDS by a pediatrician or their preschool or daycare family and they go to CDS and then CDS says here are the services that we're going to connect you with. um they go
102through the same uh IEP process that say a kindergartener would go through at that point. >> Okay. But CDS is the one that's responsible for making sure that the needs of that IEP are filled. >> Exactly. >> Okay. And so then what we're talking about doing and sorry and do all of those needs get filled in a classroom currently or is it also there are services that come to kids based on their IEP through like going to an office to get occupational therapy or I guess the the thing that I'm not quite clear on in my head is that if all of these services happen in the classroom that we're taking over or are we also responsible for services that come to kids outside of classrooms? Does that make sense? >> Um, I think so.
103It >> sure. >> Um, so once we once we take this over, we're responsible for services and part of what we're figuring out now is where those services will be provided. And part of the reason that Katie is um proposing an expansion of classrooms is so that we are sure we have an appropriate setting for students to be placed where we can provide their services and put them in the the least restrictive environment meaning that they're getting time with their their peers. That may not always be the location of the students, right? Some of them will get served in classrooms, but it may be that we're serving some in partner sites. The difference between CDS, CDS delivering services and us is that they don't have an education program. So they don't have the same pressure
104that we will have, okay, to provide broader education services to students. And to be frank like that's that question around exactly how much we are required to provide in the way of sort of regular education programming is one of the key kind of points of discussion and debate that's been going on between districts and lawyers in the state >> because also that then becomes a cost that is on us not the state those general education pieces right that's >> okay so thank you that's um I mean And I think like overall like I'm really excited about this. I mean everything shows that you know kindergarten readiness is such an indicator for third grade readiness which is such an indicator for you know graduating and meeting other benchmarks. So I think like if we have kids
105already in the pipeline like I see that over time that is a real asset to our district and I'm just trying to understand kind of like the the the costs the costs scare me and the fact that we don't have a definition at the state level yet. uh there's not a a super clear path of accountability on that. Um uh you know and I think we see in EPS funding that you know the cost of living isn't necessarily um integrated in a way. So I am worried about a flat rate across the state and that would kind of like undercut kind of like what we're doing here. Anyway, these are just concerns. You don't need to respond to them right now. Um uh but the and do you know if any of the funding is
106um is it all state funding or is there any federal pass through funding that is part of this bucket that we'd be allocating or we'd be on the receiving end of? >> Yeah, I'm not sure if we know that for sure. I I think um it's mostly state. Okay. >> Um but I but I don't know for sure where where they're drawing all the money from. >> I think we might want to know that just in case of additional freezes in the in the future. Okay. >> Yeah. I mean I that that's right. They're probably pulling some from IDEIDA. But just to um go back to what you said before. I mean in terms of that 100% funded thing. Yeah. All the districts have been raising that like what do you mean by that? That
107that could be very squishy. Um you know if you go back and look at the language in the law it does say that um and it's separate from the you know the funding for the K to2. >> Yeah. The my understanding of it is that they will um uh adjust the formula for us a little bit based on the differences in Portland with other districts, which is positive. How they do that, we don't know yet, right? Um, and then there are also, excuse me, other funds that we hope to access um to help with um we don't know how much yet will be available, but to help with some of the setup of new classrooms and um potentially even providing um supplies and equipment and things to existing classrooms. We'll be looking at playgrounds. We
108maybe even put some proposals in front of them in terms of transportation um needs and equipment. And then there is a separate um uh reimbursement formula for transportation. So we will have to track and submit specialized transportation costs to them. >> Awesome. And do you have a sense of the timing on the budget that you're putting together? I'm just thinking about will it be together in time for the budget for next year? Yeah. Okay. >> Due tomorrow. Can >> can I just Can I just ask a followup on that real quick? Sure. Um will we do we know the timeline on which we'll have confirmation from the state about what is reasonable? So not just what our proposed budget is but also what revenue they will be providing to offset those costs. >> You do
109you mean like when we give them our proposed budget, how long will it take them to turn around and say yeah we think that's reasonable for the startup in the beginning. >> Yeah. Okay, let me let me ask it even just like slightly differently. So, we submit a balanced budget where revenues match expenses and um right now one of the questions that I have is we pay for um Katie's salary on local recognizing that we wanted to build capacity towards this. I would assume that that is a reasonable cost >> and so that would shift from being a local funded piece to being a CDS reimbured piece in which case there's potential I don't want to say savings but an offset there. On the flip side, if we don't find that out until June, that's
110past the time that we'd be making that balanced budget decision. >> I don't my sense is that it's not that long. I in fact it's to our advantage to make this decision and let them know as quickly as possible and get our proposed budget to them which will include Katie um and others and so that we can um yeah get that feedback as quickly as possible. I mean one thing we haven't said um that's probably worth noting here is the state really wants Portland in right I mean we are the biggest district. We're the most complex district and they really would like to move the work from CDS to us. I'm sure if we would take three-year-olds next year, they would be thrilled. But um so I I think that they're keen to work with
111us. We've been meeting with them quite a bit. They're keen to help make this happen. >> Do you have another thought? >> Just also just clarifying. Um based on some quick looking, it does look like IDEIDA is funding. So IDA is the federal funds uh to support students with IEPs. And so that looks like it is primarily the funding source for three to five year olds. Earlier there's a different funding stream. >> Okay. So that's just good to know as we watch what's happening federally. One second, one more question. Um do you have a sense of how close this would get us to universal prek in Portland? >> Uh with the six classrooms that we're currently >> Yeah. the total the total seats we would then have would be in the 320 range up from
112264. Um and depending on a K class of 490ish uh >> gets us that close. >> We're we're we're closer. That is a sizable move. Um >> it's about 60 additional seats. >> Okay. Thank you for that. Um Sarah Brighten. >> Uh thank you chair. Um, so I have a follow-up question. Um, I think I heard you say that CDS is staying in place. So I would be really curious to hear more about what they're going to continue to do and what the overlap is and how that's all going to work. Well, they'll still operate early intervention, so birth through age three, and then also serve as a resource hub for districts during this transition. and that referral kind of um and helping to make referrals back to the districts. And they're also um trying
113to make their themselves available um with any related services that we could contract with them for like if if if we needed another service provider. >> Okay. Thank you. Thanks, chair. >> Thank you. Um and also just want to commend the board for making the funding for Katie's position possible. I think the idea that we would have absorbed this into our other staff is I just like can't even think about it. So, um just thank you Katie for all the work that you're doing and the container that you're building for this. Um yeah, just excited to see how it continues to to roll out. >> Thank you for the opportunity. >> Thank you. Okay, so now we're going to move on to transportation. yet another Katie. All right. Um, so little bit of a shift.
114Um, we're gonna just talk a little bit. Um, I'm going to talk Katie's here to answer all the complex questions that I cannot answer. Um and uh this will be relatively brief, but we just wanted and we've talked some with the um finance and operations committee a few weeks ago about this initiative and since that time um have really continued to grapple with this initiative um and have reached a a conclusion um which is uh I think the right conclusion and not entirely satisfying. Um but uh I'm going to just kind of give you a because not everyone was on the committee call give you a very quick overview of the work we've been doing. Um and then share a little bit about um where we land landed so far. Um so just as a
115refresher, strategic initiative 5.4 is about about designing and implementing a multi-year transportation plan to support equitable student access. um Katie and assistant director of transportation and Ben Les boy who couldn't be with us tonight. It's his birthday and his kids were throwing a party for him. Um but he uh sends his regards and so Katie and Ben have really been spearheading the way and convened a work group over the summer. Um we have also had a lot of meetings with Metro and they've been I will say a great partner in doing a lot of um research and modeling. Um we we started very broad. There's so many different aspects of our transportation work that we could look at um just in terms of getting at safety and efficiency and equity issues. Um but we based
116on lots of conversations managed to reduce it to um these three key objectives around walking distances um consolidating bell times and then increasing um the number of walkers that we have in the city while reducing um bus riders. So that's where we started. Um, and then we did a lot of modeling. And when I say we, I mean Katie and Ben. Um, did the hard work of um, really churning through bus routes and students and trying to figure out what was possible and if we could achieve this goal that we had in our minds of reducing walk distances for our middle schoolers. Um, the limit is currently two miles and beyond that um, they get a a ride on a school bus. Um, so we were hoping to be able to reduce that and maybe
117even if we were really getting bold, um, perhaps reducing the the distance for elementary as well. Um, but we realized fairly quickly that doing that was going to be pretty impossible to do unless we put middle schoolers on Metro. Um, because we needed that capacity freed up so that we could put more students on our own buses. Um so um we went deeper and I'm not going to go um uh into all the details around this but we did look at different configurations of bel time consolidation because we know that that has been an interest of the board and the community um and also something that it would serve a number of different um purposes both for the transportation work but also for um a number of other aspects of our our programming educationally. Um
118and we we did um do some work and we as I'll talk about in a minute um will continue to do work around our hazard zones which folks who participated in the U boundaries committee learned that we have certain zones or areas of the city where we transport students by bus even though they are within the walk distance um you know limits um because we're trying to get them across a a dangerous road like um Washington Avenue or Forest Avenue or um some of the bigger the thorough affairs. Um we that's one uh objective and and area of work that doesn't necessarily have to tie with the other ones. It's something that can stand alone. So again, Metro has been great. They've done a lot of modeling as well. So, we did ours, they did
119theirs, they used our data and our maps um and student lists and um they've been very enthusiastic, but they were also really upfront and honest with us that they came back with a couple of routes for middle schoolers that they could take over, but with their current capacity, there's really not more they can do. They they are not able currently to take on all middle schoolers. They also couldn't take on the middle schooler, sorry, they also couldn't take on the middle schoolers without shifting bell times for middle and high school because they can't have all of them at the same time. So, um, and again, this is a very abbreviated version of of what we've been working on. Um, but I don't want to to I want to get straight to your questions. So, um,
120basically the where we've landed at this point is that given, um, that capacity challenge and our inability to shift all middle schoolers onto Metro, um, we can't achieve some of the other things that we were trying to do right now. And so, we um we believe we need to just pause that or or slow it down. We're not proposing to give up. We want to keep working and keep working with Metro um to see, you know, what's possible in terms of capacity building. Um the reality is that right now staffing challenges are real. Um and the restrictions that have been put on um CDL licenses by the Trump administration have not made things easier for Metro or for us. Um and so adding more drivers um is probably not in the cards for them at
121the moment. And um that further adds to our our challenge. Um so we believe we need to um delay significant changes for now. Um we will continue working on figuring things out. But meanwhile, as we got deeper into our planning around the CDS transition that you just heard about, we increasingly realized as well that whatever capacity we can um create within our own system, perhaps by shifting some hazard zones, um maybe getting some more kids on buses, sorry, on walking, uh that that we needed to focus that effort right now on making sure we can meet our obligations around the CDS transition. position. There will undoubtedly be more students that we need to provide specialized transportation to at the prek level as a result of that initiative. Um, and so we will continue. We've got
122a lot of other things going on um to try to improve the work um make sure that we're um you know safe uh that we've got the best possible use of technology to create more efficiencies. Um we're in the process of adding more vans and van drivers which have different licensing requirements. Um the team's done a lot of work around standard operating procedures and and professional development. Um, and we continue to work on trying to build a pipeline of new drivers, um, figuring out what an apprenticeship program looks like with, uh, PAE, um, adult education. But it is, um, you know, it's a, it's a slo right now if I'm being honest. And that's it. And if you have um, routing questions, Katie's the what questions do folks have? Board member Lena, go ahead. >>
123Can you excuse me? Can you talk a little bit more about the different um the different start times and the challenges with those and how many start times we have now? Like why it's challenging to move to fewer and that would be helpful. >> So we have um three three bell times right now. So the the first set of elementary schools starts at 7:40 in the morning and then all of our middle and high schools start at 8 10 >> 20. Um and then uh the third round of schools which are again elementary schools start at 9:00. And so from a transportation point of view it's tough because they're just every bus is or van has three runs right in a row. um and they're moving and um you know if if the first tier
124is late then that can create a problem all the way through. Um so it's not the easiest setup and we would have loved to have gotten to a place where we could have had two tiers that were farther apart to give the transportation team more room. Um but there's also um either reasons why it would be great if we didn't have quite so many tiers. um we might have more opportunities to bring people together for professional development. If we had our tiers, you know, closer together. Um for families um with kids in more than one school, it might be nice to have the tiers closer together. Um, we had been asked to look at having one tier and that is just really not possible for us unless we add pretty much double the size of
125our fleet and our drivers which isn't feasible. So, um, the best we thought we might be able to get to was the two-tiered system. And as Katie mentioned, to get to that, we would have needed to um break apart the high schoolers and the middle schoolers um and you know, basically make take advantage of that metro capacity. But even their capacity um is sort of doubled up. So they would have to do high schoolers and and middle schoolers on separate um tiers. So that would have affected our time timing as well. >> Oh. who I can't tell whose hand is up. Who put him up there? Um board member um Brighten and then board member Aubberman. >> Thank you. Thank you, chair. Um thank you for the information. Um I understand um what you're saying
126about Oh, it's not the best update. Um I want to acknowledge I want to acknowledge a couple things. I want to acknowledge all of the hard work that your team has done to get us to where we are and like no missed runs and no having to like let families know, sorry, we can't pick up your kid. Thank you for doing that. Um, and I'm I'm so glad that your team will be able to like protect that, you know, current state, you know, providing services that are important and reliable and consistent. And then so the other thing I want to acknowledge is that sometimes the right answer is not the the fun answer. So, I want to thank you so much for not um proposing that we take an action just so we say we're
127like thank you for like just being truthful and honest and saying this is the state of where we are and um the proposal or the recommendation is to not make any significant changes right now because I think that is the right answer. So, I appreciate that very very much. Thank you. Thank you, chair. >> Thank you, board member. >> Thank you. Yes. I everything that member Brighten said, I appreciate that as well. >> A question came and this is my ignorance in in all things busing. Um, is it possible to pair middle schools and elementary schools >> has I'm sure you looked at that, but I wondered how that looked. Yeah, if we had changed the schedule, um we would have we would have lined up ele some of the elementary schools and the middle
128school um tier. Uh and um I mean right now they're not in the same tier, so it's it's kind of irrelevant, but we did also explore a few models where um it was we tried lots of different things um that weren't even involving Metro. Um, >> yeah. >> But even as you talk about Metro and looking at putting the middle schoolers on one tier and the high schoolers on a second tier, the struggle there is that Metro needs a full hour to turn over their runs. So now you're looking at moving middle schoolers back at their start time a whole hour, which is not scientifically the best option for them. >> Thank you. >> Word member Ali Elli. Yeah, >> I really appreciate how you guys um put into the recommendation that uh we we
129shorten the distance for the middle schools and and elementary schools cuz I mean a mile for a kid is crazy, you know, and uh 2 miles is you got to wake up early and walk. Um but uh I know that there's going to be some difficulty. But I hope that we can you know look at metro and and and um those possibilities because um I mean I also lived in a big city um in Columbus uh and that's that's what a lot of the kids had to do. So upgrading to that would be something considerable. Thank you. >> Not giving up and they're excited to partner. >> Yeah. And I I think it's also a call to the city as a whole um to invest in Metro because I mean they love the idea of
130working with us on this because they want to build that muscle in our students and build the writership and and get students children used to to doing that writing from a young age. Um >> you know and we can continue to work with Metro and and um you know advocate for that. But I think it's also a larger community commitment to investing in public transportation. Um, and then the other thing I do want to say is just appreciate the appreciation for this team. Um, we have I think all seen a lot of work in progress in the last couple of years. Um it's pretty amazing and I think um because I sat there for a while um deep in it I I have a particular deep you know particularly deep level of awareness of what
131they're going through every day. Um and I just want to make sure folks know that um you know Ben gets up and he's there at 5:00 every morning figuring just down the street here figuring out um you know who's called out for the day. how are we going to rearrange things to make sure all the buses run? And then um thank you to the board for investing in this team and helping us build the management structure that we need to make it run. We've got a really strong management team now between Ben and Katie and Austin who's our dispatcher. And they they stagger their time so that we're covering the office from 5:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm um at least. I know I see your car there way past 5 regularly. Um, so yeah, I
132just think that that investment by the board and you putting trust in us to try to to turn this around and make it run better, we still have a lot of work to do. We know that. Um, but but I think we're moving in the right direction. >> Yeah. And I just want to say as someone who's been like holding out hope on reducing walking distances and school is getting school times, um, you made it really easy for me to understand why we can't do that right now. And so, you know, as you were presenting, I was just like, well, what about Well, what about And you've really looked at every possibility. And I mean, other than a fleet of fleet of Razor scooters, which I was like, hm, maybe get some lime scooters for
133Portland, just send middle schoolers around. Just kidding. That's a joke. Um uh but just really super appreciative of um all the ways you're thinking about this. So, thank you for that. Any other questions? Okay, then I'm going to um ask that we take a 10-minute break and uh well, actually, let's do the motions to move into executive session first and then we will um move into Yeah. Are you okay? Who's coughing? You're coughing. Okay. I've reached the clock. >> Um so we have um we have two executive sessions tonight. Um so we have up first the consideration action to enter into executive session pursuant to one MRSA 40560D to discuss contract negotiations. And then we have another the consideration and action to enter into executive session pursuant to one MRSA 40560 to discuss a personnel
134matter. I'd be looking for a second on those. Thank you. Board member no. Um all those in favor. Okay. And we'll take a 10-minute recess and then meet um in the executive session room. Whoa. They're coming. >> Mics are on >> one, two, three, four, >> five. >> Greg, are we live? Thank you. Um, I'd move to adjourn uh the meeting. Is there a second? Thank you, board member Ali Ali. Um, all those in favor. So, we are adjourned at 11:49 p.m.