001Well, I mean, I think they showed us first meeting like all the stuff they're >> All right, I think we are live now. Thanks, Greg. Appreciate it. Uh, so I would like to call the business meeting of the Portland Board of Public Education to order. It is Tuesday, August 26th. >> Mute. Everybody needs to mute. >> It's It's Greg. It's Tuesday, August 26th, 2025. There we go. Uh we are meeting in a hybrid format with some of us here at Casco Bay High School and some online via Zoom. Uh Vice Chair Bondo will not be with us tonight as she is traveling. Um so Dr. Warren, will you please call the role? Yes. Member Ali Ali. Member Yusra Ali >> here. Vice Chair Bondo, member Bryen >> here. >> Member Lena >> present. >> Member
002no >> here. >> Member Operman >> here. >> Member Sautell >> here. >> Student representative Fitzgerald. Student representative Contiba. >> Student representative Lee >> here. >> Student representative O'Brien here. Student Representative Ziggler, Chair Lentz, >> present. Uh, thank you. And so now, the 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, 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, Mcmmack, 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
003Wabanaki peoples visible in our schools and classrooms. And as a reminder of our mission, the Portland Public 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 that all people are being held to high expectations and have 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. Uh, and now we will move into public comment. Um, so if you would like to give public comment, uh, you can come up to the, uh, podium
004or raise your Zoom hand. I'll just quickly go over to go over the guidelines, um, of public comment. So, members of the public may speak on any subject directly related to the operations of the schools except the personnel matters or complaints concerning specific employees or students, which shall be addressed through the 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 a maximum of 3 minutes or six 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 audiences. Speakers must refrain from engaging in disruptive conduct, including but not limited to using vulgar and
005or 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, or other identity factor. making defamatory comments, exceeding the allotted time limits, taking 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 rules. 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. I'll keep the time and raise a yellow folder indicating that you have 30 seconds remaining and a red folder signifying the end of your time. If you get to the end
006of your time and would like to request more time, you may do so. So, with that, you can come on up. I don't know if you noticed, Sarah, but I promise to break none of those rules. Thank you. And I also I'm sorry I was not here for the very first board meeting of the new year. I had co so for me this is the first one. Welcome back everyone. Um I am here to read an open community statement um that is being put out by the executive boards of the Portland Education Association and by the base unit and the executive board members are with me. The safety, dignity, and well-being of every Portland Public School student, family member, and all of our colleagues across the district remain our highest priorities. In times of uncertainty,
007especially during periods of heightened immigration enforcement activity, it is more important than ever that impacted students, families, and all staff have the support they need to feel safe and prepared within our schools and on school grounds. Schools should be safe and inclusive spaces focused on learning, support, and opportunity for every child and for every one of us every day. We, the executive boards of the Portland Education Association and base units understand that this is a difficult time for many and we want you to know that you are not alone. We are here to support you and stand firmly with you as a community built on trust, compassion, and shared humanity. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else in the room that would like to give public comment? >> Uh George Row. Uh, I
008live on Handover Street and, uh, the board, if you had a chance, uh, you got an email from me today about, uh, your parking lot that supports the central office headquarters, um, on Cumberland Avenue. The parking lot's address is 33 Portland Street. And it's been an interesting I've been a neighbor of that little lot for about 10 years. And uh for a number of years, I thought it was privately owned. And I was uh brought to my attention in 2017 that it was part of the school uh uh operations. And in August of 2017, I impressed upon our community policing detail of the police department to ask the school department to remove the uh horrendous graffiti that had built up many many years on that door that uh people use to go in and out
009of the parking lot without uh after they've parked their car and are leaving. And uh somebody got the message and the door looked great. Um, and it literally has not been painted or cared for since. So, August 2017 to now. Uh, for a few years after that, I did uh take it upon myself as kind of a favor to you guys because I know you're busy with a lot of things, uh, to remove small amounts of graffiti that showed up from time to time. Um, I was appreciative that you had done something to make our neighborhood nicer and so I was, you know, paying the favor back. But at some point, um, the graffiti now, uh, in the last, uh, month or so has gotten so bad that it's beyond my capacity. And I do
010think that it's at this point it's time for you guys to to do a little of of the work that you probably should have been doing all along. But um you know the larger issue I mean it would be great to just throw it away as just you know one little door in a big city. But you know downtown Portland right now is in a really tough place and there's not likely to be a lot of good news frankly for maybe quite some time. Um there's all kinds of reasons for it. Um but you know that's the core of our city and if that core is under great stress it is going to affect our school department. I think you all know uh about things of like tax base and um you know school enrollment
011and all kinds of other things but basically the heart of our city uh is not doing well and there's a lot of reasons for it and it's you know I I got a response back from the school board chair today uh for my email and I appreciated it. You guys have spent some money this summer on improving the central office uh uh sort of entryway on Cumberland and that's good news. Um you know it still needs a lot of work. I think you all know that. But you can't ignore the place where the staff parks because that's part of the footprint of of your responsibility as well. But the main thing is um you guys uh you know small things have big impacts and you all know that because you're in the school business. But
012um please uh be a good neighbor and don't rely on other people necessarily to have to remind you. I mean literally uh hundreds and hundreds of staff members have walked through there and have not been bothered by those conditions. And it's taking me coming here to remind you of that. And I think that that uh doesn't necessarily speak all that well of the school district, but I appreciate you guys um taking note of it and um hopefully uh we'll get some improvement and uh we'll all share in the responsibility together. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Just going to look on Zoom. Is there anybody else in the room that would like to give public comment? If so, now is the time. Okay. So, with that, I'm going to go ahead and close public comment
013um and move on to just a couple of quick remarks by my um by myself and then I'll pass it over to the superintendent. Um this morning I was lucky enough to be able to join the start of school uh event uh at Merryill Auditorium with all of our staff and it was just absolutely uh a wonderful event and I just wanted to share some gratitude for the people that planned that for everybody that has made that a priority to come into the same space. It was um just like wonderful energy. board member Operman, board member Lena, and board member Satell were also all there. Um, and it was just like it made me incredibly proud uh to be part of this district and the work that we're doing. So, just big appreciations to all
014those and the musical choices that went into uh getting the right vibe in the room. So, thank you uh for that. Um, and then, you know, I think on kind of um what Mr. Row was just saying, like I do I've just noticed that there's a lot more fresh paint across the district this year. And I don't know if that's just because where we are in our facilities thing, but it does just like make such a difference to have the fresh coat of paint in the hallways and on the banisters. And I'm just so grateful like the buildings are just in really really good shape. Um, and I'm just uh thankful to our facilities uh folks that are working tremendously hard uh along with our custodial teams to make sure that our buildings are open.
015So just thanks uh to all of you. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Superintendent. >> Great. you took most of my uh comments. So, um nope, I appreciate that. Uh keep me brief, which is great. Um I apologize for my attire, but today all of our staff joined us at Mel Auditorium and wore school or district um shirts, t-shirts to just uh sort of celebrate um the pride that we have in the district and the work that is going on. The message that that was delivered today focused on three things. It focused on the fact that we're going to achieve our mission and our strategic plan when we operate as one team, when we have one common plan. And a third um piece that was added this year around thinking about
016how do we take one step into discomfort and how do we push ourselves uh to do even more for the students in our district. Uh just a huge thank you um to transportation and the logistics of moving 1,200 uh adults all at one time uh both in and out of the auditorium as well as to the custodians that not only made sure that Portland High School was ready uh but that all of our schools are ready for the start of the school year. Uh just also want to thank Sarah Oare and Dr. Venuela who did all of the logistics to coordinate how we have 1,200 adults in Portland High School for the afternoon of learning. And so just sincere thank you to them. Uh last just a reminder uh for folks listening at home and
017thinking when is that first day of school? Just a reminder that the first day of school is September 2nd for first grade through 12th grade. Kindergarten and preK on September 3rd and our adult education programming starts back up on September 10th. And so we look forward uh to visiting schools next week and starting to see students in the buildings and in the classrooms. Thank you. >> Wonderful. Um and now up next we >> I forgot just sorry my apologies. I forgot one piece uh is that in the uh moving forward we're going to share and will be publicly available on the superintendent comments on our board materials where you will see all staff members that are new hires that are not uh legally required to be voted on by the board but we're sharing with
018you for transparency and awareness sake. And so what you'll see in the agenda uh tonight and you will see in the agenda moving forward is where it is personnel for board information only. Those are our non-eing staff and our non-school administrator hires. So it's just anformational piece. >> Beautiful. And uh board those were in the personnel um uh category at the last meeting but upon legal counsel the it's a better placement to have them just within the superintendent um updates but we still wanted to make those available. Uh and so now we're gonna uh for the first time in a long time uh we're bringing committee reports back uh to um have a regular spot in the agenda. Uh and so we're going to go through uh each of our um uh committees uh and
019each of the chairs will give a short update and then there'll be an opportunity for board to ask questions of the committee chair. Um, and because this is the first time that we're doing this in a long time, uh, board members, if you have feedback on what's in the report or the um, the presentations that the chairs give, please let us know and we'll get better over time uh, and really making sure that this information that we're sharing is landing and uh, feels pertinent to to folks. So, uh, we'll start with finance personnel and operations committee. Uh, uh, board member Brighten, I'm going to let you take it away. >> Thank you, chair. Uh so the finance uh personnel and operations committee is off to a great start for the uh 2526 academic year um
020uh in terms of uh setting the stage for uh the next 20 committee meetings before we get to the end of the year. So we have finalized priorities um that we want to focus on um and topics for those 20 um upcoming meetings. Um just a quick uh quick listing enumeration of the priorities. Um as a committee we've decided that um of course we want to maintain strong financial controls, strong personnel systems, um support progress on a facilities master plan, establish an equitable funding formula for schools and departments, and establish new transportation policies and routes. Um I'm not going to uh list all of the um topic areas of focus over the next 20 um committee meetings, but um we finalize those in terms of what we expect to be t talking about at each
021of the um various committee meetings that we're holding um twice a month uh over the course of the academic year. Um anybody who is so interested in those topics can certainly look that up um in the materials online. Um we have uh confirmed that on a monthly basis. So we're meeting twice a month um once per month we're going to be getting a monthly financial report and a monthly personnel report um to include information such as hires, resignations, uh vacancies and status of um various um personnel uh priority items um you know background checks and credentials, things like that. Um and then of course as appropriate within the personnel or finance topic areas um any updates that are um that come up that may be appropriate in that given month. And then the other update
022uh to share uh with the full board is that we have um we have identified an action plan for reviewing board policies that may be relevant to the topics of finance personnel and operations. So, as you might imagine, those are three three relatively broad um subject areas. So, there are a number of board policies that touch on the areas of finance, personnel, and operations. So, what we've decided to do is to um tackle them um over the course of many meetings. So, uh, each committee member is going to identify the policy, um, from a list of relevant policies, the policy that they feel, um, is most deserving of review first. Um, it's possible that more than one committee member like that there will be duplicates, but I would be surprised if that's the case. So
023we'll have you know three or four um in each committee to look at uh in in um in the sense of looking at whether any of the content might need to be reviewed, packaging up our committee feedback and moving that along to the policy committee. Uh and then in terms of our next meeting in case anybody you know is on the edge of their seat for that um for that specific topic we will be talking about transportation and finance policies. That's the update from the finance personnel and operations committee. >> Thank you so much um board member Brighton. Does anybody have any questions uh for uh board member Brighton about the committee updates? All right then. Uh I see no questions. So then we'll go ahead and move on to policy. Uh board member Lena,
024go ahead. >> Thank you. Um so the policy committee has just approved the proposed calendar for the 2025 2026 policy committee. Um, so we will be working on updating policies that legally need to be updated during the first part of the school year and then we will be moving through the policy books to review any policies that have not been updated in the last five years. Um, and we have asked staff to include possible financial implications to any policy changes within the presentations. Um the we're asking board members to please review the proposed calendar for um this upcoming school year for the policy committee to learn what we will be working on in the coming few months. And um at the next meeting we are going to be learning about um updates from the behavior
025response protocol task force which was formerly known as the progressive discipline task force. We'll be getting an update from them. And then we'll also be discussing the following uh policies. I JNDB, which is student use of schoolisssued computers, devices, and the internet. We have to update this one in order for it to align with the new uh cell phone policy, which is JFCK. We will be looking at JICA, which is weapons, violence, and school safety. We are also going to be looking at ACA which is harassment and sexual harassment of students, ACAB, harassment and sexual harassment of school employees and also GBB which is staff conduct with students. Um so those are what we're looking at at the next meeting. So every meeting will sort of look like that. We'll have a list of policies
026we're looking at reviewing and then voting on the changes. >> Thank you. Any questions for board member Lena about policy committee work? >> Okay, seeing none, then we can move ahead on to curriculum and student success. Oh, I apologize. >> Yeah, board member Brighten, go ahead. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, uh, board member Lena, I just have a quick question about the cadence of, um, uh, so the handful of policies that you just listed are going to be reviewed at the next meeting. Is your uh intent to vote on the changes within that meeting or at a following meeting? >> I believe that next week it's just uh review and then we will vote on them the second time. There are a few that we will be um reviewing multiple times before voting on. So
027we have two uh discussion meetings about them and then the third meeting there's a vote. But I don't remember exactly which one is which. But it's usually first a review and then a vote. >> Great. Thank you so much. >> Any other questions? Just double check I'm not missing anybody on Zoom. Um then uh board member Uberman on to for curriculum and student success. >> Thank you, chair. Uh curriculum and student success focuses on two of the strategic plan um sections. One which is the achievement section and the other the whole student. So um last two meetings we discussed various things uh related to our overall cadence of where we will be covering those topics throughout the year. But last night, um, we were presented with a data packet that was, um, packed with so
028much information overviewing, um, what K12 student progress in language arts and math is at this point using largely the state data. Um and we are hopeful and and we're told that we will be hearing more about the interim types of measurements that we do within the district because there are many many points which uh point to to direct um student achievement and understanding of uh student success in the data. We saw some very positive moves in um language arts across the board um in various bits and pieces um in certainly even in with between differentiation between various um subgroups. So that that was more positive um move in as far as what our mission measures were looking at. mathematics um is a little bit more problematic. And although there were improvements, uh just the consistency
029across the district um demonstrated that we really do need to do what the strategic plan said to do this year, which is to design and plan um a curriculum in mathematics, particularly in middle school um level. And what was really wonderful about this meeting um as since there was the data and concrete information is that staff particularly Haley Dur Digson, Jessica Robinson and Allison Dame answered questions clearly, succinctly but expanded as we needed. So, uh, we felt like we I thought we we that we really understood what the data meant. Um, for those of us who are data nerds, we understand the limitations of the data. Um the last thing that happened last night which I think we'll be seeing more and more of particularly in our committee and I hope everyone in the board
030takes a look at this it's um Pamela Thompson director of secondary academic success and outcomes refreshed our knowledge of the portrait of a graduate and whereas the strategic plan says all right we're going to do this we're going to do that we're going to do this we're going to do that the portrait of the graduate kind of puts that personal aspect on what we're trying to do and really look at and so um she was great in showing that and I'm I that is I think a feel that we will have um in the background of all the other data analysis we do next time um we're looking at high school success programs particularly the nth grade is um setup. Okay, thank you. >> Beautiful. Any questions uh for board member Uberman? Okay, seeing none,
031then I'm happy to uh report out on the public and legislative affairs committee. Um, and so uh similarly, we both uh have put a calendar in place for the year and have uh really locked in on our priorities which are uh divided into public engagement and legislative engagement. Um each of those uh that are listed in the report um are focused on uh increasing engagement in both of those areas. Uh so you can read through those priorities. Um uh but then really also looking at a a whole plan of engagement for the year uh right now and having a plan that is not just for community members or parents but having a plan that really is looking at all the levels of um our our community at the same time. So for families, for students,
032for staff uh and the broader community. And so we are really working to get all of those dates uh settled and in the calendar as far in advance as possible um so that board members can join those that families and students and staff are able to join those. Um so you know there's there's not a lot of needed action from the board but please do uh keep an eye on your inboxes because you will start getting added to those calendar invites. um student representatives. Um we would love uh to use uh to have you at any of those events and also um in ter terms of student engagement, we would love to work with you to um you know have you help within your schools in getting engagement of students in the room. Uh so
033more on that. Uh but just keep a a lookout on your um calendars and then also in our board updates that we get on Fridays um Dr. Valenuela is going to start to filter in uh community events that are scheduled at school. So the math nights, the culture potlucks, anything that is happening on a school-based site. What's the one that I just saw the other day that always makes me something about popsicles. I just Yeah, the otter pops. Yeah, at row. Um uh yeah, so just keep a look on there. Those are great things where you don't have to speak or you really have a role like you're just there to um engage with community and see kind of our schools in action. And so I just highly encourage that. Uh upcoming we have uh
034some deep dives into how the main uh legislation works. Uh we're going to have somebody from the MSBA, main school board association, um come and do kind of like a legislation 101 for us. Uh so we'll be able to understand how the sessions work, how to best partner with our legislators, um and how to best be advocates uh around policies that are important to our district. Uh we'll have our very own bill tracker which is basically a complex or not complex, we haven't gotten there yet. Um Excel spreadsheet that will show kind of like where bills are in their process because it's a pretty convoluted thing once you start tracking a bill that goes through legislation and then really starting to focus on what our legislative priorities will be. Um so all of that to
035say those are that's what's happening. Any questions from anybody? Yeah, board member Lena go ahead. Thank you. Um will you be inviting our local legislators to any of these meetings? >> Yes, we will. So, we will um uh be scheduling hopefully meetings directly with them uh to be able to have conversation uh with them. And again, I just want to offer up that anybody is welcome to join any committee meetings uh as uh as a participant. You wouldn't get voting um abilities, but you can come and uh be part of the conversation. Um so that will happen with both our um state legislators uh then also at the city level and I think we're still kind of iterating around um if there's anything that we want to do on the federal level. Yeah, great question.
036Any other questions? Yeah, board member. >> Yeah. Are they going to um be meeting us in the the policy um committee or is it going to be towards is it going to be the whole to be determined. >> Yeah, but we'll figure it out. Okay. Um, so I don't see any other questions. Uh, so I'll uh close that up. But I also just wanted to uh I'm feeling very grateful tonight. So I'm going to give some more gratitude which uh the committee chairs have really um been stepping up. We've already had two meetings at the since the school year or the board calendar has started this year and it is a lot of content that we are able to get through and that is happening also because of the support of the staff behind these
037meetings. And so um you know I think the we have set a very aggressive uh clip and agenda for each of these committees. I think that's exciting but that also takes a lot of work and commitment and I just really appreciate um everybody stepping up to that and the level of board engagement that I've been seeing in committees is really really excellent. So please uh keep that up and students Caroline if you want to get in there come join a committee. You're more than welcome. >> Oh she is on a committee. >> Oh you're just not in the committees that I'm on. That's what it is. God. >> Um uh >> they still count. Yes, it's true. It's true. >> Yes. >> Apologies, Student Representative O'Brien. >> Um so with that, uh we're going to
038move into the report of the secretary. Um let me just get to the right place in my notes. So we have the consideration and action to approve the meeting minutes of August 12th, 2025. Are there any corrections to the meeting minutes? All right. So seeing none, the minutes are approved as distributed. And now we are going to have an update um on our boundary committees. Uh yeah, no, I'm happy to do a little framing. Um so just to remind folks uh the boundaries uh committee, otherwise known as attendance boundaries or different permutations of that those words. This is a committee that was formed by a resolution from the board um last year uh to look at the boundaries and um uh policies associated with boundaries at both the elementary and middle school level. So this
039group of folks has been meeting now for almost a year. Um the work of this committee started last fall. uh the work had to slow down a bit when we got into the data in the district and realized that um there was a lot of cleanup that we needed to do to make sure that the work we did moving forward was accurate and uh clean and uh concise. And so um uh over the the course of this time the the committee has decided uh on a a draft of uh new boundary lines to bring to the committee to bring to the community for feedback. um for our elementary schools and should this week uh decide on a final draft of the middle schools to bring to the community this fall for feedback. Uh just a
040reminder for folks um after it goes to the community for feedback, the committee will take all of that along with any policy recommendations and make a full recommendation to the board at which point the board will dig in um and uh uh eventually vote um with the hopes of uh potentially implementing any of these changes for the next school year. >> Great. Thank you for that. And with that context, I'm going to provide an update as requested by the board of the work of the boundary committee to date. There we go. I'm going to do four topics. Just talk a little bit about the community uh committee formation and members, the work to date, the draft scenarios and next steps that exist. As Chair Lent mentioned, the committee was established based on a board resolution
041in June of 2024. And you can see there in the bullets below the responsibilities that were laid out. It includes determining whether or not elementary and middle school boundaries should be adjusted with a focus around equity and achievement, how they should be adjusted, um if changes should be made to the middle school model based on current and future enrollment, and identify additional projects that come from this work that will need to be completed to see this be successful. And that they then submit that all as recommendations. So not making final decisions but submit recommendations to the board. I anticipate that they will be submitting recommendations for this committee or this board to consider probably in November. The board re resolution established that the committee must be representative of Portland public schools. And you can see
042the representatives up there including chair Lent, board member uh Lena, board member Ali, uh staff, student, alum and parents, school leaders, and other community members as well. Sorry. And superintendent, could you speak about McKay and the the firm and what how we chose them? >> Yeah. Okay. Um, the committee is supported in their work by an individual McKay Larby. Uh, she works for I'm going to blank on the name of her firm right now. >> That's why I asked you to do it. >> Um, I think it's M I think it's MGD MGT demographics. We'll get that for you in a second. Um she has worked with the district for a number of years doing uh enrollment forecasts and making predictions about what the size of the district will be based on buildings in the
043district as well as births and moving students forward. And so she's fairly familiar with the district from that work and recognizing the speed at which the committee was interested in engaging. It made most sense to actually continue with her firm. they're a nationally recognized firm that does this work across the country. And so she has been partnering with the the district uh to really do the modeling. So the community members are talking about uh potential adjustments to boundaries and then she is modeling that to show what that impact would be on the school community. I'm going to go over real quick a couple charts here in a second just to give a little more context for why the committee was formed. And I just want to orient you to four definitions that'll come up on
044the next screen. Functional capacity, that's the capacity in a school based on the number of students that could be in each classroom. This is not the calculation that you would think of where you see capacity for an auditorium or other things where it's based on fire capacity and how many can safely be there. This is actually done where functional capacity is thought of, which is how many students can be thoughtfully educated in this building. And it's setting aside classrooms for art, music, gym, STEM, and special education that the committee chose to set aside and make sure that all schools have that. The second is you're going to see resident students. These are students who live in the city. They have students who have addresses outside of Portland are excluded. The reason for this is that
045this is looking at boundaries and who lives in them and decisions around students attending the school and that particular school is mostly a policy question about where uh superintendent exceptions or agreements come to do placement as well as where we place students uh for programming or special need programming as well as our prek classrooms. And so this is particularly focused around resident students and where do they live. The third is utilization. Utilization is looking at how many students are rostered to go to that school that are residents divided by the functional capacity. So you can think of this as if a building was at 100% we're saying that we're using all of the classrooms in there full to what we would expect. a school that is at 85% is not full to the same level.
046And then the fourth uh definition here that I just want to share with you to make sure we're all on the same is economically disadvantaged. Economically disadvantaged students um by definition are those students whose family uh household income is at or below 185% of the federal poverty level. when you've historically heard about free or reduced lunch, this is getting at that same population. And so part of what the committee was charged with was addressing enrollment differences between schools. And what I have up here is what we started with when we looked at our schools for the eight elementary schools that are on the mainland. The committee is not considering changes to Peaks Island or Cliff Island because of the unique nature where boundaries aren't the same. And I have two call outs here just to
047show you the difference. So the first is this one right here where the economically disadvantaged uh percent of students that are economically disadvantaged at East End is 78%. Well, at Longfellow, uh, this past year was at 24.7, a 55.3 percentage point difference. Why utilization is also being looked at is that if you then look at Longfellow and Lysath, Longfellow utilization is at about 57% and LISH is at 80%. A 23 percentage point difference between those schools. So it speaks to both schools that have different needs in terms of resources and schools that have different spaces available within which to serve students. Similarly, looking at middle schools, you can again see differences but not to the same extreme. And so here you see the differences with uh economically disadvantaged of 25.3 percentage points between king and
048more and utilization at 12 percentage points. um a difference. You'll also notice that the utilization in our middle schools on average is a little bit lower than our elementary schools. To guide this work, the boundary committee established a set of fi five priorities when reviewing potential adjustments to the boundaries. They considered utilization, demographics with a very specific focus around socioeconomic neighborhood schools and the desire to maintain neighborhood schools, transportation, and considering how any changes would impact transportation. And then fifth was minimizing overall impacts. And so making sure that any adjustments um we're not just moving students, but that we're achieving goals uh towards the other priorities. You'll notice that these five priorities um in some ways compete against each other. Um and so it's not designed that the first priority there is the most important,
049but instead these are five priorities that the committee has kept in mind throughout their work. The process that the committee's gone through has been really robust with the support of staff and external demographer as I shared and you can see up here the 15 the 12 steps of this program. Uh so it started by uh thank you board member oper. Um it started by reviewing our current boundaries. We then dug in around transportation and budget and crossing guards and other factors that impact boundaries. They identified the capacities of each school. What this was was we had a external architecture firm come in and look at the buildings and determine what was capacity as well as the committee making decisions around what spaces would be set aside in all schools so that they didn't contribute towards
050overall capacity. They began to make proposed adjustments to boundaries aligned with the committee's five priorities. They worked to land on final draft scenarios to get community feedback. And in June, they received community feedback on the elementary boundaries and overall input around middle schools, but not yet looking at a scenario. Once they had draft scenarios, um, which they now have, um, they've layered on five and 10-year projections. These projections include both projected births and housing development. And so the idea here is that when you do boundary work, you start with your current students and you start with that student population to see how any changes would impact and then you move to five and 10 year projections to make sure that any changes that the board would make uh will still be good changes uh in
05110 years. And so we look at that. Obviously the further out you get in a forecast, the cloudier your crystal ball becomes. Uh but we want to make sure we have that. They're in the process now of adjusting draft scenarios based on those five and 10-year projections and we anticipate and have scheduled for additional community engagement opportunities around their maps uh in October. Once we have those maps, the committee will then work to develop an implementation plan. An implementation plan wrestles with questions like for a student who's going to be in fifth grade when these changes happen. Do they get to stay at their current school or do they move? How are siblings impacted? How does transportation need to adjust as well? We anticipate sending the recommendations to the board and then the board making
052a decision where it'll be in your hands to approve uh vote down or adjust the recommendations. And so just to give you a spot of sort of where we're at, uh our elementary and middle school scenarios are both in a spot now where they're adjusting based on five and 10 year projections. We have the additional community engagement sessions in October. I'm trying to do this off the top of my head, but I believe they're scheduled for October 15th, 16th, 29th, and 30th. They'll start to work on the implementation plan actually this Thursday and to have that first initial conversation about it. And as I said, I think the recommendations will come to the board likely in November um in time probably for our second meeting. This is actually important as making that decision in time
053for budget uh as budget season uh is really in full swing once we get to December and January. Um just to go a little deeper because we've gotten questions from the community around implementation plan and really want to emphasize that implementation plan is something that the committee has yet to wrestle with and that um will be discussed starting on Thursday um and then at future meetings. If the boundary committee does move forward with recommendations to adjust the boundaries, they will come with a set of implementation plan recommendations. A couple of key notes and just reminders. There's no changes to boundaries for the 2526 school year. Uh but we do anticipate that they will be proposed in time for the 2627 budget and school year. As I shared, examples of considerations for implementation is do elementary
054and middle school changes happen the same year or do we stagger them? Do students in fourth grade stay at their school for fifth grade? And if so, how are siblings treated in that process? So, these are just a couple of examples and I'm sure that if we had a minute, board members would have many other uh topics that they would want considered in implementation and something that I certainly encourage you to join the attendance boundary committee discussions uh this Thursday and on uh to share those. The committee has identified what I'm calling a quote final draft elementary school scenario for community feedback for a second round of community feedback. Um, I call it final only because I anticipate that after community feedback, we will again see some small changes. On the left of this screen,
055you see the current boundaries. The black lines are indicating where the middle schools are on this map on the left where their boundaries are. And on the right, you see the proposed map that the committee is working with right now. If you weren't if you wanted to and you're interested in the history of the work that the committee's gone through and where they started, all of the scenarios that they have considered are available in board materials. I do want to highlight that this is an iterative process and so the board or the excuse me the committee reviewed four scenarios and then looked at a fifth scenario and when they looked at that fifth scenario they actually said actually we like scenario four a little bit better. And so if you're trying to find follow it
056sequentially, they looked at five, liked four a little bit better, and then made some small tweaks to it to get to scenario six, which is the one you see on the screen here. I anticipate that the committee will finalize a draft middle school scenario for community feedback at their next meeting. Again, here on the left, you see the current boundaries and on the right you see adjusted boundaries. One of the things you can see if you look into these um closely, you can see where the elementary school uh feeder patterns are. And you can see that the new scenario works to minimize and shrink the number of schools that are split for feeders. There's still significant work and engagement that will happen before boundaries are finalized. Um, this includes continuing to adjust the scenarios based
057on five and 10 year projections, landing on those final draft scenarios this week, additional community engagement sessions in October, that implementation plan, the board recommendation, and either the board adoption adjustment or um maintaining the status quo and then aligned budget preparations as well. So still significant work and opportunities to engage. And so there's both a need to go slow and get this right and uh to go fast to make sure that we're ready to be able to implement this if the board so chooses. Um I'm going to just check and see um as we have members of the committee that are also here and on the board if uh Chair Lent, board member Lena, or board member Ali if you have anything you would like to add. Um, as I sort of recap the work,
058>> um, the only thing that I would add, um, is for folks that haven't been or seen one of these committee meetings, um, McKay uses very, um, uh, intricate and complex software that we can look at a map with her and literally zoom into the street level of, uh, where the boundaries are. And a committee member will say, "What if we took these three blocks and moved them to a different elementary school?" and McKay in real time can change the boundaries to see how many students that would impact. And I think one of the great things about this committee is because there are people that live all over the city, they have this intimate knowledge of what the neighborhoods are and can say, "Oh, if we split it at this street, we're really going to
059be separating uh some groups of peers or families that depend on each other for transportation or walking their siblings to school." So, it has been like that level of detail going in at street level to to really try to make um uh the decisions uh to to least impact students. Would you add anything? Yeah, go ahead. Okay. I have a question. I know I'm on the committee, but I'm a relatively new member of the committee. So, um, when we're talking about the resident students versus the utilization, um, I am wondering if we I understand the resident student um, idea, but when we do look at utilization of the schools presently, are we adding back in those students that are not resident students? And the reason I'm asking that question is I know especially in the
060prek for example, we have a larger percentage of students that are physically in that building that are not considered resident students. And so it does affect the utilization and the feel of the school. So when we're trying to compare I'm wondering about that. >> Yeah. So there's been some layering of non-resident. Non-resident is really nonPortland resident. And so if you are a prek um and you are a resident of Portland, uh you're factored into that. And so it is it is really looking at non-resident and so we do need to layer that on. >> Yeah, that's mostly a policy piece, but we do need to look at that. >> Any other questions from the board? Board member Ali. Ellie. >> Yeah. Can you explain that please? The non-resident piece compared to the resident. >> Yeah.
061So like like how am I resident? Yeah, you're a resident. Um, so um we think so otherwise we got so um no so the the reason for this is that when you imagine McKay's software, what McKay is doing is shifting individual parcels of land from one boundary to another. And they're actually not just like individual houses, but it looks a little bit bigger. Um I forget what they're called. They're called study areas, uh is what she's able to look at. And so if we were talking about an individual who doesn't live within Portland but is able to attend uh because of McKenna Vento status for example or which is homeless status and so um they may live outside the district now but they have the right to return for the year. Um moving the parcels
062wouldn't adjust that and so that's why it's focused on resident students and then you layer on the other pieces. Other questions? Yes. Board member Satell, >> I know that there are some students who um attend schools that are out of their current district. Um did that factor into the decisions or factor into the demographics I guess is what I'm asking. Or is it such a small amount of students that it doesn't really matter? >> And just to be like just make sure I understand your question. When you say that they attend out of their district, you mean out of district students, not out of neighborhood students. Out of neighborhood students are >> out of neighborhood students, right? >> Um, so out of neighborhood students do factor in and they're included. And if you were to
063click on any of the charts here, I think on like the second or third page, it would talk about students who are living in one catchment, right? So they are a Longfellow resident. They live within Longfellow's boundaries. But for one reason or another, they attend Ocean Avenue. Uh you would see that within the chart. >> Can I ask a follow-up question? Um assuming because I've lived here a long time, there are people who then continue to ask for out of neighborhood placement, who makes who would make that decision and on what criteria. So that's actually a great example of the difference between what is the work of this committee which is around looking at attendance boundaries and what is the policy of the district around how decisions are made around out of district placement and
064so that actually can sit within the purview of the board even if there was a desire to have a specific policy around it. I believe right now it's happening uh primarily on an administrative level. Other questions? Let me check on Zoom here. All right. So, I don't see any more questions. Um, oh, board member Ali. Ali, go ahead. >> I have another question. I don't know how to phrase it specifically, but this thing's not working. Great. >> Try next to you. There you go. >> So, I'm just going to steal this one. Um the other question is that isn't there isn't it weird that there's a correlation between um when it comes to like the financial piece compared to like the two percentages that were next to each other. There was a like a heavy
065correlation and is there anything does could you tell me about that there anything that has to why there's a correlation? >> So I I can't speak to the history of it. Right. So there's two different areas that the like I can't speak to the history of sort of what decisions were made around boundaries and how full a school should be or not. So I can't I can't speak to that. Some of it could just be around the aging of certain neighborhoods so that you know 15 years ago they had school age children and those children have aged and are no longer home but the community hasn't uh turned over yet in terms of housing stock. Um, one of the things that the committee has seen, um, and we've all, I think, learned together in this
066process is that those two measures, utilization and socioeconomic, it's much easier to make adjustments in utilization with this work than it is around making adjustments in socioeconomic. The reason for that may be obvious but I think it was certainly an aha for us as we were going through this process is that if we simply add additional houses or study areas to a school it will increase their utilization. >> Right. Right. >> At the same time uh neighborhoods is what really drives socioeconomic factor. >> Right. And so when the committee looked at a scenario very early on that was designed to level socioeconomic and have it more equal across, what it ended up creating was islands where a group of students would be pulled from the middle of say Rose community to go to East End
067and jump over other parts because that was the only way to adjust socioeconomic. And actually, I think some of our neighboring districts that have looked at this in the the past have actually result uh ended in proposed boundaries that result rely on busing students uh pretty significantly. And one of the things that the committee chose based on feedback from the community was to really prioritize neighborhood schools. And so if you're prioritizing neighborhood schools, what you're doing in the long run is really needing to focus around utilization. And what will likely be a question to this board is how do you adjust budget and resources also to address differences in socioeconomic factors between schools? >> Thank you. That was a that was a lot of answering, but thank you. >> No, it's a really um good
068question. And just a couple other um things that that have come up over the course of this is needing to just like work in close uh community with the city because they know the developments that are happening. There's a couple of housing developments that are t target targeted towards specific populations which um uh will could like really change what a school looks like if they're built in a certain place. So that is a conversation that has been ongoing. Um and uh neighborhood schools the the committee has a like a working definition of what that means and basically it means a school that you can walk to and you can use from your neighborhood. So, um to uphold that and uh it really means that we aren't busing students. Um and I think one thing that
069you'll probably see when we get to um a draft of scenarios that comes to the board is uh and I think you just said this, superintendent, it's much easier to balance utilization than socioeconomic um numbers. Um, and so I think the committee is a a like disappointed isn't the right word, but it's like uh we can't we can't get them both to balance without giving up something. And I don't think that the committee is willing to give up um on uh noting uh students. So I think that that you'll just see that. So it's just very um complex and uh welcome any of your your feedback as we get there. All right, good questions. Um, more to come on that. Um, and so I think superintendent, we can move to personnel. Are you ready for
070that? >> We can. I'm just >> Jennifer. >> She is. She's she's coming up right now. >> Hiding in the back. And just as she's walking up here, I just want to add, I shared this when she was not here um at the first board meeting. Uh but just a huge recognition to the human resource team uh and all the work that they have done to make sure that we are in a good spot when it comes to staffing for this school year. That doesn't mean that we're opening with no vacancies. Uh that would be an almost impossible feat and especially with last minute changes. But when you think about the volume, I think last meeting I shared it was over 500 movements of people uh they have really done a huge amount of work
071and it continues up to today and into next week um and beyond that. And so just a big thank you to Jennifer for her leadership on this and uh to her team. >> Thank you. Yeah, I always um just want to make sure to call out the team because they're doing all of the behind-the-scenes work in the system. most of it. I'm doing a little bit of it, but they're doing the bulk of it. And um to include bringing on um a bunch of student teachers that they met with yesterday who will be available to be subs as well. So um processing 30 new people that they just brought in yesterday. So it continues and will continue on um into the fall. But we are pretty nicely staffed and that feels really good. So our
072first um the first agenda item I have tonight is probationary teachers. that um we're asking for the board to approve this evening. >> Thank you. So, do I have the uh motion for the consideration and action to approve the personnel items listed? The election of teacher candidates probationary. Thank you, board member Operman. Is there a second? Board member Nor. Thank you. Any questions from the board? Any? And we don't do public comment on personnel items. Any discussion from the board? Then by roll call vote, please indicate whether you are in favor of the consideration and action to approve the personnel items listed. Election of teacher candidates probationary. >> Member Ali Ali. >> Yes. >> Member Yusur Ali. >> No. Um board member Ysur Ali, can you can you hear us? I think your microphone may
073not be working, Dr. Warren. Oh, there it is. Okay, she might have stepped away for a second. >> Okay, I think we can skip. >> Can the other people online hear me? >> Yes, I can hear you. >> Okay. Um, Vice Chair Bondo, member Brighten, >> yes. >> Member Lena, >> yes. Member Noir, yes. Member Operman, >> yes. >> Member Sautell, >> yes. Student Representative Fitzgerald. Student Representative Ciba. Student Representative Lee. >> Yes. >> Student Representative O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Student Representative Ziggler. Chair Lent. >> Yes. So, that motion passes. Um and then we can move on to our next item. >> Okay. Great. Next is um our one-year only staff. And we just have one candidate this evening for your approval of social worker um for Talbot Elementary. >> Awesome. So, do I have
074a motion for the consideration and action to approve the personnel items listed? Election of teacher candidates one year only. Thank you, board member. Uh seconded by board member Ali Ali. Um any questions or discussion from the board? All right. We don't do public comment on uh personnel items. So by roll call vote, please indicate whether you are in favor of the consideration and action to approve the personnel items listed election of teacher candidates one year only. >> Dr. >> Yes. >> Ali, >> vice chair Bondo. Member Briden. >> Yes. >> Member Lena. >> Yes. >> Member no. >> Yes. >> Member Oper. >> Yes. >> Member Santel. >> Yes. >> Student representative Fitzgerald. Student representative. A >> student representative Lee. >> Yes. >> Representative O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Student representative. Lens. >> Yes. So that
075motion passes and we can move on to our final personnel item. >> Thank you. So the last item is one candidate for administration assistant principal at Daring High School and I apologize the effective date should have been 8:25 on that. >> Thank you. So I'd be looking for a motion for the consideration and action to approve the personnel items listed. school administrators. Thank you, board member Upperman. Is there a second? Board member Ali Ali, is there any questions or discussion from the board? We do not do public comment on personnel items. Then by roll call vote, please indicate whether you are in favor of the consideration and action to approve the personnel items listed. School administrators, Dr. Warren, >> Ali Ali, >> yes. Member >> Yur Ali Vice Chair Bondo. Member Brighten. >> Yes. Member
076Lena. >> Yes. >> Member Operan. >> Yes. >> Member Sautell. >> Yes. >> Representative Fitzgerald. Student Representative Kiba. Student Representative Lee. >> Yes. >> Representative O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Representative Ziggler. Lance. >> Yes. So, that motion passes. Uh, thank you for sleeping. >> All right. And then we're going to move on to old business um which is around policy BDE. This has been worked on at the committee level. Uh we had first read about this policy uh at the last board meeting. Um so I think uh I'd be looking for a motion uh for the consideration and action to approve changes to the policy PB BDE which is standing committees, special committees and citizen advisory panels. Thank you board member Upperman. Is there a second? Thank you, board member Ali Ali. Are there any questions
077from the board on this motion? Me just double check on Zoom. Okay, I see no questions. Is there any public comment? Just give that a beat. Okay, I see no public comment. Any general discussion from the board? Just as a reminder, this is where any amendments would be offered. Then by roll call vote, please indicate whether you are in favor of the consideration and action to approve changes to policy BDE, which is standing committees, special committees, and the citizen advisory panels. Dr. Warren, member Ali Ali, >> yes. >> Member USA Ali, Vice Chair Bondo, member Lena. >> Yes. >> Member No, >> yes. >> Oh, sorry. I apologize. I skipped. Member Brighten. >> Yes. Member Lena, >> yes. >> Member no, >> yes. >> Member Operman, >> yes. >> Member Sautell, >> yes. >> Student
078Representative Fitzgerald, Student Representative Cantiba, Student Representative Lee, >> yes. >> Student Representative O'Brien, Student Representative Ziggler, Chair Lent. >> Yes. So, the motion passes with the students voting. um with the majority. Uh just thank you all to uh those that have worked on this for the last several months. Felt like a big um thing to get through and I think we're already seeing the output of it. So uh thank you all for that. Um up next we have some new business um which is nominating and voting on uh the delegate for the main school board association assembly. So, um, uh, we haven't talked a ton about MSBA or the Maine Schoolboard Association, um, but they, uh, are a body in Maine. Uh, we pay dues to be part of their membership. Um, and they are
079a body that helps with a couple of things. So, um they uh keep track of like uh policies across the state so that if we have a question about a policy or need a policy language, we can draw from kind of like their um database of uh tools and and documents. Um they also do advocacy at the state level. So they create their own policy agenda and legislative priorities um and have uh someone on staff who is in Augusta um advocating for those um and that's where this uh this role comes in. So every year they have a meeting um where they have delegates from all the school boards across the state that choose to send delegates and at that meeting they help set the policy agenda um for the year as well as um
080I think they're involved with you know deciding on leadership and deciding on any kind of like internal policies that MSBA uh wants to put in place. Um and uh then they also uh hold regional schoolboard meetings throughout the year. um that delegates can go to as well as any other board member can also always go to those meetings. They're open to anybody and you don't just have to go to your region's board meeting. Uh you can go to any of them. If we want to add more board meetings, I I recommend it. But um it does feel important, especially given the priorities of the public and legislative affairs committee um that we have a delegate at this meeting and we become more involved at the state level. So uh this is on the agenda. Um,
081so we'll do this. Um, I'll open the floor for nominations. Uh, I'll be looking for a first and a second around any nominations. Then once we get all the nominations on the floor, I'll close it and then we will, um, open for a vote. So, um, uh, are there any I would like to open nominations. Would anyone like to nominate themselves or someone else to participate in this? Yes. Board member Brighten, go ahead. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, I I can nominate myself to service. Uh, so I would move to nominate myself. >> Can you say your first sentence again? It was dropping in and out and >> Oh, sorry. Sorry. I said I can nominate myself and then I corrected myself and I said I move to nominate myself. >> Ah perfect. Okay. That
082is not what came across. So I'm glad that you um respoke that. So Sarah Brighten has moved to nominate herself. Is there a second? Board member Opraman. Beautiful. Are there any other nominations um for uh the delegate role? Okay. Then seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and close nominations. Um, so I will move to elect Sarah Brighten as the delegate to the MSBA uh for this school year. Um, I'd be looking for a second. Board member Upperman, I'm sorry I missed your hand. Uh, are there any questions about the motion on the floor? Any discussion? Sorry, I'm going to go back and um ask for any public comment. Okay, seeing none, um then by roll call vote, please indicate uh whether you are in favor of approving uh Sarah Brighten as the delegate to
083the MSBA for the 2526 school year. Dr. Warren, will you please call the role? >> Member Ali Ali, >> yes. >> Member Ali, >> yes. >> Vice Chair Bondo. Member Brighten, >> yes. >> Member Lena, >> yes. >> Member no, >> yes. Member Operman, >> yes. >> Member Sautell, >> yes. >> Student representative Fitzgerald, Student Representative Kiba, Student Representative Lee, >> yes. >> Student Representative O'Brien, >> yes. >> Student Representative Ziggler, Chair Lent, >> yes. So, uh, the motion is approved. Uh, board member Brighten will be our delegate. Um, board member Brighten, I will connect you with the MSBA. Um, and then I would just ask that when you come back from uh that first meeting that you are able to give a report out to the board. Um, but thank you very much for
084volunteering for that role. Um, and now I think we might be ready for some executive sessions. Um, but I think uh we'll do a recess first. Um, >> can you vote to go into executive session then do your recess? Yes, that's just what I was gonna do. Um, >> I was one step ahead. >> It's okay. It's all right. I just never say it out loud, so you always have to guess. Um, so, uh, we're going to have back-to-back executive sessions. Um and uh I am making a motion for the consideration and action to enter into executive session pursuant to 1 MRSA 4056E to meet with legal counsel followed by um a motion to consider consideration action to enter into executive session pursuant to 1 MRSA 4056A to discuss a personnel matter. Uh is there
085a second? Thank you board member Aberman. Um, any questions on the motion? All right, then. Um, all those in favor? I'm just going to double check on Zoom. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Um, so that is unanimous. Uh, let's go ahead and take a 10-minute recess. Uh, and then board members will meet in executive session uh room. has just said I said he was listening >> last terrifying wait up That looks >> we just >> Yeah, we're not there. >> Probably because we're going to leave. >> You could at least put like >> Exactly. >> I'm gonna work on this sentence again. Remind me started. I don't know. >> I'll verify on that. >> Okay. There's just Thank you. And now Board member Braden, can you hear me now? >> Yeah. Do you want to just
086let them know we're taking >> So, we're going to take the roll call vote now. Sorry for the echo because the mic's picking me up. >> And so, do you want to do you want to just do the motion again just so they hear it? Yes. Um uh so the motion is for the consideration action to deny the green events. Um superintendent, you can call the role. >> Yes. >> Ali Ali. >> Yes. >> Usur Ali. >> Yes. >> Uh Vice Chair Bondo. Uh board member Briden. >> Yes. >> Board member Lena. >> Yes. >> Board member Fatuma. No. Excuse me. Okay. >> Yes. This is why they don't let me do this. Board member Aubberman and Chair Lens. Oh, sorry. Board member Sautell. >> Yes, >> Chair Lens. >> Yes. So, the motion passes
087unanimously. Um, and then I would also be uh I would make a motion to adjurnn. Is there a second? Thank you, board member. All those in favor of adjourning, that is unanimous. Um, so we are adjourned at 10:55 uh