001[Music] everyone please stand for the flag [Music] salute I pledge aliance 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 Tacoma Public School um hold on sorry here we go um Tacomo public schools acknowledges that we are on the traditional ancestral and historic lands of the pup tribe of Indians we honor with gratitude the land itself and the puip tribe this acknowledgement serves as a first step in honoring our nearest tribal neighbors and partners who have inhabited this region since time time in Memorial and to whom we give thanks for allowing us passage to their lands we shall intentionally create inclusive and respectful Partnerships that honor indigenous cultures histories identities and sociopolitical realities General benro would
002you please uh do the roll call yes president keing here vice president stroer here director MC here we have a COR thank you um to I have a motion item number five I move to adopt the agenda second it's been moved and seconded are there any questions or comments about the agenda all those in favor say I I opposed passes um item number six with I think all the excitement that we have coming recognition of staff students and Community um item 6.1 recognition of The Shining Star Community partner award to the Tacoma Yacht Club for the month of December we are joined by our fabulous director uh of Community Partnerships Miss Amanda Scott Thomas I do want to make a just so for those that are watching and we have a a large crowd tonight
003and I just want to make sure that they know that uh they also have very busy lives so if they need to sneak out they are more than welcome to sneak out after their recognitions uh they're welcome to stay all night uh we love having folks but I also want to make sure that if they are new to us that it is very appropriate for them to sneak out accordingly thank you thank thank you good evening board of directors Beloved Community my name is Amanda Scott Thomas I'm the director of the Community Partnership office and it's my pleasure to be before you tonight we skipped a month so we are going to be recognizing our December shining um Star Award recipient um and as you all know uh Tacoma Public Schools defines partnership as a
004Cooperative relationship between students Family School the school district and the greater Tacoma Community Partners are committed to supporting student academic success and success of of the whole child Partners work with and invest in the education of our children and youth whose future in turn will affect the quality of life in the entire Tacoma Community when it comes to Student Success Tacoma Public Schools recognizes that schools cannot do it alone and in recognition and of an investment of time talent and resources for TPS students families and staff The Shining Star Community partner Awards S award signifies honor and thanks to a community partner who has made a difference by doing what's best for kids uh tonight for your consideration in recognition of their unwavering commitment to community service and philanthropy Tacoma Public Schools partnership office we
005made this nomination tonight um wants to shine a spotlight on the Tacoma Yacht Club it's an institution that was established in 18 um 89 and it has been an integral part of the Tacoma Community since its Inception the Shipmates which are are a dynamic group of women uh that have an auxiliary with over 200 dedicated members encapsulates the organization's Spirit of service and generosity amongst the Shipmates Myriad of community initiative they are proud sponsors of the Tacoma Yacht Club's Santa project the Tacoma program with the Tacoma Public Schools began in the 2003 2004 school year Tacoma Yacht Club vice president and at the time talked with uh Travis formerly marver Stanley and Reed which were amongst the first schools to participate that year they provided gifts for 63 children and a few few adults for
006years after that project project leaders worked with Head Start in Tacoma Public Schools and provided the same program currently Karen Hansen who took over the responsibility uh for the for the program reorganized it in 2009 she added Sue Williams as co-chair the following year and they have been working with Tacoma Public School District the partnership office ever since currently they provide toys and gifts for 25 families um usually around 100 children each year 100 students they do a holiday meal and a variety of other gift items per family uh including a gift yard uh gift card additionally Thea uh yach Club also provides gift cards to our families for use in emergency uh needs uh this year we provided gift cards emergency gift cards to over 60 families through the Tacoma yach Club program approaching
007its 20th year the Tacoma Yacht Club Santa project stands stands as a testament to the enduring commitment of the Shipmates their concerted efforts have consistently served our community by ensuring students families and the wider Community have the support they need during the holiday season it is with great honor and gratitude that Tacoma Public Schools Awards the Tacoma Yacht Club The Shining Star Community apartment a partner award for the month of December 2023 and they are here with us can we give them a hand I'm going to invite I'm going to invite Karen Hansen and um she can introduce the rest of the uh folks that are here to accept the the award and I'm handling it very gingerly right you can have a few words good evening um president keading and uh Schoolboard members I
008am very I'm Karen Hansen I am the past president of the Shipmates auxiliary and I have with me tonight uh my co-chair Sue Williams also our Commodore Carissa uh Milligan and Sharon Glenn a volunteer with our program so we are very happy to be here we really appreciate this award this is one of our shining stars as well we love this program our um members love to communicate and and uh donate to this program which they do nearly the entire year and then um all of our gift shopping and our wrapping and deliveries start of course in the fall so it's it's truly an honor to be here to accept this award tonight so thank you very much here we go thank you Toom yach Club all right thank you so much thank you so
009much and she's handing this gingerly back to me because we have another award to present tonight um for another Community partner for the month of Janu January um and on my way into the building I almost took a little tumble and um the award is nonoperative so we're going to be faking with this award taking the picture and we're going to make sure that our next recipient gets their actual award so I apologize in advance and to my staff who I know are grumbling right now all right so for the January award again it's my recognition you know what the shining star is all about um the January recipient is MultiCare um they've been a great partner um as you probably know they are a non for not not for-profit Healthcare organization with over 20,000
01020,000 team members including employees providers and volunteers MultiCare has been a caring has been caring for our community for well over a century since the foundation of Tacoma's first hospital and today is the largest community-based locally governed health system in the state of Washington in 2022 Multicare Health Clinic was added a Multicare Health Clinic was added to mount mount to high school and has been extremely valuable um to the TPS students and families in that Community Cara kerif and Sid Markman are two integral members of the clinic team at Mount to and it was Mount to that submitted this and wanted them to be recognized they said that Miss Cara or Miss Kay is often the first face students and fames see when they enter the clinic she brings warmth and positivity to every interaction
011and walks with patients as they navigate the clinic she is always looking for ways for the clinic to be more student centered including State uh hanging student artwork pinning up posters of the Athletics team and at one point adding and maintaining a living wall prepared by the mount T plant Club Sid always welcoming to all students is the Mover and Shaker of Clinic operations from the beginning of construction through Staffing and current operations Sid has worked side by side with key stakeholders to create the best experience for TPS students and Families Sid is all about the kids and how we can help them heal and lay the groundwork for healthier lives so it's with our extreme pleasure that we recommend the board of director directors recognize multi Multicare Health Clinic at Mount to high school
012as being awarded The Shining Star Community partner award for the month of January 2024 Miss Kay and Sid can you come on up let's give them a hand principal David you want to come up too David come on up say a few words he made sure that they this nomination went forth and it's been a beautiful partnership so I wanted them all to be able to say a few words all right sure here is your fake [Laughter] award all right good evening boy um I'm just here to thank uh Sid and Cara and and the MultiCare Clinic that's at Mal and the partnership we've had with MultiCare as a whole um always welcoming to our students always welcoming to our community and uh it's been a fantastic partnership that's growing it's really supporting our HCA
013and our kids in that in that role also so multifaceted talented welcoming thank you president keing and Schoolboard Mr G Dr Garcia I just want to say thank you it is such an honor to be able to be a partner with your community and with the kids they're our future and without working together and ensuring their health um we have no future so thank you so much for this opportunity and for welcome welcome welcoming us into your schools and uh hopefully we can grow and develop more thank you board of directors as you go up and you start celebrating I would also acknowledge that there's another uh employee of the clinic that is joining us tonight that also works to support the kids and the staff of M and so uh Dr Leon is also
014a member of the mount clinic so please en join [Applause] him thank you thank you [Applause] MultiCare if anyone would like to learn more great work about the MultiCare Clinic and the amazing work they do on behalf students King five did a feature on them I believe last night but you can go online and see that and so um between that and the health careers Academy some lot of amazing work that's happening outside at Mount te so thank you wait was that don't we have now we got oh that's right hold on let me switch back mhm all right um item 6.3 more celebration the whole child Champion recognition Okay before Laura Allen makes her way for actually Laura Allen come on up I come on up um I have a few things I'd like
015to say before uh and I'll read the the recommendation and then director Laura Allen will share some very specific information about our talented individuals who are here today to be recognized first of all please know that there were nearly 200 nominations uh for people to be considered as whole child Champions what we know in this District in Tacoma Public Schools from east to west from north to south we have whole child Champions all throughout this district and I can tell you that the team had a challenging time picking out the 13 who will be recognized tonight so to the 13 of you and I think 12 are here this evening congratulations and to all of you who were nominated congratulations to you as well and to our entire staff in Tacoma Public Schools we appreciate
016all that you do on behalf of every student every day and with that I will read the recommendation and then turn it over to director Laura Allen the deputy superintendent on behalf of the director of H child recommends that the board of directors approve the recognition of the selected Tacoma whole child Champions wonderful thank you uh good evening distinguished board thank you so much for this opportunity uh tonight if you change it please it is our joy to celebrate whole child month with our whole child Champions uh we received a treasure Trove I'm talking about gobs and gobs and nominations for these wonderful individuals here tonight I'll just read a snippet of each nomination and not the whole thing um but with that let's just have some fun and and celebrate these wonderful people now
017our first Champion couldn't join us tonight and that is Yousef Abu Obi and he's from G uh teacher who creates a safe and predictable um environment for students however we do have the fabulous Sandy Anderson with us tonight Sandy come on up she is a Tacoma online's librarian and focuses on Student Wellness One nominator says she's creating what it means to be a librarian she invents ways to bring students in from online book club clubs to meetups to being the first to volunteer for everything Miss Anderson always goes above and beyond for students at Tacoma online she holds fun in-person events for students and families to connect with each other she goes above and beyond scheduling Brain Breaks with crafts at local branch libraries activities online community school events like Museum meetups and park meetups
018to connect with students and families congratulations Micah Banton Bernie Elementary counselor a parent said that he always has got a big smile uplifting I've seen him ask numerous kids how they are doing he checks in with kids in class in the Halls anywhere my son goes from sad to happy when he sees Mr Banton and Mr Banton is one reason my son loves loves going to school I could even have a rough morning and seeing Mr banton's bubbly personality every morning always changes my mood another staff member shared that he has met with a group of students who has experienced recent deaths in the family and he works with the students on coping strategies to work through their grief thank you let's celebrate martrice Chapel J Jenny Reed Elementary School she's a social worker who
019helps students have positive relationships a staff member said that matrice is always available for students who need a reset and works daily on building relationships with students in the school she runs our Resource Center so families can have access to food and clothing and connect families to resources so our students can come to school ready to learn more than that though matrice has this way about her that helps families who have learned that systems might be something to be wary of to trust again she shows them that we are here to work alongside them every day I hear martrice talking to students and families in ways that are is supportive warm and protects their dignity Manny kabas Sheridan Elementary multilingual program liaison Mr C is always greeting everyone with a huge smile always there for
020hugs high fives fist bumps greets Everyone by name and always asks how someone is doing always cheerful and positive and sends a warm vibe to everyone he meets he greets students and parents alike truly making everyone feel feel welcomed he gets to know our parents and students creating a community feeling that is so special he's bilingual so our Latino students feel especially welcomed by him he shows up to school events to help support the kids he's an excellent example of positivity kindness empathy and cheerfulness for the students and families we love Mr C so much Elizabeth Jacobson Stadium High School Liz encourages belonging every day by offering students a chance to compliment each other and share positive comments Liz has created a wonderful theater community that 10% of The Stadium High School student body is
021a part of Liz sees students for who they are and offers them a place to be themselves while treating others with respect she creates a community of support within her theater department and shows where every student matters and every student deserves to be seen and heard and Thrive to the best of their ability Camila mayka from Baker Middle School Community liaison the nominator uh said her disposition is so positive and infectious you can't help smiling when you are around her she turns situations into a how can we make this better solution then acts upon it she works with all of our students to make sure they have the all they need for all aspects of their daily life school supplies meals clothing shoes hygiene products the students all know they can go to her with
022any needs and for emotional support and that she will handle them with care and discretion she is a safe space during lunch most of the Hispanic students know they can gather in her space for a sense of community Camila is an out-of-the-box thinker and is always finding ways to invite families in and be a part of the baker [Music] Community please welcome Bethany Munch Arlington Elementary teacher Bethany is an amazing Community Circle leader her community Circle has norms and expectations that are clear and consistent she has works so hard to build the community in her classroom so that her second grade students can run the meeting on their own so cool I have never seen such an amazing and productive Community Circle held in a classroom I am so thankful that she gives her students
023a voice that influences their learning space and each [Applause] other Alex Osborne Mount T teacher Alex is an incredible teacher at Mount T leading the way around diversity equity and inclusion work she is an intentional in her teaching pedagogy to embed anti-racist practices into the fabric of her teaching and curates a safe container for students to show up authentically Alex welcomes Community Partners into her learning space to promote social emotional development and enrich the well-being of the whole child she's uh has an inclusive classroom climate and culture which is student centered Alex's classroom space is one that welcomes conversation feedback and the presence of Community Partners Lindsay rooper hetland Travis Travis Elementary school counselor Lindsay is a compassionate leader in our building she helps students identify their emotions and helps teach them strategies to regulate
024their emotions and reflect she is constantly working with students to restore their relationships with other students and with teachers she shows up for kids consistently calmly and completely she models best practices for teachers and staff as well I also want to share that a parent added my daughter would fight every day not to go to school and this lady comes out every single day grabs her hand talks sugary we both walk away in tears it's ridiculous I am very grateful for her compassion um there's a parent who I believe is with us this evening that um nominated wrote a just a really powerful nomination I did edit this down but it is slightly longer and I'm sorry to our next champion who will be standing here a little longer Ashley Spivey Bose elementary teacher as
025a parent there is nothing more terrifying than sending your child to school the commonplace fears of school gun violence bullying and the general safety of our children is only exacerbated for parents of lgbtqia students as my child started her journey as a trans girl last year I feared the extra taunting of her name change the purposeful disregard for her pronoun changes and how this may play into the very real outcome of suicide that so many young trans kids experience it can be terrifying to send your child into the mouth of the Beast every day and yet we must while so many of the Terrors I have mentioned so far fall on other students there is always the underlying fear of your child's teacher or staff also not being supportive of the ways in which your
026child sees themselves or shows up in this world I had been worried about what my child would experience as she starts to outwardly display her more feminine inside and then I met Ashley Spivey the first time of many that I have cried this year was at the beginning of the year when Miss Spivy went out of her way not only to find an age appropriate book on two spirit people to share with my daughter but also ensured the B book was culturally relevant and centered native Hawaiian people to watch a woman who did not know my child be so purposeful in her connection and carefully weaving a safety net between herself my child her peers myself has been an enormous sense of relief Miss Spivey Works daily to ensure all children are welcome safe educated
027and loved in her class and while I can only be saddened that my child will only be in her care for a year I know that she has played an integral role in the survival of my child's spirit and life my hope is that all Educators can open their hearts and Minds to the gift of all children's differences just as Miss Spivey does I hope they can look beyond the parts of of children they don't understand and instead embrace the whole child please welcome Bernice Whitney Stewart assistant principal Miss Whitley truly listens oh this Nomine I'm reading from a student nominee uh nominator I'm sorry U Miss Whitley TR truly listens to the student ideas and helps to execute them for example Stuart has a very strict dress code which a lot of students have
028mixed feelings about and she was able to see that so she introduced me to a plan that would benefit the students adding the color gray to her dress code which already has green black and white with the support from her and the rest of admin and staff we were able to make the plan to add gray sweatpants and sweatshirts into our dress code and so many kids were happy that they were able to express them themselves more the students would always thank me and the rest of the ASB board but I do not think they truly realized that it would not have been successful without the idea and ongoing support of Miss whitle Mrs Whitley Mrs Whitley truly listens and responds to student ideas and uh our final recipent of the evening I know um
029felt uncomfortable being the one uh uh to receive any acknowledgement rather than her staff but when I tell you that she has received more nominations in the last two years her community has spoken and we must hear their voices I have two children who are very different one probably never saw the inside of oh I'm sorry Cassandra Stephanie Crescent Heights principal I have two children who are very different one probably never saw the inside of Cassandra's office the other has spent a significant amount of time in there however he loves Cassandra fiercely he knows she loves and supports him but will hold him accountable Cassandra exudes love and compassion and she makes a personal connection with every single student and family at CH she gets to know siblings and family pets she keeps up with
030what's going on in a student's life she calls a check on families Mrs Stephanie is in so incredibly welcoming every day rain or shine she is out front to welcome students with a hug or high five she knows every child by name and greets them by name and makes them feel valued in addition as a parent she knows my name and greets me as I drop off my child she takes time to make everyone feel seen and appreciated she is a whole child Champion through and through Champions if you would all please come to the front for a photo with the [Music] board it's all good maybe our whole child team can also join up there please for a picture yeah Jimmy I think you're part of that whole child team right thank you so
031much we have photographers thank you so much Mark for all us stepping in photographer extraordinary so we're gonna try to squeeze in and maybe the front row can maybe uh there you go thank you so much you can squeeze in thank you thank you thank you one two three all right [Music] woo well as everyone gets up I just think I I think I speak for everyone up here um any of us who have had kids um we know that it isn't just one person it isn't just one teacher um that uh it takes to to get our kids across the Finish Line it takes a whole team of people um so it's just an honor and so exciting to um see the 13 or the 12 but the 13 that were featured tonight so
032thank [Applause] you should we give it a minute ready when you are Madam president um all right uh moving on to item number eight staff report to the board 8.1 oh no did I skip oh yeah sorry see we were like it's whole child lot of lot celebrating uh so superintendent report um item 7.1 whole educator recognition great thank you I get to uh celebrate more celebrations here about staff St and this month's whole educator recognition is our substitutes across the district in many different positions actually we have um total 610 teachers 23 principales 183 education support Specialists 19 bus monitors 12 bus drivers 39 nutrition service workers 77 office professionals and nine campus security officers When I Was preparing this preparing for this I was kind of having a chuckle about um our amazing
033substitute folks because it wasn't too long ago during Co that we had everybody was out sick and whoever had a teaching sht was in the building subing I remember Josh was there I think I was there at one point I remember Lisa being there uh Zeke was there and I remember with this one moment where we where I think Josh and I were in a room of 200 kids we looked at each other with big old bug eyes kind of like kind of like I think we got this yeah we got this and then we just kind of did our thing but it reminded me obviously of how hard the work is how flexible you have to be and you just kind of roll up your sleeves and got to just roll with it whatever
034comes to you and that's what these substitutes do each and every day um they are the folks that show up when folks are sick have family emergencies sometimes they walk and and don't have a real clear plan what to do because they weren't given one and sometimes uh they have their own plans too and they not necessarily have to so uh without further Ado I want to recognize all of our substitutes and I think I have a few in the few here a couple of them couldn't make it um but I have a I think Katie uh Balden who's a teacher I don't think can make it but I think Jara goodger are you here go ahead and stand up and then I think we have a uh security officer Sean weinar so while these
035are folks that are substitutes they're a part of our family and they're part of the Tacoma Tacoma tradition and so we didn't need to recognize them as one of of ours and to all our substitutes out there one more round of applause right thank you did you well we were just wondering I mean we've had lots of pictures should we have a pi absolutely we'd love to celebrate and so if our guests could come up and join us that would be fantastic thank you if you have any is if there's anybody out there also that we didn't maybe recognize here that you've maybe subbed maybe come on and join us too without without not Josh though right Dr GRE you'll join up there you'll you'll recover thank you so much I just want to Echo
036Forest comments is you know our substitutes play a vital role they do an amazing job building relationships with kids and colleagues across it's a a very tough job and and we're extremely grateful so thank you so much in every role that they play and I I think you can see there's a lot of diversity in all the different roles and um folks step up day in and day out so extremely grateful thank you madam president excellent okay now we're going to go to eight item number eight staff report to the board um 8.1 The Benchmark report uh annual Partnerships um volunteers and organizing and the fabulous Smiths Amanda SC is back all right good to see you all again and um I just want to say to the substitutes before you leave hats off pledge
037of allegiance to you um during the shortage I volunteered for a third grade classroom for 3 hours and you all know I love the kids but it was the longest three hours of my life it's a tough job all right Community Partnerships I'm here with our Benchmark monitoring report I usually do this presentation in December I was out of town for a family emergency so I'm here just to update you all to what's been happening um with our benchmarks and kind of where we're headed so it's my pleasure to present to you today um just want to acknowledge my mighty team of two people we have um my uh two um colleagues Victoria Keys um who is a tech in my office and uh project uh specialist in my office and ren Switzer who is
038our operations Tech uh that support all of this great work so just wanted to acknowledge them today and thank them for all of their hard work oh okay am I going in the right direction oh here we go so um one of the priority benchmarks that you have chosen is around volunteerism and I report on that um every year as you can see uh these are our number of uh registered voters we or registered voters registered volunteers uh we do registrations annually because of the law um and so every year when U volunteers want to volunteer at our schools they have to go through the volunteer background check process and that happens annually so that's how we count the number of registered volunteers within Tacoma Public Schools um as you can see for the uh
039year uh 202 22 to 23 uh last year's number we had a total of 5,000 um uh volunteers um our numbers are trending upward uh and I'm not sure if you all recall but before covid we were kind of trending downward um and then after Co it's been uh a stretch moving back forward but we're excited because the numbers are trending upwards and continue to Trend upwards uh post pandemic let's see um historical historically you know what this is not this is not the correct this is not the correct so let's do this why don't we and Miss we always enjoy Miss Thomas so we'll invite Miss Scott Thomas to back because I think the opening slide had a 2023 date so somehow we had a technology glitch meaning I probably didn't submit the right
040one for you so I apologize and we'll we'll come back if that's okay with the board of directors I think we have the correct one on our do you have the correct one would you like to see our laptops um I have I have a copy um it's just what's on the machine or on the so I can go forward so um okay here we go I'll look at my copy so 2023 U the school year we ended out with that's why that number was odd 6537 volunteers and so that's what we ended the school year with usually when I report these numbers to you the school year is not finished and so we um count them all the way up to August 31st because we have volunteers all year round even in the summer
041being process so for that school year um we ended out on 6,537 volunteers um so we're excited about that number because again you can tell it's trending upward to um where we were um at the 2019 2020 school year before the pandemic and again we're doing pretty good um most of our volunteers do um register in the first couple months of school um and so we are at a good place um going forward on this slide it's um you all can see that um 50% of our total annual volunteers register from September to October um currently we have 3,604 volunteers that have registered between September and December so again we're on Trend to meet that 6,000 number or over by the end of the school year so we're excited about that um we continue to
042um streamline our systems as you know our district does not have a centralized volunteer system volunteers are processed at the school buildings and so we manage that process uh and we clean up our watch user list so who can go in and do background checks somebody has to monitor that our office does that and then also um the ease of use for our volunteer form so people can now apply um through the volunteer process online it wasn't always um easy um but we have uh tightened up that um which is important um when we don't have a centralized system um the next slide shows what our next steps are around volunteerism so TPS volunteer um one of the things that we are doing this year that's really exciting uh and the board has um is
043supportive and made it a suggestion that we go out and talk to our community about what it's like to volunteer in Tacoma Public Schools and how we can get more folks into um the buildings to volunteer so we have been planning since um the beginning of the school year um plan a listening sessions um and to facilitate listen listening sessions you all know how that goes it takes some planning um so we've done some um internal uh stakeholder Partnerships we've uh consulted with Zeke and uh the data team um Josh darling and L Laura Bower U because they did their whole grading listening sessions and so again we're not recreating the will we're using a lot of their templates and a lot of their processes to inform our own process so I'm really excited about
044getting back into the Community um we will have a mix of um in-person site-based listening sessions at school buildings working with our community liaison and family leaon to set some of those up we'll also be um doing some of those at school events that are taking place and then we also will be um operating or um facilitating an online survey so we want to get representation on volunteerism in Tacoma Public Schools from all segments of the community so we have um really set out a meaningful plan to do that so again it'll be Regional Regional uh in person online and um we hope to capture um meaningful learning and share with you all the data that we collected in our May Benchmark report so we'll have a report for you all to look at when
045I come back before you at the end of the year um so we will continue to monitor Department goal to increase the number of approved volunteers and make it a uh an enjoyable experience because we also not only want to get people to volunteer we want to retain our volunteers and celebrate our Volunteers in the spirit of partnership the next slide is about formal uh formal Partnerships um for the 2022 2023 school year um we established out of our office actually out of the district there were uh 69 new Partnerships and when we say 69 new Partnerships that means those Partnerships were established or contract throughou or a contract in that particular school year um it does not represent all of the Partnerships because we have multi-year Partnerships we have Partnerships that are in process
046but for the school year of 2023 um two 2022 23 we had 69 uh new Partnerships established and if you look at the oh great we have if you look at the slide you see that's on par with kind of post-pandemic numbers so it'll be interesting to see next year if that's kind of um the number of Partnerships that we do um each year I do want to say um that one of the things that we're working on when it comes to kind of next steps around this Benchmark um and you all like to see kind of how uh Partnerships are spread throughout the district so I always provide this pie chart for you um because as you know partnership office is not the only uh Department that establishes Partnerships and formalizes Partnerships so that
047gives you kind of an overview um of how uh what Partnerships uh were established uh where they all fell and um the exciting thing about Partnerships is that while we love to increase Partnerships and bring in more Partners we also are um really um intentional around the work of deepening existing Partnerships so an example of that um as you all know we do college tours for families each year and we take our families and students out to visit college campuses um last year was our first partnership um well we partner a long time with uh Community um College Success Foundation but last year was the first that we partnered together to host a community dinner along with the college tour um and this year we'll be doing that again with college success foundation and also
048the udub uh Tacoma we met with their marketing and Emissions people and we'll be doing the tour this year the same day as their husky Fest um and so again we're deepening our Partnerships doing our the work the good work that we do in different ways and more impactful ways um with our Community Partners so again the goal is always to increase the number of Partnerships but also strength and um enhance our Partnerships uh so we have again 69 ELO agreements um and let's see new agreements as of uh the beginning of the year established that were expanded learning opportunities were 13 um and then we have again continuing Partnerships we had to renew contracts this year with Big Brothers Big Sisters and Safe Streets we do have a new partner the Tacoma Centennial Lions
049Club um there is a Lions Club at false High School um which is getting young people into volunteering through philanthropy so that's exciting so that's the partnership um Benchmark and the next steps um as you all know we continue to do our Better Together business and Faith leader meetings we have one more of each of those scheduled in April 2024 um those have been very well received um we'll do college chours for families it says 2.0 because again we are doing dinners Community dinners and having families come out and join us for that uh and then the nwaa family engagement modules you know that work that I did where we put these modules together in partnership with the family Liaisons and the community Liaisons for efficiency sakes we have partnered with Justina Johnson whole child
050and a couple other internal departments um to uh work on the district ccde so those modules will be integrated into that so it'll be districtwide PD using those family engagement modules that we developed through the nwaa project um you can get a glance of those if you want to check them out on the Hub page for partnership to kind of look at what we're going to be rolling out but that's exciting work so these are the next steps around Partnerships that we will be um rolling out this year Amanda yes for those that are listening can you um share what the acronym nwd EA stands for nwaa I don't think nwaa was an acronym I think was it an acony or was it was it the name of an organization Northwest yes correct name of
051an organization and an acronym Northwest Education Association okay just wanted to make sure okay sorry it was NWA in my brain for two years you know how it is it's now going to be in my brain right so that's um that's that we've got some Equity uh cadres coming up PD that's internal um partnership work that we're doing um so we're excited about that um is that it that's it that's it any questions on Community Partnership I just want to thank you for all the work that you've been doing for all the years to create Partnerships within the district and outside the district um I really had an opportunity last year during the listing sessions to watch you kind of tell people if you want to do it if you want to try it we'll
052do it with you so like you've really been a force in our community by bringing more people in you make people feel comfortable to partner with the district so um as someone who used to partner and now partner in this way I really appreciated that kind of spirit going into that partnership so thank you for what you're doing thank you appreciate that second thank you thank you you know you know I'm a fan I appreciate you I appreciate you all thank you so much one day you'll have a sparkly microphone all your own yes I will all right I've been shopping thank you Amanda okay and uh item 8.2 benchart bench Mar report um annual academic Excellence uh graduation okay before assistant superintendent Zeke edin and Dr Doug Hostetter our secondary director of schools get
053started I do have a few things I'd like to share on behalf of Tacoma Public Schools because we reach as many of you know a graduation rate in 2023 of 91.1% yeah that is worth an a appuse and before they get to the formal part I want to talk about some of the informal things because you don't just wake up with that graduation rate it happens because of Relentless work a continued Cadence and effective effort that's displayed by many people I'm going to go through some numbers but I'll go quickly but it is important to pause and say thank you to all individuals who contributed to those rates first first of all in our district we have 100 principes and assistant principles 113 exempt staff members 2,900 295 certificated tea teachers 152 professional technical individuals
054184 office professionals 634 education support professionals 55 bus drivers 197 custodians 182 nutrition service workers 65 maintenance workers 34 security individuals 382 non-regular classified hourly staff and 861 although the number reported earlier was different but this is total substitutes 861 for a total of 5,56 individuals who somehow someway through the course of time have an impact on this number of 91.1% and now I'd like to highlight our leaders who are here tonight are principles and assistant principles and I got to tell you there's a couple who aren't here and why is that because we've got some basketball games going on tonight and they are there to supervise or wrestling matches or wrestling okay forgive me or wrestling matches don't forget wrestling you can't ever forget it so here's what I'd like to say while we
055do have the principles of our high schools here tonight and assistant principles I would like you to stand up please when you hear your name but if you could create an image in your mind the vision of the different people who I just named as other people who walk alongside or stand in front or walk from behind to help us all get to this Cadence of getting to 91.1% okay I believe we have here tonight Mark kilcup who is the assistant principal at fos representing F thank you for your hard work we have from Lincoln High School principal Carl hoseth from Mount TOA principal David Mogan we do not have bernardette Ray tonight because guess what she is I believe at a basketball game and not wrestling but did I see Ali Bennett earlier no
056but shout out to silus nonetheless and I do know that at Stadium High School there is a basketball game going on and they're recognizing seniors tonight so Shannon Marshall is not here joining us she is um helping out with basketball from idea we definitely have Zach Varnell in the house tonight J thank you so much from Sammy we have Liz minks Joanie Hall thank you John Kettler is not able to be here tonight he is participating in an event with students from soda I don't think we have anyone from soda tonight but nonetheless thank you to all of the efforts that take place at soda and Fring from Willie Stewart Academy and rayen Hall thank you so much and Tacoma online Sean Martin Paul Elliot and R lotman are here this evening thank you so
057much Doug Hostetter why don't you go ahead and stand up to as a director of secondary schools he'll be presenting momentarily but the excitement doesn't stop there why would it stop there right why would it stop there thank you to our principles for your hard work and your effective effort I want to talk about some numbers that don't necessarily show up in that 91.1% but something that our school board our community and all of our staff should be very very proud of we had 1,698 students who graduated last year we are making our Mark out of that number 648 of those students participated in athletics across this District 815 students received an industry recognized certificate 1,678 students representing 98.8% participated in academically rigorous courses 1,697 which somehow represents 99.9% turned in and were accepted to
058provided verification to acceptance to their next institution 571 of those students actually had jobs whether two through teach uh through jobs 253 or another opportunity through Tacoma Public Schools to earn money and get money in their pockets and the average cumulative GPA was 2.84 which by the way for those of you who don't know we have a partnership with udub t 2.7 G GPA guarantees admission into udub Tacoma so you guys we are setting our students up for Success the number 91.1 doesn't represent just a graduation number which is Herculean in and of itself but it is representation it is indicative of a school district who puts in their hearts and souls to get students prepared for whatever it is they seek to do next after high school so let us celebrate and now we'll
059get to the formal part you're ready Z not sure what I can add to that but that was dite no pressure no pressure uh welcome so uh let's just jump into it you heard that uh right this is part of our academic Excellence goal always has been always will be uh but that 91.1% when you line it up with our previous years we continue to make that growth and gain uh and I think 5,50 some adults rapping uh right support around kids is definitely part of that process if you line that data up with our state uh you do see a bump at the state level as well from 823 to 836 uh so it's also uh great to see that Trend across our state uh but Tacoma continues to thrive when we start breaking
060that down by our student groups uh our American Indian uh Alaskan native students at 75% uh has been pretty steady the last couple three years our Asian population we see a slight increase at 967 black African-American students holding study at 896 uh Hispanic Latino also holding at 896 uh Pacific Islanders uh uh kind of returning back to form at 90.9 our two or more race uh we see a slight bump there at 92.8 and our white population holding steady at 911 uh looking again at student groups our male students uh slight bump at 894 female students uh holding steady at 927 our gender x uh hitting a 100% even uh our free and reduce lunch uh we see an uptick at 889 our eel we see a slight dip at 819 and our special ed
061students uh we see a bump and that Trend uh has been going for a couple years now at 764 as I mentioned we' be dividing conquer with Dr huster so I'm going to turn it over to him thank you Zeke good evening board uh yes key findings so we've been here and we've all been celebrating the fact that we reached 91.1% last year in 2023 I kind of wish one one of our previous slides went back just a couple years because we started in 2015 if you would have went back just two years in 2013 the grad rate I believe was 70.2 and it was that low so when the board set the initial goal of graduation they said Gee if we could get to 85% by 2020 that's doing something we got the 85%
062in 2016 and we just kept on going so it really is a celebration uh TPS increased his grad rate from the previous year by .9% we exceeded the Washington State graduation rate by 7.5% all student race groups with the exception of American Indian uh Alaskan native exceeded the graduation Benchmark goal in special ed free introduced lunch male female and gender ex students increased percentage from the previous year if you look did I just go backwards yeah think I did we go next steps what do we do now that we got to 91.1 this is our first year of uh people in the audience watched the study session we discussed the cap and how the high school cap has been edited and revised to meet uh Proficiency in not just Ela and math but across uh
063the school looking at attendance behavior and multiple indicators uh director Doug Hoster me is leading a deeper data Dives with uh High School leadership teams across all student groups rigorous courses and academic performance we just finished last yesterday Wednesday a 3-week session looking at data trying to in uh gather nuggets about student transcripts and what is it about the student transcripts of graduates that lead to their success and 2-year Technical and four-year schools so we did a great dive these people behind me are all part of that continue to implement uh social emotional cap goals and social emotional curriculum for secondary students we've heard it here multiple times I think director keing said it uh about the whole child it's really a wraparound it's it's not just a focus on drill and kill in the
064academic realm but we've got to welcome and serve the needs of all our students in multiple ways continue offering and analyzing our Tacoma Flex options for high school students in Tacoma Public Schools to support them meeting their p requirements and support their families continuing offering students access to credit capture opportunities Summer Schools been an absolute GameChanger if you talk if you look at the data we I mentioned in 2013 of 70.2% graduation rate uh with superintendent uh Santoro and Deputy now our own soup uh Dr Garcia we've really amped up our summer school and that has really been a game Cher in terms of getting students to graduate on time and a tighter alignment of student reports around graduation requirements so that's all I have uh thank you Doug are there any questions or comments
065no superintendent did you have anything to add I just uh I'll just take a moment to uh I think Dr Nolan did a fantastic job to Echo all of our current staff and I just want to Echo that I also want to take a moment to say that the secret sauce is a little bit within the agenda that I don't know if we potentially put together which is you know recognizing that Partners play a role um you have whole child champions in all different kinds of roles in that space uh you have whole Educators that are playing a significant role in there and then I just want to um highlight or recognize all of our past previous board members that leaned in our previous Community Partners uh across the city we've had hundreds that have
066all played a significant role uh are are uh past Educators some of them have retired but may have been a first grade teacher back in 2015 and you played a role in spaces of those things and then a special thanks to Carla Santoro and so wherever she is here tonight I hope she's proud of her Footprints and uh and the work that we have done so I just want to Echo Dr Nolan's comments and say thank you to all of our staff and all of our partners and uh you know the good news is we just get the opportunity to go right back at it and uh good luck to you seniors and juniors and freshmen and sophomores as you're wrapping up finals and thank you to all of our staff for leaning in in
067the current moment too thank you excellent thank you oh yeah director Leon director Nolan already mentioned this I for this just bear is probably repeating the graduation the diploma is so important already but the fact that they had all those certificated trainings and the van and and they they're going on using this to expand um and and do something that's going to be really powerful for their future it's really important it's not the diploma is important beyond that is is their life excellent thank you and thank you Zeke and Doug um and thank you Dr Nolan and I would just like to say that maybe in the future we could have a game show hosted by both Dr Nolan and Amanda Scott Thomas like I'm just putting that in the universe little manifestation ER we've
068seen that in some of our holiday celebrations and I don't know if they uh we're all ready for the intensity yet so I will we'll work on that and then if you would be so gracious if we could just pause a moment I know our high school staffs have had long weeks and long nights and I would like to invite them if they need to sneak out you're more than welcome too thank you thank you for being here too thank youone bye um all right let's see item number nine members of the public wishing to address the board okay um and we do have public comments so um public comment guidelines uh school board members encourage public participation your civil input is appreciated board members will not respond to your comments during the meeting the
069superintendent or designate will follow up with you after after the meeting if action is needed instead of speaking at a meeting you may also send an email to the board at board at Tacoma . k12.wa.us please contact the board office in advance of the meeting for disability accommodations under board policy 1430 public comment the board president May terminate an individual's comment when the allotted time has passed and may interrupt speakers to require the same standard of Civility that the board imposes on itself examples of uncivil uh comments include comments that are lius lious or slanderous under a legal standard are unwarranted invasions of privacy are obscene or incident pursuant to the Federal Communications act or any rule or regulation of the Federal Communications Commission violate School District policy or procedure related to harassment intimidation bullying
070or discrimination incite an unlawful act on school premises or violate a lawful School regulation or create a material and substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the board meeting the board as a whole has the FI final decision in determining the appropriateness of such rulings and can maintain order by removing those who are disruptive however the board recognizes the distinction between uncivil discourse which is not uh uh which which it will not tolerate and comments about the Board District Andor staff that are negative yet still still civil in nature the board will exercise its authority to maintain order in content in a Content neutral manner uh two options the opt option one is a verbal comment uh General Council will call your name when is your turn to address the school board please speak into
071the microphone you may have up to three minutes to share your comments or if there's a large number of speakers time may be limited at the president's discretion and option two written comment the follow um and uh we do have one uh written comment that's been submitted um by Steve Steve daraman I hope I pronounced that correctly um regarding public safety issues at T TPS and I will pass it over to General Council benro yes so we have one verbal comment for this evening president keing and that will be Penny Kramer good evening I'm Penny Kramer president of Tacoma Education Association and I would like to speak about the amazing Educators who are being honored this evening the whole child Champions I wish they were still here are representative of the many Educators in our
072district every year I look forward to this celebration and hearing about the successes in this very difficult profession of educating the children who will become our future and when these uh congratulations to all of our education all of our Educators who show up every day and when they can't show up we have guests teachers who step in to serve our students many of our guest teachers have built positive collaborative relationships with staff and students it is uh important to note that some of our guest teachers are so collaborative that they are basically um members of the staff that they're there so often and they are so well valued and trusted and it is a pleasure to represent all of these members in the Tacoma educ Education Association and I would be remiss if I did
073not mention that if anyone who is listening would like to become a part of the team and join our fabulous Educators we always are looking for more guest teachers so if you're out there thinking hm what do I need to do that might be a job for you so thank you to all of our Educators from the full-time everyday part-time to the guest teachers we appreciate and knowledge that all of them are whole child Champions thank you thank you Penny and do we have any other not the even that concludes verbal comment all right and with that we will move on to item 10 I mov to adopt the consent agenda second it's been moved in second in are there any questions or comments all those in favor say I I opposed passes all right
074and moving on to item number 11 uh policy matters 11.1 uh second reading of new policy 3422 student Sports concussion head injury and sudden Cardiac Arrest the General councel on behalf of the director of Athletics and activities recommends that the board of directors adopt the revised proposal of policy 3422 uh just quickly in this new policy uh you can see a number of redlines which were made that makes it different than what we brought you in December for f or in the beginning of January for first reading uh these comments largely FL flow from input received by uh Community stakeholders in the equity policy Review Committee uh and some additions that were recommended by our own uh director Le own um if there's any questions happy to address them um first I think we need
075a motion I move wait do I move yes we already did that you haven't done it yet I okay thank you second it's been moved in seconded are there any comments or questions all right seeing none all those in favor say I I uh any post all right passes thank you general counsel um item number 12 I will speak slowly so Raz could make it up here uh financial report um The District's year end financial report will be presented um and I'm just going to pass it over to you thank you I think we're just doing a normal update tonight I don't know if it's said your end on there my apologies if it does I missed it no I just want to remind folks is that you know we we were in a difficult
076Place uh coming out of last year um and so we made a commitment to you folks to bring you monthly updates on some of our progress um so tonight is one of those updates we'll be back with you in February and so uh our CFO rosin is here tonight to give you an update on some of our strategies that we're implementing right now um to um help us uh achieve our goals uh both with fund balance and to try to um address the I'll say the inequities of our state's education funding system and uh how we're moving forward maybe the CH challenges of our economic system thank you yeah uh thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight I'm just going to share a few slides with you regarding some of the mitigating strategies
077and give you an awareness of some of those strategies that we're employing currently um we did make midyear position eliminations if I talk really fast I atat one of those cookies and I am sugar amped so I will really try and pull it back but woo um we did we did make an eliminations of positions for this year we've started with 14 exempts those uh have been brought forward to the board uh at a previous board meeting and we also made some reassignments of teachers the back into buildings back into classrooms where they can be best utilized in front of our students who require those Services they need those services and that way we don't have to hire new teachers to come into the system while we're trying to work through our financial challenges and
078there are future reductions that are pending so we will be bringing back to you additional potential cuts that will be coming here in the next several weeks so uh as the superintendent indicated we've been talking to you since November about our financial situation and we did come in below our 5% Reserve requirement that's required by our policy um and so it's important for us to continue doing these monitoring activities work to closely monitor our current financial situation and start to address those issues for now and for the future we will have to make budget reductions for the future we don't have a full amount of that yet but these are all strategies that we're working towards to help us employ for those future mitigations as well uh we have essentially Frozen hiring uh there are
079some critical positions that we have to hire for that you know if we need a classroom teacher we need a classroom teacher um but we are scrutinizing those positions very significantly we have a group of people that meets weekly to talk through what those implications are uh and so the continued evaluation carries on we've done a number of reductions of discretionary spending so discretionary spending is basically non-salary based spending um and we've removed some capacity I went out and swept some some capacity out of the individual account holders and and prevented them from being able to spend those resources so I you know holding on to those uh we're planning to do another sweep of resources to try to lower spending yet again uh We've limited the use of P cards the purchasing cards so
080that people can slow down their spending as well and then um we're talking through uh strategies on limiting or reducing some of our contracts or uh contractual Services down additionally we've identified a couple of surplus properties that we were hoping to maximize efficiencies around um we will sell those properties or we will put those properties on the market uh after we've gone through our typical our our formal Surplus process so those will be coming to you at some point in the future for the formal Surplus process but it's our intent to redistribute the staff that are currently Staffing programs that are currently in those buildings out to other buildings where we have space as we have talked at a number of times our enrollment is down space is available within our current buildings we no
081longer need these particular resources available to us uh and then we can repurpose staff that are out in those buildings as well um so that will provide us with some cost savings as we're no longer having to maintain such a large footprint and then trying to work through various types of lean efficiency practices and one example that I put down on here was a reduction in routes for bus services uh it doesn't necessarily mean that we'll lose staff in those areas but it was Will mean that uh we won't have as as many um cancelled routes and we won't be able to or we will be able to have a higher efficiency rating because we'll be more efficient in our processing and efficiency rating is actually tied back to our funding source for the state
082so any improvements that we make in how many routes that we're running and how often we're having to go out and service different areas of town um we'll be in a better position to achieve higher resources those all play into future mitigation strategies we're evaluating program needs for the coming year uh we have already announced a freezing of exempt salaries on their salary schedule so no one will move up on the salary schedule for the coming year uh implicit price deflator that the state provides will be provided because we believe that that's required and we will continue with position eliminations the things that we're cutting in 23 24 will carry forward and have a positive impact for us for that future budget we're seeking legislative assistance we have Advocates working on our behalf in a
083number of formats trying to uh help us achieve full funding uh and of course uh president Madam president you well aware of our legislative out um uh actions because you are part of that team that is helping to to communicate our struggles with our other legislators and uh finally we'll begin our development of the 2425 budget and Beyond we really need to build strategies and plans around what things are going to look like for the next 5 to 10 years uh and if legislative impacts don't help us significantly we will continue have to continue to have to look internally to make those reductions and make space for the costs that we have that we have to have oops that's the wrong button um and then I think that it's a a really natural occurrence as
084we start talking through future budget reductions to always look first at the administration well what's happening administratively let's cut the administrative group uh we have too much Administration we hear that a lot uh so this is the first place that we made our reductions and that's not unusual for the way that we've processed and I don't think it's unusual for like the budget strategies that you've put in place the principles for us to follow as we're making decisions as a team and if you look at this graph over the last 5 years you can see that we've had some up and down Trends right now uh excuse me on December 27th we were at 204 administrative staff and that was uh representing about 5.7% of our total staff population so that's our administrative number however
085with the 14 eliminations that we've made that will those have not been accounted for yet here so that will bring us down to 190 FTE which is the lowest number that we will have seen in probably a decade um and that does mean that it becomes difficult for us to make sure that we're being compliant and make sure that we're following all of our rules and processing I'd also add a couple of other notes around our administrative numbers uh these don't all represent exempt supervisory staff we have a number of represented staff that participate as part of our administrative group uh in various types of support roles some of them could be teachers there there are an occasional principal on special assignment um our office professionals and professional technicals might often fall into this category
086and so uh we want to be careful in saying well we just cut Administration well there's an impact across other systems as well uh so with that I will be happy to entertain any questions that you might have and just real quickly you know sometimes uh this may be the first time you're hearing this and I rep recognize that and so I just want to give you some additional context this uh we didn't start talking about our budget in November uh we talked about the fund balance right so you've been regularly updated uh regarding a number of things uh declining enrollment why are we here we have a declining enrollment in Tacoma Public Schools um and really what we're finding is is that birth rates are lower and our entries in our k1s especially right
087now are much lower than across the state and so you might see pockets in certain areas where they're growing but across the state and you know you can look at the news and see that it's across the nation and even across the world in a lot of ways uh we see costs continue to rise Insurance costs Transportation costs food costs just like uh your normal household budget you're seeing costs rise at a pretty significant rate and then we had uh we were the beneficiaries of Esser dollars uh to help us and we knew that those were uh going to uh had to be spent uh we are spending some of those this year this is our final year um and so we have been weaning our ways down but in in addition to those other
088two factors it's making it more problematic we are certainly not the only District in the state that is suffering these challenges um I know you folks at the wasda with your colleagues you're here across the state you can watch across the news um and so how we're making these decisions are I'll remind you you have adopted it what we through our budgeting priorities process a two-year budget this is the second year of that budget and so we are using you The Guiding principles that you have asked us to do and so when Rosen shares with you we starting with our administrator because those are furthest from the impact of the the classroom meaning physically not just the impact in there these are uh team members that make an impact it is going to change the
089way that we do Services it is going to be difficult um but unfortunately this is the reality that we are into so I know we plan on being giving you updates every month for your request on our mitigating strategies but we are happy to answer any questions you have tonight based on the January information anybody have any questions or comments um I just want to say a couple things um I was actually talking to um a colleague a school board director in North uh Northshore and they're facing similar um you know 20 $25 million in budget cuts that they're having to make and you know this is happening for folks that are listening this is happening across the state it isn't just us enrollment I mean all of these um other pieces and then um
090the other thing that just I keep ruminating over is that inflation some of that is um manufactured inflation um from companies and that those numbers are not going to those costs aren't going down and so um there's a lot of things that are out of the districts control in terms of inflation and costs and so um and then the other thing like I think about in terms of like the reductions is um from the um Central Administration staff there's a lot of work I know that now um sitting on this side of things um and when you um are not necessarily up close um there is a substantial amount of work that happens um in this building and throughout our Central admin um and so um I just want to um just um say you
091know thank you to all of our staff and also understanding the impacts of um the current cuts that you know the work doesn't go away and so I just want to you know acknowledge that and um thank the efforts that you all have put in thank you thank you rouson um all right um item uh 13 um curriculum and instruction item 13.1 approval of interdistrict agreement between Franklin Pierce school district and Tacomo public schools for the 23 through 2024 um swim season the assistant superintendent of K12 support on behalf of the director of Athletics and activities recommends that the board of directors approve the interd district agreement TSD d23 d117 between Franklin Pier school district and Tacoma Public Schools for the 2023 2024 swim season I Mo to adopt second it's been moved in second
092end are there any questions or comments yeah um is this done because those schools don't have access to pools they they need our pools to train yes they're renting our pools yeah is that right Mr Neil yes thank you thank you James any other questions comments all right all those in favor say I I any opposed all right it passes thank you Tomy thank you um item 14 business matters item 14.1 approval of agreement between the city of Tacoma Tacoma creates and Tacoma Public Schools from July 1 2023 through June 30th 2024 the assistant superintendent of K12 support on behalf of the director of Athletics and activities recommends that the board of directors approve proposed contract number TSD d245 between the city of Tacoma and Tacoma Public Schools from July 1 2023 to June 30th
0932024 is there a motion to approve I move to adopt item 14.1 second it's been moved in second in any questions or comments uh seeing none all those in favor say I I I uh opposed right it passes thank you thank you Tony item 14.2 approval of Tacoma Public Schools and Metro Parks Tacoma beyond the bell contract and data sharing agreement from September 1 2023 through August 31st 2024 yes assistant superintendent of K12 support on behalf of the director of Athletics and activities recommends that the board of directors approve the proposed contract number ts-23 d118 between Tacoma Metro Parks and Tacoma Public Schools from September 1 2023 to August 31st 2024 move to adopt second it's been moved and seconded any questions or comments Madam president I just want to just um take a moment
094to thank both Tony and James the last three items are are pretty significant Partnerships and James do the Franklin Pierce kids get a swim in our pools with our coaches yes yes yeah so there's some subtleties to when you think about Partnerships that Tony and James have led in these three items is you know it would be easy for us to say no you're not our kids but to develop Partnerships not only to use the pools because the schools are so small they can't afford their own teams so Franklin Pierce kids are being able to come and join and that's a great way to build community with kids um we don't have to do those things U sometimes they take a lot of extra work to do those things the partnership with Tacoma crat that
095you have supported is about making sure that the community's investment for the the Tacoma crates funding is is about providing kids access and transportation through busing to field trips cultural events and supports in there and then the beyond the bell and the contract and the data sharing I think we've talked about some of the beyond the bell so I won't be um their leadership both Tony and James is really critical and and sometimes we do these action items but it's not lost on me all the work that is put in and so that kids don't have to feel anything but joy through each of these and so I'm extremely grateful for their leadership and all the teams leadership but uh you just approve well two and potentially three real moments of joy for kids and
096so I hope you consider the third one as well thank you uh we it's been moved in second end any other comments all right seeing none all those in favor say I I opposed all right it passes thank you thank you thank you so much Tony all right item 14.3 approval of guaranteed Maxum price GMP amendment number three with Neely construction company for the ground floor Willie Stewart Academy North uh tenant Improvement Pro improvements project the Chief Operating Officer recommends that the board of directors approve the guarantee maximum price Amendment Three which states the calls for ninth and Broadway ground floor tenant improvements project and authorize a superintendent or desney to sign say amendment in the amount of $987,000 excluding sales tax to adop Second it's the moved and seconded any comments or questions seeing
097none all those in favor say I I any opposed all right if passes um item 14.4 approval to negotiate and award design build alternate alternate method contract with Washington Patriot construction for the Jenny Reid Elementary modern modernization that's a very hard word project uh we're excited about this project we have a new uh design Builder and new architect that are both local the Chief Operating Officer recommends that the board of directors approve their superintendent to negotiate and award a contract to Washington Patriot construction for the design build alternative method for the Jenny Reed Elementary monitorization project move to adopt second it's been moved and seconded any questions or comments comment I'm really excited that their local partner that's it yeah thank you any others all right uh all those in favor say I I opposed
098it passes all right Chris I think you're here for the next one 14.5 approval to negotiate an award uh design build alternate method contract with cormo construction for the low Elementary replacement project the Chief Operating Officer recommends that the board of directors approve their superintendent to negotiate and award a contract to Cal construction for the design build alternative method for low Elementary replacement project it out second it's been moved and seconded any questions or comments comment they're also local and I would just add uh so is Neely so all three of them uh if you choose to adopt this one would be uh meeting your MDB local goals with specific inclusion plans to support local economy under Chris Sim shim Morris's leadership excellent any other comments all those in favor say I I opposed passes
099thanks Chris item 15 other business there is none and so we come to item 16 board comments and reports and I would like to ask if Liliana has something you would like to share hi I'm lilan Taylor I'm a student rep from silus high school um I've just kind of got the same thing from last time about uh Mean Girls it's in about 2 weeks is opening night um the 9th to the 10th uh 15th 16th and 17th are days and you can order it at silus mean girls. brownpapertickets.com or you can get them at the door or you can get them at the silus High School drama website um it's going to be a lot of fun and we're getting excited and also kind of scared it's going to be fun so so yeah
100excellent and I apologize Lillian not Liliana yeah um I actually was just talking to a stadium student who is in oh gosh I just forgot the musical that they're doing in the Heights in the Heights thank you um and I had mentioned Mean Girls and that they were like oh my gosh they were really excited and so it was really cool to to talk to another um uh drama student at a different School excited about what you all are doing and so um yeah there's going to be a lot of really talented um performers is coming up and I'm proud that I got those dates correct when I reiterated them the other night oh yeah yeah so thank awesome thank you lilan thank you uh all right any who else would like to go I'm
101ready um no really it's the end of the month and I say the same thing all the time I wanted to thank the superintendent for pointing out ways that people could donate socks and underwear like right from our TPS website so it's helpful for folks who are looking for those resources people are chiming in they're like cha you're just like talking into the void and like where can we find it so thank you for the effort Miss jumper and the communications team have done a marvelous job listening and adding that so big shout out to all of them thank you thank you all um so yeah basically it's the end of January and I just want to say that we won't be here on February 1st but February is Black History Month it's deeply important
102to me as a black American citizen and as a community Auntie to all these kids in town and so as we lean into black History Month stepping out right after um whole child month leaning into how can we be our best selves how can be our most anti-racist self how can we uplift this next generation and continue towards that 91.1 it's all inclusive as we like honor who these children are oh and then a comment I learned something is that there's actually there there's a petition going around um about caps and gowns and what students can do is reach out to their school administrators and find out directly what their school um is working on towards that um I know at last year I had Mount Home High School I saw all types of kids
103celebrating their culture in various ways so reach out to your school administrators if you have questions about that awesome anything else nothing all right okay I do have a report this evening even though I said I didn't have one huh no and it's not from J man nice try uh last board meeting I mentioned to you all that I was headed over to Truman to uh speak about uh the legacy of Dr Mar Luther King I I lived through that experience it was exciting it was a honor it was my fifth time uh speaking about the life of Dr Mara the king in a way that middle schoolers could understand and from what I hear these are not my own words I did a good job so I just thought you guys were wondering how
104that went uh shout out to Tristan Allen Dr out uh and the ASB students we got the president of the ASB Zach vice president Aya uh Jaden who was an ASB rep they really stepped up and led the charge and there were four sixth graders shaking in their boots like I was somebody to be concerned about asking me questions the cutest thing I've seen in a long time no I didn't sign I did not I'll talk to doct I'll talk to Andre but they they you know they stood up and they did a really good job so just hats off to the team over there on Tuesday sorry stealing your thunder president key we were at hunt for the open house it was exciting first of all I learned about the parts of a bagpipe
105they had a stadium uh band pipe back pipe player over there I was wondering I was walking in I'm like not sure what that is but anyway she taught me all about uh the back pipe and the different parts and I'm pretty sure that I could play that if I wanted to now I've invited him to do that during board meetings there you go so if y'all hear some screeching when you coming down here either come in at your own risk uh president key gave remarks it was exciting to be in the building with with the old school Scotties and the new school Thunder um the building is absolutely beautiful the staff are absolutely dedicated uh told us which stairs to go up for safety which stairs to go down had dance team we ate
106cookies uh man it was it was a good night so shout out to the voters because that building is a blessing to the community and uh the students are definitely taking very very good care uh of it finally uh before I wrap up I'll just say we whether you like it or not we're in a h stretch there's there's five months left of school I mean if you're counting on your hand um and that doesn't mean that we have arrived anywhere though like we still got a whole bunch of work that needs to take place so um I just want to encourage our students and our staff to keep going like that's always going to be my message just keep going if things are tough for you help us here if things are going great
107for you help somebody else and I think if we can adopt that mindset we'll be able to move forward uh lock and step so shout out to all of you all shout out to 91.1% let's keep pushing thank you and I will just add around hunt um that it was really fun because um when hunt was a transition site um my own kid was at the previous building when the now not so new gu building was being built and so it was really fun um being in the new building and being able to um in a formal way celebrate them um and it was postponed to I'll just throw it out to the pandemic so it took a while and that's why this um celebration was happening um and another um little fun fact so
108I wore green as to try and like uh sport uh hunt Thunder and uh VP stroer and I were in the um broadcast room is that what that was and there's a and the green screen was behind us and all of a sudden we're looking at this I was like I've disappeared from like here up or from here down so that was pretty fun and I'm sure there's lots of photographs of that um Tanisha please don't I'm just going to ask you very kindly thank you um and then the other thing that did happen um since we're going to talk about all things art and theater um the students had performed um a mini preview of their upcoming music The Adams Family and it was awesome it was super super cool and I think they
109had had five days since they got the scripts and the S and you would have never known that those kids had just gotten those um the scripts and the songs and it was super fun so I don't know when that performance I don't know that we were told when that performance is happening but we'll find out and report back um so um and then the other I think I think I will add um I feel like all things legislation or ledge session uh have been happening um let's see actually on the 15th yeah so on Martin Luther King Day Junior Day we um Cory and I were actually down at the capital um and um as guests of Representative Melanie Morgan and we got to be um well we were up in the galley for
110a little bit and then we got to to be um on the sides of I don't remember what that's called in the wings in the wings thank you the wings of the house floor um you cannot walk onto the house floor when is in session um and so um we were actually the only guests that um were given a call out by the speaker of the house um and honored um for being there which was really special um so you know to comea you know we were in the house and we got to actually um get up on to um where the speaker of the house um it's not a cadias preside yeah but it's not whatever so but she gave Cory made me hold the gabble and so did the speaker house um so
111that was funny but um anyway so that was really quite an honor and there was um uh a great choir group that was from a church up in Seattle that sang the black NA national anthem and um it was just a really I'd not been in the capital for this event U for this celebration before and it was really special um and I'm going to work to get an invitation next year as well I'll also say it was interesting as well and if anybody wants to know why it was interesting please come and talk to me and I'll tell you no it was great Cory it was great no it was great nothing negative I said interesting no um so that was a really really cool um uh celebration and so um and we're actually
112extremely fortunate in the Tacoma area um to have represent atives in the 27th 28th and 29th um legislative districts who are very committed to um public education and so we were it was it was a cool thing to be a part of um and then I also testified later that day um in the Senate education hearing committee um so I will be going to DC tomorrow morning very early um for the nsba conference and um for wasa's um Federal delegation meetings on the hill which will happen Tuesday and Wednesday of next week um and so um as the chair of the federal Network Relations Committee I am leading a cohort of other board colleagues around the state um to go meet with our federal delegates um which is going to be really exciting and kind
113of a smaller group so we'll end up talking to um uh Representatives um from actually multiple areas of the state so that'll be um you know we're truly representing all Washington State students um which I like to always remind myself and um others that that also benefits our own students um so um I don't know I feel like I've just had a thousand legislative related meetings so um yeah I don't think I have anything else you did did all the things all right anybody else we good just a quick reminder beyond the bell registration is live for those the folks that want that opportunity and so please just go ahead and jump on your school's website there's uh the largest number of offerings ever in Partnership that we've ever had in every elementary school and
114then Clubby opportunities as well um as director stroer mentioned uh we're halfway there semester's ending you know please work with your classroom teacher our classroom teachers are just doing an absolutely phenomenal job um working through supporting kids and so I'm extremely grateful and so if you have questions reach directly out to them about how they can uh bring that uh to the finish line and then um as we mentioned a lot of the Arts uh tonight really encourage folks to go out there we're finding better ways to collect that data on how students are participating in the Arts to celebrate that um jump on your school's website you know go spend some time there and then our Athletics and activities we we tease about basketball and and wrestling right now but there are much many
115more other act Athletics and activities going on um and we're getting right onto the playoff season and so um some exciting basketball going on I'm I'm tracking the stadium taggers seem to be uh the Front Runners for the league championship right now um and so uh just keep on cheering our kids on cuz they're doing some amazing things and thank you you're welcome all right item 17 announcements of next regular board meetings February 8th uh 6 p.m will be our next business meeting February 15th will be uh a study session at 6 pm. and then February 22nd 6 p.m will be um another business meeting and with that we're adjourned go Wes always back