001all right good evening and welcome I would like to call this meeting of the Tacoma Public School Board of Directors for Thursday April 13 2023 to order would everyone please rise and join me in the flag salute for all Tacoma Public Schools acknowledges that we are on the traditional and ancestral and historical lands of the Puyallup tribe of Indians we honor with gratitude the land itself and the Puyallup tribe this acknowledgment serves as a first step in honoring our nearest tribal neighbors and partners who have inhabited this region since time immemorial and to whom we give thanks for allowing us on their lands we shall intentionally create inclusive and respectful Partnerships that honor indigenous cultures histories identities and socio-political realities general counsel um benrow would you please call the roll yes president buff right here
002vice president here director here director McGovern here we have Quorum and our student reps I see we have Amanda Peterson here thank you Amanda great and thank you general counsel Ben Roe all right on to the adoption of the agenda do I have a motion I moved to adopt second it's been moved and seconded any comments questions um changes to the agenda I mean then all those in favor say aye aye any opposed any abstentions passes four to zero item number six notice of public hearing and I know this is a little unusual so we'll talk about about this for a second is when we have um a resolution that rises the occasion of requiring by law a public hearing we have a public hearing within the public hearing so we're going to call the
003public hearing to order for the district to determine a sale of property and we will have the presentation on that and then we will end that and go on to the regular hearing Okay so the district has determined that the properly for the property formerly known as the Willie Stewart Academy at 1818 Tacoma Ave South is not needed for district purposes in the foreseeable future and will not be required for district long-range planning Capital facilities in July of 2022 this board of directors via resolution 2109 declared that the property as Surplus and authorized the district to market the property with the intent to sell in January of 2023 the district advertised the sale of 1818 Tacoma Ave South site through the process identified and and through that process identified Ferguson architecture as the recommended buyer
004the district is proposing to execute a purchase and sale agreement substantially consistent with the terms of The Proposal from Ferguson architecture for the sale of 1818 Tacoma Avenue South at this time the district will hear public testimony related to the execution of a purchase and sale agreement with Ferguson architecture for the sale of 1818 Tacoma Ave South if do we have anyone in the audience any public wanting to speak on this issue I have no speaker cards on the public hearing agenda item I'm gonna ask just again in case somebody didn't know that they needed to fill out a card is anyone here interested in discussing the sale of 18 to 18 Tacoma have sell okay um so hearing none we will I will ask if anyone on the dice has any questions or comments
005about this we're going to be addressing it later on the agenda but just as part of a public hearing okay hearing none then this portion a public hearing portion of our full meeting is adjourned and we are going back into the regular session of public hearing okay I mean set regular part of our of our agenda item number seven recognition of staff students and Community I will turn this over to our general counsel who will tell us about state holidays and Civic observances for the month of April yes we have two in the month of April these are both legislatively recognized days they're not state holidays so the first is Dolores support today in 2019 Washington's legislature passed and the governor signed into law in addition to the state's legislatively recognized days to Mark the
00610th day of April as Dolores wear today on Dolores where today we recognize Dolores huerte's leadership and the Farm Workers Civil Rights Movement fighting for better wages and working conditions for Farm Workers across our country our second Civic observance is Mother Joseph day this is another legislatively recognized day honoring the work of mother Joseph who in the 1800s worked in what was then the Washington territory to establish the territory's first hospital schools and orphanages Washington's legislature declared that the 16th day of April shall be recognized Statewide as mother Joseph day after successful advocacy for this recognition by a group of sixth graders from Evergreen School District in Vancouver and those are the two that we have okay thank you very much 7.2 the reckon recognition of shining star Community partner award to Matthew Wilson and
007Oasis youth center part two right yes thank you very much Amanda all right good evening directors uh superintendent Deputy superintendent um uh our Beloved Community my name is Amanda Scott Thomas I am the director of the Community Partnership office and it's my pleasure today to present our shining star Community partner award you know that I'm usually here on the fourth Thursday but our award winner was under the weather and really wanted to be here and so we are presenting the award for March today so um to give you a little context and background Tacoma Public Schools Divine defines partnership as a Cooperative relationship between students families schools the school district and the greater Tacoma Community Partners are committed to supporting student academic success and the success of the whole child Partners work with and invest
008in 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 so in recognition of an investment of time talent and resources for Tacoma Public School students families and staff The Shining Star Community partner award signifies honor and thanks to a community partner who has made a difference by doing what is best for kids so tonight we have Oasis youth center so the Oasis youth center transforms the lives of queer youth by creating a safe space to learn connect and Thrive Oasis envisions a world in which queer youth are valued in the community as strong creative leaders Oasis is the only drop in and support center dedicated to
009the needs of lb lgbtq youth ages 11 to 24 in Pierce County Oasis has committed to creating a safe affirming space for lgbtq youth to be proud of who they are with the encouragement they need to become healthy productive and fully participating members of the community supported by a team of a dozen staff and volunteers Oasis offers an amazing array of activities for more than 500 young people established in 1985 Oasis has served over 5 000 youth staff and volunteers since its Inception in Baker Middle School reached out to Oasis for a student in crisis after all the other resources did not respond or fell through Matthew and his colleagues came directly to Baker to support a student who was effacing an immediate crisis connected to discrimination homelessness and safety they approached the situation with
010empathy care and urgency and as a result the student was able to honestly share and get ongoing support additionally Matthew connected with another community resource and helped Advocate access and transparency for the future we want to thank Oasis youth center for supporting and empowering youth creating Health a healthy community and providing essential resources promoting cultural diversity and advocating for civil rights so it is the recommendation of the Community Partnership our department to recognize Matthew Wilson and the Oasis Center for being awarded did The Shining Star Community partner award for the month of March can we give them a hand [Applause] at this time we're going to have Matthew say a few words he has some young people with him but I did want to note that Matthew's mother is a former TPS principal so the
011Apple never Falls far from the tree [Applause] uh it's quite an honor we really appreciate the recognition that you're offering Oasis through the decades of work that we've done together you know about three weeks ago we were in front of a different school board and they were trying to remove the protections of lgbtq students and some of those folks that provided public testimony are here today and I wanted to make sure that they were here so they could see that there are accepting supportive folks in the community and that we're not just protecting youth that we're actually celebrating queer youth for who they are um some of the things that we've accomplished together as TPS and Oasis is responding to bullying through policy but also personal Outreach to students going in the classrooms to talk
012with them and have speakers Bureau where youth talk about their stories to build empathy with other students um this is really cool so thank you very much um and then we look forward to the future together and I know yusagi wanted to just um as a TPS student and someone who is a youth Council Oasis it really means a lot to be recognized and I'll say thank you for that [Applause] before you all sit down we're gonna have you come up and take pictures with us but before we do that I want to see if there's anyone on the dice I just want to say first myself on behalf of the board and I was everyone's got their own comments to make I'm sure but um I just want to tell you we're so proud
013of you and I'm so happy to have you in our school district and um you know I don't even know where to start because with the work that you do every single day is exceptional and you keep our community strong and you inspire so thanks to each and every one of you for doing the work you do and for being Who You Are and I know um director Keating has some comments I I have some feels um first um I will start by saying that um as a parent of a trans child and a trans and queer child um Oasis has been critical to our family just as knowing that the resource that they existed um and I think I was thinking about it and I think Matthew I started volunteering and working with Oasis
014at least 10 years ago I I it may be longer but we'll just give it a good 10 years um and I was thinking about the things that we've accomplished together through Oasis and you know we helped fight to maintain gender identity protections when they were being threatened from 2015 through 2017 and the hours and we took youth council members down to Olympia so they could see what the processes that they could testify and they could learn and it was really this beautiful experience as hard as it was of really unifying and the thing that Oasis I think is so brilliant at doing is creating that space where young people um they're already seen as Leaders when they walk in the door that's right they're already seen as being valuable community members by just being
015present there and I've learned a lot by being a bridge builder I served on their action committee for at least five years and still kind of I think I'm an at-large member for the most part um and um and Matthew I um first you're you're you've been a mentor to me to my family to my daughter and yes I'll probably make you cry um and um and we've done some remarkable things together on behalf of kids um and I'm so honored to call you my friend and um my boo so I love you very much and congratulations yeah foreign [Applause] back there who you brought with you just know um you have a place you are powerful and if anybody's going to protect you and work to continue to make sure that your rights are
016protected you're looking at at least four Works sitting up here so thank you for being here thank you for standing strong and keep fighting [Applause] you are you are definitely seen and speaking of that we're going to take a picture with you so come on up thank you all right there we go okay thank you thank you so much stay strong [Applause] all right now and the fun continues all right item number 7.3 I am going to turn this over to you superintendent I think you have uh James to introduce and then we will go just let James go through the list huh yeah we have a series that are going to fall here and so maybe what we'll do is um we'll let James bring them up individually and maybe collectively and we'll get
017we'll get a picture because I think you have a time Mr Neal would you like to join us I would love to thank you good evening president Ron Wright and uh board of directors thank you for having us and we are here to celebrate uh state state champions uh in our Athletics and activities and so I'm going to invite our Mount Tahoma High School unified basketball team up here to stand next to me [Applause] Mount Tahoma High School has been competing in with the Special Olympics of Washington and unified basketball for the last nine years in the last nine years they have made it to the state competition seven times Mount Tahoma is currently in the process of also working towards a national unified Champion School the division one unified state championship took place in
018Wenatchee this year and these are your state champions this is their fourth State title in unified basketball let's give them a round of applause [Applause] okay all right so go right up there okay all right you're gonna see everybody's face okay one two three smile how about T-Bird Champions all right thank you [Applause] next we have the Lincoln High School unified basketball team come on up [Applause] the Lincoln Abe's unified basketball team competed in their first time at the state championship in Wenatchee and they won the division two state champion uh the champ sorry beating multiple high schools from around the state also team members Nathan Mapp and Clyde lahorn were named to the unified All-Star team and were awarded gold medals for that furthermore they were also awarded the sportsmanship award as individual Players
019let's give them a round of applause here we go [Applause] tomorrow [Music] there you go ready everybody got all right three two one Lincoln AIDS [Applause] paintings do we have representatives of Lincoln cheer tonight we do not unfortunately but we are going to read off the recognition for them so uh in December of night of 2022 just this last year uh Lincoln High School cheer team competed in their first competition since their 2020 State Championship uh they competed in the comp in the swamp qualifier at the Decatur High School and placed second against Spanaway Lake who was the 2021 state champ they went on to win their first place trophy in the junior state competition they changed their their routine on the day of to become even better and score higher and over the following
020weeks they even got better using judge's notes and on February 4th 2023 at Battleground Washington they won the state championship in the stomp competition let's give them a big round of applause foreign we are now going to move on to individual state championships and I know that this particular person was unable to make it tonight but we're going to read off the recognition of Zeta Lee who is individual state championship in wrestling at the matte classic Zeta Lee is a junior at Mount Tahoma High School and has been wrestling since the age of six and has traveled to National tournaments Zeta has placed four at the fourth at the national level and is currently ranked 21st in the nation at the 110 weight class she's completed her third year of wrestling competition at high school
021she won the state championship in 3A for the past two years in the weight class 110. she also volunteers for Club wrestling and local tournaments as well as Baker Middle School let's give Zeta a big round of applause [Applause] Andrew Flores from Lincoln High School come on up [Applause] welcome Andrew is a freshman at Lincoln High School and finished first at three tournaments during the course of this year he was the patriot Champion the North Mason Tournament champion and the Grays Cup champion he finished the season with a winning record of 39-5 finished first in League Andrew is the first freshman at Lincoln High School to win an individual state championship in addition to his State title he's the varsity Letterman on the football team helped the Lincoln football team win a three their third
022PCL title and a spot in the playoffs uh let's see Andrew comes from a family of wrestlers three older brothers who also wrestled at Lincoln congratulations to Andrew who is the weight class 120 Matt classic Champion for 3A boys right now yeah do I get you all right smile three two one Lincoln AIDS congratulations [Applause] unfortunately our next one got called into work uh Elijah cater of Silas High School 3A boys WIA state championship in weight class 126. Elijah cater is a two-time state champion in the 3A classification he won a State title in 2122 at weight class 120 and this year uh in the weight class 126. in addition Elijah competes nationally in freestyle and Greco wrestling he's qualified for the USA Wrestling National Championship multiple times he is also a volunteer coach at
023local youth programs and can be found in the mat serving as a referee in local tournaments he's also pursuing opportunities to wrestle in college and further his education let's give Elijah a big round of applause he just signed to go to North Idaho College and wrestle [Applause] yeah I know somebody else in the room that wrestled there yes here he comes this is Jake Ferris his high school coach thank you Jake's late because he was coaching at truman [Laughter] let's see uh and we have our last wrestler Navarre Dixon did Navarre make it darn it all right well Navarre it was a state champion as well uh at Lincoln High School he is a junior for the 3A boys WIA state championship in weight class 182. Navarre competed three years at wrestling uh finished nine
024and one and second in the Pierce County League no stake competition in 2021 in 22 he was voted the team captain he won numerous tournaments and finished the season with a winning record of 35-2 placing first at the PCL first in Regional and third at the state tournament in uh week class 182. again this year he was voted the team captain won numerous tournaments and uh going with a record of 38 and three again he was the PCL champ the regional champ and won the WIA Matt classic at 3A boys for 182 weight class he was an honorable mention to the All-State academics team with a 3.4 GPA navarre's father also attended Lincoln High School and his two older brothers wrestled at Lincoln both placing at state his brother was a back-to-back state champion in
025addition Navarre state titles he is a three-year Letterman on the football team and has helped lead the Lincoln Abe's to a three-time League titles in football uh see he was also voted all PCL running back this last year let's give Navarre Dixon around [Applause] thank you for having me that's that's it for now thank you it's an impressive group whether you end up end up first place at championship at state or whether you just made it across a Finish Line once uh just thanks for hanging in there thanks James for you and the entire staff that supports our students in their youth Athletics thank you you're all amazing thank you [Applause] Madam president board of directors 7.4 is the recognition of our District's newest national board certified teachers and recently renewed board certified teachers and
026tonight we have Mr Zeke Edmond assistant superintendent of teaching for learning to lead us off in this great celebration hell keep the Champions rolling so our national board uh certificate is nationally recognized as an advanced teaching credential it complements but does not replace our state teacher license and these teachers voluntarily elect to pursue a deeper understanding of their students their content knowledge the use of data and assessments and their teaching practices the certification process is Performance Based and evaluated using multiple measures which requires the teachers to demonstrate standards-based evidence of a positive effect that they're having on our students and their learning created for teachers by teachers the national board certification is built upon national board standards and five core propositions which include teachers are committed to students and they're learning teachers know the subjects
027they teach and how to teach those subjects teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience and teachers are members of a learning community Public Schools through the curriculum and instruction office provide cohort support at no cost for candidates that are either getting their boards for the first time or renewing and in Tacoma Public Schools we have 235 of our certificated staff our national board teachers which is dynamite Washington State uh continues to be one of the top two to three uh states in the country with teachers earning their national award and we in Tacoma tend to stay in the top five in Washington of the number or percentage of our teachers earning the certificate so with that even through the uh entertaining experience we
028had last year of covid we have five new certified teachers to the ranks tonight I will call their names and bring them forward if they are here this evening we have Colin Kelly Emily rorty Kevin Heinrich Megan Holyoke and season Jackson so these are the newbies for national board and then we have 45 folks I am not going to call all their names but we will ask them if they are present to come on down who renewed their certificate which usually goes about five years uh and it's a very similar process again reevaluating their instruction through multiple measures so if you are one of our renew national board teachers please come on forward [Applause] tell people in the front get cozy yeah [Music] I don't know I can't see every face though come on uh
029still can't see every face still can't see every face okay okay that's that's pretty good that's pretty good ready okay one two three one two three yeah for our national board renews and news if you would make your way across the hall to the other boardroom Michelle Tyson uh would like to celebrate with you I heard she even had swag of which I got none but thank you for joining us just jealous all right well that was an exciting uh part of the board meeting yes thank you all hard-working teachers we appreciate you and love you all right item number eight superintendent's report we do not have one this evening number nine staff report to the board again this evening we don't have one number ten members of the board wishing to address the board
030um okay so I think we do have some blue cards so I will say that school board members encourage public participation your civil input is appreciated board members will not respond to your comments during the meeting and but the superintendent or designee will follow up with you after the meeting if action is needed um and instead of speaking at the meeting there's alternately an opportunity to send an email to the board prior to the meeting at board tacoma.k12.wad.us and please contact the board office in advance of the meeting for disability accommodations so there were no written comments as of the time I printed my agenda so um we're not going to worry about that but there are I think a couple of verbal comments so I'm going to turn it over to the general counsel
031who will take us through that yes public comment proceeds under board policy 1430 under policy 1430 the board president May interrupt and or terminate comments if the speaker exceeds the time allotted or when comments are either personally directed abusive obscene or irrelevant you can find a summary of board policy 1430 on the back and front of the blue comment cards in the lobby and also on our website at dacomaschools.org so this evening we have two public comments uh verbal public comments first is from Kimmy from private schools always a pleasure to be here representing vibrant schools first of all I just want to make an announcement vibrant schools has become more vibrant we are now vibrant schools of Puget Sound not just Tacoma and we are now a Bonafide 501c3 so I just want to
032make that announcement and uh and we're very happy that there are funders in the local Puget Sound area that believe in our work and we're getting significant funding which means we can do more to do more in our Public Schools but I'm here tonight on a couple of reasons or a couple of statements first of all I want to give a shout out to Malik and Susan Anderson for the good work that they're doing with the equity team and I say that because as an organization that's about Community voice we appreciate the fact that we have a community voice on the equity team but I know it takes staff a lot of hard work and a lot of preparation to make everything prepared for us as we come to those meetings so I wanted to
033thank Malik and your staff for keeping us going and also us our director Elizabeth bonright for being there to continue the to have a policy maker there I also want to give a shout out to Ross and Kristen on the uh in a budget Department I serve on that that team as well and I say all that to say that to have staff in folks like Malik and Susan and Roz and Kristen doing the kind of work that they do to have prep preparation so that we who come in as a community can give that Community voice in a very comprehensive way and I think sometimes we forget to acknowledge the hard work that goes that goes behind the scenes so that Community voice can be heard and that policy and accountability can go forward
034having said that I just want to remind you that I know there's a significant concern challenge with Stanley and what's happening at that play field and I just want to encourage you to make sure that you go for that process to make the decisions about what's going to happen to Stanley and the field that you make sure that there's Community voice in that process I thank you again for recognizing the community voice is an important part of the process so that every student every day is successful in Tacoma schools thank you all right our next speaker is Kristen Brown thank you I appreciate your time and everything that you all do uh I wasn't I didn't want to speak and so I didn't prepare anything but there's this piece uh going on over at soda
035school that I think um isn't only affecting my children but also other children after covid I have very highly capable children but after covid one of them has been struggling and the school has been amazing at trying to figure out how to work with her and help her graduate and um so I appreciate what they're doing but I was just at this Summit of with Educators and and moms and parents and and I found out about running start and I I am so ignorant when it comes to the resources in our community and I'm talking to them and asking questions and going wow this would have been an amazing piece or an amazing option that we didn't even look at and my daughter's graduating what's done is done but uh with the struggles that the
036kids are going through especially at Sammy soda and idea they don't have the sports programs that the others the other schools you know the kid is just a different environment right I know Lisa spends a lot of time over there and so I I don't know what the barrier is in keeping uh and not having that option more more explained more known more talked about more available I know financially there are some things that happen where if a student leaves the school and then they go to TCC you know there's a there might be a conflict of interest there I don't know I haven't looked into it that much but I'm hoping that we can bridge that that missing piece over at soda idea and Sammy and hopefully that's not an issue with the other
037schools um but it's something that needs to be worked on so that the kids over there can succeed for sharing anyone else on general counsel nope okay I appreciate that all right moving on to the consent agenda item number 11. do we have a motion and move to a DOT second it's been moved and seconded do we have any comments questions additions subtractions from the consent agenda okay hearing none I'll signify by saying aye aye any opposed any abstentions houses four zero item 12 policy matters 12.1 first reading of new policy 55 15 Workforce secondary trauma traumatic stress The General Counsel would you like to describe and introduce this item sure I'll start by introducing at The District's General Counsel on behalf of the assistant superintendent of Human Resources recommends the Board review the proposed
038draft of the revised of the new strike that revised policy 5515 and provide feedback before a second reading so this policy 5515 is largely based on a was the model policy there was a law passed in 2021 this is RCW 28 day 300 825 the required school districts in Washington to pass a policy in accompanying regulation that governs its response to secondary traumatic Express traumatic stress this includes providing resources the OSBI is working with Mazda and Seb the school of employees benefit board to come up with sources available to staff at schools teachers classified administrators everybody that deal with students with traumatic issues and thereby can suffer some secondary traumatic stress of their own so this policy is a starting place we'll have a company regulation if this passes its after second reading that'll push
039out some of those resources to our staff members the effort is led by the assistant superintendent Human Resources Renee Trueblood and one of our staff members doing a lot of work on this Monica Fritz so after the passage we'll begin the resource level thank you okay do we have a um want to have any comments on this so I know this is first reading so we don't you know we don't have a lot I know you've all looked at this I also will say it is scheduled to me the equity policy review team which Kimmy was talking about we'll be looking at this next week so um and then it'll come back to us with their input for second reading any comments at the moment okay thank you thank you so much general counsel item
04015 business matters 15.1 the approval of guaranteed maximum price GMP amendment 2 with Neely construction company for the ground floor Willie Stewart Academy South tenant Improvement project did we have a Willie Academy North never mind okay this is uh an extension of the current I have the same question by the way thank you so this is an extension of Willie Stewart Academy where we're going to have additional classroom and office spaces the Chief Operating Officer recommends that the board of directors approve the guarantee maximum price amendment to which states the cost for the 9th and Broadway ground floor Willie Stewart South tenant improvements project authorize a superintendent or destiny to sign said Amendment an amount of six million 472 560 excluding sales tax I moved to adopt item 15.1 then moved in seconded any comments
041or questions hearing none all those in favor say aye aye any opposed any abstentions okay it passes forward to nothing and I I did notice if you would bear with me for 30 seconds that I in my exuberance so skipped over the financial report because there really isn't one but I have something to say about it and then also item 14. I don't know it just Chris we saw you back there you looked ready and I was go for it right so I'm just gonna back up for 30 seconds um item 13 the financial report now the next quarterly financial report will be presented at the May 25th 2023 business meeting you can go to our website to look at our financial statements at any time https W uh backslash backslash www.tacomaschools.org Department slash business
042and finance and just for the record item 14 which is usually curriculum instructions we have none this evening so back to you Chris Williams um item 15.2 approval to award contract with BNB builders for the pre-construction design build service of the Oakland High School historical modernization project the Chief Operating Officer recommends that the board of directors approve the agreements which states the pre-construction services for the Oakland High School historical modernization project and authorizes superintendent or destiny to sign set Amendment an amount of four million three hundred and forty six thousand one hundred thirty one dollars excluding sales tax it's been moved in seconded any comments or questions on this item I'd just like to say that I'm excited for Oakland students and the staff to be getting a new building it's going to be um
043yeah having seen the impacts of those uh students at Willie Stewart and being a new in a new building and in a space that makes them proud and is beautiful and I'm just excited for the Oakland students and just as a clarification it's actually not a new building it's a renovation of the historical building which like we did with Jay with Jason Lee now Hilltop Heritage that was doesn't look that different from the outside but the inside was pretty amazing so okay um oh yes so did we no let's move all those in favor say aye all right any opposed any extensions all right uh get four zero moving on to item 15.3 approval of the contract with Beasley Enterprise for green schoolyards project at Reed and Stafford Elementary Schools yes this is part of
044our partnership with Metro Parks and the trust of public lands to ensure that everyone has access to public parks within 10 minute walking distance the Chief Operating Officer recommends that the board of directors approved the superintendent to award the contract with Beasley Enterprise for the procurement of necessary equipment and services in the amount of one million five hundred and eighty six thousand dollars excluding sales tax I moved to adopt item 15.3 second it's been moved and seconded any questions or comments on this item hearing none us please signify by saying aye all in favor aye any post any abstentions okay 4-0 you have got that one back too all right um item 16 16.1 of 16 is other business and 16.1 is the adoption of resolution number 2120 authorizing the sale of 1818 Tacoma Ave
045South to Ferguson architecture and for the public that's watching this was the public hearing we had earlier on at the board meeting and so now that we've had no comments we're ready to proceed uh just a quick overview uh almost a year ago the district made a decision to relocate Willie Stewart to 9th and Broadway and provide the student staffs with newly renovated spaces in June 2022 the district made a decision that the Old Willie Stewart had no longer useful purpose for the district we recently advertised this property for sale we have a viable buyer it's Ferguson architect they are Tacoma base firm they've been in business for over 10 years and they intend to use the spaces for their offices and Mr Ferguson is here awesome the Chief Operating Officer recommends that the board
046of directors adopt resolution number 2120 and improve the sale of 1818 Tacoma Avenue South to Ferguson architecture of motion do motion yeah we do we move in second time motion second okay we will turn it over to the general counsel since it's a resolution so that we can call the roll okay we'll have a roll call vote uh president bummer aye vice president aye okay thank you Mr Williams for your help this evening and thanks for the team that's been working hard on the sale of that property and making sure that it has the best use for our community and it's in the best interests of our taxpayers and how we we go through this so thank you for that right so before we go into board s and reports I'm going to take um
047the pleasure of the president to make a comment about the Stanley Playfield because I know this has been a big issue for our community and all we have all shown up and been at these public hearings that have been happening around this and we know the passion that the community feels about this and I want to thank the community for their for their feedback their patience and during this process and they're and they're really thoughtful input it's been fabulous I also want to thank the families and neighbors for sharing their voices with us and their thoughts and opinions have have been heard and are deeply valued um and in addition to that since this is a project on which Metro Parks Tacoma are very long and treasured partner is the lead we um they took
048the first action this week there we go that's much better so I want to thank the staff our staff as well as Metro Park staff for the hard work that everyone's put into this to coming to some some closure around collecting the thoughtful responsive uh and being responsive to the um comments of the community while keeping the best interests of the students in mind and um and I know that the and I want to respect and honor the revised decision that was made by our Metro Parks Commissioners this very week and they've all offered a potential alternative and with that I'm asking my colleagues to join me in asking you superintendent Garcia and your team to explore the proposed options in front of us now and any others that may exist that best support our
049students in the most immediate And Timely fashion because I want to make it clear to the folks that in partnership with our community that we will build the long promised new ball fields for our Stadium High School student athletes and their families so it's just how and when how we can pull this together but we are yoked together on a team on this approach and we've been listening to the community and I think we're moving absolutely in the right direction so and superintendent if you can bring back to us some next steps we'd really appreciate that absolutely we will examine all the possibilities um to ensure that we meet the promises that we promise to our voters as well as to our citizens as and we use the term Stadium but these fields are serviced
050for the stadium region right so we use a variety of kids from all over the neighborhoods that feed into Stadium would be on using these fields so um we'll look at that option as far as what Metro Parks has offered and see the viability of that we're in process of that we don't know we'll see if that is a viable option can we make it a buyout option and then we'll also look at maybe some of our own properties anything there and so please be patient with us we we have a lot of work to do but I will tell you that as soon as we heard we have begun to work so we will bring you back some updates uh even if it's no new information on a regular basis and we will be
051communicating out with our constituents as well and anyone else have anything to say all right so um we are moving on to the comments and we have our student rep Amanda come on up it's always my favorite part of the meeting hi my name is Amanda Peterson and I go to Lincoln High School first I'd like to start off by saying that it was really good to hear um how well our athletes and our teachers our staff have been doing I saw some teachers that I haven't seen for years since like elementary and middle school so that was really exciting it was heartwarming um I know that they worked so hard on top of keeping up good grades and everything else that life brings so it was really good to see that they're getting the
052recognition that they deserve now on to some Lincoln updates um tomorrow we have a pep assembly we've been working really hard on that so I'm really excited to finally get to do that and we we announced the prom date and that's going to be May 13th um to end it off I have an observation that I've made on the Lincoln students lately um usually when I come up here I'm just talking about the next events that Lincoln has and then I've been pondering like how helpful is this really to you guys so um I'm kind of I'm gonna like change the way that I'm thinking about how I'm presenting this and kind of like take okay how am I feeling and how does my school feel about whatever is happening so an observation that I've
053had is that students lately they've just been kind of tired and stressed and I feel like that's because of the upcoming AP test and then all of the prep that goes into that and I don't know people have just been kind of Moody and unmotivated but I know that's something that's going to pass because um with the school year rapidly ending sadly um and I know that it'll pass and hopefully it'll start to pass with tomorrow's pep assembly thank you thank you and thank you Amanda for thinking always thinking about how you can be a better rep and how you can be helpful to us in-house also let us know if there are ways that we could think differently about questions to ask you that would make it easier so you and your colleagues on
054the board all right who wants to go first tonight go okay I love going first I know you do oh okay directly because Roy I'm I'm quick but I'm working on slowing down because my friends at Bernie told me that when videos are captioned and I'm speaking too fast it's hard to caption and see what's really being said even like on those automated YouTube videos which they do go back and watch and then tell me about myself so I'm slowing down a bit um there's a lot of things going on in the city of Tacoma that I'm very excited about um that I've gone to things I've seen heard and been a part of um on last night the Tacomas Poet Laureate had the passing of the torch and it was passed to Christian page
055which is a TPS graduate and someone who also participated in the ACT six scholarship and he gave a lot of insight the youth that were present I think that they really learned a lot from him and then also the former Laureate is the Keithley Middle School teacher so it kind of speaks to the community and who we are that our students and our teachers are really involved in this work of bringing Community together in different ways and utilizing their voice so that was really awesome coming up this weekend is the spring fair people don't talk about it anymore but like it's a thing it's a thing that kids and families should go to it's a lot of fun um the weekend after that is the junior daffodil parade which is coming back it kind of
056had a little moment and we were worried it wasn't going to come back after coven and there's this whole Coalition of folks in the Proctor District that came together to bring this back for our Tacoma Community it's always been a staple for elementary students and the Middle School bands come out which is a lot of fun for me as a Middle School Marching Band Geek it was fun um and then that same day there's two other things happening on April 22nd is Litter free 253 which is the city-wide cleanup if you're not signed up you should sign up they are cleaning up parks in your area but then also it's just kind of a way to get involved in your community if you care we show up we talk about lots of things but you
057can show how you care through your actions same day see three things in one day is the Tacoma sustainability expo at UW Tacoma which I'll be going to I've always wanted to learn more about how we create a more sustainable Tacoma and how we participate in cleaning up our community inside and out and that leads me to my next point which is the ongoing violence youth violence and what does that look like I think as a preschool teacher I can see violence through a multitude of lenses from a parent lens from a teacher lens and from a child's lens because they talk to me about their feelings violence for children doesn't always look physical sometimes it is verbal and the things that they hear are really impacting their mental health and we talk about violence
058we talk about physical violence we talk about gun violence but are we talking about those microaggressions and that type of violence and harm that is imposed upon our students I've been contacted a lot about our policy 1600 and general counsel I've been contacted a lot about policy 1600 and how do how do we actually quantify what is a microgras and how is that impacting someone in the lifelong implications of their interactions going forward I'm a victim of childhood microaggressions I'm a victim of adult microaggressions and those are mostly verbal those can be the way you look at someone the way you talk to them and so from my conversations with youth from four years old to 16 years old and those are interesting conversations just thinking about the way that we are modeling that behavior
059it's not on the teachers alone every adult in a community it's our responsibility to show them how we want them to behave so if I'm talking in a nasty tone the children will reflect that and not just as a teacher as a person in community if I'm mean at the grocery store the kids are going to hear it and feel it and so I think when we take away the bigger issues of violence and we pack that really down to that micro level let's talk about how we want to show up in community so those are some community events you can go to and please be nice when you're there thank you very appropriate comments and go Earth Day so excited I love that day every year um director Keating would you like to go
060next it's trying to help that Echo um it feels like a lifetime happened from the last board meeting as they often do I wanted to say that I did get to attend one of the performances at stadium for Les Miserables and um first it is a remarkably complicated musical in and of itself and the the way that the staff and student put it together students put it together and performed was really unbelievable and just amazing kudos to them because that's a courageous musical to take on so from the staging from the performances from the tech from like it was they did a remarkable job um and um and then so as far as like school things I got to do the geiger I was at Geiger on Monday morning in the rain um like everyone
061else for the Walk and Roll is it called The Walk and Roll to school right gave out lots of stickers I gave out more stickers per kid but it's all right um and so they had what was fun about it so as a former Geiger parent it you know it's a very familiar place to me um and so they had a new they were creating new walk walking paths um that hadn't been utilized in the same way before so I got to be outside the amphitheater and actually our own Mike Rupert and I stood there and we passed out stickers it was phenomenal um and it was just really fun um it's just fun to see kids and they had a great time they knew exactly where to go even though their parents were really
062worried like are you sure they know where to go and I'm like they know where to go um so that was really fun to do um and then what else lots of stuff with wasda the legislative session is quickly coming to a close there's still not much to report still more of vagueness and uncertainty as budgets um between the house and the Senate are negotiated and then they will come together to negotiate so um it'll be quite a bit probably as I was talking with um uh Chief Financial Officer Miss Medina that it'll probably be right up to the end of session which is the 23rd of April I think I think that's right um so last night was um I actually was um down at the Capitol last night to hear a bill of
063um that is uh will help protect lgbtq youth experiencing homelessness and um host homes and so it was a pretty fiercely debated piece of legislation and I've been working on that just in an advocacy level for for some time so I just wanted to see it across I wanted to see that get across so but that was the final bill so no more bills are being heard and debated in the house and the senate had completed their final bills I think I don't know sometime this week it blurs together um and then the other like as far as like legislative pieces um the Biden Administration over two years ago began reviewing Title IX um and working to expand the protections of Title IX um or restore I should say restore them to um 20 May
064of 2016 during the Obama Administration that also extended protections for Trans students under Title IX and those were rescinded and so this has been a very the rules process is very long and arduous and so on the sixth Thursday of last week the administration released the proposed rules um that were around trans students in the Athletics and like most things in policy and governance it's complicated so there's a public 30-day public comment period And so I've been doing a lot of monitoring and reviewing and talking with other policy experts and legal folks about what does this mean what is the implicit implementation implementation look like and if this stays on track um the proposal or the public comment period will close and then if it closes or ideally what the administration is looking for is
065to have these rules be implemented for the 2023-2024 school year um so things move really slowly and then really fast when it comes to a lot of many things government so um there are there are some questions and concerns and then also some positives I will say that one of the positive things about this rule these rules are that it would eliminate categorical bans for Trans students to participate in athletics on a federal level and that's extremely important because in 20 States trans students are already banned from participating in athletics so um there's a lot of there's a lot of misinformation out there I will say regarding trans students and trans people and trans youth so this is something that I have been we've been anticipating so um that there's more to come to that
066um and this is something that wazda is also analyzing and so this is like you know a very this is a pretty substantial um rule that's been released and so um and the other thing I oh traffic and safety committee meeting today is Thursday right so that was yesterday um I just wanted to share a few things that was shared to me about safe routes to school some fun things that they have going on so they have some construction um so the city will the city of Tacoma will begin seven construction projects that enhance walking biking and Transit access Safety near schools the projects include enhanced Crossings with rapid flashing beacons raced crosswalks sidewalk infill and Transit pop no Transit stop pads and protected bicycle Lanes I've learned on this committee that there's a whole
067language to traffic and sidewalks and what all that means I don't know what all that means that I said out loud just now I just need you to know but it's going to be good for for pedestrian safety they have their bike rodeos as so as I'm just going to read this as it's been sent to me as Focus schools receive Construction the city of Tacoma safe routes to school program partners with Focus elementary schools to host a Bike Rodeo this spring the program is supporting four bike rodeos where students will receive free helmets and learn bicycle handling skills through a fun obstacle course um there's traffic Gardens that are going to be happening June and July and then there is oh we already oh a walk there's a walk and bike roll to school
068day um oh in May so maybe that's not what I went to on Monday I just might have conflated that anyways so that's coming um so anyways there's a lot of really great Partnerships that with safe routes to school in the city of Tacoma and the health department so that's really cool the last thing I just want to say since I have a senior I'm going to take a little privilege and since that senior's principal is in the audience I just want to say that I just want to acknowledge first our seniors and to Amanda's comments about just like feeling like you know just the stress and the pressure um I see it at home and I just want to acknowledge our students that are working really really hard and they keep showing up and
069they keep trying and I also want to ignore knowledge the staff and all the staff that are supporting our seniors right now this is a really big transition for students families and our staff it's just a big transition and now that I'm living it I mean I knew it was big but now I'm living it so um and then to all the seniors that are you know also making the decisions of what are you going to do next whether whatever that is like that's a big decision to make so I just want to acknowledge all of our seniors and our staff supporting them and that's it dresure vice president Stroger sorry okay thank you oh wait he's got his radio voice on I did all that just to say jmac is tomorrow other than that
070I have no report for you all right all right yeah that was great I can count on you um all right so speaking of jmac which is tomorrow um but one of the things I did since the last board meeting was there's a work group a small work group um on this youth violence prevention component and we've been diving in deep and um and I know that we're going to be bringing a proposals of different kinds back to jmac tomorrow so we can start talking about action steps and moving forward and how we're getting there because we cannot lose a single child more I mean it has just been a horrible year and um and so we are going to create safe places spaces for our kids during the summer and that is priority number
071one right now so we'll be getting back to you with more details on how we can help as a community not just the schools it's not just the schools it's all of us to make sure that our kids are safe and this morning went to the superintendent parent breakfast and um the the workshops afterwards were really great and two of them that I went the two that I went to were were both along this topic kind of really enlightening one was with a gentleman um his um who focuses on belonging and the meaning of belonging and how do we how do we welcome people to feel um part of instead of othered and it was really just some great just ways you know words to live by and so that was great and then the
072second one was one on restorative justice and how we can you know start from the very youngest children all the way up modeling and being good examples and again it's not something that happens in the schools or just happens in the schools it has to happen at home and it has to happen where these kids are out in communities so you'll hear more about what we're doing all of that at the next meeting right and the the director strozier will be reporting on um so I also want to say I went to Oakland High School and spent the whole day there and just went to a bunch of classes and talked with students one-on-one and walked the facility and just really was impressed with um with the dedication that these kids have and even though
073life has thrown a lot of challenges uh at them they're they're they're showing up as best they can and um and the teachers are all very committed and I think what you said earlier about Oakland having a like all the kids you see when they have a different school that's been renovated or rebuilt um there's just a glimmer in their eye that just makes them feel more excited about being there so I'm looking forward to that happening for the Oakland kids in the next years to come um the last item I wanted to say goes back to this whole youth violence prevention piece and I actually had an opportunity to meet T.J bull who is the administrator of Pierce County juvie Justice and Juvenile Justice and he runs Raymond Hall well we run Raymond Hall
074but I mean together it's a collective process but um and also just he's he's got a great vision and he's been incorporating the whole child approach to the work at Raymond Hall with these kids that are that have been um you know kind of put into custodial care there and it is I met with the kids and it was really very amazing to me he's got a lot of data on on the violence and the projection of violence and where it is happening and all of that so that was very informative and um really appreciate TJ and his staff and all the work they do to keep our kids safe and as and in in alternative programs as much as possible rather than incarceration because we all know that that's that's a stain on your
075and your life report card that is hard to erase so um anyway I want to thank TJ for taking the time Renee fromling and I went together and she is the TPS um you know principal or whatever of Raymond Hall so that uh and she and I really um it's like you know she said I I didn't even know half of what we learned today so it's just every it's new it's great because it's always changing so I just want to remind people that it's that we're not alone in this work this is hard work this is really hard work to kind of tap down violence and kids are the kid violence is up but I think it's because they're feeling hopeless and they're feeling not heard and they're feeling um depressed and all those
076things the mental health is a huge piece and so we all play a role so those of you that are listening as parents or as Community Partners or as TPS staff you know we all have to think what can we do to make it a better place and a safer place for our kids and make sure to listen to kids if they're in front of you um don't be intimidated by them that's one of the things the guy said today don't be intimidated by them engage them you know you know you may just find that you grow because of the relationship so it was just it was great so that is my report for today uh and I think the only thing left on the agenda what oh you really you I forgot something and
077when you were speaking to the youth violence and that's something I've been focusing on heavily I was also reminded that there's so many positive things happening in one of my middle schools that I've been focusing on a lot and I pulled the text up so there's going to be a jazz night at gray on next week Wednesday and it's a community event their jazz band and choir is performing with world renowned musicians that's what the text they sent me said and um the Ron perrillo quintet and Wayne Greer are coming out to gray middle school and it's such a huge deal that they went out of their way they're trying to do this interventive work and they were like how can we get ahead of this issue so they're bringing in so many Community Partners
078shout out to Amanda Scott Thomas I know she just left but um the Partnerships that we have in our schools make schools better and the kids text me and they wanted me to know that there's an event and it's really positive cool at gray awesome for the the whole Community with light Refreshments okay then that ought to get a few people in the door okay well thank you for sharing that and you know we can remind us about that later too all right so item number 18 is the announcement of next regular board meetings which are April 20th we will be back here for a study session at 6 pm and the topic I believe is budget and capital projects capital projects okay so um April 27th uh we will have our next business meeting
079and then May 11th will be uh the one after that the first one in May so does anyone have anything for the good of the order okay hearing none we are officially adjourned travel safely everyone and we will see you next week [Music] foreign