001[Music] of course that is all right so what's up I'd like to call this meeting of the board of directors of Tacoma Public Schools this Thursday December 8th 2022 to order will everyone please stand and join me in the flag salute [Music] for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all it comes up in that's weird Tacoma Public Schools acknowledges that we are on the traditional 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 inhibited inhabited this region since time immemorial and to whom we give thanks for allowing us passage to their lands we shall intentionally create inclusive and respectful
002Partnerships that honor indigenous cultures histories identities and socio-political realities general counsel will you please call the roll yes president Bombay here vice president here director Leon here director Stroger here director mcgillery yeah thank you and we don't have any student reps here tonight as far as I can see is that correct okay perfect um all right item five adoption of the agenda I move to adopt the agenda second it's been moved and seconded any comments or questions or additions to the agenda hearing none all in favor say aye any post we have an agenda 5-0 item six board reorganization um general counsel would you mind walking us through this sure uh start by walking the board and those following in the room and at home through the process the board reorganization process has process spelled
003out by state law and the board policy 1210 which spells out the method and the procedure of the board uses to elect new officers for the following year so the way we're going to do this this year is we'll first call for our nominations for the president to serve for the 12-year term we'll have a rule not 12. 12 month term oh did we not tell you and we'll call for a roll call vote to determine if we have a candidate that receives the majority of the board vote for that uh presidential vote they'll assume the office of presidency after the vote is concluded we'll then call for a nominations for uh for vice president we'll follow the same process we'll have a roll call vote at the conclusion of that vote if a candidate
004receives the majority of the board vote that's three or more then that uh at the conclusion of that vote we have a vice president after that we'll if the board chooses we'll have a Deus reorganization if there's a need for folk to exchange seats could be done that or it could be done at the next meeting and then that'll be how we will elect officers for this 12-month term until December 2023. so if we're ready to go I'll take this moment to call for a nomination for president to serve for the next term from December 22 to December 23. I'll nominate uh Elizabeth brombright to continue on in this role of president we have a second a second okay so we'll call for uh any other nominations first okay hearing none will call for a
005vote and this will be a roll call vote so we'll go down the line uh director Leon how do you vote yes director vice president Keating aye okay um president I got it uh director aye director I also vote Yes got it okay well congratulations President Obama you are President bomb right again [Applause] we'll do the same process for vice president do we have any nominations for a vice president for the next I nominate director Corey Stroger for vice president do we have a second second do you have any other nominations for vice president okay hearing none will move to a roll call vote for the same directly on how do you vote uh yes or I if that works still vice president Keating how do you vote aye okay president bumper how do you
006vote aye director uh director McGovern hi all right congratulations I wasn't sure if I was gonna say yes or I welcome to vice president so uh on the agenda we see agenda item seven is Deus reorganization this can occur at the next meeting where it can occur here in the past we've had some folk exchange chairs I'll leave that to you president bomber so did you guys want to do that tonight or do you want to do it next time rock paper scissors immediately yes right now okay keep your chairs there's no formality to that space that you do you are technically the vice president and president um refer to you in the actions all right so thank you and I just want to make a comment to the outgoing vice president um Heating and
007thank you so much for a absolutely Stellar job of a year of intense commitments when we've been through a lot this year so thanks again for all of your help and assistance and Leadership during this past year we'll also killing the legislative representative positions so we appreciate you I'd like a round of applause I'd like a round of applause director Keating thank you is this the princess wave yes Renee was teaching us earlier and I'm sorry that Mark had to come all the way up here to get me to turn on my mic but okay all right well thank you everyone we are starting a new year so that's it's exciting all right so uh item eight recognition of staff students and Community um general counsel this is just your night see that so today
008for the month of December we have one holiday and Civic observance this happens to be a state holiday uh so again we've said it's the last meeting this is one where the state of Washington adopts a number of state holidays that all school districts in the states are required to acknowledge and have the day off for staff and students so the one for this month of December is December 25th which is Christmas Day thank you moving on to 8.2 recognition of music educator Peter Briggs for earning the Dr William P Foster Community Development award so a quick background piece a Lincoln High School teacher Peter Briggs who I believe is with us this evening I was selected as the recipient of the Dr William P Foster project Community Development award for the Northwest division which
009encompasses five states the Dr William P Foster project is a collaboration of music education Alliance including the national board Association College Band Directors Association and music for all Foster project serves band directors and underserved and under-resourced communities Mr Briggs first came to Lincoln High School in 2008 and has built a successful music program that centers students in the community the music education Alliance noted that Mr Briggs serves as a model for other teachers and underserved under-resourced communities he will be recognized in several National forums in December at the Midwest international band Orchestra Clinic held at the McCormick Place in Chicago Illinois that will be cold and interviewed uh about his experience in the Tacoma School District which will be shared with band directors across the United States in the coming months and as a winner
010of this prestigious award Lincoln High School will receive instruments accessories clinicians and subscriptions courtesy of consumer instruments Yamaha Music Corporation and KH America so with that the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning recommends that the board of directors recognize Peter Briggs for earning the award of the music education Alliance would you like to come up and say a word it's it's your opportunity have the last word uh I just it's it's interesting I was nominated for this award by a professor from Western Washington University and also a teacher in Seattle and it struck me because I love what I do but I don't always expect people to notice what's going on at Lincoln High School so it's moments like this that cause me to reflect on the impact and to just uh to step back
011from the work for a moment and kind of see in a different lens what has happened in the last 15 years at Lincoln but also uh just in the Greater Community um for me personally as the school district posted this on the website um just seeing the shares and the comments of students and community members from you know across my time in Tacoma is really affirming and heartwarming um and ultimately it just makes me really uh proud to be a part of what we're doing here at Tacoma Tacoma has invested so much in me in helping me get my feet on the ground in terms of advocating for equity and access to music education the guest lectures I'm doing in the universities and the sessions I'm doing at national conferences is really a testament to
012the professional development I've received in Tacoma and how I'm able to then pay that forward not just for our students but also for the education Community more broadly and so as I'm heading out to Chicago it's really a chance for me to speak about what we represent here in Tacoma and the work that we're doing for students and it really just makes me excited to go to take the learning from that conference and to continue to invest that in our community here so thank you for the opportunity to go out to Chicago and represent us and thank you again to our school district for all the support for music education and for the kids we have here in Tacoma thank you Peter so much we're so incredibly proud of you and also grateful to you
013for all the years in energy and talent that you have dedicated and time that you've dedicated to our students and our school district to make us all better so um thank you we really appreciate you and music is a is a critically important piece is all the Arts are fundamentally um a component of how we teach here in Tacoma so thank you very much for being such a leader I'm grateful thank you director Leon yeah Mr Briggs I've been to a lot of Lincoln events and know a lot of Lincoln students from those events that I do the sideline work on but um and also some of my patients have been your students so they've spoken very highly of you and I've seen just amazing energy from your all your musical efforts there at the
014school so thank you very much director um McClure McElroy we're having a night but we are I've been playing my instrument for 20 years and honestly um hearing the kids in fifth grade aspire to go to Lincoln for all the various reasons but I love the fifth grade band students who are like I'm gonna play in the Lincoln band and there's so many other great reasons to go to Lincoln go Abes always but um it's really transpiring throughout the whole community and I work with a lot of kids younger the K-5 and my fifth graders who are in band they just love your work and they can't wait to go there so thank you for all you do okay all right thank you so much item number 8.3 recognition of wasda 2022 Board of Distinction
015award It Is Us good evening president bomb bright and members of the board my name is Catherine McCarthy the assistant director of communications here on behalf of our chief Communications officer I'd actually like to share some information with our public tonight on our school board about our school board earning the 2022 Board of Distinction award this award is given by the Washington State and school Directors Association the agency that supports school boards across the state our board was recognized for addressing opportunity gaps among among the more than 28 000 students and developing an anti-racism policy and the 2021-2022 school year the board focused on identifying and challenging unidentifying and challenging the structures and behaviors that may perpetuate systemic racism the board the board members drafted and later passed an anti-racism policy that incorporated feedback from
016District administrators and the district's Equity policy review team and Community groups the board was also recognized for its focus on supporting the whole Child by Leading the charge with policy decisions and leaning into our deep connections with Community Partners our board helped to develop two programs that support students after school beyond the bell for elementary schools and club Beyond for middle schools as a result every one of our 36 Elementary and 12 middle schools offers Extended Learning opportunities for our students to help them learn and grow congratulations to the Tacoma Public School Board for earning the 2022 Board of Distinction award thank you and I just want to thank that on behalf of the staff for your leadership um many may not have the opportunity to see how everything is connected together right so you
017set goals you invest numerous hours every week if not every day um you do not get compensated for all that time you hear the pains the successes the struggles you push us to help us get better you understand the complexities and the nuances of every situation or at least try to and make an effort to and you don't settle you don't settle that the status quo is enough but you do that with Grace and compassion and knowledge through hard work and dedication a Relentless approach that every student every day matters and so on behalf of the entire staff because I imagine that you won't make your own comments I want to thank you for your leadership and congratulate you not every board earns the board of Distinction and it is not just handed out it
018is earned and we are very proud of you so congratulations board of directors thank you superintendent and your team for helping us achieve what we've achieved and making us look good so I appreciate that um all right so staff report to the board nines student superintendents report whole educator recognition we're going to start with Dr Forest Creek recognizing a very important group of our teammates our Ops and ptsef all right thank you so much Dr Garcia and members of the board so uh good evening and I'm so excited month of December we are recognizing our oppt staff this is our office professional and professional technical staff so across the district our opt staff play a critical role in the day-to-day functions in schools and districts across the district it's with no surprise to most of
019our employees at oppt staff are typically the first point of contact for most of our Journal questions and our needs excuse me to keep our schools running and assure that staff and students have the necessary tools to resources to be successful and actually behind the scenes right now Kevin Medford and Mark crapo in the back [Applause] they are here representing this amazing team across the district and just thank you for all that you do uh thank you for technical support your wisdom and your hard work uh we are better together because of you thank you thank you Dr Greek a couple of other teams here it's a Lincoln some of our pts that's awesome help desk staff and and this is the hilltop heritage you know it's truly takes everyone in the district and uh
020it's such an honor just to take a moment to to recognize and I know we have to do it globally by groups and there's no way to do it for every individual but these truly are the front line folks and other Frontline team members at all different levels at all different sites playing so many diverse roles but they truly are educators they inspire people they draw knowledge out of people they connect people and they make meaning and so we're extremely grateful for them so thank you um a couple of other updates I've asked uh Mr Williams I've asked Miss McCarthy to come up and discuss weather with us and give the the board a little bit of a chance to understand in the public how do we make these difficult weather decisions um yeah so
021miss McCarthy can you take us through our process a little bit yeah I'm Gonna Fill in a little bit for um for our chief uh operations officer Chris Williams so we want to just talk a little bit about how inclement weather decisions are made and how they're communicated um you know last week um we had kind of our first taste of winter weather for the school year and um and we would just want to walk the public through that so um for what we look at weather forecasts we look at road conditions and we look at our building the grounds and Regional status so for weather forecasts we actually have an inclement weather team and they are on um oh is Chris coming up you want to fill in oh wait go back okay Chris
022is gonna Chris is gonna give all the details on what things on the weather team does Chris started on a two-hour delay today uh just to give some background information this is just the thought process of how we make weather decisions for the district in the community we have two teams One internal and One external our internal team consists of 20 individuals representing numerous departments Safety and Security Food Services facilities Athletics a level of directors in education and we have an external team which consists of seven or eight people who actually drive around numerous areas in Tacoma and report back to our facilities teams and they're they can begin at 3 30 in the morning or four in the morning or they're out there in the afternoon and uh these are this is the decision
023making uh process obviously we look at the National Weather Service and we're monitoring that the entire uh day and throughout the night and into the morning and also looking at the road conditions and that that deals a lot with our uh external team that drives around and we know some of our biggest challenges are the side roles so we can be clear on the main roads but uh we get a lot of uh uh concern and contact from the community members about the side roads in addition to that we have our buildings and grounds and this consists of our custodians and they usually start two hours before so they can be out there at five in the morning four in the morning kind of removing the snow around our sites and lastly we look at
024Regional status I know we're in contact with a lot of other districts and we weigh in on what they think and what the impacts of the weather is going to be and also it's very important to note that if I I don't want to miss school but I believe we have 30 of our staff that lives outside of Tacoma so they might have a greater impact uh where they're at and the weather conditions that might play an impact and then actually getting to work so this is our process and Catherine and I talk about our Communications thank you Chris all right so um all of our staff and our families listening if uh you probably got a lot of information this last week when we had some delays and a cancellation so these are the
025ways that we communicate out to families so um we update our district website in all of our school sites um if you went on our site during either the delay or cancellation we'll saw you saw a message pop up right in your face couldn't miss it um we also um send we also post messages on social media so that includes our Facebook our Instagram and our Twitter we send automated phone calls emails and text messages so these messages are going directly to our staff and all of our families um this is just a couple notes Here those messages take a little bit longer um that's there's we have a lot of messages that go out so that system takes a little bit longer so you may see something on the website or social media first
026but those messages are coming and I'll just also just want to put a plug if you didn't receive a message or a call or a text notify your school and you can update your contact information Nation we want to make sure everyone gets that information we also work with local news media so we have a process for making sure that all of the radio stations and local news media who are making announcements on closures that they get that information so those are the ways that you can hear about it so I thought it was just important that we try to demystify I know that you know one of my great responsibility is uh although I may not be responsible I am held accountable and so as a superintendent I do have to make a difficult
027call and I have to make a Call of do we cancel school do we keep school going do we do a two-hour delay one of the things that's complex here is if I'm sure if I ask folks is is it uncommon in the Pacific Northwest or the Puget Sound region to see snow rain Sunshine all on the same day folks would say no it's not really uncommon and so we have what this unique weather patterns that makes it even more complex and we have what we call conversion zones and so recognizing that we have staff members that is all over the place in the Puget Sound region I think far away is Arlington and and we appreciate that and even in Tacoma you can see a portion of the town maybe hit harder with weather
028than a different portion of town our goal is to try to make a decision to keep everyone as safe as possible we recognize that that may feel differently do I feel safe to drive do I feel safe to feel send my student uh to to school in those conditions and we respect and honor that we're continuing trying to improve our Communications even on delays take your time do your best we'll work through that um I don't imagine that this will be our last snowy day for this year or at least even in our future and so the more that we can work through it and talk through it and do our best and stay connected we try to make those decisions as fast as possible but we also do have a responsibility to try to
029provide a safe place for learning during every day and we are required to keep schools open to the best of our ability or the other response is when will we make these days up when we will be communicating because we do have to make the days up any day that we miss and so we'll be communicating to our families very soon when that first snow makeup day is we have some planned in the calendar and then we'll continue to monitor adjust and plan accordingly so I'll answer any questions on that topic from the board anybody have any questions no I appreciate I just I guess Smiley comment is I appreciate the information because I know that um you know sometimes if people only see information on social media and not actually directly from the source
030and depending on where you live like things can look really different all over the place and so I just think it's important as a reminder especially the first snow that we have because snow around here like is complicated so I'm just really grateful and I and I know from um previously serving on the safety traffic and Safety Committee like getting some of these updates and having a deeper understanding was really helpful just for me to be able to help community members understand so I just appreciate the time that you're taking to share all of this so thank you does anybody else send me comments I think oh um Dr Leon um uh important to also think about the other reasons we had to cancel recently that some people didn't understand was the air quality so
031just don't forget about air quality as a real important factor in health too and the reason these closures are happening are for we for safety so air quality was an issue we dealt with and we'll deal with probably in the future so it's part of the mix that you make your calculations on for safety I I just want to clarify is this outdoor quality and we were talking about past history experiences not this last snow day correct yeah no just forest fire air quality on the outdoor airs thank you I just want to make sure that yes and there are a variety of thank you for uh sharing that snow is not the only reason uh for natural reasons why School may be canceled or delayed and so we've had experiences as Dr limo mentioned
032in the past of uh forest fires and a variety of other impacts which may change our programming and so thank you you think I have a couple other quick uh announcements uh or updates uh you know we've started winter sports uh We've started Middle School sports again but our winter sports are traditionally in gyms uh for most part or pool areas and gymnastics and Diving and wrestling and basketball and I'm going to mention miss one so I'll just stop there and I wanted to give you a quick update of where we are with some of our trainers right because part of our our athletes compete at a very high level and we want to make sure that they're safe we continue to work with Olympic sport and spine to help try to recruit additional trainers
033to be on site for athletic competitions and ideally with practices and supports in there we are not fully successful in that Olympic sport and spine I want to give them tremendous credit they're trying everything they can to find people the health careers profession is a very difficult one as far as a recruitment and building a pipeline and the expertise is not something that you can just walk off to the street and just take one of those jobs you have to be certified side you have to have advanced trainings in there currently we have a number of qualified trained medical professionals that are volunteering their time to provide coverage and so the Student Life office is trying to work with both Olympic sport and spine as well as those volunteers to cover competitions and work it
034through the best coverage that we can we're continuing to provide guidance to support our coaches our athletes if any family has or an athlete if they're hurt first responses is don't practice don't compete go to your medical provider provide that support even if there is not a trainer on site so I don't want folks to to miss the opportunity to understand as we haven't just because we may not have a dedicated one at a school we have not lost our efforts to try to continue to fill that Gap any questions on that one thank you for that update and then my last one and forgive me for the time I do want to take a moment to thank our staff our partners and our families for your Relentless support of our students it's December we're
035going into a holiday time sometimes those holiday times can be tough sometimes they can be full of joy and happiness for all different folks and it's not lost on me that the efforts of our families our partners and all of our staff to try to support each of our students during these times I'm extremely grateful for those Partnerships at all different levels and I just want to take a moment to wish each of them and all of you a happy holiday season I hope you can find a moment where you can celebrate have a moment of peace and happiness and some Joy over the two weeks that we don't have school and know that you are appreciated by the Tacoma Public Schools that is my report for the evening thank you president thank you one
036Benchmark report annual Partnerships volunteers and organizations and there is Amanda Scott Thomas good evening good evening board and uh superintendent Deputy superintendent and Beloved Community it's my pleasure Amanda Scott Thomas director of the Community Partnership office I come to you guys a couple twice a year to give you an update on our Benchmark measures and today we're going to be talking about uh where we are so far in the year as far as volunteers and expanded learning opportunities so formal Partners so it's my pleasure to provide that update for you um slides thank you there we go all right so um just to remind you um goal two of the district strategic plan is all about Partnerships uh and we are committed to fully engaging parents uh community staff and young people in the education
037of our students all right so um for this first quarter um these are the volunteer numbers so these are the number of volunteers that have been processed from September to date it's 3 307. uh you will see that we are significantly above what we were around this time um last year so we're excited about that um let's see um just a reminder in that data you saw that we had a significant decrease because of again school closures um every year about 50 percent of what we process happens through the in the first quarter so that September through October um months was the bulk of our volunteers that get processed I think it will be a little bit different this year because um this is a post-pandemic re-engagement so people are slowly returning to volunteering in
038schools but we've had great numbers uh trending upwards for this year we've had 2043 volunteers registered for this year that's about 67 percent of our goal for this year was to make a 10 um I think or one an increase and so we're 60 60 about 67 percent of the way they're already so we're excited about that um changing in volunteer protocols um Governor Inslee ended the Mandate for um covet cards for our volunteers and so we lifted that on November the 8th so the the vaccine requirement is no longer necessary for volunteers in Tacoma Public Schools that had to be communicated broadly forms were changed we revised and updated all of that and so that is an update on volunteers our next steps as far as volunteers is that we have been working pretty
039closely this this year um and as in years past but I'm excited to say that we're working in partnership with our security department again because it's an interdepartmental responsibility as far as volunteers and we did a cleanup on the watch system and so we have internal staff that have access to background checks and we went through and looked at our system cleaned it up um you know closed some of the users that were no longer in the district um and determined who the volunteer coordinators were sometimes there was some turnover and that information wasn't updated so we've um we've cleaned up our system we have all we are also revising our forms we are one of the only dish there's like two districts that are still doing paper processes we're moving uh to a centralized
040system but we actually have an online fillable form now so you can do all of your stuff online instead of having to come um and uh print paper out to turn it in post covet security and safety upgrades are happening through our security department and in partnership with security we are implementing a ricotta guest security screen um I'm not sure if you were I'm sure you are aware that this Safety and Security have implemented some upgrades to the security system along with that there is a volunteer component of that so we'll be testing that out over the next couple of weeks to see how that works um that could change some things uh how volunteer management is done here in the district because that is all electronic paper forms go away so we're going to
041test that out see what the implications are for that so I'll be excited to let you know how that pilot goes and then we're just going to continue to monitor um our volunteers make sure that those numbers are increasing working with the communications team to do some more promotion and engagement to come back volunteering is now available in to Oklahoma Public Schools again post pandemic and that covet restriction has been lifted this is the number of community-based organizations that have formal Partnerships with the district I report to you on this number every year and something important to note that this number represents the number of Partnerships that were established that are new in a given year so it does not represent the total number of expanded learning opportunities that we have it is in that
042particular time frame these are the ones that were formalized and by formalized we mean we have a contract or an mou so we do work with informal Partners where we don't have agreements they may be coming in through a formal partner that's already in a building and they have worked that out between themselves um but for our we we track our former partners so those are can be found in our database so for 2021 that complete number for last year 2021 2022 so that was September of 2021 to August 31st 2022 there were 40 expanded learning opportunities established some of those will last for one year some of those will last for two years some of those will last for three years but those were that's what was established in that school year so at
043the end of the next year or this time next year I'll be talking to you about the number that we actually established for this school year but that is the final number for last year um I did want to address that big number I have to confess we have been doing some refining of our data Gathering so you see that big jump when I pulled the report for expanded learning opportunities we've been working with the contracts Department there is a box on the checklist that you fill out when you establish a partnership some people didn't know whether they qualified as an expanded learning opportunity or not and so that box was checked when I went back through all 366 I realized that they don't all qualify so we developed a criteria and definition that is
044being implemented people will know to check I really do go through all of them to make sure um but that number is that's why that number is large it was a wrong number and so you'll be getting correct data as far as those expanded learning opportunities that meet that particular criteria and just to give you a reminder of what an expanded learning opportunity is by definition it's a formal Community partner organization that creates enriching experiences for youth before during or after school and in the summer with activities that complement so and support classroom based instructions uh instruction example of Elo uh programs include clubs field trips tutoring programs and so those when I talk about when we talk about expanding learning opportunities those are the type of Partnerships that we report on and that we
045help to establish in the district all right um we include this pie chart um every year for you all because the first year we did it you loved it it was an opportunity for you to see where all partnership ships are established in the district and so while um our our partnership office is charged with managing um and Reporting on Partnerships for the district as a whole you can see through this pie chart that the um that partnership is a value of the entire district and all departments have contracts and mousse and established Partnerships so that just gives you a bird's eye view of where Partnerships are emanating from within the district all right um key findings around this is that partnership office um again uh reflects uh District Partnerships um you saw the macro
046and the micro um every year we're responsible as a department for establishing new Innovative expanded learning opportunities and so far for this school year we've established um four junk box which is a um a local Tech um a community-based organization that does Tech after school they are it's a run by a man of color here in Tacoma a local program we work with expanded learning opportunity providers that are large and small and we love when Community creates um programs for our students so that partnership has been formalized we've also established an expanded learning opportunity with Washington Trails they provide education and resources to students to get into the outdoors they do training safety they're just fab Urban League has established a role within their organization that does parent engagement work and so we formalized a
047partnership where we'll be working with their uh their lead person on family engagement which is Cherie cook she's a friend of Tacoma Public School she used to be a volunteer in the Washington State PTA um great person and doing good work in the community and so we formalized that partnership and we were able to um uh give that program some Esser funding because they're doing a lot of prevention work and just really good stuff um there's that information and that partnership is located on the database if you want to see what any of these look like um they're all public information then we also establish a mou with a Washington National Guard this was uh established or initiated by one of our principals um and you might see next year we didn't get all the
048paperwork done in time for there to be like a tomahawk Landing somewhere um Don't Panic legal we went through all the process and that may happen sometime in the future but we have a great relationship with the Washington Army National Guard and that was actually came out of the whole child team that we went and took a tour of um of the base and it was it was very cool so there'll be some stuff coming out of that relationship I think in 2023. Miss Scott we had a chance to uh co-fly some drones yes we did do you think we'd be eligible between the two of us to fly the tomahawk or Rappel out of it no I don't no I don't thank you yeah you're on your own Josh all right so those are
049the four um there's still some in the works that are in process and I'll be reporting to you next time I'm in front of you of some more expanded learning opportunities that we're establishing um some exciting work next steps um our superintendent established I'm so excited about this um you know we do the superintendent's quarterly breakfast with parents and Josh wanted to add this year um some Gatherings for uh the business Community as well as Faith leaders so we've we're doing that twice a year we hold held our first one it was very successful um got a lot of interest from Community um to partner and support and come together um while we're not owning that work we have a seat at the table because Community Solutions I believe reside in community so we'll be
050at these Community tables with them as they come together as a coalition to create way to support uh Tacoma students so I have more to share with you later in the year about the um the company results of that convening we'll have another one in April with the Business Leaders and the faith leaders and it was great we had CTE Department represented it was a interdepartmental um event uh and just establish some great relationships so I'm looking forward to sharing the fruit that comes out of that we're also working with the communications team to update um our external web spaces um the get involved page the family engagement page and the Community Resources for families we are streamlining all of that as you know we don't really upkeep a like um a resource page because
051resources change all the time but things that are sent to us we definitely want to share with our families and there's some consistent resources that we are you know sharing links where families can go and get support so we're working really closely with Communications Department to do that and then we're continuing to work to revamp and automate our volunteer process to make that easier again for communities to get in schools and make sure that we're following all safety protocols but we're streamlining that work continues and so those are my updates anybody have any questions for me um yeah I have a clarification question so on that slide that showed that 40 was the a number from last year yes uh and you'd mentioned that those were new so how many existing ones continued so is
052it the 40 plus whatever was already in place no so that it's just 40. it's just 40 total that were established in that particular school year okay yes all right and because they some of them roll over and some of them end and sometimes sometimes it's you know based on funding it may be a grant opportunity so we don't um we we know how that long they last but I'm reporting on the ones that were established and are new during that school year and and I'm wondering since um we have the new uh beyond the bell and we're working with our colleagues at Green trike and at Metro Parks that they folks that are actually providing Services may actually not be contracting with us so they're not getting counted as part of the ones generated
053by this in this 40. so they may not be getting counted they are not getting counted in this particular group so it's outside of green trike but I know that green trike they have their own measure and you can get that report on who those partners are and some of them are in common right and I just I just want to make that point because I think that there is since we've got on in all of our elementary schools yes um you know we've got a lot of Community Partners coming in and providing you know art services or yes math stem programs Etc and they're probably not part of that 40 since they're run through the beyond the bill yes um partnership and some of these again because they're expanded learning opportunities and the it's
054kind of a broad definition there may be one-time events like Student Government day got it right okay perfect thank you for that clarification any other questions have any questions not a question but just also like a huge thank you to you I know the work that you do is tireless and time consuming because I see you all the time um and I just want to thank you for the work that you've been doing for so many years I was at the when I was speaking at the solo conference there was like a picture from 2012 and it was you was in the middle of a room of people and it's just kind of like the work that you've been doing for so long it culminates in these presentations you get to us but at the
055end of the day just thank you for all you do thank you very much I appreciate that I celebrated my 10-year anniversary with Tacoma Public Schools foreign I just want to comment on the um listening sessions that were done and I know I'm we talked about him at the last board meeting but um they were really impactful and I know Dr storger Vice President Stroger and President Obama and I um were really got a lot out of just participating and listening and being there so um I'm just grateful for that work because I think the intentionality of being in conversation is really important so I just want to acknowledge your your team because I know yeah you have a team I have a great team Victoria and Wren that are making these things happen and
056I Echo what director Miguel Roy also said so thank you and I appreciate the board for showing up you guys being in the room um when these events and things are happening people do notice and we have a very active board so I appreciate you too awesome thank you go Team all right all right thank you so much Amanda appreciate it thank you item 11 members of the public wishing to address the board before I go through this whole long thing is anybody we don't have any written comments I know but do is anyone here ready to speak and if so I can continue but we haven't received any oral comment or written comment okay then we will just move on okay item number 12. the consent agenda have a motion for the consent agenda
057I moved to adopt the consent agenda second it's been moved and seconded anyone have any comments on anything on the consent agenda or okay hearing none all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed name okay the eyes have it five zero consent agenda passes item 13 policy matters all right we're back to our general counsel who has just been very busy today so 13.1 second reading of revised policy 2336 holidays and Civic observances yes the district's general counsel recommends that the board adopt the revised proposal of policy 2336. okay so this is the second reading we had this um last board meeting in November and um in between that time we've had public comments from the web page and other places come in we also had a meeting with the Tacoma with our
058own Equity policy review team and it was a very robust and I would say very informative and kind of exciting conversation that will I think inform some of the work that we're doing as a board going on just keeping keeping mindful of um you know what what this policy does is really talk about what's legally required and what's legally recognized by the federal government and the state government and and if we add something in that we are recognizing every month it's because it's something that's aligned with our our goals our board goals and our strategic plan but but some of the comments from the advisory committees were like well okay so Christmas day but what about you know Hanukkah what about the other holidays and it's one of those things where because this is about
059what's you know what is the law of the land versus just arbitrary we actually it gave us pause and so we had this really great conversation about um being able to see all cultures and and uh people from whatever wherever they come from a religious or otherwise and we don't have an answer because that isn't what this actually is doing now but it is gives us something to think about about ways that we can help make sure that every single one of our students and staff and families are seen and appreciated and acknowledged however they show up and so um I guess we're asked I'm asking that we pass this so that we can actually move forward with this but then we bring this conversation to some to all the other work we do about
060how do we recognize you know know the things that aren't in the statute and not just because if you start the long laundry list then you're going to leave somebody out and how do you do that with being fair so it just it was a very robust conversation and I so appreciate the members of the equity policy review team for always having us um taking us to the next level on these conversations so thank you and I think the comments that some of the comments they made are incorporated into the second reading piece in front of you anybody um uh General counselor do you Ben Roe do you have any comments based on the conversation at the that we had with the group just briefly I would reiterate the appreciation we have for the members
061of the equity policy review team this is a group of community members that volunteer their time to meet with us to basically review the policies that we bring to you to check it for tone check it for the way you'll hit the ear how does the community feel about these changes so I I also second that I really appreciate their feedback every time we meet with them we learn something new what president bomb bright said about the policy itself if you look at that first page of the holidays and Civic observances the thing I would add to your comments is if we vote to adopt this policy it will have the effect of retiring the holiday policy that we've had because a lot of that language has been brought into this policy and then updated
062uh updated as to be the most current so you'll see some of that update reflected in some of the holidays that the state of Washington has adopted in the RCW the one that's been most recently adopted this now incorporates is Juneteenth which is now a state legal holiday which it didn't used to be this means that the district both staff and students this is a non-work day for them and then the part that's underneath is what director bomb bites talking about these are Civic observances and instructional observances where the state of Washington is saying we're going to recognize these days and then teachers principals here are some instructional pieces please instruct about the state constitution please instruct about certain days so this this combines both things both the state holidays that are non-work days and
063non-school days and then those legislative recognized days and then the instructional days as well so this is one place where we can have all those required holidays and observances in this one policy okay does anybody all have any questions or comments I'd move to adopt second okay it's been moved and seconded um Mr van Rowe do we do um is it a resident it's not is it a resolution or a policy no we don't have to vote okay perfect just want to make sure I wasn't forgetting something all right it's been moved and seconded no more further comments all in favor say aye aye any opposed any abstentions you always have it four to five to nothing okay so we're going on to item 14 financial report the district's next quarterly financial report is planned
064for February 23rd 2023 oops amazing we're saying that um and if anyone is interested in the public to look up the financial statements they're always available on our website at https dot I mean colon backslash backslash www.tacomaschools.org backslash departments backslash business and finance okay item 15 curriculum and instruction item 15.1 approval of the interlocal agreement number tsd-22-270 with Columbia Virtual Academy the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning recommends that the board of directors approve the Columbia Virtual Academy interlocal agreement TSD 22 270 with an estimated income of 200 per year funding source assessment I'm going to adopt item 15.1 second it's been moved and seconded any questions or comments yeah um hey Zeke I was wondering I was looking up this Academy and things like that so we have students who live in our boundaries
065but are participating in an online Academy that's placed somewhere else in Washington state correct and because they live here but they're doing an online learning but it's not our Tacoma online it's a different correct okay that's where my mind okay that makes sense okay any other questions all right all those in favor say aye aye any opposed any abstentions passes five zero thank you very much see um all right item 16 business matters 16.1 approval of the guaranteed maximum price GMP amendment number one to the contract between Tacoma School District number 10 and skanska USA building Incorporated for the Bryant Montessori K-12 school replacement project uh just quickly wanted to provide some additional information for the public we typically see two gmps for a site the first one deals with the design process which is
066known as pre-construction services and the second one in which we bring to the board deals with the total construction costs in which the vendors not to exceed the Chief Operating Officer recommends that the board of directors approve the guarantee maximum price Amendment which states the cost for the Bryant Montessori K-8 school project can authorizes superintendent or designate to sign said amendment in the amount of 3 million 815 excluding sales tax I move to adopt item 16.1 second it's been moved and seconded any questions or concerns for this item hearing none all those in favor say aye aye any opposed any abstentions patches five zero thank you item number 16.2 approval to award Wayne roofing for the hunt round building roof replacement project uh this is part of the process of converting a hunt round building
067into a community center currently our anchor tenant is Tacoma Arts live in which they will construct uh a stage within the facility and have live performances and also have student involvement Chief Operating Officer recommends that the board of directors approved and superintendent and or destiny award Wings roofing for the hunt realm building replacement the total award amount is nine hundred thousand excluding tanks I moved to adopt and 16.2 second it's been moved and seconded any questions or comments hearing none all those in favor say aye aye any opposed any abstentions passes five zero thank you very much Chris um all right so other business item 17. very exciting 17.1 approval of the resolution proclaiming January 2023 as whole Tacoma whole child month welcome Laura Allen good evening uh with excitement January yes is whole child
068month and we had a few slides I believe if they're available just to say very quickly what is the whole child there we go um so in a nutshell what is a whole child Arabic all right so our big hairy audacious stream our vision is that students are supported 24 7 when they are scholars in school with us when they are thriving and participating in after school and Community programs when they're home with families and when they move about in their neighborhood that all of us the village are wrapping around to care for the children in Tacoma foreign challenged and supported and that means that every student enters School healthy and learns and practices about well-being every student learns in an environment that is physically and emotionally safe that they have a it is respectful
069and friendly for both students and adults every student is actively engaged in learning and feels connected to school and the broader Tacoma Community every student is challenged that we see the best in them that we hold them the high standards they're challenged academically and prepared for success in college and employment and to be a global citizen and that every student has every student is supported by caring and qualified adults so we do this because in the blink of an eye our students are going to be the leaders of Tacoma and they they will be great so with that I share that one just real quick before we move into the proclamation um understanding and recognizing that this is such a critical fiber of the the DNA of Tacoma Public Schools and that we have focused
070on the whole child um for the last decade plus before you read the proclamation I would like to invite superintendent Garcia president Bond bright members of the board to make a few comments uh if you would like to you're not put on the spot but this really is significant and the fact that we're declaring an entire month whole child month um let's give it its due diligence well I'm gonna step up and say here because uh just to set the stage um for if you have not seen Newsweek from November 18th 2022 so just a couple weeks old this is a declaration and a statement of what works in Tacoma Public Schools with our whole child approach and our whole educator approach it's the it's the cover story and it says science reveals um right
071to brush depressed teen depression is soaring and how stool schools may be making it worse and you think first think oh no and you start reading and you get about a paragraph in and they say but there's this Oasis of Hope in this country and it's Tacoma Washington and literally the entire article is about what is working in Tacoma and so it's all about the whole child work that Dr Garcia and Dr santorno are two superintendents and Deputy superintendents brought to this community 10 years ago 12 years ago I'm losing track now but a decade and it's been a decade of dedication of building on what um Laura Allen was just sharing with us about that you know Community work and I think that's why collaborations work in Tacoma and I I it's because our
072community cares about our kids and thinks about them um holistically how we can all support them so uh it's just interesting that um that we got this this no this coverage and and the article is really telling about why it's working in Tacoma and um it's the whole child initiative which is really making this happen so thank you to um you know superintendent Garcia for for bringing it to us in the first place and um Laura Allen and your team for helping implement it I I think also as a board we have continued to make this a priority within our goals and our strategic plan and that mental health is it has been a major issue on our radar screen and we're working very closely with the superintendent and the community to try and address
073this so I just want to say um you know that we are really grateful that that um that we have this program but also that their kids that don't live in our school districts and who also could benefit from this work and so I think declaring Tacoma um a whole child month for January is an awareness so for other districts that can look into this and also I think we're pushing the governor to do a whole child's month for the state too as well and I'm not sure if that's going to happen but anyway so that's my comment anyone else director Leung I'd like to add on to that I think um just to give a positive more examples about the mental health piece the Oakland and mount T school-based health clinics that we have
074I've got firsthand reports from the doctors that have been working there that they have gotten so many amazing referrals and brought students in the staff members in those schools and other schools have brought students in um not just for forced physicals right um and in a sports physical you actually find out that some kids are sad depressed suffering from something mental health issues they brought them in from many mental health concerns but then some of these kids will probably not have seen a physician or a provider for these things maybe ever maybe for months but with the staff trained to identify this bring them into those two Health Centers I think it's a wonderful opportunity and it's been life-saving I know for from any potentially for many of these students so hopefully we have a
075chance to expand other partners and and all of our high schools at some point so thank you Dr Garcia and your team do you want to go first I got you okay good it's been expected to come a whole child I mean it was Amanda Scott Thomas who brought me into this room in October of 2019 and I was awarded a gold star Community partner for my whole child work but I will also take a step back and say as an early learning provider for 17 years we've been pushing these agendas of seeing kids for who they truly are loving them growing with them and accepting them as they walk through the doors I think that when Tacoma expanded its reach into the before and after school Market in a really um intuitive and intentional
076way it opened the door for so many more people with lived experience and with lived expertise to come into our schools and build this bridge and that's what a whole child initiative is we're bringing in everyone we're supporting everyone and everyone's brought to the table I love the work we did with parent Partnerships back in 2016 and I wasn't even here right but in 2016 I got to see that work firsthand as a teacher in our school district and see the Outreach that we were doing our Communications Department the staff HR everybody was hands on deck to bring everybody to the table and so that's what being a whole child district is from the bottom up and wrapping around that's that's just who we are and what we do um so I'm appreciative for this
077we should be pushing it we should push Governor Inslee so he can recognize all kids deserve to have what Tacoma kids have um director Keating um I would add also as a gold star Community partner which now I like can't remember what year that was we don't need to recount it um but I have a shiny plaque um in my office with a star I know it literally has a star on it um I I want to say about the whole child that um as a parent um my introduction to the district was through the whole child um and my now senior in high school was in kindergarten and the whole child was just beginning like the conversation like the idea the concept the vision of it um and then I mean it was such
078a draw as a parent um and then being invited in like I have found opportunities where I was invited in by the district to participate um and you know I was invited in in 2011 um to participate in the harassment intimidation and bullying policy process of updating that and and as a parent and a community partner and I think that um as superintendent Garcia always says um it's not perfect we're not perfect and there is this Continuum of striving to get better do better be better um and I just am really grateful because I see in the ways that our students have and continue to express and articulate their experiences what they their perspective like that's be a part of the culture and I think that the thing that is inspiring to me about the
079whole child and from its beginning inceptions is this idea of changing culture and climate and that does not happen overnight and so to see my child's entire K-12 experience has been um the whole child has been a part of that and and interwoven into that as a student and then as a family and so I'm grateful and to just continue to be a part of that and support um just the momentum and the continuation of it and I I have one point to add to that which is that it's also reflected not just in the way that that we all you know I was speaking about but also from the kids perspectives just um you know the restorative justice approach and peer Partnerships where they you know peers are helping each other to to grow
080um out of bullying and out you know it's it's one of those things that um it's making the difference and that's one of the things that the Newsweek article alludes to is that the the our data is showing you know our graduation rate is going up and and our our you know our numbers of kids accomplishing high levels of of class and coursework and CTE programs and getting really engaged are just going higher and higher and and the rest of the country is really struggling in some of those same areas and so and you have to say why and you look back and this program is the fundamental um component that is is you know kind of giving us that leg up so do you have anything you want to say Dr director structure vice
081president I like that I like it too yeah okay all right so I just wanna you know I guess we're ready to read the resolution but you can tell we're all very excited about Josh you don't want to say oh superintendent absolutely he tried to shrug it off he did Stretch run it's powerful to be a part of a community that takes a moment to take a step back and say it's not a program it's an alignment of series of programs it is mental health and it's not Mental Health when you take that pillar of Engagement and you hear Mr Briggs Mr Briggs is a whole child Champion mm-hmm of course everything in this world is connected to everything else but when you have that first slide of a four shift of a level of
082a community with an intentionality it says these are our children this isn't a New Concept whether it's ancient proverbs and I remember sitting in this room and way back when when the board at that time was discussing could we even roll out things like an SEL curriculum and kind of like the snow there's opportunities where you're held accountable but not responsible the whole child movement is all of ours it's every Educators opportunity to make a choice do I step in and up or do I step out for Community Partners for families and it's also in the greater neighborhood a recognition that one is not more powerful than the other that we have to all work together and it looks different for every child and every family and certainly it doesn't work because we know that
083what happens in life the good the challenging sometimes the traumatic it's how we come together to respond that we never arrive and why the proclamation and the resolution is so important is that as public officials as adults as municipalities we should have the courage to say these are the things that we value for every child and if we're not challenging them academically we're not doing our work and if we're not supporting them we're not there yet and so I'm honored to sit with you I hope that you take the initiative to adopt I hope our partners do and I hope that we recognize that the moment that we don't do this as a community in January and restate our commitment I think we should pause I think we should pause and ask so what are
084we doing and we can come up with a phrase like our children our future and this but if we as adults don't work together under a very simple approach to say we may not agree on everything but we truly are better together when we come together do with intentionality with programs with Resources with compassion with shared understanding and not take credit and not tear each other down but we'll work together to build and model I feel optimistic and there's a lot of days where I don't feel optimistic looking around and so I'm honored to sit with you and serve with you and you have my commitment that I will bring everything I've got to that as long as we can keep these things beacons of our work thank you so are you ready to read
085the resolution yes with joy whereas each student deserves to be challenged academically experience a comprehensive education that promotes critical thinking and creativity and be prepared for higher education meaningful employment both in our global economy as well as lifelong success and whereas every student has the right to be supported on their journey of becoming compassionate and kind by Educators who are qualified caring adults and have access to personalized learning opportunities and whereas every student has the right to learn about and practice a healthy lifestyle in an environment that is physically and emotionally safe to be empowered to advocate for social physical and mental Wellness of themselves and of others to take advantages of resources for healthy well-being and to be hopeful about the future whereas every student has the right to opportunities to discover their passions
086to be curious to love learning to be actively engaged in and connected to school and the broader Tacoma Community and whereas every student has a right to access educational experiences where they develop the skills the knowledge and the courage to identify and confront personal systemic and societal bias and where every student has a right to access in school and extracurricular community-based programs that provide students with experiences relevant to their individual passions their career their civic and higher educational goals and whereas every student has a right to attend schools that are safe that are inclusive anti-racist welcoming respectful and supportive of their development as critical thinkers who contribute to and collaborate with our Global and natural world I now therefore request that you Proclaim January 2023 to be whole child month in Tacoma and I encourage
087all people in our state to join us in this special observance thank you do I have a motion I moved to adopt the reserve to read the recommendation real quick you're so picky the deputy superintendent on behalf of the director of whole child recommends that the board of directors Proclaim January 2023 as Tacoma whole child month and encourage Community partner municipalities agencies and organizations to declare their support for a whole child approach to educating and serving the children of our community thank you now I move to adopt the resolution proclaiming January 2023 as Tacoma whole child month do I have a second a second all right it's been moved and seconded I would like the general counsel to call the roll unless well I guess I should say does anybody have any comments or questions
088I think we started that we've talked enough yes go ahead all right uh direct Leon how do you vote aye yes yes yes vice president aye director hi [Music] thank you everyone all right now we get to pressure all of our friends and I love that yep I love it all right well thank you everyone this is a great way to end a meeting all right so we don't have any student reps here so I will turn to the board and who wants to speak first about what's been going on for them I love going first because then it's done you know um so on Monday I went to the Mount Tahoma varsity basketball game girls basketball and it was a nail biter it went into overtime and they won 42 to 40. it was
089a very stressful game and I do not do Sports at all like I normally I always go to watch the cheer teams at all the schools I'm like Oh my God look at them go and the girls at the varsity The Varsity level girls at Mount Tahoma really inspired me and they were pushing through the whole time and then last week I was at Lincoln High School's basketball girls basketball program speaking to the girls about using their voice and helping and supporting others and they were speaking about whole child to me letting me know how it works at their school and everybody has each other's back so it's kind of funny that we just voted on it and the kids were letting me know that they already know what's up and they're already doing it
090um those are really my only board comments and reports and I'm just really proud of all the teams but Lisa Keating our director Keating you brought up I think a month or two ago just supporting like all the different types of Athletics and all the sports teams and I was inspired by that comment and I went and I did it thank you awesome awesome all right vice president Stroger all right I got a whole bunch of stuff so I had to write some stuff down because if I don't I'll forget uh first September 17th through the 19th I got to go to Spokane with vice president Keating directory uh November not September November yeah November my bad hey take it easy uh yeah November uh for the washer conference Washington State School Directors Association and
091the theme was belonging now wazda brings folks together School Board directors together and some superintendents if I understand correctly from across the state to offer professional development and training programs in one space uh they've really developed to maximize leadership and governance abilities and improve student learning so I got to go there um and conferences are great but all of the real ones know that they'll work in the hallway uh and had a great deal of opportunities to connect with folks uh network with like-minded school board directors from across the state and we got to also participate in a few uh different breakout sessions my favorite I'm still in this because I know you probably got it written down too uh Dr Adolph Brown's a world renowned clinical psychologist neuro neuroscientist correct correct so so when
092I talked to him he said he got a whole bunch of degrees and he but he does but I will tell you that um uh his his keynote was built upon this idea of not judging my exit by my entrance and so he came all dressed in I mean I can't remember what year it looked like but he had like this wig on with his hair and his long white T-shirt pants sagging and he walked around prior to where everybody was kind of gathering and I guess he was trying to see who's going to interact with me who's going to say anything because I don't look like the people in this room um and then when he had his son actually go on stage and pretend to be him uh and everybody thought that his
093godson who had on a suit and was clean cut was Dr Adolph Brown until he got on stage and said actually I'm Dr Adolf Brown don't judge a book by its cover um and it was amazing to see like some of the faces in the room and I'll be honest I was one of them right when he came down to aisle director Kenny was looking at me like I wish you could see your face right now because it was just okay I could get into detail about why but I'm not going to I just felt like it was a lot of shucking and jiving going on like let's get to the let's get to it so anyway he got up there and did an amazing presentation and then also had a follow-up uh breakout session
094which was which was great as well um anyway it was great uh IAC the inner Scholastic Activities Committee I am got elected to then we had our first meeting and uh it was interesting trying to do that meeting at five o'clock in a basketball gym while my daughter's practicing basketball it was interesting but it was fun we got a lot of stuff that I need to share with y'all so keep that noted um I visited Truman middle school again Dr Stout and vice principal King took me on a tour to school we got to pop into a different few different classrooms but I learned that one of the district's most senior staff members work there and she's a math teacher and she told me what year she started teaching I can't remember but what I
095can tell you is that when I visited her classroom I could tell that the Zeal and the fire and the excitement that she had on her first day still exist today I said I don't have any dreams or desires of retiring and I'm like you teach math like it's not one of my strengths but she loves it like kids were engaged in and dived in so that was that was exciting to see um but we talk about whole child and like the the many pieces that build that up and I got to see that in action so we stood in the hallway there's a desk on the bottom floor of Truman in the middle hallway apparently Dr Stout used to sit there uh during passing times you don't see there anymore because there's no chair
096but that's where we huddled and students will walk by every single student that walked by Dr stout or vice president King that came up for a fist bump or a high five was called out by name and when I tell you that you could see their eyes light up by being recognized by the name that their parents gave them not a nickname not uh what's up kid but by their first name and that empowers them right to go to the class and another thing that's exciting before the barrel ring you could hear a pin drop in the hallway which is like I'm not used to seeing that so I'm like yeah I knew I was coming so you tried to hook people up or something I don't know but anyway I guess it's a common
097practice so it was beautiful man it's something powerful for a student uh to be seen so I just want to take my hat off I would if I didn't get a bad haircut but uh take my head off and staff and the team over there for the great work that they're doing uh two more things Traffic Safety Committee I popped in to that was it yesterday and something exciting is happening uh one key thing I want to put on folks radar uh Communications are about to start rolling out but in neighborhoods in our city the speed limit is going to drop from 25 to 20 miles per hour so you're gonna see Billboards you're gonna see mailers and all other kind of communications coming from the city letting people know if I jumped the gun
098on sharing that I'm sorry but I definitely popped into that meeting and got that gym so I wanted to be the one to share um so yeah that'll be happening at the top of 2023 just so up finally narrative changes took place yesterday we took our challenge to the Star Center um I want to explain what that is yeah sure uh narrative changes is a group of individuals who decided that we wanted to empower young people to change the narrative within their schools right give them tools and the strategies necessary to do so um and let them take ownership of it um so we we meet once a month at one of our local community centers or event centers and huge shout out to our families and the students that showed up right it's not
099it's not really a whole bunch of people that come but the people that show up really get what they're looking for which is amazing we have some special guests in the building director Keating was present um Mike rubric pulled up yesterday um and shared uh he shared about the care behind the work of Safety and Security and I can tell you it was well received folks were asking questions folks were engaged so it was beautiful to see and I had the opportunity to share about a framework Champion by Stephen Covey talk called uh have to be but I flipped it to be do have and it's a framework in ways um that really helps folks you can apply it to your life and really get ahead right depending on how you use those three words
100so um had a really good time it was look forward to this every single month um and there's going to be more to come so that's my extremely long bull report please don't get used to that thank you for your time so uh vice president Stroger um are how are we going to be announcing the next meetings of the narrative Changers interestingly enough we have an Instagram and uh Facebook events and uh we actually at every single meeting we have folks leave their emails on their flyers and leave it on the table we collect that put it into a Google forms and then we send out reminders via email as well so if someone's interested in starting to come they just need to look where I would say just go to Facebook and look at
101type in narrative Changers or Instagram nc253 thank you I also wanted to add that it went out in the e-family newsletter so we are sharing that information oh I didn't know that thank you surprise to me thanks a lot great thank you for that and thank you for doing that work all right a former vice president Keating I'm I'm gonna be long-winded too um so let's see since the last I think a couple days after the last board um meeting I got to spend time at Jenny Reed um which was really amazing and fun um and then uh at Foss I feel like this was just last week but Joe Coy um came a former Falcon um and his sister and um his best friend who is also married to his sister I believe that's
102how that worked um but Joe they came and presented um a uh uh oh my God scholarship um amount and what I was told and I've seen conflicting information so I may not be accurate but what my understanding is is it's the thirty thousand dollar annual scholarship for five years that's what um Joe's sister had told me it was um for the Arts for students at Foss um and none of them had been back to Tacoma or to Foss since they graduated 1989. um so that there was a really amazing assembly and the Foss students did an amazing job there was a family feud of it um game that happened which was epic and it was really an amazing opportunity to just watch um watch Joe who is this like hugely famous comedian talk about
103where he started and he had a film crew there and I was able to stick around and follow um I mean there was a whole group of us following him around um and talk about the one spot and the teacher that helped him get his start because he was a kid in school that really couldn't keep the humor inside during class and so there is the and I'm I'm forgetting the teacher's name but the um she would allow him like the last 10 minutes of class he could do his stand-up at the last 10 minutes if he sat through class and kept it all inside then at the last 10 minutes he could have this moment um and it really has formed um just formed a lot of his career and life and he had
104his own son there so it was really um it was amazing it was a super inspiring cool experience to watch some people who have the ability to give back in really big ways um do so to a place that really um formed them so that was pretty special um and then the I think the night before that there was the Pierce County superintendent's annual um meeting um that President bombright and I were at along with superintendent um and then um huge shout out to the narrative Changers um that was an amazing event and I wanted to also Echo comments for Mike Rupert um I think that as we were having the conversation around Safety and Security back in the early parts of covid um Mike what I heard from you last night was that you
105you embody what I believe we were aiming to achieve through what it through Safety and Security in the ways that students would feel safer um and and protected and so it was just really um it felt like a full circle moment um to listen to you talk last night and so I just wanted to really thank you um for carrying out a really complicated um and nuanced um aspect of safety for our students so I just wanted to Echo um that and then um I feel like there was oh and then so wasda the wasta conference um was um really great and yes a lot of the really deep conversations do happen in the Halls um and so the other person that I wanted to highlight um in addition to Dr Adolf Brown who when
106you talked about being seen in Truman like that was essentially what hid the essence right seeing students knowing our students by name and the importance of that like was very much part of his keynote and workshop the other amazing keynote that was there is the um 2023 Washington State Teacher of the Year Jared um cope I believe is how his last name is pronounced he is a teacher in North Thurston and he's the native student specialist and his keynote had a similar impact in terms of the kinds of work that we are continuing to do and strive to around growing on an intentional partnership and relationship um and restorative relationship with the Puyallup tribe and our tribal neighbors and the history that um Jared shared in his presentation and then I went to his breakout
107session as well it just was really powerful and and a reminder um it's not comfortable work it's not easy work um and there were a number of people that didn't stay to be a part of the conversation and listen to it and so it made me feel really grateful that as we've leaned into anti-racist um work and practices um that we have there's a team in this District that are leaning in with us so um I just was really reflective on that during um that presentation um and then the Corey and I also intended the large school caucus um meeting and then I also attended the FRN the federal net relations Network meeting and I just don't think it's nice to have meetings during conferences at 7 30 in the morning I just don't think
108that's nice I filed some some you know complaints about that um but it was really um I think what I I appreciate in being in those spaces with colleagues that are doing similar work around the state and just collaborating and learning and growing and strategizing on how do we collectively get better not just for our own districts but for all of our students in Washington state and I find that work to be really meaningful and inspiring um and then um I wanted to give a shout out to our staff supporting our seniors right now um I know that um The Stylist staff have been incredibly supportive of my senior and it's one thing to hear about it as but and then to be an apparent living through it um I just know that we have
109a huge number of staff that are doing everything they can to support our students to whatever that next step is for them Beyond high school so I just wanted to give a shout out to all of them um and then on Saturday I attended there was a community event at um co-hosted by the Tacoma rainbow Center and Oasis youth center in to honor the mass shooting in Colorado Springs at the club at Club Q and it was really often and within the lgbtq community when um tragedy happens we come together to just hold space and and acknowledge the value that um those lost have and it was really meaningful we had I think in total we had well there were three City Council Members there um three County council members um Four County actually Four
110City Council Members um and and not just they are not people that identify within the lgbtq community which is extraordinarily meaningful because there was a time not very long ago where no other elected officials would come um and the piece that I really took away from was the um I wrote the title down the U.S attorney for Western the Western Washington District for Washington State um Nick Brown was there and he was one of the speakers and I've not been in one of these spaces before where someone from the U.S attorney's office came to acknowledge a tragedy within our community and there were also four FBI agents local FBI agents and I think that with the heightened hate crimes and they just have continued even throughout this week in our area towards lgbtq people um
111it is it just was really powerful to have people in those positions just share space with our community and that you know we aren't doing this work alone and the one asked that the um U.S attorney had was to report report what you see online and I know that we have been doing that and you know talking about the scene see something say something but I think just broadly like if we see something online that um is you know like potentially violent I think like the best thing we can do is report it um and um I I don't see this wave of violence ending in our community anytime soon um it is a trend that is very concerning and it's happening Nationwide um and we are not um protected from it so I I
112just wanted to um just acknowledge like we don't always get to be in conversation with people from the FBI um that are doing that work and also um you know from the U.S attorney's office and so and these are people that you know are in our community and live in our community like in our region and I just felt um very um it was very meaningful to have a chance and I spent some time with all of these folks during the event in conversation just around safety and around schools and in our community and what does that look like and how do we do that together um so and then my last things I'll say is that um tomorrow I'm going to go to the Tacoma Urban leagues um talking to kids about race and
113I don't know that that's the title of the event but that's I'm going to attend that and then next week I have um a FRN meeting with wasda as well and then I might take a nap thank you so much uh director Leon sure most of us were at the meeting for a Career Technical education last night so led by Mr coolis and it was a good overview and mission of the program discussion Around The Advisory board so excellent work that they're doing and the supporting our kids and thinking about excellent careers so good job to that department I look forward to seeing more good work out of that um the um I've been at Mount t a good amount and one of my residents and I we were able to do a workshop on
114ultrasound skills and Miss Montgomery's health careers class she runs out amazing health careers class classroom there teaching kids all about health care so it was a lot of fun having one of the residents helped teach that ultrasound workshop and then just thank you again to The Stadium theater program Miss Jacobson they just pulled off a wonderful theater production of The Wizard of Oz and then they'd be doing Les Miserables in the spring so try to catch that if you can that's it thank you okay fabulous well I have just a few things to add one of them um is that on November 15th I attended the United Way from poverty to possibilities conference which was really powerful it was um it was actually kind of an incredible event they talked about Alice which is a
115stands for it's an acronym standing for asset limited income constrained in but employed households so those are those are folks that are not getting um necessarily getting assistance because they're making just a little too much and so they're the ones who are Lily the sandwich struggler struggling the most and so there was a quote from um Donna Pinto the CEO of Pierce County United Way that I loved I'm not sure if it's hers but she said it so it says if we want to change the narrative we need to change the narrator and it was really interesting just seeing the different perspective and I think that um that's part of part of that and then Dr Karen Johnson who's known as Dr J she is the director of Washington State Office of equity and she
116gave an um a really great talk um about how you know we have to restore the middle class and and all of this you know kind of how we all work together to do that so um anyway it was a great a great event and um and I think that and superintendent Garcia was was there and uh was that the one you spoke at I've been to no that was the other one that you did okay that was last week way too many meetings but anyway it was a great event and so I want to thank the United Way for all the work that they're doing to help be that other piece of the puzzle in our pile about community and they're doing their work from over here we're doing it from over here and
117we're all supporting these kids so it's it that's how it works that's how it that's how it makes it valuable um and I think I'd probably don't need to go into the other things that that got done so we'll just stop there um so does anybody else have uh what happens tomorrow morning oh well but that's talking about next time so tomorrow morning is uh the last meeting of the year for jmac the joint Municipal action committee and we are actually doing a um a special meeting it's going to be in person which is the first one in person since a year ago and we've invited all of all of you were invited and hopefully we'll all see you there and the um uh the the members of all the boards of all the members
118of jmax so the city council the County Council the port of Tacoma the Pierce Transit health department and Metro Parks Tacoma and then Tacoma Public Schools and the Puyallup tribe are all invited and their CEOs are invited and it's our quote quarterly meeting with the CEOs but we're really going to be talking about what we've done this year to actually Implement implement the vision that we came up with in 2021 um and so and we've had a big year we've gotten a lot accomplished and um superintendent Garcia will be there with uh director strozier is going to be talking about the anti-racism policy that we passed as that piece of the equity and superintendent and team because others will also be there to talk to are going to talk about our apprenticeship programs and the
119work that we're doing on the maritime skill center and all of the different components and then there's one other thing you're talking about that I'm forgetting but anyway so um there are it's going to be a great day and we've got we've invited the community members that attended the summit of 60 um to join us as well so we've got elected officials CEOs staff and Community Partners and it's going to be a action-packed two hours um so and that will be the end of my two-year chairmanship of of jmax so that's it's really kind of a meaningful day for me so President Obama I would like to quickly remind you of one other piece of work you did in the last few weeks is uh the our partners at the Port of Tacoma I made
120a very significant investment in the future of the South Sound by identifying their commitment to providing in partnership with us land for a maritime Skill Center that would help Serve All South Sound students and President Obama did a very gracious job of reaching out to them and thanking them for that and so that happened at their public meeting on I think the 17th of November and it was a unanimous decision so we're all very grateful to the port Commissioners and their investment and we know we have a long ways to go but this this need to develop Workforce Development meaningful Workforce Development and a collaboration with industry public schools from all over the South Sound is is coming up very much alive so that's an exciting opportunity so thank you for your leadership for reaching
121out and helping you guide that no no problem and I I mean you know it speaks to a lot of uh going back to Partnerships this is our theme tonight Amanda but it is really it speaks to the Partnerships that that superintendent and has been building over the years as did superintendent santorno and that we have a lot of trust and I think the community in Tacoma Community does own the whole child approach and they all see their role in it but I also think that the work that we're doing with jmac as part of that is the same I think the port is very aware of that they have a part to play in child care and they have a part to play in homeless prevention and all those things because everyone does and
122I think that if we've done anything this year at jmac it's to make sure that elected officials see that they don't have no one is laser focused on their one thing everybody is open and listening to what everyone else needs and how we how can we all step up and and pass public policies that are anti-racism policies that are consistent or the equity policy of the equity um index the city of Tacoma created now has been adopted by the Pierce County Council and they've expanded it so now it's county-wide and they added an equity note meaning that any decisions made by the county has to now go through this are is this is this investment Equitable these are huge steps that have been taken forward this year by by the partners at jmac by learning
123from each other and that's what we're going to talk about tomorrow we're going to sort of see what we've all what this year has has created so thank you for bringing up president something I forgot to mention um because I think is this our last like public-facing meeting before the holiday break so there's a lot of resources for clothes for kids um a lot of people you know it's getting cold outside the snow hit and a lot of our kids didn't have shoes and clothes that they needed at the people Center they've been doing a drive for about four months now and last month we donated about 15 bags of children's clothes size 3T to adult size 12. um and they they're just asking people if you need clothes just stop by and grab them
124and the Salvation Army is looking for adult men's socks and sleeping bags okay thank you people need stuff that's true all right does anyone have anything else they want to for the good of the order before we go through the list of meetings okay so our next meeting is actually a board retreat um on December 15th so next week we will uh we're meeting at 5 30. uh January 12th will be our first meeting of 2023 and it's a 6 p.m a business meeting and January 19th at 6 PM is a study session so we're starting the year you know in stride as they say all right so thank you everyone and since this is the last time we will publicly see you all I wish you all happy holidays and stay safe and stay
125warm and enjoy time with your families and please please please take care of yourselves and make time for yourselves I know this the holidays can be so hectic and it's important everyone take a breath and take care of yourself and we'll see you back here in January so have a good holiday we are adjourned yeah [Music]