001thank you good evening i'd like to call this thursday january 28th meeting of the home school district board of directors to order and i'll start by acknowledging that tacoma public schools acknowledges that we are on the traditional ancestral and historical lands of the piano tribe of indians we honor with gratitude of the land itself and the pyola tribe this acknowledgement serves as the first step in honoring our nearest tribal neighbors and partners the puella tribe of indians and give thanks to allowing us passage to their lands who have inhabited this region since time immemorial we will make intentional efforts to create inclusive and respectful partnerships that honor indigenous cultures histories identities and socio-political realities um will the general counsel please call a role yes good evening president cobb here vice president bomb right here director
002leon here director keating here director strozier here and we have a quorum and also to call our student representatives indigo hill here nathan esmen here caitlin yee here and jasmine pearson here right we have all of our student representatives and alternates as well thank you very much um item number four adoption of the agenda is there a motion to adopt the agenda i move to adopt the agenda zero second second been moved and seconded all those in favor of adopting the agenda say aye aye any opposed motion is adopted item five members of the public wishing to address the board just as a note for the public there's full detailed descriptions about the two options you have currently for submitting public comment and this time of um still executive order requiring us to meet virtually
003we've tried to create different options for the community to continue to participate one you have an option to provide comment live and that's when you submit your request 24 hours in advance and there's instructions again on the agenda items and on the website for you to follow an option two includes including a written public comment so we have a couple people signed up to give a live public comment tonight so i'll turn it over to the superintendent to read those names and introduce those speakers first speaker director cobb is jim king speaking regarding the renaming of wilson high school and just as a reminder jim i didn't say it um and for our other speakers you'll have three minutes total and you should see the clock counting down in front of you so when you
004get to one minute you'll see a flash or hear a ding and then you'll have one additional minute to finish up your comments thank you for being here also thank you and as a 38 year long lobbyist i'm used to three minute times in front of the legislature so i'll be able to work this my name is jim king i'm a 1975 graduate of wilson high school and to begin with yes president woodrow wilson was not just a racist he was the worst racist to ever serve in the presidency of this country how that taints his other accomplishments is something for the historians to debate but wilson high school was not president woodrow wilson we have our own identity our own history our own legacy including the longest winning streak in high school athletics in
005united states history the wilson swim team and coach dick hanula olympic gold medalists like kay hall and leo randolph excellence in athletics academics and civic leadership and we were not racists at a time you had race riots at stadium high school we had black student body leaders black athletic leaders this day we gather every year except this past year unfortunately in reunions and we all hang out together like we did we were not woodrow wilson the problem we face is that this process has been a very poor one there's been very little a chance for public input quite frankly most of us believe the principal had her mind made up before we saw the first news tribune article and picked a committee that didn't even look at the wilson legacy wilson high school legacy they
006looked at the president and they really know which way they were going to go there's been very little chance for public comment in this process the committee rubber-stamped the principal's free elections the superintendent is rubber-stamping it and given it to you tonight and we really feel that this was a ludicrous report a hall of wilson's what's that supposed to include dennis the menace's neighbor mr wilson or maybe tim allen's neighbor from home improvement wilson and my favorite which was tom hanks friend and castaway wilson the volleyball short swift was given to the legacy of wilson high school in addition in terms of the process you've got one vocal name has been presented to you why was not senator rosa franklin considered if you were going to change the name the highest ranking black woman ever
007in state government as president pro tem of the state senate well why not lum may who led the fight for restitution to the poor chinese that had built the railroad that made this town and then were shipped south by the leading citizens in the chinese expulsion you really need to go back start over have more public input and more consideration of where this should go are you going to end up like san francisco which yesterday decided they had to rename 44 schools including those named after washington lincoln and dianne feinstein thank you second speaker is brent chancellor regarding feedback regarding the name change to wilson high school i would like to first take a brief moment to say thank you to all parties involved for allowing me the chance to speak today i want to
008start by being emphatically clear i fully support our district's efforts to be leaders in the fight to end racial inequalities and injustices i'm not here to provide feedback on that i very much understand the want to eliminate the name woodrow wilson from tacoma and i also appreciate and respect the fact that we have people who are willing to take up that cause and have had conversations that can be potentially difficult and volatile however i am hoping that the board may be willing to consider my comments as they begin to process this difficult decision as an alum of wilson and now a teacher there for almost a decade wilson has been home for me for as long as i can remember that home has been a place for numerous memories and moments for me and more
009than a half century of other graduates my concern is that a complete rebranding could be an action that strips many of us of a large part of our identity wilson is ingrained in the community and culture of tacoma not woodrow wilson wilson is all i need to state for people to know where i went i associate much more with wilson than i ever have with the name woodrow wilson and i know i am not alone in that thinking i simply asked the board to consider two things first consider the other possible name change of dropping the woodrow and leaving it as simply wilson high school this would continue to send the message that tacoma will not continue to elevate and celebrate those that unjustly and unfairly opposed people of color and supported those that did
010but it would also send the message to wilson's alumni that there is a respect and an understanding of the legacy that would be lost in a total rebranding second to that i would encourage the board to continue to reach out to the public and continue to gather data and information around this issue before making a choice i know a survey was sent out but that was quite a while ago and i'm sure that it was likely not to receive the amount of responses hoped for to gather adequate data i know there are other alumni who carry more public weight and clout than i do backing this recommendation i also know that in the end a name is just a name but like our own personal names all names carry part of an identity with them
011they help shape who we are i hope the board is at least willing to make my comments into consideration as they begin to weigh this choice i am very much okay with woodrow being eliminated from the school's name but i would like to encourage to keep the name wilson so some of our identity can remain intact thank you those are the only two speakers okay thank you very much so with that we will move on to item number um six recognition of staff students and community deputy deputy superintendent garcia are you reading this introduction i did not have my computer's frozen on the agenda side so i'm scrambling trying to scroll it well maybe i see miss allen's face i mean if she has her agenda item maybe she can step in for you sure
012i'm happy to we have a slide show january is whole child month and i really want to thank you all for allowing time on the busy board schedule to recognize a few of our sites this evening um so if the powerpoint is there i'm sure it'll be much more entertaining and i have the official language to get us going the deputy super recommend the deputy superintendent recommends that the board of directors recognize the nominated schools as this year's whole child schools thank you great so uh tonight i'll just share a few highlights with you a peek into uh the whole child world but of course this is not representative of all the great work throughout the district or even at these schools just a quick test next we'll move quickly through these laura can you
013see the slides i believe it's still on the first one so if we could advance that'd be great the first one was faucet it's showing right now there we go fawcett falcons uh they are exceptional at signature practices from warm welcomes to emotion check-ins um and morning meeting circles that use they also use sel as a lever for equity so one example of that their anti-racist instruction committee created an inclusive library for students and staff ensuring that each individual is understood and honored and their whole child work continues through covid through this really innovative remote learning recognition system and remote restorative practices not easy to pull off next slide great middle school yes great middle school they're working hard to build feelings of belonging and identity amongst their students so for social emotional learning gray
014has a daily advisory time with recent sel lessons like naming strengths managing stress and self-awareness but on wednesdays bray turns it up a notch with wake up wednesdays and they bring the whole school together for school-wide community building here they do an emotion check-in using zones of regulation they learn about an sel strategy that they can put into place in that moment and they have a guest speaker from the community so students get a chance to ask questions of the best speaker it's really awesome next slide please tom the lister lies and let's tell you about lister elementary um lester holds sel equity student voice at the forefront of who they are and all that they do they are dedicated to implementing deliberate systems and practices to sustain racial justice using preventative whole child measures
015so lister developed an intricate system for restorative practices pioneered daily sel lessons by teachers and while well each student received at home an acl kit so they are able to practice their calming strategies and peace centers while being at home um lister is also an exemplar in partnering with families on social emotional learning next slide manito park elementary supports both students and adults through whole child practices for example this year they implemented live emotion check-ins four times a week 20 minutes a day with students and they developed a system for immediate follow-up for students who needed some extra support that day they also do whole school meetings that focus on topics like friendship and culture and background and additionally manitoba park recognizes the importance of adult social emotional learning through practices like their bulldog puddles
016for staff where they bring in guests to discuss topics like self-care and equity in the next slide jenny reed elementary they strive to ensure that all students staff and family feel heard supported and valued for the unique qualities they bring to the jaguar team read innovate with how to jag this is a whole child focused first three weeks of school road map they also have families are student leaders in grades four through five that lead community building with the younger grades hands for student leadership is always terrific uh and also reid pioneered is a pioneer using robust data systems to progress monitor their cell action plan next slide please at roosevelt elementary they use teams to leave their whole child framework in addition to sdl lessons for all students roosevelt creates space for staff members
017to build on their own sel skills by using time during staff meetings for goal setting discussions about racial equity and self-reflections on adult sel roosevelt uses data to drive their sel action plans like climate survey data exclusionary discipline data and attendance data next slide so i got to tell you about sammy um at sammy you will find a family mentor model this is a multi-age uh mentor model where students are with the same family from their freshman year to their um senior year uh they're mixed in age groups so the older students can help out the younger ones and they have a teacher there within that group they will check in with relationship circles and they also use restorative circles as an alternative path to repair repair harm to the community a really cool thing
018that they do at sami is they have peer-led restorative justice and those student leaders even trained staff on rj practices next slide so soda commits to relationship building structures for mentor for their mentor groups additionally they've expanded their four pillars to include equity so the four pillars are empathy community thinking and bad and they've expanded those to include things like hearing from student and family and community panels to understand their stories and experiences they have strategies for incorporating relationship building circles and mentor groups they are more aware of privilege and bias and truth telling to reframe their approach and also monthly student-led panels to increase student voice next slide at stafford elementary one key to stafford's success is staff driven school-wide focused on vain brain-based learning and monthly character traits those like compassion and optimism
019and gratitude these are taught in classrooms they're supported by teachers and counselors and then they're reinforced through monthly communication and recognition stafford sets two times each day for relationship building and sel skills and they even figured a way to create a remote program for student leadership next slide at stuart i gotta tell you about stuart panthers because the teachers there they lead conversation circles they have small group check-ins they have collaborative study groups they send postcards and they have a panther reward system with prizes also um to support attendance and grades and rewards stuart panther staff does porch visits and they have visited over 600 student homes in less than six months one final highlight counselors help create a very slick welcome for future stuart panthers through a virtual tour and video it's on their
020website you gotta check it out next one washington elementary they have a good news network and they highlight weekly news stories to help celebrate life and share thoughts of gratitude during difficult times washington's tier 2 intervention care teams use student data and then also they pair that with their talented educators to support some of our most vulnerable learners also washington they feature a weekly newsletter from the counselor's office around social emotional wellness and life lessons it's a whole hearted beautiful newsletter and finally washington elementary elementary believes that all people learn and grow through restorative justice practices so even when students may stumble we work together to get back on track and one more slide please this is whitman elementary and they use whole child practices not only for students but also a part of their
021staff meetings whitman knows that sel is for everyone so teachers practice relationship skills like empathy and compassion by participating in relational circles in the opening of staff meetings for students whitman partners with families on common language and strategies to practice sel at home and they have in their sel lessons they they've really leaned in hard on relationships and social awareness so lessons may include topics like appreciating diversity taking perspective empathy and respect and final slide i just want to say again these are just a few quick highlights they don't begin to encapsulate the stellar practices throughout our district and i wish you all a happy whole child month thank you madam president before she leaves i'd like to take a moment to recognize director laura allen on her team they are whole child champions to
022the truest state and so they they are out around the community and and throughout the schools recognizing whole child champions but there are no bigger whole child champions than laura allen and her team in the whole child office so let's give a round of applause to laura and her team thank you for the presentation thanks for sharing just a little glimpse into all the different schools and their culture and different strategies that they've been implementing it's nice to see kind of this snapshot of all the work happening across the district so thank you um any other comments from members of the board okay we'll keep moving on but thank you again um going on to item number that one oh oh so i just want to say thank you laura and her team um because
023it's this uh this part of education is really critically important and in many aspects some of the most important education so i really appreciate we have uh such a strong team leading this for our district thank you thank you and and i'd like to to also thank laura and the team um for making putting tacoma public schools really on the map in terms of this nationally and it is just uh it is so exciting to be at a school district where a whole childhood educator isn't just a phrase it's a way of life and um i i think it's uh we're just watching this presentation i can't stop smiling you know it's just so great to see the kids and they're happy and the teachers and being back together and and longing for when we
024all can be there and knowing that you guys have uh are working five times as hard when they're remote um to make sure that the seo is happening so thanks for that and also that this is i think the first year that we're we're making the sel plans you know at the secondary schools as well and so really wanting to um say what a tough year to to implement um seo practices in the secondary environment when everyone's remote but i know you guys are are managing to make a difference in in a time when um it couldn't be more important for our students so thanks for it for pushing through a tough year and always being so good-natured and upbeat about it thanks laura and your team thank you so much have a great evening
025did you were you going to make a comment um yeah i just wanted to also say that i know that this work um has been in the making for many many years and there are people um who started this work uh that aren't with the district anymore and i just appreciate the legacy of it being carried forward um and the way that it's being carried forward and the importance that um has continued to put on um improving um sel and whole child and just the culture and climate around that um and uh as always school counselors are like some of the best humans on the planet so um i usually fawn on them so i'll just like throw that little pebble out there but um thank you for the presentation thank you okay thank you
026again so we'll move on to the superintendent's report number seven so for our coveted update uh this evening we're gonna give you a treat i think uh elizabeth director bonbite we're gonna see you smiling again and so i've asked uh michelle raul lewis who directs our preschoolers uh to kind of give us a little preview before we show this uh video from stafford elementary school michelle hey good evening and thank you for having me on i am so excited that our preschoolers got to come to school this week um you are going to see a video of stafford elementary and one of our fabulous teachers miss stephanie um greet her students and her excitement of being prepared for her students and having them um be ready for for class and seeing their excited faces and
027that teachers are just welcoming them and they're they're just so happy to have in-person instruction back so i hope you enjoy this video thank you thank you michelle [Music] well i um like no matter how many times i do this the first day of school always gives me like first day of school jitters i can't like help it but it's like this exciting first day of school because you don't know what to expect and we've missed this for so long it's like i'm ready i'm ready to jam out i'm ready to get like all of this energy out that's been titled in for months and months that i'm ready to give to my students are you ready for their first day i just want them to know that this is their space this is their
028space to grow this is their space to learn i want them to learn how to use their environment in a safe way and of course it's going to take practice finding ways to create like a safe space in our classroom that's still fun and welcoming for everybody and that doesn't feel like a hospital you know it's still school and it's still fun and we still want it to fill that now we can put all the things that we've learned virtually to practice and we can also start to learn about each other in different ways you know learn about each other's cultures learn about each other's languages and i think that's a beautiful thing in preschool is we're able to take that minute and step outside of ourselves and see that there's a whole world waiting
029for me i'm you know i'm ready and there's so many things out there for me and that's what preschool is all about you know your learning adventure is just getting started i'm not just helping students i'm helping families realize the potential in their students it's like the most beautiful feeling when families are able to come to you and say i can see the difference in my student i can see the confidence and their skills and that tops everything it's amazing thank you were you gonna say anymore superintendent santorno i have a couple of reflections okay i just want to say thank you for that update i think um just for members of the community who were hoping for a more like rundown of the numbers and where we're at i encourage you to refer to
030our study session agenda the superintendent did a great job of going through some of the more recent updates so please refer to that it's really helpful though to see kind of the students returning in action like i think we all have images of what unless we have children in school at these ages we all just have our memory of our experience or our memory of when our kids were in kindergarten to draw on to know to think about what the current context might look like so i think the video is really helpful to bring to life what the experience is kind of looking like for our returning preschool students and our attorney kindergartners so thank you for putting that um in this week's agenda any other comments from members of the board before we move
031on to the consent agenda see shaking heads okay thank you superintendent santorno moving on to item number eight consent agenda um is there a motion to adopt the consent agenda i move to adopt okay second it's been moved and seconded all those in favor of the document consent agenda say i we oppose motion is adopted item 9 policy matters and there are no policy matters tonight item number 10 financial report presentations on the financial health food district will be made during regular board meetings on a quarterly basis the next quarterly report is planned for february 2021 and monthly financial statements can be found on the district website at www.tacomaschools.org backslash departments backslash business and finance and then on to financial reporting item number 11 curriculum instruction there are no curriculum and instruction items tonight item
032number 12 business matters 12.1 approval head start non-federal share waiver the deputy superintendent on behalf of the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning recommends that the board of directors approve the district's request for a waiver of the office of head start non-federal share requirement is there a motion to adopt item 12.1 i move to adopt item 12.1 second second the movement second any questions or comments about the site seeing none all those in favor of adopting i'm 12.1 say aye aye any opposed the motion is adopted 12.2 approval of the budget development guiding principles revised 12 15 20 20. thank you the chief financial officer recommends that the board of directors approve the budget development guiding principles revised december 15 2020 is there a motion to adopt in 12.2 i'll move to adopt bottom 12.2
033third second second it's removed and seconded any questions or comments from the board share one something none other i just want to recognize rosalind and her team for the leadership on the budget development process a couple of years back on the board and we had to make some real serious cuts and really tough decisions about how to move forward i think these guiding principles helped to serve as a really good foundation um for the partnership between the board and the leadership team on the budget development process the principles really helped the board reassured that you know you knew what our priorities were as you work to make recommendations about some of those changes and i think they continue to serve as a good foundation for our communication back and forth at the policy and operational
034level about the budget development so so thank you for continuing to put these in front of us as we work through this process okay great um yeah thanks i was just actually going to say something quite similar to that and to say that um i i i find that that our goals and i see where our goals are reflected in into the decisions that are made and that's um reassuring um on many levels and also i serve on the citizen and finance committee for for the audit committee for the district and um it's i see it throughout it's not just budget development and i want to thank roslyn you and your entire team because everyone is very committed to being transparent and being a thoughtful and um compassionate and and uh in all of the
035decisions around the board and making sure that they're aligned with uh the policies that and and um priorities that have been set forward by the board so thank you for that and any further comments hearing none all those in favor of adopting item 12.2 say aye aye aye opposed motion is the captain thanks roslyn um item number 13 other business item 13.1 discussion of superintendent's recommendation for wilson high school renaming pursuant to policy 69.70 thank you um tom if we could get the first slide please so tonight we're gonna have an um we're gonna have an opportunity to discuss the renaming of woodrow wilson high school we have a district policy that outlines the process for the renaming and we have definitely followed that policy so if you look at the next slide our process
036really began when members of the wilson alumni committee and other citizens wrote to principal bernadette ray members of the board and to the superintendent citing the inappropriate and harmful nature of keeping woodrow wilson's name on one of the tacoma school district's most valuable um on one of the tacoma school's most distinguished high school due to woodrow wilson's history of being a kkk sympathizer as well as his holding and participating in other racist ideologies and practices the committee agreed that in this era of working to eliminate racism in all of its forms it was time for a change on the next slide you just you'll see um the the the committee names principal bernadette ray was selected to follow the tenants of policy 6970 she solicited and assembled the committee thank you to each of those
037people who volunteered the list you see you see includes former and current parents community members former students and other esteemed individuals a survey was presented to uh this through social media and the wilson and tacoma school district websites to collect a sampling of thoughts about the renaming the committee made a preliminary report to the board regarding their thinking and then presented a recommendation to the superintendent as far as as part of the policy so on the next slide you see the recommendation from the committee so the record the the uh committee recommended two options you can see one is the naming after a person and the option two was to keep the name at wilson um just for a little bit of background dolores silas uh led the city of tacoma as an educator and
038beyond she was the first african-american woman to serve as an administrator in the tacoma public schools she was also the first black woman to serve on the tacoma city council when she was appointed to that role in 1991. she served as president of the tacoma naacp elected in 1978 she was recognized by the city of tacoma with a lifetime service award in 2019 and she received the tacoma historical society's star star of destiny award in 2019 as well miss ruby bridges as an educational justice icon who now leads the ruby bridges foundation which is dedicated to education at all levels including hbcus she made a wave in her collective history related to social justice and a request of many survey respondents her legacy has a bit of connection to tacoma educational history she became the
039first african-american child to integrate an all-white public school elementary school in south uh new orleans and tacoma's mcarver elementary in 1968 to promote racial integration became the first magnet school in the u.s drawing students from around the city so that's the connection survey data leans strongly to renaming the school after a person of color survey data also leaned toward renaming the school after a geographical location and her name plays on the neros bridge the name uh keeping wilson option two the second option was to keep wilson because it provides continuity and brand recognition for our rich history you heard the first testimony of our speaker the committee noted and i quote that the school wilson holds a strong tradition of excellence in our community under that name and the committee and multiple stakeholders saw fit
040to advocate it as either a hall of different wilson's who better represent the tradition of the school and the true excellence to come or determining a completely new name um i also want to note that in their presentation the committee said changing the name of the school will not erase his distinguished 61-year history and accomplishments of the students who attended wilson nor the legacy of the thousands of educators who have contributed to the school's high standard of academic success what the name change will do is disassociate the school and our community from honoring someone who endorsed and supported systemic racism that our nation still struggles with us with today so recommend recommendation from the superintendent i am recommending that the woodrow wilson high school be renamed to dr delores silas high school and the key
041things that i used for to make my decision is number one it does uh it is one of the recommendations of the selection committee so it follows the policy i think dr silas is an outstanding local woman with roots in tacoma community and in the tacoma public schools and finally um i believe that keeping the wilson name uh that keeping the wilson name uh would help us disassociate the school and our community from honoring someone who who supported systemic racism so that's my recommendation that we go with the laura silas if you look at the next slide it talks about the transition and uh it is it is a it is a huge transition if the board decides to vote uh to approve the name of dolores silas um i would suggest that we begin
042in uh july or you know in the summer of 2021 i believe it will take a minimum of an 18-month transition i certainly recommend that we remain that we maintain the current mascot the silas high school would be ram country and the colors would remain red white and blue we definitely have talked to principal ray and we would honor the current student regalia letter jackets t-shirts masks etc and students will have the grace to make those changes and we would work with uh principal ray to determine the specific timeline for changes um there are some major uh major things that we have to do and the costs look like they could cited could minimally be around four hundred thousand dollars i'm just being um honest about that cost uh it would include you know increa
043if you start thinking about building exteriors and interiors uniforms letter hud design items and all those all that regalia you see in the picture um it would be important so that's my recommendation questions thank you excuse me i have uh principal ray is here with me so if you have any um you know really hard questions you can direct them to her okay thank you superintendent santorno so i want to open it up for this is the first reading so um um that would mean that if the board were to take action on this would come back in a future board meeting so i'm going to open up to members of the board with questions or comments for superintendents i'll start with dr keating uh thank you for the presentation um i was curious um
044just the timeline because it's been um this conversation started sometime back um so i was curious about do you happen to know like the with the surveys that did go out like what what i don't remember what the numbers of participation were um in the surveys do we know um principal ray could answer that question bernadette i do and i'm looking to see the exact numbers i should have them but um i'm going to say that approximately uh 3 800 surveys were returned so it was certainly a sampling of the greater community thank you any other questions or comments from members of the board directly on is that at hand or i can't uh yeah okay uh i think this um shows the seriousness of how you know this our whole district is you know
045analyzing the systemic racism that we've gone through for a long time and how we're starting to make steps to remove it and improve it so i do understand there's a lot of emotion around insane there are traditions and names that uh people have used for where they went to school as we've heard from our speakers today and i know it's hard you know if it is uh the right to not use that name wilson even if it doesn't have the woodrow in front of it i think the the message will get lost the hard work that have been done in anti-racism which you brought us two names and chosen one that you're recommending so i do think it's it's the right thing to do any further comment director bomb break um this is really a
046tough a tough call i know from the community perspective and i've heard a lot from from folks one way or the other i did one of my daughters did graduate from wilson and i i did chat with her and a lot of her friends as well and even though they have a strong allegiance to wilson and they and they will always consider themselves graduating from wilson high school um they're also really compassionate about um the the feeling that those who uh who individuals of color who are attending or have attended wilson and felt like the name uh reflected um badly upon um the place where they went so uh i think that it's interesting it's i don't know if it's a generational um issue or not but i know that it seems that that um
047it's time and and i think that um dr silas is a wonderful example of from our own homegrown tacoma school system that who excelled and succeeded in in and brought forth um new opportunities especially for for um young students of color so it's a great message and hopefully um i know that i have great faith in um principal ray to be able to make this transition which will be an interesting one uh to be able to have the students that are that came in when it was wilson be able to you know have both kinds of of uh you know paraphernalia regalia as you said uh superintendent but to also have everyone be engaged in how this process happens uh the students because i know that they um they are very wilson is a wonderful
048high school not that the name change isn't going to change that um and i and i'm uh just hoping that that as we think this through um that we're able to make this transformation in a positive way and always always always be able to celebrate the um the great experiences and um successes academic athletic through the arts and otherwise of all past uh wilson graduates who i know our own doctor every doctor director keating is one um so i got some so i just i wanted to thank the committee for the work um that went into uh putting all this together thank you to the almost 4 000 people who chimed in via the survey um i can't sit here comfortably and not say what needs to be said um you know racism oppression the
049coddling of racist will have no place in our schools in our community so at some point we got to take a stand and uh kind of wipe and stay clean wilson is a great high school the people who went to wilson are great people that's not going to change with the name change of the building it's also very important that we highlight uh someone from our own area dr silas is a beautiful woman has done great work and i think that the legacy of the athletes and the students uh will carry on um but i think it's time that we you know start fresh so thank you to the committee as well as the 4 000 responders to the survey there's a lot of work ahead but it'll get done thank you yeah i appreciate
050all the comments i've heard from the board um i just will offer and all i want to second a lot of what has already been shared in terms of your thoughts and comments but i also to want to from a historical perspective you've heard me ask the question in a broad meeting pass like does the board have a collection of all the high school's yearbooks i want to know do we keep the ball or is it just home public library that cobbles them together i am very interested in the history of our district and being able to tell that story for example i probably have a really hard time if there was some issue with mccarver's name of changing that name because it is associated with that legacy of being the first magnet school in
051the country and then how will you track that through history like if will it show up in wikipedia as for whatever the new name was formerly known as mccarver like how do we um how can we in this process if we do take action to accept the superintendent's recommendation how do we through our process be good stewards of the historical records so that's really important to me as we think about making any decision i agree wholeheartedly with a lot of the comments that have been shared but i don't think this is just an 18 like how do we do this operationally in 18 18-month question it's really to me a question about the legacy and about the history and preserving the record so if something like this is the significant action is taken and we
052do make the change i just want to be sure that we're making it in a way that allows those people who do have that history of having gone to wilson high school lets them look back to and have a reunion where they can find people and we preserve that opportunity for folks moving forward so that's my only ad and request like if this if we do take action in a former like i said in our next meeting to make this change i will be really um looking out for a process that includes preserving the record any further comments from members of the board hearing none thank you for your recommendation superintendent santorno and miss ray for leading this process and also i want to acknowledge two hours i know i said i was done but
053i want to acknowledge too that there are lots of people in our community who are deserving of buildings named after them so us not picking a name is not in any way undermining their contributions or undermining their uh their worthiness of a name if we had a thousand buildings to name it'd be great to run down the list of the thousand folks in our community who we could pin them all to so i just i i just appreciate that this process that we have as the board doesn't include the board having to pick through a list of a hundred recommended recommended names and again ms silas dr silas is one of those many many people in the community who's worthy of a name so i appreciate the recommendation coming forward okay with that we will
054move on to item number 14 report to the board graduation benchmark annual report um miss pace and miss bahar i believe yes good evening can we get our slideshow up well there it is good evening president cobb and vice president bond bride and board directors assistant superintendent marie verhar and i are presenting our annual annual report on graduation next slide the benchmark on graduation is within strategic goal number one academic excellence which is stated here for us all students will perform at or above grade level and we will eliminate disparities among all groups we are going to begin tonight by taking a close look at the at the data around graduation and assistant superintendent marie verhar is going to lead us through that endeavor marie thank you tony next slide please this first data slide
055shows us that 89.9 of our students graduated in 2020 it's june of 2020. this is above washington state's average of 82.9 percent tacoma public schools continues to exceed the graduation benchmark of 85 percent by 2020 reaching 89.9 percent for the 2020 school year which is a one-tenth of a percent increase from 2019. the district's graduation rate has increased 4.9 over the last five years next slide please all student groups with the exception of native american ell and special education graduated at or above the district's former benchmark goal of 85 percent the asian black multi and pacific islander student groups showed an increase in the percentage of students graduating from the year 2019 from the prior year next slide please the female free and reduced lunch and the homeless student groups all showed an increase in
056the percentage of students graduating in 2020 special education students graduated at 4 percent less than 2019 however there was a 10 growth leap in graduation rates for the special education student group from 2017 to 2020. in the next slide are the key findings that i have mentioned as i have taken you through the last three data slides next we will move on to our next steps regarding graduation assistant superintendent pace will take us through those so can we go to the next slide please there we go we want to continue to build upon the strong partnerships that have developed between district departments our building leadership title one lap to support targeted interventions in middle school math as well as in other areas and the special ed team in collaboration with secondary ed director and building
057principals will review data together and develop strategies to support special ed and general ed teachers the special ed department will dive deep into student data looking closely at credits grades and ieps and in addition high school and beyond plans will be examined and we will continue to provide access to credit recapture opportunities next slide we will continue to use our cap process our continuous achievement process to identify specific student group gaps we'll provide content specific support especially in the areas of alignment of standards instructional resources and professional growth opportunities we'll continue our multi-departmental collaboration efforts focused on graduating all our students we will continue our focus to provide equitable access to a quality education for all our students that includes a curriculum that promotes practices that lead to acceleration and we will continue to monitor
058student attendance behavior and grades especially at the freshman level and intervene as indicated in addition marie and i would just like to also mention that we have learned some things through living through covid we have a new learning management system schoology we have one-to-one technology which will all help in focusing on specific needs of our students that that concludes our our main presentation we also have an appendix uh which has the data around five-year graduation rates by student group and four year dropout thank you so i guess we're open for questions thank you thank you um i have questions i'm not gonna start with myself i'm gonna start with other um director keating any questions about the presentation tonight um yeah i was curious if you could talk a little more specifically um about um
059the groups that so native american students ell sped students had the um in the graph i know it's not up right now but there was a pretty significant drop um and i you know also um imagine kovit had you know was the scenario the factor to that but um i was uh the number with the native american student percentages went from 92.6 um in 2019 to 81.3 um if i if i did that if i read that correctly in the graph um and i felt that was a pretty drastic um drop so um i was curious like could you talk a little more in specifics of how um the the groups that have been identified that um their graduation rates dropped from last year um how are they being supported to be on track so
060there's several things at play uh when we look at our data especially as we get to this some groupings with a smaller population so on a given year we might have a native american population of graduates of 100 kids and the next year there may be 30 kids in that group in there so we're going to see some variance in the percentages that would be could be somewhat misleading and so trends are something that we really look at so you see a spike in uh special ed last year but you know there it dropped again i think four percent in there um there's a lot of different reasons specifically for that for example um their students iep may require them to attend a fifth sixth or even seventh year by law as far as supports
061but the way the state calculates uh four-year adjusted courts those are in essence deemed dropouts um in their from a school's graduation rates and so there's a number of subtleties there um so when we look at the specific supports that we're providing our native american students and those students are dropping it's it's multi-faceted it's the schools every school looks at every student and looks at what their supports are they have cultural support from david scythe's team in there i think it's important to note that our native american population is extremely diverse in itself hundreds of tribes represented the schools have wraparound services and and then you know the data folks provide very specific so do they need specific support in academics uh which academics which graduation requirement may be a barrier is it credit retrieval
062credit responsibility in there um so it's multifaceted and so as we look at these director keating we're really trying to look at those trend lines um you know for example we've really kind of been stuck at that 89 spot uh and i think we were you know one student away from 90 this year um and you know that varies year after year because our cohort size adjusts a little bit as well and so um that's kind of a roundabout explanation um but we could get a more specific i guess it would almost get to which students in the native american population which kind of supports would we have applied thank you that's helpful i i it can be challenging to look at a graph like that and not really understand like how the data was
063collected and what it actually means so and i did you know when i when i was preparing to ask that question i was paying attention to the trends previous and also considering that you know covet has um you know definitely impacted but that just happened to be a pretty significant drop in comparison to the other um groups that you know had seen or experienced um a decrease in graduation rates so thank you for that i would like to add that all schools across the state have to calculate graduation rates the exact same way every student has a unique identification code that is loaded up in what the state's system is called cders and so a student is on our records unless they are a committed and confirmed confirmed transfer to another school and so um
064there are no students that are not unaccounted for in washington dc so they either have dropped out or they are on and count as part of our graduation rates in there so they could still be coming in you can see in the appendix uh i think our five-year results are around 91 percent so we keep on counting them and it actually our six and seven year rates go up as well but there are all students are calculated the same way in washington state and are accounted for and that's even linked to budgeting codes so funding comes through that unique student identification and full-time enrollment in there so although i say there's variance within that specific subgroup i didn't want the community to think that there's different ways to count them they're all counted the same
065director keating did you have additional comments or questions okay before going on to director bombay i just want to piggyback off of josh's w superintendent garcia's answer and lisa's question because it feels like every time we get a graduation benchmark report we have similar context questions so as we think about the future of what the strategic plan benchmark reports look like like for certain student groups um there's some expect like the inside question for native american students is one that we always have to look back to so there's a way to like um put that in like add that i think it would help just a reminder but just more um from more of like a strategic like progress monitoring standpoint or um students with disabilities like this piece around um five and six and
066seven year graduation rates if we understand that that is a marker of us working their plans or work and supporting them in the ways that has been determined is most appropriate we should for maybe that student group have like a clear um focus on what's the five and what's the six and what's the seven as we make sense of how are we getting progressing with getting our students with disabilities to graduation and not treat it as if we should just be looking at the four year for that group of students because it may not make sense given their individual education programs similarly my data governance knowledge might be rusty but i think that students who i know that for students who are impacted by homelessness we um flag that every year as and that's a
067year-long designation but i might be wrong but i think for english learners in high school context like they're given that flag as ninth graders and that continues through like that that group is cohorted kind of at the 9th grade marker even if they've tested out of programming so um i my point is if a student is enrolled in services for english learners as a third grader it's likely that they transition out of program by the time they're getting to high school so for students who are captured in the high school group does that mean more of them are um coming to um the us later or like i want to i guess i'm wondering a little bit more about context for our english learners and if we should expect that because they're later arrivals to
068the country that they might take a fifth year too so maybe we should be giving more significance to looking at the fifth year so my ultimate point is like with certain groups we really want to hone in on what's the best way to look at our progress and whether or not we're supporting them effectively are there some additional context variables or context markers that we should be wrapping around the conversation about those groups from the start as we think about getting more targeted you we can have a lively conversation of all the different factors in there and and i think it's important and you raise some very interesting points you know and sometimes you know the students that um are a part of our cbt program our community based transition program we've been very active
069at the legislative level to say please do not label them as dropouts they are not dropouts they are active students that are constantly working on their plan but the data doesn't show it that way we on our benchmarks will be continuing to report them as five years six year and seven years so that we can see that that growth because i will tell you that and and principal ray will uh i if she's still on me attest to this uh we don't quit um and there and so they're working even um if we um can't find them they're actively trying to find students in there re-engage them is another piece of their around the ell population specifically you have newcomers we don't break the idea out behind newcomers which we have students that come to
070us uh and wherever your transcript is labeled as if you are a ninth grader in a different country may not be the same as ninth grade but you are labeled by the state as a ninth grader or a 12th grader and so you are assigned that cohort but you may be first year to the country and you're still expected to pass exit exams a variety of other things so there's a lot of complexities to looking at the context of what that 64 is or that 65 or 89 um thank you i don't yeah i just think as we think forward about strategic plan and benchmarks and priorities for this next cycle some of this nuance because we're not at graduation rate needing to really we're at the place where we need to really um understand
071the data in a more nuanced way i think so director von bright well a nice segue thank you so my comment was going to be gee we're we're really at that point where there's only inches left on that graduation rate so love to be broadening out our thinking on the um maybe establishing a new benchmark or a new baseline goal for our academic uh achievement benchmark and and and one of the things that i've been excited to learn about this year a lot more is the vani um the verified acceptance by next institution um which would is is kind of a way for um the non-traditional if it doesn't have to be college it can be you know an internship or a a journeyman um certificate or whatever it is that they're working on next
072after high school um as a marker i don't know that we track that currently as a goal or as a to show that we do have um students that are working toward um you know they're graduating and then they're gonna move on to something positive so keeping that that holistic approach all the way through that was just a thought that you know somehow we integrate that in you're muted president cobb thank you any other comments from members of the board directly on uh just uh thanks for looks like you've already seen obviously the issues around special education numbers went down overall the numbers stayed about the same or slightly higher that you've talked already about you're going to give it some attention the special education department seo and uh sorry the yellow department are going
073to re-examine and see how they can help those kids more so thank you for focusing on them you're welcome thank you um deputy superintendent did you have another comment i see your hand up yeah i just want to um i want to really take some time to thank our staff our teachers our peer educators our counselors our nurses our principals our custodials our nutrition services and i'm i'm not being flippant by raising all these folks up um when i ask folks most of the time do you believe that every kid learns at the same rate at the same time folks say no absolutely not you know developmentally all the different challenges our students have to take four years and by state law are not given permission to fail one class that means that even though
074life may happen stem transplant domestic violence drug impact they have to fight through that and stay on the same track as everyone else or they have to do more and that doesn't happen without a huge team wrapping around them and so um 89.9 is not enough and we are not comfortable with that um but that did not happen by luck and so to all the staff members all of our community partners all of our families you mamas and papas you grammys and grandpas and aunties and uncles and godfathers and grandmothers and you name it that that said don't quit please keep up your hard work um because we can get there if we keep on going thank you for that and i think it to your point it's on us too to normalize taking more
075time and to normalize just not quitting like and when you get there you'll get there and we'll be supporting you along the way so thank you for that um so unless there further comments we'll move on to item number 15. thank you again for the report item 15 board comments and reports um committee reports community events any updates from members of the board and we also want to hear from our student representatives tonight too i don't know should we start with the students or no we'll give you some time to think about your thoughts especially on any of the items for the agenda but we will call on each of you if you're still with us um but i'll start with members of the board um director strozer any report tonight no report tonight from
076me um directly on i just want to thank all those the staff that have helped bring those kids back to the early learning years that we have going on right now we've seen the videos we've seen some presentations um i've gone to some schools on the outside and talked to families that i you know that i saw some people i knew and how excited they were really they were all just super super excited to be there doing all the precautionary things to stay safe i talked to some of them after some schools after they've been in school and they said it felt like everything was going safely with the protocols that they had seen some of the teacher friends that i that i know are also saying the same thing so um i've been in
077every school but the few that have contacts in are are just saying that it's a wonderful thing to see the bright eyes and the learning going on and all the safety protocols being followed because they're being followed well so thank you for all the staff this energy and i know there's so still plenty of nervousness plenty of concern in the community around this and i do think we're doing the right thing by getting the kids in there slowly phased and safely thank you i'll look back to director strozer looks like your hands up my bad look this this i i forgot that i want to i want to give a quick shout out to the gray middle school and principal sean martin because on wednesday i got to participate in wake up wednesday all right
078where they do their announcements they are lively they are you know you got students and staff in there and he great gave me a list of uh questions so i could serve as the guest speaker and uh it was just a good time uh i just wanted to lift him up for doing that work because it really gets the students and the staff engaged on hump day so thank you thank you um director kitty um the oil uh well first since we were talking about schools i did get um the opportunity to sit in on uh english class at wilson last friday and i just want to give so much credit to um teachers working in this kind of environment staring at screens and squares and trying to get teenagers i mean all but teenagers
079to like participate and engage and it was like i have so much respect for the teacher that i got to sit in on um and i just think like the amount of emotional labor that goes into teaching in this environment um i don't know that it can be really be underscored enough um so i just you know i experiencing it in that kind of a setting just gave me a deeper appreciation and understanding um of just how hard our our teachers and staff are working and our students because the students that you know in this class did some really really great work so um i just wanted to share that and then the only really report that i have regarding to wasda um on our call today the um on the 25th of this week
080um there was guidance that's been released for performing arts and general performing arts recommendations um so which i know our superintendent has and our team have and i haven't really had an opportunity to like read through it but um i know that there's been a lot of questions about performing arts and you know what's going to happen with them because there's conversations around athletics but not performing arts as far as like um you know the public doesn't get to hear some of those conversations so i just wanted to share that and then the other thing i did is listen to the governor's press release today and um that our region that which is pierce king and snohomish county um has been shifted into phase two um so i know there's constantly things to process and
081understand about what does that mean and what are the implications but we excuse me we'll be in phase two on monday which i think is february third might be fourth i'm not sure um so those are those are the things that i have uh to offer so thank you thank you director bombay um i think it's getting late i'll leave time for the for the students to talk but i did want to um echo what everyone else has said about the appreciation for everyone um that everyone's been mentioned the you know the teachers the students and whatever i'd also like to to commend the parents um who are doing the the big work of supporting students to make sure they're ready and able and engaged as well so it's it takes a team and um
082you know we're all in this together and working hard to keep these kids um engaged in learning and it's so great to see our youngest kids coming back to school so thanks to everyone that's making that possible um i just want to share a thought i don't have a formal kind of committee report or anything tonight but um i'm losing time so i can't recall whether or not we met in a regular business meeting contact since the inauguration but what the inauguration kind of signified for me was shifts at the u.s department of ed and a shift that means that our senator is going to be probably leading the help committee so i just put me in the mindset of we've had a um a really good history in the past of telling the tacoma
083story and thinking forward about like innovation and ways to serve and support students better and communicating that both with legislators in olympia and with our federal kind of delegation too so it just made me think like we've been really kind of focused on local response and meeting local needs and thinking about covid but i do think as a board it's a good opportunity for us to in the context of our strategic plan work and just where we want to see tacoma go in the next five years 10 years to be thinking about the story that we tell and the kind of [Music] engagement we want to have with those who are in positions to be thinking forward to about policy and legislation that can help support students better like even making like this transition to
084digital learning help to get devices in the hands of more kids across the country like how can we build on some of these innovations and think collectively about what kinds of ask or what kinds of not advocacy lobbying because we don't do that but what kind of education that we want to do with members of both our state and federal um delegation so that's on my mind right now and just thinking too about how we engage with the paul all the policy making and development that's going to be happening pretty quickly so um and our like we've got good representation between the work that director keating is doing and we've got good representation overall i'm not saying that we need to be doing something immediately different but i just think it's a good time for
085us to be thinking forward about where we want to go and i had a specific ad to that that wasn't as broad it was very targeted but now it's flipping my mind so i'll go to the student board members and maybe it'll come back to me i'll start with um jasmine are you still with us tonight yeah i am hi um so i guess i just want to start with um the new schedule that at least sammy got i'm not sure how my school operates in comparison to other schools i know that it's not kind of all over the place and we're all making adjustments to specific schools but um at least with sammy um on monday our entire schedule was completely changed and so going from two hours um a day like of live
086classes to um all day live classes but only two days a week was a big change that i don't think a lot of students were expecting and this has led to a lot of worries and students trying to figure out how they're supposed to change their schedule since we've adapted to the remote learning i know that there are a lot of students who have to take care of younger siblings and the days that they're now scheduled to be in class all day are days when their parents are working and unfortunately like i think students main responsibility and like focus should be school but that's just not reality a lot of students have um responsibilities that take place uh in front of school especially when it comes to family and especially in the context of covid
087and so i think just making sure that while we do need to be quick with the decisions we make allowing time for students to make those changes and adapt the way they need to before we start into something new and while there's no really way to change this now i do think it is a little unfortunate that there's only the option to be in remote on the track to going in person and then tacoma online because i know that there are a lot of students struggling with the remote format and having to come online might just make that worse but if they have no other option when it comes to you know taking care of their family or if they have to work or whatever it is that is in their life um i think
088it's unfortunate to only have one other option that maybe is worse for their learning so i would just i know there's not really any way we can do that now but i did want to bring that up to the board thank you thank you for that um can i just before moving on to other students um w superintendent garcia can you clarify for us like what the i it was my understanding that the schedule changes were for the next semester that starts on the third can you clarify the timing of the schedule changes for secondary you are correct and so is jasmine so i'll remind us all that are some of our innovative schools run on a different calendar so it started the second semester uh for them started this week were our comprehensive and
089our non-partner schools um oakland would uh be on the r is on a quarter schedule so there are different flexibilities based on when their school calendar started so if any student needs support in their transition from because they have jobs or anything like that we can work with the schools to support those things in this first week in the transitions um so their technical those schools started their semester before the other schools did thank you okay let's move on to nathan you're next in my window any comments tonight yeah i have a couple things um can you guys hear me yeah okay cool um so yeah just i hadn't really thought of it until jasmine mentioned about schedules so yeah i go to wilson so our schedule's a little bit more um i guess concrete
090you know compared to the some of the other schools like sammy or soda but then then again i just one one problem i had is i wish that the district and that our schools could be a little more communicative about like sort of the changes coming coming up and i feel like a lot of students just don't really know at this point and so that's something i i think i should point out there um and then also uh sports so i know sports are starting next week actually monday for high schools and i'm going to be participating in cross country um so and i have friends who are in some of the other sports so i'd like to you know at the next board meeting probably come back and tell you guys how that's going
091um and you just from like a student perspective how we feel about it so that's something i want to point out and i was at the conditioning that wilson was doing i participated in that too and i think that went very well um everyone everything was safe and it was just good to you know be back and be working out again so that was nice um and then the last thing i want to touch on is uh renaming wilson i want to come on that comment on that a little bit so last time we talked about this um i think i said i was advocating more for keeping wilson but i've changed my mind a little bit since then i'm still kind of conflicted but um i think i'm agreeing more with changing it to
092what the superintendent recommended and what the committee went with for dr silas so yeah um i think something that really stuck out to me when you guys were discussing it all was director strozier's comment that and there's no place for coddling racists and i think that was a really important thing to realize so um yeah and dr silas is like as we've heard as an amazing person and i think it'd be great for school to be named after her so yeah that's what i have to say about that oh yeah thank you and i appreciate your comments tonight and we will all look forward to hearing how athletics goes because it's one thing to have a plan on paper but it's great to know how it actually works and it's good to know that you
093felt like conditioning was safe and well run so those are really good updates for us to hear thank you okay caitlin are you still here do you have comments for us tonight um yeah so i went i'm a junior so i took the psat on tuesday it was kind of weird being like back inside stadium for the first time since march but it was really nice and it just made me like want to go to hybrid even more and also like i appreciate everyone in the district that made that happen and then secondly like i also got that heard about the schedule change this week and like all my teachers were saying that the school board decided on it so i was just confused like when that happened so i can add some context to
094there so there was a group of uh principles a variety of input from surveys from several different factors and then the science uh not the science uh the the timeline of being able to bring students back so the principals made recommendations the school board did not take any formal action on those schedules the intent was and continues to be was is to um we have these two weeks for it let's just say for the wilson's and obviously not for the sammies and sodas but we had to make the schedule change before the semester started you can't change midstream uh the classes of their right so we went from making sure that those were lying there so that you could come back into a hybrid setting and so it was very intentional about talking about it
095last week at the study session so that people could start to get a feel of this and then there was a communication effort that went out to staff and then to families and then you've seen it in the newspaper as well and then each school has been working with their school community to say so this is what it means specifically for us in our schools so there are there are tweaks based on uh different scenarios boss is not running a six period day so they have an eight period day schedule so each school is communicating as well with their school community so in essence this two weeks is really designed to be communicating to folks uh of that and that change and caitlin um you didn't miss like you're probably like i go to the
096board meetings when did that happen so you're pointing out a really interesting nuance about this sometimes people say the district or the board or the like so it's really sometimes it matters though because we all play slightly different roles so you should be like just to clarify so you don't need to do that but i just mean like sometimes the district superintendent and leadership team um are in the position to develop the plan and to make a recommendation back to us we just update us sometimes it is an action that does require official board action and policy making on our part so you're just pointing out a really good nuance around how we refer sometimes to the district or the board or the schools sometimes they're all different and when it comes to certain actions
097and sometimes it matters thank you for that what other comments are not mean to cut you off anything else no that was it okay thank you we didn't leave you out um indigo did you have a report tonight um just a couple of things i'm glad to see that we're transitioning into the hybrid for the little ones i think it was really nice to see that we're safely and you know securely allowing them to just socialize with each other which i think is really important and it's good to see that that's happening i know that there's a new strain of the virus that made an appearance in pierce county so i just want to make sure that we're all aware of that and i see you know the hand sanitizer the masks and all that
098we're doing for the little ones and it just it's very reassuring to know that we're doing this the right way and not really not rushing into it um and then with the name change with wilson i think it's really moving in the right direction something that needed to happen and i'm glad that i live in a community that sees the problems that are going on and really works to correct them and makes everyone comfortable in their environment and so it's just really good and i'm proud to go to wilson or i'm proud to be a part of my school i'm not attached to any certain name i'm proud to be a part of the community that i'm in you're all mute i got a notification pop-up that blocked my mute button so i couldn't even
099see the signal so but i just wanted to say any other comments from members of the board tonight or some students i think it's been a good discussion all around on lots of really important issues and we'll just keep those flowing was hearing that oh deputy superintendent yeah i think you know i think for all of us as we're going through this we're all trying to gather as much input as possible and the superintendent you folks of the board we are committed to gathering feedback we're going to continue to work with all different groups we're going to continue to work with our teachers on how to best deliver our instruction our schedules a variety of factors and so although we're not able to all be in the room at the same time i think it's
100just really important for folks to understand that we're going to we're working with nutrition services and like what's the best way to do needle distribution um and sometimes it doesn't hit right off the bat the right way the first time and so our job is is to take feedback continue to adjust and so we ask for some patients along that way in that journey um you know folks often say well i want to hear first uh and then sometimes uh it's you hear it from somewhere else and so i i'm just asking that once again we we continue to be patient with ourselves as we bring students back on campuses we'll be thoughtful uh we'll give updates regularly um and that we we work together so thank you thank you i just do have one
101last comment like our the email that we get at the at the board level reflects that there are lots of different opinions on these issues that we are debating we'll get one email that says it's it's time for you to get back and finally you're moving back another email that says we're irresponsible for taking steps to move back so there's always kind of this balance one for one um similarly as we think about returning to a hybrid model where teachers and students are in buildings in person i know that not every teacher feels comfortable going back so but we are taking some steps to go back so i just think it's important right now that we give each other grace and that we all think for those who are feeling uncomfortable about going back to
102really think about what do i need to feel safe and what are those things that i can communicate to my colleagues and to my students about what i need to feel safe so that you can get closer to that mark if it means like in your classroom you want to set up this is my bubble or in my desk or like us we need to feel comfortable with communicating about and thinking about what we need to feel safe as we continue to make these changes and we all need to listen to one another and to respond so there are going to be some constraints especially around our decision making we are limited to these two options at this point to come online or kind of rolling out the hybrid so we do have some constraints
103we can't create a scenario that works for every single person every single family but we are trying but in all of this i just my comment is that we should be feel comfortable to communicate what we need and we should respect each other enough to try to meet one another where we are and to try to get at those needs so dr bonbrad i see your hand too um i just wanted to also add that that the what the data is showing right now is that the schools that actually and and the guidelines that we follow um are uh strict are the most strict in any anywhere of any in any uh setting except for the the hospitals and and um and so that you know we're doing what we can to keep kids and
104teachers safe but it i guess it's also um this is a plea to the community that it takes for a successful return to school it's going to take the community to take it seriously and to wear masks and to keep kids when they're not in school um in you know protected from exposure and the same thing for for teachers to you know not just when they're in school but when they're home and interacting and to be really all of us as a community need to get behind um being safe so um because the schools are as safe as we possibly can be at this point in terms of trying to limit the transmission of any um contagion but it's just it takes the village so um just please have everyone you know think about that
105and and be very conscious of um keeping this thing contained thank you okay with that we will move on to item number 16 announcement of future board meetings thursday february 11th we'll meet at 6 00 pm for our regular business meeting thursday february 18th we'll meet at 6 pm for a study session on tuesday note tuesday february 23rd the board will meet at 6 pm for a retreat and then thursday february 28th i think that is our regular business meeting um yep and so with that i'm seeing no further questions or comments from the board i will call us adjourned thank you