001Day January 9th we'd like to welcome everyone to our first regular school board meeting of the 2023 year uh tonight uh in the boardroom we have uh members Donley Higgins Holloman Jacobs lessons and Bellamy online we have member Wilson we also have with us our superintendent and various uh support staff throughout the room [Music] um so at this point uh we've done the roll call we're going to have a flag salute please stand and join me in the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you member lessons if you would do the land acknowledgment on behalf of the Anchorage School Board I want to take a moment to recognize
002and offer gratitude for the sacred ancestral lands the denied a people we acknowledge and appreciate that our offices facilities and schools are on the sacred indigenous lands we honor the traditional care that has been given to this land throughout Generations we are grateful for the opportunity to grow learn work and create educational community we extend continued respect for the many cultures creativity and resilience of its indigenous peoples China thank you very much uh we I would like to again welcome everyone to our meeting and thank you for attending and of course for supporting uh the work of the Anchorage school district and the Anchorage School Board uh the board would specifically like to thank our students parents teachers staff School business partners and the entire Community for the investment in our district with your time
003with your talents and your tax dollars with that we will move to item A3 which is the approval of the agenda president [Music] moved in second to approve the agenda as written um is there any opposite yes member Dudley no representation it's it's so short foreign oh you got funnies tonight okay thank you thank you member Don all right the motion before you is to approve the agenda as it is uh presented um we have we gonna have to do a Voice vote since we have one member um online whenever you're ready Miss Foster member Higgins member Donnelly yes member Holloman yes member lessons yes member Jacobs yes member Wilson yeah this is not present she probably yeah star six to yeah okay and president Bellamy yes foreign thank you and that motion passes six
004yays to one not present thank you that moves us now to Item B we do not have a military report that will be on at our next meeting on the 23rd and our student representative will join us again on the 23rd of uh January item C is our goal monitoring that will resume as well on 123. with our routine uh conversations uh regarding report will be given at that time and then we'll have our conversation uh at the next meeting with that that brings us to our first hour of public testimony our public comments uh and we're happy that you're joining us today if this is your first time there are some basic rules uh for uh and and and AIDS to navigate The Boardroom during our meetings now for those who have not attended
005school board meetings in the past you may be familiar with the rules below uh as set by the board president and board policy during public comment board members will not answer questions or engage in discussion with members of the public it is the Public's time to speak and the board's time to listen uh you may comment on a non-agenda or non-action items uh if you are here to participate during public comment you will have three minutes to speak time permitting each person is allowed one opportunity to testify on a non-agenda item or non-action item when 30 seconds remain a bell will ring to inform you that you uh that you can so that you can finish your sentence comments on action items an action item memo is first introduced by the Vice President and if
006second by another board member the president will open the floor for public comment if you you will have three minutes to speak at that uh you will have not yeah you will have three minutes to speak and again you will get a 30-second uh Bill uh near the end so that you can wrap up the school board welcomes the public to observe and contribute to our meetings through comments but to be productive our meetings must be structured and civil uh rules of the boardroom do not attack a members or speaker's motives speakers May point out what he or she believes to be the natural consequences of abort action but may not engage in speech that personally attack others refrain from disturbing the meeting no cheering Applause or outbursts attendees will not be permitted to interrupt
007the business of the school board no profanity or foul language there is no place in a public meeting but in the of the meeting of the Anchorage school board for profanity or swearing no waving of signs flyers or posters if you have handouts and you wish to have them distributed please give them to Ms Foster here at to my left and she will distribute to the board um the board president has a duty to enforce these Rules of Civility and decorum as such speakers may be ruled out of order for violation of these rules anyone who does not adhere to these rules and fails to conduct themselves in a civil manner may be removed from the meeting and with that a board policy 9323 really addresses the conduct that is expected uh in the boardroom
008so with that we have several students tonight these are our students yes all right so let's have Abigail and Matthew come up you can come together just sit right here to that see where the mics are right here yes and we'll let Abigail will let you go first and then uh state your name and then you can give your comments and when you're done we'll move over to Matthew okay is it on okay yes ready again hello Anchorage School Board I'm Abigail Hancock thank you for taking the time to hear me out and trying to understand my point of view the Alaska native cultural charter school which I will refer to as anccs is in desperate need of a school the building that currently houses Abbott Loop which I am heard to close is where
009we should go nccs needs to connect with their kids and help them and help them out which I believe can only happen if we had a building to house them in anccs which I believe is the only school to do this is to have a big week-long event that every year you could do any negative craft of your choice anccs would invite 25 artists and substance Specialists to come and teach the kids this week provides native education to all the students even the ones who are usually not able to afford to do so while those who are not connected to their culture since covid we are no longer able to have this week because we do not have a building to call our own culture week was one of the best times of the year
010for me and was one of the things I was always looking forward to I remember learning how to make Native dolls headdresses and gloves in one of the last culture weeks we had nccs used to be able to have family nights connect and give students leadership positions anccs would have movie Nights to fundraise for the students for this school and its students one year we fundraise for one of the students who had a fatal disease and couldn't make it another full year we raised money to provide one last happy Christmas for the kid students helped with all the events not because they were forced but because they wanted to help since we do not have a school to be all home we cannot have the same amount of events I remember helping with the food
011washing over the projector doing of movie Nights I enjoyed helping out and it felt good and I felt good about myself whenever I did so all of these tiny events at nccs eventually led me to develop my leadership skills because of those skills I was invited to many events in my freshman year like the youth Summit Black Caucus multiple clubs which I then gained leadership within and many I was a volunteer work my dream is to go back to anccs where I can continue showing their love and allowing kids to get the same leadership opportunities I did anccs is a wonderful school and needs to have a building so we can finally be able to do some of the things that makes our school unique and then and it makes us the native charter school
012we would be grateful if you would allow us to live in the building that uh currently has this Abbott if they want to close thank you thank you very much Matthew hello my name is Matthew Hancock I am a third year I'm a third grader at nccs Queen for all you do and listening to me ancient nccs needs a bigger building to fit all students so our costumes don't overfill flow we need a bigger space with a gym Library a cafeteria a art room with a sink because now we just use wet towels instead of washing my hands I wish we had a playground in a building of our own instead of borrowing another school's space a place where my grandma can cut seals and a gym where we can throw balls without breaking something
013or hitting someone to walking Barn if about about Loop is closed can you please move ANZ there koyana thank you very much next I'd like to call Deja and Tikvah Deja Stevens is it tikfa Barnes great welcome you have three minutes each [Music] hello everybody I am Deja Stevens a former student of Alaska charter school also known as bccs I thank you for I thank you all for your time and this opportunity to speak ACS need this new skill building greatly there are many reasons as to why they needed buildings such as safety issues affecting high school and events have an okay for eight in high school building in a in a high school building is not safe for the students high schools have a higher chance of school shootings fights and more we do
014not want these kids to be put in the crossfire as a high school student I personally experienced how violet high schoolers could be in my freshman year we had a huge fight which resulted in a building lockdown it's affected Aces as they were also put into lockdown and unsure what exactly happened happen until much later if rumors were true that a student had a weapon these kids would have them put in danger along with the high schoolers a shooting warning also was issued last year from a student he scared the parents and children at accs along the students from East High School had made a huge drop into then sat there in both schools as accs has taken the upper Benson has affected Betty Davis East High School with the lack of classrooms main teachers
015have volunteered to the accs use their classrooms while they move to another many of these teachers had classes that normally have a large amount of students enrolled in them today I have a classroom that would fit their class size they had to schedule for a smaller classroom for example my sponge my Spanish first class but my freshman year was moving to a science class instead of reimbursing for a language class Japanese classes moved to a smaller classroom and it was much too private for the students and freshman year not only is efccs troubled teeth with the issue of no building these high school is also trouble with him so if you please Abbott Loop will be a great building for sccs not only not only that as Abby had mentions culture week is where I
016found my love engineering of making building stuff kids are unable to find their skills and things that they love without some of these events at nccs has hold on thank you and thank you my name is Tikvah Barnes a high schooler and former student of Alaska native cultural charter school thank you for giving us this opportunity and the time to speak Alaska native cultural charter school or anccs has been without a building since covet and it has impacted every detail of students lives when we got our own building in 2013 enrollment increased by 100 students now that we've lost our building we've lost students along with them classes are now half the size of what they were when we had a building when we had a school there was a wait list for every class
017but now we only have people on a waitlist for our Middle School classes if we were to be given a school again more students could have the chance to learn about Alaska native cultures like I did our school is the only one in the district that teaches Alaska native history knowing the history of the land we are on is extremely important and I feel lucky to have been allowed to study it other children deserve the opportunity to learn about the history of Alaska native people in their cultures cramped in the upstairs of a high school anccs barely has the rooms of function students don't have enough space for a PE class they don't have a playground or a space to hold field day either getting at getting active is extremely important to improve learning and
018mental health or just for the kids to be kids there isn't even enough room to have our preschool in the same place as the rest of our school as our preschool is now in Mountain View with the preschool totally separate from the rest of our school it is difficult for kids to connect and build a community nccs does not currently have a cafeteria either there's no place for kids to get lunch so they receive food from East High School's cafeteria and eat in their own classrooms there's not a classroom for students to learn the yupik language an important subject that anccs has taught for a long time on a more personal note my dream is to become a teacher at nccs I want to create a safe space for students the same way anccs created
019a safe space for me I hope that when I return as a teacher anccs has a place to call home without a proper building there is no room for physical education recess a preschool or a ubik class additionally there's been a large decrease in students since we lost our building by providing anccs with a place to call our own more students will be given the opportunity to learn about their cultures before you demolish the Abbott Loop Elementary School building please consider the impact that building could have on our school thank you for your time and thank you thanks both of you okay [Music] thank you all right uh Norman Beasley the second on phone okay I'll Circle back he's not on there yet we are very early Christine Harrington and Danielle Ria come forward please
020welcome you have three minutes hey there my name is Christine Harrington and I am a staff member at the Alaska native cultural charter school and tonight I am encouraging you to consider putting the idea of repurposing back on the table and providing anccs the opportunity to be housed in Abbott Loop Elementary in the event of a school closure and CCS as you know was displaced from its building due to the impacts of the covet pandemic and since then the school has been housed in the temporary location of East Betty Davis East High School while we're grateful for this temporary space it has had a significant disruption to our students our families and our staff anccs is in dire need of a space of our own it's necessary for our students to meet their full potential
021and for our community to thrive educationally culturally and socially anccs is the only title in public charter school in the Anchorage School District and our students are provided with a strong sense of Alaska native pride and values through you about the way of being the safety of our students remains a great concern for our families and for our staff on several occasions we've gone into prolonged lockdowns and stay puts due to fights and other threats in the high school our Hall is somewhat secluded but High School still has access from three points of entry and share classes within the same Hall student safety has contributed greatly to many families having to make the very hard decision to leave anccs until we do have a space of Our Own the space if you walk through the
022Hall of enccs in our current location you will find that our win groups are being held in hallways staff are provided and staff and those that provide educational services such as speech and language occupational therapy ell sessions are working in cubicles located in the only open space that we have which is also being used as our gym and our library our students don't have access to a gymnasium to a playground or a cafeteria our students do not have the space to practice and perform cultural dance and drumming a place to host traditional Gatherings and celebrations that are essential to the cultural teachings and learnings in my position at ASD I spend time at six other sites throughout the year and there I often tell my colleagues that I have space Envy I have spent the
023past several months listening to the school board work sessions and meetings and many of the talks about capacity so you know where the space Envy is coming from I visit buildings with many many open classrooms and I think of the students and staff in our building that are going without I realize that the repurposing plan was not understood well by the community but I see it as an opportunity for ASD to continue to serve its students our students are your students thank you Miss Ria hi I'm Danielle Rio the 2019 Alaska state teacher of the year and national teacher of the year finalist you make a land acknowledgment at the beginning of every board meeting what does that land acknowledgment truly mean to you do you know the names of the other indigenous people who
024have lived across Alaska's vast lands since time immemorial I'm thankful for your acknowledgment of the athabascan of Putin Adina Ina people for their stewardship of these lands I hope you will acknowledge that the Alaska native cultural charter school is the only School in our district that teaches students about every indigenous group from our state including language history values subsistence practices traditional art forms and how westernized Co education is is connected to all academic content through the native ways of knowing you have been acknowledged this land it is time to acknowledge Alaska native cultural Charter Schools 15 years of academic and Community success we have been rechartered for 10 more years and we've been honored with many prestigious awards for teaching and learning and including we including the National Title One school for closing the Gap
025in learning for an underserved population and yet our students are still underserved without a school building you must recognize how not having a school building is affecting anccs's morale academic success and enrollment we have lost a hundred students because parents do not want their young children in a high school that has had lockdowns for violence we used to have a waiting list for every grade now we only have waiting lists for sixth seventh and eighth grades students and families who have chosen our Charter School want to be in a safe place that has all the accommodations that every other ASD student has a gym a playground a cafeteria a library a place to call our own the staff and administration at ASD and Betty Davis East High have been accommodating and kind stewards to our
026and CCS family we need a place that we can Steward where we can grow with our families and provide what all students deserve a home please support us in having a home as you go forward with supporting Aquarian charter school with four million dollars to re renovate their home and before you decide to demolish Abbott Loop Elementary please afford anccs the opportunity to Steward a home whether it's Abbott Loop Wonder park or a new site we are diligently fundraising and working towards finding a place to thrive rebuild be safe and have whatever ASD student needs and deserves a home kind regards and thanks for listening and thank you very much uh let's have Elizabeth Hancock and Michael Peters Patterson sorry welcome you have three minutes each thank you uh good evening my name is Elizabeth
027Hancock I am one of the founding parents of the Alaska native cultural charter school I currently teach Middle School language arts there I have graduated three children from anccs and you heard my youngest Matthew speak uh he is currently a third grader at anccs Quiana for your service to the students in the Anchorage community and for taking the time to hear me speak I have had the privilege of being involved with anccs since the very beginning and we have always had to do more with less throughout all of this anccs's community has remained a tight Community where our students Thrive because we meet them on a cultural level before challenging them academically Alaska native education is multi-generational our older students are role models for the younger students and we encourage Elders to spend time in
028our classroom because this speaks to the importance of Education the Alaska native Community also takes care of each other anccs has been able to do this through family nights where we have fundraised for our families or even for Rural Alaska schools we have managed to do this in all of our various locations but each one has had its challenges our location in Betty Davis East High School this East High School but it has come as a come at a cost parents have justifiable safety concerns due to the nature of a high school housing a kindergarten through eighth grade school our students have recess in a courtyard PE in a Lobby art in a classroom with no sink and small groups are held in cubicles where PE is taught being taught simultaneously I was extremely encouraged
029when the district announced plans to repurpose existing buildings due to low enrollment until we moved into Betty Davis East High School and CCS did not have that issue of low enrollment we had waiting lists for almost every grade families chose our program because the cultural component is missing from neighborhood schools and anccs has a unique opportunity to use ingrained knowledge which has shown the best way for Alaska data students to learn Quiana for your constant and continued support in helping anccs raise Future Leaders like the ones you just heard tonight thank you very much [Music] uh thank you for allowing me to speak today and I actually I just want to point out that last time I spoke at a school board meeting it was for the proposals for the land acknowledgments and I also
030also I I also would like to double down on the fact that you know a lot of elected officials a lot of government officials in Anchorage will parade how they love to do land acknowledgments and how important indigenous culture is and how important it is to protect it and promote it but then when it comes to actually getting receipts and seeing actual action there's not a lot there's not a lot and as a parent of a first grader at anccs I can say and this is his first year there I was super excited that he was going to be in the school because my son is afro-indigenous and culture is very important in my family and he needs to learn all his cultures and I was greatly disappointed that when I found out that the
031school was basically in the equivalent of a closet uh for a school building for ease and I know that ease and I know that you know there's a lot of support for the school in the community but it's just not really acceptable as a parent that my child uh doesn't have a cafeteria doesn't have a playground doesn't have a gym and that the educational professionals that I rely on to educate him don't have their own space uh in the fact that I mean my wife and I spoke to my son earlier today and he has said yes high school students will say inappropriate things to them they will get flipped off they will not be treated it's just it's not it's not acceptable and as a parent of an indigenous student I feel like I'm
032being asked to sacrifice my son's safety for uh of Education that's founded in uh culture and it's just it's not a good position to be put in and also you know and I'm trying to stay positive but you know being told that a building is going to be a school is going to be demolished well my son and his fellow students are essentially schooled in a wing of a of a different high school or a different School uh it really makes me upset it makes me incredibly upset and you know I know everyone elected officials will say these land acknowledgments but you know if you all don't find a building for these kids that Atlantic knowledge well doesn't mean anything it's just something you say it's just rhetoric and it means literally nothing I think
033and especially with the history of educational Alaska and how it was used to destroy indigenous culture you there's actually a school in the city that does the exact opposite of that and so you have a professional responsibility and a moral responsibility to find a school for these kids that's appropriate and accessible and safe and you know here's your opportunity to do it and you should take it and if you don't well then you guys are elected officials so thank you very much uh let's have Cynthia Patterson I think it's Dr pin Patterson and then Jay McDonald whenever you're ready you got my last name right so thank you I think that was actually perfect um so I have a son over at anccs as well as um Michael is my husband um and yes pretty
034much all of the things that he just said you know I can attest to we were really really excited to have arson have the opportunity to go to anccs um to be you know enveloped in his culture and also to get you know all his basic Common Core learning done as well um I didn't realize when we enrolled him that he was going to be in East High School I had thought that they had had a building over on east side because I had driven past there before and I just assumed that that was still their building um nonetheless you know we still wanted him to go to the school because it was really important for us to have that cultural element for him um but they don't have their own gym they don't have
035their own cafeteria they don't have their own Library uh they they literally have just it seems like one hallway that is classrooms on either side and then a very small common area where they have to do a bunch of stuff in that one area um it's really unfair to the kids it's really unfair to the staff um My Hope Is that you guys consider you know Abbott loop as an option um and if for some reason that doesn't fall you know work out then at least by the beginning of this coming school year you guys will have them in a building somewhere that's appropriate um like I said like Michael was saying you know our son has said he's seen some you know inappropriate things from older students that not within his school but you
036know within East High School um I don't want that to continue um I I would hope you guys can get them in a better space and and with that said as as all the negative that has been said about you know them being in that small area we would still have our son continue to go to school there next year you know for second grade um if that was the only option just because the staff is so great and what he's learning there is so valuable to us thank you very much uh let's see Jay McDonald [Music] foreign Beasley on the line we can come back to him yes welcome you have three minutes yeah so my name is Jay McDonald um to start off with I'm I'm really perplexed that the the first book
037that I came in here and read for the board was removed from every Anchorage school that it was in except for Bartlett without any explanation given and that was perplexing because there's a process to go through for reviewing and removing books that wasn't followed there wasn't any explanation given on why it was removed or what steps were taken or really anything to do with those details and then at the same time it stayed in Bartlett so if there's nothing wrong with the book why was it removed if there is something wrong with the book why is it still in Bartlett um with no explanation given it's just it's just kind of strange and it's easy to say that some of these things like some of these books like the one that I'm going to look
038at today it's just got a small passage in it that's a little bit off or strange but if it's not a big deal then why is it so important that these things are included in the book to begin with and why are these books all showing up as part of award-winning packages within the past two to three years and on that note too we just went through a two-year fight with uh you know certain people in this town whatever Judy Ellis was appointed to be Chief librarian over at lucac we had a huge knockdown drag out fight for two years about how important it is that we have trained qualified skillful um librarians it's not the janitor in the back that's just randomly ordering books out of a catalog so it's very clear that these
039books are being reviewed and ordered for specific reasons so I got a it's a copy of the graphic adaptation of Anne Frank's diary and we've got a passage in here she's talking about having your period and all those things but then it goes into a part where she's in bed with one of her friends I think she's 11 years old in this passage she says I had these feelings even before my period I remember particularly one night when I spent my night when I spent the night at Jackie's um Jackie could we show each other our breasts why Mr McDonald could you give us the pay we have students who are sitting in the audience tonight this is in elementary schools if it's appropriate there why isn't it appropriate here could you give us the
040page number and the name of the book so that we can look at what you're and there like you said there is a process they're talking about supervised at elementary schools it's Anne Frank's diary the graphic adaptation I I got the title okay I I don't think it's appropriate to interrupt me when I'm reading materials that are in our schools if they're appropriate for schools why aren't they appropriate for the school board I think it's inappropriate for you to read things in front of our students who are here this is in schools down to grade level kindergarten that doesn't mean they have access to it sir thank you okay am I able to finish my testimony or you sure you have 30 seconds put 30 seconds more on the clock please okay well I guess
041I can't continue reading this book so the questions I was going to ask it's in elementary schools is this really age appropriate for minors you might say well you know it's it's not really so maybe it's okay that it's in the high schools but if you think about like why do we need adults or high schoolers reading these you know books with depicting minors down to like 11 to 14 years old engaging engaging in sexual conduct sexual acts is that really something that we want our high school kids to be it's just there's many additions many adaptations of this book there's plenty that don't have this material in it it just feels unnecessary and this is an intentional decision that was made for the past two years okay thank you sir next we have uh
042Manny Acuna okay I'm sorry if I said that wrong and Tracy Dearing welcome you have uh three minutes thank you foreign my name is Mania cunha and I am the academic policy committee board president for the Alaska native cultural Charter School we're in CCS for short anccs is in desperate need of a home our school has been displaced since 2021 in the last few years have shown it as imperative that we operate in a building of Our Own we are currently located on the second floor of Betty Davis East High and don't know when we'll be able to move out due to lack of funds and limited real estate in the district that can suit our needs being housed at Betty Davis East High presents many challenges for nccs that include limited space no gymnasium
043no cafeteria no playground bullying from high schoolers and that's just to name a few yet our community stays strong why because our school is worth it our students families and staff know it and that is why we continue to put up with these conditions in hopes that one day anccs will finally get the building it deserves we provide our students with a strong sense of identity and Alaska Native Pride but our Cultural Mission is being destroyed many of the activities like Alaska native drumming and dancing we are accustomed to practicing we've had to temporarily put on hold because it doesn't coincide in a high school environment and is considered a disruption our school is special and I truly believe it has the potential to be the premier school in the state we just need a
044chance the children of anccs matter and I am tired of seeing them fall through the cracks we are the only title one charter school in the district yet we are also the only charter school without a building of Their Own the Anchorage School District with Anchorage school board has the unique opportunity to help accs during these troubling times at The Loop Elementary is the only school attended to be scheduled for closure but this doesn't have to be allow anccs to temporarily move in we would be liable for all the maintenance and utility costs saving the school district money in anccs would have a safe and conducive environment to house our students and staff we are chartered for 310 students currently and we only have about 236 because of being located at East High if we
045were to move to Abbey Loop Elementary it's a possibility that families who are already attending the school can continue to send their children there if they choose our school welcomes diversity and is open to everyone it could be a winning solution for all parties involved we need a space conducive to fulfilling the unique needs of our pre-k through 8th grade students families and staff this is necessary for our students to meet their full potential and for our school's Community to thrive educationally socially and culturally students of anccs must be provided with a learning environment that is safe and welcoming we need your help we welcome an opportunity to meet with you kuyada thank you stealing good evening my name is Tracy Dearing I'm a student alumni Gladys woodmeers and Diamond graduated 92 started with the
046school district as a TA in 93. have been with his school district for nearly 30 years both as a teacher's assistant and currently as an intervention coach during the height of covid we made memorandums to our contracts so that we could exclude some of our substitute teachers and have our Tas and our other support staff cover for our teachers when they were out to get an extra ten dollars an hour which was fabulous and it worked we are at the point now though we need our subs back my understanding is and I haven't checked the numbers that we cut down to about 10 percent of what we had originally from approximately three thousand Subs to about 300. there are positions going open constantly they're a special education classrooms being covered by non-certificated staff we need
047help we're burning out especially the special education classrooms especially the life skills classrooms I am currently in a life skills 2 classroom my teacher went out with a knee replacement on the 14th of December I don't expect her back anytime soon and there's no substitute there's also currently no ta she's out on other medical stuff and because I work in the school I do it's hard to get subs even when we have a full complement of Subs I work at Whaley it's hard to get people in there they hear the name and they automatically get scared we need your help those memorandums they need to go away and we need to rehire some subs we need to put out some kind of call for substitute teachers the same way we did for bus drivers otherwise
048we're going to be burning out our staff and we're going to be losing the really really good staff who care enough to do two jobs at once for a third of the pay that a substitute makes all right thank you very much and that concludes our first hour of [Music] public comments uh we will take a brief five-minute recess uh for a comfort break we'll be right back foreign [Music] testing [Music] we'd like to welcome everybody back and if there is any uh written public comments they will be attached to the agenda and you can access those through uh uh board Docs okay oh I'm still missing two more minutes foreign okay all right I think I all right well remember Donnelly is on the premises he will be in here shortly this brings us
049to item e on our agenda the consent agenda there are no consent agenda items tonight and so we will now move to item F which is our action item memorandum number zero four four Madam president I moved to approve EST memorandum zero four four to approve and authorize the superintendent to award a guaranteed maximum price or GMP contract modification for the construction of the accordion Charter School renovations to Cornerstone General Contractors Inc in the amount of 4 million one hundred seventy five thousand six hundred and eighty eight dollars a second they moved in second to approve memorandum number 44 Award of negotiated guarantee uh maximum price for a Tyrion Charter School renovations uh is there anyone who'd like to speak I'm sorry I thank you madam president I think it would be helpful if Chief
050Operating Officer Jim Anderson provided some context for this item in preparation for any other questions that might arise okay thank you hi good evening so when you look at the memo and you go through it and most of you are aware that we put a rough on a couple summers ago as the start um and when you look at everything in board memos 044 um it really does um extend the usable life of this building to 15 years plus there are no viable options to relocate aquarium to any other location at this time all upgrades to this building have been closely coordinated between cpnc the Aquarian leadership and APC and Charlie Peters the PM is here tonight for any detailed questions he knows that building probably as as well as he knows his family at
051this point but as a result the administration does recommend approval of board memo044 with the assumption that Aquarian would remain in this facility for the foreseeable future thank you are there any questions before we vote any questions comments remember Jacobs yeah thank you Mr President so um I guess a follow-up to Mr Anderson I understand that we say for the foreseeable future um we think Aquarian will remain in place is the location that Aquarius currently in um part of our as a district our our long-term portfolio I mean is it is that something the district would use if Aquarian weren't currently in the building we did not put that facility um we did not look at that for a recommended closure or consolidation in either round one or round two if in fact um that
052this board member gets approved and the conditions change in the out years as to what other uses we could use for that facility we'd look at it then but right now because we have no other viable option for that school um and and no other plan we have not uh put forth a lot of effort to try to figure out what we would do with that building if vacated does it belong to the ASD I mean you know I mean it's the municipalities but it is one of our facilities one of our facilities it is uh follow up and as I stated once you do once we've got the roof you replace the heaters um the the doors windows all the other outside um things that we're going to do for this facility it would
053extend the life for 15 years okay follow-up member Jacobs thank you Mr President thank you Mr Anderson I guess a follow-up we heard from uh members of the Aquarian um APC um late last year that they were preferring that we delay this item till tonight um to see through the school closure conversation has anyone checked in with the APC are they in support of the board passing this tonight I don't know that that direct conversation has occurred but what has happened with Charlie Peters the PM is that the APC has um picked several of the Deferred items that are not part of this contract and have offered to pay for those items out of fund balance to increase the usability of this building so my assumption is if they're willing to invest their own funds
054into this building that um they that the answer to that is almost certainly yes okay thank you member Higgins thank you um I I do know in my brief discussion with some members with the with the committee that that of course there was a tremendous amount of interest for being able to go into a ASD school that we vacated that and so I while I appreciate your comment that we're doing this with an expectation long term if we open a door closing schools and there are options here from a safety standpoint an operational standpoint I don't want my vote to be interpreted that I'm going to vote against given that opportunity if circumstances change I think it's a it's a good investment right now based on our current forecast for what we're doing with school
055closures but if circumstances change and there's a better decision even though we've we've invested in the building um I'm still going to be putting whatever the kids are first and if that involves opportunities that don't exist today I don't want it to be interpreted that I'm voting with that understanding hey thank you remember Jacobs I think um member Higgins articulated I guess maybe the reasoning or the underlying concern regarding one of my questions which is that um you know we haven't uh we talked you know we approved our guidance at the last meeting for the FY 24 budget we talked about how we were going to have to have additional conversations around what um closures might look like for future rounds um if the board was going to pursue that after hopefully in my opinion
056engaging in um a a more thorough a community engagement process um here if they're hopefully a committee structure but that's again a separate item um if if that ends with with us potentially moving aquarium out of this building and us not having another purpose for this building I guess I'm wondering if we should um spend this money now or wait to see um what the rest of the closure conversation takes shape um among the board here here in the months to come um I don't want to be in a place where in 12 months we're wishing we had this this funding back for another purpose if it could be identified so that's kind of my I guess the underlying concern there Dr Bryant if I could just interject uh so to the points made by
057several board members uh you know of course uh if conditions change in the future that would be something um that we'd be willing to talk about but we did just want to save for the record that this would be investing a substantial amount of funding into that building um so we will need to have some sort of plan for that building if conditions were to change um and to your appointment for Jacobs I may ask uh Jim Anderson to chime in here um I believe there are some uh fairly uh time-sensitive things that need to be replaced in that building so to delay that um I would just worry about the academic experience of students if there are things that need to be replaced so uh Mr Anderson could you chime in about what exactly
058this item entails Roger and to clarify when when I stated that um we would assume as an Administration for the foreseeable future that they would stay there it means that we would not put them in a different facility on a CIP nor would that be expected this year um I I think in the last five years there's so many conditions that have changed so dramatically sometimes overnight um plus the school board that voted in on on school start times is a completely different school board than today's school board um so you can never commit future school boards when conditions change to make different decisions but there are some there are some things that that we do recommend that that we should do if you were to look at the bid there's there's several things that
059are either um you know based off recent events with uh the the fire and then the fire alarm after that which um were directly related but we think we should fix the furnaces if we had the funds to fix them and the other safety items and and would recommend doing that again when you extend the building life to 15 years the fact that we don't have multiple contingency plans um for other uses for that building it doesn't mean that it's not worth this investment in order to improve the quality of education for those students thank you uh seeing no other hands remember Jacobs yeah thank you madam president thank you Mr Anderson um to be clear I I support any investment that needs to be made to provide a quality learning environment and a safe
060learning environment for this year um again my underlying concern is if we um are wishing we had some of these funds back in less than 12 months and so I guess out of the items list of the design the Reconstruction services that roof upgrade Etc going down what's in the memorandum is there which of those elements are time sensitive is it all of them that are appropriate and necessary to get us through this year I think we have time to bring the team forward [Music] now yeah foreign [Music] I [Music] once we or if we approve it tonight we're still going to go through it you got to get the contracts we got to get all the signatures on that that takes a little bit of time uh and then we gotta work with the
061contractor on uh material orders and deliveries that always takes time as well uh so I'm uncertain exactly how where the materials are right now because we've held off the contractor until we make the decision uh from the board because we don't want to invest anymore on the pre-construction services until until we make a decision so since uh uh let's see October 18th and I think 11-1 we've been waiting for a decision to be made so that we can move forward with that And to clarify the contractor hasn't procured materials without a contract they haven't done a lot of things that they normally would have done um by now so there will be a learning stage in resetting expectations once Charlie's able to work with that contractor uh yeah thank you madam president so thinking long
062term I guess um from a from a safety standpoint from a quality of learning standpoint if if this board knew for uh for certain that I mean we won't have the certainty tonight but theoretically if we knew for certain that this facility wouldn't be utilized by Aquarian or another program after the 23 24 school year um would these Investments still be appropriate and a wise use of public funds foreign I mean there's there's so many possible uses when you first asked um I mean we always have storage requirements we always have we could look at um things like uh Early Childhood centers or other there could be so many different options we just have not put the analysis into that building and actually looked at every classroom to determine its full potential uses for the
063district and and frankly we probably wouldn't just out of curiosity unless um it looked like we were headed that direction foreign [Music] I guess I um I I guess I I've gotten pretty good accounting before and so I think when um we were originally discussing this um a couple months back it seemed to be that there was four votes in support of getting a query in a permanent home inside a um a repurposed ASD campus and um Administration has made clear that they plan to at least consider proposing a future rounds and recommendations of building repurposed options and so if that happens here within the next 12 months I think that aquarium will likely get serious consideration from this board what whether I support it or not um and so that's kind of the underlying
064hesitancy but I've exhausted my line of questioning and I appreciate all the answers and the information um so unless there's some other point of interest on this I I think personally I would feel comfortable waiting a bit longer till we had kind of a more strategic Vision conversation for how we want to handle future closure conversations before making any non-urgent safety Investments for our students at that location but I could be an opinion of one on that so thank you remember Higgins it appears that most of the Investments here is prudent for the property no matter what we do it looks like it uh and so accordingly that's an issue give me one second while I uh hang up this phone call that's beeping in my ears um along those lines I remember when this
065first came up for discussion it was we've already invested some monies to upgrade to changes and the kids are doing good academically so it didn't fall I I don't that's not going to be my criteria of just being upfront about it maybe I will see oops what happened yeah you're right you didn't know is it working now uh I thought maybe that was deliverable what am I doing um what are you doing um keep your hands up and we'll go um but but I'm just letting you know my my criteria is not based upon past Investments and is not based upon how well the kids are doing is what's best for that group an aquarium has not been in the best facility we had the fire we had the damages uh it's got risk factors
066associated with it I don't think we can wait to address most of those because with this thing may go on for years uh but and and we recognize that there may not be a lot of school closures we'll close we just don't know but I just don't like I said I just wanted to address the if we invest in this this is the way it's going to go forward in the future because when things change I'm going to be very advocating for charter schools to get a safer place and Aquariums high on that list thank you not seeing any other comments oh did you have okay uh let's do a vote thank you guys sure if you saw that I had my hand raised oh I'm sorry remember Wilson I did not see you there
067you are um just I actually there was a question the member Jacobs asked that I wasn't clear on the answer um and is it is for the team so I apologize that they already walked away um are all of the repairs and upgrades on the list considered urgent or is it just a portion so is this an all or none kind of amount that we're looking to vote on foreign I think I can answer that so you would be voting on The not to exceed Max cost of the repairs for the facility with this board memo as Charlie starts working with the contractor we find out that some things may not even be available for extended periods of time he'll be working with the APC he'll be working with the uh principal and and there
068likely could be some contract modifications if you recall in August when we talked about this when we delay it um also from a contractor's perspective uh that it that individual company can't indefinitely hold that price as a valid price because conditions for them change as well and we've seen that throughout cobit as certain things were just simply no longer available or now they become available so it really is a negotiation with Charlie the contractor working with the APC and the leadership to determine what will ultimately be able to get fixed and if certain things aren't available then then we can work with the APC if there's funding on some of those deferred items that they really did want corrected um and and maybe modify the scope that way but it really is the board voting
069on the Max cost which is 4.175 to be able to start that process moving forward thank you does that answer your question member Wilson yes thank you thank you madam president coming back get back in the queue sure uh we were getting ready to vote so why don't you go on sure um so I guess what my last uh comment would be that knowing we're voting on the upper limit maximum I'm assuming Administration will keep in mind that um you know that the way things were headed with Aquarian likely to be seriously considered to receive a repurposed building I'm hoping that that's clear I'm hoping that um you know we're also keeping eyes wide open with this board to this date at least um as far as I can tell has an endorsed um no
070fulpit hasn't given a full throat endorsement to the idea of a Pre-K Center and not versus um combining and opening up one of our classrooms the inside currently used buildings for pre-k um and the idea that we still need to have that closure conversation so I hope we're keeping all these things as wide open as we commit to spending these funds with the idea that um we still have an 800 million deferred maintenance backlog or a minor maintenance items are still in the thousands and so there's definitely other purposes for these funds and so that's that was my area of Interest so thank you I can look yes with that guidance thank you I will withhold my comments so that we can vote member lessons yes member Wilson [Music] yes member Holloman yes member Jacobs
071yes member Higgins member Donnelly yes president Bellamy yes and that motion passes uh unanimously that's memorandum number zero four four thank you uh we have uh non-action items are next so they'll come back to you next week uh well week after next our next meeting um we have no more public comments that brings us to the superintendent's update thank you madam president uh good evening uh ASD board and ASD Community uh it's great to be back after a wonderful holiday season that was filled with a recharging and reflection um it goes without saying the last semester was filled with a number of unprecedented challenges and while we have much work to be done on the front of our budget and other operational issues I am also energized to do what needs to be done to
072meet our ambitious goals and to put ASD in a strong position for the years to come so first off I do want to recognize for the public a number of new members to the ASD senior leadership team that you probably noticed earlier today so first off Mr Marty Lang is the district's new chief of Human Resources having previously served as director of high schools uh Jim Anderson as you gathered likely uh you realize that he's our new Chief Operating Officer after having served as CFO for a number of years and I also want to recognize Mr Holland's uh great leadership during a truly unprecedented semester as acting CEO uh so thank you uh additionally I want to recognize that Andy Ratliff who the board is very familiar with has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer
073from senior director within finance and uh as we've shared previously uh Mr Sven Gustafson has officially transitioned to Chief academic officer after a very seamless handing of the Baton from Dr Stock and team uh and then uh also joining academic Services is our new assessment and evaluation senior director Mr Chris Opitz who's previously our taku principal uh fantastic one at that uh so with that said this team uh is new and it's also completely aligned on the priorities which include the boards goals and guard rails and retaining and attracting talent to ASD so we're ready to hit the ground running in 2023 and to do whatever it takes to achieve our goals so I've personally been blown away uh by the caliber of talent throughout our organization and with this new group we will be
074laser focused on the North Star which is ensuring that ASD will be among the top performing urban districts of our size uh so with that said uh the budget challenges aside we have a real opportunity to make decisions that could provide greater opportunities for students some of these upcoming uh discussions and decision points could be around a shift of sixth grade to Middle School district-wide it could also be following up on our conversation this afternoon a shift of school start times and also reimagining our approach to curriculum and instruction and on the subject of curriculum as I recently shared with the board on in last week's board connect ASD is eligible for approximately uh 3.8 million dollars in Grant funds from the state to fund the cost of implementing a new Ela curriculum so while
075the decision to ultimately adopt the curriculum will be made by the board I have asked staff to closely examine this opportunity the state has curated a list of four vetted options for curriculum and in the coming weeks groups of ASD teachers and staff will closely review and compare them so the administration can provide a recommendation to the board on how to proceed I will keep you posted on that on a different note I do want to State uh that the Abbott Loop Community is at the Forefront of staffs and my mind and we are committed to implementing a plan that ensures students families and staff receive robust support and resources throughout the spring and Beyond should the campus be closed next school year tonight I just wanted to share that this planning is taking place
076with the board and I will consult with Madam president on the best time and format for the board to receive more detailed information on how exactly we'll be supporting Abbott Loop students in families through a transition and given tonight's testimony uh there may also be interest in understanding the considerations of repurposing the building uh versus demolition as the administration previously recommended and we can prepare for that conversation as well uh lastly I I do want to restate to the community that our uh snow day makeup plan proposal is still a go uh our plan will receive final review from deed and I will also put this before the board for review this month uh and just to recap the plan includes replacing the teacher conferences scheduled for February 22nd and 23rd with full days of
077instruction uh to replacing the teacher in service days scheduled for February 24th with a full day of instruction and then three adding 30 minutes to the school day for all grade levels beginning January 30th through March 9th we propose uh the instructional date and 30 minutes later in the day uh so all that to say conversations with Union leadership on this topic have occurred and will occur uh this week and once those are complete I expect we'll have logistical specifics to share with our employees and we'll also begin a robust Communications campaign so that families and the broader Community are made aware of what this proposal entails and also as I shared we will be much better positioned to implement remote learning should future weather events occur this semester that concludes my report right thank
078you Dr Bryant uh questions remember Jacobs to Dr Brian for um I think this definitely needs to be our District's priority that we keep those students and families um well taken care of through the transition um that we've attentively approved um I I found the testimony um tonight from the anccs community um very motivating and I had the opportunity to to tour the current facility which really does equate to kind of a half of a hallway inside Betty Davis East Anchorage High School um earlier this year with principal sweet sir um you know I think we've the term common room was used to describe kind of the junior I think it's pretty generous I think from a um from an architectural standpoint it's probably best described as like a hallway Atrium we need to I
079ideally we need to collaborate with their APC to find a long-term solution to the extent that we can assist them is repurposing the building something administration's considered and is that something that the administration would be interested in having a board um straw poll on like we did earlier in the in our work session to have something formally um considered and proposed in front of the board thank you member Jacobs through the president uh at a high level I will say that earlier in our conversations around avidly specifically um what was the uh that's the the high cost of replacing the the sprinkler system I think that what was initially led to our proposal of a demolition versus repurposing um but I will ask uh CEO Jim Anderson to comment further in terms of feasibility and
080desire for more information from the board thanks Dr Brian so the very first charter school that the administration looked at for any repurposed plan was anccs when we developed the initial round one reductions um because we were well aware of the challenges they're having at Betty Davis's tie at trying to provide an optimal education environment if we had only proposed Abbott Loop and no other schools for closure it is likely that we would have recommended moving anccs there but we had we had a list of six we we came up with all of our repurpose plans and Abbott Loop if we were to um completely renovate or rebuild that school it was so cost prohibitive and we had no legitimate repurposed plan knowing that if we stay in there we really want to fix the
081fire suppression system and that's why we recommended that we would declare an excess and give it back to the city um again if that was the only school we may very well have looked at renovating it with the fire suppression system and putting them there they were our first highest priority charter school for relocation I I do want to point out one thing on the fire suppression system we did go out for bid last spring and I don't know how many board members remember but we had zero bids on it um we would have to devise a strategy that would maximize the chance of getting a vendor uh or a contractor to do that work um but we've already talked about it behind the scenes and we'll develop a way ahead if this is the
082path the board wants to go Madam president sure um so I would thank you um Mr Anderson Dr Brian I appreciate the feedback I I think that they're I think just from a basic high level from a board level at least there seems to be a potential match there with we've you know the board's greenlit tentatively speaking one um potential closure the nccs is in my opinion in dire need of of a home that's my understanding and conversation um during our break with members of the EPC that their long-term desire is to have their own building closer to where their families are in East Anchorage so there might be um you know chance for at least a short-term partnership there that would benefit students and so um I would be um I I guess I
083would urge us to consider having those conversations and if that's something that we would have a board straw pull for I would support that I would I would support that conversation um and then you know if nothing can't be worked out that's understood but to not seriously examine that to the degree that we haven't yet I think is potentially a missed opportunity and so um I guess the the follow-up question I have is you know we need to have a more thorough briefing on this for sure but with transitioning um from a pure closure to a repurpose for Abbott lube for at least a short-term home for anccs with that broaden our fy24 fiscal Gap yeah Mr Anderson um because they would be picking up the maintenance costs and the utilities costs um I didn't
084re-figure out the numbers but we would still have an overall cost savings not counting Capital Improvements of somewhere in the 700 plus range um for the first couple years so it would not negatively impact our budget in any way so I have a so my vote to we to consolidate Avenue was primarily influenced by the fact that we were going to demolish that building that it was too expensive for us to put more money into Abbott Loop and it was essentially unsafe so now what I'm hearing is an interest to put the money in the building still move Abbott Loop families put money in this building and then move in and Chris uh Charter uh native cultural charter school is that is that what I'm hearing to provide some clarity um improving adding in the
085fire suppression system which was voter approved a few years ago um that is not the same as many of the refurbishment projects on a query and that significantly extended the life of that facility um it wouldn't be a a 20-year plan to uh move a and CCS into this building without looking at the future of of additional costs or if other facilities come open at some point in the future um potentially moving them again to a structure that required less money uh member Higgins well I appreciate this hobby remember discussions with the um with Abbott Loop and originally it was the they had to raise the roof and do everything else and so the only way to do it was go and build a new school then they said there's a way to go around
086it so the cost came way down to be able to to meet the fire code requirements we're always concerned that fire chief was going to close the school because it wasn't beating the requirements and it needed to be higher and it will change us but now at this point I don't know what the cost estimate was when we went out for bid to fix a fire suppression system but it's not involved with reality rating totally they took school or building a new school type of cost it was a lot lower uh it wasn't as high in regards to the anccs it's kind of interesting with the native School Alaska native school was that it released in the past that has been viewed as one of our top performing Charter Schools when you look at the
087demographics uh and we do comparisons of people attending that compared to a regular schools they get exceptionally high and so if you look and separate the out just how high are they doing look at look at the same population within the school and within the um uh how well as in CCs is doing it was a big Improvement it was it was good so I think providing some type of support in that regards is something I want to clearly support and if I didn't know they would want to go that far away from where they are right now but um it's something I hope that we look into because it that they need that help and they are it's a popular school and they've also at one point they looked at the population and saw
088a lot of population in the South I met with this and there was some discussion a long time ago because I was on the board 2009 2010 time frame where they talked about maybe having two separate schools just to meet the population demand of what they wanted to do so um I appreciate all the feedback on this I I just want to share that I don't see you know because we're going to vote you know different issues out there but I think this is an important point for discussion in the future uh with ancc Fiats to to be supportive of them I think it's important member Jacob thank you madam president I um you know I guess there's and there's there's still plenty to discuss and so that's where I'm wondering if we want to
089obviously this is an agenda item tonight so I'm just wondering if maybe Administration would be interested in you know in an informal straw poll whether or not they want to invest future discussions uh item J um board member comments uh let's start to my left this time remember Higgins and I do have a time at nausea I I tell people the three-minute rule is referred to as the pet Higgins rule so it's okay I appreciate that uh I just want to uh a couple of things one is I always appreciate it when students come and testify in front of us and they did a great job tonight and I they I really appreciate that I also appreciate what the anccs has accomplished and like I made rough on assuming regards to some of the data
090I've seen in the past I haven't seen the most recent data but um uh when you compare the demographics and you compare the other it has in the past been the top uh performing uh charter school that we actually have in Anchorage and uh that's a big congratulations on that I um offer my congratulations and um uh on the recent promotion and changes that are taking place in the in the superintendents immediate staff on real pleased with some of the changes that are taking place I think that's going to be a real swan team that I look forward to to getting their support and because the board actions as well but I'm real pleased with what I'm seeing and I think we'll head in the right direction and last comment this was a little different
091tonight what was different it seems like we actually talked about academics a little bit more I don't know I could be missing that whether we talk about it with school times if we talk about the curriculum change uh and we talk about the impact on these um I I look forward to that being more of a discussion rather than what we're going to do with the current budget and how we're going to go forward with focus on the kids and I think that's a real positive move and I'm appreciative of that appreciate the superintendent bringing it up as well thank you thank you remember Jacobs yeah thank you men in prison I'll be brief um I wanted to welcome uh student staff and families back to the the um the second semester here I know
092my um teenagers were not especially thrilled they adjusted I think as the day went on I think they're now soundly sleeping um wanted to congratulate all those Administration who received new positions and um thank you Dr Brian for forming a really quality team I didn't want a single up Mr Holland I think he was the the receiving end of many of my uh phone calls and so I'm probably more than most so uh Kudos and it was a pleasure working with him looking forward to many more conversations so thank you thank you remember Danley over a decade ago when the district would move to a be prepared to adopt and study new curriculum the igneous survey of teachers and a survey of parents um seeking their recommendations in fact a committee would be formed and
093pick like a certain number of possible recommendations and then go out and it was a survey conducted by the district I'm starting to think it's time to return to that kind of a format to gain more student and public input into our curriculum process okay thank you um member Wilson how do you have any comments I I do I'll keep it brief as well I really hope everyone enjoyed their holiday break and their um time with their families uh ASD connect publishes on Friday there will be details on the snow closure makeup plan a recap of the work session information on changing School Tarts the possibility of changing school start times a recap of the regular meeting and more and our next communication committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday January 26th at noon thank you
094and thank you all right remember lessons I will not be brief but I appreciate uh the opportunity to speak first of all um I drove my kids to school today I really appreciated the efforts that went into making the driving route um wider it was significantly safer from many perspectives and I even noticed that the front of the we talk a lot about roofs in here uh and maintaining them and I noticed that the front of the roof was shoveled and I hope that will support longevity and good gutter health so thank you to everyone who um contributed to the snow removal efforts over winter break um I'm interested in just maybe I need greater clarity about which sixth graders are would potentially move to which middle school and when so if that could be
095part of future discussions that would be helpful um I appreciate the administration's willingness to engage in Deeds evidence-based Ela vetting process and I'm interested in how that rolls rolls out um evolves over coming weeks um and then I really want to reserve the bulk of my thoughts to talk about artificial intelligence um a new program called chat GPT was released five or six weeks ago um I don't know if other board members have been following this I would encourage you to read um and explore what it might mean for Education um when it first appeared on my radar I think I began to worry I'm a little less worried right now and maybe more excited than I was for those of you who haven't heard of chat gbt it's a revolutionary AI program artificial intelligence
096trained on a robust a very large data set to predict human knowledge and speech in short it can summarize it can answer direct questions it can edit it can rewrite and it can generate in a highly interactive way I had a long conversation about this with my sixth grader and her eyes went wide um however because programming excuse me this this its programming is not a citation or even plagiarism um it's generative asking the same question to chat GPT multiple times can lead to different and multiple answers that are undetectable by plagiarism detectors and possibly undetectable even by really bright teachers um so chat GPT as I explained to you my sixth grader could if you have a topic let's say what are the causes of World War II it can generate a 5 or
09710 paragraph essay on the crosses of World War II and then you can further command it to revise it in the tone of a high school sophomore or a sixth grader this is where her eyes really she she got it um it can do a lot more it can generate creative dialogue screenplays songs it can rewrite um it can it can do your editing um I think it is going to radically it's just it's just the tip of the iceberg right artificial intelligence is coming and there are going to be more iterations that um are going to transform what we ask our students to know and be able to do I'm going to quote in our recent article chat gbt will change the relative value of human skills and therefore what students should know and
098be able to do it has shortcomings um it cannot really think outside of its training data set it doesn't know what happened yesterday for example I think it ended in about 2021 um it can't do stepwise assignments it can't document like cite or justify its reasoning or editing or provide accurate references or links um but NY but New York City schools have already banned chat GPT on their Network and their devices which is an interesting path forward but I don't think it's the right one I don't think it's Equitable because if New York City schools has a Chromebook and a student has a Chromebook and an iPad that student who has access to something on their own can go around upload their document to to Google documents and then put it back on their school
099assignments um so I I don't think that what New York City Schools did and just Banning it is correct um I think that we need to think um as a community really um we need input from our teachers from our administrators from our parents from our students about how we can harness these capabilities to support our students innate Ingenuity and develop their Nimble skill sets we've talked in the past and I remember our governance meeting we I use the word nimble and I think right we need our students to be nimble uh for the 21st century and I also think we need to increase the value of what chat GPT and these other AI programs cannot do right so value oral work verbal communication um writing in class maybe without the use of the internet
100um you could reimagine right think pair share which is sort of an approach to teaching to think pair chat GPT pair share right so you're interacting with this chat bot to improve your writing skills um you can you can improve your analyze why did the chat GPT come up with its materials what's missing how would you improve its Voice or its tone so I don't think that it is going to um signal the end of writing whether it's an English essay or a historical essay or I don't know a science lab report um but I think it's going to change I think it's going to change everything I don't think we can send essays home as homework anymore and expect them to be done in a fair and Equitable manner um so I'm really interested
101in understanding I think it can also help personalized learning at scale so um anyways I I was five six weeks ago really kind of afraid of this new thing but I think we need to embrace it I'll leave it there why thank you ma'am that that's not me that's my AI thank you um yes remember Holloman I have to ask member Watsons can I share a meeting I think it could actually you could probably end it share a meeting in the style of President Bellamy all right thank you that might work when you said it couldn't give justification or citations I thought that really is like a student and I'm also reminded in the late 90s her debate was should we allow kids to wear Bart Simpson t-shirts to school we've come such a long
102way in uh in this time also I was reminded that two years ago I was in this building to get my vaccination and it just brought back to me a time when um for any of you that came here to get vaccinated there was a real positive energy out of all of it and I think a big part of it was we were actually doing something again that for the first time this was something we could do to really help the situation help the city um I believe it's still the case that ASD vaccinated more people than any other agency in the state which is kind of remarkable um but I I it did make me think I wanted to thank the staff again that was involved in it for making it happen so many
103people at community councils the normally are pretty negative about ASD kind of changed their tone because they came here they didn't wait in line too long they were treated very nicely they were watched carefully after they got their shot and and sent on their way after it was clear they didn't have complications there just really seemed to change a lot of people's perception of the school district um the last one I I think I share some of memorabilities concerns that we and and I kind of get the understanding that that we still would be causing a school and using our resources more efficiently but for a lot of people that watch us move a lot of kids out of the building and then move a different group of kids into a building they would ask
104what the heck are you doing and are you really saving any money and and we are but I I would like for uh the administration to note what the long-term impact is if people stay in that building um what kind of costs we're looking at down the road sooner or later we have to address um the code situations and different things that come up with that and that's that is kind of a tough decision but um otherwise it's really nice to be back after a great break and I do think our staff has carried us through a really difficult fall um really dealt with a lot of questions from the public and representatives well at our town halls and and other situations and I want to thank everyone for that again thank you I was
105going to do the same thing thank you very much uh just a couple of uh um housekeeping actually you guys have homework you have homework yes would you pass this out please everybody gets one this is in preparation for our board retreat and no we will not use six hours on this but we are going to do some pre-work on our event on our self-evaluation so that we can get it done in about an hour hour and a half so prior to our board uh um work session which will be on Saturday the 2 the 21st um actually we the The Retreat itself will start on the 20th from four to seven then move to [Music] um continue on Saturday from nine to four and I will get the agenda out as soon as everything
106is confirmed uh but prior to that I'd like to for each board member to complete uh this pre-assess this pre-evaluation starting with the last page that stapled together we've done this before we're just going to do it in pairs this time rather than as a whole group so uh and I have assigned partners uh member Higgins you are my partner [Music] I know I I don't know I had a minute there Wilson and Jacobs you're going to work together lessons in Holloman you're going to work together and Brian Dr Bryant and a member Donnelly you're going to work together and basically you're going to complete page 21 and then you're gonna just have a conversation about um pages one through seven all right and and I am available if you have questions it's pretty it's
107pretty easy I'm asking that you get me your collaborative notes comments uh that page 21 especially if you'll get that for me um your scores and those items that you believe we can do better over the next three months or six months okay [Music] uh other than that be sure to check your community council meeting schedules because some of them have changed but I don't think the time or the the days have changed I don't think the times have changed but you want you might want to check those to make sure that you are um you know you're not missing those and with that those are all of my comments remember Donnie I saw your singer oh oh they change okay so that's a good point so check all of your accounts on meetings because
108days and times may have changed uh I also sent out the school board report that I sent to the Federation um you guys are welcome to use it or add to it and make it your own with that uh any other comments stuff right you have any last minute no further comments thank you madam president okay Madam president moved to adjourn moved in second to adjourn