Regular Board Meeting - May 21, 2018

001[Music] School District Board meeting to order and we have one a board member absent which is Betty Davis and if I could have Dina lead us in the flag salute please I'm sorry Dina Mitchell so at this time this is usually a statement that's read by our student representative who is not with us this evening we want to welcome you to our board meeting and thank you for attending and supporting the work of the Anchorage School District and the board the board thanks students parents and teachers staff school business partners and the entire community for your investment in our district with your time your talent and your tax dollars if you're unable to be physically present for the entire meeting you may choose to tune in to the municipality of anchorage channel 9 or youtube

002to watch the livestream recordings or meeting on of all our meetings are also available through the agenda and board docs so at this time approval of the agenda I move to approve the agenda a second second okay thank you and at this time we are going to be recognizing some awards Denali Award winners for the recognition of spring 2018 and I'm going to introduce well you know who you are but Dina bishop will open us up thank you madam president the next item on the agenda is ASD memorandum one five for recognition of spring 2018 Denali Award winners school board members Alisha Hildy ELISA Snelling and Andy Holloman will read the memo with Suzy Spackman Roger Baker Jerrod Gortner Brian Byron Lewis and Harvey Watson please come forward [Applause] to Alaskans Denali means great one

003and the Anchorage School District is proud to have employees that display greatness in the areas of achievement service and dedication this is the highest award offered by the district twice each year supervisors submit nominations in a panel of ASD employees selects a number of co-workers and teams of colleagues that demonstrate outstanding commitment to the district's mission of educating all students for success in life three winners have been selected for the fall 2018 awards cycle Suzy Spackman Suzy spackling brings music to life at Chu yak elementary school through her excitement and passion for teaching music to every student who walks through the door she's known schoolwide for her positive happy energy and her ability to create unique and meaningful connections with students staff and parents she provides an engaging curriculum that includes developing social emotional skills

004and prioritizing the instructional needs of all her students several parents who described their children as shy or sensitive commended her on her caring approach which has been a positive influence on their confidence and love of music mrs. Bachmann incorporates movement German and dance to every child engaged while providing a culturally responsive musical education by incorporating musical styles from around the world she regularly collaborates with her colleagues and coordinates her music lessons with classroom teachers units on people and cultures the students are learning about she helps to partners with PE teachers for a gym music unit a student favorite that combines physical education and music her dedication to improving the academic environment for everyone at Chugiak is evidenced by her contributions when it came time to develop the school's master schedule her out-of-the-box thinking and collaboration

005skills were especially noted as being instrumental to the success of the project her principal wrote of her she's an expert in her field a highly collaborative colleague and is truly changing the lives of the countless students that had the pleasure of stepping into her classroom I won't make you sing unless you really want to no just kidding um I thank you it's very much an honor [Applause] [Laughter] Roger Baker after only one year at Golden View middle school as their safety and security specialist Roger Baker is already viewed as a trusted advocate for students and someone who goes above and beyond to improve safety across the school campus one teacher describes him as a trusted friend counselor calming presence and valued team collaborator he builds relationships with all members of the school's learning community and

006has an affinity for making connections with some of the most challenging students his calm and thoughtful manner is an asset whether he's assisting students teachers or parents a particular note was the praise he received for his ability and willingness to develop a good rapport with special education students he is often sought out to help with students who are experiencing behavioral or emotional challenges during the school day Baker also led the way in improving the safety and efficiency of the school's parking lot and drop off pickup areas which experiences very high usage and had been the source of many complaints after researching best practices on traffic flow signage marking and lighting the implemented changes have been very well received by everyone who comes to the school whether he's out in the parking lot directing traffic assisting

007a student with a locker or finding equitable solutions to disciplinary problems golden views principal feels that Baker's collaborative approach has immensely contributed to the quality of our school experience for students staff and parents my name is your French for us here would you like to come up and join us come on out yes oh thanks I could I can say many things but Roger is truly a gentleman he is a man of the people that I have met very few people that have the love of children that he exhibits every day his focus on safety is caring for staff is unmatched and I feel portion it every day to be able to work with such a gentleman he really embodies what it is that we try to do every day at golden euskal Thank You

008Roger for being you thank you and with the utmost gratitude and appreciation I thank you for receiving this wonderful award I couldn't have done it without the school that I represent and the environment every day that it's about the kids every moment of every day and that kind of be more appreciative of being there Thank You Clark safety and security King the Clark safety and security teams motto may be to be visible and accessible but it's how they go about embodying that motto that speaks to their success in creating a safe and conducive learning environment at Clark middle school they regularly spread good spirits humor and the feeling of being valued through their humane compassionate leadership style together Jared Gortner Byron Lewis and Harvey Watson create a safe environment of the school by developing trust

009and building positive connections relationships with families are developed through frequent interactions about not just challenges that students are facing but also by sharing their successes as well the team reaches out to students who have been missing school through home visit an attitude of connecting with students wherever they are with the goal of getting them back in school they embrace the use of district tools by capturing kids hearts program they help them connect with students and the data dashboard that helps them evaluate their efforts each individual of the team has his own strengths Lewis is known for his ability to develop a rapport with individual students partners law enforcement experience and humor helps shape the school community and Watson has a firm fair and consistent problem-solving approach but as together as a team where they really

010shine through their collective energy and purposeful dedication the Student Success everyday according to the principle quote they are amazing inspirational and true assets to the Anchorage School District in their profession the administration invites the board to join in recognizing Suzy Spackman Roger Baker Jared Gortner Byron Lewis and Harvey Watson as Denali Award winners and all the nominees for their example of excellence that they set for the entire Anchorage School District community well I'd like to invite my other team members up my colleagues missus maples and mr. in the administrative team is here to support our safety security team in the letters were spoke very diligently about their commitment to our school our community and to our students every day they are capturing kids hearts and extending every bit of what they have to all of

011us and we just appreciate them so much they just go above and beyond I'm just gonna say a few things mr. Lewis and his son can you stand up for just a moment it's not his son is off sends out to the family so I got the little message that mr. Lewis and his son were up on Saturdays and they were raking leaves and putting them away secretly it was just not a thing that was above and it's just a family affair of where the family embraces all of us at Clark's middle school were just a unit together and the same for mr. Wattson mr. Gordon er is on the on the phone right there face carving in his father is really ill and he had to travel out of state to take care of

012him and we told him that he would we would FaceTime meet him in but it really it's a family affair we appreciate them so much and thank you for joining in with us and acknowledging their service and their commitment they are ASD and they represent the ground while holding their corner here not shaking them up making them sick so for me it was leaving one fighting force or greatest fighting force in the world after retiring from the military and joining a team of brothers that embrace taking care kids and helping the administration make art one of the better schools in the district that's what we just believe our school is one of the best in the district and just making kids every day mentoring them to where they can believe in their dreams and you

013know shoot before the moon you know they missed their monkey stars and we tell them that every day just to keep them up and we thank our principal our administration they're great but we're team these are my brothers and we embrace the same thing we just want to make these kids Williamsport great an environment for us to be successful in for me just being able to come it's not even work really you know you come to school every day Oh principal sorry good evening everyone um I would have spoken earlier had I know that that was what we were going to do to talk about our fantastic teachers and folks that work at our schools we're lucky across the board to have just such phenomenal individuals so mrs. Bachmann is our music teacher at Chugiak

014elementary were k5 and we have over 500 kids we're a very large elementary school and she knows every single kids mean not only just know that but she knows something about them and and so she brings brings music to life and today we had our talent show that was it started at 9:30 and it ended at 3:30 I'm not kidding that's our talent show and on Friday she led a performance for all 500 of her kids and one time I even had to apologize to the fire marshal for how how many folks we had coming to our performances that are led by mrs. Patton so it's neat to have music enriched our lives and she does a really phenomenal job at that and so thank you Susie and thank you everyone for all the great

015work that you do it's great to close out here on the snow [Applause] okay at this time we are ready for public testimony and I just need to read a little statement here the board welcomes public comments on agenda items both action and non-action as well as in general we value public comment it is both ensures that we remain aware of public thoughts ideas and concerns informs our decision making process we have a table of front and center with two seats and microphones available for testimony when I call your name you have three minutes to testify and you may begin speaking when the timer appears on the screen to your left and begins the countdown when you have 30 seconds left the number will turn yellow when the timer reaches zero please finish your sentence

016addition is not our practice that board members answer questions or engage in discussion with members of the public this is your time to speak and our time to listen the board will consider all information shared by the public and when deemed necessary issues raised in testimony will be referred to the administration for follow up I would ask also that it's going to be a long evening and we have lots of testimonies and I want to make sure that we hear everybody this evening I again I don't mind the applause but try to just keep it to a minimum and try to respect the three minutes I'd appreciate it thank you and I'm going to call the first two names which is Brenda cheats on Tiffin and Vicki Campbell and I apologize for any names I

017do not say correct and Brenda you may begin when you see the time greetings president and esteemed school board members my name is Brenda chiefin and I'm principal of Orion elementary school I'm here tonight in regards to the poll so to close around school put forth by Western demographics at the April school board meeting as I speak to you today it is with great respect for the work that you do and the enormous task you have of ensuring the education of every student in the Anchorage School District as the building administrator of Orion and an and as part of the larger Orion school community I recognize that each year tough decisions are made on how to allocate resources and which programs to fund or cut I believe created solutions can be found without disruption and

018displacement of our military children who encounter so much of that already in their daily lives as children of our armed services men and women I realized that the proposal is just that however the rollout of families learning of this proposal through the Anchorage Daily News instead of a community meeting was off-putting to many and probably not the best way to hear about what that stake here are a few things I need you to consider research on school closing has shown that displacement of students can have a negative effect on students academic progress currently Orion is a five star school and a 2016 national Blue Ribbon School we have earned that distinction by the hard work of the staff and the push from families and our community partners for academic achievement secondly we are fine arts

019partners our facility offers a secure location an environmentally controlled storage of Anchorage School District band and orchestra instruments the storage at our building is home to more than 2,500 assorted musical instruments used by students throughout the district Orion's unique design provides for the pickup and return of these instruments without disturbance in the instructional date this will be hard to replicate anywhere in the district lastly we want to maintain great quality of the education students that Orion receive we value top educational opportunities and experiences for our students and we are able to provide that education to our more deserving students of our military community at Orion school on a ryan school campus in closing I actually are attentive ear to a Reyn staff and family speaking after me because they are the true voice of Orion

020thank you we could have Jasmine Butler come up next please and you can begin dr. bishop and school board members my name is Vicki Campbell I am an instructional coach at Orion and Aurora elementary schools on Jay Baer before that I taught for 17 years at Orion before that I was a parent at Orion for eight years I have been part of the Orion school family since 1992 tonight I would like to convince you to keep a ryan open for the continuing education of our districts military students the children who attend Orion Elementary usually come from enlisted families because of the military housing person policies Orion staff has a long history of commitment to high expectations for its students potential regardless of their parents military rank I was the wife of an enlisted member when

021our family transferred to Elmendorf in 1992 and Orion was our neighborhood school as a mother of three I was thrilled to see teachers dedication to guiding my children to reach their full potential the staff were then and are now absolutely dedicated to students academic and personal growth in 2016 Orion became one of the only one of only five schools in this district to earn the blue ribbon of excellence and honor only awarded to schools that prove increasing student achievement over six year period Orion earned this Blue Ribbon despite the staff facing the challenge of five principals passing through our halls during that time when the military families transfer out Oh Ryan is a standard that they judge other schools by three weeks ago I received a package from a former parent that included a thank

022you note to five different teachers at Orion this particular family moved away more than a year ago I read to you now their note to all the staff Oh Ryan friends with teacher appreciation week approaching we wanted to reach out and say thank you for being a school we miss and compare all schools to we don't know what we would have done in Alaska without an amazing school to support our big family we hope the school year is going well Britney and Kasey Raines and I have their permission to read that note to you Orion's culture of excellence extends to its staff our teachers have gone on to serve the district by becoming science trainers developing curriculum for social studies and math piloting new curricular programs stepping forward as host teachers and teacher mentors and

023moving up into leadership roles like one of our first principals Carol como principals leslie van der gaw Cindy Henry John Forbes Heather Milton Dan Barker I know you recognize those names Laurie Rex national director of elementary sped and instructional coaches Christina van Walker Laurel and hustle boss Mary wood in butcher Abigail Watson and myself we have had National Science Award winners on our staff and currently have Jenna White a PE teacher of year and the Milken award winner our Orion's culture of excellence was already well established when I first joined the Orion School in 1992 and for the past eighteen years I have been part of the staff who make a Ryan unique and maintaining that excellence please remember these before finalizing your decision about this priceless priceless asset Orion Elementary thank you very much

024Kelly Bangkok and as soon as you see the clock Jasmine you can begin greetings madam president dr. Bishop and members of the board upon hearing of the recommendation to close a Ryan elementary I felt compelled to speak today regarding the issue you see I am a product of the Anchorage School District I attended grades 2 through 12 in this district and I'm proud to say I graduated East High class of 2006 beyond that I worked as a noon duty teaching assistant and now a teacher in our great district I'm sharing this history with you as it shows I have been in the number of schools why does that matter it matters because I feel it shows that I've seen a number of great things our school has to offer whether it is a language immersion

025program a particular special education program a charter school or your friendly neighborhood school I feel I've seen a lot in my time each school truly has something special to offer now what makes the Ryan so special first of all did you know that a Ryan elementary was named a 2016 national Blue Ribbon School a title that only five schools in our district hold needless to say our community is very proud of this achievement by community I also mean parents and students speaking of community within my short time at Orion I've noticed that our school has a special way of making each child feel important and cared for we've come up with a way to assure each child knows an adult in our building that they can trust and go to if they ever need something

026or if they just feel like saying hello to someone on occasion this just shows one of the ways we put our students first at Orion our big beautiful building is also connected to the district's Fine Arts Department regular access and our building is needed in order for members of the department to access instruments in our basement I guess you can say we're connected to people on the outside of our building as well as the inside aside from that as a staff member I have to say that I'm very proud to be a teacher at Orion and work alongside some of the strongest teachers I've ever had the pleasure to work with that includes our specialists who have a talent in organizing fun events from family nights to school-wide celebrations to talent shows these people along

027with the remainder of the staff members in our building put their hearts into doing everything they can for our students staff members have even gone beyond to help utilize the funding from the project unite by by the project unite grant by hosting tutoring sessions and clubs after school and before school we're not just a community of teachers parents and students we are a community that is in it together our PTA and parent involvement is unlike anything I've ever witnessed it is truly an extraordinary thing to see so many families be involved in our amazing school I hope that upon making a final decision on the subject of closing Orion you will take this testimony along with others into consideration thank you for you thank you Jenna white and Kelly you can begin good evening my

028name is Kelly bandik I am the teacher librarian at Orion Elementary if I was presented with the same proposal by Western demographics to consolidate two half buildings within close proximity I too would find it sensible to come to the clusion that you have come to that conclusion could be sensible if these were the only facts to consider however these facts consist solely of dollar signs and building needs these facts are only a small representation of Oren Elementary if you should walk through the doors at our school these facts would prove less powerful tonight we are here to supply you with a little bit more information to give you a more complete view of water Rhine is really like Orion is a community in a culture of constant movement Orion gives our military students a warm

029environment to belong to for the time they're here in Alaska Orion students take care of each other just last week our students went on their annual fifth a grade bike trip 26 miles around earth quaint Park and back and it was so proud to watch them take care of each other make sure their friends were ok that their bikes were working correctly to remind each other how to be safe on the trail and to even do some small kindnesses for the folks that were on the trail less fortunate than themselves Orion is a team from our families to our BPO to our administration we work together to ensure that our students enjoy coming to school and that they feel safe and supported they build relationships with students and adults and learn in a way that

030works for them we are a strong team we have proven this time and time again we have overcome continual changeover of administration due to retirements and promotions we have staff that have been on our team for many many years we have families that return after assignments to other basis we are one of five schools representing Anchorage of the Blue Ribbon School which we're pretty proud of if you haven't figured out yet we achieved together we support each other we belong together we invite you to come and spend time with us gain a more of an understanding for who we are as team Orion and mistake that would be made if you choose dollar signs over performance teamwork community stability and relationships thank you for listening I hope you will hear thank you very much if

031we get a cherry Galloway come up on the next one and before you start Jenna said we had the boys introduce themselves thank you and you can begin when you see the clock good evening my name is Jenna white and I have been the physical education teacher at Orion for the past nine years I'm here to testify in opposition of the proposed closure of our national Blue Ribbon School I only have three minutes but I can quickly give you three hundred-plus reasons that our school should remain open please look at the faces of these young students for military families and know that this decision is about more than dollars and cents it's about real kids with hopes and dreams who face fear and uncertainty as a regular part of their lives Orion is truly a

032special place when you step into our school you will feel a palpable sense of community students waving to their friends and teachers in the hallway eager to say hello tell a funny story or share that their parents are coming home from deployment soon it is not uncommon to see an older student helping a younger one tie their shoelaces or walking them to the nurse after a fall at recess hand in hand if a child is upset you can bet there will be more than one Orion student they're trying to make sure that they are okay it is a place where we belong to one another teachers staff students and families all it is a place where students feel a sense of community and belonging which is so vital vital for the success of military children

033it is a place where students know their teachers care about them and where teachers and parents work alongside one another to ensure student success it is a positive place where students are succeeding academically socially and emotionally it is a school where the staff refer to the students as our kids because we truly believe that they are the staff at Orion worked very hard to cultivate this kind of community in every classroom our specialist teachers support the SEL messages taught by the classroom teachers through integration in our physical education art music and library programs we have wonderful counselors and support staff who work diligently to make sure that any student who's struggling is heard cared for and supported in a way that will help them find their way to success we understand that kids who are

034connected to their school community are more successful which is why our dedicated teachers offer a variety of afterschool opportunities that encourage children to make friends set goals and grow into their full potential for example we have an awesome running Club which runs for six months of the school year we run together twice a week and participate in eleven 5k races throughout the community parents participate alongside their children allowing both kids and families to make connections with one another we offer Ski Club Robotics Club homework Club knitting club bricks for kids and participate in the Battle of Books program our fabulous PTA hosts monthly events where students and their families are invited into the school for movie nights bingo dance parties and much more all of these things bring our schools community together and contribute to

035the happiness and well-being of our students please take another look at these faces they are the faces of not just our kids but our nation's kids they belong to our United States Army and Air Force families the brave soldiers and airmen who sacrificed everyday for our country these kids to know about sacrifice they sacrifice years away from their parents during deployments they sacrifice stability for lifestyle repeated transitions from base to base state to state and country to country they often live thousands of miles from their extended family and sadly sometimes they deal with unfathomable grief and loss that most of us will never know the Anchorage School District has always prided itself on making decisions that are in the best interest of its students putting student success and well-being above everything is what makes ASD

036a great place to learn and a great place to teach please keep this in mind as you are making a decision and choose what is in the best interest of these kids which is to keep our school open indefinitely thank you and good evening madam president dr. Bishop and board members my name is cherry Galloway I am a kindergarten teacher I am Roberts kindergarten teacher at Orion elementary school and I am here to testify against the proposed closure of Orion elementary five years ago I started my education journey within the Anchorage School District I ended up getting placed at Orion Elementary School in fifth grade right off the bat as a new educator I noticed how close-knit the staff at Orion were they collaborated across grade levels worked with parents for after-school activities so to

037better enrich the students learning experiences after my student teaching I was lucky enough to be hired at Orion and I have been at Orion ever since Orion staff embodies a positive school climate for staff and students every day since I was hired I have always felt that our staff has a connectedness that keeps the collaboration open about how to best educate our students Orion's positive social emotional social emotional climate is just one example as to what makes our five star Blue Ribbon School successful like myself there are other educators at Orion who finished their student teaching and then were hired on at Orion as classroom teachers we as student teachers wanted to be a part of the positive climate at Orion we felt welcomed we felt empowered to lend our thoughts and educate our students

038to success that sense of belonging and oneness is why we wanted to stay and teach at Orion that sense of value respect for staff and students alike is what continues to make Orion the thriving school it is today we as a staff support the mission we value our students and our parents being a five star Blue Ribbon School and serving the Jay Baer community is one way we are successful as a school we as a staff serve the community and in this service we have built strong relationships with our students and our parents we have a strong PTA a full after-school in club battle of the books bricks for kids just to name a few I was lucky enough to be part of the launch for our project unite grant this year we as a

039staff when school launched our grant school-wide with morning tutoring knitting club and after-school tutoring we were the only base school to launch our grant on a full-scale we believe in the success of our students and we support them and their continued learning each and every day Orion may be the name of our building the Orion is the students the parents the staff and the community all staying together to best support students and the best way to support students is to keep a ryan whole thank you for your time thank you very much Gary Snyder Gary Snyder oh sorry didn't see you back there and Mandy you can begin good evening my name is Mandy McConnell and I've been teaching cannon run for over 12 years in ASD I want to again express my concerns the

040lack of play opportunities for kindergarten this fall our kindergarten report card rubric list using center time as a way of assessing our students for language arts grades number Ten's speaks to express thoughts feelings and ideas clearly and number 11 participates in collaborative conversations number nine on our SEL report card reads works and plays well with others but now because Learning Center's that offered playtime is being taken away we have lost an assessment opportunity with this mandated ninety forty forty sixty academic timeframe I sought out other educators to find out what their school districts and state mandates were for play I had several educators respond from California New York Kansas Wisconsin Minnesota Northern Virginia New Jersey bust in Switzerland and Canada just to name a few an uninterrupted play range from 30 to 100 minutes they

041shared their state district guidelines for kindergarten or early learning with me then that made me wonder does Alaska have one I discovered that on our Alaska Department of Education early development website we do according to our state of Alaska early learning guide on page 16 we should be following the 12 principles set by the National Association for the education of young children page 17 these principles in number nine states plays an important vehicle for children's social emotional and cognitive development as well as a reflection of their development then on page 22 of the guide it says research demonstrates the importance of socio dramatic play as a tool for learning curriculum context with three through six-year-old children when teachers provide a thematic organization of play offer appropriate props space and time and become involved in play

042by extending and elaborating on children ideas children's language and literacy skills can be enhanced in addition to supporting cognitive development plays serves important functions in children's physical emotional and social development during play a child can learn to deal with emotions to interact with others to resolve conflicts and to gain a sense of competence on the safety that only play affords therefore child initiated teacher supportive play is a central component of development and developmentally appropriate practice and here you are taking away this buyer mandate at ninety forty forty sixty academic time slots and when will we have time to complete the last bit developmental profile which is aligned with the early learning guide that suggests free play is a time to observe and assess students in the five domains of development while continue to read this

043guide I find it interesting that Washington state guidelines was the basis for Alaska state guidelines Washington seventy page guide to kindergarten in 2016 this comprehensive guide illustrates what a kindergarten classroom should look like with suggestions for equipping a best practices kindergarten classroom gives a sample of what a day in kindergarten is like and mandates sixty minutes of play each day through learning centers this is the direction we should be moving forward to and not be moving backwards to mandates that are not developing appropriate for these four five and six year olds I also want to put it out there that I'm also a parent with a student in the Anchorage School District if you won't listen to me as an educator please listen to me as a parent learning through Play is important we should

044be mandating learning through Play as a part of the kindergarten day [Applause] Jaina Guerra Dana Dana Guerra and you can begin I am Gary Snyder I teach a class titled healthy relationships and sexuality education at East High and I have two teenage daughters in ASD schools I understand the board has taken recent testimony from those who wish to limit access to sex education in ASD and to encourage strict enforcement of the state law HB 156 passed by the state legislature in 2016 well we can't do much about the state law here I asked if Anchorage school board continued to support quality comprehensive non-judgmental and age-appropriate sexual health education for our students I speak from my experience teaching sexual health to eleventh and twelfth grade students since 2011 when the ASD board approved the class site

045to currently teach since then I've taught comprehensive sex education approximately 800 diverse students at East High I also speak as a parent I don't speak from an idea of what the world should be or how I want it to be or wish it should be but what it actually is for many of our students we need more sex education in Anchorage schools not less we need more support navigating the state law imposed by HB 4 not less some claim that parents should teach sexual it teach sexual health not schools the fact is this rarely happens every semester I asked my students how many of their parents had the talk with them these students consistently tell me it is only 20 to 30% so 70 to 80 percent of my students who have obtained permission for

046my class have parents who ignored the subject when I do speak with parents they are almost universally grateful that I'm teaching this class I'm proud of the fact that many of the parents tell me their students will talk and ask questions more openly with the parents after taking my class participating in formal sexual health classes breaks down the taboos to talking about sex allowing students comfort in getting more information from parents and one day discussing sex deliberately with their partners the ASD motto is educating all students for success in life students success in life depends on their sexual health and knowledge teen pregnancies sti's sexual shaming unrealistic media images in relationship drama all contribute to lower attendance raise students need help learning to navigate these issues graduation and future success rates for the ASD teenagers

047who get pregnant are low we know this if we don't educate about the physical and social-emotional issues surrounding reproductive health then none of us are following the ASD motto research consistently shows a comprehensive sex that leads to better health outcomes for teenagers according to the CDC data for this decade by age 19 roughly two-thirds of unmarried teenagers have had sexual intercourse whether we like it or not kids are having sex that is reality if we don't teach students about sexuality they are unfortunately not learning it from their parents but from the Internet the average age that a boy in America first searches the internet for porn is 11 and my students even the ones from Christian Primary School's back this statistic up telling me it is usually in the fifth grade my daughter told me

048she has seen kids watching porn on phones during class if we don't have comprehensive balanced sex education our schools our students would think pornography is normal safe and desirable this is basically where the majority are learning about sex now that is a reality whether we like it or not our students are starved for real information my students tell me my class should be required at all schools and they encourage their friends to take it there's a small vocal minority of adults in Anchorage you don't want sex education in our schools my experience tells me there is a large relatively silent majority of our parents who do want it please do not exclude the majority of our students from being educated for success in life because of the idealistic views of a vocal minority thank you

049for the testimony I know I'm over my time limit I got a letter from a recent graduate I'd like to start with you guys or I could redo this one paragraph long except to you Nataly jetski and as soon as the clock begins you good evening president marcet dr. bishop and school board members my name is dana Jarrah I am a teacher at a Ryan Elementary on a Joint Base Elmendorf Richard Richardson I'm here to speak against the proposed closing of Orion I understand this is just a proposal and nothing has been decided I'm simply here to give some perspective as so many others have about Orion its history and community Orion is situated on a military base and its population might be considered to be transient but this is a mischaracterization while our student

050population might not be the exact same year after year our amazing staff strives to provide stability to our community many staff come to Orion and stay for many years oftentimes a majority of their careers that's providing stability to the students and their families who come to us some staff come to us as student teachers and substitutes then stay to become full-fledged staff members some staff we have our military spouses who come to be a part of our Ryan family no matter how briefly they are with us some have even deeper roots who have connections to Orion that stretched back many years like myself my grandfather Henry Bryant was superintendent of Elmendorf schools in the 60s my mother Jan me Burt and my aunt Diane Jones both taught on base that bounced her in Orion Elementary

051Schools I have lived in Anchorage my entire life and attended school on base at Mount smirk I started my teaching career subbing at Orion for several years before becoming luckily enough a teacher at Orion Elementary I have been teaching there for over a decade and I would really like to end my career there as well this since the family extends to our students such as Natalie as well I often hear students talking fondly of past teachers past projects and past classes even when teachers have had to leave our family students remember them talked about them and asked about them I don't understand the reasons for this proposed closure of Orion but I do understand that change can be hard our school always aspires to be a constant for its families a place of community safety

052and learning the staff at Orion remains steadfast in our commitment to our students and our families thank you thank you for your testimony Tanya ladies and Natalie you can begin as soon as you see the clock over there my name is Natalie Tatsuki and I'm in fourth grade at Orien set stuttering is something I do I'm going to talk in an easy way when kids laugh at me because my stuttering it makes me sad mad and embarrassed but I have to stay say is important the kid that Orion are nice they give me time to say what I want everyone the kids and the teachers give me support and are helpful Orion is a school I want to stay at please think about the things I have said thank you thank you smarty Hartville and

053you can begin good evening my name is Tania Levesque and I'm an educator and a parent in the Anchorage School District when I was a child I wanted to either be Wonder Woman or a pediatrician the reason I wanted to be one of these is so I could help children both our respective professions it soon became apparent that I couldn't be Wonder Woman and I hated shots so I couldn't become a pediatrician it just wasn't possible so the next best option was to become an educator that was as close as I could get to being a superhero I worked daily helping children grow academically emotionally and socially and now that I'm an educator that has worked in the Anchorage School District for 22 years there's still one thing that I want to be and that's

054be respected I want you to support us to encourage us fund us and respect us you ask how you can respect us let us have academic freedom we are professionals who are highly qualified in our chosen expertise let us determine what is best for our students after all we are the ones that work with them daily not every child classroom or school will fit into one mold let us determine what works for our students so that they can be successful give us the opportunity to have a balanced curriculum so that we are reaching every child let's give these students a chance to explore and have experiences not cut back on science social studies and social-emotional learning not take play out of the kindergarten classrooms I've always loved being a teacher I've worked in this district

055district for 22 years and working and however this year I've never witnessed such low morale teachers feeling unworthy unsupported and unheard we bill up our students every day however we go daily feeling suppressed and discouraged by what is happening to our schools and our students as teachers we should be respected after all you asked us to show you respect by teaching your mandated curriculum and you expect us to follow through and we do however you're not respecting us by allowing us to determine the best way to do it we further show you respect by working beyond our contractual hours funding our classroom out-of-pocket to ensure a loving safe supportive and inclusive classroom show us respect by giving us a fair contract so in closing I ask you to show us the same respect as we

056show you every day thank you there you go morning my name is Marni härtel I am vice president programs for Anchorage Education Association I am also the full-time tech collaborator at Bartlett high school I am NOT speaking for AEA and I am NOT speaking for Bartlett I am speaking as an individual let me repeat that I am speaking as an individual I was hired as a full-time tech collaborator three years ago I gave up two summers hundreds of late nights and missed dinners and nearly two years of Saturday's to ensure that Bartlett developed one of the best education technology programs in the state I'm also an advocate for other educators who come to me and Trust in confidence this semester I've written to the school board two times on two separate occasions when colleagues came

057to me with valid and significant concerns about nepotism by fearing retribution in my first letter to the board I specifically requested anonymity with my own fear of retribution the school board did not reply the second time I wrote I received an immediate reply from the deputy superintendent he explained the grandfathering through of specific cases of nepotism at ASD and cc'd carbon copied the email to the chief HR officer the superintendent and my supervising principal nine work days later I was offered a demotion it's an alternative to involuntary displacement due to an alleged cut in program need I am the only high school a collaborator in the district this position was cut entirely this position is critical it merges the work formerly done by two two professionals a veteran colleague in my building was also cut

058in program need her program still exists she heard later that her grading practices in the past are the real reason for her displacement my story highlights the anger and frustration of involuntarily displaced faculty current practice allows administration to surplus human beings without any actual cuts in program need by loosely interpreting contract language the current language about placement order is also VIP service fear of retribution puts teachers in a position where they are afraid and unwilling to voice concerns what happens when a student is placed in an unsafe situation well other educators behind me be willing to be the whistleblower in exchange for their workplace security the ASD school board has the power and ability to take action to uphold fairness and dignity for educators who sacrifice so much for their students and community I have

059just one more thing to say it's time for ASD to allow the bargaining process to become open to the public let's have transparency so that we can work together to form a fair agreement their respects and values all students and their educators price for seller and Brad you can begin all right my name is Brad Kier thank you for listening I came in front of a few folks two weeks ago with a well written a script that I manuscript there and spent a lot of time trying to make sure that I said what I wanted to say and hopefully you've got to hear what what I said and this time I decided that I felt it may be more beneficial if I just spoke and was more genuine even though my last letter was a

060very genuine following some of my colleagues here that just spoke I feel like what I had planned in my head a little bit to speak about fits perfectly right behind them and last week's talk was our two weeks ago excuse me at the board meeting was about respect and how a lot of us feel like been not respected very well and in transition that leaks down to what comes across to the students is us not doing the job that we could possibly do and I'm here to say that I hear often that we are ASD but I don't feel like we are ASD I feel like we are told from the top down administration what to do and how to act but our voice isn't really hurt and I hear from other administrators that you

061know the teachers teach and we're the most important but yet we're mandated and handcuffed to teach what we're told to teach and I just wanted to express the last thing I like to say is that I really really feel like we need to change instead of being from the top-down administration we need from the ground up and all work together because in reality the whole reason why I believe any teacher in this profession or hopefully all of you or in this profession is because we're here to help students and I don't feel like we're accomplishing that like we could be so I sit here before you tonight and saying that if we don't have a fair contract then I'm willing to vote to strike next school year thank you tomorrow Megan card and you can

062begin board members superintendent thank you for your time today first off I would like to thank star marcet I don't know if she was speaking on behalf of the board or herself but I emailed the board last night asking them to join us on the streets and to talk to educators and she was the only one to reply miss marcet thank you for your reply I fully appreciate your words and the sincere desire you communicated in which you expressed your want to talk to educators on the sidewalk I'm deeply sorry your meetings prevented you from doing so I believe it would have been a very valuable experience I don't want to take a lot of time right now there are countless others who are testifying tonight and they will as Andy Holloman was the only

063one to point out the last board meeting give great and insightful testimony tonight in addition Andy said something very important at the last board meeting that I feel needs revisiting I agree with him when he stated when schools in session we need to be ready to listen and react when they the teachers say this doesn't work in my situation teachers don't need to be told to make it work because that's what the district is mandating this has been a very difficult year one in which teeth in which teacher and public input has been ignored we need the district to listen to the individual needs of the teachers and to work to provide them with the tools they need and request to be successful we do not need the district telling what they need based on

064poorly correlated data please engage your educators listen to them don't wait for them to come to you we hope this new way of engagement will be will be reflected in our new contract if the district does not engage educators by coming back to the bargaining table in a timely manner does not address the issues of academic freedom and if the demands of the AEA proposal are not met I am willing to strike or take other job action in the fall thank you thank you Linda Maggie oh Linda and Megan you can begin my name is Megan card and I've taught everything from algebra to science 8 to drama at greening middle school tonight I had many things I wish I could talk about and I would like to again encourage dr. Bishop school board members

065and district leaders to sit down and dialogue with teachers there are a number of issues going on that leadership seems to be unaware or unreceptive to despite the fabulous work our teachers do it feels as though teacher voices are ignored and we are not trusted to make big decisions for our schools decisions are made with little to no input from those who work with students stay in and day out who is making these decisions and why why are so many decisions made implemented last minute and with little to no communication this year middle schools were required to have an eighth period day to accommodate an MTS s class two weeks into school at back-to-school night I was put on the spot with parents who had never heard of this big change and I had to

066try to explain a program that I myself knew almost nothing about and I was making up curriculum for on the spot then this year we added Lions quest but we didn't get trained on the program until the end of September and then had to roll it out in our classrooms that next week ASD G seems unwilling to communicate that in most if not all middle schools the middle school model is gone next year the response er administration has been schools chose their own schedule this simply isn't true I was on the scheduling committee for our school the usual model of 5 of 7 from middle schools not feasible based on of FTE our class sizes would have been in the 40s or higher most schools were told by their principal which option the school would

067pursue for the 2018-2019 school year if there was a vote it was only between two options and neither of these options was the top option staff wanted when these committees were formed it was implied we would have a voice and what scheduled preferred sufers pursue for our school after giving up a few class days and working overtime to prepare for subs this proved to be a mirage I hope the board is aware of the perception so many teachers have the teacher opinion is not valued when parents voice concerns to us about school issues we ask them to voice the concerns directly to admin as we feel teacher voices are ignored we continue to feel more ignored and undervalued when the district won't agree to open bargaining will increase salaries for administrators but not us and

068won't even provide a date for when we can expect negotiation to begin while our current contract expires June 30th I had the honor of attending the 2018 BP Education Awards a couple of weeks ago along with my husband after all eight honorees have been introduced and the highlights of their teaching talents read my husband leaned over to me and said so the qualities of all these honorees are the exact things the district is not promoting in the classroom he was referring to the fact that every teacher recognized was commended for their ability and commitment to develop meaningful relationships with their students data wasn't mentioned not once these teachers were honored for their innovation and focus on individual student needs these are the kinds of teachers we need for education to be successful we don't need

069them to be forced into canned curriculum or to overburden them so they no longer have time to develop my misery this leads me to our final point when artists when is our district going to realize programs don't teach kids teachers teach kids just in the past few years at middle school we've seen many dessa aimsweb and one state test come and go we had q replace tango I've lost track of how many changes in programs for teacher evaluations numerous new curriculums come and go last-minute implementation of lions quest and loot and new website changes ladies and gentlemen this list of stuff does not equate education in fact they actually interfere with education thank you [Applause] and when did something in when you see that thank you good evening and thank you for allowing me to

070speak here today my name is Lynn DiMaggio our family has been a part of seven different school districts to include six Elementary School's two middle schools in two high schools in our three years here Anchorage School District School District is our seventh in our three years to here I've had a student in the elementary school the middle school in high school I've been a very involved parent in all of the schools and have substitute taught in a few of them including Anchorage School District this has given me a perspective on how things work on the inside it is fair to say some schools have been better than others our first year here I was feeling like the Anchorage School District would fall into the better column however the 2017-18 school year has put Anchorage School

071District in the other column I want to be clear the teachers my students have had here in the ASD have been wonderful engaging approachable dynamic teachers with a passion for teaching what does Pitts ASD and the other column is the curriculum both as a parent and as a substitute I found this scripted word-for-word teaching method to be like an assembly line where all students robotically into a classroom and they are all are supposed to learn the exact same thing at the exact same time and learn at the exact same progress even the questions that students might have were scripted this is not a classroom that is inviting engaging or dynamic this method leaves absolutely no room for the individual the individual teacher the individual student people in general the children in particular do not fit

072into an assembly line each child has their own unique way of understanding and learning it's the teacher that knows this best not some overpriced scripted textbook written by experts who likely use the flow chart of numbers and test scores to determine best best methods this fact excuse me the fact that this assembly line curriculum is terrible is not the worst part clearly the ASD has not listened to the wants and needs of the teachers students and parents as I understand it the ASD has spent a ridiculous amount of money on next year's elementary reading assembly line curriculum it is important to have goals and benchmarks the results you achieve by micromanaging the teachers may check all of the boxes if that does not mean you are given a student a successful educational experience but the

073teachers teach in the way they feel is necessary for the dynamic of their classroom let them teach so our students will have a passion for learning and want to go to school every day let the teachers teach so our youth will grow up to be productive members of society but simply stated goals and benchmarks step away from the assembly line and let the teachers teach by doing so not only will they achieve the goals and benchmarks argue they will surpass them you might have guessed I'm a military spouse our families leaving Alaska June 2nd it is the military's expectation and our family's tradition to leave a place better than how we found it that is why I'm here tonight thank you Pauline dancer Pauline okay and you can begin hi my name is Kendra vilapando

074I have two children that attend Orion Elementary and I also am a member of the PTA board at our school I wanna first acknowledge the fact that I clearly understand that the decision to close a school can be anguishing as it affects parents communities district personnel and of course our students essentially school closures can ultimately change lives at Orion we strongly believe that our school possesses what it takes to give our student population mostly military children access to an authentic education we are here to urge the district to take a finer look at the reasons for closure and to consider other feasible options rather than closing our doors as a mother of two very resilient military students I can attest that the Orion staff is dedicated to creating a nurturing welcoming and desirable environment that

075is authentic to our military life in my opinion this is far more important than any aesthetic feature that a school can possess though I understand that these teachers and staff will also be employed by ASD displacing them will shatter the community that I Ryan has spent years building in addition our military students will also be forced to walk through new doors to a new school full of new staff so I can see that if this is part of the life that we live preventing this disruption disruption to the Jaber community would be extremely beneficial to our children on multiple levels another point that I would like to touch on is the fact that in the event our school closes most of the children that will now attend Aurora Elementary will be crossing the main road

076on Jaber Arctic Warrior Boulevard I questioned how the school will ensure that there will be saved walking routes for our display students finally I would like to touch on the vitality of our educational programs such as art music PE and library our special staff has a very amazing dynamic that will simply be impossible to reconstruct elsewhere in Alaska Alaska especially for my California kids these dynamics are essential for student success conclusion I would also like to address the fact that ASD has not held a community or town hall meeting for our parents and students to relay all of this information I believe that is the district's duty to relay this information to our community and I would like to request that something of that sort is done thank you for your time thanks for your

077testimony furnace Sims [Applause] as soon as she gets clock up there good evening my name is Colleen Panzer and I'm a first year special education resource teacher at Orion Elementary I would like to take a moment of your time to share with you why Orion Elementary needs to stay open I came to Orion after Laurie rocks Daschle said that I would be a good fit there and she was right as many people before me have said the community at Orion is like nowhere else the student body is made up of a wonderful diverse group of students with very supportive parents the staff is warm friendly believes in their students and are always willing to help it's not easy being a first year teacher and certainly not easy being a first year sped teacher but I

078have never felt like there wasn't a person or three or 14 that I couldn't go to if I had an issue my room is glorious the teachers I share students with our awesome collaborators and that all stems from the amazing culture of the Orion building I was talking with my husband about this just flabbergasted that the district would even consider closing such an amazing school and he looked at me and he said Colleen you're going about this all wrong the district is just looking at numbers there is nothing about your school in particular that they're thinking of and if that's really the case then here's some numbers for you we are a school with 14 classroom teachers around 250 students across seven grade levels and 35 members of the support staff Orion Elementary is celebrating

079its 60th birthday this year is a five star school and is one out of five schools in the Anchorage School District to be called a national Blue Ribbon School by the US Department of Education 91 percent of our parents would recommend Orion Elementary to their friends and ninety-three percent of students feel safe here those are impressive numbers and there's one more number for you 50 percent I'm part of the 50% of new hires that will leave the area before completing their first five years of teaching here the reason why I'm leaving though has nothing to do with Orion Alaska or the Anchorage area my husband is in the army and he got orders the movers come on Friday I have absolutely no skin in this game and yet I sit before you and plead with

080you to see why this school is an asset to the military community and Anchorage as a whole if you're just looking at numbers you're not looking at the right things [Applause] and as soon as I seen the clock up there you can begin okay this is on a totally totally different subject this is on school shootings I'm gonna give you some figures first in the 1900s a hundred years from 1900 to 2000 there was two hundred and eighty eight children shot in school here we are 18 years four months into 2000 there's already been 279 were nine children away from from the hundred years mmm my suggestion is we put in magnetic doors at the school we can't do what Texas did and think they have another control that they didn't I just know I

081came here I just got off the internet they're thinking some of the offers are just at school when they were having their gun battle probably shot some of the kids we got a Dukes adopted we've had to threaten Alaska already one last week and one about a month ago a new chick there was a kid right in town that threatened to shoot up diamond on one of the school budgets there's an article in the newspaper Kathy has copies for all of you and she's got some other paperwork as well to prove to figure said I just give you wish there's gotta be something done because it can happen in here as well as anywhere else and you don't want to tear your grandchildren or your children please take it by ring and do something and

082do it quick preferably before next go team so again thank you thank you very much Steve Bay and lore you can begin in a minute good evening madam president superintendent Bishop and members of the board I've taught for 18 years - in elementary and 16 at greening teaching eighth and seventh grade math have also been the math department chair for 12 years tonight is my last testimony as a teacher since I'm retiring this year I'm not here to tell you about me though I want to talk about the amazing teachers I've had the privilege to work with at greening and in district-wide committees and trainings the Anchorage School District is lucky to have thousands of highly qualified dedicated and passionate teachers I'm here to encourage you to listen think and understand that you have a

083wealth of expertise in those teachers unlike paid consultants from outside Anchorage teachers know their students and our community take some time to actually listen to what the real experts in our district are saying and to act upon it they know kindergarteners need more play and less structured instruction in reading and writing and math skills because developmentally they learn through play they know what works for primary and intermediate students in one school isn't always what all students need they know children need time to explore and investigate and to actually do rather than just read about science and social studies middle school teachers know the value of meeting the needs of the whole student and that a true middle school with team and personal planning for core and elective teachers provides a developmentally appropriate environment for young

084adolescents high school teachers know the value of a variety of electives both traditional and elective choice within cores is part of a vibrant and successful high school all teachers know an over-reliance on testing and gathering data results in student burnout from too much testing we all have stories of standardized test results that we know students read raced through and didn't take seriously we have all lost valuable instructional time for data that merely supports what we've already learned through classroom assessment and observation of our students I know all of this because my girls graduated from jugen High School in a four and also seven because I've been listening to other teachers for years because I've heard teachers testifying all of this year and because I trust Anchorage teachers and you should do these amazing teachers some

085of them young and new to teaching most of them experienced and all of them passionate deserve the respect of being listened to as professionals and finally they deserve the respect of a fair contract with health insurance adequate planning time hey that keeps them teaching here in academic freedom our children and the future they will build deserve no less thank you Jeff Academy further and Steve you begin good evening all my name is Steve bear teach science a greeting middle school the seat perch remotely operated vehicle challenge began as one of the many simple projects found in the book titled how to build an underwater robot by Harry Bond and Vicky Jensen which was published in 1997 sometime late later Thomas CAHSEE an engineer professor crafted a curriculum focused on underwater robotics to support ocean engineering

086at MIT from those early beginnings sea perch has transformed into an international competition imagine possibilities this level of contest could provide our students why am I telling you this in 2007 janet clark kylie leader myself took it upon ourselves to develop a sea perch stem project a greening middle school and worked collaboratively together to build the sea perch remotely operated vehicle so we were prepared to guide our students through the process we tailored the instruction manual to meet the needs of our eighth graders we designed a student questionnaire that aided us in defining the ROV teams with students who had different skill sets furthermore we developed job responsibilities so each team member knew their part and the team lastly we developed a paycheck system to mimic a real-world business building the sea perch lasted about

087five weeks which included lessons on deep-sea exploration buoyancy and marine ecosystems during week four of the building process we set up a 12 foot diameter pool at our school where students tested and race their RVs to qualify for a seat at the Bartlett high school pool competition we engaged approximately 300 eighth graders in the following manner 30 ROV teams totaling 90 students were involved in racing 40 more students were trained as timers judges score chief score keepers information specialists and ironic runners primarily students managed the entire event under our tutelage we included 20 of our eighth grade band students to play energizing music during the competition the remaining 150 students cheered in stands for their academic team classmates who were racing over the years excuse me over the years since we started RV I encountered

088former students guess what they asked you still do that RV project that was the highlight of my middle school career for me here's the point we were able to do the stem project for the following reasons as a department we had common prep time to collaborate we had common team time to organize grade-level events we had flexible schedule we could block to accommodate this daunting stem project we had three science teachers at the seventh and eighth-grade level now we have two we had academic teams in a middle school model but that has been deteriorating unfortunately next year we will no longer have the middle school model due to the choices made by the district maintaining funding and complete maintaining and funding a complete middle school model is the only way we can employ engaging real-world

089hands along high level collaborative projects like ROV such projects are not possible under the junior high model thank you for listening thank you for your testimony [Applause] Cindy I think it's Mars I'm mark I'm not sure I can't read it and Jessica you can begin I'm so glad to be back testifying today I'm here to talk about open bargaining and transparency as a former bargaining team member I'm very much looking forward to open bargaining while I hope to rejoin the team when my evenings free up a bit I want to share with those in attendance here tonight some of the reasons I believe that open bargaining is an essential component to the improvement of educator morale and student achievement in the district there are several indicators to me that we need to up our transparency

090factor one is that information seems to come at a premium these past few years at the last board meeting former board members Agosti guzzler and Plunkett a lot of the accomplishments of their 10 years on the board sadly many of their moves to increase transparency have not yet reached our boots on the ground we are receiving fewer and fewer communications from our superintendent in the past year we've received an email from dr. bishop approximately once every four months this is a significant reduction from previous administrations when we were generally receive emails at least twice a quarter with a mix of news updates and kind words a lack of clear communication can lead to educators filling in the blanks of yxe procedure was rolled out or why we are now being asked to fulfill my mandate

091with only it's now being required by the district as a reasoning reasoning additionally our educators receive professional development one agonizingly slow drop at a time with so many questions unanswered because the trainers are only a half step ahead of those being trained these questions get put on sticky notes and placed in a parking lot a piece of white chart paper with promises of follow-up at the end of the training the parking lot drives away never to be heard of us or spoken of again have our concerns been carjacked we have never given we are never given the big picture and this open bargaining would be a wonderful opportunity to allow for that transparency thank you and honesty to begin and finally as both an employee and former bargaining team member I was shocked to find

092that there was no offer of health care in the district's initial offer to AEA I read mr. houses reason once he realized that yes educators actually do read their initial proposals ensuring that we have appropriate coverage does not preclude ASD offering to contribute to our healthcare the motives remain murky does ASD seek to force a ei members to use a SDS health plan via the bargaining process I myself have heard of non-iea district employees seeking work elsewhere just so that they can keep their own health care providers they do not want to be forced into a limited health care option and nor do we our community as well deserves the opportunity to witness bargaining proceedings so much of what we bargain is directly related to student learning and welfare and those discussions should happen in

093the light of day with all with the eyes of all our shareholders on the process the district should want its community and its educators to feel as invited to and invest it in the negotiations process process as it does our students education our hearts sadly remain uncaptured thanks very fast panic Elizabeth McGee and Cindy can begin when you see the clock there thank you for this opportunity to address the school board in administration my name is Cindy Mane's and I'm a 28 year educator for ASD I hope my testimony tonight continues to illuminate the disconcerning directives being made by this administration and how it impacts kids in the past two weeks teens of elementary staff members have been coming together to develop an instructional schedule for next year the district is mandating that elementary schools

094implement a 90 40 40 plus 60 schedule to illustrate what this looks like let's walk in the shoes of a five year old as soon as I unpacked my backpack we begin what my teacher calls reading blog all I know is that my teacher keeps talking and won't even stop though even though I can't sit still anymore finally we get to stand up maybe we can go outside and run but no we get in line to go to what my teacher calls win time I walked to a different room and worked with a different adult with a different group of kids but it's more sitting 40 minutes worth if I'm lucky I'm in a small group with a trained educator focusing on a skill that I need but if I was doing okay or even

095better I go to a different room with 20 or more kids sit again but now in front of a computer and not with a teacher who can monitor my progress but with an adult from the front office did I mention that I'm still sitting okay now we finally get to move again but we're back to class we go to write about what we read this morning still sitting what do we read about I can't remember finally lunch in recess what my body and brain finally needs 45 glorious minutes so I can run play make friends eat and then back to class we go and more sitting for 60 minutes of math but I have a question about what the worm eats that I saw on the playground during recess I'm told that I have to

096focus and do my work still sitting at last we line up to go to specials I think my teacher calls it specials because that is where everything we do is special I finally get to do something other than sit I get to run learn how to play games and challenge my body in new ways I get to sing dance and play instruments I get to make things with my friend with my hands get messy and solve problems I get to listen and share stories with the teacher who isn't too rushed to answer my worm question shows me a book about worms and lets me check it out and take it home if I want but it always ends too soon it is now 3:30 and that means to pack up and leave I hope it

097means that I don't have to sit down again and tell bedtime the solution is simple do away with the wind the reading intervention time and give that time back to the classroom teachers give teachers the freedom to inspire children with appropriate activities that engage them to continue to be curious about the world they live in thank you thank you for your misty canal Sun Elizabeth we see the clock there good evening school board members superintendent dr. Bishop and community my name is Elisabeth Congdon McGee and I'm a product of ASD and employed as a school counselor with our district for 18 years at one of our school board meetings it was stated that if you want to make change that you need to be talking to your legislature I was one of many educators that

098did follow through and talk to legislators I flew to Juneau and how the opportunity to speak with Governor Walker and Commissioner dr. Michael Johnson as well as several legislators in one day my first meeting started at 8:30 a.m. and my last meeting at 5:30 p.m. before I flew back home that evening my meeting with the legislature was twofold the first one was her forward funding so that teachers school counselors support staff were not consistently displaced or laid off and to educate our legislature on how the role the school counselor has changed over the years I am passionate about being a school counselor within our district I love my job and making an impact in the lives of our students I am one of the lucky school counselors in our district because I have an administrator

099who was in the earlier session recognizes the Alaska state 2018 school count the school principal of the year Robyn Harris because she sits down with me and she allows me the opportunity to share my comprehensive school counseling program and asked me questions when she doesn't understand not all our school counselors have that privilege in our school in our school district we have an anchorage we have an anchorage comprehensive school counseling program that was written by many of our districts phenomenal school counselors unfortunately is not being utilized in our schools because many of our elementary school counselors which are split between two schools and have caseloads of approximately seven or plus students cannot feasibly provide a comprehensive school counseling program being split between two schools in closing I want to encourage the board to really listen

100to these testimonies and hear the stories of our educators they are speaking from the heart I also want to share the importance of the role the school counselor within our district with the changing society it's imperative that we have school counselors at every level in our schools we have had young people testify asking for school counselors in their schools if our young people can see importance of having a school counselor in their schools I would hope that our district and school board will also see the importance thank you and I just want to leave you with this information Margaret Jones good evening school board members I wanted to speak a little bit about the Ashlock training that we've been having throughout the school year thus far you probably have heard the term thrown around but

101maybe aren't fully exposed to what it is and I think we're in the business of educating and so here I am I have one of them one of my Master's is in k-12 reading as a certified reading specialist along with being a ll certified English language learners I'm also TESOL certified teaching English to students of other learners and when I first came on to ASD I took a what they called at the time explicit direct instruction to meet the needs of all learners and it came in this Ashlock consulting binder and I was a very good student you must know lots of sticky notes much of what is in this binder is in what's our in our current binder that I'm having to sit through trainings where they go sound ones sound ah sound blend

102hat word hat and then my colleague says to me your turn and we all do this together you can imagine with my and we've already had over seven hours of this training this semester i sat through 22 hours if you look at my MLP where I did this already and I did it quite well what I ask of you is that we start getting professional development that we actually need or if we've already had the professional development honor that as professionals respecting and valuing our time we have been pulled from the classroom where subs come in or we go and we do this sound blend sound the entire 3-4 hours I feel like we could do more with our time and I also just feel like I know I value the training it's so beneficial

103especially the primary levels however if I've already had this I am it's a bit difficult to sit through and be engaged and appreciate and feel like my time is being valued where I could see it being used elsewhere like in the classroom thank you thank you for your testimony Thomas Keyes and Margaret you can begin good evening and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak with you this evening my name is Margaret Jones I've been a teacher with ASD for 12 years and have taught in title one schools presently I am at Fairview Elementary I'm here tonight to address the board about changes that are occurring at the elementary level and to thank the school board for adopting these changes let me first start with the new ninety forty forty schedule I hear

104gremlins about how many schools in ASD don't need this kind of approach I disagree less than 50 percent of our elementary students are considered proficient or advanced proficient our charter schools also have an abysmal rate of proficiency at 50% we need program consistency and rigor across our district every school should be building a schedule that includes 90 minutes of reading 40 minutes of language arts 40 minutes of win time our school does have win groups for math one hour of math 30 minutes of science social studies and handwriting I have conversation after conversation with naysayers telling me that this kind of scheduling is impossible within our student day I'm here to tell you it is not impossible we have our schedule made we will be we will have between 12 and 15 win groups for

105grade levels utilizing every room and every available teacher this means small group tier two and Tier three instruction for reading and math before the implementation of this schedule I was always asking the question so when do I have time to teach science and social studies now it is built into every classroom schedule we will even be able to provide enrichment activities to students who need it I wholeheartedly believe our new schedule will work it will take hard work dedication and tightening of the belts but isn't that what we do for our students when it comes to foundational reading skills scripted programs are necessary it is necessary to teach with consistency and with research-based programs we cannot keep looking at low academic scores and saying next year will get better our population is changing and you

106need to keep up with the changes I successfully used lesson maps in my classroom I am also one of the few fortunate teachers that took her reading strategies and skills course from Jennifer Ashlock it has changed the way I teach over the last two years my kids get excited when they take a map benchmark mrs. Jones we learned plot diagrams I know this hm didn't teach that and I don't believe Sun gauge teaches it either when strategies and skills are infused into the reading program students succeed I am tired of our districts spending money on programs only to have our materials sitting on shelves unused yes I said unused accountability needs to take place in our district I hear rumors all the time of principals allowing so much academic freedom to take place in our

107classrooms that even our new cengage materials sit unopened I do believe principals should allow us academic freedom however we shouldn't really allowed so much freedom that we are not teaching mandated curriculum at all this is happening in our schools I teach in a highly mobile school I'm saddened every time I get a transfer student that has no idea what SEL is what second steps is or what connected and respect it is they do not have the SEL vocabulary my students have I believe it is the responsibility for consistency between schools lies heavily on the shoulders of our principals thank you for your testimony Veronica Pope and Thomas you can begin my name is Thomas Pease and I teach language arts at Mears middle school thank you for the opportunity to address I'll address all of

108you again and congratulations to our newest board members I appreciate your commitment to public education this commitment is one that all of us in this room share unfortunately our educational system is broken that is a problem we also must share and it's a problem we must collectively fix recently a board member asked me what I would do to address the budget shortfall I didn't have an immediate response but over the past week I've had time to reflect I've been told by more than one school board member that there's no money to fix a sd's budget problem I've been told to go to Juno to lobby the legislature I've been told to wait until the next election that the legislature has to get better because it can't get any worse I've been told to accept regressive

109contracts that will make up the difference next time around but these are not realistic solutions during the legislative session I have students to teach the past three superintendents have failed to secure any long-term sustainable funding from Juneau a heroic three-year lobbying effort by Great Alaska schools failed to solve the education funding problem in short the legislature doesn't respond to traditional approaches and expecting elections to yield the solution is like expecting students to honor the quiet signal on the last day of school the fact is legislators unfriendly to education hold a supermajority in the state Senate it would take two possibly three election cycles to turn the Senate if then waiting for meaningful raises has never worked it's been almost 24 years and I'm still waiting educators can't wait any longer we're out of time I've

110watched too many talented cohort co-workers leave this district including seven from my my building just this year statistically speaking half the educators in this room will leave the profession within five years unless we take dramatic and immediate steps the solution lies beyond the bargaining table as many of you have said publicly there is no money we can't continue to expend valuable resources to negotiate contracts that fail to make up for lost wages and benefits we've suffered throughout much of our careers we rejected a TA early this year for good reason and we could have defeated the second ta but we chose not to my colleagues and I won't support another contract does not contain meaningful gains the answer to school board members question is clear the solution lies in the grassroots effort that is arisen

111this year in sweeping the country it's played out in six states so far with more to come Alaska's turn is on the horizon it doesn't matter if ASD returns to the bargain table this movement needs to happen to save our schools and our profession this approach should not be viewed as a Brad but rather realistic it's not threatening but forward-thinking it's not an obstacle but an opportunity this is an opportunity for ASD to form an alliance with those who truly support public education this is an invitation to join with us to force a solution to the budget crisis you will not find a greater ally than those who work in Anchorage schools and since I've now answered the question asked of me I'd like to ask a question of the Anchorage School Board what will

112you do thank you I'm a ASD parent and I'm an early childhood educator in Anchorage and I'm here to speak to you on the value of play in kindergarten as an early childhood educator we're often asked is my child ready for kinder and really the question should be are you the Anchorage School District ready for these children and from what I hear from my friends who are kindergarten teachers in the district the answer is no seated extended seated programming is not developmentally appropriate for kindergartners and play needs to be offered more in the classroom so often children who are not who are deems not ready for kindergarten are just not ready for the environment that they're put into they're built to play they're not built to move they're not built to sit children who lack

113play they tend to struggle with self control and learning and unfortunately that follows them through their entire academic career plays as much for now and as it is for later plays development developmentally significant experience and should be included as much as possible in kindergarten it helps kids become high functioning citizens and grownups it's through play that kid learn how to get along with others and play with thoughts and ideas without the fear of being wrong children who gain these skills keep trying over and over and over again until they've mastered a skill those are the learners that we want gritty tenacious and determined learners each of these people that you honored here tonight they had they had the social-emotional skills to connect with people they didn't learn that through curriculum by the way there are

114not from interacting with other people play home social skills and our district seems to spend lots large amounts of money on specific curriculum and I as I said two weeks ago play is absolutely free when Johnny and Sally can resolve their own conflicts and an adult does not have to intervene that's valuable instruction time this can be gained through play my name is Veronica Pope I'm a preschool teacher at st. Mary's creative play school and you should get used to my name and you should get used to my face because I will be here as much as possible promoting the value of play and just as a side note I know I've only been to two meetings and there are a lot of unhappy people it's really unfortunate to hear and I know we can

115bring it down to money but some of the happiest people I've ever met are poor so we can do a lot with very little thank you very first morning Jordan and I having a tough time reading this Jordan gee thank you and you begin good evening my name is Aubrey Campbell and I am NOT a teacher I am an Orion lion I am the daughter of a longtime teacher at Orion Elementary so I don't have the risk of my job moving to a different building next year but I do come from a teacher family so I understand the importance of education that's why I'm here tonight I was reading the western demographics report and I noticed that I was bringing to mind some lessons that I had learned in mrs. Judy specs sixth grade science

116class at Orion the primary lesson is that you can't answer your hypothesis if you don't have all of the data and the fundamental lesson there is you make your best decisions when you have all of the information I think that the Western demographics report is a fantastic start because it includes crucial financial analysis consideration of proximal buildable land to schools that have capacity issues and it assesses demographic population forecasts these are important metrics for making strategic well informed decisions which is I imagine a burden that lies heavy on your shoulders as the school board however we all know that a school and the staff and students can't be reduced just to dollars that's that's why we're all here all of these schools have intangible assets the long culture of excellence at Orion its history its

117engagement with the community these are intangible assets but they are quantifiable again something that I learned from mrs. speck if you can see it you can observe it and then something that I learned later on in grad school if you can observe it you can analyze it and if you can analyze it you can understand it if you can understand it you can make the best decisions possible so to borrow a really common phrase or unofficial catchphrase from scientific community more research is needed I would urge you please continue the good work that you've started with this Western demographics report and gather information about all of these intangible assets about Orion elementary its engagement with the community it's specific geographical challenges and its proximity to aurora elementary the history of its student populations and the

118longevity of service of the teachers at that school please just remember more research is needed thank you thank you for your class tomorrow and having a tough time reading this it's art and Edwards is it I'm sorry wait a bee sorry alright and Jordan you can begin now good evening madam president dr. Bishop and members of the school board my name is Jordan gates and on behalf of Orion elementary school and as a representative of the students I'd like to testify against the closure of her school you may all may wonder why a student who is leaving sixth grade on Wednesday would care so much about the school's closure well I have a sibling who's leaving second grade and she's been out Ryan since kindergarten and such changes would really affect her because of her

119current condition also imagine all of the other kids suffering from things like autism and anxiety it would be detrimental to their performance and maybe even their mental health it's not just them either other students may not cope as they're from military families and they don't want to have to move without actually having to move I've been alright I don't grade too and it would kill me if I can't drive past a ride next year and see all the students running out at the school and say oh that's my old elementary school I've learned so much from being there and I feel that Orion is a safe place in a world where dollars and finances are a priority it may be an obvious answer to the problem fix facing Western demographics to close the school but

120I'm here to say that Orion is not just worth dollar bills we are a family together you wouldn't tear apart a family would you Orion's staff is amazing with so many great programs that they don't have to launch at all they give us opportunity to do so much more than what we are capable of in our homelands our running club helps us win to become great athletes led by our PE teacher our basement of instruments helped us establish connections with other schools as well as instruments and music where else would we put them our PTA who put on amazing events for us that take up a lot of time to put on even though they don't have to our noon duties who keep us safe at recess every day even though sometimes we don't agree

121with the rules we know they do what's best for us every day at recess Orion hasn't even taught me how to self resolve conflicts and not run to the nearest adult like I used to do this school has basically raised me and shaped me into Who I am and all let's make everything I have learned in Sunna middle school with me next year once again I hope you all consider this testimony when you make it a final a decision of closing down Orion if you do just know that you're closed down so much more than just a building you're closed down all of the relationships we have built there and all the memories we have shared at our school thank you sir [Applause] hello everyone my name is Aiden Edwards and I'm in the fourth

122grade I just moved here from Alaska I mean I just moved to Alaska last August and this has been my first year at Orion Elementary due to my dad being in the military my family has moved a lot I have I have to go through many changes when it comes to school before moving here I attended 2nd and 3rd grade in Virginia I mentioned this because it was my first time I have attended school two years in a row since pre-k I have really enjoyed my year here at Orion and I'm looking forward to continuing my time here in Alaska at the school for the first time I can ride my bike to school each day with my friends I really like having just a school close to home and I really love all my

123teachers they have helped me adjusting to the Common Core math since this was my first time being taught with this curriculum everyone has really I mean everyone has been really great with making sure I've had a great learning experience and a fun time at school while I am used to moving and dealing with changes I would also like to have some stability as well I have had many new friends and want to continue attending Orion with them I have been told that if Iran closes we will be split up and sent to Ora Aurora Elementary or possibly another school I am concerned about this not not only because I would be separated from my friends but the schools are much smaller than Orion they have large classrooms more bathrooms and the space for more students

124larger class sizes can already be difficult for not only the teachers but us the sturgeons as well this could cause problems with us being in an uncomfortable learning environment also if we are where if we are made to move can you guarantee a crossing cart that would be really I mean that would be available since we would have to cross the major street took at school I hope you will consider this when making your final decision but most importantly I hope you decide to keep all all right Orion elementary doors open this is an awesome this is an awesome school and we deserve to continue having a great place to learn thank you thank you for your time thank you very much [Music] Susan you can begin when the clock starts good evening I'm Susan

125Ritter I work at service high school I'm a life skills teacher previously it was an elementary school thank you for allowing me this opportunity to testify so I want to be direct with you this evening it's the easiest way to be we need an open and transparent negotiated contract which is critical for you and critical for my fellow teachers we're professionals for adults we need to approach this process in a mature and forward-thinking manner so that's the first thing the other thing is at the last board meeting we listened to testimonies from individuals who were retiring who were angry who were finally able to speak their mind because there was no retribution to what they had to say that's pretty doubtful that that that is the only way people will or many people will speak

126to you to their administrators to this body that they're afraid that they will be attacked somehow if they tell you the what is on their mind and what is the truth to them another person who's leaving is Abby belts who is a special a teacher who I worked with on various challenging students over the years she's leaving mirrors and mirrors is now without a fantastic teacher I'm without a fantastic colleague with whom I can share concerns with students that I will be having that will come from years to service this is my loss this is your loss this is special education is loss special education has a lot of concerns I feel and I just would like you to support our program the numbers are rising have you pointed out the money go from our

127intensive needs students I don't know the answer to that question but I do know that we will have additional 12 students in my class next year four of them will be in wheelchairs I'm hoping that we will get additional teacher assistance support so that we can spend less than 45 minutes in the bathroom per child and so that is another huge concern of mine lastly I want to share a quick story about my daughter who is a successful young professional now when she was in Kinkead elementary school in first grade her wonderful first-grade teacher said she's way too smart for me I'm bumping her up the second grade BAM it was done we didn't have to test her for months at a time the teacher recognized it she caught collaborated with their second-grade teachers so

128she went from first grade the second grade I don't know if that'll ever happen again to other kids but that cooperation between two teachers in elementary school made a very impactful difference to my daughter and those who know her will be pleased to know that as a mechanical engineer for Daimler Corporation she's done really well through ASD so thank you so much for your time thank you and we have our next speaker is testifying by telephone and so we're calling her now Karen Karen all right we're gonna leave her a message but for the sake of the board we're gonna take a five-minute recess and they'll be right back [Music] thank you [Music] calling out board members and II that's worry direction police are you out there okay we're going to go ahead and get

129started back up thank you for your patience and at this time we have reports and I'm gonna ask dr. Bishop to give us a superintendent report update thank you madam president the superintendent update is of items requested by the board and items for which we need additional information to move forward so the first one also mentioned tonight is the capital efficiency recommendations and as a review what came out of the western demographics was for several schools to be thought about their recommendations aren't necessary the boards or the administrative recommendations presently wanted to share that our operating environment present is the flat - declining enrollment projections that are not equal across the entire district that's what we found out that we have schools of 100 20 some-odd capacity and schools that fall under that the J

130bear Elmendorf schools in total if we took all of them have 54 percent capacity so presently of all the schools there 54 percent of each building and it's an aging infrastructure so with the state debt reimbursement that informs our bonds and it's been on hiatus until or a memorandum for not moving forward till 2020 we do anticipate a reinstall 'men in 2021 at a lower percentage presently it's 100 percent at the local taxpayer funds prior to that moratorium it was 70 30 seventy percent of all bond projects paid by the state or 6040 and it really dependent on the deed requirements for which you built your school the requirements call for housed students in a particular draw area so it's not district-wide district-wide we are under our capacity because we have some schools that are

13154% some at 125 in the draw area of that school if you were if there are unhoused students per square footage that's how you could get the 70/30 if you just built schools to build them it was 6040 hence if you use more area in an open ASD really has built wonderful schools to meet student needs not really just for the money because the the good open space is the great open spaces as you walk into schools such as diamond in Eagle River that is space that counts towards students but it's not used for classrooms or gym it's kind of an open area so we really do build great schools here just to let you know it's fabulous to have the kind of schools with the input of the local community with that though we

132expect to reinstall MIT and presently it's heard that it's 50/50 but that is better than zero money from the state coming in the state's responsibility if you will is to support education in schools and if the state continues to put money to reas which are unincorporated areas and so it's becoming a incorporated area versus not incorporate air 'ya difference and we've also seen that with what member donnalee01 differential that there it's starting to be imbalanced and they haven't taken a look at this in a while so the request was for it's been ten years what does this look like but on jeager itself there's the percentage at adjacent schools is off due to it being almond Dorf and Richardson at one time and then becoming jay baer so a lot of our new transportation hasn't

133adjusted if you will and and we've left it because we received funding per school site so it was okay when bonding comes into the picture and additional funds are required and asked of our community then we have to start thinking are we use and we've been asked by the stakeholders are you using your school's efficiently and the testimony is absolutely true tonight if they the researcher did not go in and say what kind of program is here he did look at programs but he looked at where are your charter programs where are your neighborhood schools where are your immersion programs where are your special so he wanted to be sure that those were around the city but as far as on the base it he did not ask about you know what kind of school

134is this so that is absolutely true testimony he just went in there to look at space so the summary was that he had to reduce jay baer capacity I believe from for schools to three because if you took all four schools it's at 54% and he said you could put through you could still have three schools and have about 10 to 15% at each school he also progestin boundary changes from taku to Campbell and Ravenwood to homestead and boundary changes are just as personal and heartfelt as school changes so that all of these are actually very difficult actions if the district wanted to look as a whole to see what we can do replacement schools they mentioned Abbot loop and they used the term scrape off and I know our president knew that from her

135work with Realty but that means that he wouldn't recommend because of the building itself all three of those schools were replacement meaning they would take him to the ground and rebuild them because of the materials and the time frame and what they were used to build them that it probably would be more expensive to abate the places than it would be to rebuild so all three of those were though as you remember inland view and greening had come up on a prior study that said maybe they should be shut down and that he didn't find that and then central middle school to look at maybe a co usage of that you can if we wanted to continue a middle school in there how else can we use the other 50% of the space that's not

136being used we do pay for rent we have specialized programs we have charters how could we use Central Middle School in a more effective model but we do know it's kind of the elephant in the room that the city would also love to utilize the facility so but that school also had an eventual replacement like greening like Inlet view and like Abbot loop so our recommendation presently we do need to figure out the jay baer capacity however since Shannon Bingham went in there's been lots of feedback about recommendations in regard to storage they're the size of that building what would be a better building just to close I think some suggestions came up tonight about you know looking at a different school but to take a look we've worked with Colonel Knight on this and

137his community we did not go out to the general community before it got out to the board so we had this information a couple of days before we presented it the weekend before to the board however really getting out in front of your board is probably not it wouldn't be good for you guys not to hear it so since then we've just kind of sat on it because we've taken a look at the the school start time study but probably but we have gone out and spoken to the staff in regard to what this means I believe Elementary I did that boundaries changes we need to consult with the stakeholders and impacted parties and that really takes transition time you if we're gonna make a change those are difficult as well but you allow for

138some matriculating out to be able to soften that you know so that younger kids might start at the new school older kids can finish their their school before the bus doesn't go there anymore so you run double routes for a couple of years avid loop elementary school we will would request to defer the project until 2024 fire suppression and we until that time we can approval by the fire marshal remember the the fire we have fire alarm to get kids out it was the fire suppression for the building to put the water on the building and we could defer that because if we go in there and fix that we're going to take it down if our community passes a bond to redo a bit loop so we would like to defer that project until

1392020 and combine that with a possible bond and then return to the board in September to address the following really talk about the schools that need replacements for bonding and see where the board is before we go to the capital improvement planning committee look at central middle school and work with that staff to think about Co usage plans there's some ideas that they have implementation plans for J bear boundary changes if approved by the board so really work with that community as well and then revise the six-year CIP looking out ten years so have a six year CIP but presented the board tenure so we can actually see the changes because what was presented by Shannon wasn't it was over time because of the expense and he just shared that in infrastructure the the usable

140life of a school they usually say is about 40 to 45 years before some improvements need to be made some of our schools are 60 years without being touched if we were to renew a school a year we would have to pass a bonding it would take us a hundred years to address our school so we know we're a pretty big system so we have to just think about what would come first come Dax what is what was the recommendation from the expert what do we not want to do and do so we do not have a recommendation to shut down Orion coming from administration we want to get on base with Colonel Knight and the schools and the community to figure out how we best can figure out the 54 percent capacity on four

141schools again then address the boundary changes defer Abbot loop we have five years to do that according to deed statute when you pass a bond you have five years to build it so we have time to do that and then bless you and then return to the board with just some more information but we did not want to engage with any of these to the board gave us their approval to be able to move forward and start to kind of talk about the things that we found in the capacity study because we have not picked it up other than talking to the schools affected since the report was made and we knew it would be emotional it is we love our schools and everybody I mean we should and we should be proud of him

142we are proud of them but I mean this is just the data that came without the other input as suggested this evening that was not included so with that that is really what I would ask the board to say yes work this summer and bring something back to us in September is because there's a lot more stakeholders than just the district any questions or comments do I say Madam President shouldn't dr. Bishop I mean you said that we can to delay the Abbot loop fire suppression system is there a safety concern from the fire marshal in doing that well the fire marshal has been reminding us all the time that new building code is that you have fire suppression systems former building code was not so the idea that fire suppression is used to protect

143capital fire alarms we should be out of that building well before that water even goes off there is yes yeah yeah so we would fire alarms we have IRA suppression we don't it is costing us every year in additional insurance because of that on our insurance broker because we don't have a fire suppression and it is present code they just want you to he wants us to he or she I'm not sure if the fire marshals female or male but they want us to bring it up to code and so we did the board had a directive yes do this consequently the same time we had this study here they come together and we'd hate to put the money into it too if we did pass a bond later on came it that was exactly

144my question oh okay good oh I just I'm really concerned about the deferred maintenance backlog the roofs and everything else that that we've been putting off for the last five to ten years because of the lack of state funding and now the lack of reimbursement and all of a sudden having this massive building program being dropped on us for rebuilding entire schools why we were not we're not even getting close to addressing keeping up with the basic repairs that we need to do on roofs and other items plus the security measures that we really would need to do in our schools - you know upgrade the video cameras and the systems for safety and all the other things we need to do for safety so I'm very skeptical of this massive building scenario where we're

145going to rebuild three or four or five schools from the ground up and and where that money is going to come from it's it's a huge ask to the taxpayers and I think the success of the last bar and one of the reasons it was so successful is because it targeted deferred maintenance and it was only two years ago that a bond went down and part of the reason was it was it was because it had one of these big remodel projects in it through the president - member guiley I I agree it deferred maintenance is what we focused on because of the the cost all three of those buildings the greeny needs a new roof and now because they have had a terrible roof they need a new building it literally is like it's

146have you if you've been at it they need a school so because inlet view and avid loop and greening are so old and haven't had those types of improvements all three of those schools have rain in sight during melting time and raining time greening literally has visqueen on the ceilings in some of their hallways I was there myself and it's actually not biscuits like the blue tarp so they have blue tarp inside the building because of failed roots now the experts are saying the failed roof is just party a problem because of the prior damage because these buildings are so old they didn't and they highly recommended not closing down those schools so I mean we're kind of caught between a rock and a hard place and these schools need new roofs as well so

147we could just put a roof but there's other infrastructure in those schools that are falling down as well so I agree it would be tough to pass any kind of school bond right now that's why I think that the issue was that in 2020 to try to work for one school and then that after that work for another school because if a middle school say would be about sixty five million dollars elementary school about twenty four to thirty greening would cost our taxpayers thirty million if it was 50/50 if it went back to sixty forty or seventy thirty the local would only pay thirty cents on the dollars so that's why we know we need it we need it today we needed it yesterday we needed it before the roofs went bad but the predicament

148were in today is that these would be the first schools to come back when we can bond that was his recommendation I guess right yeah and that makes sense when when there's a state reimbursement that facilitates that that makes sense to me to give the voters that opportunity then I'm still not convinced of the basis of the analysis that no schools need to be closed anywhere because of projected housing starts I mean all the schools are we're losing families we're losing population every year and every year it seems like the experts underestimate how much we're losing I noticed there was just an article in today's paper about people are just leaving Alaska the unemployment rate it's not going up because people are leaving and we already have the highest unemployment rate in the nation so

149to base the entire analysis that you shouldn't close any school anywhere in the district even though they're under populace significantly under populated and because there's a projected anticipation of housing starts I haven't completely bought on to that argument yet through the president to mr. gently there actually was a recommendation close I Ryan and there was a recommendation to technically close central or transition central to a dual use so you could have two new programs in central and have those middle schools elsewhere or so there were actually two recommendations for schools it just in to your point it is correct that we are moving down in students it happens though that our target area is about eighty-five percent capacity so any place it's happening in lots of different areas to where we're staying steady at that

15084 to 89 percent capacity and we wouldn't close those schools so basically the base is where there's another school very close within across the street I mean you could see the school so they considered busing to new facilities so say for instance Eagle River homestead if you closed homestead and I hope people are listening what that was an omelet I mean you would have to bus those kids so far to other schools that only have 15% capacity so you would literally break up a community and send them to all these different places so it just didn't make sense so the areas that we are significantly low about 50% to 60% capacity central and that was either to if you want to keep central as a specialized school of science you should use that other side

151of the building for something because we're paying rent different programs pay rent and then of course on jay baer they recommended Orion but of the four schools all four together is 54 percent capacity and it's closed locations I mean even from Fort rich to Allman Dorf is a bus ride but it's still on the base and so that's why that came up so there was a recommendation there weren't more recommendations because the decline in enrollment is all over the place it's not just in one easy area and so taking a neighborhood of so many blocks that went to a school and dividing them into four schools is it and those schools are really far away is kind of difficult so he just you know put this algorithm on top of it you know pretty much

152but there were two schools that were suggested yeah I'm sorry I misspoke I I would just seemed like we expected a lot more feedback and there but but the core reasoning for no other suggestions really was the housing start basis and I just I haven't I'm not convinced I would say that neither was our assembly convinced but the data came from them yeah so like the city and not from the assembly from the city and so we just had to you an icer so we did not make up the data we just used extant data that was already there through the president de su didn't actually remember Donnelly's concern about the projections based on housing not because I don't trust the numbers but we're talking let's say ten years from now which is what his

153numbers were one it is a projection and two if we have a sudden influx in in population you know that might be a bond opportunity that would have a lot of support at that time when we have an aging under capacity building that we wouldn't have to sustain the the capital element of it for that those ten years so you're almost deferring the maintenance let's say for that ten-year boom down the future so I thought the numbers of the recommendations for schools that might be under capacity they were lower than I expected and I don't think it I'm not as compelled by their reasoning for it additionally I'd hope the district would consider the wait list we have for our charter schools that tells me that parents are willing to do things that maybe we

154don't always you know that saying you'll drive your kid to school and sometimes many of our parents drive significant distance bar I don't even like my 15 minute drive but I do it right to just be creative in what we're doing that we don't just say there's only one way but you know the innovative ideas he suggests you know I there's room for that so I'll just add that those three schools we definitely have to do something with them because if you've ever been in Gruening it's it's pretty sad and it just doesn't function for the students or the staff at this time so even if we weren't going to tear down or replace I mean I think we've got to look at our schools that we're gonna have to do something with we can't

155continue at the rate we're going yep that so there you have it may we work this summer and bring something back in September is yes do anything to promote okay no okay we'll bring something back then in in using these this is our guide thank you um Madam President the next topic was just some more information on sensitive topics and speakers and we've heard quite a bit about that and the state law has I think been updated a couple of years ago and so I asked Melanie Sutton to assist me she worked with staff to establish the policies and procedures so that we would be in love with the new law so I'm just gonna turn it over to Melanie Thank You dr. Bishop school board so the Alaska statute 1430 dot three six one

156is the parents right to direct a child's education it was formerly known as House bill 156 and it was passed in the 29th legislative session in 2016 the key points under this bill are that the parent may withdraw a child from activity class or program that we provide notification not less than two weeks prior on any sensitive topic instruction and opportunities for parents to review any Content sensitive topics under this statue are defined as sexuality education human reproductive education and human sexuality education this statue also defines who can teach these topics and requires the school board to approve materials and instructor / speaker credentials what that actually means is that your school board as we'll go into it has made the decisions as to how to set the parameters on those approvals this particular statute

157indicates that the approval of guest speakers and the sexuality and human reproductive education does not apply to sexual abuse sexual assault awareness dating violence and day abuse awareness in other words those materials or curricula are not subject to the same level of review under the HB 156 so who can teach these topics as defined by the statute the people must be employed by a school district and can include teachers and principals who are certified nurses that are certified counselors and guest speakers who are supervised by one of those people who are listed above and are on the approved sensitive topic guest speaker list the school board in October of 2016 updated the sexuality education guidelines to reflect these new statutes they also adopted the guest speaker guidelines to reflect the newly updated information and granted

158the superintendent permission to designate a Content area expert myself to approve the speakers under these guidelines in other words we refer to all guidelines that were established by the school board the district approval process is to Allah is aligned with our sexuality guidelines that were adopted by the school board our age appropriate contain language and themes consistent with the asd curriculum and meet all asd standards for healthy living at the state level and also sexuality education and SEL standards are included as well twice a year in both fall and spring I review every single one of the applications match them all so that their age appropriate to the adopted curriculums for health education match them to the standards and make all speakers go through these three-part application process which includes basic information about the company

159that is applying for a guest speaker status on sense of topics indicators of the quality of their program that they are suggesting be taught as part of a guest speaker application I also review every piece of material every resource and every cadential that they provide in guidance for our teachers we have produced the guest speaker guidelines which the school board approved in October of 2016 that list is also provided which is a matches all the approved curriculum and pieces and credentialed speakers that match the pieces that they have been approved to do to present principle permission is required if a teacher asks for a guest speaker on the sensitive topic they must first confer with their principal to get approval all materials are available for digitally available for teachers to preview before they book a

160guest speaker parental notification with an option to opt out is also sent a minimum of two weeks before any of those sensitive topics are discussed with the guest speaker outside presenters are resourced people who are invited into classrooms at the discretion of a teacher and his or her principal they are considered supplemental to the curriculum and are not required but are invited in any question mr. darling thank you we're a testimony in our last meeting that the two-week notice requirement has not been always complied with are you familiar with any instances where two weeks notice was not provided to the parents under our guidelines they must receive the two-week notice if there is an issue where the two-week notice has not been provided then that would be something that the teacher the and principal would

161need to discuss at their own site the guest speaker does not provide the two-week notice the teacher provides a two-week notice um through the president - he's asking are you aware of any time that we haven't met that where parents were upset because we haven't met the two-week notice and are you saying that schools would know and not you or would it have funneled up to you we had testimony last time I am aware of one incident that happened recently but the notification generally goes directly to the teacher and principal and if there is a further concern that is not handled at that area then they can ask me what the procedures are protocol or if they need assistance on that I didn't understand that answer I really didn't I mean it was a pretty

162straightforward problem that was presented to the board by the public saying that the law wasn't being complied with and people weren't getting two weeks notice as parents I I would really hope that as the administrator in charge of this program that you would be on top of that and take responsibility for making sure the parents are getting two weeks notice madam president I will take responsibility for that that's my job Mellon is not an administrator she's a teacher a coordinator and my understanding she's probably pretty nervous that she did receive one that she knew about that they others would have been gone to the school and so I will research that and do a board connect report it actually as a superintendent is my responsibility Melanie is just supporting this program as part of her

163job I see okay I thought she was the administrator in charge of the program okay thank you our parents allowed to sit in on any of these classes parents are allowed to have any information that they need to in order to make a good decision about their children's education if they would like to sit down in any class they are can ask that of their teacher and their principal so yes oh the answers yes okay all right thank you and are any of the guest speakers compensated paid in any way they are not paid by ASD thank you so so the notifications are usually given to the students right it is my understanding that each teacher and principal take care of their own notification and primarily yes they are given to the students who take

164home best reason I've never received one thank you thank you so much for being here um I was you weren't here last week but there's last time there's some sort of flyer that maybe didn't emphasize the importance of parents being involved in children's sexual development and if is that the do the nurses have the discretion over posting things in their office or is that included in this sensitive topic information under what you review so the flyer that you are referring to that was mentioned in last weeks or two weeks ago school board meeting has not been displayed in this nurse's office it is the the Director of Nursing mr. John Garrity and I had a dress that issue early on at the beginning of the year when those Flyers were made available at a public

165event and we indicated to the nurses that those were not something that we would like displayed or made available to students the nurses if they are and they do fall under those approved to do guest speakers would have to adhere to the same guest speaker guidelines that were established by the school board for all but printed materials aren't guest speakers printed materials are covered under the same thing and are reviewed and that particular thing is not on the approved guest speaker material list thank you and thank you Thank You Melanie and Melanie is our curriculum coordinator for peat in health thank you Thank You Melanie okay what do you got next for us okay I'm finishing up I have a request for a calendar change this came to us from our military community as our

166calendars are made I believe this one was three years in advance I'd like you to take a look at the blue arrows and we can make this change the ninth is presently an in-service day and it was scheduled as an in-service day in celebration or to coincide with our community having their children home for Veterans Day however it is always a pinch that staff doesn't have that we continue to work employees however the real observance that this got by the calendar committee at the time the real observance of that and the rest of the country is the 12th so we would like to take the 9th in-service day and move it to the 12th and so students will have off with their families on the observed Veterans Day because as you know Veterans Day is

167on the 11th but it will be observed on the 12th so this is an easy change with deed if the board allows us to do that we just request from deed and it can be done it'll be logged and then we'll get those new calendars out to families as soon as possible okay was on that committee so I don't know how we did that yeah just an error in planning and I mean it was a long time ago and so it's always buy it but we just the purpose was to have it it's just that the federal observance of it is that Monday not Friday do you want a motion madam chair or is this just something we just got it we would need a motion I would move to change the in-service day on

168the 9th of November to the 12th of November I second that and we'll just take a voice vote mr. Donnelly yes yes yes okay good thank you Oh could I ask you a question about the calendar why we have it in front of us um I've had multiple contacts from from instructors and from other folks about the start day for the school year being on Monday versus Wednesday and I was wondering what the thinking was there apparently in the past the started the school year was on a Wednesday which the argument that I've heard is that starting on a Monday the kids are really not ready you know Sunday night's difficult they're not ready to go but if you go on a Wednesday it's it's it's more conducive to that the kiddos and the first

169couple days are organizing and everything else and and then you come back after the first weekend and you're ready to really hit it for an instruction now this is I I'm not asserting that as a fact I'm just saying the arguments that I have been presented with and I was wondering what the thinking was on starting on Monday versus Wednesday through the president to remember Conley I'll share that actually as a teacher after a long summer it is easier to have a couple days with kids and a little break they need a break too because of the new routines however these are we've also had complaints in regard to December's not on here but working all the way up to Christmas and the those are truly created with to actually come back to the school

170as late as we can because we used to start even earlier in August and have basically from our high schools this is especially true equal amount and if you're in elementary it doesn't necessarily matter that much but when you teach start to teach semester courses and I'm a teacher at high school and I actually give credit for semester courses a school year is the hundred eighty days and I'm basically you have 90 here and 90 here and then you kind of want to get quarters because like first quarter second quarter at about half of those 90 days for about 45 some of them might be 42 some might be 45 in those days are set holidays Thanksgiving Christmas spring break when Christmas falls in the day of the week so all of those factors you

171just kind of collectively look at and my understanding is on a you know my former calendar experiences when you you do like to have a Thursday Friday start but you would either pull it earlier and pull it closer and stop in the middle of the week you know it's really about the in-service days parent days so all of those items come into play and you just kind of start sorting them out but the biggest goal that you want is for your high school teachers not to have because they might have just semester courses with a set of kids and a whole separate set of kids and they'd have 85 days or 81 days to teach these kids the same curriculum they have 90 days or 93 days to teach this so you technically have to

172keep it similar and you want to get out before Memorial Day so there's um it's not one thing it's many things but the primary goal is to really to support secondary teachers in that semester teaching because when you're teaching a whole school year through you can adjust it the whole time and that's what elementary teachers do but when you get to secondary I might just have a semester course that is given a half a credit and then have different kids the next time and you have the same you have the same charge to teach them those outcomes so when we make them to about they're always in balance but when we make them too imbalanced that it's very difficult for our staff to to be able to have the time that they need with kids

173so that along with everything else but if the priority was to never start on a Monday that could be the priority for which everything else Falls right now the priority is taking a look at how do we get the instruction in that were charged to do with not you know it would really create just this crazy scheduling and redoing of lessons and things like that to get the compact them to for them first semester courses so we are putting together great question if community members are interested new calendar committees some of the suggestions and the calendar committee is do we want to go later do we want to have late start times everywhere maybe we could do that late start early release to provide teachers the collaborative time that we've talked about that is taken

174away by our reductions with middle school maybe we can create a calendar that allows that the board has brought up maybe having off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and you know just different things where we find so basically the group would get together have the parameters of law the law does outline how many days and things like that by the state of Alaska how many you know parent conference days how many in-service days and just start piecing it together but it's a it's a collaborative process of community educators parents teacher everybody so HR run set and they're looking to create a team now to get that done so if you have parents we'd love to hear from them that's a long answer sorry but it's really a big deal kind of thing and then we try

175to do it three years in advance or our families know okay if there's no other questions let's move on to pentaquark I promise this my very last thing Madam President and I would like to and I know these folks have been here quite a long time there is recommendations to have some secondary principal hires and I always like the board that will come before you in June the recommendations from administration but we did a couple of secondary schools and I would like to announce that our new recommendation from me for the new principal of Han Xu middle school formerly an assistant principal of West High is Nikki Hodge please come forward Nikki Hoshi you can see her face and we would like Nikki to behan choose new principal so if you want to say a

176few words Nikki maybe if you'd like or absolutely I thank you all very much I am a proud product of Anchorage School District from kindergarten to twelfth grade I'm very happy about the opportunity to serve and lead in the school district that helped to raise me and rear me I thank you I think dr. Bishop dr. stock and dr. Kirsten Johnson for believing in me I also want to thank my parents in my family I have a family of educators right here in the audience my husband and my mentor miss Cecily Williams and I'd be remiss not to mention my former principal mr. Mike Graham so thank you and a recommendation coming from the assistant principal of Chugiak high school staying in the area but moving to the opposing school Eagle River High School mr.

177Tim Helvey thank you thank you for tuning us a it's gonna be nice currently I'm driving five miles to the school and now it's gonna be three miles so and I think if I get a good run at the hill I can actually make it home on empty if I have to again I really appreciate the opportunity for this I'm looking forward to working with the staff at Eagle River finding out what makes a good worker tick and then really charging that staff with how can we move this school forward I bring 17 years of experience started out in the bush I was out in Bristol Bay for four years moved into Neil chick for to finally found a home in Anchorage School District taught at West for five years worked at diamond as an

178assistant principal for three - it south finally now at Chugiak and now heading up to Eagle River I have two boys that are in that community when that's going to Chugiak Elementary in the immersion program so we're gonna have a big conversation and when they start heading to high school with school they're going to attend I think you know which one they're gonna go to so I'm really excited about this opportunity and I really think everybody that was involved in the process and just thank you again thank you I think yeah it depends on what color bloom they want to wear right and there are two elementary recommendations recommended to go to Turnagain elementary school miss Halina Batman and she comes to us from an assistant principal of Fairview so here we go and what

179a great name for an elementary principal mrs. Batman I like everyone else is really tired so I'll keep this very short I moved to Anchorage with my family 19 years ago to the Turnagain neighborhood so I brought three of my kids through Turnagain roam again west we currently still live in the neighborhood I started out as a parent volunteer that many years ago became a teacher and went off into the Anchorage School District world to learn new great things and I am honored to come back to my home school and I'm thrilled and I'm grateful for this opportunity thank you thank you and finally I'm not sure if I um see her here she's wearing oh she is she's wearing pink come on forward um she kick-started with us at the focus on staff and

180students this is Miss Wendy's areaa and she's the acting principal at Bear Valley and the new principal selected by the Kincaid Elementary staff Miss Wendy's Araya and Wendy I only speak from experience because I've had with my grants going going to Bear Valley they are getting a very good person thank you I'm so excited about going to Kincaid I have 17 years of experience in the classroom here in Anchorage from Baxter with mr. Hess over there to Lake hood with mr. Nilson most of my time was spent at Gladys wood so I feel like being selected for Kincaid I'm going back to that neighborhood I know really well in the Sand Lake area with the business partners and the community and the parents so I'm extremely excited I wanted to thank everyone mr. Nelson and

181the committee that did the interview to give me this opportunity thank you thank you so much and we'll have several more but I just wanted to share the up-and-coming leaders in ASD thank you okay so now we don't have a student advisory report but board committees do we have anything from communications we did have an initial meeting and it was really more of an overview kind of meeting we talked about we had Katherine essary took us through the materials that we typically produce in a given year and we talked about some things we might want to think about for the future so it was really kind of just an overview next meeting the next meeting will most likely be in June Alisa do you know the date offhand 6:20 thank you thank you and my

182smelly finance has not met since our last meeting we look forward to meeting June 4th thank you we're filthy governance men on the 16th and we reviewed some new proposed board policies that are coming down from the ASB that we'll review at our next we already reviewed them but we'll present it to the board of the next board meeting and then we had a lot of visitors to talk about autonomy and curriculum in the school and for me the last year I've only talked about how the great things happening in our district and how I really want to hear and share and the good things and how things are working our district and we got to hear that specific to the reading curriculum from principals teachers and instructional coaches so it was really helpful to

183talk in a collaborative calm relaxed way and and hear how things are working not just that they are but different ways and um so that was good and we invite all of you to come to governance and your next meeting 620 units and I will be stacked I'm looking forward to it okay at this time if I could get someone to approve the consent agenda I move to approve the consent agenda the November 6 2017 regular session minutes the number xx work session and executive session minutes and ASD memorandum number 163 the personnel report do have a second okay and that passes with six yeas and one not present you want to continue do you know what that's okay no you're fine I move to approve a SD member and AM number 141 and authorized

184the superintendent to dispose of the listed surplus property by sealed bid sale public auction or other means as practical in accordance with board property 3270 sale and disposal of books equipment and supplies personal property a second second thank you please vote is there any public testimony on that item okay any board discussion all right now although we have six yeas and one not present okay I moved to approve ASD memorandum number 164 and authorized the superintendent to award a contract for the Rogers Park Elementary School HVAC and roof up dates to swallowing general contractors for a total award amount of five million nine hundred and ninety two thousand six hundred and sixty five dollars do we have any public testimony oh yeah we forgot sir okay we're having a public testimony any board discussion or

185please vote okay passes was six years and one not present I moved to approve ASD memorandum number 157 and authorized the superintendent to award a contract for the Northwood ABC elementary school roof replacement project to Earhart roofing company incorporated for a total award amount of 1 million one hundred and three thousand eight hundred and one dollars thank you any public testimony ok any board discussion please vote and that passes was six years and one not present I moved to approve ASD memorandum number 168 and authorized the superintendent to award a contract for the student nutrition roof and refrigeration replacement project to consolidated enterprises incorporated for a total award amount of two million four hundred and eighty one thousand four hundred and seventeen dollars second second thank you any public testimony for discussion please felt Matt

186passes with six yeas and one not present I moved to approve ASD memorandum number 169 and authorized the superintendent to award a contract for the King Tech High School formerly known as King Career Center to best value roof replacement I'm sorry best value roof replacement to consolidated enterprises incorporated for a total award amount of two million nine hundred and ninety nine thousand six hundred and thirty two dollars have a second second any public custom owning board discussion please vote passes were six yeas and one not present at this time I would are there any would any board member like to pull any of the non action items for discussion okay saying that will move on future items future business do we have any board members that have any items for future business the other thing

187I want to just say here too is just to remind the board that this is our time even to maybe just got maybe not tonight because late but it's hard time to be able to discuss I mean it is our meeting there's things you want to discuss or bring up you're certainly more than welcome to do that during during our meeting so don't feel that you can't do that in this form because you can so is there anyone that would like to bring up any future items for future business David thank you madam chair I attended the municipality of Anchorage's Public Safety Committee meeting I guess it was last week it seems like longer ago and at the invitation of chairman trainee a former chairman trainee at the time he was chairman and Joe spent

188our our safety officer went with me the discussion continued a discussion that we've had over the years about the number and the distribution of the police officers in our schools the SRO for the general public out there the SROs and safety resource officers the chief of police was there and once again the chief was rather vague about the situation regarding response to our middle schools and we had a it there seemed to be a lot of support my general perception in the room was there was a lot of support from assembly members who were on that committee to explore the possibility of expanding a number of SROs to cover our middle schools the chief stated that currently we have 22 22 SROs but only Clark is our only middle school that actually has one assigned

189to the schools and once again the chief made the argument well we can respond to the other schools but I made the argument that well speaking for myself as a parent and as an individual I was very clear I wasn't speaking for the board I don't think that's good enough I think that middle schools have become targets all over this nation and five minutes can save a lot of lives and having an SRO in our middle schools it's time to do it I think and assembly members specifically asked him how many more a sorrows would you need to have one in each middle school and the chief said 10 they talked about it so if we talk about a future action item I'm considering drafting a resolution from the board and if there could be

190a second for it you know I would put it before us too as an action item to send a resolution to the assembly requesting that 10 additional SROs specifically to have at least one in each middle school so you know that police force has been expanded greatly over the last few years and and giving what's going on in the United States right now it's apparent I just think it's it's it's something that's not that big ask of our community at least for our middle schools to have this know so that's my report from the public safety meeting do we have a second for that I'll second it the other on that same line I just want to talk about something and I have not heard a clear response on our fire alarms on how we

191respond to fire alarms I've heard several things but I haven't heard anything definite on how we respond you know we do delayed we have another kind of message that says okay it's okay to leave the building so I would like to have something presented to us next time on what we're doing with fire alarms or and I think that should be in a meeting because I want the public to know that also and then the other thing is APD responds I really don't know how APD responses if there's an active shooter and I think as a board member and as the public they have a right to know how is our APD responding so I would request that maybe we have an APD officer here to talk about that is there a second second it's

192fascinating some states actually have legislation pending on that very subject because there are some requirements and states that buildings be evacuated a certain way if there's a fire alarm triggered and it may not be the safest thing for our students if some of these perpetrators are triggering the fire alarms to get our our kiddos out of the classes where they'll be more vulnerable so that's you're really I think you're raising a very important question here I've been researching it and and I think it's something we need to discuss a good idea to discuss Madam President we did get general information that we had shared when we had our Safety Committee and they do opposite of what we do we run from the noise and they go to the gunshots or noise just to expect they

193they're probably not going to share their trade secrets with us because it's inappropriate for even the bad guys to know their response and they we're taking a look at the fire alarms to your point and Joe Schmidt you know has experience of where we put the fire alarms where you know students can't reach home where staff could reach them and actually Steve mentioned that to me they're having that discussion with the fire marshal presently in the most recent the feedback the report that we were provided in it could have changed because the data is that perpetrator didn't pull the this time a student that was running to warn everyone else pulled that alarm so there's when we think of a way to solve Oh fire alarms are for fire Oh actually the bad people pull

194the alarm to get kids as targets and staff as targets or whatever now we have somebody else who pulled the alarm to notify everyone so we're going to get to the bottom of it we're involving the fire marshal to talk about the state and things but our safety and security folks can bring that information back well even if APD I did talk to Joe Smith about this and and basically if there's a report of an active shooter every officer responds to that school even if they're enough duty officer and we're not asking for their their secret planned or whatever but just an overall general generalities of how they're responding to make our public schools and parents know that there is a plan okay anything else for any other board member on a lighter book developmentally

195critical note we've heard testimony the last two weeks on play in the classroom kindergarten first grade second grade and how that fits in I hope as a board we can review whether you know what do we expect for kindergarten your testimony about other places and and sometimes we've talked about the communication component of it do white whip is working in our district certainly there are early elementary teachers doing an excellent job and working within the requirements maybe it's an identification and sharing how how they are doing that so well or for the review but it is a topic I'd like us to maybe at our board retreat or later on anyone else [Music] do we have any public testimony okay and I'm not gonna read that whole statement again you know the gender if you'll

196give us your name please good evening my name is Kristen newcomer I'm a third and fourth grade teacher currently at Government Hill Elementary and I've been an elementary classroom teacher with the Anchorage School District for 12 years it was good to be here tonight and be in touch with what's going on in our school district 28 faces walk through my door each morning 28 young hearts young lives many already struck by hardship poverty divorce homelessness abuse of many kinds unimaginable things yet there is joy one boy announced last week he could do backflips and land on his feet twenty-eight mouths that love telling stories twenty-eight mines that are everywhere but learning 56 feet that don't know how to slow down welcome to my classroom my classroom is a place of love where we learn to

197slow down where we learn to focus where we slowly learn how to be learners how about you our door what walks through your door every day because of our different roles in the district it's probably not the faces of children what walks through your door is probably a little quieter a little less excitable I'd be the first to admit I'm cut out for my door not your door I probably don't even want to know what walks through your door but the point I'm making is that our places of work are very different nevertheless our collective work is with and for children because you are not touched and surrounded and deafened and smothered by children all day yet your work is for children I see your biggest challenge as staying in touch with children staying in

198touch with the learners that walk through my door it's funny how quickly out of touch we can be over the summer I tend to have all these dreams and ideas about what I will do in the classroom the following year in my mind I'm standing in front of silent perfect pupils with pencils ready and ears attentive or when I'm just on the hall from my classroom in a quiet IEP meeting with mature civil adults every plan sounds like a brilliant idea on paper it's funny how quickly out of touch we can be without having daily contact with children your task of making decisions for children is much more difficult the danger lies in being out of touch with what is needed most and out of touch with effective strategies for meeting those needs I suppose

199I'm saying all of this just as a reminder to please regularly stay in touch with the classroom I think I speak for all teachers when I say our doors are open come into our classrooms any time see the 28 bright faces feel the complexity of classroom challenges witness the hard-earned learning come meet the names behind the numbers observe teach put a band-aid on a paper cut and talk with us your success as decision-makers depends on it our success as a district depends on it there are two more days this year to capitalize on this opportunity to stay in touch and many more days to come thank you thank you for your testimony [Applause] is there anyone else that would like to testify okay at this time then if we have any board comments or anything

200you want to share I'm just gonna share one cool thing there were three kids who graduated with a a degrees from Alaska middle college in high school the same day it was unbelievable there they're just all different tracks but an incredible thing to see and meet those kids and all the others are amazing too a bit and I know we're in short everybody wants to leave but I'm gonna share one thing I always go out there to those fund me accounts and look to see what our teachers are asking for and so I had one teacher that was asking for pillows at a table and I thought okay I'm gonna give her some money but then I'm gonna go find out what she's talking about and this is Miss Thompson I'm just gonna say it

201over tattoo and she has all these different seating arrangements for her students which was really cool to see so I'm gonna try to get her some more money so she can get her table and pillows but I thought it was just very interesting to see how innovative our teachers are and how they meet our children's needs thank you so I have been to many many wonderful things in the past couple of weeks at Rogers Park the ropes program I helped out with a couple of kiddos their math Derby out at Chugiak Elementary which was just amazing seeing these young kids applying math if they had learned to a stem problem and learning about hydroponics it was just so cool and then three graduations that were so different from each other the ACT Search graduation which

202is it a adult community transition what is is that right and develop our kids who have learning disabilities or who have also had an opportunity to do internships and that was just unbelievable you were there to star just really touching and then Paideia which had 14 students graduating and each of them had their parents get up and talk and the students spoke and they had Dede genre as their speaker who knew that was pretty cool too Bartlett so it's just amazing to me all the different things that the district provides all the different opportunities we have it was just really a wonderful couple week yes Andy oh I got the opportunity to go to the cellar graduation this afternoon 40 students and so every student gets three minutes to speak which is very different from

203all the large high schools it really drove home the value of a lot of our small programs where there is a lot of variability and there is the opportunity for for deviation from the norm I guess you would call it one student particular said he he didn't want to come to stellar he just didn't want to do it he wanted to stay where he was because you know it turned out to be the best decision my mom ever made for me the how close families faculty and students are in these programs really gets driven home and and it came up did listening to the Orion folks talk about their school one of the challenges is if we do consolidate schools we're going to lose small schools and create bigger ones that just aren't as personal

204that aren't quite as variable and I it's one of the things we're gonna have to balance in a difficult way as we go forward with all this yeah at this time meeting is adjourned [Music]