001okay the board will now reconvene the public meeting at 6:29 p.m. and take action on the matters discuss an executive session just so folk are aware we already opened the meeting before executive session that's why you're not going to hear me say that whole beginning part okay so we're does anyone wish to make a motion or did you want to say anything sure think just before we move to a vote on actions from executive session I just wanted to disclose that I have had a conversation with the complainant in the case and um had conversations related to examples of instances and then coming back and looking at where would that appropriately fit in terms of policy or other I don't think that those conversations would influence my ability to vote objectively in this situation but
002did want to share that with other members of the board for input or feedback as to whether I should move forward with a vote or abstain I would consent to your ongoing participation thank you um does anyone wish to make a motion I vote that the board not hold a hearing on this matter but that we review process [Music] for I think I'm going to need help this process the process implicated yeah okay can you restate it so it's super clear sorry I vote that the board not hold a hearing on this matter and that we review the process that was implicated thank you is there a second I'll second it has been moved by Chris and second um by Judah is there any further disc discussion okay um it has been moved by Chris
003and second by Judah that um we do not hold a hearing and um look into the matters that were implicated in is that yes can you I'm like did you write it down for Kim no I did not I apologize guys oh gosh okay let's write it down let's um I need to overturn the we're not going to vote yet because we need to we need to write it down so it's very clear okay okay are you ready yes let's um we're g to redo this would like would does anyone wish to make a motion yes I do actually I move that we not hold a hearing but that we review the processes that were implicated is there a second I'll second that thank you Chris and Judah um has been moved by Chris and
004seconded by Judah is is there any further discussion I have yes um so this a little bit I never can be 100% sure how to do this part because we can't talk about more specifics the motion says review the processes implicated um which it feels vague enough to me that I'm not 100% sure what we're saying we would be doing is there any way to tighten up and be more specific or you can make a um friendly Amendment no well yeah but you could propose an amendment to the motion so we don't have to redo it again I'm not 100% sure exactly what I would be proposing to be different because I'm not entirely I'm wondering if we can unpack what we mean by review the processes so that I know some sense of what
005that would mean before because maybe you're already thinking that but it feels like I don't I don't know how I would know if we did that successfully and so I I I'm with it conceptu but I'm wondering if we need to reword and narrow down a little bit more what we are saying we will be doing something since I would be um working with staff to implement um based on that motion um what I would anticipate doing is looking at the way we identify case managers and supports for students so to me I I have Clarity in what I think is my next step so did you still want to make a friendly Amendment propose a friendly Amendment around um processes related to case managers I I feel comfortable that Ryan's interpretation of it is
006what I would be expecting we would be doing and so since he has said that on the record I don't think we need to go through the motion of that I'm good thank you is there any further discussion okay has been moved by Chris and second by Judah um Chris can you reread the motion please thank you you know I'm never gonna make a motion again ever I move that we not hold the hearing and that we ask for review of the process we review the process implicated thank you um and Chris how would you like to vote I Judah I shaa I theres I Sammy I I vote I that passes unanimously okay thank you all for your patience as we got through that um we also had things our processes changed on opening
007meetings too so it's been that kind of evening for us this tonight um the next item on the agenda our board member reports do any board members have a report they would like to make okay good um I had the wonderful opportunity of attending school lunch national school lunch day and I got to go with Brian to CHS um where we sat and had lunch with um several students and it was just I mean it was very exciting to see at the high school level how many kids a lot of kids came by and stopped talked to us um it was just it brought me a lot of joy and I appreciate having the opportunity to be at the high school then I can't remember if I spoke about the housing Dev Northwest did I
008already talk about that the opportunity I had to listen to their presentation about the housing complex that's going in Southtown that um is going to be affordable housing for some of our families um and it was uh very informative uh they did a big shout out to Ryan about his work in the community about trying to promote affordable housing in our community and for our families um and so it was really exciting to see what is being developed in Southtown so and then um the other thing I know several of you might be talking about the event we went to yesterday the regional uh meeting at the ES um Sammy again always does such an amazing job informing us all the updates of what's going on around the state and with osba um and it
009was very informative it was great to connect with other board members from our region um Lou did an amazing job presenting about an election that's coming up and I highly recommend that you haven't voted yet that you do um and I have the little qod code that can help you lead to that so thanks thanks Chris any other board member reports Samy on the notes of housing uh Ryan and Chris and I also visited one of the examples of developing Workforce housing that the boys and girls club have implemented I believe the paper have uh did an expose about it it was really great to see it was in my neighborhood and knowing the model in vising Workforce to uh come to Corvalis stay in Corvalis and serve the children uh who are benefiting from
010the Boys and Girls Club is just great example and it opened our eyes into what we could do as a school district and hopefully what could the city uh help with in order to have that model on a larger scale so really excited about that potential and seeing that model and alongside with the examples that Chris mentioned uh I have really good hope in uh turning the curve around uh affordable housing in Calis any other board member reports okay um I will do my report I was able to attend the Delta meeting which is always um nice to meet up with everybody there and hear what's going on and then um I also attended a meeting about the new Indian education program to hear what plans are for this fall and then the upcoming hopefully
011year getting planned out too um I also went to the regional um meeting for osba and Albany yesterday at the ESD and that was great as Chris said to connect with other board members from our region and hear what's going on um especially I always like hearing about the legislative stuff and that's kind of what was the center piece of it so the legislative priorities for osba and um and all those so that was good um and that's basically all my report and before we move on I did want to take a moment um as chair to just to recognize it's a it may be a little bit of an intense evening for a lot of folk with um national elections happening on this evening and just wanted to remind everybody that no matter what
012our backgrounds are political ideologies um were participating in the Democratic um process including this evening um with our inter board selection and so I know that there's a lot of emotions for a number of reasons and I just wanted to acknowledge that and just remind everybody um that we are all in our capacities here because we were trusted by the community to be here and um help guide this process this evening as well in addition to the everyday that we do as um board members and and wanted to also give the shout out since Monday is um Veterans Day that those processes that we're engaged with with right now um for Democratic processes have a lot to do um with service from veterans too and so I just wanted to mention um all of those
013things are kind of packaged around us right now and um I think it's good to acknowledge that and before we move on to the next part but and also our timer didn't go off so I have no IDE I'm usually really good at keeping track of I just noticed it still said 10 so it's okay it's um and our next item is our osba and nsba updates uh thank you chair so I would like to highlight in the packet you'll find uh the information that Chris have mentioned uh including the services and benefits that's osba provide us uh there are multiple asks that the board will need to make an action on uh whether we would be uh supporting a pride caucus and uh whether we would be supporting changes to the bws of osba
014and the last one is related to uh changing the dues structure uh for the membership we haven't increased the dues since 1998 and with inflation and the increased demands uh to maintain the benefits we receive this decision will be highly important for us to consider in the coming meetings uh also you will see highlighted nsba the National School Board Association uh packet uh that includes uh uh the benefits and services we get as Local District or as a state Association um and last but not not least I want to remind you about this weekend Thursday will be the pre-conference of osba convention Friday Saturday the annual convention I'll have the honor of opening up uh uh the meeting and also we're gonna have a distinguished speaker who was recognized in this room as the superintendent
015of the year for Oregon and sherff I may have a point of personal privilege and uh invite whoever will be failing from our candidates uh to uh join the board and will join the board by the end of this meeting to work with Kim uh for arrangements to join us in this annual convention uh this is a great opportunity to be in community with this board learn from each other and as a professional development and networking but also to connect with uh like-minded and people who are serving the state all across our local communities so uh with that also I want to take just very quick moment of privilege and say thank you for running thank you for applying uh unfortunately because of this the math uh there is one person we will select um
016but that means a no will be handed to everybody else and I did receive that no the first time I applied and if I took that no for an answer uh then that means I would not be here so please continue to serve and thank you for stepping up today in this important day our democracy depends as the chair mentioned on our participation our work on uh great public servants who are stepping up for this job like each one of you so thank you for doing that thanks Sammy any questions about Samy's osba and SBA cool next item is um the superintendent report Ryan yeah I just um I narrowed it tonight just because I know there's a lot on the agenda so it's just a couple of uh essential points I think are important
017for people to know about the first one is my um annual um notice about the weather changing and inclement weather um as you know they um that process includes Kim Patton and I up early in the morning driving around um Calis um over Highland out to CV um thinking about where our high schoolers drive but also where our students are getting picked up by buses um always with the goal to make a decision by 5:30 a.m. which is not my favorite thing in the world but I do it um and then also thinking about um what we need to do um if we need to do a late start and then also just encouraging families to look at the map if they live in areas where there's snow Roots um those happen more often than
018uh a closure and so just to have that information in mind is really important um because we're at that time of year our next Schoolboard meeting is going to be at lanis Pauling middle school and that is because we have the first of our two um dinners and opportunities to U meet with school leaders to talk about what they're up to um this year the format of their materials are going to be a little bit different one of the things that we've been looking at um has been um thinking about our achievement in terms of a scorecard so they'll be sharing with you um both their OB their objectives their goals the the progress monitoring tools that they're using and what progress they're being made they're making and that's all cascading from the work you
019did in terms of the um board goals so you'll see alignment between what you've done in terms of our board goals with what our schools are working on in terms of those goals and outcomes so look forward to that and just don't forget we'll be at Lis paing it's um we'll do that twice this year and both of those meetings will be there because of the space just not being big enough uh next is just a quick update on Osborne um so with Osborne at this point in time the decision has been made that they are going to need to drain the pool to put Shoring within the pool before they can go up to determine how much work needs to be accomplished by the engineers so just know that that is where we are
020right now so still not a real firm understanding of what's going to need to take place um but in addition we've been able to find um pools for our students our high school teams to swim in um our um Team from CV will be at timber Hill um in the outdoor pool but it will be heated um and then our um Team from CHS will be at Clemens um in fouth um and a big shout out to all the community members who've helped us to make that possible um again as I shared before most of their meets will be on the road but it just works that um the Rivalry um meet can be at Clemens so a local pool for those two teams to compete so that was an ex um kind of a
021nice thing that I just learned yesterday um and then finally today was the first day that Arabic Club started at Laticia Carson um that club has been going on for I think four years now um and they expect to have about 25 to 30 students participating they have two new teachers who are um helping with the club um one of them was a um teacher in Syria before coming here and the other is a um student at OSU working to become a computer um software engineer so it's it's a great program and it's just one more example of the ways that we support our students across the district we have um kids who come to us um from homes speaking 60 different languages which is often um over sort of overlooked in this community so
022it's a diverse um and really just um incredible opportunity to support kids through things like airbit Club to our DLI program um so again it's just another um great thing that happens here in CSD so that is it for me unless there's questions thanks Ryan any questions okay um I think I've seen them draining the pool because there's a lot of water coming out of there the other day when I was going by a boys and girls club that was just the rain that was not the rain it was it was on top of the rain though okay um we're almost back on track on our agenda yay um and the next item on our agenda as public comment okay um do I still need to read the whole there okay there no comments um
023so the public comment period is um not being opened it was not opened or closed I didn't open the whole thing I didn't read the I didn't read this whole yeah um the next item on the agenda is our bias reporting update and Melissa do you have slides I okay yay all right hi everybody um I'm here tonight to talk to you about the um bias incident data from the 23 24 school year you were provided with a report in the um packet that essentially compares the year before to last year so you could kind of see some Trends and differences I don't want to really go over that um because you all can read it I wanted to talk a little bit more about insights into the data and just kind of fill out
024the data a little bit more the um first thing I wanted to talk about were reporters and what you saw in the data um is that our CSD staff are reporting incidents um more than 50% of the time so um what I wanted to give you as far as insights for that is that the um most staff reports are coming from teachers and teachers being the number one reporter is followed by a building administrator who is also reporting this is um important to us because this is where we're tracking data with regard to civil rights reporting is in our data system and in our bias incident system so if a bias incident happens in Synergy that's and is I'm sorry if a bias incident occurs and is reported in our Synergy student information system that's
025great we also want it in this um reporting system as well so we're um practicing creating a habit of making sure that we're reporting in both of those places the most common location for a bias incident continues to be the classroom so it makes sense that the teacher is um the person who is reporting the most and I also wanted to point out the importance of the anonymous reporting which was something that we talked about when we started this process um fully 23% of our bias incident reports last year were Anonymous so um giving just some insights into what's been happening at the start of the school year at the welcome back rally we do a presentation on the district Behavior guidelines this is a promise we made to our unions that we would ensure
026that they knew um about what the district Behavior guidelines are what their role is in that and also present the document to them this year we decided to focus on two other aspects of behavior particularly bias and also um uh sexual misconduct so those two um pieces of behavior were really important to um kind of bring out in the welcome back training we uh presented the slideshow after giving some data like the data that you all saw in the report we talked about what bias is we talked about our goals for the year when it comes to um bias incidents interrupting it when it's occurring supporting the student who's been harmed providing educational opportunities and showing our students that we take incident seriously that's going to be a theme you're going to hear in a
027couple of different slides as we move through the presentation because that was really um that was something that was uh said to me in a meeting and I took to heart and have really been working to make sure that we're doing something to ensure our students know we take these incidents seriously we talked about the racial language scale which is a tool that we use to determine the level of uh severity when it comes to racial language and what our response will be and we also ensure that we uh finished up by um reminding everyone they need to interrupt a bias language when it happens offer support to impacted students submit a bias incident report and follow up with their administrator I also spoke about the low number of high school reports which I'm going
028to get into a little bit more later in this presentation with types of um bias reportage you saw those figures in your bias report but I also wanted to um fles out a couple of things for you when it comes to race and racial bias reports that continues to be our um largest area of bias and you can see it's at 52% the um racial bias usually comes in the form of anti-blackness and it's um most often the use of the nword in the schools in much fewer numbers we are seeing bias references targeting our latinx community as well as our Asian communities when it comes to our um lgbtq plus Community the most common bias incident targeting that Community included dead naming or using the wrong pronouns on purpose referring to lgbtq plus students
029or individuals as gross unnatural or wrong these are quotes from our bias reports and also the use of the fur so that's um that's kind of explaining a little bit more about the what you see on the slide there about gender identity and gender expression and where we saw a lot of those bias incidents occurring when it comes to religion last year was um you could tell the the numbers ticked up a little bit last year and I think that there's obvious reasons why we have a lot of um things happening in the world that are very difficult and we see that that has impacted our students who are both Muslim and Jewish um in our community most religious bias targeted our Muslim and Jewish communities and typically it was hate symbols like uh as
030swastika or a reference to Nazis or we saw a lot of negative references to religious head coverings or equating Muslim Students with terrorism we also had um 11% of our bias reports were about disability and typically that is the use of the um arser what we started this school year is a new complaint tracking program and it um looks the same on the outside for the person who goes to the district website and looks to file a bias incident the same button it's the same page all the information is the same the button still exists in all canvas Pages for students in grades 6 through 12 so the report page looks the same except that now it is a different interface I'm really excited about this um page and this reporting form because if you
031look it's kind of hard to see maybe maybe in the in in uh the presentation up there but up in the top right is a toggle so you can toggle it to Spanish it can change um so you translates everything on the page you can also magnify it if you have a need an accommodation when it comes to seeing the screen um this interfaces with our new program called Guardian it asks all the same questions who are you who was harmed who's causing harm do you want to remain anonymous choose your type of bias tell us what happened and have you told anybody um that's important in the investigation process we are um using this program to track due dates making sure that our staff are getting their bias incidents resolved within the 10 days
032required um it alerts investigators that there's something for them to do in the program so our principles get um pinged in their email that there's a bias incident that they need to get on um immediately once it's filed maintains all the records of all emails so we have everything in one place documents the response to the incident and it just kind of keeps us all accountable we're just starting to learn about the analytics of the program but I have a feeling this report next year will look a little bit different using the analytics that are available in the program I gave you information um about um impact by level what I did on this slide is broke that down by elementary middle and high and the four types of bias that were reported so you
033could see obviously race is going to be the highest for all of our three areas but just kind of how that that all broke out obviously the high school report numbers indicated a problem um following a conversation at deedi last year about the significant decrease in high school reporting I visited safe at CHS and I want to thank Anna Zachariah for inviting me welcoming me and allowing me the time to to talk to students in her space and um I asked safe students to tell me why they are hesitant to report incidents the most common response was that they did not trust that the adults in the building would follow through with their report they described a lack of trust based on not seeeing consequences for students who had caused harm we discussed that this
034is the hardest part of all disciplinary matters not just a bias report students have a right to privacy and that doesn't allow administrators to tell the world how they've been disciplined and that's hard um the same is true for staff who cause harm they have a right as an employee to keep disciplinary information private so given that that is the Foundation the we talked about what could we do to make this more visible to them to help students to understand that administrators are taking this seriously they are following through and we agreed that there needed to be more of a visible followup with the person who was harmed um after the report was filed so we're going to talk a little bit about that here at the end I wanted to show you some most
035recent numbers I know this was a year-end report but just in the last two months I wanted to highlight how um the numbers are breaking down by level again um you can see that in high school we've already doubled the number of reports from last year I don't celebrate biased reports but I do celebrate that people are reporting um and they are are trusting adults to do something about it so um I wanted to make sure that I pointed that out I don't attribute that to like anything that I've done I I just know that it's happening and I know there's multiple factors that might be leading to it and one of those I think is this Wonder slideshow presentation that was done in advisor this year in September High School's um students received this
036presentation on bias and bias reporting had a lot to do about um how to recognize it in yourself what the impact is on people and your school um a very clear statement about reporting bias and symbols of hate allows the staff to formally address incidents um what happens after you report so that mystery of what happens when I put this into the computer program where does it go and then um some sentence frames to help people to interrupt um and speak up when bias occurs one thing that I took away from the high school students was that idea of that um following up so in our new bias um program and process we require building administrators to check in with the person that was harmed one month following the resolution of the incident and what
037we're doing is asking them to ask these questions that you see up here up here of the student who was harmed how have things gone in the last month so just that simple check-in do you need any support with the person who's caused you harm like are they still bothering you or how are things going with that and is there anything and this is for that the principal or a building administrator who's doing this is there anything I could have done differently to resolve that bias incident um we hope that individuals who report and then have this check in know that they're not forgotten in this process that we want um to know if this is continuing to happen and that especially our students see that there's adults in the building who can be trusted
038to follow through so that was our point in doing that and that is all I have take any questions thanks Melissa that's um that's really helpful to see that all Impact like that and sure folk have questions thees yeah thank you um some really great information for us to reflect on my one question is in the uh reports that are Anonymous is there a pattern around where they primarily like what category they primarily fallen or what grade level they primarily come from not really I kind of see them scattered across um but I can I can take a look at that and bring that to you I I haven't really noticed a pattern for that and I want everyone to know too that when there is an anonymous report we send that to the school
039and say this Anonymous report came in you might have enough information here to do something with this um but at least you know maybe attach it to just hold on to it because it might be connected to some other Behavior that's happening thanks Juda oh this is more of a comment um I'm looking at the numbers about where bias incidents are occurring and how in the hallways it dropped from 12.5% down to 9 and in the cafeteria it dropped from 7.3% down to 3% and um recalling last year the conversations with the Middle School principles where most of the bias report come from and all the strategies because last year we saw information about the clusters of bias incidents in the middle schools happening in the cafeteria and in the hallways and all the new
040strategies that the principles are putting in so I would like to kind of highlight that as the bias reporting incidents is how we found that information out how the schools were allowed to do something different and now we're seeing the numbers are dropping in those areas with those new strategies and Chris and I had a chance to go to sheldan and we talked about their school neighborhood policy with the teachers outside so just highlighting that it is important and changes do happen and we saw that in the in the middle schools in the cafeterias and the hallways and I'm really excited to see that those numbers are down there thank you celebrate the middle schools for that thank you good Chris I know I've asked this before but is there any way that we can
041um when we're looking at location of incidents that we can look at sporting events okay I I I know I asked it before and I can't remember what the answer is but I'm just going to keep asking because yeah it might be more of that offsite um probably included in there but is there a way we can narrow it down and ask specifically if it's happening at sporting events okay I'll try to take a look thank you and then I have another question to about that or separate so when we're talking about um target areas are we and I love that you did the sow with the students I think that's just you know so informative and helpful to students to be more aware and to educate them on how to respond but I also
042wonder if during that time we can Advocate more for allies so we know that lgbtq kids are being targeted during that same conversation can we also talk more about how Advocates and allies are is a very um significant way of supporting that um group of kids same with kids of color okay and just is there some way we can educate that at the same time or just you know talk about when you know where they would have an opportunity to become Advocates or to become allies as well I thank you and I know that there's another slide I didn't show up there that was those ideas of interrupt and Echo um those four there's four and I can't of course think of them off the top of my head but Ekko is the one where
043you you um act as an ally and so that is kind of that that opportunity but this is even more specific so thank you thanks I think it's that that's important for all the groups too because of interrupting bias yeah there's is good for all the fronts um yeah other question are you sayia you sea okay thank you so much Melissa and thank you for your continued thoughtfulness in every year you come back with another report and share updates on process um and support that goes along with that both for students and I'm curious about support for educators as well you mentioned that staff are a high number of reporters and I had a lot of questions that came up for me on that one was around our staff tending to report instances or incidents
044between students between staff and students or between multiple staff members and how is that being handled in terms of support so I think a lot of these reports are it's it's it's one of two things the the biggest chunk are an adult sees it hears it happen or it happens and somebody um a student comes to that trusted adult and says this happened can you help me with this and then they work together to report so I think that's what's happening there I know that um what you're talking about is something that we've discussed as a we have a um bias incident response team and we're talking about what we can do better to um to support staff and support students in this one of the things we've talked about is you know um and
045I've I've heard Lou say this too like so you do the presentation in September then what do you do and so we've talked about what what is a more regular reminder about um bias bias reporting how you can interrupt hey it's this month of the year which might be you know we always see a heightened um number or increase in lgbtq bias during pride month like those kinds of things are connected so what can we do to continually remind and support staff about their role um and and also I like celebrate that they're that they're doing it um and they're reporting and that we're getting great data and we're making these changes thank you can I ask one more oh we reminded our leaders about this process just um late last week the beginning of
046this week thank you I was just going to ask about the the follow-up process in terms of going back and following up with folks who have submitted a a complaint or an incident are there any initial just feedback on that how well it's working what's coming out of that we haven't I haven't look through that data yet I have it's I took a slide off of here that has a picture of what I can see in the background and I can see all the bias incidents that have been reported are being investigated where resolution has been reached and I have um a few and I have a new column that is at that one month check-in and I haven't had an opportunity to go through that yet but that's something I will bring back for
047our next report me uh I want to share the appreciation of the progress that we're doing every time you report we see a progress in our understanding and our uh Evolution and how we're hoping to tackle bias in every form so thank you I did share with Kim uh couple of uh graphical user interface feedback and and also suggestions around the the uh opportunity to add additional targeted class and blank area uh which was uh uh an with a form link to the doj bias response form okay so they do have several additional uh boxes that one could choose I think the overlap is very high but the one that's comes to mind immediately is additional target class and and you can specify in a box if uh uh if there is anything additional targeted
048class you perceive that is involved so that's the feedback and the question that comes with it as well uh Melissa uh I have a curiosity about if there's any aggregation that goes to the doj bias response hotline or whatever they report that leans on what our school district is collecting uh or not we have to report to um to cdrc each year at the end of the year all of our Behavior incidents most of these Behavior incidents when they reach a certain threshold they're also reported into our Synergy um which is our student information system for Behavior so then that data is pulled and then it's sent um up to the feds eventually so it gets there yeah the federal bud is there anything with Oregon doj oh well no not I don't know that's
049a good question yeah I mean we would have to report to OD I don't know what they do with it okay I'll ask I'll take it from there because my my concern or opportunity for learning that I can see is if we have bias uh uh incident uh of a specific pattern outside the outside the district in the community and within the district that could help us uh really tackle us in a in a difference approach or Partnerships so yeah I would be wondering if OD and doj are talking with each other if there's anywhere to see patterns thanks I want to go back to your also your additional button for the type of bias we've had um conversations with one of our middle schools who said that they're seeing an increasing number of bias
050incidents against students who are in poverty or students who um based on size um body size and so they wanted they were asking if we could add something something similar to what you're saying what is an other button and how can we add something else there we don't have to list every single thing but what can we do to ensure that we're recording that as well thank you Brian has something can we add five minutes because we're like we're like 20 minutes ahead now so that's great I'm glad I'm good I just had a clarification on the it's a text box is what I'm assuming yes yeah I just I just wanted I had the question but it was clear to um I love that idea of sharing data too because some people might be
051like oh I don't have to report it anywhere else now when yeah I have a couple questions you answered some of them through the presentation about the numbers and um and I really appreciate the a conversation you had with safe too seen that number go so hard down yeah compared to what I was hearing is a little bit concerning it was disturbing yeah that's really concerning so um and it also continues to work with safe on this process since the that's the specific group of students that helped the district move to this change and I think that's really great to continue to conversate with them and say okay this is obviously something's going on what is it and then because it shows the students that the district is listening to their feedback and actually doing
052something because that's the one of the main things is like what's going on um so I just wanted to say that and also that last question on the check-in that is really great oh thank you yeah I just wanted to say that too um to ask if there's anything they could have done different Yeah because sometimes people are like I wish they would have did that and then exactly that's an opportunity to follow up in another way um I do have a question about the trainings I asked this last year too about especially because the number of anti-blackness reports is there trainings on antiblackness specifically happening for staff and students we've done it with leaders we haven't done anything specific with students and staff yet okay yeah that just a thought that since this is
053a second year in a row that that's a high number that may be something to consider very specific on anti blockness and the same about religion too seeing that number go way up and stuff and um is reflective of things we've heard from the community too and so I think it'd be really helpful if we talked about absolutely those things with staff and and students but um obviously that's a suggestion no I love it thank you um I think that was all my questions yeah thank you so much for your you work on this and for yeah continuing to improve it too aome the next the next item on the agenda is Consolidated action as a reminder the items under this portion of the agenda are for Action does anyone have a question does anyone
054wish to make a motion about Consolidated action chair yeah I move to approve Consolidated action as presented sir a second second has been moved by Samy and second in by Shauna is there any final discussion okay has been moved by Sammy and seconded by shaa to adopt the Consolidated action items as submitted Chris I Judah I shaa hi I I theres I Sammy I and I vote I that passes unanimously okay the next item on the agenda is Consolidated information as a reminder the items under this portion of the agenda are for discussion would anyone like to discuss an item and Consolidated information I would could we bring up igb f- AR any others okay let's pull that one up IG GB f- a r so many letters [Music] um you pulling it up shaa
055okay and just so um folk know which one we're looking at it is the policy about um or the AR about special education IEP so the question that I wanted to bring up was just around what's included in this policy focused on IEPs I noticed that there are sections on IEP meetings IEP team members and then also a section on see I believe it's team considerations um and given some conversation that have come up from families with questions around what happens related to when there's a needed change for team members um on the IEP team or process around that just wanted to bring up a question to the to the board for conversation around whether or not we think it would be helpful to have some mention of that here in the policy I know
056probably the details of what happens related to that change might live more procedurally rather than in a policy um but if if there would be benefit to including some language in the policy focused on the district having that information or clearly communicating it with families or where that lives are you talking about um section six the agreement to amend or are you talking about wait you said a different one huh I was looking at well section three has IEP team members and I didn't see any mention of if a team member needs needs to change or there needs to be a change in that team but there's also section seven IEP team considerations and special factors so I guess it's more of a a question yeah go ahead Melissa I think if it's going to
057go anywhere it would be an IEP team members and because special consider considerations and special factors is a portion of the IEP um and I don't when we think about what it is that we um you were asked to kind of take a look at and you're asking Ryan to take a look at I think that that's where it fits better is an IEP team members because the um case manager is a member of the IEP team great thank you so would there be also a language in here that indicates um with the modifications that they would be included in because the team member modifications it has that already in there AR but it um it doesn't say who that team member like if that's part of the team member the case manager so I'm
058wondering if that's something that can go in there we need to does that make sense are they naming the special education teacher instead of the case manager or no it's just a convers it's just has the language around um the about modifications but it doesn't say what that means okay is if that makes sense that it could include um modifying the the case case manager team members um it might just need to see team members if the case manager listed above and team members to but just something around there I like that because that's basically a that would be the modification would probably go there instead of up top right yeah I really think it belongs to number three yeah no but I mean that the modifications though right right would stay in modifications it
059would yeah but the adding that part that you're talking about goes there too both exactly yeah okay okay we're on the same page yes got it Judah I was just wondering for this do we need a a section for students who are unaccompanied minors according to the mckenny vento act in the AR yeah Ryan well I don't know that we do just because that's because it's law and and I think it's included in procedural safeguards and so I don't think we need it we don't I think it would be redundant to have it here but that's but I'd like I'm going to take that question and I'd like a little bit of time to think through it and where that shows up okay and also I mean just across with this and the considerations for
060the supplemented the 504 um thinking about the mcken vento students Chris I thought at one time the mcken vento students were if if there wasn't a parent or Guardian that the mckenny vento um d dor for the district was their person that would attend IEP meetings I I don't know enough about that's very there's a couple of different options that's that's one of the options that be a lot for one person to only be designated it seems like yeah can I clarify what you your app Point Judah so you um maybe I can say it back to you you want to make sure that for students who have an IEP or a 504 plan that um and are receiving mechan vento Services um that information is easily um it's easy to find for people who
061are trying to better understand that is that what your your intention was and to um you know it's a it can be an intimidating process to be a student who's receiving Services Under mcken vento so that make sure they're clear on what their rights are and who is advocating for them so that their voice continues to be heard in especially in those IEP meeting processes thank you I have a question about that now that Judah said that do the students in those situations that are unaccompanied have the right to end IEP since they're unaccompanied that's just kind of like a I don't know if they does that make sense I don't think until their um 18th can they revoke services but I would have to double check on that one because that's a a pretty
062I haven't been this sped director for a little while okay yeah I was just curious about that because it seems like um that'd be interesting if because we were talking about how parents can modify the plans or um or say we don't want to do this anymore but can students that don't have are not in that situ situation that was just a question go ahead Sammy uh just an on that note I want to share J CBD okay gives the superintendent uh um a big umbrella authorization to develop administrative regulations to remove barriers to access participation and achievement by homeless students so I I don't know if there was anything under that uh do you see an AR under that oh whoops I'm looking in the AR right now um on page two each homeless
063it says it uses the term homeless student shall be provided Services comparable to services offered to other students including the following and one of the following is special education and um tag CTE I was just wondering about modifications that's what that's the conversation right now you know what I mean yeah and so that's kind of be something to look into maybe right yeah and I think the district leaz on shall ensure the students is immediately enrolled uh yeah it just talks about enrollment yeah that's JBC uh J CBD hyphen AR so many letters again there's so many letters in all policies Jacob elephant Charlie Boy Delta I understood what you said it's just a lot of letters either way no matter how you say them it's still a lot of it is a lot of
064letters but um okay any other comments or questions about this one okay okay thanks Melissa for taking that one yeah thanks um do you need a I do have a question do you is that going to need to pull the um policy too since we pulled the AR is there any connected pieces do you think you'll be okay okay cool okay the um next item on the agenda is our interim board member selection I wanted to ask the board if you need a very short very brief perhaps bio break like a five minute yes we do okay can we do a five minute we're well ahead so I feel comfortable doing a five minute thank you that'll give everybody time to take breath I'm so nervous about this this is a lot of pressure yes
065I just want to take a nap five minutes this go way back I didn't notice that it's pretty why did they go so far back is that just so you can stretch yeah so when I'm on YouTube I'll just sit like this I'll wear my sunglasses next time my e e e okay welcome back everyone um and we're GNA get started on our um interim board member selection process and um we have all candidates here thank you very much for putting your names in and for being here um I was appointed through the in own process so I understand it's a very intense process and probably a little nerve-wracking as well so um no matter what happens I appreciate all of you putting your names in and hope um the outome whatever it is that
066you find ways to still engage with us um for those of you who obviously we can only pick one of you and um so we hope that you stay involved with the board throughout the year and um as well we currently have one opening on the budget committee oh thank you Ryan for so that's there's a way already to be involved if you are not selected on you can be on the budget committee um so board secretary Kim Nelson has already explained the process so we'll get started with the initial screening to the semifinalist and so that's how this process is going to work um so each board member is going to write down three names on one sheet not three one sheet and so my question for the board I wanted to leave this
067open is do you want after you pass them to me and um do you want me to read them with your name or would you like to restate them does that make sense so do you want me like if you do you want me do you want me to announce them with your name or do you want to announce them that's the question you have to do you want to explain the whole process first maybe that okay so I'm going to get all the slips and so then I can read them and say who it is or you can restate them and so that's the first step um and Kim is keeping t and um I think we should restate restate them so the reason for passing them in first before you state them is
068to help um us get all the our thoughts down without hearing from our peers so that's why we're sending them down to to double check them so in other words you can't change your mind last minute so this is who um you would be writing down so yeah do you have any more questions about that process because the next step um after we have the Telly the top um folk are the ones who are going to um be into the next step okay do you have a question Sammy yes uh top how many four or three or two the top three top three top four four the top four thank you Kim yeah yeah we put three three names down so just for clarification I thought it was any person with less than three hash
069marks okay for the record if we only had three people with three hash marks would move down to whoever had two we want to have at least four to move into the semi-finals okay [Music] it's fine it's just first nam I do want to say that the names are randomly drawn and put on the list there was no order I just want everybody to know that is there down did you want to hold on to it okay Chris or Sammy do you want to start and then we'll go the other way the next time good so in alphabetical order Adams Bressler Inman the last one enman GRE enman Mueller and Bressler um I have Wong Inman and Adams I WR that first name so now I have to flip my you can say their first
070names Ono okay I was G to say um Wong Holst and Bressler could you move cuz I I wrote down for names too um Wong Adams and Inman Adams long Inman okay this so this is um who moving into the next section or is um Bernie Cassie Vincent and Amanda and so I just wanted to say thank you to the rest of you um who applied the candidates who are not advancing are welcome to stay in the boardroom and then um Kelly is going to escort the rest of you to a small conference room and we will be calling you back one by one to ask you some questions and as Folk are um exiting just for the rest of the board to know we don't have enough questions for each of us so since
071I'm doing a lot of facilitating and talking I'm going to refrain from asking a question Lou we're not at that part yet the next session is where they come and give a five minute statement thank you yep I'm getting ahead of myself I'm really excited about appointing somebody apparently Madam chair can I just reiterate my Madam chair uh chair I'm sorry can I uh ask for points Personal Privilege I want to reiterate the call for uh gratitude for the applicants who applied and thank them for being here and please apply for the budget committee again that's how I joined I stuck around for the budget committee and then I joined the next time so really thank you for doing it and looking forward to seeing you in the budget committee I will also add in
072that there's no limit on who can run as well um in the elections coming up this spring as well chair just to add I was wildly unbelievably impressed by all of our applicants and by what their ref has had to say so just a hugely qualified group and I just want to Echo that thank you to those of you who are still here in the boardroom thank you for putting your names forward for serving the community in so many ways and look forward to continuing to hopefully work together in some capacity in supporting the schools so thank you okay yep I need to correct um iote so um before you get started um Bernie I wanted to apologize to you for mispronouncing your last name I wrote I wrote it in correctly I did um
073Miss said your name I know how that is um so you will have five minutes to share information about yourself and why you want to serve on the board Kim will be the timekeeper and um she'll announce when one minute remains and when your time is up yeah okay okay they go okay good evening everyone I'm Bernie Wong and I can't tell you how excited I am to be here tonight sharing a bit about my journey and why I want to serve on a school board I spent over 30 years in public service starting um in the Navy and now at OSU and I hope my experiences can help us start an honest and open conversation about what we can do for our students I was born in Hong Kong and when I was 10
074years old my family moved to Seattle it was a huge shift and I quickly learned what it meant to be a first generation American trying to find my place in a new world as a teenager I never imagined um one day I would become a naval officer especially back in the 80s when uh there weren't that many asian-americans in that field but I took on the challenge and it shaped me in more ways than I could have ever imagined after Decades of deployments and constant moves I finally retired as a Navy Captain here in Corvalis in 2021 to be close uh to my children it feels amazing to be in a place where I can finally put down some roots and to give back to a community that has already given so much to my
075family throughout my military career I moved every 3 years or so every time I landed somewhere new I knew I had to make the most of that place I often told my mentees that to be effective they need to engage with their communities wherever they were now after years of packing and unpacking I get to be here in Corvalis where I've lived long continuously longer than any other place since uh my teenage years and I can't I I I and I'm really looking forward to be able to integrate to the community and contribute to this wonderful place I have two children who have kept me closely taah Local Schools my eldest is a senior at Crescent Valley High and my youngest is currently a sixth grader at Corvalis Waldorf that means they will be going
076to CV soon uh most of my children uh uh my children are not neurotypical and watching my eldest thrive in the corvala school district has been inspiring the support the opportunities the attention they have all made a world of difference and it is what drives my passion to make sure sure that every student regardless of their needs has those same opportunities to succeed being a Navy officer for over three decades the one thing that also taught me how to adapt manage resources and create policies that would make a real impact now I'm using those skills in higher education managing budgets and Advising on initiatives at my little corner of Oregon State University always with an eye on what's best for the students and faculty one thing that's always been at the core of my work
077is commitment to diversity and inclusion here in Corvalis have had the opportunity to participate in a lot of the district's Dei um uh uh programs including Delta and also as a member of the theater diversity advisory committee Tac and I believe deeply in building environments where every student feel they belong in the Navy I often thought thought of myself as a bridge Builder my work as a diplomat and a Navy officer in a role that required inter agency cooperation was all about connecting people bringing together stakeholders creating understanding and ensuring collab collaboration that's the approach I want to bring to the school board Building Bridges creating opportunities and making sure every voice is heard so thank you and I look forward to more conversation with you tonight and thank you for your time thank you
078very much um brinnie um board members remember we won't be asking any followup questions so you can stay in the room now okay yeah no no oh that's right I am so sorry Kim is keeping me on track tonight there's so many steps in this process that's the next round on yeah that mic's also are still on that one's on all right can I test can you hear me all right I can hear you so you'll have five minutes to share information about yourself and why you want to serve on the board and Kim is going to be the timekeeper she'll announce when one minute remains and when your time is up excellent so I am Cassandra Frank enman I go by Cassie and she her pronouns and I'm excited and honored to be here
079amongst this incredible group of candidates so thank you for inviting me in um so I am the parents of an 11th grader at CV um I'm a Community member I attend Oregan State University as a PhD student in the school of public policy and I am the spouse of a teacher at Garfield and I work in the office of international Missions at Oregan State so that's a little bit about me and I'm going to practice breathing because it's nice to talk to a large group of people like this um I've been committed to Student Success here in the district since my son began at Leticia Carson Elementary I served there as the PTA vice president and a policy advisor I've served on a number of District um committees including the boundary Review Committee I believe
080that was in 2019 2020 um I have three missions that I'd like to share with you as a future board member the first is to be a leader who listens and my qualitative research training has given me the tools to listen and that's to the data and the literature um so qualitatively through words and narrative quantitatively through statistics for analysis as policy makers that um we really need to understand what the data is telling us so that we can make sound judgments and complete our analysis but even more importantly we really need to know how to listen to people and and um that means having the patience and skill to listen to what folks are saying to understand what they want from policy and to know what is Meaningful to the community so that we
081can ensure that our programs and policies are serving the district goals in a just and Equitable Manner and considering the realities of budget and decision making my second mission is to work hard for our students and policy work means having tough conversations and making daunting decisions and I've sat in this boardroom um listening on countless occasions over the last year and um I follow the tide of the news about public opinion when it comes to public education and I know that hard decisions are coming and that means working hard and demonstrating bravery in the face of budgetary and policy challenges and some of these conversations will be tough they're going to require courage and bravery and compassion and understanding and I will hold these conversations as a future board member on behalf of our families
082and students my background in policy and public administration scholarship and previously nearly 20 years in public relations and Communications demonstrates my capacity to Wrangle difficult and sometimes opposing perspectives in a rational and diplomatic manner because folks need to feel seen and heard my third mission is policy scholarship and student advocacy and as many of you know I have been conducting qualitative District level research here in the corvala school district since 2017 I began with a project on the an analysis of school lunch policy narratives and I published my paper thinking outside of the lunch boox in 2022 in the Journal of world food policy more recently I explored how food insecure families ex um experience the end of the covid-19 snap emergency allotments and pandemic EBT these are programs which help our district families um
083with food assistance when our schools made the pivot to remote learning and our school and our school lunchrooms were shuttered I believe that my record of research and student advocacy demonstrates my commitment to support students and families The District staff and administrator and an in an equitable and measured fashion and the truth is look if you're looking for someone who knows policy who understands policy I eat sleep and think public policy process Theory and I have been doing that for seven years and I believe that that training is probably the strongest attribute that I bring forward and I look forward to learning how I can further contribute to the schools the students and staff here in Coralis and I thank you for your time thank you Cassie um and board members remember we won't be
084asking any followup questions so you can head back with Kelly thank you would you like me to turn that off for you can yeah so if you want to turn the and um yeah and you will have five minutes to share information about yourself and why you want to serve on the board and Kim will be the timekeeper um she'll announce when one minute remains and when your time is up all right thank you and for those who don't know me my name is Vince Adams um I'm a board development specialist with the Oregon school boards Association and I used to be on the school board um I want to reflect just for a moment shaa I think I was sitting in the seat that you're in right now when Ed junkins he used to
085be a former board member and former city councelor shared with this board the firsthand experiences of black boys in our school district I think this was probably this pre- pandemic by a bit we had just gotten our first iteration of Youth truth data and I just tonight I was just impressed with the courage and Grace of this body um and how you are willing to continue that work and how the district has continued that work um it's emblematic of the reason why I want to rejoin the board I thought when my term was over that I was done and over the intervening year I've realized that I really really miss work doing this work and doing the work that this board does and so that's one of the reasons why I I applied for this
086position the other is that I was I was recruited um we have a strong tradition here in Corvalis that once you're off the school board you leave and you yeah you keep your mouth shut and I've I've held to that and I feel pretty strongly about that so those are the wise why am I applying one because I want to do this work and I want want to do this work with this board um and and that it would be deeply satisfying to do that um since I have your attention and for those of you who haven't served with me I want to share a little bit of how I do my work and so there's a topic you guys have have received two really important reports in the last month one on enrollment the
087other on housing um and both are portend of a sign significant problem for this District uh that's going to impact your ability to fulfill your strategic priorities um the two of these I mean the enrollment decline we've been watching this for a number of years it's something that's not a surprise for the board or the district um it's something that the the board members have been advocating for in the community and thank y the communicate or the uh community development director um shared a little bit of good news it feels like maybe the Log Jam that's holding back uh housing development in our community is might be breaking up a little bit that said it's going to take time you're probably looking at a U-shaped recovery with regards to enrollment the problem is going to
088go away soon and what's going to happen probably is that you're going to continue to see en en enrollment to decline and it may continue to accelerate that means declining resources for the district this presents a number of problems um it means that you're going to have to probably re you know consider closing schools and redistribute enrollment these have profound implications for the board because that has to be a thoughtful and Community engaged process I'm having flashbacks of 2020 just before the pandemic when we tried to do that and it was very challenging the other thing is that one minute that went so fast anyway the take-home here is that you can't just get rid of schools you got to keep them so you have to keep them in a state that you can repopulate
089them because we will eventually build housing here here it's pretty clear both politically and from a policy standpoint that we're going to be doing that so it's a more complex question than just undevelop it's rolling back and then redeveloping our district and how do we do that while creating multiple Pathways for students and advancing our priorities so this is the type of approach that I would use let me check my notes here to make sure I covered everything I think I did did thank you so much for the time thank you Vince um board members remember we won't be asking any followup questions at this time and um you can follow Kelly back thank you so you just turn on the button on your right and the red light will be on when your mic's
090on okay okay you will have five minutes to share information about yourself and why you want to serve on the board and Kim will be the timekeeper okay she'll announce when you have one minute remaining and when your time is up okay sounds good all right uh good evening everyone uh thank you to the corv Val Schoolboard members District administration my fellow candidates and the community for your time well this is not how I picture spending my election night I am happy to be speaking with you all tonight nonetheless uh I'm Amanda Brer she her I currently work at OSU in the school of writing literature and film I'm a mom to two great kids at Bessie Coleman Elementary School and for a year I was also a Crescent Valley mom when we hosted a
091Swiss Exchange student last school year for more than a decade I was a librarian in public libraries in Boston I was a children's librarian and then a department manager after I moved to Oregon I was assistant director at the Albany Public Library I left that position two years ago and took a job at OSU to be closer to my kids and my community here in Coralis now I'm going to talk to you about four topics Public Service good governance diversity and kids that I have dedicated my time and efforts to in the past and that I believe will benefit this board and our schools being a public servant so embedded in the communities I served and as a librarian was one of my greatest honors I saw firsthand the difference high quality Public Services even
092ones delivered on a Sho string at times could make in the lives of people from all backgrounds uh I wish I had more time to talk about some of the espcially moving moments in my career but I'll just say that my countless experiences over the years in the library reminded me of why I love Public Service in this spirit I also feel a kinship with the public schools as I think we all uh teachers support staff Administration the board share that connection and commitment to the communities we work in it's not always easy in fact it's often very difficult for all the wonderful moments of my career I had to deal with angry patrons book challenges proposals to close library locations and a worldwide pandemic I understand that working for the public comes with highs
093and lows and that it can be hard but I also know that we can do hard things in my career Library Administration I got a front row seat to how good governance and good management go hand inand I do believe my experience in public administration will have its benefits on the governance side uh in policy and budgeting I take public input I designed and led the first ever strategic planning process for the Albany Public Library I led public listening sessions conducted surveys met with the board staff stakeholders all in an effort to get as much public input as possible I'm extremely proud of the transparency of that process and the time we took to really engage the community and in particular develop our mission vision and values to guide our decision making I also take
094the stewardship of public funds very seriously everyone in our community contributes financially to our schools puts a great deal of trust in us to use those funds to the greatest benefit I can think a few public Investments more important to our community and our society than an investment in public education I believe deeply that the strength and effectiveness of a board Ries on a divers the diversity of its members and their experiences and opinions I experienced this for myself when I served on the Randolph calicott award committee with 15 other colleagues of different ages races religions and lgbtq identities from around the country we wrestled with tough personal topics covered in the books that uh that also overlapped with our personal experiences while listening compassionately to each other's perspectives in my case I was able
095to bring my perspective as a Jewish woman to these discuss discussions the result was an incredibly diverse slate of Award books that we could all be proud of as a committee um that we could all be proud of and as a committee we bonded and operated with great trust uh related to diverse books I just want to state that um as a board member and as a a citizen I will always defend the right of students to have access to books on a variety of topics I wish this could go without saying but it's obviously been a problem across the country I always defend access to books of R from racially diverse authors and lgbtqia authors and books on difficult topics that can help students walk safely in someone else's shoes um I participated in
096a lot of leadership trainings over the course of my career and a recurring theme was Finding and following your why your purpose or the thing that motivates you for much of my adult life my wies have been building community and improving kids' lives whether in my various roles as a mom a children's librarian a neighbor a volunteer an advocate it has always been for the kids being on the Schoolboard would simply be another extension of that why another way to ensure that I and our community are doing our best for our kids the thing about wise is once you figured them out you move on to the how and the what I've given you my why and with a seat on the corll Schoolboard I hope we can figure out the why and the what
097together thank you for your time and attention and I hope I get a chance to answer your questions in the next round thanks thank you so much Amanda um board members remember we won't be asking followup questions yet and um you can follow Kelly out oh oh that's right yes we're voting okay you all can start writing your top two at this time um should we wait till they all come in to announce all this okay let's wait till they come in okay so um that was the first round thank you all for um participating in that part each board member will now write down the names of two candidates they would like to advance and pass them to me e e okay since we started with Sammy last time we're started with Chris this
098time I just have to say are you sure we can't add four more seats to the school board because it would be really great um my two are Bernie and V I'm sorry Bernie and Vin yeah I don't I don't like this enman and Adams Wong and Inman Wong and Inman Adams and Bressler okay so the folk who will be moving on to the next um round for the questions is um Bernie Cassie and Vincent thank thank you so much Amanda for um being part of the process and for this next part um you three will now go back to the with Kelly there's a lot of walking tonight you're welcome to stay for the rest of the um time and yes Judah this is a very difficult process it's very nerra um and like
099we shared with the other folk too um um you we thank you for being here this evening um Amanda and invite you to participate in other ways with the board and I mentioned to the other folk too that anybody can run for the seats that are coming up too so um just as a reminder we're going to skip me in the questions since there's not enough questions for everybody for the board um oh yeah I only have two hello hi I'm sorry it's a very long script um so this is the next um phase which is the finalist interviews and each board member will ask you one question you have two minutes to answer each um Kim will be the timekeeper again and she'll announce when 30 seconds remain and when the time is up
100okay and um Sami is going to start oh yeah we're going to we're trying to make this as accessible as possible folks so we will have the questions up so why are you seeking a seat on this Corvalis School Board I think I mentioned um that in my personal statement I think uh being a part of the community is extremely important to me um the school district and uh just seeing what it has done um specifically with my eldest and uh and how he thrived in the school district and also um having Taken part in Tac and Delta and dedi I really see the great work being done by uh the school district and I see the Corvalis school district is not just about education it is the common denominator for the community and uh
101it it plays a central role in Corvalis and that's why I want to get involved thank you in your own words what is the role of a Schoolboard member a school board member is a public servant you represent the people of the school district and um I think the the best way I I can describe it um I actually use that to describe my former career too is you know ship building leadership ship stewardship and then and then relationships so basically being a school member is all three of those You Lead You Rather uh whether you lead from the front from the rear or from uh anywhere but relationship building is a major part of it uh we uh the bridge like I mentioned in my opening statement to a lot of the community uh
102and collaboration is the key uh a lot of our problem can't be solved by the school district by this board uh it has to be done uh externally um so um so that is important and stewardship is really key because we are um it's not our money our children's lives are important and and that's what we need to be doing is as public servants is to uh be a good Steward to all the resources and even especially in times where we have Li Li mited resources we have to make sound and good decisions based on that thank you all right my question has two parts so I'll read each one but if you need a pause in the middle to be reminded of the second happy to do that if that's allowed oh it's up
103there perfect so what is your favorite part of working on a team towards a larger goal for others as the first and then how do you address misunder understanding in team situations I think my favorite part of working in a team and trying to solve big problems uh it's something that drove me in and why I stayed in the Navy for so long it's always a group of people trying to work towards um finding a solution to difficult problems right whether you're planning a uh uh extensive uh operation or planning how to execute your annual budget uh defense budget those are all things that we have to work together talking with each other getting ideas and seeking um and and and just find the solution or come up with some degree of a solution a
104courses of action where we can keep moving forward um I love working with uh in a team because it's about ideas it's about everybody's equal everybody has valid uh points and different uh perspectives uh where I may be blind in some areas uh some other people uh uh can cover that and uh so so that was basically my leadership style uh in the Navy as well I pick great teams and people who challenge me all the time how do I uh address misunderstandings in team situations the key is to communicate right the key is to to listen uh the key is to figure out what the other team member is saying knowing that they have the same goals as I have to find a solution and then be receptive and be humble when the point
105of view is more correct than than mine uh so so uh that basically is how we do it is just communicate communicate communicate what qualities or insights can you contribute that would add New Dimensions to our District's goals and policies I spent better part of the last two decades doing policy work uh in international policy work and also I think a couple other things that I I bring to the district uh uh just a broad world view I've gotten over time I think I mentioned in my uh uh opening statement that I'm a first generation American I identify with a lot of the marginalized uh uh segments of the school district because of how I came up and I also have worked with extreme diverse groups of people in the Navy I've had people from
106all backgrounds uh races uh uh and and and that perspective allowed me to figure out what people want and uh and finally I think in terms of the skill set side I have extensive budgetary um experience just working on multi-million dollar budgets uh defense budgets um I thoroughly understand in budget situations um sometimes the challenge is not what to cut but understanding that in when you don't have any discretionary um funds to to to use then you ask the hard questions of what is it you want us to stop doing and that is uh some a perspective that I bring with me I understand that we can't have everything and we just have to find um the best solution given the circumstances we have and at and be able to do what we want with
107the resources we have thank you for any other than budget what is the single most pressing issue currently facing the corval school district and what do you think will be our biggest challenge over the next five to 10 years I think the B the budget issue is going to be uh the overarching um issue just but it's not something like I said is this board can solve I mean the the housing situation uh attracting younger families over here but what we can focus on and I think the other pressing issue uh right now is to um it's mental health of uh our students being able to give them access to to care when they need to um we just saw in a report coming earlier with the the bi is reporting that there are still
108issues out there their trauma that may be happening with the students and we want to give them the the best uh resources available to solve some of those is that going to be our biggest challenge 5 to 10 years it's going to be an ongoing challenge I mean the the fact that I'm still hearing about bias incidents now it it's almost disheartening um but I think we are moving along as a as a community and I think uh teaching uh children uh giving them the care they need and also um uh giving access to our um more marginalized uh communities is going to be critical uh giving them uh the support like for example uh immigrant populations uh immigrant students that they would have access to uh mental health care that is cultural appropriate and
109sensitive to uh their context is also very important uh but uh I think no matter what all of those things are built on top of the budget issue and and that is going to be a what we call a wicked problem that we're going to have to find a way around okay thank you um Bernie board members remember we won't be asking any follow-up questions at this time and Kelly will take you away okay thank you okay um well welcome back that you got to press the thing so yeah there you go um so at this stage you're at the finalist interviews and each board member will ask you one question you'll have two minutes to answer each Kim will be the timekeeper again and she'll announce when 30 seconds remain and when the time
110is up we will also have the questions on the screen um just for accessibility reasons yeah so above head excellent and we we're in the same order sure it's up to you hello why are you seeking a seat on the Cal school board thank you for that question so I shared a little bit in my introductory I have three very clear missions um but I think what you're asking is what makes me your best choice like why why am I here and I would answer that I'm a public education Advocate and my policy research is a form of advocacy I study narratives in the public policy process and advocacy is about storytelling um part of advocacy is framing policy and narrative that's how we communicate to the public and institutions what we're doing and this
111is the stories of how we Triumph it's about our struggles it's the villains we face it's the heroes that we need to solve problems and I believe that narrated effectively we can actually change policy beliefs so if we effectively tell a story we can we can gain political social economic support we can help people understand the value of public education and what we can do for our kids um I want to give back I mean the obvious answer to this is I'm here because I want to volunteer I believe in volunteering in the Community um at my school district schools I'm also a bit of a policy won as I've said I look forward to that hours and um late nights that we will sit here reviewing policy so yeah okay in your own words
112what is the role of a Schoolboard member so the role of the School Board is to set highlevel policy that's the goals the goals for the district and from that come specific policies regarding curricula regarding budget decisions um and as I understand it as well to the choice of the superintendent um and school boards are are policy makers so rather than implementing or administering policy they're creating it they're interpreting it they're expressing it and um evaluating policy so that our systems function better so okay so this question yeah so the next question has two parts the first being what is your favorite part of working on a team towards a larger goal for others and the second how do you address misunderstanding in team situations so my favorite part about working as a team is
113being able to listen and hear how other people perceive things differently than I I mean that's a process we have to learn that in life I think it's part of maturing being able to understand um that there's something bigger than us that we might not necessarily see and so for example on a group project I'm a PhD student so working on a larger project that benefits our department you get to see how other people see things and you can like put on their glasses and see um and opportunities the second half of your question how do you address misunderstandings again I think it goes back to listening um in a Schoolboard situation or other types of policy environments we have strict rules and um like Robert's Rules of Order which create space for listening and
114also thinking and consideration and space and that helps it creates a layer of of space between the misunderstanding so that people can feel heard and we can address problems before they escalate yeah it's kind of like fire extinguisher kind of sort of yeah what qualities or insights can you contribute that would add New Dimensions to our District's goals and policies so I guess I would I would go back to the idea of of advocacy and and research policy research experience I have I've literally for seven years this is what I've been doing is studying public policy here in the district learning how to listen to people and ask what they want so that we can assure that our policies are effectively addressing the needs of folks so I think that quality of being able to
115listen research and understand the complicated nature of policy but also really the basic level of Storytelling and how I mean it's about characters you know it's like our favorite movie there's somebody out there who needs help the kids need help the staff needs help the district needs help I mean public education is under attack and funding issues we need to find Solutions so I think I think that would be my greatest quality I would bring Cassie other than budget what is the single most pressing issue currently facing the corval school district and what do you think will be our biggest challenge over the next five to 10 years so actually did a little due diligence on that one um I was reading over the district report cards and I um I was realizing that there
116was a story there there's a story and maybe this isn't maybe this isn't the biggest story but it was a story that I saw from the district report card of there are some issues with declining attendance and student engagement our third grade ELA and our eighth grade math scores or lackluster our ninth grade on track to graduate and regular attendance rates have both declined I think there was a 5% Decline and while our report card is only slightly better than the state average together these facts and figures they narrate this story of Decline and of course increased barriers so what do we do um well I we go to our goals right and our district profile shows us that it's families who are navigating homelessness poverty and other marginalized identities who seem to be at
117the greatest risk of falling through the safety net and what I noticed when reviewing the four goals in The Five-Year Plan is that these families and students are clearly addressed there so the district is making efforts to Target the the right folks what I also note is that methods that are outlined by the state already include many of the overarching goals that our district is using and um I think combining them along with prioritizing attendance i i attended the the meeting a few weeks back where the Oregon School Board Association was talking about this focus on on chronic absenteeism and I think that if we combine that with the go the fiveyear goals that we have we'll be able to meet the state goals effectively and reverse that decline that story of decline that I
118saw okay um thank you Cassie and board members as a reminder we won't be asking follow-up questions and you can follow Kelly up looks bad okay well welcome back to the final stage um each board member will ask you one question you will have two minutes to answer each Kim will be the timekeeper again she'll announce when 30 seconds remain and when time is up and um we will also have the questions on the screen for you um we're trying to have some accessibility for questions okay and awesome we're going to switch them is that okay okay Chris is going to start this time okay Chris there thank you I would done fence why are you seeking a seat on the coral Schoolboard I kind of spoke to that previously I mean twofold one I
119mean I wouldn't have stepped in had people not nudged me to do so um but since they did I I was openly eager to step back into doing the work that this board has been doing um because you're here in Corvalis you don't have the perspective that I have uh being an employee of opa um I work with boards all over the state and I've said it numerous times in this boardroom this is a unique board this is a unique District because you're doing really extraordinary work transforming the education system you're doing the work work that needs to get done and I mean and the you know the proof is there I mean the corval school district there's you know you have a member who's on nsba he's the president of our state Association I'm
120an employee this board consistently um punches above its weight you know to use a boxing metaphor um and that's one of the reasons why I would really be eager to step back onto the board because this board has impacts on kids they're actually taking what I teach to boards the education science on what Schoolboard should be doing you guys actually do that so that's why I want to I want to get back in the game so it's personal but it's all about impact so I want to have an impact on kids and I want to support this board in doing that work and if you feel if the wisdom of the board is that I'm the right person to do that great so in your own words what is the role of a school board
121member fundamentally a school board member is a steward it's really I mean really to participate in what is the governing body a group of people fundament board work is teamwork um particularly in the 21st century I think historically um board conflict was had less of an impact today with the expectations on K12 educations and correspondingly on school boards the role of a of a Schoolboard member is increasingly more important in establishing the tone um setting a clear Direction and set the priorities of the district but I really want to come back to that idea of of not the individual but being part of a whole governing body and that is one half of the leadership unit for the district because the board is the yin to the superintendent Yang uh the governance to the to
122the management side of things I could go wax more poetic about the the importance of the administrative professional and how that impacts them but yeah fundamentally it's about being part of a leadership team thank you V what is your favorite part of working on a team towards a larger goal for others and second part of this question how do you address misunderstanding in team situations working on a team so impact what's the favorite part of working on a team towards a larger goal is about impact and in this context it's about making a difference for for kids um so that's the favorite part of this um is actually changing education outcomes changing the lived experience of students um and how our district serves students and creates opportunity that's the the favorite part of this work
123how do you address misunderstandings is really about dialogue is unpacking that um a great example you know in the work a good example of how to do this I I teach point of order I have time good enough um the Parliamentary procedure point of order interrupts meeting right so I I use an example from this school board um a time when uh a member of this board used a really harmful idiom and one of our members used point of order to stop and allow this governing body to take a pause and discuss that for about four minutes before we moved on so that was a matter of misunderstanding you know a person used a harmful idiom the English language particularly American English is full of it um so really just take the time to communicate
124that um communicate the impact because intent is not impact um and come to Mutual understanding about what those expectations are and in particularly with with the school board what the body's expectations are for conduct and how we're going to do our work together what qualities are insights can you contribute that would add New Dimensions to our District's goals and policies I think one of the things I'm just going to start riffing um I think one of the things that I do bring would bring back is what I shared in in my opening remarks is the Long View I got on this board in 2013 and so I can see the changes the work that this board has done that this district has done um I lived it and so I think that that that's important
125I think um we need historians uh and I think that that's an important role that said in the year that I've been away from the school board I have redoubled the work that I've done around equity I have learned to integrate um the equity work that this board has done in my own personal journey in doing that work with this board um into my professional work um particularly around you know stepping away from race but you know right now I also sit on the carda board so stepping into issues of gender um and particularly the violence around that and how to address that that's a new step in my own personal Journey uh but learning how to operationalize equity governance is something that I would really like to bring back to this board and and
126support this board in doing that and I'm happy to do that on the board or as a consultant so but that's something that I really would like to bring back to this board is not that you guys have lost lost Focus clearly you haven't but we all know that that there's work to be done and I would like to help lead in that work other than the budget what is the single most pressing issue currently facing the corala school district and what do you think will be our biggest challenge over the next five to 10 years I that's what I was talking about earlier I mean I didn't know if I was going to get get back on the board so I wanted to share some value with you at least the thoughts that I
127had um I this issue around housing and enrollment decline is an existential threat to the district um it has profound implications on how we we're going to be able to deliver services for our children and it has implications for our staff I am really worried about our ability to maintain Staffing and maintain programming our community has very high expectations for the level of Education that we deliver we do provide Elite Education to our students um and I just I'm really worried about that and how to do that it's going to require hard decisions and hard difficult processes to do it um this board historically has not been great with being engaged community-wise you have continued that work I really appreciate the work you did around uh your strategic planning uh and setting your goals that
128was a very engaged process um definitely checking in but when we start talking about which school are we going to close how are we going to shift our boundaries and move children how are we going to change patterns of Transportation that's going to require a lot of Engagement and the school board is going to be front and center in doing that work Thank You Vince um board members remember we won't be asking any follow-up questions and um you can go ahead and stay in the room while Kelly gets the rest of the candidates for this next part a fan office okay this is um our fourth step so each board member will now write down the name of their top candidate and pass the paper to me and Kim will tally the hash marks um
129I don't think we're going to do this very super quickly so thank you all for your patience in advance as unless people are already done I'm not sure but well you looked at me J like you're dead Judah okay we're thinking over here so thank you for your patience for e e okay before we read these um or before we announce them I would just want to say like whatever the results are that we would be excited to serve with any of you that's um pretty clear so I don't remember who started last time Sam you to go first I since we're doing polling we're not voting can I just say this is really hard it is very hard but I I I will be very excited to work with each one of you in
130the room and uh with that I am making really tough decision to choose a colleague here and today I'm choosing Vince Adams uh I choose Cassie Inman Bernie Wong I would have liked to have cast three votes but I would have done Bernie w it's really hard um Inman um it was really difficult but I voted for Bernie Bernie okay let me read my script um again this is very hard it was been hard since the very um since the the um first step and um okay so does anybody wish to make a motion to appoint someone yes Sammy it is my honor to move with the following motion I move that Bernie Wong be appointed to vacant position number seven of the corval School District Board of Directors for the the term November 5
1312024 through June 30th second okay it has been moved by Sam Min Sam Sammy and seconded by theres um is there any further discussion just want to thank everyone that was I didn't like doing that you're all wonderful any other just can you clarify so we H how we have this written out is that if we have a a clear leader that's what we're going with right that's what we decided okay yeah yep want to make sure that I was right about that that we weren't opening up discussion for uh anything else no okay very good I'm glad that you that's what I thought I'm glad for that and I think everybody who participated and you all had wonderful answers and um and uh so please run if you are interested and or fill that
132vacant um seat on the budget committee because that's how I started I think that's how Sammy started um Shauna so um as you can see budget committee work often leads to an opportunity to serve on the board and thank you all for your time this evening okay good s it is L not less on me that uh we're casting uh really a privilege vote on behalf of the community of Coralis in this interim period to appoint a colleague uh and in the evening where every single citizen is making a decision of who's going to represent them so Bernie uh if this uh motion passes congratulations on this amazing honor and responsibility and for each one of you who participated in this process uh thank you for making uh this evening even more fulfilling for me
133personally uh because I know in many communities and districts and Nations frankly uh people don't have that privilege of really having this kind of capacity to serve the children and to represent the children to represent the community so with that um in favor of this motion but also full of gratitude about the future of our community State and Country and I know the kids are going to be to okay because of you thank you thank you um okay so it has I'm used to my regular sorry I'm used to a very scripted script for meetings and this is a very different there's a lot of scripts going on on my table here because we also had an executive session um so I'm going to go ahead and reread the motion and then call for vote
134um so Sammy moved um that Bernie Wong be appointed to vacant position number seven of the corval School District Board of Directors for the term November 5th 2024 through June 30th 2025 it was seconded by theres Chris I Judah I shaa I theres I Sammy I and I vote I um so the motion passes I um please to announce that our interim board member is Bernie Wong um his duties will be effective November 5th through June or 2024 through June 30th 2025 thank you again to all the candidates um for participating in this very important process um this is a very tough process I again I was in their shoes when I first started and actually I didn't share this earlier but Shauna and I were finalists together and look at us now so just
135saying um you can hopefully um find your way to the board in the future um as well and um when that time comes and so um how was that yes yeah that's next swearing I'm gonna say would Bernie like to come forward and be sworn in I don't have that script Kim where's that where's that at I got it right I'm it to you just okay thank [Music] you okay there you go [Music] okay I think we both can share this one is it on the youall can hear us okay okay Bernie um please repeat the following after me chair white bear I repeat your name do solemnly swear I Bernard long do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America that will support the Constitution of the United
136States of America the con constitution of the state of Oregon and the laws thereof the constitution of the state of Oregon and the laws thereof and the policies of the corval school district and the policies of the Corvalis School District during my term during my term I will faithfully and impartially discharge the responsibilities I will faithfully and impartially discharge the responsibilities of the office of school board member to the best of my ability of the office of the school board member to the best of my ability that's it [Applause] congratulations and where like oh my gosh so I'm so sorry a I do not need a g yes I need a I need a con shell that's right okay um so we have completed our interim board um selection and the next item on the
137agenda there is a next item actually and it is board member comments are there any board member comments I'm going to the pancake feed hosted by the robotics Club tomorrow at the alks so if you like pancakes and or Robotics and I like both you can go any other board member comments just wanted to give a thank you to the community members who took the time to weigh in on what they um felt or what their thoughts were on the um interim board um candidate position and when you have um seven qualified people and only one seat someone six people are not going to be appointed but it means a lot to us as board members to hear from the community um and so just want to extend that appreciation um so yeah for those
138of you that took time keep sending the messages and thank you for taking time to weigh in on this okay and I just wanted to um reiterate what I said earlier I know that this is a very um tense evening for a lot of folk um and as I was um reading the um oath of office again that um I myself has um swor in as well with Bernie um it just reminded me of the responsibility that comes um with being an elected official and um you've been appointed we the community trusts us to appoint you in that capacity as um electeds in this community and so um it was a good reminder reading that on this evening and um so I just wanted to say take care of yourselves Community out there and in
139this room and um with that the meeting is adjourned at 8:5 3 pm.